It’s acting — it’s not saving the world. It’s playing pretend for lots of money – there’s no one whose life is changed for the better through the watching of Sean Penn playing pretend. They’re NOT beautiful people – they’re just altered to look that way. They’re not smart, or even nice. Most of them have SERIOUS issues – drugs, alchohol, multiple spouses. They’re unhappy people who have been sold to us as some kind of ideal, and I’m not BUYING it. AT ALL.

My television hasn’t been tuned to the networks for a very long time. I haven’t seen ANY of the movies that were nominated. Generally, when I do go to see a movie, I find that there’s some sort of anti-US, anti-police, or anti-conservative message that I’m just sick and tired of.

One of my sons (13 wanted to go see a movie with his friends a while ago. I asked him what the movie was — it was the one with Samuel L. Jackson as the crazy police officer next door. I told him I didn’t want him watching that crap, but ended up allowing him to go, but we had to talk about what he thought the message was afterwards.

He came home a little shame-faced afterwards and said “Mom, not only was the police officer next door a racist, but I’m pretty sure he was a Republican, AND a global warming denier.”

Don’t buy their crap, and maybe they’ll go back to the rocks that they crawled out from under….

I realize you mean well here, but you’re really not helping our crusade against gay marriage with statements like this. Proposition 8 and measures like it were never about curtailing the rights of homosexuals, and certainly never about getting rid of anyone who “turned out gay.” It was about resisting the attempt by an aggrieved minority to redefine a fundamental human institution, for no reason at all except to make that aggrieved minority feel better about themselves.

As for Penn, the guy is a real class act, isn’t he? What I can’t get out of MY mind…is the way he traveled to Iraq back in 2003 to hobnob with Saddam on the eve of the US invasion. I wanted to kick the man’s ass for that move. We have a name for people who encourage America’s enemies – traitors.

Or the way he was photographed paddling around the flooded streets of New Orleans in 2005, trying feebly and futilely to “rescue” people. Didn’t he wind up springing a leak in his boat and have to be rescued himself or something?

I don’t care if the man is a good actor or not; I’ve never seen any of his films. What bothers me is the way he acts when he ISN’T making movies.

No one knows how you end up gay, but no one really disputes that there are many who are not born gay. Their upbringing and environment leads them to a same sex orientation. It’s not every gay person, but I don’t want my kids to feel like something that I find very sad (tragic in many ways) is being encouraged by the government. There is a real difference between tolerance and encouragement. We must tolerate people who live in ways we don’t like (as long as they’re not criminal), but we have no obligation to say that what they’re doing is good.

Maybe Mr. Penn could try opening his mind and see that it is love, not hate, that guides many to resist same sex marriage. Of course, that would not be trendy, so you won’t see that happening any time soon. One wonders where he was twenty years ago, when there would have been real courage, at least, in speaking up about this issue.

One of the sad facts about the true Harvey Milk story (I haven’t yet seen the film) is that Milks death had nothing to do with his being gay. Milk was killed by a one time political ally that Milk stabbed in the back when he was down and out and needed Milks help.

Oh yeah, that piece of irrelevance that I could care less about. Nah, never watch it anyway. Sounds like it was a lot of “fun”…