I Call Bullshit

Yesterday Donald Trump said that he wanted to make abortion illegal. When asked if women who got illegal abortions should be punished he said they should. Before I get into my take on this I want to make my position clear. First, I would prefer that abortions were not necessary. Second, I think it is a decision that should be made by the individual woman. Third, the man involved should support whatever decision the woman makes. It is her body and her choice. Now, back to Mr. Trump.

Republicans in general and all of the remaining candidates on their ticket want to ban abortion. If abortion is illegal and the fetus is a person with a right to life as they claim. Why shouldn't the woman be punished? It isn't as if she was dragged kicking and screaming and had her pregnancy terminated against her will. She got pregnant whether accidentally, intentionally or against her will. She went out and sought an abortion provider. She had to travel to their location, disrobe, submit to a procedure she knew was illegal. Every candidate except Trump (until he knew he had stepped on a land mine and changed positions) says the woman should not be punished. The only explanation is that they feel women are incapable of making a rationale decision and therefore are not responsible. Evil abortion providers are apparently tracking the sale of home pregnancy tests and showing up at homes offering abortions. They corner these vulnerable women and convince them to terminate the pregnancy. If only some man had been there to help them make the right decision and protect them from the wiles of the evil providers. If the abortion logic was applied to drugs we would have a different looking legal system. If I go out and purchase heroin, for example, and get caught. It would seem by their logic it should not be my fault. The seller should go to jail. I was just mislead by their evil sales pitch. It is total bullshit. They don't want to say they would punish women because they know it would cost them votes. Their policies punish women every day by restricting access to health care, birth control, equal pay for the same work and plenty of other policies. So, fuck you assholes. Mr. Trump just said what you were thinking but we're scared to say. Now he joins you in your lie. 

Guns Again

Well from time to time I have gotten on here and complained about guns. Background checks, magazine capacity limits, assault rifle ban, and carry restrictions. The one and maybe only time I'm in favor of open carry the Secret Service steps in. There was a petition seeking to allow open carry at the Republican National Convention. Made sense to me. They say gun free zones are just an invitation for bad folks with guns to attack the defenseless. They want teachers to have guns in schools. Seems like having lots of guns at their convention would be no problem. They are the experts at telling a good guy with a gun from a bad guy with a gun. What could possibly go wrong. Trump and Cruz backers in close proximity all heavily armed and willing to defend their candidate. We could rename it the Republican Hunger Games. Whoever lives, I mean wins, gets to be the candidate. It would seem reasonable that since they are the party of the religious that "God" would protect his chosen one. If they get shot and died, well "God's" will be done. 

Some Random Crap on a Friday

I've been watching Ted Cruz and Donald Trump compare wives instead of policy positions. 

If it comes down to this choice maybe the kid has it right.

Some other things to think about. 

I hate Mickey so I don't feel sorry for him here. 

If you are old enough you will understand. 

iPhones allow face swapping in pictures. This is Audrey and me. 

This one is Audrey and Carol. The resemblance is striking. 

Finally for today.

Irish Heritage Parade

The last important thing we did before leaving Tybee was attending the Irish Heritage Parade on Saturday. Before moving to Tybee we didn't know what a huge deal St. Patrick's Day was there and in Savannah. Thursday all the workers employed by the city of Tybee have the day off to celebrate. There will be a parade in Savannah that is the biggest vent in the city all year. Today is pictures of the parade on Tybee. 

I wasn't going to comment on any of these pictures but I must make an exception for the one above. First, there are things you wish you hadn't seen or could somehow unsee. This is one. Second, there is a movement by some women called "Free the Nipple". There are pictures like this that may be calling for support of their position. Finally, the belly button jewel is just gross. 

Thanks for attending. 

Music Has Power

Saturday was the Irish Heritage Parade on Tybee Island. The big parade will be in Savannah on St. Patrick's Day this Thursday. By big parade I do mean big. Last year the parade lasted about 8 hours, featured 300+ floats along with marching bands and other groups. Carol and I have not attended one in Savannah yet but it is on our list. One of the groups that comes to participate every year is Barabbas and the Tribe. They are Junkanoo performers. Not familiar with Junkanoo? Well, I wasn't either. It is a tradition from the Bahamas. Essentially it is a street parade with music, dance and costumes. The music features goat skin drums and cowbells along with other instruments. As Christopher Walken says, "I got a need for more cowbell."  Here is Barabbas and the Tribe.

This group is loud and fun. If you are having a party they are a must attend guest. The group following them was school girls in their uniforms carrying the flags of Ireland. All the girls maintained their marching and decorum except one. The power of the music simply took control of her. 

The giveaway is the movement of her skirt. Everyone else is with the flag program. She has gone Junkanoo. 

Sometimes the power of music just moves you. 

Can We Get These Two Together

We were sitting in Benny's on Tybee Island yesterday when this drove by.

It got me thinking about other interesting vehicles we had seen. 

Seems to me a perfect match. Nuts and wiener. The 12 year old boy still trapped in my head cackles with joy. I'll never grow up. Sorry Mom. 

City of Presidents

Yesterday the blog was about the scrap iron art of John Lopez. Today we continue with the work of this amazing artist. While in Rapid City, South Dakota we saw sculptures of former presidents on the street corners in the downtown area. All the presidents are represented except Mr. Obama. His sculpture will be done after the completion of his term in office. Twelve of the sculptures have been done by John Lopez. Here are a few of them.

John F Kennedy and John Jr.

Ulysses S Grant

Theodore Roosevelt

John Adams

William Henry Harrison

James Garfield

Warren G Harding

If you are interested in learning more about John Lopez and his work please visit his blog at johnlopezstudio.blogspot.com  and visit johnlopezstudio.com  If you would like to see all the president statues in Rapid City please go to presidentsusa.net and there is a gallery of all the sculptures. I hope you have enjoyed the works of John Lopez as much as I have. This was a small sampling of his work and I encourage you to check out more of his art.

Talent

Last summer when we were in South Dakota to watch Audrey participate in the national tumbling competition we took a side trip to Hill City. While we were walking around the downtown area we came across these two sculptures.

A quick note. If you look closely at the hind quarter of the second sculpture you will note the plate that says Home Comfort. Readers may recall that Home Comfort ranges were made by the Wrought Iron Range Company of St. Louis, Missouri the employer of my great grandfather George Washington Oyler.

When we came across these sculptures I did not know the name of the artist or if there were more. I happened across an article which featured a picture of the first sculpture and information about the artist. His name is John Lopez. He is a 1990 graduate of Lemmon, South Dakota High School. Having said that I will show you some of his works.

So there you have some of the amazing works or John Lopez. His work with scrap iron is only one of his talents. Come back tomorrow for the rest of the story.