Labels: All of the above or none at all

It has been an interesting last few weeks for me. During this time, I have managed to receive more labels than the canned food section has in your local grocery store. I thought I would share some of them in no particular order since most of these labels were quickly handed out by people who either do not know me or know little about me.

Misogynist: It strikes me as strange that as a man, when I make fun of Carly Fiorina, women often say nice things to me. However, when I poke fun of Hillary Clinton, I am labeled the “M” word. Why is this? It reminds me a lot of how when I make fun of or criticize someone like Al Sharpton or Michael Brown Jr. I am suddenly a racist, but if I say something critical of white police or a conservative black, I am again treated with compliments. It’s bad enough Hillary Clinton lacks a sense of humor, but do her supporters have to lack one too?

As for those who think I am anti-female, I’d like to point out a few things. Yes, I am guilty of making jokes about women. I also make jokes about guys, Democrats, Republicans, old people, teenagers, Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, the left-handed, red-heads, blondes, stoners, drunks, the stupid, the left, the right, the undecided, celebrities, athletes, bald people, hairy men, hairy women, and the Kardashians. Heck, I even make fun of myself.

If electing Hillary Clinton means we have to give up our sense of humor then I dare the government to show up at my house and try to take mine. I would rather die defending my right to laugh at others before I allow any government to take my sense of humor.

Anti-Christian: I take offense to this. I am not anti-Christian. I am anti-organized religion. Many of my closest friends are Christians and they are pretty sensible people.

However, when someone believes the Bible trumps our Constitution, well, they are either misinformed, stupid, or brain washed by a powerful institution that sees you as someone who hopefully tithes ten percent of your hard earned money to them.

The Pope is a well-intentioned man. However, a guy who wears very expensive hand made shoes and lives in a palace while dining on some of the nicest food in the world is in no position to tell the world to give up their desire for more money and to take care of the poor. When I see him living under an overpass on Sepulvada Boulevard and eating pork and beans out of a can, I will take what he has to say to heart.

And for those evangelicals, all I can say is STFU. You are not only hypocrites, you are stupid beyond all imagination. Seriously, how do you explain the difference between your desire to keep women, minorities, and people who believe differently than you down while arguing how dangerous Sharia law is?

As for what someone believes in, I do not care if you worship saints, sinners, or parakeets. If what you believe in allows you to live a peaceful and harmonious life, one where you can respect and defend the rights of people who believe differently than you, then good for you.

If you want to give to your church, great. If you want to feed the poor, care for the sick and elderly, and live by the golden rule, I applaud you. just don’t like it when you can’t vote for someone, enjoy the company of someone, or come to the aide of someone in need because you have decided what they believe in is wrong.

Pro Muslim: So if I want to see our nation help come to the aide of Syrian refugees, I am a Muslim sympathizer according to some people. Consequently, it is my desire to want to see this nation over thrown by radical Islamic terrorists rather than keep the nation safe.

The truth is, I like to look at myself as a human sympathizer. Some may even recall how harsh I was on Obama who did nothing for the tens of thousands of humans who were rounded up and murdered by Boko Haram, another Islamic terrorist group.

Just because I will point out the many different non-Muslim terrorist groups that reside legally inside our borders as being a bigger problem is not my way of changing an argument. I just believe we have no business forgetting who our biggest terrorists are and remind you some of them may be your neighbor, your kids friends, or members of the Christian church you attend.

Socialist: This gets tossed my way whenever I say how I really admire the passion and genuineness of Bernie Sanders. It does not mean I agree with his vision of our country. However, of all the people running for POTUS, he more seems to actually believe what he says and lives by his words the most.

I also get called a socialist, and a few other names I better not mention, when I tell people I find nothing wrong with our government placing tighter restrictions on gun ownership and the type of ammunition people have access to. It’s not asking too much to expect gun owners to prove they know how to handle a gun under the most stressful situations and it is okay to feel uncomfortable with the idea of people carrying concealed weapons.

Anti-Second Amendment: See the previous paragraph. The only people I want to see owning guns are sane people who can prove they are qualified to own and operate a gun. How is that anti-Second Amendment? I also want only qualified people to be doctors, teachers, nurses, dog catchers, foster parents, plumbers, and on and on and on.

Do hunters need semi automatic or automatic weapons to hunt? No. Does any citizen need one? Personally, I do not think they do, however, if the Supreme Court says it is okay then I have to accept their decision.

All I know is statistics do not lie. Most gun owners, including law enforcement, will see their gun used on a loved one or on themselves far more often than for stopping a bad guy. But, I am pro-suicide, so go ahead and shoot yourself if it makes you happy.

Right Wing Lunatic: If I am, then I am a reformed one because I voted twice for Obama. This brings me to voting. I have never been one to blindly vote along party lines because I see both the GOP and Democrats in the same light as I see organized religion; corrupt to the core. I vote for the person and not the party. Two politicians, one past and one soon to be former, who I have admired are George Herbert Walker Bush (aka 41) and Dianne Feinstein, two very different people based on party allegiance.

Simply put, Bush was one of the few career politicians who never turned his back on the ideal of serving your country. He did it as a fighter pilot in WWII and he did it in numerous jobs prior to being elected President. He was the type of person who always felt if your president called on you to serve, you don’t say no.

His loyalty to those he served under was never questioned, his standards for how he conducted himself were always exemplary, and he was always willing to compromise for the good of the country, even if it was going to hurt him politically (No new taxes).

As for Feinstein, I was a teenager in the San Francisco Bay Area when mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk were assassinated. I got to witness first hand just how much Feinstein did to help guide a shocked city through the mourning process while doing all she could to finish the work Moscone began. Other politicians would have used this as a way to promote their own agenda, but Feinstein insisted she had to earn the right to do so by being elected to the mayoral office.

Feinstein was also among the first of a group of female senators who spoke out against Bill Clinton and the harm he did to the office he pissed on as a result of his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Calling out a popular president from your political party is never a good idea. It is the very reason why I decided not to vote for Al Gore in 2000 because he lacked the stones to do what was right and chose instead to do what was best for him.

So even though I have voted for more Republican presidential candidates, please do not think of me as a Right or Left Wing nut job. If anything, I am an open-minded nut job.

Hopefully, this helps you to feel really bad about all the wrong labels you have placed on me. Perhaps next time you want to label me, you will use this to refer to before placing an unfair label to me. Otherwise, I will have no other recourse but to rely on my go to label and call you an Ass Hat.