Day 472 – Reality is A Cold Place

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Late yesterday a draft copy of a Supreme Court Decision got leaked to the press. That in and of itself is unique. The decision is sweeping. It is the decision to overturn Roe, that allowed abortion to be legal in the U.S. The reasoning is, essentially, that the word abortion is not in the Constitution so therefore the Federal government should not be involved and it is up to the states to regulate abortion. This is legal BS plain and simple, written by the guy who told W he didn’t have to follow the law with executive decisions because it hadn’t been tested in court. This is extremist rhetoric as is the “it isn’t in the Constitution” argument, which is something conservatives have been advocating sporadically and selectively for decades. Yeah, you can pick out other things that aren’t in the Constitution but the federal government rules on all the time. Now, interestingly, those same radical anti-abortionists are talking about making a nationwide ban on abortion. Wonder how Alito will come down on that?

Let’s also look at the three court justices Trump appointed. They all voted for it. Huh? Amazing, right? Now YOU KNOW what you had to lose by electing Trump. But that’s not the end of this. The argument knocks down three Supreme Court rulings that were “settled law.” This now means that this radical conservative Supreme Court will go after anything they want, even if the cases had been argued and settled a long time ago. Not only will abortion be on the chopping block, but women’s access to birth control. On the horizon are other rights to be infringed upon: racial, sexual, religious. 

The case that the court ruled on was a law in Mississippi. That law makes no exception for rape, incest, or child impregnation. Recently, there was a case in a lower court where the rapist sued to have visiting rights to his child! Imagine that? Protecting the rights of rapists? That’s cool, right? I mean let’s just tell an eleven year old girl to suck it up, have the child, and be visited by the man who did the most terrifying thing to her in her life.

I’ve heard the pissing and moaning and righteous anger of anti-abortionists. They’ve sent me the pictures of the fetuses and asked, “How can you say that isn’t a human being?” That’s easy. It’s not. It might be one day, but at the moment it’s not. 

Let’s call the anti-abortionists what they are – Killers of Women. I know, they’ll say, “We aren’t killing women.” Oh yeah? How come whenever abortion bans are put in place women die from abortions? Oh they shouldn’t do that. Yeah, but for some reason they do. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Let’s pass a law nationwide saying what a women does with her body is none of the government’s business? I don see anyone running around advocating for not letting people put ink under their skin, or letting them slit their tongue in half, or put a bunch of spikes and bumps in their skin, or even cut off a leg. I know, being impregnated is an opportunity you say. For who I ask? 

It has been argued that the drop in crime in the early nineties was the result of the 1973 Roe decision, because as women were no longer forced to have unwanted children the kids that would have come of age 18 to 20 years later weren’t there. These were children that would have been neglected and abused. Later, to become criminals. Yeah, I know, it’s an opportunity. At some point we will have to get real.

Remember Richard Malthus? He was a 19th century demographer and economist. His core evaluation was that population will always outrun food supply, unless stern limits are placed on population growth. Now there is something I would think the Rabid Right could get behind. It’s got everything they want. You get to tell people what to do, take away their rights, etc.

Malthus’ work led to the Zero Population initiative, which was very popular for decades in this country. Then Reagan met with the Pope and killed it. Just what I want a no-nothing right wing politician led by a wife that consults with spiritualists and tells him what to do striking a deal with a religious leader in a foreign country telling us here in America how we should lead our lives. And now we see the results of this kind of policy: starvation, uncared for and neglected children, poverty, suppression of voting rights…

Some may want to argue the last point. Who is targeted with voter suppression? The poor, the neglected, those who have to move around to survive, the unrepresented. Let’s keep it that way, shall we? Wouldn’t want to actually help those in need.

BTW, do you know the country in the industrialized world with the worst outcome for babies and mothers who just had them? I’ll give you a hint. the initials are U S A. Yeah, that’s right. More babies and women who had a baby die within six weeks here in the USA. Why? You might ask. I’ll tell you why. There is no support for women who have babies. In simple terms the government doesn’t give a crap.Come on Ted Cruz pound the floor with that one. You have three daughters, right? Be a pity if one of them got accidentally knocked up. But you wouldn’t take her out of state, like to Cancun, to have an abortion would you? You’d stand by her and say things like, “Gee, that’s too bad Honey. “ And then when her rapist came on knocked on the door demanding to see her kid you’d let him in right?

Speaking of those in need, before this all came up the big question was student loan debt. There’s an argument that those who got into debt should just work to pay it off, like for their whole lives. Take the case of Laura Ingraham, she went to Dartmouth and then Virginia. Her mother, according to Ingraham, had to work as a waitress into her 70s to pay off Laura’s college debt. There doesn’t seem to be any thought on Laura’s part that she should have helped. I guess she was too busy partying at that row house in Georgetown with Carlson and Kavanaugh. What? You think I forgot that little tidbit? 

Speaking of Kavanaugh, my only regret in his confirmation hearing was that he wasn’t forced to explain that “drinking game” as he called it. The one where two guys put a woman on her knees and hands and enter her from each end. Now that’s something what’s his name and the pool boy at Liberty University would have done.

Hey Susan! Collins, I’m talking to you. Ya wanna see that clip of you saying that you believed Brett would let RoevWade stand? 

This all comes back to a central problem this country has – minority rule. The SC justices who decided this case are all appointed by minority elected presidents. This situation is going to get worse. Of course the solution is simple- popular vote. Or at a minimum let LA County have the same representation as the eight western states its population matches. What say you Montana?

Then there’s Joe Manchin. He’s dirty. He is making big bucks from the filthiest of coal and he’s not changing. Oh, he has concerns – Bull. And Kyrsten Sinema? WTF? She is so out to lunch.