#483 – Dick Bernard: Political Communication, awash in lies of every sort.

In the very recent past an incident at University of California at Davis (UCD) went viral. A policeman was filmed from many angles pepper-spraying students doing a sit-in on campus in support of the Occupy movement.
I have a good friend who has lived in Davis for over 30 years and he presumably knows his relatively small local community well. In university in the late 1960s he was an excellent journalist and photographer during the Vietnam Wars days of rage. He is very media savvy to this day. I decided to ask him for his report on the situation three days after it happened. He said this:
“Reporting live from the streets of Davis – the scene is – – – – –
Nothing – nothing at all.
All of the action is in the center of the campus; which is about a quarter mile in any direction from any vehicular traffic.
The “angry mob” of about 500 is maybe 1 percent of the total student/faculty in residence; and I see not a whit of any discussion or even acknowledgement of [this?] by anyone I’ve talked to over the past several days.
Obviously, the town newspaper smells Pulitzer; and their website/blog/twitter feed is in overdrive – which fits with the total wired generation of students; each, it seems, started filming 10 seconds before the pepper started.
What IS acknowledged and youtubed (but not virally; and NOT getting any other play at all), is that the students were warned multiple times over several hours after several days; both written and verbal; to move or they would be sprayed.
I’m frankly far less disgusted by the pepper spray than the mainstream media seems to be. Given the history of civil disobedience between protestors and police over the decades, pepper spray is far less violent and injury producing than dragging; clubbing or other more serious options. Should it have been done, though? Most definitely not. Best tactic would have been to ignore.
Remember this: Hype is driven by the loudest screams, and with internet and texting readily available to the masses, any rumor or partial truth can really run rampant.
RE the chancellor – she is likely gone, along with the officers and the police chief. There is no way to avoid that.”

A while earlier, right after I’d heard of Occupy Wall Street in New York City for the first time, I wrote a signed commentary* on the topic for the local newspaper: “You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of it”, I said about the by the then-evolving viral protest in behalf of the 99% of us who aren’t wealthy. Zuccotti Park was the parent of the UCD gathering. Zuccotti Park had gone unpublicized by major media for nearly the first two weeks of its existence.
My column was published in the October 12 edition of the paper, and my local legislator – who’d have no love for OWS – wrote me a dismissive e-mail pointing out that she did know about the protest…and the Minneapolis one as well. What she didn’t know is that I had submitted my newspaper commentary two weeks earlier, on September 30, and for whatever reason the paper had chosen not to print it. I thought they’d trash-canned my comment, and in any event I had no opportunity to edit my work. That was their prerogative.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, and quite willingly, I receive on a continuing basis the ubiquitous pieces of garbage I’ve come to call “forwards”, anti-Obama, anti-liberal, anti-“other”, religiously sent on by disciples of the right. (Similar kinds of items, with a completely different ideological slant, of course, come much less frequently from the left as well). I check all of these out. Mostly they are false or so completely doctored by their originators as to not even resemble the truth. They never carry pride of authorship – the actual name of person or group which started them on their lying way across the nation – and they are forwarded on by those who apparently don’t do even minimal fact checking or, worse, don’t care. “I’ll believe what I want to believe.”
Somehow I hope we’ll survive this onslaught of untruth – though over the next months hundreds of millions of dollars will be devoted to spinning information fairy tales on TV, radio, the internet and other means.
Caveat Emptor.

* – the commentary submitted Sep 30, 2011:
Nothing much startles me any more, but this clip from a nationally known blogger got my attention on Friday: “Wall Street folks sipping champagne from a balcony as they watch the protesters walk by….”
Indeed, there it was, video from someone at Occupy Wall Street. People on balconies overlooking the protests, sipping drinks of one sort or another, including one raising a wine glass as if to toast the protestors below a la Marie Antoinette.
Protest on Wall Street? You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of it. The morning paper had not a word about it. The national media has given it almost no attention, though there have been smatterings of coverage lately. What attention has been given tends towards blaming the protesters, or dismissing their efforts.
Wall Street Rules.
The occupy Wall Street protests matter, even if they don’t rise above the horizon out here due to media inattention.
We in Woodbury live in a prosperous town in a still prosperous state and still extraordinarily wealthy country.
It is too easy to ignore unemployment and underemployment. Most of our families and most of our streets do not have those scruffly leeches on the system that we love to imagine and tsk tsk about. “They should just get a job”, we say, even if there isn’t a job to get, even a menial one.
In the short term, an economic crisis here or elsewhere is simply another opportunity for the Captains of Wall Street and the Corporate World. “Buy low, sell high”.
I grew up with many rural sayings – country wisdom. One that comes to mind for all of us is “the chickens will come home to roost”.
Those worthless wretches who are left with no job, high debt, at best job insecurity (often temporary, no security with no benefits), cannot fuel our capitalist economy which depends on people with money to spend.
They’re the (yes) unfortunate collateral damage, unfortunate, but just part of the game.
They’re also the death of our society that depends on consumption.
As the watering hole dries up, Wall Street and the fat cats among us will continue to prosper for awhile. Bad times are good times for the big bucks folks.
The politicians riding the slick horse of defending the rich against supposed class warfare, may benefit in the short run. They seem to think so, given their abundant anti-government rhetoric.
But, as they used to say, ultimately “the chickens will come home to roost”, and the poor and the dispossessed will get their revenge without once having to hold a protest sign.
It’s time that we “wake up and”, as another saying goes, “smell the coffee”.

#482 – Dick Bernard: The Can Lady and other park stories

I’m an addictive walker, and when I moved to this suburb 11 years ago one of the first priorities was to find a good walking route.
Windwood Passage and Carver Lake paths filled the bill nicely then, and still do. Two and a half miles each and every day (except when ice and snow drive me to presumably safer routes.)

Entrance to Windwood Passage/Carver Lake Trail on a drizzly fall day.


We – humans and other – ‘birds of a feather’ are out there enjoying our community woods. A small gaggle of deer have so lost their fear of we humans that an inattentive walker can almost physically stumble into one on occasion.
We humans help to make the park into a little home town.
I was thinking of this this week when I delivered a bunch of aluminum cans over to Deann on one of our neighborhood streets.
Deann is the ‘can lady’, and I don’t think she’d mind being called that.
She and I ‘crossed paths’ fairly early on, but it took a long while before we got around to exchanging pleasantries of the day. (That ‘distance’ has long passed. Today she noted she and her friend hadn’t seen me for awhile, and wondered how I was doing. “Fine.” Our park schedules apparently haven’t meshed lately.)
The first times I saw Deann she was checking out the garbage cans in the park. Turned out she was rescuing aluminum cans that had been tossed by visitors.
It took a number of years to get to talking about this activity: yes, the cans have resale value, and part of the proceeds go as a donation to her church. She has a very interesting story, small parts of which I have begun to learn, and she is someone I look forward to seeing.
There are many others who share these walking routes on a regular basis, each adding to the character of our community.
Take the several ladies I tend to see on Saturday morning. Used to be they had two large dogs with them. Last time I saw them, the larger dogs were replaced with smaller ones. “What happened?” Both of the dogs had succumbed to some kind of dog ailment. Most every pet owner can identify with this loss.
Or the man I saw frequently this summer, pushing his Dad in a wheelchair for a walk in the park. Once he and I stopped to chat, and he, like I and a number of others, have something of a obsession to keeping trash picked up. He went above and beyond the norm, down to pick up trash at the edges of the ponds along the route. His Dad has good reason to be proud of his son.
I’m quite certain there are occasional ‘edgy’ situations in the park, but in all my years there I’ve witnessed only a couple – both vandalism related.
Soon there will the permanent snow of winter, and the visitors to the trail will decline until the spring.
One winter a large flock of ducks defied the weather and stayed all winter on one of the ponds off the Windwood trail. But they were, shall I say, very odd ducks. Their incessant paddling was about all that kept the pond from freezing.
Soon we say farewell to fall, and settle in for a hopefully tolerable winter.

#481 – Dick Bernard: Thanksgiving 2011: An old car and family ties

My family letter for this Thanksgiving included this photo, and the content which follows. This began with a very recent correspondence with my relative JoAnn, who I’ve never met in person, and who had sent me the photo with a request to help identify the date it was taken. (click on photo to enlarge)

Willard Wentz and Grandma Josephine Bernard, 738 Cooper Avenue, Grafton ND, sometime in the 1940s


“As informal keeper of the family history of Mom and Dad’s ‘sides’ of the family, I am always open to new surprises, of which the above photo is the most recent.
The photo is of my Grandma Bernard and her older sister Elize’s son Willard (Sonny) Wentz (born 1915), sitting in the Bernard’s 1901 Oldsmobile at 738 Cooper Avenue, Grafton ND, sometime in the 1940s. [The 1901 survived because they kept it indoors, in storage, for most of its life. Its appearances were very rare – once in awhile it was an attraction in the local July 4th parade.]
[My relative] JoAnn is Willard [Wentz] and Dorothy Ann (Altendorf’s) daughter. They married in 1942 in Grafton.
As with ALL family stories, there are mysteries here. The most specific one is when the photo was taken. JoAnn notes her Dad is very thin in this photo, and about a year after his marriage he had almost died from a ruptured ulcer. That would have been in 1943.
My grandfather lost his leg due to diabetes about 1946, and (probably) somewhere around that time they added the bench to the porch. Initially (from other photos), the bench was beside the tiny house. The only dated photo I have which includes the porch seems to have been from Easter, 1947. Henry and Josephine probably bought the tiny house in the very early 1940s, and the early pictures do not show a porch. The bench in the photo appears to be fairly new.
During that time – the 1940s – the 1901 car was stored in the little garage behind the house; later it was stowed in the City Hall downtown. (The 1901 still lives on with Tony Bowker in Ramona CA, inland from San Diego.) Here’s the cars story.
“Family”, with all its ins and outs and ups and downs and narrowness and broadness, has always been “Thanksgiving”.
Hopefully you have a great day today, AND RESOLVE TO LABEL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS!!!! : – )
HELP on more identification of this photo is solicited.”
Of course, there is always more to any story.

Willard’s parents (William deceased February 11, 1919, and Elize June 4, 1920), and two of his father’s siblings, died of tuberculosis when he was young. After his mother’s death, along with his older sister, Clarice, he spent several years in the Catholic Orphanage in Fargo. When Clarice reached 18, she stayed in Fargo. Sonny, then 13, came back to Grafton to live with his eldest sister and her husband.
Willard’s daughter, JoAnn Beale, in an accompanying note as we discussed the history of the photo said: “They [doctors] were so worried that he [Willard, then about four years old] would come down with TB, that he was made to sleep in the backyard, summer and winter, in a big sleeping bag. Jo [Josephine, his older sister] didn’t like that much, but Doctor’s word was law….
I wrote back to JoAnn: “Dad once in awhile would tell the story of his relatives with TB (he was born Dec 1907) and he was old enough to know the fears, etc., that went along with this disease. He was a teacher, and every year had to take the Mantoux test, and always tested positive, so he must’ve been exposed to TB, but it never actually made him sick.”
So, this Thanksgiving, my personal reminder to myself is to take nothing for granted. We are all, every one of us, in one big family.
Happy Thanksgiving.

#480 – Dick Bernard: Hon. Lloyd Axworthy on The Responsibility to Protect, et al

UPDATE Nov. 29, 2011: A video of Dr. Axworthy’s talk is accessible here. (It will take a short while to load as it is a long presentation.)
How does one recap nearly 50 years of a career in public service presented in under two hours? How does one recap that two hours in 700 words (the more-or-less standard length of a newspaper opinion column)?
Of course, it’s impossible. (This post is well over twice those 700 words, but divided into two parts.)
I’d like to share at least the main takeaway points I caught in a very fulfilling afternoon with Canadian Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, speaking to a good crowd at the University of Minnesota Law School, and a later dinner involving Dr. Axworthy and more than 30 of us (many of whom were high school students). At the end of this post see more under “More of Dr. Axworthy’s Wisdom”.
The program descriptor spoke for itself: “the Hon. Lloyd Axworthy, is a former Foreign Minister of Canada and a former Canadian Representative to the United Nations, serving twice as President of the UN Security Council. He served 21 years in the Canadian Parliament and has held seven different cabinet posts in the Canadian government. Currently, he is President of the University of Winnipeg. He has gained distinction for his advocacy for the International Criminal Court, the Responsibility to Protect principle, and the abolition of land mines for which he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. He holds honorary doctorates from twelve universities. His book, Navigating a New World – Canada’s Global Future, was published in 2003.”

the Hon. Lloyd Axworthy, Nov. 22, 2011


(you may click on photos to enlarge them)
In his extensive public service, Dr. Axworthy saw much of the promise and peril of our contemporary national and global society, and saw much of that up close and personal as an envoy. Words like Rwanda, Congo, Bosnia, Kosovo, Eritrea, Ethiopia and such were not exotic abstractions to him. He had, as the saying goes, “been there, done that”. What seems easy is rarely if ever so….
My takeaway from the gatherings yesterday is that it is easy for folks like us to sit around in a coffee shop, or in an affinity group, and figure out all of the world’s problems – or at least the problems we have identified as most important. These days, for most of us it seems, the world revolves around our own particular thing, our own ‘truth’, from the profound to the trivial. We put leaders in impossible quandaries. In a complex society and world, there are no easy answers.
It is essential to have the big picture folks like Dr. Axworthy around, the visionary and diplomatic ones who can identify problems and work towards long-term solutions under oft-times impossible appearing circumstances. I’ve been around people like Dr. Axworthy before, and they always inspire awe. They truly are ‘been there and done that’ folks, at home with seemingly impossible situations while the rest of us, like me, can muse about how things ought to be.
Things do look simple when all you have to consider is your single issue, and debate its merits only among others who agree with you, using your own data as proof.
Who we elect as leaders is extremely important – it is not a task to be taken lightly. Then, once elected, the leaders task is not “light”.
After dinner, I posed a question about the current generation gap (at the dinner, many of us were high school students), and one comment Dr. Axworthy made stuck with me: essentially, in my day, and his (we seem to be almost exactly the same age) you were dependent on the book and the 50 minute lecture from somebody; in the contemporary generation, in seconds google will come up with a great number of items of apparently related information for the student…but the devil is truly in discerning which of these sources might be reasonably credible and which might be demonstrably false. This is a dilemma of the current age. We can deliberately fool ourselves by accepting only the truth that we believe; in the end analysis, we’ll be the fools if married to that notion of ‘truth’. Facts have a nasty way of coming home to roost.
The Canadian Consul-General to the Twin Cities, Martin Loken, also attended the evening meeting and addressed some current issues, particularly the rapid melting of the Arctic ice cap, the very serious implications of global climate change on the lives of indigenous peoples of the north, and the increasing potential for issues regarding ownership of the resources below the sea; even the implications of northern ports as they will ultimately relate to Minnesota and the Midwest.
As the Arctic opens year round – a consequence of global warming – one of the many outcomes will be the potential reality of a sea-to-sea corridor north to south through the American Midwest. The debate on the implications of this is already beginning. Take a look, sometime, at a globe, with the Arctic in the center of your view. View it without ice. See which countries border on it. Here is one such view, well worth the time to really internalize. It upends our traditional view of east and west. It is a view of the future.
Things like the Law of the Sea, which the U.S. has not yet ratified, will play a larger and larger role. We were urged to pay attention to this. Most countries have ratified the Law of the Sea, and those who have come to agreement are in a better position in upcoming negotiations over the status of the Arctic and other sea issues in this time of improved technology.
A link to a Will Steger program co-sponsored by the Canadians on the changing Arctic is worth a look, here.

Dinner group November 22, 2011


Dr. Axworthy (at left) addresses group at dinner Nov. 22. To his left are Rich Kleber, co-president of United Nations Association (UNA) MN, Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg, president, Citizens for Global Solutions MN, and Stu Ackman, Board member, UNA MN


MORE OF DR. AXWORTHY’S WISDOM based on a few notes I took at his talks. My apologies in advance for any unintentional misinterpretations of his thoughts.
1. A good line about being a University President: “there are a lot of people under us, but nobody listens”. He also noted that Canadians likely think many times more often about developments in America, than Americans think about Canada. My thought on his: of course, these were both flashes of his abundant humor, but so true…in too many instances we own the leaders, who we elect after all, and thus can de-select for good or not-so-good reasons, but in America’s case, we have created a system that simply does not work, especially in the current day. What we do – or don’t do – has serious implications across our borders. On the latter note, simply from conversations with my Canadian cousins, two of whom are dual citizens, we – and they – have a great deal to gain from a positive relationship with our near north neighbor. Similarly we have a great deal to gain from other neighbors, near and far. But our notion of American exceptionalism gets in the way of our comment sense.
2. Dr. Axworthy mentioned several times Susan Sonntag’s book “Regarding the Pain of Others”. I’m going to check this book out.
3. “You can turn off the computer, but you can’t turn off the reality” and related comments on the importance of ideas: you need to believe in something you want to do. I picked up the notion that Dr. Axworthy saw great power in networks and coalitions, and that this power is potentially enhanced by the internet. He and several other Canadians became politically powerful and in his case he learned a great deal from door knocking when running for office…”you learn a great deal from the stories behind the doors”…. He reminded me of my great friend, Elmer L. Andersen, Minnesota legislator and Governor in the 1950s era. Andersen was already a well-to-do businessman, but he was also a scratch organizer non-pareil. Andersen loved people, and he reveled in ideas and the interplay of differing points of view. We are now in an American era where political direct and indirect lies are endemic, and personal contact of governed with their elected representatives limited almost entirely to sound bites on television or radio, that we are at risk of losing the very democracy we celebrate. The U.S. Congress has truly abyssmal approval ratings from the public. Unfortunately it truly reflects us.
4. Dr. Axworthy has walked the talk of Responsibility to Protect for years and credited the campaign to end land-mines for its impetus and success. (Relevant links in the 4th paragraph). One-hundred twenty countries have signed the treaty document and the results are clear: a reduction from over 100,000 to 15,000 mines per year. Dr. Axworthy made clear that there is evil in the world. It will never be totally eradicated. But campaigns such as Responsibility to Protect have and can do great things. He suggested a New Law of Humanity as opposed to simply a Law of Nations – where one can’t be a predator of his/her own people; and where there needs to be an effective multi-national force to restore order in occasional chaotic situations.
5. As a powerful politician and a well-seasoned diplomat, Dr. Axworthy made no claims that the UN was or ever will be perfect, or that things such as evil can ever be eliminated. His was a very practical view of making change. Towards the end of his talk he mentioned a new Northern Institute of Social Justice, in the the far north region in the Yukon. He was highly impressed with this program, through which indigenous peoples advocate for their own interests, particularly in the potentially devastating impacts of global climate change on their way of life through new policies of major governments, global business, etc. I have seen other examples of the effectiveness of local advocacy despite overwhelming odds. The success is in the public engagement through the many means available to all people. Dramatic change often comes slowly, one small step at a time.

#479 – Dick Bernard: A chance encounter with James Quentin Young, a creator of religious art

Sunday, while doing my ’rounds’ as an usher at Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis I happened to notice a piece of religious sculpture on the wall (click to enlarge photos). (Photos of all of the art on exhibit can be seen here, and are posted with the permission of the artist.)

Shatter Proof Cross by James Quentin Young, 2010


The creation was intriguing: a combination of wood, metal, plastic and foil. Artist James Quentin Young’s note at the side of the piece said “This cross can be seen as strong and sturdy, a force against the brokenness that exists in our society.
Now I paid closer attention: James Quentin Young is an unusual name, and many years ago in Anoka-Hennepin School District I knew the name of an art teacher, James Quentin Young. I wondered, “one and the same?”
If so, he likely would now be retired, as I am.
A little later, I noticed another cross design a short ways down the same wall: “James Quentin Young”. Another, another…in all there were 18 creations by this James Quentin Young on the outer walls of the Basilica, each unique. I go to church at Basilica, but normally don’t see the outer walls and had completely missed this exhibition (which, unfortunately, ended November 20).
Downstairs, where we always have coffee after Mass, there were many more attractive works of art on the walls. They are like most such exhibits: one admires the ability of the artist and the representation without necessarily noticing who did the piece. This time I looked:
James Quentin Young.
The exhibit ended the same day I saw it, so the best thing I feel I can is make others aware of this retired art teacher and his work. Likely there will be other exhibitions. His website is here. He’s in the Minneapolis phone book, if you are interested in making contact. Kathy Dhaemers, who handles art exhibitions at Basilica, notes that Mr. Young has a following in the twin cities. I can see why.
Monday, I made a special trip over to Basilica to take photos of all the works – there were, in all, 75. By good fortune, I arrived at the Church about the time the artist James Quentin Young arrived to take down his exhibit. We managed to meet briefly by yet another of the crosses in the sanctuary, this one composed of a portion of a rack of clothes hooks. As best as I can recall, James Q had rescued this rack from some garage sale or other, and the hooks-as-cross symbolized for him the assorted kinds of things on which we human beings hang our lives.
James grew up on St. Paul’s west side, and spent a year in Mexico City, and his art has a strong strain of both common roots and Hispanic influence. It is both beautiful and thought provoking.

James Quentin Young, November 21, 2011


Here’s the text on the flier which accompanied the exhibition: “In reviewing his art from the past 53 years, James Young discovered that from the beginning of his study in art he sought to use Christian themes. It was a journey with Biblical references using reoccurring symbols of doves, fish, angels, and portraits of Christ. For the past eleven years the cross has been the primary symbol in his work. Young often creates his art from old wood, metal and found objects. Using discarded and broken items, Young’s art portrays Christ’s acceptance of our flawed and rejected lives and transformation through His death and resurrection.

#478 – Dick Bernard: The Greatest Generation, the Boomers, Millenials and all that.

Sunday afternoon, after the Vikings lost, I watched the endless rerun about the coming end of the world on the History Channel. For those who’ve missed it, the end is scheduled for December 21, 2012. All that is certain is the date: exactly what, or who goes where, is open for endless debate.
Idle speculation about our future is foolish, in my opinion. Best to do the best we can with whatever time we have left. (We may have only ten minutes, but what good does it do to worry about that?)
But ‘officially’, apparently, we still have 13 months. And the Mayans and Nostradamus and Merlin and the others could be wrong, or their writings misinterpreted. Till we check out, we’ll be part of the solution, or part of the problem. There’s no neutral zone, in my opinion. It’s not “their” fault.
Earlier Sunday, I read a very interesting analysis of the assorted generations stake in our future. The piece was written by Lori Sturdevant, a long-time and highly respected columnist on politics for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She has earned her accolades.
Here is her take on the data about the assortment (baby boomers, millenials, etc.) It is a recommended read.

Here’s my very brief response to her writing:
It’s not easy to challenge the opinions and labels of pollsters. We live in a time of polling and the Pew Research data cited by Ms Sturdevant can be seen here, along with endless other pieces of interesting data.
I’d challenge only a bit Pew’s categories.
I was born in 1940, my oldest child in 1964, and for a long while I’ve known I was in the Silent Generation, which Pew for some reason classifies as the folks born between 1928-45 (Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Ed in Sturdevant’s telling).
I’d start the Silent Generation a bit later, perhaps 1937. The folks born before 1937 were old enough to have living memories of the bad times of the Great Depression, and the oldest were old enough to have vivid memories of, and some even old enough, to be drafted into World War II before it ended in 1945.
We silents were too young to have much of a direct memory of the era experienced by what Tom Brokaw called “the Greatest Generation”, but our entire early living experience was with and around people immersed in that era. We couldn’t avoid WWII or the Depression, even if we didn’t comprehend exactly what they were. But all that is unnecessary argument.
But the very interesting analysis of Pew, further analyzed by Lori Sturdevant, is well worth your time, before you wander into the political minefield of Turkey Day.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving (research does show that the vast majority of us do have more than adequate resources to have a happy day on Thursday.) Enjoy. But as the ubiquitous disclaimer on beer, wine and spirits ads suggests: “with great privilege comes great responsibility”)
Related here and here.

#477 – Dick Bernard: Grover Norquist

Tonights edition of 60 Minutes on CBS had a segment about anti-tax guru Grover Norquist. The segment is accessible here. It is well worth watching.
Norquist is an immensely powerful non-elected actor in national tax policy. He claims to represent the consensus of anti-tax Americans, and his record shows in the the composition of the current Congress.
He is not invincible. A few months ago he was challenged on the true membership numbers of his organization. (The members of his group are undisclosed). He felt a need one evening last spring to claim that he had 100,000 members around the United States – a likely highly inflated claim. I watched him make the claim in an on-air interview.
In a population of over 300,000,000, his claimed membership figure (100,000) translates into one member per 3,000 population, and most likely most of these ‘members’ are highly funded organizations not required to reveal their participation. Nonetheless, they exercise an immense amount of undeserved power, and are not invincible.
Grover Norquist and his organization are, in my opinion, demonstrating the universal paradox of reaching a pinnacle of Power: the more Powerful they appear to be, the more Vulnerable (and thus powerless) they truly are. They know this, but at the end they fight mightily to not show this vulnerability.
Norquist just turned 55 years of age; at his end, an aged appearing Hitler had just turned 56. Napoleon Bonaparte died at 52. Ridiculous comparisons? Perhaps.
But think a bit more about this. Norquist in a sense earned his power. He is in no control of his fate.
There are numerous internet sources about Norquist and his organization.
It is worth taking the time to learn something about him and his history.
He’s “king on a hill”, and he has nowhere to go but down….
But we can’t cower in a corner to push he and his powerful allies off the pinnacle. That takes hard and individual work.
Related here and here.

#476 – Dick Bernard: An extra special evening with Old Soldiers at the Minneapolis MN Veterans Home

Related post here.
My cousin, Mary Busch, alerted us to an appearance of the Minnesota State Band at the Minnesota Veteran’s Home near Minnehaha Falls on Wednesday evening, November 16. Mary is in the band (French horn, far right in below photo), as is her friend Bob Stryk (bass clarinet).
We’d never been to a program at the Vets Home before. It was a moving and extraordinary evening (click on photos to enlarge them). Here is the program booklet, including description of the pieces played: MN State Band Program001

Minnesota State Band Nov. 16, 2011


Portion of audience at MN Veterans Home November 16, 2011


The program for veterans was a salute to the Civil War, which began 150 years ago (program order below). It became nostalgic for me. One of my earliest ancestors to Minnesota was Samuel Collette, who arrived in St. Paul area about 1857, and as a 22 year old was enlisted into the so-called Indian War of 1862-63. Samuel became a resident of the Veterans Home in 1907, and for all but a few months in 1908, lived the rest of his life there, dying at 95 in 1934. I wondered if he ever heard programs like this one.
The Vets Home auditorium is designed specifically for disabled persons: There are no rows of seats. The band performed on a stage lower than the audience so that more of the audience could see them. Most of we ‘normal’ folk don’t think of the problems encountered by the profoundly disabled.
The band’s program is below, and except for “Around the Campfire”, I’ve linked each song to a YouTube page with various renditions of the songs. I couldn’t find a YouTube rendition of Around the Campfire (by Julius S. Seredy). In a real sense you can listen to the same program as performed by the Minnesota State Band.
Washington Greys by Claudio S. Grafulla arr. Loras J Schissel
William Tell Overture by G. A. Rossini/ Arr. Erik W. G. Leidzen
Lorena by H. Webster
Around the Campfire by Julius S. Seredy arr Lester Brockton
A Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copeland/ Tr. Walter Beeler
The Blue and the Gray by Clare Grundman
Hymn to the Fallen by John Williams Tr. Paul Lavender
Armed Forces Salute Arr. Bob Lowden
America the Beautiful Arr. Robert Wetzler
Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa
I noticed folks during the presentation. Many were quite profoundly handicapped by the ravages of age or disability.
My cousin related the next day that the attendance was lower than at their previous appearances, and the reason was sadly simple: there weren’t sufficient volunteers to wheel the other veterans to the program. Many had to remain in their rooms. I am guessing that it wouldn’t simply be a matter of volunteering at the event…there are protocols for such.
I made a memo to self to offer to become a volunteer there. We take such services for granted.
Next to me was an elderly guy in a wheelchair who seemed quite engaged in the music. As we left, I asked him “which branch of the service?” With no hesitation he said, “Army, 5th Infantry Division, WWII.”
It didn’t occur to me till I was going out the door that my Army days, in early Vietnam era 1962-63, were spent in that same division, the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized).
Whatever one’s thoughts might be of war, one must not forget those who served.

#475 – Dick Bernard: The Occupy Movement (OWS), Move to Amend, and organizing generally: "There ain’t no power like the power of the people, like the power of the people, say WHAT?" "There ain’t no power…."

Related post here.
Today is the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street (OWS). This writer urges that the movement build on its initial success by changing tactics.
Pre-Comment from William in east suburban St. Paul: “Dick, this OWS may be cathartic for the demonstrators but will not have any lasting effect unless it results in actual political activity at the caucus level in getting candidates for office that support their positions and getting out the vote (theirs and others ) in the 2012 elections. The same holds true for all of the rest of us of course!”
*
During a number of years of participating in protests and demonstrations, I always heard the phrase that heads this post. It was a common ‘call and response’ one, catchy, pertinent, easy to recite: “ain’t no power like the power of the people.”
The phrase carries a great deal of meaning. But I wonder if the people reciting it really catch what it really could mean if they were doing, as they were reciting, the phrase.
As best I can gather, OWS and the Tea Party have the active allegiance of similar numbers of the “99%”. Both groups are small relative to the total population. The Tea Party has a two year head start, but is flagging badly in the court of public opinion. The Tea Party has been co-opted by the very real “power” of the 1%ers. This is a crucial time for OWS.
In our society we are familiar with assorted manifestations of power. A very long list can be made.
Perhaps 25 years ago I heard them explained in a particularly useful way, and a few years ago I created the slide which is shown below. Of course, this is only a partial list: how about, for example, gaining power through the correct marriage?

The one I wish to focus on in the above list is the last one, which the speaker called “referent power” for some reason. It is one about the “power of the people”; the power of relationships within the 100% of humanity.
To give “ain’t no power” meaning, we really need to get into action, into what is called civic engagement, with and among people who may not share our precise view of reality.
I recently witnessed this kind of call to civic engagement action at the annual celebration of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers Nov. 8. Perhaps 300 of us, mostly in the “graying age” and “birds of a feather”, were there to listen to a representative of the group Move to Amend, whose focus is on challenging corporate personhood and re-creating democracy. The evening was really generated by the actions of two brothers, Laird and Robin Monahan, who, the previous year, had walked across the United States in protest of the Supreme Court decision in January, 2010, which declared corporations as persons under the law.
Their walk only started their action.
Our speaker was there to encourage action and dialogue. He yielded part of his speaking time to a young representative of the Occupy Minneapolis group.
At the end of the evening, the Director of the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, led his 150 person choir in song, and in between encouraged us, without becoming overtly political, to become aware of the issues facing the Gay Community. (The Gay Men’s Chorus is a phenomenal group (photo below, click to enlarge). Check out their website and let others know of their program.)
There were other examples of encouragement towards civic dialogue within this same meeting. It was a great night.
Personally, I think it is a good time for the Occupy folks to regroup and take their message to the people where they live. I think their visible presence these last two months has been incredibly effective, but it is back home with friends and neighbors and relatives that the real impact will be made. That is the “referent power” in the illustration. My friend, Jeff, said it well yesterday: “I think the OWS people in NY have taken the right view, its not the “place” , it’s the movement, so you “move on”….” William, at the beginning of this post, makes a similar point.

Twin Cities Gay men’s Chorus Nov. 8, 2011, at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Comments from some others who were there Nov. 8.
From Val in suburban St. Paul:
[Our speaker] took great pains in laying the groundwork for taking action…love of God and neighbor, purpose of church, and everyone’s role in working toward justice…justice as an expression of love. He could get all the gray haired grandmas willing to go to jail for the cause.
The ‘Move to Amend’ movement has a much broader scope than just un-doing the Supreme Court decision of 1/21/10. I was surprised by this – not bothered by it. I appreciated his knowledge and background info on the subject.
What better way to send folks out into the night than the voices of the 100+ male chorus.
Grateful I was able to attend,

Bob from suburban St. Paul:
I was there and found his presentation to be quite powerful and motivating. I also felt some pride that one of my fellow Greens was taking on the issue of corporate personhood. It has occured to me that we need a international political movement to take on the transnationals who are now in charge of the Global economy. The Green Party has a presence in 90 countries and is the fastest growing political community in the world, which could present a vehicle for challenging corporate dominance. The labor movement has not found the formula for addressing the ability of corporations to just keep moving their facilities to the cheapest labor sources.
“There ain’t no power like the power of the people, like the power of the people, say WHAT>” “There ain’t no power….”

#474 – Dick Bernard: American Education Week

This week is the annual observance of American Education Week (AEW), and today is Parents Day.
Lots of information about this week dedicated to the approximately one of six Americans who either attend or work in schools can be found here. Note links, including a history of the week, under American Education Week on the left hand side of the page.
Make no mistake: children are our future.
As I once heard Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith state so powerfully, young people in one or another way say “you can pay now, or you will pay later”. She was talking, then, about short-changing kids in a summer jobs program in a major midwest city – they said they couldn’t afford the program – and the major consequences for many kids with nothing to do, including the high costs of prison – the end of the road for those left without opportunity.