Beef: it's what's for dinner, unless you're working for Paul McCartney.

'Live and let live' foreign idea to left
By Ted Nugent, Texas Wildman
Sunday, June 17, 2007

I like sizzling meat on the grill. Wild, huh? Anybody? Now, we all know ol' Nuge isn't by any stretch of the imagination a weirdo when it comes to an omnivorous diet.

Especially here in the great Republic of Texas, a smiling, drooling preference for succulent, protein-rich, nutritious backstrap over aromatic mesquite coals is as American and natural and right as Mom, apple pie and the flag. It's beautiful, really.

But a culture war rages against such universal, self-evident truths. It would be laughable if it were not so deranged. Some weirdos actually are on a crusade to outlaw the consumption of flesh.

I have musical touring associates who have been fired from their jobs with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney for sneaking a hamburger.

You heard that right. Fired for eating meat by an animal-rights maniac, hard-core vegan bass player.

The entire agenda of the gazillion-dollar-financed joke known as PETA literally is dedicated to outlawing meat.

Neither I, nor any hunter or meat eater on the planet, has any desire whatsoever to influence any vegetarian's choice of diet or to force them to eat meat. We are the friendly, tolerant Americans.

This is but one of many issues that represent the line drawn in the sand between liberals and conservatives.

Our own intrepid opinion editor at the Trib, my friend John Young, doesn't want to simply make the choice to be unarmed and helpless for himself. He has again recently insisted that you and I must also comply with his soulless condition of unarmed helplessness in "gun-free zones."

Nobody from our side wants to force anybody to have a gun or defend themselves. It is us, the conservatives, who are for individual choice.

"Soulless condition of unarmed helplessness"?

Ouch!

"This is but one of many issues that represent the line drawn in the sand between liberals and conservatives. It is us, the conservatives, who are for individual choice."

Obviously, the suggestion here is that liberals are intolerant, by nature, and conservatives aren't. While I certainly agree with Mr. Nugent, in that "live and let live" is a "foreign idea" to certain individuals on the left regarding the two particular issues he mentioned, I have to point out that some individuals on the right are often reluctant to "live and let live" when it comes to issues such as homosexual marriages, teaching evolution in public schools, and recreational drug use (not that I condone the last one). While Ted Nugent and I will probably be fighting on the same side during the next American civil war, I would caution him against assuming that either liberals or conservatives have cornered the market on intolerance. There's plenty of that to go around.

...and I prefer my steak medium, please.