Classic Rant #733 (May 10, 2012): Love and Marriage ... and Hot Dog Vendors

Today, I really had my choice of topics to write about.

I could go the controversial way, and write about gay marriage and the President's new stance on that matter.

Or I could have gone the very low road, talking about the hot dog vendor on Long Island who was found to be selling more than hot dogs from her van.

What's a poor boy to do?

How about talking about both?

Let's look at gay marriage first.

In an interview on ABC, the President, for the first time, came out of the closet, so to speak, about gay marriage. Under pressure from his party, his vice president, and gay supporters, the President said that he was for the union of two people of the same sex.

If you remember, he had been against it before this time, and even a year or two ago, he said that he was wrestling with his own personal decision about the matter.

This time, he said his daughters helped him make the choice. Evidently, they have friends with gay parents, and they told him that they should not be excluded from anything because they were gay.

OK, sounds good.

What does this do to Barack Obama in his run for a second term?

Well, it gives people another reason to vote for him or not vote for him.

Eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney has come out firmly against the union of two people from the same sex, and if one needed a topic to tip him or her one way or the other, this is it.

Me, I'm pretty much where the President was a year or two ago. I'm not sure that I support gay marriage, more for civil unions. I do not believe that the love that two people of the same sex can share can be anything equal to the love that a man and a woman share.

But I am not as taken by that belief as I was before.

I mean, these people have to live too, and if this is their direction, so be it.

By the way, my family was recently invited to a gay wedding, but we can't do because we are going to be on vacation. Too bad, because it would have been an interesting event to be at.

Anyway, onto the hot dog vendor ...

This individual has been selling hot dogs and other edibles out of her truck on Long Island for several years. The 45-year-old woman, mother of four, has also been selling other things out of the truck.

She claims that yes, she has been selling stripping and lap dance services out of her truck, too, and will flash her huge breasts at the drop of a couple of dollars for a hot dog (you should have seen the news yesterday on TV here--they need to digitally remove her boobs during almost every report--I guess the crews bought plenty of hot dogs).

But police say she is also selling her body to hot dog buyers.

She has been convicted of prostitution, but on the news yesterday, she boldly proclaimed that she would be back at her hot dog stand during the day, all the while saying that the only extra mustard she sold was "her cleavage."

Then, after selling about 20 hot dogs yesterday, she was closed down by police, who claim that she didn't have a valid peddler's license. She vows to get one, in between psychiatric evaluations.

I guess everyone has the right to make a living, and everyone has the right to have an angle.

But this woman is ridiculous.

At 45 years old, she should know better.

And as a mom, she should know better too.

And looking at this woman, you would have to say that some people are probably pretty desperate out there.

There has got to be a better way for both them and her.

President Obama and the "stripping" hot dog vendor in one column.

What will I think of next?