Month: June 2022

Leave a comment Posted on abortion, President Obama, President Trump, Roe v. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court

Turning Back the Clock on Women

For the first time in its 233-year history, the U.S. Supreme Court revoked a right that it sanctioned a half a century ago:  a woman’s right to an abortion.

Never before has the Court done such a thing.

Suddenly, mothers and grandmothers who lived through the legal abortion era now have daughters and granddaughters who do not have as much freedom as they did.  Isn’t that the reverse of how our culture is supposed to advance, granting more freedoms as the years go on, not taking them away?

At a time when our country is divided over so many issues, this is the last thing we need to happen.  It is time to recognize that we have been living in a cold civil war period for the past few decades and not protecting a woman’s right what she does with her body will further exacerbate the situation.

Now, each state will be fighting against each other because the states who will have the strictest anti-abortion laws plan to block women who seek out those states that allow abortion, thus generating tension among the states.

If a woman from Alabama where abortion is not legal travels into the neighboring state of Florida where it remains legal, who is going to enforce what that woman does?  Will a Florida doctor be arrested for giving pills to that woman?  Will the woman upon returning to Alabama be jailed?

This creates such a mess.  And aren’t they more pressing issues that we as a country need to face such as inflation, gun control and climate change?

You know what I have always found odd about those who oppose abortion is that they tend to be the same people who oppose affordable child care.  In other words, they won’t allow a woman who makes a mistake getting pregnant to terminate a pregnancy so that she is not burdened with financial difficulties, but in forcing the woman to have the baby, will not provide care for that baby.   That single woman and child end up using welfare and other social services which affects all of our paychecks.

And, by the way, what business is it of anyone if a citizen has an abortion?  How does that personal decision negatively impact anyone but that woman?    

Those who oppose abortion strongly are the same people who refuse to wear a mask declaring to mandate one is an infringement on their personal freedom; in other words, it is one’s personal choice to wear or not wear a mask.  Likewise, to tell women they do not have a choice is to take away their personal freedom. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.

Another hypocritical matter is that President Obama with 8 months left before the 2016 presidential election was blocked from filling a Supreme Court opening, yet President Trump was allowed to appoint a justice with 8 days left before the 2020 election.   

Amazing that one president, in office for just 4 years without winning the popular vote, could have such an impact on the Supreme Court by appointing three justices over another president in office for 8 years who won the popular vote both times who only appointed two.

Fifty years ago, conservative judges appointed by President Nixon helped pass Roe v. Wade by a 7 to 2 vote, granting women the freedom to choose, proving that no matter the political bent of individual judges, when it came to making a decision, both sides were considered. 

Today’s Supreme Court justices stuck to their political persuasions, not ruling on what is right or wrong, demonstrating how politicized the court has become.  The proof?  All three of Trump’s justices voted against Roe v. Wade.

Let’s hope the Court doesn’t consider revoking a woman’s right to vote. After all, just like abortion, women were not mentioned in the 1789 U.S. Constitution.

Leave a comment Posted on Father's Day

One More Father’s Day

This Father’s Day will be my 24th one.  I only had 15 Father’s Days with my dad so I’m aware not to take any one of them for granted.  But this Father’s Day will hold extra meaning for this may well be the last one my two sons will be home to celebrate with me in person.  Son Number One leaves in 3 weeks for Salt Lake City, while Son Number Two leaves in 3 months for San Luis Obispo.

As s child, I still recall being super excited to celebrate both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  After Christmas and my birthday, those were my two favorite special days of the year because it provided me an opportunity to thank my parents and show them how much I loved them. 

Following in the footsteps of my older brother and sister, we would make our own greeting cards, and decorate the walls with oversized signs before they woke up in the morning.  The highlight of the day, however, was watching them react to our cards, most often tearing up.

We weren’t the type of family who hugged a lot or said “I Love You” so the cards quietly, deeply exuded our feelings.

The greatest gift my parents gave to us three kids was in teaching us to be decent people.  None of us kids ever got involved in serious trouble or drug use or unexpected pregnancies.  To this day, the three of us remain close and much of it has to do with Mom and Dad.

Likewise, all my wife and I wanted in rearing our children was for them to be happy and successful people who contributed positively to society, knowing right from wrong. 

We wanted our kids to be aware of the world’s wonders which is why so many of our family vacations were at national parks. 

We also wanted our kids to have an interest in what was happening in the world so that they would be good citizens.

That’s why I would enthusiastically share with them a newspaper story or a “60 Minutes” segment of compassionate individuals such as the athlete who visited sick children in hospitals without publicity, or of the centenarian lawyer who helped defeat the Nazis and who still gets emotional thinking of the horrors that he saw.

As the days grow short before their departures, is there anything else I can do as a father or words of wisdom to pass on that I overlooked?  Any old movies or songs that I need to play for them before they forever go out of my influence?  One more Sinatra song?  One more Astaire dance?

As each of them embark on a new journey—one to start a career, the other to start college—all my wife and I can do now is be observers.  We had our two decades’ worth of bringing them up; now they are on their own.

Last Father’s Day, we traveled up to Montecito to eat breakfast at a favorite restaurant, an activity I normally abhor due to the crowds.  But we hadn’t done much traveling for the previous two years so we made the nearly two-hour drive north to Lucky’s. 

We asked the waitress to take a photo of us which has now become my desktop’s wallpaper, an image I see each morning I turn on the computer.  And we will make the same venture up north this Father’s Day, and sit at the same exact table as we did last year, and have a new photo to memorialize the day.  Just the four of us.  And always have a memory of how happy our little family was before the little birdies left the nest.