Nuclear War

To be clear, this post is not about North Korea (though it well could be). One cannot imagine what “dotard” and “rocket man” (Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un) will do. This is a very dangerous time, led by very dangerous men.

Rather, this post is, once again, about the weaponization of Sex in America. If you’re reading this, I don’t need to fill in the blanks. You know them.

So, yesterday, Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor joined the fallen. And they are front page news. There will be the usual clucks of righteousness.

There may be someone out there who thinks that all of this just happened through some painful overnight revelation by victims.

Rather the revelations are strategically timed, from data gathered over many years, just waiting for the right moment to light the fuse and disrupt and confuse…and sow and nurture fear (“am I going to be next?”).

As a good friend of mine, senior citizen female, said the other day (with her permission to share): “… by the time someone is old enough to run for president (or another higher office), they likely have “history.” (Either that, or they haven’t lived much – in which case, they’d probably not be a candidate in the first place.) And of course, then the skeletons-in-the-closet hunters come out in force. I wouldn’t want anybody digging in MY closet, either.”

She could have said “or anything” as well, but Garrison Keillor had not been decapitated at the time she wrote.

Long and short, Sex has been Weaponized. It is useless to try to identify ground zero, or who the sleaze bags are who have weaponized it. They won’t out themselves, and will deny the credit, even if deserved. It goes back quite a number of years now. It is a useful weapon.

Of course, its value as a weapon depends on people like us to give it meaning.

It is up to us to deal with this ourselves, in our own circles.

Wednesday (before the Lauer and Keillor “bombshells”) I had occasion to dig out one of items I have kept on file, this one for the past 17 years.

This one, a sermon, is six pages, and was delivered by the minister of a prestigious St. Paul Church, who specifically wanted it shared at the time, regardless of one’s political persuasion. It seems appropriate for today. Here it is: Morality and Civility001

POSTNOTE:
from Jeff: “All Administrations, I suppose, are more or less corrupt; certainly the depth of corruption this one has reached is scarcely suspected as yet, even by
Its enemies.”

1871, Whitelaw Reid, Managing editor of the New York Tribune

COMMENTS:
from Madeline:
I concur, and I read the excellent sermon you included.

from Judy: I didn’t read the whole sermon, but I think he was saying that some things are immoral, others illegal, and Clinton didn’t do anything illegal. Sexual harassment in some cases is illegal. But I am convinced that Senator Franken and Garrison Keillor did nothing illegal or immoral. I am so upset that we are rushing to judgment about these fine men. What happened to due process

Yes, I have been the victim of sexual harassment. All women my age have been.

from Jeff, re Postnote: This history of that time period is very interesting.

The Republican party was splintering between the Radical Republicans (in favor of remaking the country from the South to the West in the image of the North and the Northern Midwest), and the “Liberal” Republicans who were previous to the war staunch upper class abolitionists… they were the intellectual elite and some of the financial elite and were in favor of the return of the Gold Standard, ending Reconstruction in the south and allowing a return to stable White controlled states there, and were anti-immigrants as they saw immigrants as a power block for corrupt politicians, they also in concert with wishing for a return of white control of the South were in favor of restricting suffrage (and that worked pretty well for them in the South)

Democrats were split as well… between those that were the old Confederates, some urban Democrats particularly in NY city who aligned with Tammany Hall and German and Irish immigrants; and Democrats of a Jeffersonian/Jacksonian type, mostly rural in favor of paper money, inflation and the sanctity of the small farmer and small businessman.

from Florence: I’m perplexed by how Trump seems to be walking away free from his transgressions. I look to the machine that got him elected. The article you shared affirmed that. Thank you!

Response to Florence, from Dick: First, Trump is much too useful to the radical right wing; and if he goes, we’re left with Mike Pence who’s even more useful in the longer term, especially with court judges. Second, his entire history is to countersue, and any potential litigants against a very wealthy man who has teams of lawyers who challenge everything know how hard that is.

BTW, this is not simply a woman’s issue, though women for reasons we both know have borne the brunt of this throughout human history.

from John: Your thoughtful suggestions to deal with sensitive issues of sex and power should make many folks think. Where are we going? As a people, and as human Beings? We all need to think.

from Joyce: Excellent, Dick!

from Christine: Very interesting!

from Michelle:
My word of the day – DISCERNMENT.

noun
noun: discernment
1.
the ability to judge well.
“an astonishing lack of discernment”
2.
(in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding.
“without providing for a time of healing and discernment, there will be no hope of living through this present moment without a shattering of our common life”

We seem to have replaced discernment with simple “judge everyone the same-ness.” We seem to have lost the ability to judge well, to indeed no longer take time to discern one thing from another. No, it’s not the same to drink 5 drinks and drive, as it is to drink 1 drink and drive. No, it’s not the same to accidentally hit someone with your car and drive away, as it is to hit someone accidentally with your car and then stay to help. In the first example, it’s true that both include drinking and driving. But JUDGMENT is used, and we know that drinking 5 is much worse with greater effects than drinking 1 drink. In the 2nd example, it’s true that both include accidentally hitting someone. But in the first, someone drives away and doesn’t accept responsibility. And in the 2nd, someone stops to help, accepting that something happened. We DISCERN and discover that indeed, while there are similar acts here – they are NOT the same.

So take sexual harassment. I would say – No, it’s not the same to pull your pants down in front of an unwilling employee, as it is to hug someone too low and put your hand on their buttocks. While we need to take this issue seriously, I feel we also need to practice the lost art of discernment and using good judgment to determine justice in these situations, and to be able to reflect, heal and move ahead with greater knowledge.

from Catherine: I do think we are reacting to an age-old problem in an insane and unfair way, tossing aside one’s right to a proper defense and forgetting that every wrong or perceived wrong cannot be categorized as all of the same criminal degree. Worse for us, how dare MPR remove all of Keillor’s contributions to our culture? That punishes us, not him. Like all women I’ve experienced sexual harassment since I grew breasts, but as irritating and insulting as it was, most of it was not especially traumatic. It’s not reason enough to destroy lives and the future work of men who have grown up and learned better. I realize this doesn’t apply to serial creeps and child molesters. I also think that this is just as much politically motivated as anything else. We have to take this case by case and examine it all with care. I’m all for strengthening women and ending bad treatment and harassment but we don’t have to drive people to suicide.

from David: Count me among those who don’t see a conspiracy to bring down liberal (or, for that matter, conservative) men or causes. Many changes come about through the long, hard work by their proponents. Often those struggles involve decades-long work with seemingly little progress being made. Then, along comes some seminal event or moment that changes the dynamic. Rosa Parks comes to mind. Or, perhaps a better example, America’s sea change in attitudes towards marriage equality.

Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore claims that accusations against him are made up, the women are all lying and doing the bidding of the anti-religious liberals. Al Franken admits to boorish behavior recorded on film but “can’t remember” details of other events.

Are we to believe that the women making these accusations have just now decided that it’s politically expedient to come forward? Or, that they shared their stories earlier, but a lid was kept on the information until the time was ripe to bring down a political opponent?

I believe a better explanation is that the atmosphere has changed and women (and a few men) are now feeling more empowered, and safer, to step forward with their experiences. Absent evidence to the contrary, attributing political motives to their difficult decisions to come forward, sends the message that advancing our political agenda trumps our values.

Response from Dick: I think the value of this business is that there is conversation now taking place. As I’ve mentioned, I had a little head start on this, having to represent school teachers back in the mid to late 1970s and 1980s when the issue first raised its head. In these cases, due process takes a big hit. I try to keep in mind a simple fact: there are hundreds of millions of (let’s admit it) sexual beings out there, called humans, male and female. Balance that against the numbers of alleged perpetrators and presumed victims all now coming forward at about the same time. One has to wonder….

Learn from History

My friend, Madeline, sent this to her Facebook group yesterday. It had originally circulated a year ago, right after the 2016 election. My opinion, this is a particularly useful reflective reading, given our continuing political experience beginning with the electoral campaign in 2016. It is a personal opinion. There is much food for thought.

We have had the good fortune of knowing well someone who learned from life experience in Nazi Germany. Annelee Woodstrom spent most of her growing up years in a small Bavarian town; the last 70 in the United States. She was 6 when the Nazis took control in Germany, and joined all Germans in the desperate quest for survival as WWII ended in 1945. We have talked a great deal about this topic, and she has written about how it was for ordinary Germans, then.

My brief personal comments at the end of this post.

(click to enlarge)

We must learn from history:

This is sobering advice from historian, Holocaust expert and Yale Professor Timothy Snyder posted to FB on Tuesday Nov 22 [2016].

Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. Here are twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today.

1. Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You’ve already done this, haven’t you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.

2. Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don’t protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.

3. Recall professional ethics. When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.

4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.

5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don’t fall for it.

6. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don’t use the internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps “The Power of the Powerless” by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.

7. Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.

8. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

9. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Bookmark PropOrNot or other sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes.

10. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.

11. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

12. Take responsibility for the face of the world. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.

13. Hinder the one-party state. The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can.

14. Give regularly to good causes, if you can. Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good.

15. Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks.

16. Learn from others in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.

17. Watch out for the paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.

18. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.)

19. Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die in unfreedom.

20. Be a patriot. The incoming president is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.

POSTNOTE from Dick: The two photos are from Annelee Woodstroms “And So It Was”, and date from the mid-1930s in Nazi Germany. I wrote about this book, her latest, on Saturday. She speaks from experience as an ordinary person, in Germany and in the U.S.

Nazi Germany is a topic not to be politically spoken in the U.S., unless related to “enemies”, as anointed.

There are big differences between Nazi Germany and today’s United States, but be very careful. What became Nazi Germany was a place full of people just like ourselves. It happened there; it can happen here.

Just two comments, relating to Annelee’s experience in a small community in particular:

1. The horrors of Nazism crept up on people, as they prospered under the Nazi war regime, particularly if they became party members. But the dream of a Thousand Year Reich lasted about ten years, beginning to collapse, according to Annelee, about 1943…. We in the U.S. have too much of a tendency to believe our notion of American “exceptionalism”. We are not exceptional at all, except to have been very lucky so far.

2. The Nazis were masters of propaganda, through the means of communication available and utilized at the time. Much of their learning came from the United States propagandists at the time of WWI, and following. Communication today, such as it is, is technologically far advanced, with accompanying enormous potential for misuse and abuse, as we see every day. Each of us can pick and choose what it is we choose to accept as “information”. I read an interesting commentary this morning, which is worth the time, about the present day phenomena. See Project Veritas Fails.

‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’, George Santayana said. This is one of first sayings I saw when I visited Auschwitz in 2000, and it bears repeating now.

Making a List? Two Ideas.

Two suggestions for gifts which I highly recommend:

1. AND SO IT WAS, by Annelee Woodstrom (2017)

It was my great good fortune, in May, 2003, to read a column in the Fargo (ND) Forum about Annelee’s first book “War Child. Growing Up In Adolf Hitler’s Germany“, in May, 2003. She was, then, my present age. I bought the book, which captured my attention. A couple of years later I helped her with her second book, “Empty Chairs”, about her life in the U.S. beginning in 1947. It was also very interesting.

In the past year, at age 90, Annelee finished her third book, “And So It Was”, this a 195 page summation of a life well lived in Germany in time of WWII, then in postwar United States. I think you will find “And So It Was” to be a delightful read, and excellent for book clubs. She describes life as she lived it (ex. Chapter 13: Spring and Childrens Games) which evoke memories for the reader. The book has near 100 photographs and illustrations to give a rich visual sense of her life, especially in 1930s Germany.

Annelee saw the worst, and made the best of it. She was 19 at war end in Germany and walked, starving, over 70 miles from Regensburg, where she worked as a telegrapher, to her home in Mitterteich, a few miles from present day Czech Republic. Her father, who refused to join the Nazis, was conscripted into the German military, and the family believes he died in Russia. He was a road engineer.

Her “gentleman soldier” husband, Kenny Woodstrom, died not long after the harrowing great flood of 1997 did great damage to their home and community in northwest Minnesota.

Annelee is ‘alive and kicking’ – we saw her within the past week. “And So It Was” is worth a read. Here’s the order form: Annelee books001

2. THE WORLD IS MY COUNTRY is a film about World Citizen Garry Davis; a film about how an individual can make a difference.

This is a film, near release, but still about $50,000 short of funds needed for full roll-out. I highly recommend a financial contribution, in any amount, to this film. Details here, click “Join the Wave”. It would be of special interest to anyone partial to peace and justice and cooperation among nations.

I first learned of Garry Davis and the film idea in 2011, and was enrolled when I showed a very early version to a dozen high school students the following year. I wondered if kids would relate to a 90 year old man telling his story about what he did in his 20s and 30s. The students watched very attentively, and gave this first rough draft high marks. It includes much rarely seen archival film, including of the first sessions of the United Nations in Paris.

I’ve seen the film 11 times since, in assorted settings, in front of assorted groups, most recently Nov. 11, 2017. A group I’m part of sponsored its World Premiere in Minneapolis in April, 2017, at the International Film Festival, and it was very well received.

But films such as this, in addition to incredible time and effort, take money to complete. You can help. Consider contributing to a film that will be timeless. Questions? Ask. dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom.

(click to enlarge)

Finally, a small suggestion: Those who know me know I hate to shop. Today is called “Small Business Saturday“, a niche for the smaller businesses to get a share of the mega-bucks spent for the holiday season. Both of the above items are part of small business, worthy of support.

“How Will Future Reckon With Cousin Kenneth”

Prenote: In a sense, consider the below a trilogy of Thanksgiving thoughts, with the primary part, the second, on civility, the most important. In addition, from a long-time colleague and friend, here is a collection of 10 short poems pertinent to Thanksgiving 2017: 2017 Thanksgiving.

*

“Cousin Kenneth” is a thought provoking column I saw in the Minneapolis Star Tribune at Thanksgiving, 1993. All I know are the words in the column. “Cousin Kenneth”, if still alive, is now 24 years older. I wonder how life went for him…. (Click to enlarge the jpeg, double click to enlarge some more:)

Here is a pdf if you wish to print out: Cousin Kenneth 1993002

*

No, I can’t ‘blame’ the League of Women Voters (LWV) for this long ago memory of Kenneth. I’m a member of LWV, and on Nov. 19, the local chapter leader sent us the following from the League of Women Voters, U.S., which is very pertinent, especially this Thanksgiving.

“Setting the Table for Civility” over the Holidays

As part of the League’s partnership with the National Institute for Civil Discourse, LWV members are invited to participate in “Setting the Table for Civility”. It is an opportunity for individuals, as we gather with friends and family for the upcoming Thanksgiving and year-end holiday season, to take action to promote civility. These include exploring three basic questions:

• What are you most thankful for about living in America?

• How do you feel about the deep divisions and incivility we see now in our country?

• What can we do to revive civility and respect and find more effective ways to listen to each other and work together?

Tools and materials are available to support conversations at family gatherings, within faith communities, on campuses and on social media. This could be a great way to engage new members and to invite non-members to join the League in an activity that brings people together and helps us build more civil dialogue in communities.

Happy Thanksgiving! And may your dinner discourse be civil.

*

(click to enlarge)

I saw the above announcement at Basilica of St. Mary Nov. 19. That afternoon was the dedication of the bench pictured above, on Hennepin Avenue, under a large tree. A Basilica staff person said that, already, an emergency vehicle had stopped to see if the form on the bench needed assistance – they had not heard about the new sculpture. Some weeks earlier, the sculpture was displayed in the undercroft (Basilica-speak for “church basement”). Postit notes were available for people to comment on the meaning of the sculpture. One said “I don’t like this at all”. Why is known only to the writer.

What was this “World Day of the Poor”? Turns out that this year is the first, and it is a Papal Message by Pope Francis, Nov. 19, 2017. Here is his statement.

It is my understanding that Pope Francis “walked the talk” as a Priest and Bishop in his native Argentina.

“Sex, Religion and Politics”

POSTNOTE Nov 26: In the Sunday Minneapolis Star Tribune Op Ex section, letters editor David Banks had a good column about this issue. You can read it here. My submission (to date, not accepted for a letter) is at the end of this post.

I ask that you read on, and open the links and read them too (none more than two pages, and all written by myself, in 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2005. But before you read the links, read the text below them.

Al Franken, St. Paul MN, April, 1998, by Dick Bernard

Politics 1960 versus 1996 (Dec, 1996, one page): Politics 1960 vs 1996001
Clinton Impeachment (Sep 7, 1998, one page): Clinton Impeachment001
Political Violence (Mar 2001, two pages): Political Violence002
Sex, Religion and Politics (Aug 2005, one page): Sex, Religion, Politics001

The headline of this post, and the last link (above) is a one page addition I made when I finished a 330 page family history of my mother’s family or origin in 2005. It speaks for itself.

We are at an exceedingly dangerous time, politically, in this country. At the end of the dismal election year of 1996, I expressed hope, and saw “silver linings” (link above). Then was pristine compared to today.

On the other hand, in today’s batch of e-mails came a letter published in the Fargo (ND) Forum, from the President of the MN League of Women Voters, which speaks for itself: “This week we learned of so many firsts across this country, firsts that give me hope that we, the people, have a greater understanding of what it means to be an American. A New York cab driver told me a few weeks ago that “this was not the America he immigrated to 30 years ago.”

I wonder what he’d say now about the Liberian immigrant elected mayor of Helena, Mont., defeating the long-term incumbent who opposed refugee resettlement? Or the transgender woman who was elected to the state legislature, defeating the incumbent who pushed a “bathroom bill.”

A Sikh was elected mayor of Hoboken, N.J. The first openly transgender African American woman was elected to the Minneapolis City Council. A Lesbian won the mayor’s seat in Seattle. A woman is the new mayor of Provo, Utah. St. Paul has its first African American mayor. Charlotte, N.C., has its first African American female mayor.

The list goes on and on to include a Vietnamese immigrant woman and two Latina women elected to the Virginia Legislature, gay and transgender school board members, three African Americans being elected mayor of three towns in Georgia. A Sudanese woman elected to an Iowa city council.

And, my personal favorite, a young woman of color defeated the county commissioner who made headlines in January with his comment about the Women’s March when he wondered, “will the women be home in time to make him dinner?”

How many more years will it take before the headlines aren’t about “firsts” and labels? This list seems to indicate that we, the people, are instead choosing leaders who best represent our future and not our present. This is the vision upon which the nonpartisan League of Women Voters was founded 98 years ago. We invite you to join us in our advocacy and voter education work.” Terry Kalil.

My hope, demonstrated by this fine letter, is that, finally, the American people, generally, are getting it: that they are “politics”. Through the people will come the solutions to todays vile political conversations.

And as for Al Franken (photo above): he is my U.S. Senator, and a person for whom I have great respect. In the wake of the recent revelation, he has again demonstrated that he is a class act, in distinct contrast to the two others in the spotlight for the same general problem: Roy Moore and Donald Trump.

I’m pretty sure Mr. Franken has no idea who I am, though I’ve followed him since I first heard him speak in 1998 (I was never a follower of Saturday Night Live.)

In the 2008 campaign, I was something of a camp follower – I went to several events at which he was a speaker. He has always impressed me. I once had the honor of sharing the dais with his wife, Franni, when she was representing him early in his campaign for U.S. Senate. She is a lovely lady with her own story.

Mr. Franken has apologized for the 2006 revelation, and the apology has been accepted. Of course, in other quarters there is something of a mantra: “never apologize”. It is seen as a weakness….

Which of us – any of us – having a spotlight shown on the wart(s) of our past would come out unscathed? Were they shown, whose behavior, Trump, Moore or Franken, would we emulate?

POSTNOTE: I recommend this, posted overnight.

COMMENTS:
from Madeline: Shame on you Minnesota politicians, Rebecca Otto, Megan Thomas and others calling for Al Franken’s resignation: There is NO moral equivalency between his bad jokes and the behavior of repeat sexual predators like Trump, Weinstein, Moore, Louis C.K. etc. SEE the ADULTS IN THE ROOM: here.

from Bruce: It was a well crafted apology that apologized for the pic but not the kiss. This sort of apology is really a non-apology. He was humiliated by her rebuff of his sexual advances, the kiss, so mean spiritedly he got what amounted to his locker room buddies to humiliate her by taking the pic. That’s classic bullying in my mind. I’d like to know who took the pic, and who is sitting to Tweeden’s left laughing as Al grouped her. They should be called out too. Al should take the high road own up to being a mean spirited bully disguised as a comedian, resign, and demand that Trump/Moore do the same. He’d be doing the country a big favor.

from a Mom and her Daughter: this is just how we are thinking.
That piece “Just Above Sunset” said it all so well.
I didn’t know how to respond to the calls for Franken to resign. I thought — ”well, yes, this was also sexual misconduct. Am I just excusing him because I think he is so good and such a good Senator?”
After reading “Just Above Sunset”, It is more clear to me why I think as I do…………. 1) the seriousness of the crime—Initially he thought it was a joke, but in hindsight, realized it was inappropriate. It is NOT equivalent to a 30 yr old man groping teenagers or a man saying he can grab a woman by the genitals and they let you do it because you are rich and famous. AND 2) he acknowledged what he did was wrong and apologized. He actually apologized several times; a tweet, another tweet and a letter to the woman. I am now no longer thinking I am using 2 different standards (one for OUR candidate and one for THEIR candidate) but looking at the whole picture.
I am appalled at the “religious” people who continue to support Roy Moore. When I heard the Governor of Alabama say she believed the women and she still supports Roy Moore, it was clear confirmation that all they want is a Republican————– It doesn’t matter what kind of a person he is, he is a Republican and that is all they are looking for.

Thanks for sharing your blog.

from Carol: I didn’t vote for Franken the first time around, mostly because of his record of joking about rape. But I think he’s done an admirable job for Minnesota. That said, I think this all goes beyond just him. I don’t like our current habit of voting people into political office who have won their fame by being entertainers, comedians, movie stars. (And it started with Reagan.) What is there about those folk which particularly qualifies them to run the country, or represent the rest of us? We’re just a nation addicted to entertainment. Serving as leader of the free world (well, we USED to be), serving in Congress, etc. is not a joke or a reality show. Franken’s past history came back to bite him. (Unfortunately, Trump seemed to get a pass…)

from Jeff: Carol’s comment is on point. Our supposed advances in technology of late, and many of the companies that are highest value are like Apple, Media companies, gaming, social media companies . And they essentially are all means of entertainment and can increase narcissism and inward social engagement. History and factual analysis is de-emphasized and all that matters is “the moment”. I think this past election may show a return of some civic engagement, maybe outrage has its rewards.

from Sandy: I can think of nothing more important right now than forging ahead with Peace and global integration and not this isolationist “America First” Nationalist agenda of Trump. He is taking our country and the world backwards with everything he is doing and it is so wrong and so awful for the world. Obama spent so much time and energy promoting America as a leader in the world and caring about the environment, peace, cooperation, climate issues in addition so to so many other wonderful things! I miss him so much and cannot believe we have such an idiot running our country and actually such a mentally ill president. I am a mental health professional and Trump is for sure mentally unstable and such a worry for all of the world with his temper and short fuse and impulsive decisions which could lead the world into Nuclear war and maybe the end of mankind! I don’t want to think about that but it is a reality until he is impeached or the Republicans lose control of all three branches of government.

I have to also say that I am very disappointed also in our Democrats in office right now because why aren’t they standing up and doing something stop all this nonsense or at least do as much as they can to make a lot of noise and be as obstructionist as the Republicans were with Obama in office. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a tax bill that is decided by both parties and is actually a good tax plan? You and I and most of us in our financial class will be total losers in this bill (unless you are a multi-millionaire) They will do so much harm to everything we believe in and line the pockets of business and the wealthy on the backs of the middle class and lower class and working people. I hope it doesn’t pass but I am worried that it will because Trump is pushing them to win at all costs! ​

Where are the honest , good, decent politicians? I am disappointed in Franken but at least he had the moral ethics to admit guilt and apologize which is more that Moore and Trump and the rest of the bunch have done. They just deny and lie and lie and lie!

from Mary: Well I started to fellow Senator Franken when he was trying to decide if he should run for the US Senate. He has worked hard for MN and the whole country. He is smart and it appeared always [well] prepared. I am reminded of my guide when I was in Vietnam. I asked him, how do you feel about American tourists coming to your country, when we killed your members of your family, friends, and devastated your country? His gentle answer was. “We always forgive but we never forget” One part of his response allows for compassion, acceptance, and understanding, The other part of his response allows for learning, planning, and prevention of hopefully not repeating the same mistake in the future. I call that wisdom and the ability to increase our humanity. As I reported to the DFL on Friday, Senator Franken did very wrong, but my hope is he still has my support.

from Joyce: Extract from this article: ‘Those cases illustrate the real issue here: the power imbalance that allows some men to take women hostage using sex. Franken, from what we know, was not such a man. When he kissed Tweeden without her consent, during a rehearsal on a U.S.O. tour, she was able to, according to her description, push her assailant away, tell him, “Don’t ever do that to me again,” and walk away—hurt and disgusted, to be sure, but not in fear for her future. She wrote that she didn’t go public at the time because she “didn’t want to cause trouble,” and didn’t feel that she needed protection from Franken. On the way back from the tour, Franken posed for a picture in which he pretended to grope Tweeden’s breasts when she fell asleep on a plane. More than a decade later, when Tweeden decided to go public, he apologized. “The apology, sure, I accept it,” Tweeden said in a press conference. “People make mistakes.” She sounded less magnanimous than annoyed. She explained that she had decided to go public in order to encourage other women to speak up without fear. That matters. Whether Franken resigns does not.’

from Dick (submitted as a letter to editor, Minneapolis Star Tribune, on Nov. 23): During the 1970s and 80s, when sex became big news, my job was as field representative for the Minnesota Education Association.

It was then I learned a fundamental fact: unlike other alleged offenses, accusations related to sex had a unique component: to be accused was to be presumed guilty as charged. There was no need for a hearing, other than public opinion.

The cases (rare as they were, usually teachers and clergy) were always front page news.

Not everyone was guilty.

One alleged perpetrator I remember was suspended for alleged improper touching of one middle school student. He demanded a public hearing.

In my recollection, it took about a year from suspension to hearing, and a result of the hearing was the arbitral equivalent of “not guilty”. The teacher had gone through a year of hell.

Years later I was told that some years after the allegation, the boyfriend of the female student was in jail, and admitted they had made the whole thing up, for their own particular reasons.

We haven’t learned much, it seems.

There will be no due process in any of the current cases. One of the accused is rich enough to counter sue his way out of any court action; another may prevail because of tribal loyalties; a third may be put on a show trial before his peers and hypocrisy will triumph. And on it goes.

But it will make for good conversation, about how sure somebody is that somebody else is guilty, because….

from Gail: Thanks for sending this, Dick. I am very sorry that your letter was not published, because it makes a point too often ignored in cases like this: “unlike other alleged offenses, accusations related to sex had a unique component: to be accused was to be presumed guilty as charged. There was no need for a hearing, other than public opinion.”

What’s been happening with this rash of accusations about sexual harassment (note: not rape) reminds me of the McCarthy Era, when many lost their jobs or were ‘blacklisted’ for being accused of being a Communist or Communist sympathizer, usually with no evidence (or maybe someone attended a Communist Party meeting out of curiosity, in an era when the context was very different). And there were the Salem witch trials before the McCarthy hearings.

‘Due process’ is the component of our judicial system that helps to ensure that it is ‘just’. The underlying principle is that it’s better that some guilty people go free than that innocent people are punished. I realize that many times sexual harassment occurs in private, and it’s difficult to prove; but I’m distressed by what seems to be the complete lack of attention to the need for evidence and due process in regards to these allegations. Even Franken said that women need to be believed. I say, no, allegations aren’t enough – there needs to be some form of evidence.

I’m encouraged by the response from the MN Peace Project – Franken group. We wrote a letter of support to him, saying something to the effect that we appreciate his support for women. Also, I understand that a group of 14 women ex-staffers wrote a letter saying that Franken was always supportive and respectful of them.

Tax “Cuts”

(click to enlarge)

Bronze Eagle presented to Minnesota Landscape Arboretum by Mary Lou Nelson, October, 2008.

Personal opinion: like an eagle, or any bird, or any human, or animal for that matter, any system needs to be in equilibrium to function well. A bird with only a dominant right wing – or left, for that matter – does not function well. A smart bird with only a head cannot fly…. Why, then, seek to dominate or even eliminate the other, or try to prevail as a dictator? It doesn’t work in nature; why should it be any different in political systems.

*

Some years ago I “notched” over 50 years of filing tax returns. They are as sure as is April 15 each year. I know the drill.

I suspect that there are some people who like to pay taxes. Actually, I don’t mind paying my taxes either. Taxes go for things like fixing potholes, or someone to answer the phone for a 911 emergency, and on and on and on. Lots and lots of people make their living in jobs paid by taxes. Some of these same folks hate taxes.

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.

But that’s about where the civil conversation ends. “Tax Reform” has been the rage for years and years and years, and once again it is the rage, and today in Washington DC, the latest version will probably roll out of the House of Representatives, promising nirvana, tax cuts for everyone, more money in the pocket to spend on lottery tickets, more chickens in the pot, eliminating things some people think are undesirable, or whatever.

Am I a cynic? You betcha.

The President badly needs a “win”. Killing Obamacare didn’t work. “Tax Reform” is a next round. Tax cuts were to be paid for by elimination of Obamacare. That didn’t work…at least initially…now full speed ahead. No one knows the future except…

…the clear winners will be the already very wealthy and the big corporations.

The additional tax bite for the rest of us will come in varying ways, likely not until after the 2018 elections, not even called “taxes”…that’s how the shell game will work: give a little gift early; delay the hit until later, and inflict it in other ways – higher medical premiums if you can afford insurance, etc. Exactly what the hit will be, and where from, or who is hit the hardest, are the real questions.

“Caveat Emptor” – let the buyer beware.

Now is a time to look at legitimate news sources, more than just the one you trust. The truth of the pudding is available. It won’t reliably come from the practiced spin-makers, the advocates who sincerely look you in the eye on television, or craft perfectly drafted op eds. It’s up to each of us.

*

How much taxes does a person pay? It takes a little work, but everyone can find out for themselves. It likely isn’t what you think.

We’re middle class, living in a small house, driving used cars, long retired.

But every year we’re lucky enough to be in the 25% tax bracket for federal income taxes. A chart I saw once put our income in the 78th percentile among Americans. Two pensions from our work years, two 401k’s, two social securities…. We don’t live “high on the hog”; neither are we poor.

Earlier this year I took a closer look at our 2016 tax return. Remember, I said we make the 25% bracket for federal tax, every year. (I don’t mention state taxes, and we’re a so-called high tax state).

Bottom line: in 2016, compared against out gross income, we paid 11% for Federal and 5% for State taxes, or 16% for the privilege of living in this country. Of course, there are other taxes: gasoline, for things like roads, and on and on.

*

I don’t know what the legislative sausage will look like once it goes through the meat-grinder this year, starting with the federal, then the state, then the local….

Quite certainly, it won’t be to the advantage of the lower income folks. The real beneficiaries will likely be those who already have far, far more than they need. They have the lobbying power, the money to finance political campaigns.

Every American has a vested interest in what happens in coming weeks and months. Make your voice heard, and get active in the political process.

November 2018 is coming soon.

COMMENTS:
From Norm:
I appreciated reading your observations regarding taxes.

My father always told my brothers and me that he was just happy to be able financially to pay taxes let alone owe them.

Paying them is not always the most pleasant thing that I have to do be it income or property taxes but I do it and fully expect all others to do the same…which I fully realize is rather Pollyanna on my part given the various loop holes in the tax code for folks and organizations to use to minimize, i.e. in some cases to avoid paying altogether, their tax obligations.

I think that paying taxes is an obligation of all citizens as they all should share in both benefits of living in the US as well as the cost of providing those benefits.

The bothersome aspect of the tax code to me is that it appears to protect and/or favor certain portions of the tax paying universe at the expense of the others….and, of course, it will continue to do that even if and after the GOP tax plan is approved and Trump has his “needed win!”

And, yes, I benefit from some of the “loopholes” as well including the deductions regarding state income and property taxes but…

Folks have to perceive that the tax system is fair and equitable in order for them to generally want to “pay their share” as it were. It is a voluntary system albeit with penalties for those who do not volunteer to pay as it were which can become very dysfunctional if folks begin to think that it does not treat everyone equally and fairly.

A democracy works when its participants all believe that they are all in it together sharing the burdens fairly related to sustaining the system of government.

Trump and the Republicans never seem to understand that…no, make that, they never seem to accept that preferring instead to rely upon the long discredited “trickle down” theory of economics to expand and grow the economy.

Unfortunately, too many folks that get hurt by that theory too often vote Republican.

World War I, and War, generally.

Saturday, Nov. 11, turned out to be a very significant day for me.

The intention was to be at the Veterans for Peace Bell Ringing at the Minnesota History Center (MHS), and that was accomplished. The same day, the 99th anniversary of the end of WWI, at the same place, was the final day of the excellent “WWI America” exhibit. Later that afternoon, the outstanding film The World Is My Country, about Garry Davis, a WWII bomber pilot who gave up his U.S> citizenship, disgusted by war.

Those who lead wars always portray them as necessary and thus good (our “side”) versus evil (theirs). It is politically useful to have an enemy. War is not nearly as simple as that. It is the young who go to die “for our country”; and who are proclaimed “heroes” when they do…. In this modern age, it has been the innocents who are slaughtered.

The entrance to the WWI exhibit at MHS said it pretty well:

(click any photo to enlarge)

The bare basics of WWI are simple: 1914-18, the good guys won, the bad guys lost. The truth is not nearly so simple. Part of another side of WWI came from my friend, Michael, who sent a long article from the Guardian newspaper expanding on the story of WWI. It is not politically correct from those who have written the official narrative of WWI, but it is very interesting. You can read the long article here.

In the hall outside the WWI Exhibit, Vets for Peace remembered Nov. 11 as Armistice Day; elsewhere in the building was a lecture about aspects of the War. In England, the day is now called Remembrance Day.

The local Vets for Peace especially recognizes the Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed 1928, which was supposed to end war permanently. The Vets for Peace podium had this explanation of Kellogg-Briand:

In “The World Is My Country”, Garry Davis went to war on a B-27 as part of the U.S. Army Air force after Pearl Harbor. In the end, his conscience couldn’t square killing innocent German people from a U.S. bomber over Germany to avenge the loss of his own brother, killed aboard a U.S. Destroyer in the European theater in 1943. At 26, he gave up his U.S. citizenship, and became a stateless citizen of the world.

Davis’ story is riveting and keeps everyones attention, and especially well suited for young people of today. The film is not yet fully released, but watch for it when it is.

Back at the Vets for Peace, at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month, Bellringers rang their bells 11 times to commemorate the end of a terrible war in 1918. This is a long tradition of the local Vets for Peace. I have been to many such remembrances since 2002.

Back in the nearby WWI exhibit down the hall were three displays which particularly spoke to me: the first of the Treaty of Versailles, which helped lead to WWII; and the second which needs no explanation, coming as it did before woman gained the right to vote in the United States.

At the time of the Treaty of Versailles

Both my mother and grandmother contracted the influenza but survived. The hired man on the farm went to war and died.

The most powerful songs I know, about WWI, and the folly of war are “Waltzing Matilda”, and Green Fields of France. Give a listen.

Today, November 11, 2017, Armistice Day (aka Veterans Day)

Today, at 11 a.m., on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, Armistice was declared at Compeigne France ending the deadly World War I. In 1928 came the Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed by France, Germany and the United States, to hopefully renounce War. In 1939 the even deadlier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. In 1945, WWII ended and the United Nations was born. There has not been a pandemic war for the past 72 years.

Perhaps there is hope for humanity, though wars, its seem, will always be curses on our lives.

Today is the final day of the World War I exhibit at the Minnesota History Museum in St. Paul, and at 10:30 a.m. will be a ceremony conducted by the Veterans for Peace Ch 27 which culminates, at 11 a.m., with ringing the bells of peace. Details here.

At 4 p.m. today, at the St. Anthony Main theatre in Minneapolis, the story of Garry Davis will be told in the film “The World Is My Country”. Garry Davis was a WWII bomber pilot who took ending war seriously. Details below. More about the film here.

(click to enlarge. pdf version is here: World is my Country – 2002)

#1310 – Dick Bernard: The Eagle’s Wings: the first day of the second year.

A year ago, Wednesday, the United States woke to a new President-Elect, Donald J. Trump.

This morning, a year later, the nation awoke to the results of the 2017 elections. While there were relatively few races, what happened yesterday is possibly a messenger of what is to come.

(click to enlarge)

Bronze Eagle presented to Minnesota Landscape Arboretum by Mary Lou Nelson, October, 2008.

It is foolish for someone like me to do an analysis of what the last twelve months mean to the present and future of the United States. Trump won. And he was embraced by the Republican party, which felt he would be useful to achieving their political agenda.

I offer some things to think about:

First, how did YOU vote a year ago, and why? The national results are so large as to be incomprehensible. Some months ago I looked up one rural county with which I am familiar. It is in a “red” state. Here were the returns. The numbers speak for themselves.

3,277 – Eligible Voters
1,481 – Trump
502 – Clinton
109 – Johnson
59 – Other (13 for Stein)
1,126 – Did not cast a vote for President

Where, among those 3,277, were you one year ago?

Certainly, in this single rural county Donald Trump overwhelmingly defeated Hillary Clinton. Was theirs a wise choice? They will find out.

Second, consider the Eagle Sculpture pictured above.

For a lot of years I’ve imagined our political system to be generally analogous to our national bird, the Bald Eagle.

There is a story to the sculpture: it was originally named “The Hunter” by the sculptor; the lady who contributed it to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in 2008, my friend Mary Lou Nelson (dec Jan 2016), called it “the Messenger of Peace”, and that is its message at the Arboretum.

It is a magnificent sculpture. But I am sure there were some discussions within the organization about the name issue…what it was called.

(The Bald Eagle is itself very much a mixed message…Mary Lou reinvented the powerful “hunter” as a “messenger of peace”. I think the sculptor himself struggled a bit with that at the time of dedication. But this eagle was Mary Lou’s, and she could name it as she wished!)

Our political nation is, I maintain, quite analogous to this bird, and perhaps its creator and its benefactor as well.

Like the bird, our nation has a left wing, and a right wing, with a body along for the ride, but whose parts must be a functioning part of a team.

The wings are essential for successful flight. But an eagle whose wings are out of balance in any way cannot survive. For one wing to dominate and control the other is not healthy for the eagle.

Similarly, the head – the brains of the outfit – the seat of power, as it were – cannot survive on its own. It certainly has some influence over the body, so long as there is some semblance of balance within the system.

The crucial part is the body…we, the people.

Of course, there can be endless arguments about this analogy. But like a healthy bird, all the parts must be in reasonable balance. Try flying an airplane with only one wing, or one vastly superior to and independent of the other: it doesn’t work.

Our country is badly out of balance, and has been for too long.

We, the people are the ones who must monitor and adjust and change the way our governance works.

That is what, in my opinion, began to happen on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017.

It’s up to us to make it continue.

PERSONALLY: Tuesday was encouraging to me. Voters seem, at least in this single election “round”, to be moving away from what has been increasing polarization, and domination by what I call the radical right wing. To use the eagle analogy, attempted domination by the tip of the so-called “right wing”.

Evidence, for me, is reasonable conversation among friends with differing points of view, and reasonable action following such conversations.

Dad. A Family Memory

Prenote: My Dad died 20 years ago today. I had been planning to write a little piece about him for some weeks, and in fact had been at the place where he died, Our Lady of the Snows, Belleville IL, on October 22-23.

I digress for a moment: We were tiny town folks, and church was central to our lives, so my thoughts are occupied now with the folks of Sutherland Springs TX, where 26 people were killed inside the community church at Sunday service. Who will stop this insanity?

I think back to that chapel at Our Lady of the Snows, where I attended Mass Oct 23, as Dad would have. To my family: “I went to 7:30 Mass on Monday morning. There were about 30 of us.” There have been lots of wake up calls to deal with the crisis of guns in America. Sutherland Springs should be at the very top of our list: it can happen anywhere, to anyone….

(click to enlarge photos)

Chapel at Our Lady of the Snows Oct 23, 2017

*

Dad

My Dad was like most of us. He had a good run, of almost 90 years. He contributed more than he took. He earned compliments and (I’m sure) criticism. Those who knew Dad can fill in their own blanks.

He lived ten years at Our Lady of the Snows, on the bluff just east of St. Louis in Belleville IL, from age 79 till his death. To prepare for his upcoming 80th birthday (Dec 22, 1987), he walked 80 consecutive daily 15 minute miles. My sister, Flo, and I were there for the “birthday walk”. It took him 13 minutes…

Henry Bernard about to begin his 80th 15 minute mile December 22, 1987

Nine days after he died I was in Chicago at a conference at O’Hare, and in the Sunday Chicago Tribune I found this column, by Mary Schmich: Schmich My father died001. To this day, whenever I hear that the father of someone I know dies, I send this column on.

It spoke to me.

His kids left a permanent marker in memory of Dad at Our Lady of the Snows Apartment Community on Memorial Day, 1998. Here’s the marker for the flagpole, photo from Oct 23, 2017. (Neither Mom nor Dad have gravestones. They both donated their bodies to schools of medicine for medical research.)

Marker at the flagpole at Our Lady of the Snows Apartment Community, Belleville IL Oct 22, 2017

*

There are lots of things to remember about my Dad.

Today is election day in many places, including our town. Most certainly, Dad would vote. If he had a partisan preference, he never said it to me. He was interested in political topics. I recall a long term project of his was to read the biographies of all the Presidents of the U.S. I graduated from high school in the 6th year of Dwight Eisehower’s time, so Harry Truman would have been the most recent biography. In 1983 he and I visited the Eisenhower Library in Abilene KS, and on the same trip Lyndon Johnsons Johnson City TX.

His livelihood and job as a school teacher and small town school superintendent depended on “taxpayers”. He would muse about “NRFA” (pronounced nerfa, No Reelection For Anyone), but I highly doubt he ever practiced that philosophy – it was just his expression of disgust at politicians at all levels whose primary interest was to get reelected.

*

In 1981, his wife, my Mom, died too soon, at 72. He was 73. They lived year round in San Benito TX, 245 miles south of Sutherland Springs. I think he went through a personal crisis in this time…how to go on. A life-saver for him was to go back to teaching, volunteering to teach English as a Second Language across the street at the Berta Cabaza Junior High School.

I recall that when he traveled he often would send postcards to his students back home, reasoning that this may be the only mail they ever received.

*

He was born in 1907, as modern life was just beginning to bud. A couple of months ago I participated in a program in which I attempted to condense his first 18 years into seven minutes from his writings. Here is what I came up with: DAD STORIES told early 1980s– 2. My spoken rendition of these memories can be viewed here, beginning at about 8 minutes.

About 1920, Grafton ND. Henry Bernard is tall kid in white shirt. Other family members are his parents, Henry and Josephine, and siblings Frank and Josie, and two families visiting from Winnipeg Manitoba. The 1901 Oldsmobile still exists in an auto museum in Pennsylvania.

Those who know me, know I like to write. It seems to have followed some genetic trait inherited by my Dad from someone long ago.

After Mom, his wife Esther, died in 1981, Henry embarked on what became a regular routine.

He developed a two week cycle for letters to we kids. Monday was to his oldest (me); Tuesday for the second child, Mary Ann; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday for Florence, Frank and John. The other days he wrote to other family or friends, here there and everywhere. He was constantly intellectually active.

His tiny apartment (96A, which is now used for storage), was set up for his daily activities. Here’s his desk on Dec. 22, 1987.

Henry’s “home office”, 1987

For whatever reason I kept my set of letters and a few years ago donated them as part of the family archive to the University of North Dakota Chester Fritz library (his haunt in years of living in Grand Forks.)

I had, frankly, forgot about the donation of the letters till a surprise e-mail came on July 26, 2017: “Dick: Greetings. I wanted to let you know that the family history materials you donated in 2009 and 2010 have been processed. The materials are now formally part of the Initiatives in French Midwest Heritage Collection. Your materials are Series 29 and the finding aid for the collection can be viewed here:

I want to let you know that I very much enjoyed processing this material. Your father seemed like a really great guy and I am honored to help document not only his history, but that of your entire family. Please look at the finding aid and let me know if you have any corrections. Thank you.”

The writer was Curt Hanson, Head for Special Collections at the University of North Dakota. Dad was an interesting guy. Here’s a column about him in the Grand Forks (ND) Herald May 31, 1987: Henry Bernard by C Haga001

There ensued further conversation ‘back and forth’, including a later comment from Curt: “A funny story regarding the processing of your Dad’s papers. I have, truly, never come across someone as Catholic as your father. The fact that I am Lutheran may account for this! Your father would frequently date his letters by noting something similar to “17th day of Lent 1987.” This caused me to have to look up and determine when the 17th day of Lent was in 1987. I had to do this frequently!

While I was processing your father’s material, I had to spread out on a table here in Special Collections. One day last month, the Department was visited by an Orthodox Jew who was researching the history of the synagogue in town. He was dressed all in black, with both a payot and a yarmulke. He sat at the table right next to where I was processing. I found it ironic that an incredibly Jewish man was working next to the papers of a very Catholic man. Maybe it is just me, but I found that to be interesting.”

*

The last family reunion, including many of us, September, 1996, at Our Lady of the Snows.

I close with a few more photos, mostly from Dec. 22, 1987. Happy Birthday to my daughter, Heather, who is 42 today; and an early b-day to Henry’s daughter Mary Ann, whose birthday is Nov. 10, and his son Frank on Nov. 17.

Perhaps you can take some time for remembering your own Dad (or Mom, or whomever) stories….

Henry, Dec. 22, 1987

Henry at 80. He was a ceaseless walker, until almost the end of his life.

St. Louis from Our Lady of the Snows, Dec. 1987. Now the trees have grown and the skyline is visible only in the fall after the leaves have shed.

St. Louis, Oct 23, 2017, from Cahokia Mound IL, a few miles northwest of Our Lady of the Snows.