I’ve been taking a breather to tamp down my incandescent rage about the leaked opinion from the five radical far-right Supreme Court justices that points directly to overturning Roe v. Wade. I cannot believe we are at a place when half our country’s population is having our rights shredded, without regard to rape, incest, or human trafficking, let alone our FREEDOM and LIBERTY. It lays the groundwork for the hammer to crash down on contraception, IVF, gay marriage, interracial marriage, and civil rights. And in case you think that might be hyperbolic, those rights were established on the exact same unenumerated basis as Roe was: The 14th Amendment’s admonition that States not deprive any person of life, liberty, privacy, or property without due process of law. Alito’s ridiculous “argument” is that “rights must be deeply rooted in this nation’s history and tradition.” So does that mean that women’s voting rights will be revoked? Because it certainly wasn’t part of this nation’s history and tradition. Slavery was deeply rooted in our history and tradition, so will that now be A-OK? Also, felons can’t vote, so will the women seeking abortions and criminalized with a felony lose that right, too? (A side benefit for the authoritarian republicans?) It’s a fact: our rights hang by a wispy hair that the extreme right-wing SCOTUS can snip or pluck at any time.
And then get this: Alito cites with approval a 17th century witch-burning enthusiast, Sir Matthew Hale, who was the Chief Justice of England in 1671. He considered abortion a “great crime,” insisted that “a husband cannot be guilty of rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife for by their matrimonial consent and contract the wife had given up herself unto the husband which she cannot retract.” He also authorized the execution of two women for being witches. And this is who Alito aligns with?
What. The. Fucking. Fuck.
Forced birth. That’s what our country is facing in 2022. My head is spinning. My gut is gutted. My rage can’t even be measured.
B R E A T H E
Wanna see some flowers?
My Aerogarden is currently planted with “draping Petunias,” and while they aren’t particularly draping at this point, they are thick and colorful and they bring me joy!
For Mother’s Day, John got me two of these. Absolutely love them!
And after all of the wind and torrential rain and MAY HAIL we’ve had, the deck pots are perky and growing:
(Believe me, the sunshine has been a rarity…)
For the last several years (5? 6?) John has been volunteering at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum up in Kent. At least twice a week (75 miles each way), starting at ground zero in the restoration of the 1979 Miss Squire Shop hydroplane (thunderboat!) The original boat itself was in very poor condition for restoration, so much of it has been completely re-built, but using the design plans from the original that John drew up (and also some useable components). For the last six months or so, he has been the Crew Chief and they are hustling (“thrashing”) to get it ready to run in the water this coming Tuesday at Stan Sayres Pits on Lake Washington for testing. Every day this week he’s been driving to and from the Museum, dealing with dire issues, trouble-shooting them, fixing them, moving on to the next dire issue. Tomorrow they finally fire the motor for the first time (Merlin). What a road this has been, and I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that it’s so close to COMPLETE. This is the original 1979 boat:
And here we are (sans cockpit windscreen, engine cowling, and wings, which will all be attached in the next day or so):
Today the motor is in and secured.
Here’s John’s Crew Chief uniform:
AND THEN…he may be a driver this coming Tuesday. He and a few others, including Chip Hanauer, will rotate as drivers at the upcoming events—TriCities, SeaFair, etc.). So he has a racing uniform as well, but I’ll wait until he’s wearing it before I take a picture.
And yes! I get to go to Stan Sayres Pits with him and watch! There will be three other Vintage boats there as well, and I’m suspecting a whole bunch of fans (based on the interest on their Facebook page). wOOt!! The downside is that we have to LEAVE THE HOUSE TUESDAY MORNING AT 5:30 A.M. (Help me)
And finally, some Quinn photos! (B R E A T H E . . .)
“A vote for Democrats is a vote to save democracy and women’s reproductive rights. It’s that simple and that obvious.” Steven Beschloss
