#939 – Dick Bernard: Election Day, Nov. 4, is one month (five weeks) from today

There is a great deal to be said about Election 2014, now only five weeks away.
The succinct message:
The vast majority of Americans over 18 years of age are qualified to vote. Regardless of roadblocks thrown up to keep some away from the polls, few Americans are excluded from the right to vote.
Unfortunately, if past is prelude, a minority of American will even bother to vote November 4 for the entire litany of reasons we all know, personal excuses and otherwise….
Many of those who actually cast a ballot will have little notion about the implication of their vote for the candidates they end up voting for. (Those who don’t vote at all are a separate category…in effect, they give up their right to complain about the ultimate results.)
In large part, we are disconnected, politically, and it shows in our almost complete disdain for the institutions we elect, especially the U.S. Congress.
Personal advice.
Wherever you live, by now you should be able to find out, on-line, at your Secretary of State’s office, all of the information about next months election, including candidates.
Minnesotans, here’s the link.
At minimum, find out who the candidates are for every office up for election on your local ballot. This will include, at minimum, your Congressperson, and likely many other local and state candidates.
Find out what you can about these candidates (worst source of information in my opinion: media ads, which are aired for or against candidates). At minimum, you likely have friends who are interested in politics, who can give reasonable advice.
In the end, it is the people who show up at the polls on November 4 who will decide the direction (or lack of direction) of this country and your state for the next two years.
It will be either the Republican or the Democrat “side” which will make policy (or make no policy at all, if gridlock continues).
If we resent our government, we really are resenting ourselves, since we chose these folks.
Be well informed, help others be well informed, and vote Tuesday November 4.
NOTE: Eric Black, a columnist and long-time well known and highly respected journalist on the business of Politics, wrote about Americans and voting (and lack of same) in the September 29, 2014, MinnPost. His column is well worth the time to read.

#939 – Dick Bernard: DRAFT Sifting through the tragic mess that is the Middle East

NOTE October 8, 2014: This post will likely continue to be preceded by DRAFT. My apologies to Prof. Beeman if I missed his point(s). The very interesting additional opinions (below) are as expressed (interpreted) by the writers, including myself.
Last night (Sep 18, 2014) I was one of about 35 persons who had a great opportunity to learn a bit more about the tangled web of people, countries, events and history that make up the contemporary Middle East. Our teacher was William Beeman of the University of Minnesota. The program was part of Citizens for Global Solutions MN “Third Thursday” program. It seems a good time to dust off a couple of maps I had cobbled together about the region, in 2005 when the Iraq War was raging, and more recently, in May, 2013, when the Syria Crisis was in an earlier phase, and I found a map to at least define the area in a blogpost.
Iraq environs ca 2005001 (click on link to open)
and
Syria and environs in 2013 (below):
(click to enlarge)
Syria001
These maps preceded ISIS (or ISIL) as the case might be.
Professor Beeman of the University of Minnesota gave us an endless stream of information which could be interpreted in 35 different ways (by every one of us in the room) and millions of different ways by anyone else who has even the slightest interest in the topic. The greatest gift of a good talk is to encourage the recipient to think….
Prof. Beeman (photo below) is an acknowledged expert on the area, and respected as a scholar who understands and appreciates the culture (also diversely defined). He gave us many insights and well-informed opinions. I won’t even try to pretend that I have correctly “translated” him. What I offer are some fragments I gleaned from our two hours, and I’ve invited others I know who were there to add in their own fragments if/as they wish.

William O. Beeman, September 18, 2014

William O. Beeman, September 18, 2014


The Middle East is yet another example of the failure of colonialism and ignorance and disrespect by the western powers. For instance, England and France basically carved up the land that now makes up the Middle East, without any regard for the diverse cultures living within the area. As Dr. Beeman said, they “worked from a map” when they decided who would get what after WW I.
He was highly complimentary of T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and especially Gertrude Bell, both of whom understood the peoples of the region from having lived among them.
It is impossible to pick out a single one or two points that were most significant. I paid special attention when Beeman took some time to point out that the word “Christian” includes a great plenty of differing beliefs, albeit centering on a dominant personality, Jesus, and Islam with Mohamed is really no different. Yet, I will hear people, Christians usually, regularly clumping all Muslims as if they were all the same even though, Muslims are as diverse as Christians.
The discussion of tribal cultures was also very interesting. In my opinion, in the United States, from an ethnic standpoint, the word “American” no longer has any particular “tribal” meaning in the ethnic sense. But tribes are useful from the standpoint of dividing people for the purpose of gaining a competitive advantage, so in our country there are constant attempts to create “us” versus “them” scenarios (“tribes”, as it were) for the purpose of winning. This becomes particularly intense during this absurd American election season: the Republican “tribe” versus the Democrat “tribe”.
Dr. Beeman suggested that a crucial actor in resolving the ISIL and other regional dilemmas in the Middle East is likely Iran.
Of course, much has been invested over many years in making Iran, along with Cuba and North Korea, part of the infamous “Axis of Evil”. So the U.S. blunders along, ill suited to get a solution, even at the point of weaponry, and its major client state, Israel, is not very helpful.
There are so many facets to the current problem that it is hard to devine what might end up being a solution. Of course, enter partisan politics. Crisis is good, and having somebody to blame for the crisis, is even better.
We must do better.
COMMENTS
from Gail H, Sep 21 (referring to above session): At the Third Thursday Forum last Thursday, “America’s Confusion in the Middle East”, William Beeman provided an excellent overview of the historical, cultural/religious, and geopolitical context of that region to help us understand what’s been happening there recently.
For those who missed it or would like to hear more from Dr. Beeman, [here is] an article by him that was published in the Huffington Post, U.K., on July 31, 2014 BeemanShiaSunni. The article, “Will There be a Shi’a-Sunni War in the Middle East? Not Likely”, includes some of the same information.
from John B, Sep 19: The Citizens for Global Solutions meeting in Minneapolis last night was interesting, informative and, yes, a bit frightening. One take-away for me is that the USA seems to be led around by the nose by the radical Zionists in Israel. Their complicity in the geopolitical machinations and trumped up fear of Iran have made the USA look, once again, like bumbling stooges. I agree with many, who express the opinion, that Israel is standing in the way of developing an effective strategy to deal with ISIL which could include Iran, possibly Turkey, maybe even Russia. There are many other matters of conflict which the the Middle East countries and religious bodies need to work out. Not the least is the ongoing aparteid involving Palestinian interests and Israel.
A necessary disclaimer: I am not anti-Semitic. I admire many things about modern IsraeI. I love the Jewish religion, its culture and highly regard the contributions many, many Jews have made in science, government and the arts. If, in fact, the Ancient Israelites were GOD’s Chosen people, does that give modern Zionists the right to bully American politicians and wield its power in the halls of our government? By all accounts this is what is occuring. This is an “undiscussible”. It is yet another example of our broken political system. Maybe this is what America deserves; this could be payback for our meddling in the affairs of so many nations over the years. Lots of dirty hands need washing.
I stand opposed to any US involvement in the ISIL, Syria and Iraq situation. Yes, to some extent our nation has directly contributed to the mess in the middle East. Let’s not make it worse. A very ugly possible future is lurking in the background.
response from Dick B: I agree with John’s sentiments. I’ve been to Israel (1996, right before Arafat was elected, before the Wall). I’ve visited Auschwitz and other horrible places of the Holocaust in 2000, with a group of 40 that was half Jews and half Christians. (I turned 60 the day we were at the ovens in Auschwitz. It is impossible to describe adequately how it felt to be in that horrible place, and others such as the Schindlers List camp near Krakow, and Terezin, Czech Republic, etc.) But the Israelis idea of a short term solution is catastrophic for everyone, including themselves, long term. Just my opinion.
There is an unfortunate “no talk” rule about this issue. I’m glad John brought it up.
from Joe S, Sep 19: Thanks for your candid remarks, with which I generally concur. As one of the more faithful attenders of our Third Thursday Forums, you are probably ware that we have discussed Israel/Palestine on several occasions and will, I would guess, do so again.
from Gail H: I very much appreciate your comments, John and Dick, and your courage in raising this issue! Those who criticize Israeli foreign policy (which, by the way, is led by an ultra-Right government) are no more Anti-Semitic than those who criticize American foreign policy are unpatriotic. I agree that it has been ‘taboo’ to openly and candidly examine Israel, although that has begun to change as Israel’s excessive violence has become increasingly difficult to defend.
I joined CGS-MN because those who attend Third Thursdays seem thoughtful, well-educated about global affairs, and unwilling to accept without question what we’re told by our politicians and by our media. They don’t ‘stand’ on ideology, but want to hear from scholars such as William Beeman who can expand our understanding of events with historical, cultural, and geopolitical information and reasoned analysis.
In my opinion, Professor Beeman’s talk last Thursday, the questions asked by audience members, and the discussion which here has ensued shows CGS at its best. I am so proud of our organization!
from a retired lifelong American who’s also lifelong Moslem and grew up in a vibrant Moslem community in rural America: (His comments refer to a film in progress about Arabs in America. You can view the film trailer here. Included with his comments were these two items: British Mandate Summary and Lord Balfour_r3
(To the film producer) Thank you. I enjoyed the trailer very much.
A few things mentioned caught my attention:
My Dad and his brother also immigrated here to escape induction into the Ottoman Empire’s army as one of the persons in your trailer indicated
There were words from a Palestinian girl that reminded me of the British Mandate. She may be able to expand on it. I am having an interesting discussion with a couple of past co-workers on the Middle East mess created by the British. One is from England and they have provided me with much information that helps me understand the conditions that led to the immigration of so many Arabs from that part of the world. The first attachment [link above] is a summary of the British Mandate and the second is more descriptive of the background. Further back in history, the Ottoman Empire resulted from a local Turkish leader named Osman organizing an army to drive the Crusaders out of the middle east after 500 years of slaughter by wave after wave of Crusaders. But in short, all the problems we now experience in the Middle East were caused by the British, that same entity that felt they should rule the US before the Revolutionary War that the British still call an insurgency. It bothers me that we have become the new Great Britain feeling we are the ones to go around the world and tell other nations what to do and believe.
I’m sure you know the story of Lawrence of Arabia, the trusted soul that got the Arabs into WWI, but if not, I can expand on that for you.
There was discussion of Christians in the Middle East. The Middle East populations were predominantly Christian until the crusaders slaughtered most of them. There is an interesting article in the June, 2009 issue of National Geographic on the Christian Exodus from the Holy Land. Most Lebanese Christians live in the central area of Lebanon. They align themselves with Hezbollah because they do not trust the US and its western allies. We label Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorists, but both organization we created as relief organization to aid the victims of the US backed Israelis attacks. My grandfather returned to his Lebanon birthplace to live out the rest of his life after my grandmother died. After a few months he returned to N Dakota. The reason was that the Israelis would fly over southern Lebanon and kill the occupants for target practice during periods of calm. As the result of our foreign policies and undying support of Israel, Hezbollah has taken a more active role in military defense of their people. Hamas on the other hand has focused mainly on relief activities. We still refer to them as terrorists to appease Israel. But they are hardly militant. They have been shooting these small rockets into Israel to draw the world’s attention to their plight after the withdrawal of Jewish settlements and the establishment of the siege. Notice how quickly the news media shifted from the recent Gaza incident. The people of Gaza have the choice of sitting back and starving to death, or raising a bit of ruckus every now and then to draw attention to their plight
If you are a student of biblical history, the siege is the process that Moses and his people used to claim the homeland of the ancestors of the Palestinians 3000 years ago. Canaan consisted of a series of small city states and the Hebrews would besiege one and when their armies would come out to drive the intruders away, the people of Moses could easily defeat them, then they would go into the city and kill slaughter the women, children and elderly males, and then occupy the city as their home. This continued through five generation from Joshua through Gideon. Much on that subject on the web.
Note comment from Howie, in comments section below. This illustration applies to the comment and my response to it.
from Understanding the Catholic Faith, An Official Edition of the Revised Baltimore Catechism No. 3, 1955

from Understanding the Catholic Faith, An Official Edition of the Revised Baltimore Catechism No. 3, 1955

#938 – Dick Bernard: "Do one thing every day that scares you"

In May, at the annual dinner of the Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota, teacher Suzanne Quinn-McDonald received an award for outstanding service. During her brief remarks she quoted something Eleanor Roosevelt had once said, something I’d not heard: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
I went home and looked up the quote, and indeed it existed. I found a powerful and extremely simple 46 second YouTube visual about it (turn up the sound!)
A month or two later, the Caribou Coffee I frequent was being refurbished, and about mid-July I was looking at the new wall covering:

Caribou Coffee, Woodbury MN August 2, 2014

Caribou Coffee, Woodbury MN August 2, 2014


I’ve been thinking a lot about that quote as we’ve been watching the Ken Burns multi-hour, multi-day program, “The Roosevelts”, on the local PBS station. (Missed it? For likely a very limited time you can catch it on-line here. There have been four episodes thus far, a fifth this evening, I believe.)
Like most, I imagine, I know fragments about this extraordinary family, particularly Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor.
In a way, they were born with the proverbial “silver spoon” in their mouths, but there the comparison with the idle rich, or with most of us for that matter, ends.
Personally, all of them endured tragedy, some unspeakable. Each had ample opportunities to quit and fall into the category of “average and ordinary”. But for whatever reason (explored in the film) they seem to have done lots of scarey things, rising above their circumstance: polio, family death, betrayal, etc.
Each of them possessed abundant personal gifts, but each pushed their personal envelope, at least once, if not more than once, every day. They appeared to be uncomfortable just staying within their comfort zone!
Whatever your feelings about the Roosevelts, take the time to watch the entire series if at all possible (the DVD is also available).
You won’t regret it.

#937 – Dick Bernard: A Look Back at the History of the State of North Dakota as it approaches its 125th birthday.

Today, September 17, is Constitution Day in the United States. This year the U.S. is 227 years young.
Happy Birthday!
Some serendipity happenings cause me to give focus, this day, to the original Constitution of the State of North Dakota.
North Dakota is my home state.
This year, November 2, is the 125th birthday of North Dakota – the 32nd state of the U.S. (South Dakota is 33rd). Elwyn Robinson, author of the definitive history of North Dakota, gives this description of the beginnings of the ND Constitution Convention in 1889: ND Constit – Robinson001.
Most of the text and illustrations which follow come from the 1911 Blue Book of North Dakota, which I found this summer amongst the belongings at the LaMoure County farm where my mother grew up. Her parents came to that farm from extreme southwest Wisconsin (near Dubuque IA) in March of 1905. Her Dad, my Grandpa Fred Busch, seems always to have been interested in politics, and it is probably thanks to him that I now have this old book. In the books illustrations (below) you see evidence of pencil scrigglings. Most likely, they were made by my then-two year old mother, Esther: she was born in 1909, and by the time this book was at the farm home, she was probably at the age where a pencil and paper had some relationship together. (The final picture, at the end of this post, is of the first page of the book. Likely an Esther Busch original!)
(click to enlarge)

The cover of the "red, white and blue" Blue Book of North Dakota, 1911

The cover of the “red, white and blue” Blue Book of North Dakota, 1911


North Dakota’s history, like all places, then to now,is a very complicated one. For anyone interested there are a great many sources and observations interpreting North Dakota’s early history and the torturous course of its Constitution pre and post 1911. Between statehood in 1889 and 1911, when this book was published, there had been great changes in ND, with extremely rapid growth. It was doubtless an exciting time on the prairie; a time of transition. The history as recorded in the book is as known and accepted as fact in 1911.
Here is the 1889 Constitution of North Dakota as reprinted in the 1911 Blue Book: ND Constitution 1889001
Dr. Jerome Tweton much later wrote an interesting commentary on a later effort to redo the oft amended original Constitution.
Here is the summary history of the state and Dakota Territory, its predecessor, as written in the same book: ND TerrHist writ 1911 002 [See note at end of this blog].
Dad’s side of my family preceded ND statehood.
My grandmother Bernard, then Josephine Collette, was born eight years before statehood at St. Andrews, where the Park and Red Rivers come together in Walsh County ND. Her parents came to ND in 1878; several uncles and Aunts came west about the same time.
Her uncle, Samuel Collette, who migrated to the St. Paul MN area from Quebec in 1857, was the first family member to see North Dakota. He was part of the Minnesota Mounted Rangers in 1862-63, a soldier in the so-called Indian War, and likely was with that unit in 1863 when it reached what later became Bismarck. This was a bit before Interstate 94.
Every state has its symbols.
Here are the 1911 descriptors of the Wild Prairie Rose, the State Flower, and the North Dakota Flag: ND Flower Flag 1911 002. These are the only state symbols within the book.
There is no descriptor of the North Dakota Seal in the 1911 book. Here is a more current interpretation of that Seal.
I found most interesting, in the reverential description of the ND flag, the many references to the Spanish-American War in the Philippines 1898-99. My Grandpa Busch, Mom’s Dad, would not, in 1911, have had any idea that his future brother-in-law, my Grandpa Bernard, Dad’s Dad, who came to Grafton from Quebec about 1894, was in that war, spending that entire year in the Philippines, part of Co C, Grafton. Where that ND flag was, there was Grandpa Bernard. I have visited Manila, Pagsanjan and Paete, all mentioned in that description.
Without knowing it, the two ND families were already “tied” together. (Another book found at the Busch farm is one about the Spanish-American War written at the time of the war in the grandiose style of the time.)
North Dakota was one of the earliest enrollees in Theodore Roosevelt’s Spanish-American War, spring of 1898. Of course, the “Roughrider”, Teddy Roosevelt, had spent two important years in ND in the mid 1880s, living in the Badlands not far from todays Medora. In a way, by 1898, Theodore Roosevelt had become a North Dakotan.
(click to enlarge)
ND Flag, as presented in the 1911 North Dakota Blue Book.  Scribbles likely compliments of then 2-year old Esther Busch.

ND Flag, as presented in the 1911 North Dakota Blue Book. Scribbles likely compliments of then 2-year old Esther Busch.


ND State Flower, the prairie Wild Rose, as presented in 1911 ND Blue Book

ND State Flower, the prairie Wild Rose, as presented in 1911 ND Blue Book


Great Seal of North Dakota in 1911 ND Blue Book.  Scribbles likely contributed by then 2-year old Esther Busch of Henrietta Township, rural Berlin ND.

Great Seal of North Dakota in 1911 ND Blue Book. Scribbles likely contributed by then 2-year old Esther Busch of Henrietta Township, rural Berlin ND.


Likely artiste, Esther Busch, in the 1911 North Dakota Blue Book.

Likely artiste, Esther Busch, in the 1911 North Dakota Blue Book.


Esther Busch went on to Henrietta Township School #1 near Berlin ND, thence to St. John’s Academy in Jamestown, thence Valley City State Normal School. She became a North Dakota Public School elementary school teacher in the late 1920s, met her future husband Henry Bernard at Valley City State Normal School, and together they taught a total of 71 years in North Dakota Public Schools.
Happy Birthday, North Dakota!
re ND TerrHist link above: At page four of the link you’ll find the population of ND by decades until 1910. Succinctly, the population grew by 75% from 1890 to 1900, thence 80% from 1900 to 1910 to a 1910 population of 577,000.
That more or less remained the population of North Dakota until the recent oil boom.
They say ND is now about 700,000; In the 1960 census, when I was a junior in college, ND population was about 630,000. When I did the Busch family history some years ago I looked up the population of Berlin, which was platted in 1903 and incorporated in 1906. Berlins highest population ever was in 1910, 137 people. It was all downhill from there. The current population of Berlin, ND is about 35. Here’s how it looked about 1910: Berlin ND early pre-1910001
The present ND population boomlet is in the Bakken oil west (Williston, Minot, Bismarck, Dickinson areas) and in the cities, particularly Fargo and Grand Forks.

#936 – Dick Bernard: A Walk in the Park; a Sense of Community.

The two ladies saw me coming, and knew what to expect. I had come armed, with my camera.
My target;
(click to enlarge)

Sep. 13, 2014, Woodbury MN

Sep. 13, 2014, Woodbury MN


Several successive Saturday mornings I’d seen this pooch in a stroller. Fourteen years of walking in this park, and I hadn’t seen a pooch so royally treated. This was a dog who had it made. Why walk when you can ride? Legitimate question. The lady said her husband was initially embarrassed to explain to others why the dog got a free ride, but he got over it!
So it goes on my near daily walks in our community park.
I’ve done near 10,000 miles of walking over those fourteen years. My knees are beginning to suggest that maybe I should think of cutting back, but it will be a hard sell: the walk is my addiction.
In a sense, this park is its own community.
I’ve written of it a couple of times in this space: The Can Lady remains a good friend; the guy who taught me by his crisis to bring along my cell phone on every walk survived.
Just this morning I came across a lady walking her dog (or is it the dog walking her? The four-legged one is usually the boss.) The sprinklers were on in the park, and it was irritating her. She’d lived in this area since 1956, and she felt it was a waste of resources and money to water the grass in a park.
I agreed.
We went our separate ways, but then I decided to give her a little advice: how about writing the mayor and council of Woodbury to express your complaint, I said. Maybe she will. Maybe I should, myself. The watering system is really unnecessary.
It reminded me of another political moment in this park, some years ago. Another lady on the trail asked me to join in petitioning the city to not allow a mountain biking trail that was proposed for the woods abutting the walk way.
It didn’t seem to be a problem, so I declined. But I admired her for coming forward with the suggestion.
The bike trail was built, and during nice weather it is well used, and the mountain bikes don’t interfere with we pedestrians.
It is a cooperative venture – those who use the bikeway help maintain it. An organization called MORC was apparently instrumental in its coming into existence.
Bike Crossing Aug 31, 2014

Bike Crossing Aug 31, 2014


The bike trail.

The bike trail.


Of course, all is never quite so simple.
About a year after the lady had invited me to petition the city about the bike path, I was at a community conversation on taxes. We were divided into table groups, and a bunch of anti-tax guys were at the same table as I was.
A couple of them were lambasting the city for spending money on a new Sports Center, and I had defended the project by saying some of my grand kids played baseball there. I didn’t benefit directly, but the park was a benefit to the greater community.
One of the young guys at the table, of the anti-tax group, started to think a bit, mentioning that he was part of the group that had lobbied the city to allow and participate in the building of the bike trail in the park.
It seemed, at that moment, that he had a new insight: that there are ways in which communities cooperate with each other, even when individuals have no direct interest in a particular venture or activity.
Of course, other activities go on in the park and along the trail. This summer for some days a crew of young people were building some fencing along part of the walking route. I inquired about them and they were part of a crew for something called the Tree Trust. Checking out the website, it’s a most impressive bunch. Unless I walked the route, and had asked the question, I wouldn’t have known they existed.
Part of the Tree Trust crew, July 3, 2014, Woodbury MN

Part of the Tree Trust crew, July 3, 2014, Woodbury MN


Our communities are diverse, of many parts. We’re not walking the route alone.
Deer on the walking trail, September 13, 2014.

Deer on the walking trail, September 13, 2014.

#935 – Dick Bernard: War. Its variations.

It’s been a rough week for the National Football League (NFL).
First comes the indefinite suspension of Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice after the violent incident with his “then-fiancee” in a hotel elevator. Then, this mornings banner headline in my local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, about Minnesota Vikings star “Adrian Peterson Indicted” for disciplining “his 4-year old son by beating him with a “switch.””
There is the news that dominates the airwaves and the internet; then there is the down on the ground news, talk among friends, about such things.
There is a disconnect.
One good friend remembers that when he was a kid his Mom pretty regularly used the “switch” on him, or something else if the switch wasn’t handy.
Another friend wonders what happened earlier in the elevator that wasn’t caught on film.
Such musings are only for safe company. There is no “other side of the story”.
These are two great guys, sincerely wondering….
Then there’s the National Football League, may as well be called America’s Corporation, probably one of the most financially successful and well known businesses.
Its ultimate objective, let’s be honest, is to cover its financial assets.
The NFLs product is sanctioned team violence. Football is a violent game – a war on a field.
(Thursdays Star Tribune had an editorial about head injuries in prep sports. Of 13 sports, Football had 42% of the injuries (second was girls soccer with 9%).
Pro football without Goliaths colliding would be boring for fans.)
There’s a devil’s dance going on.
Then there’s the main national event: the center ring: the American War against whomever, and who is to be held responsible for that war, however defined.
Currently, the contest is about what to do about ISIL, et al. It is the almost perfect storm, given that it comes less than two months before the 2014 election and the issues and complexities great..
By the Constitution of the United States, it is the Congress who has the sole power to authorize war. Constitution of U.S.001 (see page 9). The trick is how to make President responsible for what the Congresspersons would like to have happen, but do not want to own.
It is a real quandary.
We Americans elect our leaders by voting (or not showing up on election day).
We like our wars, so long as win them, at no cost to ourselves.
Today is the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem, “bombs bursting in air”. Look at the entertainment that sells best. A strong focus on violence is popular.
But we’re eternally ambivalent. Our entry into WWII was delayed because Congress wouldn’t commit to war.
No war was ever declared in Korea, which was a police action.
An assortment of War Powers Acts especially since Vietnam have in effect amended the Constitution so that the Congress can pass off its responsibility for war-making to whomever is the sitting President. If its our guy, one thing; if its not, its another.
With respect to the abundant mess in Syria-Iraq and environs with ISIL, there is no right answer, though all pundits on whichever ideological side represent their analysis as the correct one.
The President of the United States, who is not running for anything in November, is, I believe, correctly assessing the situation, and has been for some years now.
He is interested in protecting the institution of the Presidency, but he is also interested in the Congress doing its job of making the crucial decisions about war and peace.
Our local congressperson is the point person who we need to elect carefully on Nov. 4. They should not be able to weasel-waffle out of declaring themselves.

Thursday, September 17th is Constitution Day in the U.S. Linked here is one of many sources of information. Take time to read our founding document: Constitution of U.S.001

#934 – Dick Bernard: Eight weeks (56 days) to November 4, Election Day 2014.

Yesterdays post, here, relates to this one.

August, 2013.  Who every election is about....

August, 2013. Who every election is about….


Recently, in an e-mail, came a very interesting short test on current events* from the highly respected Pew Research Center. It asks 13 questions: “What do you know about the news?”.
You can take the test privately. Here it is. Elsewhere in this post I will tell you how I did, compared with the national sample who were surveyed August 7-14, 2014.
Re the next eight weeks, there is really nothing to add to what will incessantly be irritatingly obvious: there is a major election in a few weeks.
As usual, in a non-presidential year, most people won’t vote at all (it’s mid-term, after all); a distressing percentage of those who’ll vote really don’t know the issues, much less where the candidates stand on the issues, much less even knowing who the candidates are.
The bottom line for me remains: We like to complain about “government”; but we’re actually complaining about ourselves.
If we were a dictatorship, or if there wasn’t a reasonably solid statutory base for “one person, one vote”, we might have more of a right to complain. But the vast majority of us CAN vote.
We each have as much power, through an informed vote, as the richest person in the country: one vote. True, big money can influence votes through these incessant and vacuous media ads and mailers we will see, without end. But ads don’t vote, either, except through us.
A good place to start, today, is to find out who your candidates will be on November 4. For Minnesotans (my state), here’s the entry point. All you need to know is your where you live. All the other rules are to be found at the same website. Other states doubtless have similar resources.
Once you know your candidates, find out what they stand for, really (not just the ads), and let the people who you know, know where you stand, and why.
And if you’re not sure about someone who’s a candidate ask someone you trust about them.
In the end, I hope we elect more folks who truly care about the entire country, than simply about their own particular ideology. We used to have a tradition, Republican and Democrat, which was more like that, than it is today.
Again, if we want change, we’ll be the ones to demand it through our vote on November 4, and in future elections.
* – Did you take the test referred to at the beginning?
The person who passed the test along to me said this: “Try this test! It is very interesting. It will test your knowledge of current events. It is interesting that 11 people of the original survey conducted by Pew Research did not get a single question correct.
This is an excellent test and it shows results in a number of ways. National results indicate that the majority of Americans don’t know what is going on in their country. Are these the “low information voters” we have been hearing about?
It is astonishing that so many people got less than half of the questions right. The results say that 80% of the voting public are basically clueless about current events. That’s pretty scary but not at all surprising.
There are no trick questions in this test — Either you know the answer or you don’t. It will give you an idea whether or not you are current on your information data base.”
My score? I got 12 of 13.

#933 – Dick Bernard: Working for Change

A couple of weeks ago a waitress at a local restaurant I frequent asked me a question.
She knows I’m interested in politics, and her son-in-law, now in law school, had developed a strong interest in the Constitution. Could I give her some ideas?
There’s loads of materials on the U.S. Constitution, of course. I knew this young man was from my home state of North Dakota and I suggested that I’d try to find out something about the ND Constitution. Maybe he’d be interested. She thought that was a great idea and I embarked on my quest. It was more difficult than I had thought but as of today the young man has (I’m pretty sure) information he hasn’t seen before, and this is the 125th year of North Dakota becoming a state (1889).
As often happens with such quests, one question leads to another, and yesterday found me looking at the 2013-14 Minnesota Legislative Handbook (they used to be called the “Blue Book”) to see what information it might have about the Minnesota Constitution (Statehood, 1858, right before the Civil War.)
I found a fascinating page and a half description of what it was like to enact the Minnesota Constitution back then. You can read it here: MN Constitution Hist001.
It doesn’t take long to discover that it was not an easy process to enact a new Minnesota Constitution. In fact…well, you can read the short article. Of course, back in that day, all the players were men, didn’t make a difference which party they were, and they were accustomed to being in power, and (I suppose) the primacy of their own ideas. Compromise was not their strong suit, shall I say.
By the time of the North Dakota Convention in 1889 the process was considerably more cut and dried, but still it wasn’t without discord. The final document is, I’m told, 220 handwritten sheets, and here are the first two pages of what Prof. Elwyn Robinson in his 1966 History of North Dakota had to say in introduction to the proceedings: ND Constit – Robinson001.
Of course, again, all of the delegates were men of prominence in their communities.
Long after each convention, in 1920, Women’s Suffrage helped to begin level the playing field. The Civil Rights Act of 1965 began to deal with the residue of slavery, which was supposed to have been taken care of as a result of the Civil War 1861-65.
Nothing is easy.
Yesterday evening, winding down, I happened across a PBS program entitled Secrets of Westminster, about power in English history. You can watch it here.
There were many fascinating tidbits, but the one that will stick with me longest will be the segments about the long struggle for women’s suffrage in England, finally won in 1918, two years before the rights were granted in the U.S. There is an interesting timeline of the quest by British women to receive the right to vote here. Note especially the three entries about 1909, and 4 June 1913. Both were featured in the PBS program.
Change is a continuing struggle. Where there are people, there are differences, and there is power. Change cannot be made by pretending someone else will do it; or that it is impossible to do anything about “it” (whatever “it” is). But it is possible.
At a recent meeting, I was noting a sign I had recently seen on a Holiday Inn Express motel in Bemidji Minnesota. It is pictured here:
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At hotel entrance Bemidji MN August 8, 2014

At hotel entrance Bemidji MN August 8, 2014


I commented on how inconceivable a sign like this would have been not too many years ago.
Jim remembered how it all began. He was a college student 50 years ago, and it was the time when the first warnings were publicized on cigarettes, which “may” be hazardous to ones health.
Change happened, there, because some people, individually and then united, worked for it, and worked, and worked, and worked….
We must do the same.

#932 – Dick Bernard: International Day of Peace, September 21, 2014

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International Peace Day at Loring Park, Minneapolis, September 21, 2003

International Peace Day at Loring Park, Minneapolis, September 21, 2003


Eleven years ago, sometime in August, 2003, a group of peace and justice folks at Minneapolis’ First Unitarian Society had an idea: let’s do a Peace Day at Loring Park on the International Day of Peace, September 21. Their plan involved enlisting churches in the downtown Minneapolis neighborhood.
I volunteered.
“Peace Day”? September 21?
It wasn’t until later that I learned of Jeremy Gilley, a young Englishman, who had done the inconceivable: an ordinary citizen convincing the United Nations to fix a specific date for its annual International Day of Peace as September 21 each year, rather than the third Tuesday in September, or even other dates, which had been the practice since the day was established at the United Nations in 1981.
The first Peace Day observed on September 21 had been the previous year, 2002. Somebody in the Twin Cities had heard about it, and here we were: planning one for the Twin Cities in its second year, 2003.
(NOTE: Sunday, September 21, 2014, is this years International Day of Peace. The complex and fascinating story of Peace Day is told in a free 80 minute on-line movie, “The Day After Peace”, accessible here.)
By September, 2003, I had become active in the peace and justice committee at Basilica of St. Mary, one of the downtown churches, and I agreed to help out with the Peace Day event, which came to be called “Peace on the Hill” (First Unitarian is, in fact on Lowry hill, a couple of blocks up from Loring Park).
As I recall, the committee was having trouble finding somebody to be a speaker.
On the day itself, Sep. 21, 2003, the weather was uncertain, and maybe a couple of hundred of us gathered in a circle, some local musicians inspired us (photo above), and then-Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak came at the last minute and gave a very good speech. He had made a special trip to the event as this was his wedding anniversary weekend, and they had made other plans.
Peace on the Hill was a very good event, and my friend Madeline Simon, and her colleagues at First Unitarian, deserve the credit for a very good idea. (My personal thoughts, written a few days after the event, are at the end of this post.) I still have the t-shirt from the day: Peace Day 9-21-03001
Events like Peace on the Hill are difficult to put together, and it is even more difficult to sustain interest. So, to my knowledge, the first day was also the last. There were other efforts, but they were only sporadic and scattered.
Assorted “bugaboos” known to anyone who has ever organized anything interfere with long term success.
There were plenty of reasons for Jeremy Gilley to give up on his noble idea of a specific day set aside for peace.

By tragic irony, the United Nations adopted September 21 as the International Day of Peace on September 7, 2001, effective in 2002.
Four days later, on September 11, 2001, as the UN was celebrating the 2001 International Day of Peace, outside, on a pleasant day, the Twin Towers just down the street from the UN were hit.
It all could have ended, then and there. But it didn’t.
From all indications, in 2014, Jeremy Gilley has the focus and the momentum. His goal now, and it’s an attainable one, is that 3 billion people, half of the worlds population, will be aware of September 21 as the International Day of Peace.
Simple awareness is a large step towards victory.
Watch the movie, and commit to do something this International Day of Peace, and every day following.

*
POSTNOTE: Thoughts written after International Peace Day September 21, 2003.
Dick Bernard, September 29, 2003, P&J #460 “Who’ll be speaking?”
Note especially the bold-faced section beginning at #4.

A suggestion: I am reading a little book, and near the beginning was a paragraph which caught my eye:
“…if we so choose, we can always postpone the jump from thought to action. We really need to acquire more information, read another book, attend one more conference, hold further conversations, in order to “clarify the issues.” Then we’ll act. So if the action looks risky, there is always a good reason to postpone it: we don’t know enough yet.
“We are fooling ourselves: we never actually “postpone” the jump from thought to action. For, paradoxical as it sounds, not to act is to act. It is to act by default for whoever is in charge. People who did not oppose the Nazi gassing of Jews were supporting the Nazis: “See,” Hitler could say, “nobody is objecting.”….”
(From Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes, by Robert McAfee Brown. Check it out.)
What to do?
Some Actions among many we all can easily take:
1. Actually write a real letter to your Congressperson and Senators and editor, etc., about the $87,000,000,000 and the additional immense deficits. Make it brief and to the point. It will be read by somebody, and they will pay attention.
2. Do something for Peace and Justice YOU consider to be a bit outrageous – outside of your comfort zone, even if only a little. That is the only real way to get into action…to be at least a little uncomfortable. For sure don’t be stymied by a need to know everything (see the book quote above). As we are becoming more and more aware, the “big deals” probably know less than we do – yes, they may have more information, but their “blind spots” are huge – their ego causes them to miss the obvious…and then deny its existence long after it is obvious to others.
3. Pay much more attention to today’s quiet masses than to the loudmouths. I think the quiet multitude among us – the vast majority – is starting to wonder if Iraq, the economy, etc makes any sense. In a sense, they might be like the ordinary passengers on the Titanic who might have been on deck and wondering about those icebergs out there, but said to themselves “they must know what they’re doing”, and expressed concern to nobody. Of course, “they” up on the bridge of the unsinkable Titanic apparently didn’t have a clue, and the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage. We are, collectively, on our own Titanic…. There is a temptation – I feel it myself – to say “see, I told you so”. Avoid the temptation. The nature of humans is to not want to admit they’ve been wrong.
4. Make a commitment to SUPPORT activities in your area that SOMEBODY like you is investing a lot of time, personal effort and even money in to make a success. Attend those demonstrations, and programs, etc., etc., and by so doing you show your support of somebody’s hard effort for peace and justice. Thank the people who made the event happen even if it might not have been perfect. Ditto for requests people make of you. (Personally, I will be giving you a couple of invitations in the near future: it will be a good opportunity to practice your skills of acknowledging/accepting/declining! Stay tuned.)
The importance of Active Support came close to home for me at an event I was helping coordinate in Loring Park in Minneapolis on September 21, Peace on the Hill. The event turned out to be a real success, but before it began one of my fellow volunteers was talking about a party he’d been to the previous evening. A number of peace and justice activists were at the party, and he invited them to come to the get-together. “Who’ll be speaking”, they asked in a variety of ways, suggesting that they’d consider coming if the program would be sufficiently “interesting”. At the time, we couldn’t guarantee any speakers – in fact, our focus was not speakers, rather music, and my presumption is that the activists my colleague was talking about were not in evidence at the Park during our program.
“Who’ll be speaking?”. In a real sense, the speakers that cool and overcast Sunday afternoon were the several hundred people who actually came with no expectations. (Ultimately, the Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T.Rybak did come to our Peace on the Hill event, and spent a lot of time with us, and gave a great speech as well. It developed that he couldn’t absolutely commit to coming beforehand because of a family commitment, and he had to drive home early to be with us. Rather than passing the duty off to an aide, he felt it was important enough to attend in person. He deserves gratitude.)
Some of you came to Peace on the Hill, and I was grateful to see you. It was acknowledgement that the event was important, even though there were many other things you could have been doing. Event organizers notice things like that, even if they’re too busy to chat at the time. The musicians noticed that the audience was an appreciative one, engaged. That was important to the musicians – who performed for nothing.
“Who’ll be speaking?”
How about you, in any of sundry ways?
Have a great week..

#931 – Dick Bernard: A new school year begins

In a few hours, most Minnesota students return to school for the 2014-15 school year. At this moment, more than 800,000 Minnesota public school students, and more than 100,000 more teachers, administrators, cooks, custodians, bus drivers, etc., are, regardless of their grade level, or number of years of experience, somewhat nervous about tomorrow. It is a bit like preparing to go “on stage”. The jitters are very normal.
(About 9 of 10 school age kids attend publicly funded schools. Education is a primary constitutional function of government and reflects the diversity that is America. Most of the remaining students attend non-public schools of one sort or another. A smaller percentage are home-schooled. The general Minnesota data for all is linked above. National enrollment figures are similar. About one of six Americans are enrolled in public schools.)
Among those returning to school in Minnesota will be eight of our grandkids, my daughter who is a school principal, and another daughter who is a school board member.
Even though we’re physically detached from that place called “school”, it is certainly never far away.
We wish them all well.
I’ve spent most of my life immersed in public education. Both parents were career public school teachers. Both of them were my teachers, at school, in 8th grade, then high school. Four aunts and two uncles were school teachers, most of them career teachers. Some cousins are retired teachers…. Yes, school has never been far away, including the 27 years I represented public school teachers through what was then called Minnesota Education Association (now Education Minnesota (EM)).
Today was the last day of the Minnesota State Fair, and we went to the Fair. For me it was the second trip.
This day I made my usual stop, at the long-time booth of Education Minnesota.
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Education Minnesota booth, September 1, 2014

Education Minnesota booth, September 1, 2014


For many years, Education Minnesota’s booth has been one of the more popular stops at the Fair. Folks can stop by and get their photo and a 2014-15 calendar for free. I got in line for mine, which you can see, in part, here: Bernard – EM 9-1-2014001. Julie Blaha, tomorrow a 5th grade teacher in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, Minnesota’s largest, and for several preceding years President of the local teacher’s union there, greeted all of us in the cheery way of a great teacher. Those who entered the EM booth knew they were with friends.
School is a complex place during the best of times. When mixed in with politics, and emotions, and all of the other facets that go with a complex people institution, no doubt even the first day some things will happen, somewhere.
But when one considers the infinite potential for problems, it is amazing how well schools work.
Most kids are looking forward to being back in school, albeit somewhat nervously. The system will work, not always perfectly, and for the most part retired folks like ourselves will not hear much, mostly because there is not much to hear! Things are working okay.
Our nine grandkids (one graduated long ago) are all unique individuals. Somehow or other, schools do a pretty good job blending kids with each other, and helping each kid find his or her way in whatever grade he/she finds him or herself tomorrow.
We wish everyone well.
Part of the gathering crowd at the Minnesota State Fair, last day, September 1, 2014

Part of the gathering crowd at the Minnesota State Fair, last day, September 1, 2014


COMMENT
from Shirley L:

Appreciated your comments about school and opening day. It was always an exciting time for our family with both parents in school positions – and my brother and I matriculating at the college lab school. Such a regular routine that in the fall I feel a bit out of step! I do take advantage of the back-to-school sales of school supplies…really stock up on pens, paper, folders, sketchbooks, etc.
So here’s a toast to you – your grandkids – and all of our wonderful memories of those great school days!!
from Denise S, President of Education Minnesota: The other day a couple was [at the booth] getting their picture taken and they said it was #17. Fun! A great tradition, indeed. Our best guess is we do 1,200-1,500 calendars a day. Good stuff!