#781 – Dick Bernard: The Tea Party, Anger and "Freedom"

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Out of curiosity, I checked to see when the words “Tea Party” first became part of my vocabulary on this blog.
The answer: April 15, 2009: “Today is Tax Day, April 15, 2009, the annual celebration of the loathing of taxes. This day there will be a new spin on an old theme: “Tea Parties”, apparently well organized and heavily publicized by certain media (thus, not spontaneous “breaking news”), and supposedly grassroots protests against the tyranny of “taxation [with] representation”, in the model of the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773.”
It was my 7th blog post.
That post has been followed by 72 others including those two words, the most recent this one. That’s nine percent of my total blogs. I’ve paid personal attention to this angry rabble which has become so dominant in the American political conversation, most recently with the threatened government shutdown about to happen – perhaps – in Washington.
Scrolling through the subject headings of those 73 blog posts there is pattern of topics that only someone completely politically unengaged would not have noticed in the last four years; issues marinated in anger; an impulse to attack anything with even the slightest attachment to government, at least, aspects of government they don’t like.
The movement has been very successful. Here’s a brief history. At this moment, a small minority of the U.S. government is controlling actions there, and these are people who have no interest in the essence of government, the part which requires compromise. In fact, they detest government.
The Tea Parties greatest strength is our greatest vulnerability as a nation: it is unfocused, a rabble of fragments, and runs perfectly well completely on emotion. Facts and context are irrelevant. Tea Partiers tend to operate by soundbites, tunnel vision prevails, all that is important is winning, now.
We had a tea party Congresswoman here for several years. Michele Bachmann is still the Congresswoman, lives in our district, but is now Congresswoman in another district and there is a strong Tea Party Republican presence in my town.
So, the Tea Party is not an abstract entity to me.
Their local leaders are typically loud-mouthed bullies, usually big men with domineering demeanors. They are difficult to take on, but as is true with any bully, if confronted, they back off.
The “Tea Party”? Presently a pretty powerful engine, with no pilot and no rudder. We’re among the passengers, and unregulated, there’s a wreck ahead.
We can only hope some common sense prevails.
We’ll soon see.
Comments:
(see also on-line comments)
from Jeff P, Oct 1: Yes sir.
from Peter B, Oct 2: What seems to be missing from the entire “Tea Party” conversation is some assessment of its design function. The design function of a car is to carry people on roads from place to place. You would not use it for a house unless it were ruined as a car (or there was no gas anywhere). By the same logic, the wars, invasions and occupations in the Middle East have a design function, which is to be seen in the results: smoldering ruins and social breakdown, leaving countries wide open to plunder by the extraction industries who profited most.
The same strategy is being applied at home now. Remember the “Sequester?” What was done about it, except to quietly exempt certain functions useful to Empire? Nothing. Life got very much harder as a result, and it is not being repaired. The wave of municipal bankruptcies, cutbacks and collapses, both physical and economic, has swept across the country leaving homeless, destitute people in its aftermath. While politicians feigned helplessness, this was the result they produced, and I assert it was a successful operation conducted by their paymasters.
In the case of the “Tea Party,” what has happened? Wacky, reactionary, under-educated and misinformed “grass-roots” people have gotten a significant chunk of legislative power – at least, power to gum up the works – and have now “shut down the government.” But that was the whole idea in the first place. Whose idea? We must ask ourselves, who benefits from a disabled Congress?
Can there be any doubt now who has perpetrated this crime? It is an implementation of a very old strategy that has brought down many a government, notably the German government before the Second World War, but scholars could probably identify it in Roman times. The monied interests behind this “movement” don’t care a rip what form its antics take, as long as the Legislative Branch is totally disabled. Unless the perpetrators are branded as what they really are and brought to justice, it will play out as it always has. The country has been sold out, and so far, there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop this.
Some time ago, corporations, particularly financial institutions, acquired more actual, temporal power than any government on the planet. They are flexing this muscle, as the new governing system on Earth. The old governments work for them, are owned by them, and for generations, the US military has done their dirty work (read Gen. Smedley Butler’s potent little book, “War Is A Racket” for a basic education.)
After knowingly precipitating global environmental catastrophe that is now undeniable, the banking and corporate cartels know they are liable for compounding disasters on every front, from the economy to the dying oceans. Effective, rational legislative remedies for the multiple looming catastrophes we now face would require at least capping the size and power of corporations, if not revoking the power to create money from the tiny number of families who have actually controlled this function for so many years. If the cartels don’t destroy the Legislative Branch now, they see reason to fear that their feeding frenzy will come to a halt pretty soon. And then, never mind a slight drop in profits: they might be on the hook.
The cartels are going to stop at nothing. We are in a very serious process. It is happening across the board, and it began quite a long time ago. I call it “Neo-Feudalism,” but there really is not that much that’s “neo” about it. We will, or will not, know about the spectacular amount of suffering going on while our world is re-configured. Much of the process happened decades ago. But make no mistake, life is not going to return to anything like what we were used to.

#780 – Dick Bernard: The Looming U.S. Government Shutdown/Tea Party. Yes or No.

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Bizarre has become the normal in Washington D.C. politics, so it is easy to pretend “there they go again” – that it will all work out. One can only hope. But what if, this time, it’s the time for bizarre to become reality?
Do you favor the Shutdown of the U.S. Government if Tea Party terms are not met?
Yes or No.
I think the connection of Tea Party and Government Shutdown is appropriate, and I think there are only two choices: Yes or No. This is a very unusual position for me to take, since my entire career was in an environment of constant negotiation/mediation between people and groups of people with an intention to resolve disagreements.
My answer on the current Government Shutdown threat is NO.
Joni Mitchell catches best the reason for my answer.
Back in 1970, Joni Mitchell caught a wave with her wildly popular song, “Big Yellow Taxi”. You can listen to it here.
The refrain, adapted to todays Tea Party theme about wrecking government might be “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, you [wreck] paradise and put up a parking lot.”
The current shutdown issue is dead serious. It is not a Republican/Democrat issue (though the Republicans embraced and indeed nurtured the anarchist fringe of free agents which calls itself (and is called) the Tea Party.)
Very recently I read a commentary in Atlantic magazine suggesting that we haven’t seen this dysfunctional a federal government for over 150 years. There has always been political conflict between political parties, but, similarly, there has always been negotiation of differences and in the end, a minimum of game playing.
We’re in a different world. The main conflict right now is within the Republican party. This is no longer a Republican/Democrat thing, and veteran Republicans concede this point. This is a “my way or the highway” Tea Party move. And it is dangerous to our very Democracy.
What’s happening in Washington, now, is a struggle between ME and WE philosophies: are we a nation of individuals accountable only to ourselves; or are we a nation accountable to each other, and together responsible for a decent civil society.
The Tea Party types I know are very heavily into the individual rights wing, with very limited responsibilities, and those responsibilities only if they fit within their rights framework.
They are a minority of the population, but they’ve wiggled their way into a position where they can disrupt our tradition of good government.
We will all lose if they win even a temporary victory.
Their brand of governance, which has been evolving since before the current “Tea Party” craze began, is take no prisoners, win at all costs.
Even for them, such a philosophy will not prevail.
But if your Senator(s) or Representative vote “Yes” to in-effect shut down the government in the next days or weeks, they ought to be history next time they’re up for election.
This country doesn’t need their brand of polarity.
NO on a shutdown.
UPDATE, Sep 30, 2013: A very long summary of where this issue is at this moment can be found in the overnite “Just Above Sunset” here.
*
A BRIEF MUSING ABOUT “WE” VERSUS “ME”
Little over a week ago I was out at the farm where my mother grew up. The farmstead is vacant now, and as happens familiar structures are deteriorating.
I usually take some photos. This trip the long vacant barn drew my attention, particular the old wooden stanchions for the twice daily milking of the family cows, usually by Grandma and Aunt Edith, sitting on three legged stools. I’m old enough to have experienced this before milking machines (which my grandparents never had, to my recollection).
(click to enlarge)

In a North Dakota barn, September 20, 2013

In a North Dakota barn, September 20, 2013


My grandparents were small farmers who, like most everyone else, bore the brunt of the Great Depression and the dry years. There were liberals and conservatives then, too, but living was a community affair back then. Others mattered, whether you liked them or not. It was a matter of survival, often.
Born in 1940, and a visitor to that farm from the beginning till now, I saw the slow progression: things like electricity, decent water, tractors, etc.
The stanchions have not seen milk cows for many years.
Six of the eight kids who grew up on that farm went on to college, possible then, even on low incomes.
Today, bigger has become a synonym for better, but the sense of community has suffered. If you have it, great; if you don’t, tough….
Enroute home, I happened to be in Wahpeton ND at sunrise on Sep. 21. I managed to catch the near full moon, setting, over Main Street.
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It was in Wahpeton, about 1955, when we all lined up to get the brand new Salk vaccine against the feared Polio.
It was, I guess, an early version of “socialized medicine” whose research was funded by government. There may have not been “Obamacare”, but people noticed communicable diseases, and attended to them as community problems, even then.
There are infinite examples of “WE” in our society.
We will rue the day when “ME” becomes dominant…or maybe it already is?

#779 – Dick Bernard: The not-so-simple art of international diplomacy (and other similar things)

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A short while ago I was looking for the oldest e-mail I had from a recently deceased friend who was anti-war to the very core of his being. It turned out to be a Nov. 10, 2005, e-mail asserting “26 lies by Bush people” about the Iraq War during the George W. Bush administration. If you’re interested, here are the 26: Bob Heberle Nov 10 2005001
About the same time (Sep. 12) came an e-mail to a group from another anti-war friend about the tense Syrian situation: “what is the true reason for [the U.S. planning on] invading Syria or lying to the American people? Regardless of the reason for lying would that not constitute reason of impeachment if not for lying then for war mongering?” Of course, this related to President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.
Then, just a day or two ago, President Obama spoke at the U.N., and his counterpart President, Rouhani of Iran, spoke at the same venue. But they didn’t meet.
And yesterday came another e-mail listing President Obama’s top 45 lies in his speech at the U.N. Apparently Obama is the champeen liar, and the folks listening to him at the United Nations are easily duped.
All the above assertions come from what most would describe as the Left. Of course, the Right is no stranger to assertions of Liar as well…but these were Lefties talking.
So, rush to judgement on the President? Not so fast.
What’s one to do about all this lyin’? Or is it lying at all?
Who has ever said “my, you look nice today”, when you know he or she doesn’t….
Introduce me to someone who says they don’t lie, and I’ll show you a liar. Of course, this includes me. We all fudge.
During the “26 lies” and “lying…for war mongering” time a couple of weeks ago I got to thinking about the reality of bargaining about anything…and bargaining at the global level is bargaining big-time. I spent a career in bargaining situations. They’re all about the same…the sides feel each other out for interminable periods. Through it all they bob and weave, deception is expected. Like bargaining in a market somewhere.
Bargaining is a complex process.
Starting with the most recent near meeting at the UN between Rouhani and Obama, there was comment about how the two avoided meeting in person. There was no hand-shake, even.
Charley Rose asked President Rouhani about this in an interview which played in part on CBS This Morning today. Essentially, Rouhani said that things like a Presidential hand-shake take time: Iran and the U.S. have had no direct relationship for 35 years, he said, going back to the end of the Shah of Iran and the subsequent hostage situation. He could have gone back further, to 1953 and mentioned the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian President Mossadegh engineered by the CIA. He didn’t go there.
But everyone at the international diplomacy level, you can bet, understood exactly what he was saying. Stuff like hand-shakes and photo ops and joint statements take time. In due time they will take place. Most of the action now is behind the scenes, between diplomats who know the game…and each other.
Things happen fast. As I was writing this, in came an announcement that Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterpart from Iran will be meeting further on what seems to be another whirlwind and positive development on the middle east situation. First such meeting since 1980, it was said. No cigar, yet, but things are looking a little promising within the international community, and now not only about Syria, but about Iran, too.
And about those “lies” Obama supposedly told in his speech at the UN: With hardly any doubt, everybody in the room knew the context and intent of those remarks, which were most public and part of the international record so long as there are records available.
History will be the judge of what or whether these “lies” were.
And in the lurching way that such things work, perhaps we are witnessing some positive history for a change.
In my opinion, very important global changing actions are taking place at the international level, and the Obama administration is a very important part of that, as are other world government leaders.
None of them are naive, and they are dealing with each other as diplomats need to deal: cautiously, perhaps deviously, above all respectfully, all the while trying to satisfy the rabble out there that is the population of all of their countries.
I see hope more than I see “lies”.
Just my opinion.
Comment
from Wilhelm R, Sep 27, 2013
Your “opinion” seems to be based on a set of assumptions which you do not state or have to state. You let your reader assume them. Could it be that today assumptions are personal and discretionary but not binding on anybody else. It used to be, that assumptions where the foundation on which societies and cultures where built upon and acted as “touch stones” for debate and discussion. Without them we are back in the depth of scholastics which pried itself to be able to take any position and successfully and logically argue its point. In such an environment nothing can get done and nothing can be resolved, everything is relative. In such an environment one does not even have to touch on the essential point a discussion partner raises but instead, all one has to do is to change the assumptions and begin the – an – argument anew. This also seems to lead to a situation where there is no need for taking responsibility for one’s own actions or demand responsibility from anybody else for their actions. May be this explains today’s tendency to urge us to “look forward” and not waste time with looking backwards what has been done has been done… This makes of course perfect sense since one has to assume that those actions were based on different assumptions and those assumptions where and probably still are as good as anybody else’s. They just seem to be lurking around to be picked up by a willing mind. With this however anything goes and justice is what power dictates or allows you to project. ( We seem to be back in the golden age Metamorphosis by Ovid writes about “Aurea prima sata est aetas, quae vindice nullo ….. The age of the golden rule where the gold rules) So what are we crying about. It behooves us – whoever us might be – to obtain and exercise power! … Just my thoughts but willing to not just state but defend them any time …..
from Dick: I like your first two sentences. I have noticed for a long time that hard and fast ‘sides’ develop where only one point of view is entertained, thus no argument, or even listening to another point of view. I’m not sure who reads my columns, here. It is more than a couple, that’s for certain. I try to keep the posts to newspaper column length (ca <700 words), and I write them as if family will read them, many of whom would be in direct opposition to me, ideologically. Re lying, as one who grew up and still is Catholic, the Nuns did a good job on the Lying piece to we younguns. As I recall it, there were two general types of lies: of omission (leaving out some important data); and commission (a whopper). Of course, as one ages and sees communication in action on many fronts, you say infinite variations on those two general themes, but those were two words I remember, for some reason! from NYTimes Bulletin, Sep 27 3:01 CST:
Obama Says He Spoke to Iran’s President by Phone
President Obama said Friday he had spoken by phone with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, the first direct contact between the leaders of Iran and United States since 1979. Mr. Obama, speaking in the White House briefing room, said the two leaders discussed Iran’s nuclear program and said he was persuaded there was a basis for an agreement.

#778 – Dick Bernard: The Affordable Care Act, President Obama Cares

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Today at the gym I was treated to Sen. Ted Cruz doing his filibuster to supposedly protect Americans from the evil Affordable Care Act (called “Obamacare” by some).
Recently, a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives, for the 42nd time, I believe, voted to repeal Obamacare.
Those who follow this issue know the rest of the story behind these two symbolic – and very sad – actions, where ideologic rigidity and scarcely hidden hatred for the President drive decision making to attempt to destroy programs which will impact positively on everyone in this country.
Sen. Cruz, during his filibuster, spent time reading Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” to his daughters, and expounding on the symbolism of Star Wars.
I know Cruz is young, but didn’t know how young (I decided to look him up): I have two children older than Cruz is. Dr. Seuss was a household staple in our house; when Star Wars came out in 1977, it was an instant addiction for my oldest son, and I took him to the first showing, and didn’t discourage him from attending the movie many times.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being young – years ago I was his age, too. But….
Up against the negative fantasies of Cruz et al, abuts a far more positive reality for the tens of millions of people of this United States who are about to have access to affordable health care. Apparently, this is seen as a threat to freedom: creeping socialism, which rhymes with communism, and is a synonym for evil amongst people who should know better, including those who have long reaped the benefits of Medicare and Social Security, or even of corporate and large employer medical care plans, and just don’t get it…and if the Tea Party has its way, will never get it.
So be it.
The people I don’t understand – well, I do understand, but it stretches credulity – are the young people (my oldest childs age – near 50 and down), who feel they don’t need health care, and don’t want to pay for somebody else’s medical problem.
Fools.
Just a couple of hours ago a friend came up to me to tell me about another mutual friend, Tom, who’s healthy as can be, a professional tennis coach, and was doing his daily 20+ mile solitary bike ride yesterday. He stopped at a fast food place for a snack, and choked on the food. Long story short, he had no ID on him, an ambulance picked him up and took him to hospital. He’s in a coma, and the prospects of any kind of recovery at all are dim. It took some hours for his wife to find out why he was so late, or where he was. Likely she used another society institution, 911, or a call to the police department, another civic institution we hope never to have to encounter. They were her safety net in this metropolitan area of 3 million.
When this unknown man was picked up yesterday, there was no question about paying a bill. Our country doesn’t allow people to die on the street.
Maybe that’s why the cynical young say “I don’t have to pay for insurance; they’ll pay for me if I need it”.
Maybe they’re (very sadly) right.
But what if everyone had this selfish attitude?
I learned my lesson about insurance very early, two weeks after I got out of the Army in 1963.
My wife was a new teacher, then, and coincident with my return home she had to quit teaching due to an undiagnosed kidney disease which would ultimately take her life two years later.
I could have gotten hospitalization insurance before she was diagnosed, but “couldn’t afford it”. As it turned out, she was uninsurable even then. Her condition was, it turned out, almost life-long pre-existing. Back then, I learned about things like public welfare, and the role of the greater community as a protective umbrella.
Yes, there are people so selfish and cynical that it doesn’t occur to them to consider themselves part of society. Rather, they prefer to cling to the fantasy that they, and only they, are in charge of their destiny, and everyone else should have the same responsibility.
Fools.
That’s how I see Ted Cruz Inc.

#777 – Dick Bernard: War as Hell; and the International Day of Peace.

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(click to enlarge photos)

Zander, on his Dad's shoulders, expertly expounds on the importance of protecting the environment (see below) at the Peace Site rededication September 22, 2013

Zander, on his Dad’s shoulders, expertly expounds on the importance of protecting the environment (see below) at the Peace Site rededication September 22, 2013


These Five Peace Actions were focus of the Peace Site Rededication Sep 22, 2013

These Five Peace Actions were focus of the Peace Site Rededication Sep 22, 2013


“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
― Abraham Lincoln
remembered by Minneapolis Park Commissioner Brad Bourn on Sunday, September 22, at Lyndale Peace Park.
Saturday, September 21, was the Annual United Nations International Day of Peace. In Minneapolis, I attended the observance of the day on Sunday, September 22, at the beautiful Lyndale Park Peace Garden (See Lynn Elling, below). An organization in which I’m involved, World Citizen, rededicated the Garden as a Peace Site. The ceremony and attendant activities were most impressive and meaningful. The Peace Garden was first dedicated as a Peace Site in 1999.
Sunday’s event, and other recent happenings bring to mind the subject line of this post.
Three days earlier, I had reason to make a brief stop at St. John the Evangelist Church in Wahpeton ND.
I arrived there about noon, and as I parked the car, I noted a U.S. flag-draped casket being taken from the church to a waiting hearse. I was not there for the funeral, so I didn’t know who had died, but I rather hurriedly took this photo (click to enlarge)
After a funeral, at Wahpeton ND, September 19, 2013

After a funeral, at Wahpeton ND, September 19, 2013


Entering the Church, I found the person in the casket was an 89 year old man, Dale Svingen, and on the table was one of those “please take one” handouts entitled “The Australian Soldier”, a recollection of World War II. The recollection can be read here: Australian Soldier001. It speaks well for itself.
War is Hell, but it builds camaraderie and team spirit and solidarity. War destroys, but connects….
The experience led me to thinking of a recent visit with my friend, Padre Johnson, a man with many gifts.
Recently, I met with Padre and he gave me a copy of a remarkable sketch he’d done from a photograph from one of the deadliest battles of the Vietnam War (below). Padre mentioned that he’s the guy in the helmet in the foreground, and in an accompanying note to me said that Adm. Elmo Zumwalt – a name very familiar to military of the day – said, a dozen years ago, that this sketch was “the most powerful artists rendition of the Face of War that he has ever seen.” Padre Johnson’s text accompanying the sketch is here: Padre J Viet Combat003
photo copy of Padre Johnson sketch from 1968, used with permission of the artist.

photo copy of Padre Johnson sketch from 1968, used with permission of the artist.


War is Hell, but it builds camaraderie and team spirit and solidarity.
War destroys, but connects. Padre was enroute to the same convention of Special Forces he’d been keynote speaker for when Adm. Zumwalt made his comments. Padre’s mission is Peace, has been so for many years, including in Vietnam where as a Medic he didn’t differentiate between friend and enemy when it came to treating casualties of war. They were all persons to him.
Which leads to the gentle observance of International Day of Peace September 22, 2013.

I took my friend, Lynn Elling, to this observance. Lynn is, among other things, founder of World Citizen, the organization rededicating the Peace Site at the Peace Garden.
A Navy officer in both WWII and Korea, Mr. Elling, 92, has been a lion for peace ever since he saw in person the horrible remnants of war at Tarawa Beach, and later at the Museum remembering the bombing of Hiroshima.
Mr. Ellings role this pleasant Sunday afternoon was simply to relate his story to whomever wished to stop by. He also gave his comments on the importance of everyone being, truly, world citizens. We are, as he likes to say, all travelers on the spaceship earth….
Lynn Elling, at right, visits with folks about his experiences and beliefs, Sep 22, 2013

Lynn Elling, at right, visits with folks about his experiences and beliefs, Sep 22, 2013


I could add many more stories about veterans I have known. Some I’ve written about: Frank Kroncke went to prison for his actions against the Vietnam War. In my mind, he’s a combat veteran, no different than those folks in Padre Johnsons picture. Bob Heberle, who recently died, was also a veteran.
They, too, saw War as Hell. And they, too, made connections with people.
I note that all of those listed above are men. In relevant part, they come from a time when combatants – warriors – were men. They come from the era of the Draft, where military was not voluntary; where disagreeing with the Draft was a punishable offense. I was one of them: U.S. Army 1962-63; today a member of the American Legion.
At the International Day of Peace, Sunday, most of the participants and organizers were, I noted, women. But by no means exclusively.
With the possible exception of Mr. Svingen, who I don’t know except for the writing included above, all the other veterans were and are staunchly for peace in all of its manifestations.
I see lots of hope for peace, if we all work together towards that objective.
As I said after Bob Heberle’s funeral, “let’s talk, all of us who are interested in peace and justice.”
We need to. Let’s work for a more peaceful world.
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How about having your organization become a Peace Site?
A women's drum group brought gentle resonance to the Peace Day celebration Sep 23

A women’s drum group brought gentle resonance to the Peace Day celebration Sep 23


Two scenes at the Lyndale Peace Park, Minneapolis, September 22, 2013

Two scenes at the Lyndale Peace Park, Minneapolis, September 22, 2013


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#776 – Dick Bernard: A letter to the Audience* of the Minnesota Orchestra

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NOTE: The ongoing “parking lot” for all links regarding the Minnesota Orchestra is at August 30, 2013, here.
Ongoing information from the musicians point of view is here.

Outside Orchestra Hall, Sep 6, 2013

Outside Orchestra Hall, Sep 6, 2013


On Sunday, September 8, 2013, a full page ad appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, paid for by the Minnesota Orchestra Board, headlined “Eight Days Left. But We CAN Get This Done!”
By my count, “eight days” was yesterday. It’s not yet done.
I’m simply an audience* member. Here are a few thoughts for you, my colleagues, my fellow listeners and patrons of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Yesterday I took time to review the first e-mail from the Orchestra Board announcing what began 50 weeks ago, October 1, 2012. The e-mail was dated October 1, 2012, and in relevant part says: “Today we regret to report that…[w]ith no contract in place, the Minnesota Orchestral Association has suspended salary and benefits for musicians until a new agreement can be reached…we’ve made the decision to cancel concerts through November 25 [2012]….”
The entire e-mail is here: Mn Orch Oct 1, 2012001. It is useful to print it out and read it again, while keeping in mind that it is a perfectly written advocacy document for one side, unencumbered by other facts or opinions which might differ with the official conclusion the document was intended to convey to us: “it’s their fault”. Also remember, it was sent 352 days before today.
At the demonstration outside Orchestra Hall on September 6, one speaker most aptly noted that the organism that is the Minnesota Symphony is like a “three-legged stool”.
Coming from a rural North Dakota background, it caused me to think back to Grandma and Grandpa and Uncles and Aunts sitting on three legged stools milking the family cows. It is a rich memory – we even had occasional opportunities to practice when we visited.
The long empty barn, rural North Dakota, September 20, 2013

The long empty barn, rural North Dakota, September 20, 2013


Later this week I’ll be in that very barn. It is now essentially abandoned, awaiting the fate of all old barns.
But I digress.
The speaker noted a particular problem with the three-legged stool that is our Minnesota Orchestra.
1. One leg, the Orchestral Association, is omnipotent with all the benefits of what we traditionally call “power” in this society.
2. A second leg is the Orchestra itself, which is a union, which has sacrificed all, literally, to reach an equitable settlement. And then there is the…
3. …third leg, which includes we listeners in the seats; the “farm team” in youth band programs in schools everywhere; people and little kids who come with their parents to be introduced to great music by great musicians; people who for assorted reasons cannot come to hear the Orchestra in person, but love great music, etc. etc.
This third group, in assorted ways, seems powerless, or so would go conventional wisdom. We’re along for the ride…if invited (best I know, I’ve been dropped from the Orchestral Associations e- and mail list. Stay tuned….)
My ancestors, attempting to sit on a stool of our current model, while milking a cow, would encounter some difficulties. Maybe that powerless leg would fall off; or that dominant leg would demand all the attention…. It just wouldn’t work. Three legs are three equal legs.
So, here we are, Audience*. What to do?
We Audience members are basically invisible (or so it seems).
When I hear talk about the Audience*, the talk is not about those of us in the seats, but the empty seats. There could be an entire essay about this topic: where was the marketing to fill those seats? The point is, those of us in the seats don’t seem to much matter. Someday, they’ll open the doors, and we will come back….
We are, those of us who make up the Third Leg of the stool, far more powerful than we give ourselves credit for being. All we lack is the resolve to empower ourselves.
For myself, and I speak only for myself, I have resolved never to darken the door of Orchestra Hall again, until the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra have ratified an Agreement on all terms and conditions. (This doesn’t count an interim “kick the can down the road” agreement – we know how those work in our Congress in Washington D.C.)
And I choose to be outspoken.
For you? Your choice.
But, please, refuse to be powerless.

* – Audience? Anyone who has ever attended, even a single time, a concert by the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, or anywhere else the Orchestra has performed.
NOTE:
So, how do I fit in?
1. Over the years, at bare minimum, we’ve been to 75 concerts by the Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, almost all in Row Four Center. Maybe we qualify as “average” – I don’t know. We saw some memorable ‘side’ events, live, from those seats in Orchestra Hall; the roses on the chair of a violinist who had recently died; Itzhak Perlman’s fall; Eije Oue conducting the Star Spangled banner at the beginning of the program in September, 2001.
2. We have attended other concerts of various kinds at various times, including during Sommerfest, and occasional public events in parks, including Sep 15 at Lake Harriet.
3. We came for the music, not for the Lobby, or the Cookies (though the caterers were certainly good!), or the coffee.
4. Of course, we parked, we ate downtown (usually at the Hilton). Orchestra day for us was usually at least six hours.
5. We supported the minstrel of the evening in the skyway; we occasionally bought tickets for others, including for one program which was cancelled.
6. As my wife would attest, I used intermission to wander around, to just see who was in those seats, out in the lobby. We were certainly not a cookie cutter bunch.
7. The list could go on. What are your memories? Your tradition? Your stand?
Dick Bernard Sep 12, 2013

Dick Bernard Sep 12, 2013

#775 – Dick Bernard: A Fond Farewell to Bob Heberle, Veterans for Peace, "Let There be Peace on Earth"

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The old St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis was filled to overflowing today, the crowd there to remember Bob Heberle, a man of many talents but above all a passionate advocate for peace and justice.
(click on photos to enlarge)

Bob Heberle Service St. Joan of Arc Minneapolis MN Sep 14, 2013

Bob Heberle Service St. Joan of Arc Minneapolis MN Sep 14, 2013


The program for the Memorial Service is here: Bob Heberle Sep 14 2013001. His bio and suggested memorials is on page four of the program.
The essential word from/about Bob was, according to Fr. James Cassidy, “Gratitude“.
This caused me to think back to my 2012 Christmas message at this space, where I included an absolutely remarkable video on the topic of “Gratitude”. I hope you can access and watch it. (You can find it on YouTube, search Louie Schwartzberg Gratitude). It is ten minutes of beauty and inspiration. Perhaps Bob saw it last December when I sent it to my list, of which he was part for many years.
For those at the Mass celebrating Bob’s life, there are many memories.
I’d like to share some brief thoughts, one of which I know Bob and I would disagree on (he was on my e-mail list for years: when I searched my ‘from’ file on my computer, this is the first e-mail I found from him (there may have been others, earlier, but, you know, computer crash….”): Bob Heberle Nov 10 2005001. It wasn’t planned this way, but the e-mail tends to exemplify past tensions continued to the present day.
Bob and I had so many parallel paths: teaching, teacher union activism, Veterans for Peace, on and on and on. But while our paths were parallel, they rarely intersected directly till the last few years. He apparently attended the meeting of Vets for Peace; I didn’t. Usually I would see him at Vets for Peace gatherings at the USS Ward at the Veterans Service Building (Nov. 11) and Memorial Day (Vietnam Memorial at the State Capitol).
He was no wallflower, but at these events he melted in, I’d say.
I couldn’t find any specific photos I took of him at those events.
In recent years I’ve found myself seriously at odds with what is called the “Anti-War Movement”, Bob’s “branch of service”. That didn’t make he and I antagonists at all; or me an antagonist of the movement itself. But I have lobbied for at least a conversation about the real differences I see between the impact of the words “Anti-War” and “Pro-Peace”. Bob and I irritated each other about what was, to each of us, an obvious truth. But we had the same objective: Peace and Justice
I’ve said it.
That’s all that needs to be said. Except I’ll now, sadly, take Bob Heberle off my e-mail distribution list.
At the end of todays service we all sang “Let There Be Peace On Earth” which reminded me of my Christmas letter in 1982, written a week after I was at the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial on the Mall in Washington DC. You can see the letter here: Vietnam Mem DC 1982001 The cover of that Christmas letter said: “Let There Be Peace On Earth”….
Bob Heberle is one of many heroic presences in my life, willing to witness for a better world…and if you look at the flag on this post, it is Thoughts Towards a Better World.
Au revoir, Bob.
Let’s talk, all of us, who are interested in peace and justice, and find better ways to work together.
SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES
Vets for Peace Memorial Day at Vietnam Memorial MN Capitol Grounds May 24, 2013

Vets for Peace Memorial Day at Vietnam Memorial MN Capitol Grounds May 24, 2013


Ending of Vets for Peace gathering, Memorial Day, May 24, 2013

Ending of Vets for Peace gathering, Memorial Day, May 24, 2013


POSTNOTE Sep 15, 2013: I can’t shake from my brain the thought that someone, some reader, will wonder to themselves “will anybody come to my funeral?” Bob was, apparently, a hard act to follow.
Perhaps to give a little context, six years ago it fell to me to be custodian for a relative, Mike, who was essentially friendless (and didn’t go out of his way to do friendship). He was mentally ill the last 25 years of his life, on permanent disability, but “walking wounded”.
Before he died, I found in his papers his final instructions to the local funeral home in a city far from here: “As far as any funeral service, that would be nice. However, I doubt if I would have more than two or three people attending. I guess I am kind of a lone wolf.”
He died Nov. 7, 2007. His prediction was pretty close. There were six of us at the cemetery when his ashes were buried; there were, however, perhaps 30 or more at an informal service at the assisted living place he lived his last few months. Few knew him.
But Mike has had a lasting impact. So has Bob. So has everyone else who I’ve witnessed walking the final mile. They all have something to teach we, the living.
And we should not care who might come, or not, to our performance on earth, rather do the best we can with the time, talent and riches we have remaining on earth.
COMMENTS:
from Chante W, Sep 15, 2013: Thank you, Dick … for being honest and with heart.
I couldn’t stay for the bell ringing as I was posting the flag at the Mendota Pow Wow. I hope he was well represented ~ as I saw many VFP’ers there. [NOTE: there seemed to be about 15 of us standing in Bob’s honor at the Bell Ringing]
I am with Veterans For Peace because of Bob. He got me introduced to folks and really made an effort for me to feel comfortable enough to tell my story. That is not to say there wasn’t some irritation along the way and disagreements about the office, ect., but there was never any grudge holding or animosity … I really appreciated his being willing to get out there and best as he could, make a difference. I loved him dearly as I do most of my brothers.
Thanks again ~ Hugs

#774 – Dick Bernard: The A(De)scendance of "Me"/Tea

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This morning my spouse, Cathy, is on a mission of mercy for a friend.
Cathy is very good at “missions of mercy”.
In this case, she’s going to a private school to retrieve the belongings of a troubled adolescent who was dis-invited (or, shall we say, thrown out).
None of this was a surprise, including to the youngster, who didn’t want to go to the school, and said so before the year started: “I wonder how long it will take them to kick me out”.
Less than two weeks, it turns out.
I taught junior high kids for nine years back in the 1960s, so I am not unaware of the nature of the ‘beast’. They were just less sophisticated then, and they were less sophisticated only because they did not have the array of information and options that they do now.
But the dynamic was the same: they knew all the answers, but they didn’t even have a clue about the questions.
Their future was NOW.
For most, they grew up, but for some the consequences were severe.
This particular student is a female.
I had great friends back in the 1980s, pillars of the Church, just absolutely wonderful people, whose adolescent daughter, their only child, took her walk on the wild side, coincident with her mother’s terminal illness. The young girl was a sweetheart before she went ‘south’, in the manner we all understand from having watched such things in our own circles.
A single parent, she had her baby, who would now be near 30 years old, I’d say, and she’d be about 45. She’s had twice as much life after the pregnancy, as she’d had when she became pregnant. I haven’t seen/heard from her since, but she’s likely out there, somewhere, perhaps recovered, perhaps not.
And she’s had her own teen go through his or her own times.
There are times, like this, when you realize that you as a parent are not in control. Here is a child who for whatever reason hates others, but really hates herself, and doesn’t know what to do about it. Many of us have “been there, done that”, with such a family member. It is not fun to be in it alone….
The young lady will go back to the place she wanted to be in the first place, a public school, but that isn’t going to solve her problem, and the public school knows it: but they don’t have the option of the private school. That’s what “public school” is about: serving public needs.
Luckily, in our particular town, and in most towns, there exist an array of services to spring into action if needed. I don’t need to recite them.
But as a parent, and as a school person, and involved community member, I know there are assorted persons, agencies, groups, most funded by tax dollars in some form or another, most only vaguely known to me, who are there to intervene, and hopefully move the troubled adolescents ME into a healthier perspective. WE are in this business of life together, and WE cannot do it alone.
None of us can control the destructive behaviors of this youngster and the persons of all ages and relationships around her who enable her, but we can help society be ready to help her out, whatever happens.
And hopefully in a few years, she’ll be a functioning adult, maybe even acknowledging what she did, back then, without having experienced too much long-term damage.
So, why the word, “Tea” at the end of the subject? And “A(De)”?
We are experiencing plenty of stupid “ME” behavior amongst the people too many of us have elected to make policy for this country. The folks whose only priority is their priority, whatever that priority is. In fact, too many of us are completely oriented to ME thinking: what’s good for ME, NOW.
Not you? Think about it.
We go, now, into the serious times of the “sequester” that most of us have forgotten about, since it hasn’t, so far, affected us directly.
But this fall, and next year in particular, the “chickens will come home to roost”, and the kind of services our troubled adolescent might need, might not be available.
For a good ongoing briefing, much longer, about the actions in Washington, I recommend following Just Above Above Sunset, free, daily, the most recent number here.

#773 – Dick Bernard: The Minnesota Orchestra, Facing Armageddon, and "A Man's Reach"

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Outside Orchestra Hall, Sep 6, 2013

Outside Orchestra Hall, Sep 6, 2013


The Minnesota Orchestra Managements full page ad in the Sunday Minneapolis Star Tribune ominously said: “Eight days left….”
Today is Thursday. That must mean there are four days left, which means next Monday is the day.
According to the folks who approved the copy for the ad, anyway.
I wonder how I’d vote, if in the Orchestra, 11 months locked out, having had to subsist with other than Orchestra pay or benefits, faced with an offer which at this point can only be one to save face for Orchestra Management.
Sharks don’t do deals, other than to win….
There is less question how I’d vote as a locked out patron, who didn’t have an opportunity to use any of my 2012-13 season tickets.
Of course, we patrons (aka audience, listeners) appear to not much matter.
For this single listener, the end of the Orchestra as we knew it happened back in January, 2013; but the beginning of the end probably began over a small lunch or dinner at a fancy restaurant somewhere back around the near collapse of our economy in 2008, five Septembers ago, when a few powerful people shared some ideas about making the Big Dreams they had into reality. There is, after all, great profit to be made from adversity, if you know how to play the money game. And there are different definitions of “profit”, too.
There are probably some scribbled ideas on sheets of paper somewhere about
how to exploit a near economic catastrophe as an excuse, in other words.
Or, perhaps there is no definable “ground zero”. It just evolved.
I speak as a single audience member, simply a long term account number at the Minnesota Orchestra (who seems, to my knowledge, to have been ‘disappeared’ from the Orchestra managements ordinary communication network.)
For some time now I have said, including more than once in this and other blogposts, that I’ll return to Orchestra Hall if and only if the Musicians Union ratifies a new contract. (This does not mean a “kick the can down the road” temporary agreement.)
But even if I’m back, the reality remains: without major changes in how business is done at Orchestra Management level, including who is permitted to be on the Board, the new Orchestra Hall will be a monument to failure of management and not to success.
To me, the Minnesota Orchestra of 110 years has been killed.
*
There are many models (mindsets, I’ll call them) which could have been followed to avoid this pending Armageddon.
Just for perspective, here are a couple of examples, compared against the current apparent model:
A. Alan Fletcher, President and CEO of the Aspen Music School and Festival, said this on June 23, 2013: “Classical music in the United States depends on four groups working together: musicians, donors, administrators, and listeners.” Two months later he said similarly, across the street from Orchestra Hall.
There is at least an implication in his remarks that these four components have essentially equal value.
B. As those of us in the audience now know, the Minnesota Orchestra Management has (and may have always had) a different model:
1) administrators/large donors/Board;
2) musicians;
3) listeners/audience;
with the administrators/large donors superior; and the listeners (it now appears) essentially irrelevant except to purchase tickets.
This model worked so long as there was a benevolent donor class which believed in great music for the greater community played by a top tier Orchestra conducted by a top tier music director.
Wealthy opportunists who like music but like power and control even more apparently saw their opportunity to take over the Orchestra, and have done so, and here we are.
C. And there’s a third model, which Board member Harvey Mackays “Swim with the Sharks” book caused me to revisit this week.
The alternative is in “A Man’s Reach” by Elmer L. Andersen (edited by Lori Sturdevant, University of Minnesota Press, 2000).
Mr. Andersen would be well known to any of the “players” on the current Orchestra Board: orphan who loved books and learning; well to do and very successful business owner, life-long Republican, MN political and civic leader, including Governor and UofM Board of Regents, philanthropist, on and on.
We were friends the last 12 years of his life.
In his book, pages 96-100, Mr. Andersen describes his “corporate philosophy” which “was built around four priorities in a definite order.”
1) “Our highest priority…should be service to the customer.”
2) “Number two was that the company [H. B. Fuller] should exist deliberately for the benefit of the people associated in it. I never like the word employee. It intimated a difference in class within a plant.”
3) [H.B.] “Fuller’s third priority was to make money.”
4) “Our philosophy did not leave out service to the larger community. We put it in fourth place….”
Mr. Andersen died in 2004. It would be interesting to hear Mr. Andersen and Mr. Mackay et al discuss the word “customer” in context with the Minnesota Orchestra.
There is, in my opinion, a severe distinction and disconnect between Mr. Mackay’s “Shark” approach to business and Andersen’s “A Man’s Reach” philosophy, and the distinction is on display at 1111 Nicollet Avenue now.
Mr. Andersen can’t engage in this conversation, at least directly. I wonder what he and many of his other contemporaries – former pillars of this community – would have to say.
Four days. My best to the parties.
The Listeners will determine the future.
A Man's Reach, c. Regents of the University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota Press, 2000

A Man’s Reach, c. Regents of the University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota Press, 2000

#772 – Dick Bernard: An American Flag, and a message on 9-11-13.

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Before April 12, 2013, I can recall only one time ever entering the imposing near-40 year old Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis MN. Simply, I’ve never been a resident of Hennepin County, Minnesota’s largest. I go there often for various things, including every Sunday for Church, but I’m not a resident.
That single visit to the Government Center was in the distant past to contest a parking ticket.
On the best of days, Traffic Court is a dismal place, and this was no different. On that day, though, having served my sentence with the rest by waiting what seemed like hours for my turn, justice prevailed, and the ticket was forgiven.
April 12, 2013, I entered the Center from the south, and immediately saw a huge American flag there.
(click to enlarge)

At Hennepin County Government April 12, 2013

At Hennepin County Government April 12, 2013


I wondered if there was a story behind the flag, but didn’t get around to ask the question immediately. Some weeks later I was at the Center again, looked more closely at the area around the flag and found no explanation.
Back home I decided to make a phone call to someone at the Center: “do you know the history of this flag?” “No”, came the reply.
I was transferred to someone else in the Tower, who also said they didn’t know, and in turn was transferred to a third person, who wasn’t in the office. I left a message, and subsequently got a return call.
Paydirt: “that flag was mounted after 9-11-01. They just felt they had to do something”, my source said. I didn’t inquire who “they” might be, or exactly when the flag was hoisted. Those questions can be answered at leisure.
More recently, I asked some people I know to ask the same question to someone they might know who frequents the Government Center, and also asked them if they knew the history.
That’s it. One question to one person.
So far, no one I’ve talked to has had any idea why that flag hangs there.
The circumstances surrounding that flag and the lack of knowledge bring forth lots of questions to discuss, but that’s not only the reason for this post.
I was at the Government Center that day in April because of a question about another flagpole, visible through the north window of the Government Center.
Flags of Hennepin County, Minnesota and the United States on the Plaza between the Government Center and Minneapolis City Hall, April 12, 2013

Flags of Hennepin County, Minnesota and the United States on the Plaza between the Government Center and Minneapolis City Hall, April 12, 2013


Until March 27, 2012, one of those flagpoles flew the United Nations flag, as it had flown there for 44 years. It first flew May 1, 1968, as a symbol of Hennepin County and Minneapolis’ friendship with the entire world: world citizenship. It had been taken down March 27, 2012, for specific and erroneous reasons.
(There was a pretext for taking down the flag, not supported by Law. I’ve done the research. The supposed Law was the excuse, but not a valid reason.)
Six of the seven current Hennepin County Commissioners were in office at the time the UN flag was taken down, and decline to give me specific reasons for why this action was taken. I’ve made repeated formal requests. That story, as recorded so far, is accessible here.
No part of the story of the UN Flag suggests disrespect of the U.S. flag.
They just took the flag down, and none of the Commissioners are talking about why, which is other than the reason given with the motion. The silence seems coordinated – “wagons in a circle”.
As we all know, on this particular 9-11, the dominant world talk is about the poison gas tragedy in Syria, and about the possible utility of the United Nations community in doing some of the essential heavy lifting to solve a problem no country can solve itself. The UN is a potential asset to the United States, and the rest of the world, not a liability or embarrassment.
And that U.S. flag, likely mounted post 9-11-01, is a reminder on this 12th anniversary of (in my opinion) excessive remembering of a past tragedy we experienced in the U.S., to remember as well that large numbers of the casualties 9-11-01 were from other countries; and that our response to the tragedy of 9-11 later brought pain and death to far more people in Iraq and Afghanistan, than we suffered here.
We need to reflect on that, too.
Comment from John N, Bloomington MN: That’s a great post Dick. Thanks for sharing. As for the big flag…does a symbol lose its value when nobody knows what it symbolizes?