Boys Day Out

Dropped Dawn off at a brunch off Van Dorn Street then headed off to my brother's to meet him and my father to go to the Air & Space Museum out by Dulles Airport. We're trying to get together every so often without the wives since we get along with each other much better than our wives get along with each other. Beach week every summer is very stressful because of it.

Rob is not in terrific health. (In fact he has an appointment with his doctor on Monday because of it). He does really well, though, helped by the places scattered around the vast museum for sitting and resting.

It's fun to hear Dad talk about certain pieces. Of the Vietnam-era Huey, he claims it's the only aircraft in which he felt safe when he was in Vietnam. Any Air Force craft felt like it was going to rattle apart, says he. He identifies a particular jet as having to be a Navy aircraft (and he's right) because it's squat and ugly and therefore Air Force officers would refuse to be seen in it. I'm detecting a bit of intra-service rivalry.

He also knows a bit about the missiles in that part of the museum, having worked at Fort Bliss and White Sands. Rob, too, having had some type of missile capability obviously on his ship in the Navy, the Hawes, a guided missile frigate.

I'm of course a big space geek, so I can tell you what's a Mercury and what's a Gemini, although it's not hard to tell them apart. I point out that the Original 7 used to describe the Mercury as not something you piloted so much as something you wore. I think that's from The Right Stuff.

We have lunch at Damon's on either 50 or 29 or somewhere. I don't know. It's way out of town for me.

It's great to chat and hang out with the guys.

Dad mentions towards the end how excited he is that soon we'll have the fifth Catholic on the Supreme Court. I note how Clinton appointed Jews while Republicans appoint Catholics. Something going on, you think?

We talk about Roe some, as well as O'Connor's undue burden test from Casey. Dad thinks the high court pulled privacy out of their asses for Roe. I actually don't have much problem with Roe, thinking it's a very logical step after Griswold. Dad thinks it should be left up to the states, which shocks me. Murder is murder, isn't it, whether it's federal murder or state murder? I think that there oughta be a constitutional amendment banning abortion, and it should also be a complete ban on the death penalty and nuclear weapons too, and we'll call it the Life Amendment. Rob too surprises me, expressing his opposition to abortion, but not necessarily calling for a legal ban.

So, oddly, we're all against abortion, but Dad thinks it should be a state matter and that the Supreme Court should overturn Roe, I think it's a federal matter and we need to amend the Constitution, and Rob thinks it's a personal matter and ... I don't know ... what can you expect from libertarians.

Later I talk to Dawn and determine that she doesn't agree with any of us really. She gets annoyed at me for trying to pin her down, but near as I can tell she thinks I'm a barbarian for advocating a total ban. And she thinks I'm slippery on life and health of the mother aspect.