Yesterday was a double whammy day.
South Dakota banned abortion and Kirby Puckett died.
I’m from South Dakota. I can tell you I’ve never been proud of that fact. I had a hard time growing up there because I’m a bit of a freak. Freaks aren’t very popular in small towns in South Dakota, in case you were wondering. I got out of there as fast as I could and as soon as I could. It’s funny because recently friends and I have been talking about moving back. It’s cheap, it’s vast, it’s got some potential……. Well, yesterday was that hit you over the head reminder for me, I can’t go back there. Not only is it just as closed and scary as I remember, now it’s worse. I saw one of the legislators talking about this on television and I couldn’t believe the things he said. He was likening women that have abortions to Scott Pederson. You know, the Scott Pederson that was convicted for killing his pregnant wife. Yeah, I can see how that’s the same thing…..(sarcasm).
It was the New York Times quote of the day today:
“The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them.
”
– GOV. MICHAEL ROUNDS, of South Dakota, after signing a bill that largely bans
abortion.
I wonder what kinds of plans the governor has in mind for caring for the unborn children once they are born. This is the thing that always get me about ‘respect for life’ is that life doesn’t get respected after birth. How do we feed, clothe, educate, and love these children? We don’t have respect for life in this country. The facts and figures about homelessness, hunger and disregard for the poor in a country that is drowning in abundance prove it.
He was one of those bright stars. He had so much talent. He gave a ton. He knew what he wanted, he always talked about knowing he wanted to play baseball since he was 5. His career was taken from him early as was his life. It’s really sad. It’s a loss for humanity.
I didn’t grow up with baseball. I learned it when I got older. My husband was patient and taught me over time how to really love the game. I never saw Kirby play, he was before my time in terms of my consciousness around baseball. I did get to witness his induction into the Hall of Fame. We were in the dome with my husband’s family when it happened and they showed it on the big screen. He was one of those people that has so much they just burn out way too early.
Yesterday was a rough one.
The Image Lab 
I used to dream about buying an island and just starting a new society with all my smart friends and similarly awesome people. Private islands aren’t really all that expensive, putting aside for the moment that it’s all rather too utopian and messianic (follow me! I am the Chosen One!)
You could almost do it in SoDak. I mean, their population is less than 800,000. There are less than 500,000 registered voters with 280,000 registered republicans or other, against about 180,000 Democrats. You see where I’m going with this. You just need to recruit 150,000 people and boom, it’s a blue state. So you’d just have to convince one out of every two thousand Americans to join the formation of the new utopia. It’d be a damn sight cheaper than an island.
Drop me an email when you start the early registration, okay?