Branding & Proposition 8

I'm posting this blog at risk of being considered intolerant but please believe me when I say that I truly believe that we all have the right to live our lives how we choose as long as it doesn't affect other peoples lives. I believe that tolerance means that we all respect each others beliefs and that they in turn respect mine.

A few years ago California passed proposition 22 by a 61% majority. The proposition essentially stated that "only marriage between a man and woman is valid and recognized in California". Earlier this year four supreme court judges overturned the proposition saying that it was unconstitutional. They based their decision on an old law that was meant to allow inter-racial marriages. That was obviously a good law but the problem is that the old law did not refer to inter-racial marriage but rather it was worded something like "alternative" marriages. The law clearly intended inter-racial marriages but four of the seven judges interpreted it to include gay marriages. The funny thing is that based on this law polygamy is now legal in California. According to this interpretation of the law, a marriage can include multiple wives, multiple husbands and you can even marry your dog.

Proposition 8 is intended to amend the California constitution to include the wording of prop 22. This means that four judges can't overturn the will of the people. I have to confess that when I first got involved with Prop 22 I was skeptical. What does it hurt if a gay couple wants to get married? My philosophy has always been that as long as what they do doesn't hurt me or my children, then go for it. What does it hurt if a gay couple wants to say they are married? When the church made the decision to get heavily involved in Prop 22 (and now Prop 8) I figured I'd better take a much closer look at the whole concept of gay marriage. This is what I learned. Actually, before I discuss that, let me assure you that I do believe in equal rights for everyone and in California gay couples have all of the same rights as a traditional couple. They have visitation rights, medical benefits, wills, everything. This isn't a question of equal rights. That already exists. Here are my concerns:

1) Now that gay marriage is the law it is being taught in our schools starting in kindergarten. They are taught that gay marriage is just as valid as any other marriage. I don't want that taught to my children. I believe that a traditional marriage is preferred.
2) In Massachusetts, where gay marriage is already the law, all adoption agencies must allow gay couples to adopt their children. This has forced all of the Catholic adoption agencies to close down. That is definitely not good for the children. I don't know what it means for the church family services, I suppose they will close too.
3) In Canada, where gay marriage is legal, a minister has now been charged with hate crimes and is in jail because he preached against homosexuality. The same thing could easily happen here. If a gay relationship becomes legitimatized then the next step is to outlaw any Christian church that preaches the bible. That is not a road I want to go down.

So, off my soap box. I introduced Prop 8 because yesterday I was asked to go survey people in the precincts about the proposition. Going door to door is one of my least favorite things to do on a Saturday morning but Warren Beecroft and I headed out knocking on doors. One of the first doors we came to was this woman who seemed quite nervous. When I asked her how she would vote on prop 8 if the election were today she asked me how I would vote. I thought that was weird until I told her I was for prop 8 and she looked greatly relieved. I then realized that she thought Warren and I were a gay couple. It was pretty funny.

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One of my absolutely most favorite activities from the time I lived in Rosemary is branding. In the spring, the new calves are all born so before summer when the cows are put out to pasture together they have to be branded. I had the privilege of branding with the Halls, the Nortons and the Hubers. What a production this is. The innocent little calves are all held in a corral and then one of the unsuspecting bovines are fed into a chute. As soon as he hits the squeeze he is clamped so tight he can't breath and simultaneously six things happen: 1) a red hot brand is shoved into the middle of the calf's ribs. I smell the burning hair and flesh as I write this. 2) another hot iron shaped like a circle is used to burn the little stubs that will grow into horns. 3) another person shoots a monstrous needle into the animals rear and fills him full of antibiotics. 4) someone sticks an even larger needle in the calf's ear and inserts a pellet of growth hormone. 5) a tag is stuck through the ear and 6) if the calf is a male, they suffer the greatest indignation. A small rubber band is slipped over the testicles. This cuts off the blood supply and in a few days the shriveled up testicles simply fall off. The amazing thing is that all of the six events happen simultaneously and are over within thirty seconds. It is such a shock to the calf that he bawls like a baby (which I suppose he is). My biggest single disappointment is that most people used the rubber bands to do the castrating. The Halls actually used these big pinchers that literally pinched of the blood vessels leading to the testicles. It had the same result as the rubber band. I was hoping that someone actually went in and cut the testicles off. I've always wanted to try rocky mountain oysters and you can't do that if the testicle stay with the calf. I've eaten some strange food in my life including horse, dog, tongue, eyeballs, chickens feet, shark fin and water buffalo ears but I haven't had rocky mountain oysters and I'm from Alberta. It isn't right.

So one year we're out at Huber's and I'm working the needle that inserts the hormone pellets into the ears. You can imagine that with everything that is going on there is a lot of confusion. This case was worse however, because we were only doing a few calves and so we didn't bother with the chute and squeeze but just roped him and held him down. The calve kicked and I had to sit the needle (shaped like a gun) on the ground. This needle was about an eighth inch in diameter since it actually fed a pellet through it. I was on the ground struggling with the calf and when I shifted position I drove the needle into my knee. That really hurt. It could be my imagination but not long after my hormone shot I started growing hair on my chest and gaining weight. I wonder!?!?!