Cannibalism 101 (5/16/2022)

The hope was high that with the election of President Biden the political climate would calm down and for one we could hang up our protest or marching shoes and become ordinary citizens again. Boy, were we proven wrong. In addition to this weekend’s pro-choice rally, we came home to the news of another mass shooting by a white supremacist.

During the rule of the short fingered dictator named tRump, we joined the Women’s march in Washington; a mothers for gun control march in Williamsburg; the March for Science in Norfolk; and a march against Global Warming in Newport News. However, when it came out that the Supreme Court might want to decide against the expressed will (or opinion) of something like over 60% of the US public on abortion, we started digging in our closet for our marching shoes. It was time to attend the rally planned for May 14 in Williamsburg.

Just sitting here with a few random thoughts about politics, abortion, the rally, and in general what has been going on, but not necessarily in that order.

1. There were probably 3 to 400 folks at the rally this Saturday. I was disappointed by the number, but encouraged by the number of vehicles driving by that gave their thumbs up and honked in approval. There were approximately 4 or 5 Jesus freaks across the street as counter protesters. One was very vocal, with a bull horn and at times offensive, yelling things like “your body, my choice.” We tried to drown out his yelling and it worked well at times.
2. There were a great number of signs, some were fairly regular and some were clever. I am posting the best one here which read, “If abortion is murder, a blow job is cannibalism!” Now that gives you something to think about, although as a biologist it does not make complete sense. Sperm and eggs are 1N and you combine them to fertilize the egg and make an embryo, which is 2N, oh well.
3. Outlawing any form of abortion would mean murdering women including my wife, who had an ectopic or tubal pregnancy. These type of pregnancies are often fatal to the women and definitely nonviable.
4. When she lived in Cuba, my wife’s grandmother preformed two self-abortions with the famous coat hangers, sometime in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It makes you wonder how many other grandmothers did the same.
5. I am wondering if by chance the only judge whose mind could be changed by all the protest is judge Kavanaugh. He seems to be the least religiously principled; however, he was the most severely bitten by the liberals and this may be his sweet spot to get even with them. We will see, won’t we? I really hope I can write a post where I write “I told you so.”
6. One thing that occurred to me again was that we liberals need to become less tolerant and more extreme! I once mentioned that in our Unitarian Church as well. The Unitarians have a principle which talks about “the inherent dignity of every person” (Principle 1) and the “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregation” (Principle 3). I am getting to the point of wondering whether we need to become more in your face and stronger instead of accepting and tolerant of everyone. I believe there are people that have no dignity! This was somewhat acknowledged by an editorial I read in the Washington Post this Sunday. The right wing in our society goes around shooting up black grocery stores, and then calls for more guns and blames Antifa or Biden for all this. No, the blame rests with the Republican politicians, pundits and talk show hosts who pay lip service to these folks, whip them up, whether it is about abortion, racism, or the word du jour cancel culture. They need to be canceled out.

My favorite sign for the protest rally in Williamsburg.  This lady was so darn serious and standing very close to the Jesus freak with his bullhorn!  

Sorry guys, just some random thoughts. Maybe some more happier writings later on, where I can talk about my bonsai, my nature walks, and happy feelings. Hopefully you get a chuckle from the picture. Till soon.