Gay Marriage, Bootstraps and Assault Weapons

Many things happening in this world cause me consternation, rile me, practically drive me mad. Now I bring them here -- and in ongoing posts -- for you to ponder and comment about. There might even be a miracle and I'll change my mind after reading your arguments.

• Why are straight people so worried about gays fighting for the same rights to marry? It's not as if they must assume any legal or personal responsibilities for gays who marry. And, unless they're into some kinky stuff, they won't have to get in bed with any gays. Sometimes this country seems so Dark Ages.

• Why do the Sean Hannitys of the world keep telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, get out there and work hard, and they too can become rich? If that were to become fact, who would shovel the crap that Hannity and his ilk make each day? Who would work in the restaurants where the rich eat their foie gras and drink their blue martinis? Who would nanny their children, pick up their trash, service their cars, drive their cars, clean their houses? And if all of us have equal opportunities, with the only thing holding us back being our laziness, then what must be done about the disabled (physically or mentally), those who are slow (physically or mentally)? Certainly, we're not to give them welfare. Hannity and other conservatives rail against government assistance, exceptions being welfare for corporations and the rich. It's a quandary -- we must all become rich, yet many of us must continue to service the rich, and if we can't do either, well, that's where I stop to keep my mind from exploding.

• Speaking of exploding, why do conservatives and the NRA fight so hard to keep the rights to buy and use assault weapons? I mean, if they want to kill something so much, don't rifles and handguns rip through soft flesh just as effectively? Is it, for example, necessary to blow the head off a deer when shooting it clean through an eye with a rifle will do the job of killing it?