The Oscars -- it's not about movies anymore

No, friends, it's all about politics and social agendas.

Last night's Oscars were all about making sure the American people are shamed or at the very least browbeaten into supporting gay marriage.

The guy who wrote the screenplay for "Milk" about San Francisco gay rights activist Harvey Milk who was killed in the 1970s used his winning moment to chastise the churches, the feds and pretty much everyone else for failing to embrace behaviors and lifestyles that aren't worth embracing.

Sean Penn -- always one of my least favorite actors simply because his personal politics and snide remarks rankle me to no end -- was voted Best Actor for his portrayal of Harvey Milk. He used his winning moment to lambaste the passage of Proposition 8 that makes marriage in California legal only between a man and a woman and to argue that everyone deserves equal rights.

A nice sentiment if you don't dig too deeply. And right now I'm so tired and so annoyed I'm not going to take up my shovel.

I didn't watch the Oscars live. I read about them online so as to skip the commercials, the stupid jokes and the rebukes from the likes of Sean Penn.

Hollywood is irrelevant anymore. It doesn't represent me or most of the folks I know. It's not interested in attracting our business or our money. It berates, badgers and blasts us for not embracing things our religion teaches are wrong. It bemoans the fact that we won't give up our religion or at least the parts of it that don't agree with Hollywood. And it churns out enough mental and visual pollution to make Al Gore's call for carbon credits seem almost legit.

My children have never been to a movie and I've told them why. I've told them that the day the local cinema features something that doesn't involve killing people, killing animals, foul language, anti-religious remarks, potty humor, tacky clothes, smoking, drinking alcohol, and the blatant disrespect of parents, then MAYBE I'll consider taking them to see a show.

Otherwise, they'll have to tackle Hollywood on their own dime and on their own time.

My only hope is that by then their father and I will have equipped them well enough to handle whatever they might hear or see.