Over the Rainbow

                                                 Source: George Takei via who knows where
MORE EQUAL RIGHTS: The big news this morning on Twitter, Facebook and even (gasp) mainstream news feeds was the Supreme Court striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, and California's Proposition 8 being rejected.
In our household, and no doubt tens of thousands of others, this led to extended conversations about marriage, civil rights, state vs. federal laws and more.

I told the kids that they're watching a civil rights tide turning, as has happened throughout history. For instance, slavery was abolished, women won the right to vote, Jim Crow laws were struck down and civil rights for minorities were supported. And now sexual orientation and identity rights are being recognized.

As has been the case with seemingly every other civil rights campaign, it's a long and winding road, often painful, sometimes even violent. But as Martin Luther King Jr. observed, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

Today was one of those days.  This short video does a nice job of capturing some of the highlights - and lowlights - of the LGBT civil rights march. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZAhLbC9CVoM


And if you haven't seen or heard it, this song, "One Love," by one of the kids' favorite singers, Macklemore,  of Seattle, does a beautiful job of summing it all up. ...


KING'S COURT: When will we learn that the Mariners this year = heartbreak, disgust and/or some combination thereof? Apparently not any time soon, as we were back at Safeco Field this afternoon for a Wednesday matinee.

But how could we stay away? King Felix was pitching. That had to turn out well, right?

Um, no ... Apparently he can't win a game if the Mariners don't score runs. Sigh.

But we had fun nonetheless. We always do.  We were dressed like kings, and ate like kings ...

The ballpark is beautiful, and the action, good or bad, is compelling.

The views are awesome. I loved how this building was framed by the roof's steel trusses.

Heck, even these people had fun, though they seemed to have ZERO interest in the ball game. Seriously, what's with sitting at the tables on the concourse eating while the game's going on?