Dick Bernard: Far too many days, and they’ve only just begun….

/0 Comments/in /by

“Make America Great Again” April 21, 2017

Sidenote to begin: A piece of junk mail today from Brave New Films, with a preview link to the film: “40 people, 50 Questions”. Take the 7 1/2 minutes.

*

The “repeal and replace” of “Obamacare” is on hold in the Senate.

Last night for the first time in a long while I watched no news at all, and didn’t read the paper this morning. It helps to have a bad cold, but I didn’t miss the parade of spinmeisters.

The summary as best I can understand such things:
1) Repealing Obamacare will make things much, much worse for tens of millions of Americans in terms of access to and affordability of health care. The victims are far beyond just the poor, about to be tossed over a cliff.
2) the tradeoff is massive tax cuts for wealthy people who already have far more than enough.

The Republican “talking points”, nor Trump, who’s a case unto himself, won’t mention either of these; but these are the desired results.

Caveat Emptor (Let the Buyer Beware). Obamacare, with all its faults (which were massaged and exacerbated from the beginning by the Republican leadership), was a great gift to every citizen of this land.

*

Repealing Obamacare, lowering taxes on the rich, and abundant other schemes, will negatively impact every single one of us, including the rich, even if we keep our own coverage.

How about people who depend on us? Within our own very modest family “fortune” – our inheritance to our heirs, as it were – there goes their inheritance when someone or other, perhaps within family, but not necessarily exclusively, unexpectedly comes on hard times and asks for financial help. I don’t think that we are yet at a place in our society where we’d let someone just die in the street. But….

Short term thinking can have long term results.

*

“The rich”?

More money in Scrooge McDuck‘s money bin? (I always liked Scrooge McD cavorting in a bin of investments that seemed full of quarters, when a quarter was a lot of money to a poor kid) helps no one unless it is in circulation to millions who can’t afford to save, and spend every nickel and beyond, maxing out credit cards (if lucky enough to have them) to survive.

Trump is positioned to get even richer, because his primary clientele is the already very rich. You can only make so much with “Make America Great Again” hats (which I have seen only once in public since the election. See beginning of this post.)

*

What can an ordinary person do? I hear very good things about the group “Indivisible“. Check in there if you want to do something to help. There are many other options.

The solution is by each and every one of us, one action at a time.

*

Watching a wreck in progress.

We’re not even 150 days into this administration – about 10% – and its difficult to imagine anything other than a catastrophic long term outcome, including with a President Pence, or President Ryan with their own predatory agendas for their narrow special interest… Oh, there will be some who wish for this, but they are not anywhere near the majority of the people of this country. They will learn that Freedom isn’t Free.

From the moment Donald J. Trump descended the gold escalator at the Trump Tower (June 16, 2016), we have known what we were in for; we had ample opportunity to adjust and correct our impressions of this serial liar, for whom the bald-faced lie has long been a part of his winning formula. He won because he reflected every single voters worst instincts, one negative message at a time.

The strategy has worked so far. We did elect him, and it is our responsibility.

*

In the rational world, if we come across a serial liar in our own circles, we come to believe nothing that the person says.

In the surreal world of American politics, where “we, the people” elected Donald Trump and others, we seem to like the deer in the headlights drama and are transfixed by the performance. Sooner than later it will be too late, and our collective carcasses will have been field dressed and stored. Unlike the deader-than-doornail deer, we’ll be thawed out in time for the next election in about a year and a half. And so it goes.

By then it will be too late, unless we are the “boots on the ground” through groups like Indivisible and the like.

*

The working press was faced with a quandary when Trump took office. Nobody likes to call a liar, a liar, most certainly not the media.

The problem began with a simple reality: every politician, and every one of us, shades the truth. It is a survival skill; it is expected. We tell “white lies” about each other all the time. The totally honest office holder or Diplomat would not survive if completely transparent. Lying in appropriate circumstances is a necessary survival skill, acknowledged and respected by all parties.

Now we have Donald Trump, the totally dishonest “lyin’ King” for whom the constant and continuous lie is a crucial job skill. He is a hideous role model for our young.

A couple of days ago the New York Times took the issue on. You can read the analysis here.

The same day, appeared an important article in Lawfare, here. entitled “Reading and Taking Seriously the President’s Tweets on Tapes”. The gist of the article is that Trump can reach 107,000,000 Americans on Twitter – that is one third of all of us, about half of adult Americans. And the legal community is now monitoring all tweets of the President for their construction, since not all of the Presidents Tweets are apparently composed by the President. You can read the article yourself.

So, government by Twitter has seemed to replace government by information, and we make judgements based on 144 characters scribed by someone for whom the truth is being irrelevant.

*

And a last word on lying, from Mitch McConnell, Bipartisanship in the 21st Century. This from a speech three years ago. The only consistency is inconsistency.

If you’re still with me, today’s Just Above Sunset was once again a very good compilation.

COMMENTS:
from Florence: I’m having a hard time being public about my deep feelings about our Republican President. Every day I feel sick that he was elected. Every day I make at least five contacts to elected/government officials with the support and encouragement of our local Indivisible Group. Recently I named for myself the three categories of concerns that I’ll try to be more focused on: Women’s issues (yes, health care is one of them!), Environment, and Voting (including redistricting, a major factor that is mostly over-looked by most voting citizens.)

In my community I’m a small minority, but I know that nearly everyone could easily describe three things that they’ve done to show that they really do care about someone/thing other than themselves. We can have common ground, but still look very differently at the what I’d call the “big picture”. It’s frustrating.

Thanks for sharing your perspective through outsidethewalls.

from Just Above Sunset, overnight: here.

from Don: Dick, I just read your latest piece, and enjoyed it. Fortunately, too much is true, The world does seem to tip upside down.

from Christina: You’ve put a face on all of the rhetoric being thrown around! Thanks. Comments? A couple of quotes: Paul Wellstone- “We all do better when we all do better!”
I’m not sure exactly how this one goes or to whom it is attributed but “The measure of a society is how they treat their most vulnerable.” [Editor: I think this paraphrases a quote by Hubert Humphrey in 1976.

from Mary: Nice comments…..I love it when there are positive anecdotals and we have all been enriched by these family stories! Good day, everyone.

from Dick, responding to Mary: Mary is a sibling of mine, and was responding to an added note I had added to a family letter which included this post. I said this: “Here’s my wonderful poster child for medicaid. (Attached photo from June 25). Heather is Down Syndrome, 41, living with an implanted heart pacemaker since she was four years old. One of those medicaid leeches I suppose (and medical miracles). I have more such stories, just in my own larger family. We all have our stories. When you get down to the real world, it is more difficult to pretend that everybody [else doesn’t] matter. Medicaid is the heart and soul of a either for anything. In their inimitable ways, they enrich lives…Do get involved.” At left is daughter, and sister of Heather, Joni.

Joni and Heather June 25, 2017

from Annelee: 1947—An insurance salesman came to our home: I heard Kenny say. “We don’t need health insurance.” I agreed. Why would we buy health insurance when every one is covered anyway?
I was shocked into reality when I needed to be hospitalized during a difficult pregnancy and the admittance nurse asked, “Kenney, SINCE YOU HAVE NO INSURANCE, how will you pay?’ [Annelee grew up in Germany, where everyone had health insurance as an entitlement]

from John: Nice posting, Dick, My mother depended on Medicaid in the last years of her life for assisted living. This is a fight for all who care about human needs more than a tax cut for the rich.

Dick Bernard: Killing Obama; Committing Suicide

/0 Comments/in , , /by

POSTNOTE Monday June 26: Saturday morning I first saw the three word message on the public blackboard at my coffee place. Six hours later was an added message, also shown below. This morning someone else had written a few words in defense of taxes. Overnight came Just Above Sunset about the disastrous consequences of getting rid of Obamacare. Get involved. Speak out.

(click to enlarge)

Public messages at coffee, June 24, 2017

*

PRENOTE to readers: I found an additional photo of Whitestone Hill which I have inserted in the May 31 post (here); Also, there have been a couple of contrasting and passionate opinions expressed on Castile-Yanez, which you can read here. Additional comments are solicited.

POSTNOTE June 23: If you have time this weekend, read this column.
If you do Facebook, see Barack Obama’s Official Facebook page for his position on the issue.

*

Today’s newspaper had a bland headline about the Senate Republicans summary Health Care proposal. This is the secret document that hardly anyone, including Republican Senators, have even seen; for which there have been no hearings, which will be called up for a vote with possibly no debate at all, before the July 4 recess.

It is being rushed through, my opinion, mostly to make a “win” for somebody (the Republican “base”, Trump…); but more important to open the door for huge tax cuts for the very rich. The biggest victims will likely be what might be called Trump’s core constituency, people who won’t be able to bob and weave within the new system, whatever it turns out to be.

There is an easy comparison:

In 2009 and 2010, after over 40 public hearings and endless opportunities for open debate everywhere, the Affordable Care Act (quickly and derisively dubbed “Obamacare”) was enacted. Immediately there were endless repetitions in the House of Representatives to “repeal Obamacare”.

The Affordable Care Act was never perfect. Anything negotiated has problems. (Anything NOT negotiated is far, far worse.)

Consider a system which is, they say, one-sixth of the total American economy…you “don’t turn” such a system “on a dime” – a whim.

In addition, however, to the theater of ritual repeal in the Congress, every means available was and has continued to be used to assure failure of the Affordable Care Act at federal and state level.

Obamacare just refused to die, and we, the people, actually found that it was working well, which has simply intensified the process to kill it and replace it with something much worse, with the savings to go towards tax cuts for the already excessively wealthy.

*

The contrast in process in 2009-10 and today could not be more stark. Even the most cursory review of the available literature about the long terms goals of “repeal and replace” with something new are frightening. But few seem to care. We will learn who the beneficiaries are.

There is an interesting thread of brief comments at the end of this post. Note what “A” and “B” have to say. They are people just like you and me.

*

The victims of this and other political games will be today’s young people. And that’s where the “committing suicide” comes in.

Theoretically, the U.S. is a participatory democracy with free and fair elections, open to all, plenty of debate beforehand.

The ascendance of greed as a primary virtue, and the accompanying lack of interest in being well informed or even participate politically, are ultimately our ruin, unless we step in, as individuals, in all the ways we can. “There is no free lunch”, my elders used to say. Too many of us have become adept at gaming the very system on which we ultimately depend.

An example of the quandary: A couple of days ago a friend sent a column by David Leonhardt in the June 20 New York Times.

My friends intro to the column was three words: “If liberals voted.”

Leonhardts first paragraph, in part, said this: “…an extremely short political quiz: What percentage of American citizens between the ages of 18-24 voted in the last Congressional midterm elections in 2014?”

I followed the rules and guessed 40%. Make your own guess before checking the answer.

You have to read the first few paragraphs of the most interesting (and depressing) column for the answer to Leonhardt’s question, with more information as well.

*

The Republicans ultra right wing is close to fulfilling their fondest dream, “killing” Obama (and all he represents, including liberals like myself).

The traditional way we tend to deal with bad news is to blame someone else for it, and to shift responsibility from ourselves to someone – anyone – else. I can hear the litany already…but the ball is in each and every one of our own “courts”. We are the solution, or we are the problem.

In a dictatorship we might have more of an argument for avoiding being in action. But we’re still in a basically free society…which without our action, is killing itself. The most vulnerable among us, including those who are too young to vote, will in the long run be the first to pay the price.

The wealthy will pay too – it will just take a little longer.

As for the rich, how many yachts do they need? And what good will their tax cut do for them, or for anyone else?

Everybody has a part to play.

Play it.

*

More on the same general issue, here. I always recommend this long and six days a week resource on national politics. The price is right: it’s free, delivered after midnight.

*

Here is a conversation starter: some comments from routine e-mail traffic between two friends, yesterday and today (I am neither A nor B):

A. “It’s been (and continues to be pretty) very difficult to be [part of] a health insurance carrier that’s chosen to stay in the exchanges. It’s risky and lots of strategic discussions, contingencies, and last minute changes have made for frustration and long hours.”

B. “Wish everyone would realize that insurance is for the unexpected, get coverage for that possibility, and be covered if/when it happens. We [all of us] are so tuned to having something for little or nothing that we forget that someone will pay when we don’t. Sorry it hits your industry so hard. Personally, I’m glad I’ve reached the “golden years” and only have to stay as healthy as I can, happy when I don’t have to use the insurance that you and yours now subsidize. Thank you!”

A. “Very wise words! People do not get it. The corollary is that if you think that everyone doesn’t deserve and therefore won’t have health insurance, think again. We all pay for one another’s health care costs whether we have insurance or not. From my perspective, why not do it right. Not sure that we know what right is yet but pretty sure we’re not heading that way.”

B. “Every day I’m grateful that we were able to help [our son] stay ensured, even when he was between jobs, as a young man. When his disease process became critical, at age 35, it was love and good fortune that he was married and insured under [his wife’s] family plan. Still, if he had lived, they would have faced a life-time limit on medical care and drug costs. Single payer health care for all is the only way I see out of this terrible dilemma of escalating health care costs.

The ACA was only workable if everyone had to pay in and even that didn’t work. Health care costs are exorbitant here in the US, likely because we demand luxury treatment for everything, but don’t expect to pay for it. Helping people to stay healthy and understand there are choices to be made in anticipation of end of life should be givens in health care.”

A. “The ACA was only workable if everyone had to pay in and even that didn’t work.

Partly it didn’t work because it wasn’t really enforced and the consequences of paying were low. Our chief Actuary, who is not an ACA proponent said that if you want people to buy a plan, price the penalty at the same rate as the cheapest ACA compliant plan in the market. It’s a good idea.

There were (are) loopholes that you could drive a truck through and people used them. They’d also do things like buy a cheaper bronze plan, have a child and switch to the richest plan when the child was born (allowed under the ACA) and have the birth paid as if they’d been paying premium for the more expensive plan all year. People would not buy plans then get sick and find a way to get a special enrollment period that allowed them to buy a plan to cover their often pricey treatment. I could go on about the reasons that it didn’t work well but I think that there were absolutely ways to tweak and improve.

The gamesmanship was unbelievable.”

Remembering on Father’s Day: Grandpa Busch

/0 Comments/in , /by

All best wishes on Father’s Day. Today, as our Pastor acknowledged and affirmed at Mass, “Father” is a borderless term.

Today, a few words on my biological Grandpa, Ferdinand W. Busch, who I knew for 27 years of my life. No need for many details. Hopefully I’ll encourage some of your own memories of some Dad in your own life.

(click to enlarge, double click for added enlargement)

Near Dubuque IA Summer of 1941

Grandpa comes to mind because of the above photo, which I came across in a large collection of old farm photos which I have been working on identifying and classifying since my Uncle Vince died.

Grandpa was a farmer in North Dakota from 1905 till his death in 1967.

The photo was taken at a specific farm in southwest Wisconsin in June, 1941. Grandpa is one of the two men at right in the photo. The other is Uncle Vincent, then 16, who (very likely) quite proudly drove the near six hundred miles of this trip. Now, that 1940 Shell Oil road map for Iowa which was in the residue of the old farm desk makes sense to me.

Long trips were not the norm back then.

A short time ago I used the U.S. map in that map in another blog. It seems a good time to use it again.

part of 1940 Shell Oil Co. Road Map for Iowa.

Filling the radiator with water before leaving home.

But, back to the photo. My Grandma Rosa Busch is behind the sad looking lady in the white-fringed dress; next to her is her daughter, my Aunt Edithe. The adult women are all Grandma’s sisters…in her large family of origin there was only one brother, and apparently he was not on this trip.

There were 13 siblings in Grandma’s family of origin. Eleven were girls.

The first four kids for Grandma and Grandpa were girls, six of the nine total.

*

I’ve done family history for years. This is not a festive occasion for a family gathering.

The lady in the white-fringed dress, the likely object of the visit, died about a year later, and, I think, she and all knew that she would be dying a difficult death.

She had been stricken with what they used to call Lou Gehrig’s Disease, what now is commonly referred to as ALS. In this photo she was 59, a year younger than Grandpa.

She had been Maid of Honor for her sister when Grandma and Grandpa got married in 1905. All the girls grew up in the house at the right in the photograph. The lady in the white-fringed dress still lived there.

Grandpa had grown up walking distance across farm fields from this same farm.

This farmyard was very familiar territory for everyone.

*

Life takes its course for all of us, as we know. Personally, I think it best that we don’t know the specific twists and turns ahead – better surprised than worry yourself to death!

All of the elders in the photo are long gone; probably most of those little kids in the picture as well.

We all have our stories. Grandma and Grandpa had theirs. Vince and Edithe (neither ever married) had theirs too, from numerous encounters with we youngsters from their siblings families.

Here’s to you own memories, most of whom are, I hope, good!

Happy Fathers Day – EVERYONE!

COMMENTS
from Annelee: Dick, thanks for the memories of Father’s Day and times past.

I never knew either of my grandpas as you know, both died before I was born.

But I do remember my papa. Wish now that just once I could have said how much I loved him, and could have thanked him for guiding me along to the roads of my youth. The war took him and many young fathers before they could watch their children as they remembered and used what their papas had told them.

It was Papa who taught me about not hating anyone. When I told him that I had heard in school that we should hate the Jews, he said, “Anneliese, I will NOT hear the word hate in our home. And don’t you ever hate anyone. You may not like what he/she does, but don’t ever hate because hate makes you a lesser person than the person you hate. “

About lying he said. “Don’t lie, tell the truth: You see, when you tell one lie, you will always have to tell another lie. Soon the lies own you and only the truth will set you free.”

About making mistakes: “Anneliese, I accept it when you make a mistake, we all do, believe me I have made mistakes too. What is important, is the fact that you must learn from your mistakes and not repeat them..
Otherwise you will have problems. No one will believe or trust you again.”

“Respect is not something you are born with. You must be kind and respect others who may not live like we do. But if they work hard and try to do right, they are good people and they will
in return, respect you.”

“When I questioned why I should have to go to church every Sunday to make it into heaven. Papa said, “Faith in God is not black and white. You may not understand it, but you should believe.”

As I entered school and advanced, PAPA always reminded me, “Anneliese, learn all you can and then some more.”

When I asked him “Why should I learn more than my friends? Why I should travel to Waldsassen on Saturdays to take typing and shorthand?” He patiently explained. “Anneliese, I want to give you a better change than I had. You see, times are getting hard. If you will have to work, and you have better knowledge than someone who applies for the same job, most likely, you will be hired. So you will do as I say, and that is that.”

Because of my knowledge of typing which was Not offered in school, I was hired as a telegraph operator instead of having to join the German Arbeitsdienst.

Oh, how did I get on that, Annelee

from Jermitt: Wonderful Blog. I enjoyed your story and pictures, and Annelee’s message as well.

Dick Bernard: Castile-Yanez

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

If you opened this post, you know the names and that the Jury decision in this case was national news last night; and occupied a great amount of space in today’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune (our at home newspaper).

I’ve written twice about this case, both in the summer of 2016. You can read them here; and here.

The most powerful recent writing I’ve seen about Yanez-Castile is this Jon Tevlin column, written June 11, 2017, at the conclusion of the trial and as Jury deliberations were about to begin. It is worth your time.

I deliberately connect the two names, the motorist who was killed; the policeman who killed him.

They are both the victims, but in our “win-lose” society, it will be difficult to see this mutuality of relationship. We tend to take “sides”. Both polarities are valid, but not if one polarity is considered exclusive of the other. Both Yanez and Castile, to my reading, were good people, contributors to society. Castile is dead; Yanez and his family have to remake a life, somewhere, somehow, after a year of almost certain personal hell. In a sense, they died as well.

My hope is that there is lots of room for rational conversation about the issues raised. I can understand the polarities of the opposing camps. The demonstrations at the State Capitol last night were 15 minutes from where I write; when I did the second post cited above, after a Minnesota Orchestra concert last summer, a demonstration was gathering close by Orchestra Hall. The hard work will come when people can have civil conversations about what we can learn from this and other tragedies.

Fitting our gun-wealthy society, Yanez and Castile both had guns, both had them legally. (Tevlin says 265,728 Minnesotans – about 1 of every 20, perhaps one of 15 if you factor out kids – have permits to carry a gun).

Every police calculation has that in mind when engaging with any personal situation.

All of the rest about this issue you can read on your own. My editorial: “no guns, no death”. Of course, that won’t solve the argument.

Then I’ve noticed the other matter, conveniently dropped into the conversation, marijuana….

(The most accurate descriptor of me would be “tee-totaller” from youth to now. A soft-drink guy at gatherings.)

The “pot piece” will be discussed while folks are indulging – a beer, a drink, what have you; probably with a distinction for the drug, pot, what role did it play?

*

If you’re into reading, I’d recommend the new book “A Colony in a Nation” by Chris Hayes. Very early in the book – pages 16-19 – the stage is effectively set for this book, whose title comes from Richard Nixon’s speech to the 1968 Republican Convention (p. 30).

Take the time to read the book. It is timely.

*

As always, Castile-Yanez will disappear in a few days, as will the protests.

The goal ought always be long-term solutions, which are messy, and take lots of work, but are always worth it.

COMMENTS:
from Gail: Thanks, Dick – you always give us something to think about!

from Norm: A good and thoughtful set of observations, Dick.

Consistent with the concern Shawn Otto expresses in his book, the War on Science, this is another situation where people will focus on what they believe at least in the short term and ignore what the evidence showed or did not show. Obviously, in this case, the 12 person jury of his peers, including two African Americans, did not find that the evidence presented by the prosecution was sufficient to find Yanez guilty of the charges against him beyond the high bar of a reasonable doubt.

And, not surprisingly, the many folks who “knew” that Yanez was obviously guilty claimed that the system was rigged against them and one person even claimed that he/she hated the state of Minnesota in spite of all of the benefits that it provides to many folks thanks to the largess or generosity of its taxpayers.

Interestingly, while so many folks believe that the system failed them once again, not too many years ago, they thought that the system worked just fine when O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the two murder charges brought against him because the prosecution, ill fitting glove and all, had not proven Simpson’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt…even though to many, many folks, the star NFL running back was “obviously” guilty as all hell.

Later, a civilian court did find him responsible for the death of the mother of his children using a less stringent level of doubt.

from a friend of many years: I am having a difficult time seeing any equivalency between losing your life and leaving a grieving family behind …. and losing your job because you are immature or just a scum bag like those folks that were responsible for all the Native American deaths reported in that package of articles that you recently sent me. With the host of ongoing discussions about the deaths of minorities at the hands of law enforcers, I have had a number of discussions relating to this issue with our local sheriff and other local law enforcement officers that I know. A common theme amongst the law enforcers is that they are trained to shoot to kill versus shooting to disarm. There was an elderly Native American wood carver sitting on a bench in Seattle carving a piece of sculpture who was killed by a police officer a couple of years ago because he had a knife and did not put it down quickly enough to suit the officer, and the officer went scot free. We cannot know what was in the heart of Yanez, but to pump five bullets into his victim brings both factors, bigotry and immaturity, into question. If Yanez was gripped by fear, a bullet into the leg of Castile would have quickly brought his hands to his wound. When I was a kid, 11 or younger, I would toss a stone up in the air and shoot it with regularity, taught to do so by my sister, who could do the same. So if we could shoot a small stone moving through the air, why can’t a trained law enforcer hit something as large as a leg? Immaturity or bigotry? When you pump a clip of bullets into a person, the intentions are clearly to ensure that you have killed that person. Yanez or someone in the force that provided him a gun should spend their lives in prison. Think about this false equivalency that you put forth.

from Dick, brief response to my friend, and others: “For whatever it’s worth. I qualified as expert with the M-1 rifle in the Army days, but otherwise my gun career was plinking at gophers with a 22 – that sort of thing. I have never owned a gun, and consider their use whether offensively or defensively as a liability, not an asset, regardless of whether you’re a “stand your ground” homeowner, policeman, or gang banger settling scores. With a gun, you always lose. And that’s why I emphasized the gun in the Castile-Yanez article.”

Every senseless death is a tragedy for an entire constellation of people. The larger problem, I think, is that we all tend to retreat into our preferred response…the many commentaries on this I see tend to start from a particular frame of reference. One really excellent and powerful response I had asked to print, the writer did not want printed, for whatever reason. It would have helped this conversation grow. Hopefully the writer will do more than just share the observations with me. So it goes.

from Dick, June 21: There were three comments to this post; only two of them are above. The third was very powerful but the writer asked that it not be posted, and I respect those boundaries.

Last night, the police car dash cam coverage of the shooting was broadcast for the first time; today’s paper was full of news….

How to deal with this tragedy as a learning opportunity is not at all clear. The tendency is to take a polarized position one way or another.

We all can pronounce what could have/should have happened in all aspects of this case. We have the luxury of this judgement. Philando Castile and Jeronimo Yanez had their deadly and tragic moment. I wonder how I would have reacted, if in either persons position that fateful afternoon in 2016. A couple of years ago I was pulled over for what turned out to be failure to signal a turn. For me, it was not a neutral event. I was very nervous. And I’m just an old white guy justing driving from point A to point B.

It would be nice to have a rational and ongoing conversation, but early indications don’t seem to point in that direction.

I think it will be difficult, and it may be impossible, to learn from this tragedy to help prevent the inevitable next one.

Death to Affordable Health Care?

/0 Comments/in , /by

POSTNOTE June 15: Today’s Washington Post has a very worthwhile column by E.J. Dionne: “The GOPs fantastically anti-democratic quest to kill health care in the dark”.

*

Of one thing there is hardly room for a question: the current Republican leadership seems to HATE the very concept of health care for everyone. Indeed, the Republicans seem always to have resisted the idea. I looked this morning at the Wiki entry on Social Security amendments (those intended to lead in the direction of health care for everyone). Take a glance at the “History” section. Note who initiated the ideas, and who killed them….

One of the first actions of Donald Trump was to attempt to kill “Obamacare”. It failed, even in the House of Representatives, who hate the Affordable Care Act.

On my birthday in early May, 2017, the House of Representatives rushed a vote for a new Health Care bill before its impact could be scored by the Congressional Budget Office. The rush job passed, and the scoring by CBO was as bad as anticipated. It would have devastating impact. (I wrote a bit about my feelings in the second half of my birthday post, here.)

Now the Senate Republican leadership is doing a stealth move to try to advance a Health Care bill essentially without hearings before July 4 recess. Odds are they will succeed, if iron party discipline holds.

If you haven’t paid attention to this matter, do so. The overnight Just Above Sunset gives another good summary. There is no semblance of involvement of the “American people” unless you’re an insider within the majority camp.

It is simple to contrast the open Debate during the Affordable Health Care Act back in 2009-10, with the present day travesty. In 2009-10, everything was in the open, for many months. I recall such delightful pieces of information as, for instance, page 1014 of a Draft pulled out as an example of how terrible AHCA would be. Even if the page was true, and a current version, it was hopelessly biased, but it was allowed in as part of the public conversation.

I searched my own blog file and under “Affordable Care Act Obamacare” there are multiple entries, especially August 2, 2009, which lists a dozen posts relating to the debate then raging.

At minimum, there were about 18 posts between July 24, 2009 and March 23, 2010. I’m sure there are more, just lacking the key words for the search. The intention was to have full and open debate. You probably have your own memories of that year of Town Halls and loud voices.

Now we’re seven years later. The goal, this “Kill Obamacare” round, is to have no debate, so that people may not see what they are about to lose.

The consequences for the disadvantaged are very real and very stark, whether they happen in the next six months or the next two or more years.

Notice.

*

A closing note:

Last Sunday I was at one of those graduation parties so common this time of year. These are places to catch up with folks not seen since the last reunion.

This particular day, I met a niece who was perhaps early grade school when I first met her, and now is an accomplished Nurse who has for a number of years worked in Intensive Care in a major public hospital.

It is my practice to avoid “politics” in any way possible at these kinds of gatherings…best to enjoy the sandwich and the cookies and leave with humor intact.

This day, my niece was wanting to engage in conversation about health care, and how complex a field it is, and how, in effect, we are not a country who leaves people to die in the streets.

If a person is in crisis in her city, they will get care in her or another hospital.

I related my own story, from the summer of 1965, which appears in the previously cited May 4, 2017, blog.

After our meeting it occurred to me that there was a particular intersection of events during that terrible summer of 1965…something I hadn’t told my relative; something I wished I had:

Barbara, my wife, died July 24, 1965, at 22 (kidney disease), and we buried her on Saturday, July 29, in Valley City, North Dakota.

The next day, July 30, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation which among other things brought to life Medicare and Medicaid.

“What a difference a day makes”, goes the song.

July 30, 1965, Medicare and Medicaid were the farthest things from my mind. Survival with an infant was everything, then.

We can’t go back to those “good old days”. We are the only ones who can make a difference.

From experience, I can attest that no one should hope that the Republicans fantasy of less federally established and financed medical care and lower taxes for the already wealthy become the new law of this land.

#1266 – Dick Bernard: Comey-Trump, The Sculpture Garden, and 23 and Me

/0 Comments/in , /by

1. Comey-Trump: There may be a few people in the U.S. who don’t know or care about the James Comey – Donald Trump matter.

I do.

One of my U.S. Senators, Amy Klobuchar, sent her e-list a ten minute interview she did on CNN about the matter. You can view it here. This is well worth your time. Sen. Klobuchar took office as U.S. Senator in 2007, previously County attorney in Minnesota’s largest population county (which includes Minneapolis), and (her words) “I’ve known Jim Comey for years (we were law school classmates!) and know him to be someone of great integrity.” She is highly respected and well informed.

Just Above Sunset gives an excellent summary of the last two days here.

2. The Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden opens today at 10 a.m..

Those who follow this blog know I wrote about the Scaffold controversy on May 31, and a followup post on June 2.

There are 22 comments at the May 31 post, the most recent ones (22A and 22B) from myself, brief personal observations about my own perceptions of Native Americans and how they evolved over my own life. The June 1 post includes links about the controversy through June 8.

3. Finding my DNA. After a long period of procrastination, I finally did the DNA test in May. I personally decided to do the 23andMe assessment only because it seemed more comprehensive than Ancestry (which I also feel is fine). Ancestry tends to focus on family tree matters, it seems. I’ve had my family tree for years.

I got my results from 23 and Me this week, and I am very glad that I made the investment. In a later post I will talk more about this. At minimum, the information is a snapshot of me for my descendants. Questions to me about this are welcome. dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom

Global Solutions Minnesota: “Russia: The New Cold War” with Todd Lefko

/0 Comments/in , , /by

(click to enlarge)

PDF format of the above poster is here: Russia Todd Lefto001

Mr. Lefto comes highly recommended as a knowledgeable resource on Russia, and an engaging speaker. Global Solutions MN President, Gail Hughes, said on May 7, “I attended a community ed Great Decisions talk by Todd last week. He drew a big crowd, and was engaging and knowledgeable.

Todd is a popular speaker and businessman with a background in international trade, specializing in Russia, where he’s lived and visits regularly.”

A longer bio of Todd Lefto from some years ago can be found here. (Andy Driscoll was a well respected twin cities journalist who died in 2014.)

PLEASE NOTE: The talk is a week from this Thursday (June 15). Reservations are requested no later than Monday for planning purposes. Later reservations will be accepted, but please respect the need for planning by reserving in a timely manner.

Dick Bernard: Part II. The Scaffold at the Walker Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis MN, and Sacred Sites

/0 Comments/in /by

PRE-NOTE, September 11, 2017: PRE-NOTE September 11, 2017: This post, and a preceding one May 31, 2017, here, began with a casual observation driving home from church on May 31, 2017. That observation has led to 1) a lengthy discussion of two related issues – the hanging of 38 Dakota Indians at Mankato MN – the Scaffold; and the massacre at Whitestone Hill in Dakota Territory – which happened in the same time period in 1862 and 1863 at two locations about 300 miles apart in Minnesota and then-Dakota Territory, later North Dakota. Here is the geographic relationship of the two sites. 2) a consideration of how significant events like these are commemorated.

A recent addition to this post is September 11, 2017, and outlines the history of events at Whitestone Hill, from the 2013 150th anniversary of the massacre. Here: Whitestone Hill 2013001

It is hoped that all of the events described can be helpful to all parties seeking to better understand events of history and their commemoration.

NOTE: at the recent Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg University (Sep 14&16) I heard, for the first time, of the Red Rock at Newport MN, sacred to the Dakota. Sep. 19 I went to see the rock in person. It is only four miles from my home. Here are two photos:

(click to enlarge)

Red Rock at Newport United Methodist Church, Glen Road, Newport MN, Sep. 19, 2017

Sep 19, 2017

*

The original June 2 post:

6:13 a.m. June 2, 2017: There are, thus far, 17 responses to my May 31 post on the [likely) now-being-removed “Scaffold” at the Sculpture Garden at Walker Art Center. You can read the responses to my post here.

Here, in pdf form, are the statements of the Artist and the Executive Director of the Walker Art Center on “Scaffold” from May 29 and May 27 respectively: Sam Durant Statement May 29, 2017. These are found under the tab “NEWS” at samdurant.com At the same website, under “PROJECTS”, click on “Scaffold” to see the now removed art work.

POSTNOTE 8:02 a.m. June 2, 2017: There are several letters related to the Scaffold in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, as well as a column by citizen Timothy S. O’Malley in the June 1 issue of the newspaper. You can access these letters and column here. Click on tab “Opinion”. In today’s issue, as well, is a long article about the controversy in the Variety section.

POSTNOTE about 11 a.m. June 2, 2017
(click to enlarge)

Scaffold, Friday, June 2, 2017 about 11 a.m.

POSTNOTE 9:48 a.m. June 3, 2017: An article in the Minnesota section, and two op eds in todays Minneapolis Star Tribune: here.

POSTNOTE 2:15 p.m. Sunday, June 4, 2017:
(click to enlarge)

Scaffold June 4, 2017 2:15 p.m.

POSTNOTE: Wednesday, June 7: A significant development reported in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune. You can read it here.

POSTNOTE: Thursday, June 8: At the Walker website are two statements about the Scaffold situation: You can read them here May 31 and here June 5.

POSTNOTE: Saturday afternoon, June 10, 2017 I visited the Sculpture Garden this morning, about 10:30 a.m., right after it opened. It is a lovely place, of course. My mission, though, was to see the site of the Scaffold, which I had first seen 13 days ago. Here is a “before and after”.

(click to enlarge)

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Saturday, June 10, 2017

In the two photos you can see the common elements – including where the Scaffold used to be.

Where the Scaffold and its concrete base used to be was freshly laid sod.

I walked around for awhile, and the most vivid sight this hot, sunshiny and very windy day was what I’ll dub the “wind chime tree”, literally what it was. It added its music to the environment.

June 10, 2017

Through out the garden were patches of earth, each of which was identified with a sign, as below:

June 10, 2017

Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought to myself, if the site of that now destroyed Scaffold would have the sod removed, and replaced with the same future possibility as these natural areas….

Visit the Sculpture Garden some time. You’ll enjoy it. And think about how we can do things a bit better.

from Dick, July 6, 2017: A general e-mail from the Walker Art Center about the debate about the Sculpture, received on July 5 from Anne Gillette Cleveland and David Goldstein:
Dear Community Member:

On behalf of the Walker staff, we appreciate your honest feedback regarding the acquisition, placement and recent dismantling of the Scaffold sculpture in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. We humbly acknowledged that we were “learning in public”, as we quickly understood the pain we caused the Dakota people and many others.

Going forward over the next 3-6 months, we will be transparent about how we conduct community outreach for future public artworks, re-build our external relationships with the Dakota people and broader community, and be better stewards of the public’s park across from the Walker Art Center.

Please accept our apology for any harm that we have caused. We hope to earn your respect once again.

Two photos taken on a visit to the Sculpture Garden on July 2:

Horse sculpture at the Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, July 2, 2017

At the Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis, July 2, 2017

An example of what I felt was a misuse of a symbol at the International Peace Garden (ND/Manitoba) which I saw in July, 2009. You can read about it here.

It is included in my response to the July 5 memo quoted above: Walker Staff001