Column for May 27, 2010

I recently took a lot of heat for a commentary I made on former First Lady Laura Bush. As some of you may know, she now has a book that has been released and she has been doing the national talk show circuit to promote her book. During the course of an interview with Larry King, she revealed that she had strong personal disagreement with her husband on the subjects of homosexual marriage and abortion. She was in favor of both. She also later came out in support of the nomination of Elena Kagan.

My initial commentary consisted only of sharing the video clip with my online readers and saying that Laura Bush has lost a lot of respect from me. You would have thought I accused Laura Bush of twisting the heads off newborn kittens. Simply saying that she lost a lot of respect is apparently harsh, judgmental, and cruel.

Personally, I find her revelatory opinions to be extremely hypocritical and an endorsement of both Sodomy and murder, which I later expressed. In this I don't mind being seen as narrow. There is no excusing the killing of innocent babies or for the redefinition of marriage. It is not a matter of being open minded. It is a matter of being accepting of sinful behavior and destruction of the innocent.

If there is one thing with which Laura Bush should be familiar, it is that if you are going to put yourself in the public spotlight and stick your head above the crowd, you are going to have a few tomatoes thrown at you. I have had my share of them, too. In the case of her husband, a lot of tomatoes flew his way. Some of the tomatoes thrown at George W. Bush were justified. Many were patently unfair. When the views that someone publicly expresses are contrary to the faith of the majority of Americans and contrary to the majority of even secularists, then there will be some expressions in contradiction.

As a Christian, I personally believe that it is the duty of believers to do as Proverbs 31:8 states, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves". That would include the unborn, whose wanton slaughter Laura Bush just openly endorsed. We are to cry aloud and spare not. Woe unto Laura Bush or any other who believe as she does. Isaiah 5:20 says "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." I for one will not remain silent in order to be seen as proper in the eyes of anyone who thinks that a Christian is to be quiet and "nicer than Jesus".

Just last month, my wife and I were in her OBGYN's office watching the ultrasound and listening to the heartbeat of our seven-week-old fetus. Just seven weeks and we heard its heartbeat! Nobody can convince me that my baby is not a living creature and to remove it from the womb would not constitute murder.

This begs the question about whether or not it is horribly judgmental to speak out against not only the case of Laura Bush, but about other topics that we know to be a matter of right and wrong. Should we stay silent in order to avoid accusations such as judgmental against the wrongs in our society? Is it wrong for Christians to acknowledge the presence of unrighteousness? Absolutely not. If that were the case, then we would still be a group of British colonies. Preachers like George Whitfield and patriots like Samuel Adams would have been considered heretics in their day. If it were the case, abolitionists of the 1800's would have remained silent and the Negro slave would have been allowed to stay in bondage.

If anyone thinks I just get paid to stir the pot with outlandish statements to attract and maintain readers for the newspaper, try asking the publisher how much I have received in compensation over my nearly four years of writing this column. Yes, I am opinionated and outspoken. But I have been faithful to write every single week to fill this space because I am committed to and passionate about a set of principles. I am committed to the difference between right and wrong; and to long standing values that made my faith, my country, and my God the greatest to have ever existed.

Whether it is Laura Bush, the federal government, a state governor, a local politician, or even clergymen, take a stand for what is right. It is not arrogant to stand on what you believe, especially if you are on the side of righteousness. God has blessed this nation with a form of government in which you have the right and the duty to take a stand. I encourage you all to do so.

Column for April 30, 2009

The fun you can have with a little boy in the house

I can not count the number of times that my lovely bride has made the comment that she already has two boys to raise and now has another on the way. She has one son, there is me, and then Troy Junior who will arrive in about a dozen weeks. My father had five boys, my brothers all had mostly boys, and I had a lot of male cousins. I am used to how boys play and interact. My wife, having only a sister for a sibling, is getting a lesson in what boys are about.

Since we married in October, there has almost never been a dull moment in the LaPlante household. With two dogs, two cats, three birds, a kindergartener, a mother-in-law, and a newlywed couple, things are often boisterous. I have wanted children for years, and I am having a glorious time being a father.

Boys are different than girls, which was actually a headline some years ago for a major national news magazine. Since I had a younger brother while growing up and was raised with a sharp, New Englander, sarcastic sort of wit, I know the fun one can have with a boy in the house, much to the chagrin of my lovely bride.

My step-son is now at the age where he is discovering new words and the fact that boys and girls are indeed different. I am constantly amazed at how children categorize things. In his words, "girls do not have pickles". This is news to a six-year-old, and I can only chuckle. I can tell that I am going to have a chat with him in the not too distant future about some things.

With my propensity towards humor in every day life, I often find humor in things that make my bride blush. The boy came up to her one day and asked, "Mommy, is _____ a bad word?" My wife was aghast with the shock of the question and I was about rolling on the floor with laughter. I was informed how I was not helping the situation whatsoever. Meanwhile, I was wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes.

One day, I was driving on Pollock Street in Selma, and seeing the establishment, the boy asked, "What is a pawn shop?" My answer was simply, "They sell chess pieces". His reply was simply, "Oh," while his grandmother fought to hold back her laughter from the passenger seat.

John has just found out that he likes showers instead of always taking a nightly bath. I love the fact that the shower curtain is drawn, because he does not see me coming like he would if he was taking a bath, instead. A cup of cold water dumped over the top of the shower curtain and onto an unsuspecting child is a favorite past time. Ah, I can hear those little screams of surprise now. I can expect some payback eventually when he gets tall enough to retaliate. I am sure he now has a new tactic to practice on a baby brother of his own some day, as well.

I wish I had my video camera ready one day when I heard a small boy's voice singing as he banged on his toy keyboard. John loves country music. He was hitting the keys with one hand while holding the toy microphone in the other. In a singing voice that would make Simon Cowell wince, he was wailing repeatedly, "I saw God today," and doing his best George Strait imitation. That was funny enough as it was. Then he proclaimed, "OK, just one more song, then y'all can leave church!" I chuckled softly as I waited to hear what was coming next. He then broke into the 1980's pop favorite, "I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt!" Ah, the things you see and hear without a camcorder in hand. So much for our appearance on "America's Funniest Home Videos".

Speaking of catching things on video, a couple of days ago, I was asked about an old movie that was on TV. "Why is that movie in black and white?" I couldn't resist. My answer was something akin to, "Well, a long time ago, the entire world was black and white. Old movies were made before the earth started to turn color in about 1939. Do you remember the movie, "The Wizard of Oz"? The movie started out in black and white and then suddenly turned to color. We have documented on film for all posterity the world's change over from black and white to color. That is what made that movie so famous."

Yes, sir, I am enjoying being a daddy. And in a few months, I get to have another victim…I mean son to play with.