Windmill

Overnight Tuesday came an e-mail from a friend, commenting on a Frank Lloyd Wright home she know, somewhere.

The reference jogged me to think back to mid-October, 2013, visiting Wright’s Taliesin, Spring Green WI, and seeing a unique windmill there (see photos at end of this post).  In turn, that caused me to think of another windmill found at the North Dakota farm around the time of my Uncle’s death in 2015, which I came across in a box a short while ago.  It is below, simply a piece of farm art on a scrap piece of wood, doubtless a cooperative creation of persons very familiar with windmills, prairie farms and water.

I don’t know who did the above creation, measuring about 7″x12″.  It is likely a photo from a farm magazine glued on a piece of scrap lumber and then varnished to become a piece of home grown decoupage.  It was a hobby which I remember seemed to have caught on like a prairie wildfire among my elders for a time.  If there was a ‘culprit’, I would put my Aunt Florence near ground zero for planting the seed to decoupage.  But it could have been my mom, or any to the other sisters or female aunts.  You know how such things go.

Show this photo to anyone who’s ever had a close call with an old farm, and it will bring forth lots of memories.  Windmills were the farm “water works” – a source of hopefully fresh water from a fairly shallow well.

*

The windmill at Taliesin has its own story, which the internet helpfully searched for me.  Here, you can read the short story.

Oct 16, 2013 at Frank Lloyd Wrights Taliesin, Spring Green WI.  Photos by Dick Bernard

October 16, 2013. Taliesin

In a way, those windmills are like all of us.  In their lives they’ve seen a lot, and done a lot.

Unlike us, they spent their time stuck in place.  Most of us are capable of more flexibility, and making more of an impact than we feel we’re stuck with.

We take many things for granted, these days, which folks couldn’t imagine not all that many years ago.  Rural electricity replaced wind power on my grandparents farm in 1949.  An interesting diary of another North Dakotan adds to that story.  You can read the article here.

Now another spring begins.  A good time to take another look at how we, as individuals, can positively impact the status quo.  And then ‘spring’ into action!

*

Bonus PREVIEW, especially for those whose ancestry includes French-Canadian and/or Midwest.  Visit the French American Heritage Foundation website (here) , click Library tab, click books, and scroll down to Roy-Collette Family History.  This is brand new, a French-Canadian family story from France, to Quebec, to the United States, to the Twin Cities area, North Dakota, Ste Elizabeth, Manitoba and Lampman, Saskatchewan.  This is author  Remi Roy’s paternal grandparents story.  At least scroll through the document.  There will be a specific post on the book later in April, but the entire 315 page book is available.  Disclosure: Remi Roy and I are cousins through the Collette line.  At the same site is my 400+ page French-Canadian family history, Bernard-Collette Family History, which is also available in its entirety, from 2010.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):

from Fred:  Liked the Taliesen windmill. We visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Spring Green hangout probably around the same time you did. I don’t remember the windmill, though. We greatly enjoyed the visit. Wright actually influenced how we sited the house we are now in. Instead of going up a few stories for a better river view, we opted for a land-conforming walkout rambler style. It still feels like the right decision.

I vividly recall looking at windmills when the family was driving to relatives and friends in the area. Every farm still seemed have them in the 1950s. No matter which way we traveled out of the Red Wing metroplex, I got to see windmills. They fascinated me.


from Lois:  Happy Easter Dick – may you continue to send “thoughts towards a better world” for a long, long time.  I enjoyed thoughts of windmills on my mom’s family farm.

I have heritage of 9X great grandparents who arrived from France in the early 1600s as well as 8X GGF from Netherlands – this was a nice reminder of my ancestors.  The first family to settle in Luverne area of Rock County originated in England – to Salem MA and left for Canada after death of 2ndgeneration mothers execution as a witch.  Their journey continued to reach here thru Wisconsin in the mid- late 1800’s.

from Mary: Hi Dick,  Yes for sure my mom [Florence] was into decoupaging.  I have a few of her pieces.  She loved Norman Rockwell calendars.  Also wedding invitations.  She asked our dentist who was located in Hannaford ND for his old dental tools.  She carved her edges with those.  Never on barn wood that I saw,  but dad cut her boards for her.  She taught classes the County Extension Service and home makers clubs.  My mom was always busy and very gifted with her hands.  Loved her so much.

 

Easter

PRE-NOTE: I recommend the on-line program Monday March 25.  Details, scroll down here.

This morning (Saturday March 23) at 6 a.m. I was arriving at my coffee shop, and directly ahead of me was the most striking view of a full moon I have ever seen.  It was about tree top level, soon to set.  The atmospheric conditions were apparently perfect.  (Technically, the full moon is actually Monday morning, March 25, but no difference.  This mornings was spectacular, even given the hand-held snapshot. )

Woodbury MN 6 a.m. CDT March 23, 2024 Dick Bernard

Easter is next Sunday, March 31.  Each year, Easter  moves around on the calendar.  By definition, it is set as the Sunday after the first full moon of the Vernal Equinox (Spring).  I asked my computer about the dates of Easter: “The earliest possible date for Easter is March 22 and the latest possible date is April 25. Easter can never come as early as March 21, though. That’s because, by ecclesiastical rules, the vernal equinox is fixed on March 21“.  (The earliest vernal equinox is March 19).

Out at the farm in North Dakota, in the early 1900s, my grandparents received and kept pictorial cards received from the home folks in Wisconsin.  The family was Catholic.  About half of the well-over 200 cards received and kept were Christmas themed; about one-fourth Easter themed.  40% of the Easter cards had a religious orientation.  (Only about 10% of the Christmas cards had religious orientation.)

Easter was a time of rebirth everywhere: Spring, Baby Chicks, snow melt, Easter bunnies, re-greening of the earth.

Of course, everyone reading this can fill in the abundant blanks about how Easter has played out in their own lives over the years.  (Often Passover comes at about the same time as Easter.  This year Passover is April 22-30.   Ramadan this year is March 11 – April 9.  The three intersect about once every 33 years, the last was in 2023.

In my particular faith, Easter weeks starts with Palm Sunday, tomorrow; thence Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Here is the schedule at my church.  Always and still central is the Passion, which this year can be read here (scroll down to the gospel).  This will be read on Palm Sunday.   Herein comes the reference to the Jews, which has created so much tragedy for the Jews over history.  As a lifelong Catholic, I’ve witnessed the assorted ways this narrative has been handled by my church – the words are the same, but how they are presented have differed.  (Normally, we’d be at Church tomorrow.  A winter storm is predicted here overnight.  We’ll see.)

At my church, Basilica of St. Mary’s in Minneapolis, for over 20 years, there has annually been an evening service (7 p.m.) on the Friday before Easter called Tenebrae (see schedule in preceding paragraph).  I have not attended this every year, but traditionally, and I believe this year as well, it is customary for a Rabbi from nearby Temple Israel to speak.  This year, Tenebrae, March 29, 7 p.m., will be live-streamed, as will most of the other rituals during the week.  To access, go to the Basilica website at the time/day of the event.  The reading of the Passion will be live-streamed as part of the 9:30 Mass on March 24.

early 1900s postal greeting to the ND farm

COMMENTS (more at the end):

from Joyce: From a Jewish perspective, Easter is quite fraught; it was, historically, an extremely dangerous time because of the blood libel, which resulted in mass murders. I love Fiddler on the Roof, but it depicted a pogrom as nothing more sinister than property destruction. Pogroms were deadly; even infants were killed. It was because of pogroms that my grandparents came to the US at the end of the 19th century.

Another Jewish holiday starts after sunset tonight, Purim. Most of our holidays can be explained as: they tried to kill us, we survived, so let’s eat. Purim is a bit different; they tried to kill us, we survived, so let’s party. If the weather allows I’m going to the children’s Purim service at _____ with my grandchildren tomorrow; there should be a lot of laughter. The children will all be in costume; traditionally, children wear costumes and go from door to door giving out sweets.

Response to Joyce from Dick: I think your growing up background was in a major U.S. city.  Mine was tiny (literally) midwest towns – I once went to a high school with two seniors.  These towns were basically homogeneous – usually basically Catholic or Lutheran dominated, and rarely very mixed.  Jews only appeared in the Passion story, and if there were speaking parts for the reading, Jesus was always the Priest, the “Father”.  Palestinians were not even an abstract idea….  I have thought quite a bit about this over the years.  The only message we got about Jews was that they killed Jesus, and this was basically at this important season, and it wasn’t elaborated on to my recollection, anyway.  I don’t remember any reference of any kind to Father Coughlin, the anti-semite radio Priest who was very powerful in the 1930s and into the 1940s.  I guess the bothersome part of this particularly in this tribal age is the intensification of labeling of the ‘other’, whoever that might happen to be.  We do it all the time – Super Bowl, Final Four, Muslims, and on and on and on.  That’s one reason why I want to listen in on the talk on Monday (above) and why I want to see how or even if the issue is addressed by the Rabbi at the Basilica on Friday.

Thank you for your willingness to be in dialogue.

from Flo: Easter certainly has mixed meanings for many people. I’m now attending Sunday worship alone at RUMC, but also with friends who pick me up at home or bring me home after the service. Carter is also my driver, occasionally. During this Easter I decided to read the Bible beginning from the first page. It’s definitely not my favorite reading, but it certainly makes it clear that Adam and Eve started something that has kept “The Faithful” floundering! I forgot to bring my Bible with me to our Thursday-Saturday stay at the cabin, so now I have a lot of make-up reading ahead of me. Wonder how long I’ll stick with the effort…

from Florence: thanks, wonderful picture.

Israel/Palestine

The emphasis of this post is the upcoming talk by Nurit Peled-Elhanan (see below).  All I know about the talk and speaker is what you see below.  To be clear, what the speaker will likely talk about is common in how national histories are conveyed.  All who feel they’re part of a dominant culture or ideology have their blind spots.  For instance, Native Americans did not factor favorably into the official narrative of American History, and still don’t….  I encourage you to join this webcast.  I will be enrolling myself.  I’ll probably reflect, personally,  on the indigenous, settler history in ND and Minnesota.  There is a lot of very uncomfortable history.

*

Recently I was at a meeting at a local Middle School, and around the cafeteria were many national flags.  I’m not sure of the back story, but my guess is they relate to the international flavor of the school – persons of many nationalities are students.  Two or three miles away is the international headquarters of 3M.  We’re part of a global community, and that’s a good thing – albeit not always easy.

World Flags at Woodbury Middle School MN March 2024

A few days ago came two announcements of current international interest – in both cases, specifically related to Israel and Gaza.

Molly sent a note March 14:  Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave an amazing and very powerful speech in the US Senate today.  It is about 45 minutes.

There is, of course, all sorts of commentary up online about it:
 some blasting Schumer for saying anything; some saying he’s treasonous; some saying he doesn’t go far enough; some praising it; and everything in between. 
I thought it was worth watching in full.
Blessings, all, as we pray for the end of this carnage,

I did watch it in full, and it is very worthwhile.  Certainly, as he was well aware himself, there is something for anybody and everybody to agree and disagree with.  That’s part of its power.

*

Nancy sent a notice on March 16, which I’ll definitely participate in:
Sponsored by Citizens for Global Solutions, Minnesotaplease share with your members and friends, and join us!
 
CGS-MN HUMAN RIGHTS FORUM: Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education
Date: Monday, March 25, 2024
Time: 12noon – 1:00 pm (Central Time – USA)
Where: Zoom (register at link below)
Cost: FREE and open to the public

Register in advance here (scroll down to the specific program):
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Nurit Peled-Elhanan

Guest Speaker: Nurit Peled-Elhanan is an Israeli philologist, professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, translator, and activist. She is a 2001 co-laureate of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought awarded by the European Parliament. Her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was released in the U.K. in April 2012. She states that the only representation of Arabs in Israeli books is as “refugees, primitive farmers and terrorists,” claiming that in “hundreds and hundreds” of books, not one photograph depicted an Arab as a “normal person”.

Description: Professor Nurit Peled analyzes the presentation of images, maps, layouts and use of language in History, Geography and Civic Studies textbooks, and reveals how the Israeli books might be seen to marginalize Palestinians, legitimize Israeli military action and reinforce Jewish-Israeli territorial identity. Nurit Peled provides a fresh scholarly contribution to the Israeli-Palestinian debate, relevant to the fields of Middle East Studies and Politics more widely.

*

A FINAL THOUGHT, March 17:  This weeks church newsletter at Basilica featured a column by Fr. Joe Gillespie, which included this paragraph: “As we get closer to Jerusalem on our Lenten journey, we can dare to dream of a better world to come.  However, the raging wars in the Ukraine and Gaza sap our strength and ratchet our fears of ever achieving peace in the Kingdom.  Searching for heroes or heroines to lead us on a journey of hope, we must resurrect the images the likes of Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Alexei Navalny to remind us of Jesus’ statement: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

This is the second to last paragraph of the excellent column, “Who Was That Masked Man”, shared in entirety here: Fr. Joe Gillespie March 17 2024

Haiti

The major headline in today’s Minneapolis StarTribune: “U.S. ups embassy security in Haiti.  Military flies to capital with gangs largely in control“.

This is not the kind of publicity one likes to see.  The details are readily available on-line, so I won’t go into the current event.  Rather, I want to afford an opportunity to look back at the Haiti I saw in two visits in 2003 and 2006.

Tens of thousands of Americans have been to Haiti, very few of them as ‘tourists’.  Haiti is a small impoverished nation just to the east of Cuba.  After my first visit I did a sketch map comparing Haiti with Minnesota (special thanks to Paul Miller for refinement):

There were two memorable trips, both about a week: both intensive study trips.

The first trip centered on Port au Prince and environ in early December, 2003.  There were six of us in a journey expertly organized by Paul Miller.  The second trip came in March, 2006, organized by the Microfinance group, Fonkoze, and focused on the interior of Haiti out of Hinche (Ench in kreyol), another extraordinary trip. (Ench is a community of about 50,000 approximately where the H in Haiti appears on the above map.)

I wrote about both trips on my return from each trip, and these and other observations are easily available to anyone interested here (click at Haiti in Focus).

Succinctly, I have very positive memories of the Haitian people I met on both trips.

Less than three months after we returned home in 2003, President Aristide, who brought democracy to the island nation, was deposed and exiled.  We had primarily met with persons who shared his values and aspirations for the Haitian people.

The second trip our focus was on the poor in Haiti, aspiring to a better life.

I do not recall a single instance of fear or even tension on either trip, though particularly on the first trip there was clear political tension.

In my opinion, Haiti since it’s beginning as a French colony was noteworthy by its Declaration of Independence, by slaves, in 1804.  It was far too close to the brand new slave holding nation of the United States, and I believe that one of the early actions of the new U.S. Congress was to refuse to recognize the country as a free nation.  Books have been written about this difficult history.

We arrived in Port au Prince on December 6, 2003, and on December 7 – a Sunday – we went to a Catholic Church where Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste was pastor.  Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste knew we Americans were in the pews and his remarks were directed our way, effectively.  I took this photo of him with a parishioner at the time of the Mass.

Fr. Jean-Juste Dec. 7 2003

Later the same day we met with him at the guest house where we were staying.  He was very impressive.

Being “impressive” to the common Haitian was not an asset in December, 2003.  Fr. Jean Juste ended up in prison not long after we left Haiti.  He was an apparent threat to the desired status quo.  Three years later I met him  again in Miami’s Little Haiti where he had effectively been exiled.  He was apparently too dangerous for Haiti, but safe on the streets of the U.S….

Take time to learn more about Haiti.  With all of our good qualities as a nation, we have lots to learn about relationships with others.

Haiti timeline I prepared after the 2003 trip.  Errors in content are mine.

POSTNOTE March 16:

Here is a photo of the 2003 Study Group, in Haiti:

Dec. 8 was a wonderful day.  The week to come was full and peaceful but at times intense.  We were in the country when the storm clouds of a coup were far advanced.  But the stereotype of recent news was not our experience in 2003, nor was it our experience in the interior in 2006.  Personally I never felt at risk.

I was and I am not naive.  But subsequent to the first visit I made a personal list of incidents proximate to us, or which played out after we returned to the states.  For example, someone we met at a school. a few hours later was apparently assassinated near the Haiti Capitol building>. Someone else I met – a Priest – apparently was murdered by poisoning a year or so later…Fr. Jean-Juste thrown into Prison in Haiti, and then exiled to what essentially was freedom in Little Haiti in Miami, where I met him again in 2006, seemingly free, but far away from home – an interesting variation on being sent to Siberia.  He seemed on community arrest.  If he stayed in Little Haiti, no problem….  Or so it appeared.

In 2006 we were in the interior, very poor environment, but our group of perhaps 15 being shown around by Fonkoze was very well treated.  In this second trip I can recall no nervous moments (other than traveling on roads which were definitely not thoroughfares – sometimes very dicey),

In neither year did we tempt fate by foolish decisions: it was less risky to go to church than to some neighborhood bar; less risky to visit with people trying to eke out a living, than getting into a political argument on the street.  Come to think of it, even here at home, there is prudent or careless behavior.  If one seeks trouble, one can find it.

Unfortunately, it seems that Jan 6, 2021, at our nations capitol, is now happening most every day in much of Haiti.  Well armed gangs have taken over.  Who knows what the solution might be…there is a solution, just what that is, is probably impossible to imagine at this tense time.

There are, of course, narratives about Haiti and about its governance, etc., etc.  There was, there is, and there will remain mis- and dis-information.  I don’t pretend to be an expert; Haiti is not a perfect society, neither is our own.  All I can report on is what I experienced, and what I learned afterwards, including the aftermath of the 2010 massively destructive earthquake which killed hundreds of thousands.  The website links give my personal impressions from the past trips.

Today, I gather, we could not fly into the PaP airport if we wanted to, and if we could and did we would be fools.  And activities such as we participated in would now likely be very dangerous.

Today, with Gaza. and Ukraine, and all other places facing tension, we live in an unfortunately tribal society, I can only hope for positive outcomes.

What happens in Haiti, and Ukraine, and Gaza, and in our own country will affect all of us.  It is far too easy to blame somebody for the problems.  All of us need to be part of the solution.  Keep on keeping on.

POSTNOTE 2 March 17:  I was a geography major in college, and taught Junior High School geography for nine years, and probably could have headed for a career as a geographer had I not diverted into union work over 50 years ago.

Still, when I agreed to travel to Haiti in 2003, I really had very little knowledge about the island nation.  I have had almost a college education since.

The group I traveled with was led by a supporter of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Catholic Priest elected as the first democratically elected President of Haiti, whose orientation was to the poor, which were the vast majority of Haitians, almost all illiterate, and who spoke a dialect which sounded like basic French, but was not the official French of the country.  They were numerically superior, but almost totally disenfranchised.

Aristide came to power by an election opened to people who had never voted before, who could not read the ballot unassisted.  Nonetheless, when the opportunity was given the people of Haiti underwent the hardships and the risks of casting their ballot, to freely elect their President.

Aristide was largely viewed as an outlier, an enemy really, of the developed world (i.e. the United States, et al).  There are many roadblocks that can be, and were, thrown up to quash success of Aristide and those who supported him.  If you look at the above timeline you will get a sense of this.  At my previously mentioned website, I recounted my efforts to determine the legitimacy of the last Aristide election.  At https://www.chez-nous.net/haiti3.html, scroll down to the link to Anatomy of an Official Lie, and read the link.  It is, of course impossible for someone like myself to do a truly deep dive into “fact”, but in this case I think I got close to the truth.

In my opinion, Aristide was on the right track in Haiti, but this was frightening to the protectors of the status quo.

POSTNOTE3 March 18:  I was listening to Jose Diaz Balart on MSNBC a few minutes ago, and he was talking about 63 years of chaos in Haiti – I specifically heard “63”.   My experience with Haiti began 20 years ago, and my two contacts with the country are described above.  63 years ago would be about 1960, during the early times of Papa Doc Duvalier, whose repressive regime with his son Baby Doc spanned nearly 30 years, from 1957-86.  The Duvaliers were not supporters of Democracy, nor champions of the poor.  On the other hand, it seems they were reliable ‘friends’ of wealthier nations at the expense of their impoverished citizens.

I looked up Diaz Balart, who has a really interesting background and family.  He is Cuban, raised in Spain, after Castro took control in Cuba in 1959.  It is unclear where he was born, but mostly his early life seems to have been in Spain.

Credibly commenting on the Diaz-Balart comments would be foolhardy for me.  But I have a guess that I know more about Haiti than Jose does, and more reliably as well.  At the same time, when I visited and with whom I visited was a time when Democracy had had a brief chance in Haiti, but was also quite clearly quashed by forces outside the country, not the least of which were the United States, Canada and France.

I happen to like Balart’s work, but the comment about Haiti troubled me.  Haiti is, after all, Cuba’s next door neighbor.

 

 

 

The State of the Union

March 9, 2024: A reader asked for my graphic about the Presidents since FDR first published Feb 1.  Here it is: Presidents since FDR DRAFT Feb 1 2024.

This morning (March 7), at coffee, I was musing about the conference table at my left.  It is a table quite often occupied in whole or in part by this group or that, most often what I’d refer to as “birds of a feather” – groups of one sort or another.  It seems  a good metaphor for the Presidents State of the Union coming up in a short while.

As I often do, I’m writing this before the event itself.  I’ll add a few post-State of the Union below, and in a subsequent post will once again identify myself as a participant in this entity called the United States of America.

Back to the table:

There are ten seats at the table.  I visualized randomly selecting one person each from the last ten places I’d visited in the last 24 hours – places like grocery store; my indoor walking route; Caribou Coffee, etc.  Put yourself at the head of the table, tasked with resolving some issue – any issue.  How could, or would, such a group reach consensus on anything at all?  Hint: this wouldn’t be easy.  This isn’t like a jury, dealing with evidence; or even like a “birds of a feather” dealing with a mutual interest.  This would be 10 American individuals.  “Leadership”, even of a small group, is no picnic.

Tonight one person, President Biden, will be seeking to get the attention of every citizen of the most powerful nation in the world.  I wish him well.

I will watch, the State of the Union tonight.

I am one person with one vote, as are you, as is everyone else.  How we each exercise our power. will make a huge difference, if we participate.

Enough for now.

Friday, March 8: I did watch the entirety of President Biden’s State of the Union last night.  I’ve heard him speak in person twice, in 2010 and 2012.   Sure, he was younger then; the vigor was the same last night.  As I’ve mentioned, I’m 2 1/2 years older than he is.

At coffee today, four of the chairs in the above picture were occupied by the usual Friday group of men.  It’s impossible to avoid eavesdropping – I’m three feet away.  There was mention, but little discussion of the speech itself, which didn’t surprise.  I know all of them, but only in the context of being a group of men.

Sure, I had my own takeaways last night.  The one I’ll mention was towards the end when the President took on the issue of age.  He said he was 29 when first elected to office, and they said he was too young….  There will be more, later, but for now I want to emphasize a single point.

I thought of a letter I’d sent one week earlier, on Feb 29.  It was one page to 17 persons in my heritage group – siblings and grandkids basically.  It included nine family photographs at various times in family history.  On each picture I noted the age of the ancestors when the picture was taken.  The oldest was an 1898 photo of my grandfather Bernard at Presidio San Francisco preparing to embark for a year in the Philippine in the Spanish-American War.  He was 26 years at the time.  He died at 85 when I was 17.

My last paragraph in the letter said this: “This is all just a reminder: whatever your age, now, your ancestors were that age once.  The future is for your generation to make.  I wish you well.  With love.”  The future is theirs to make, or break.

*

For anyone interested, I set down my personal markers on the current situation in two posts in early August, 2020.   Yes, 2020.  The links are in the first, August 1, 2020, here.  The second is August 2.  August 20 is about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris; August 24-30 largely relate to the Republican Convention.  Other related links are also referenced.  They are word-for-word of my writing then.  This was long before the election itself, and January 6, 2021.  Nothing that has transpired since then has changed my general point of view.  In the next week, I’ll do a post for the present.  I invite you to take a look.

POSTNOTE:

Thursday, March 7: Friday is International Woman’s Day.  Here is the UN descriptor; here is more information.  Postnote March 9: Heather Cox Richardson’s column for March 8 is especially pertinent.   Read it here.

Also Friday the Prime Minister of Hungary is at Mar-a-Lago.  Here’s some basics about Hungary, the country.  It is about half the size of Minnesota, and has about twice the population.  It is essentially a totally white nation with one ethnic group, Magyar, dominant.  While difficult to find precise data, it seems about half of the population is Christian, about two-thirds of that, are Catholic.  The remaining half seems unaffiliated with organized religion.  No mention of Muslims, and small mention of Jews. Orban and Hungary seem to be a role model for what are called “white Christian nationalists” here.  It bears watching.  Orban is viewed as a successful autocrat.

The U.S. in which we live appears to be infinitely more ethnically diverse than Hungary.

An interesting, informed and troubling report about Viktor Orban can be read here.  I think you will find it interesting.

 

 

Presidential Primary Election Day – Super Tuesday March 5, 2024

POSTNOTE March 6 6 a.m.: Minnesota returns here.  For context, there were 3,542,947 persons who. could have voted; typically, Minnesota has very high voter turnout.  About 11% of eligible voters split their vote between the two most popular candidates.  (Voters had to choose one ballot: Republican, Democrat, or Legal Marijuana Now.)  My “favorite” candidate: Vermin Supreme, who got 404 votes, presumably one of which was his/hers for Legal Marijuana Now….  Of course, there will be endless analysis, and polls and more polls….  Have a great day, and get involved.   It’s our country and it’s fate is in our hands, literally.

*

Today is “Super Tuesday”, and Minnesota is one of the 15 states and one territory holding primaries. Rules for each state vary.  Minnesota’s March 5 is Presidential preference.

Last Wednesday I voted early in Minnesota’s Presidential Primary.  It was a single issue ballot.  Note that this vote is only Presidential preference.  I expect a low turnout.  I hope my expectation is incorrect….

The regular Minnesota Primary is August 13.

It can be confusing.

More detail for the 2024 primary’s by state and territory can be read here.  You will note differences between the individual states.

Here’s a history of Primary elections in the United States from the Library of Congress.

*

Last week I attended the Precinct Caucus, which was, for me, the kickoff of campaign 2024 in Minnesota.

Those of us who attended the caucus, and expressed an interest could become delegates to upcoming conventions at the Senate District, then vie for delegate status at Congressional District, then State Convention, then National Convention.

The process is an orderly and well organized one, with the ultimate objective of endorsing candidates and approving resolutions reflecting the  political party at large.

In last weeks post I included a note about upcoming events, as well as as a note from the chair of my Senate District about upcoming events for any resident of this district.   It is reprinted below.

*

In my case, my Senate District official Convention is Saturday, April 6, and is open only to elected delegates selected at the Caucus (people who could not attend the caucus, could pre-register for delegate status).

Following is the Congressional District Convention on Saturday, May 4, then the State Convention (Duluth) May 31 – June 2.

I have attended all of these Conventions at one time or another; always the Senate and often Congressional.  They are always very interesting, and those attending take their work very seriously.

The Democrats National Convention is in Chicago Aug 19-24; the Republicans in Milwaukee Jul 15-18.  The actual election is Nov. 5, 2024.

I am nearing age 84, and there is a time and a place for everything.

I am a strong supporter of Joe Biden/Kamala Harris.  At the same time, my mantra has long been that the youth, women, and persons of color need to play the major roles in the future, both because they will live in what results far beyond my own mortality; and their issues are very crucial to their own future.

Another personal mantra: we citizens ARE “politics”.  What we get (and often deride) is exactly what we choose in this democracy, fragile as it has become.  Traditionally, more than a third of eligible voters don’t even vote once every four years.  And often those who vote only vote for a single candidate, with little knowledge of the implications of their vote.  This is a disgrace.

*

“Below the Fold” – for readers in my own Minnesota Senate District #47

State and National Politics always get the most attention from the media, but the really important work is what is done at the local level.  And often times, local issues take on great importance in special elections including school issues, and the like.  It is not enough to vote for one person one time every four years.

There is a special event on Thursday, March 14 from 5:30-8:30  pm at Woodbury Middle: HotDish Challenge!  Cake & Pie Auction.   School cafeteria (use the entry facing Valley Creek>. Suggested $20 family donation + bid on auction

I asked the local chair to input on this issue, and below is what she offered.  She has been a very committed chair.

School Board campaigns & the CD4 Central Committee.
NOTE: CD4 is Congressional District 4.  Our local school district boundaries are in two Congressional Districts and this is simply an effort for efficiency.

1) Local elections for School Board
This year, CD4 DFL has jurisdiction over SCHOOL BOARD elections. 
We invite people to run for a position on the DFL CD4 Central Committee.  Email SenateDistrict47ATgmailDOTcom.
Why? Do you pay attention to extremist “Moms For Liberty” and MN Parents Alliance candidates?
They Ban books; Don’t say gay; Anti-vaxxers; Private school vouchers to deplete public school funds) More information here.
ISD622 and ISD834 candidates can ask the DFL CD4 for a Letter of Support.  Info here.
Follow them on Facebook: here

2) Local campaign Carpool Drivers
Our youth volunteers need DRIVERS for RIDES. Can you volunteer to drive carpool to pick up one or two teens, bring them to a (25) or (50) Door neighborhood for a 30- or 60-minute DOOR KNOCK or LIT DROP, then return them home? Info Here
3) Get involved – Volunteer or serve as a Leader
March 21 and April 18 – election for Precinct level positions and general volunteers
The SD47 DFL Central Committee seeks people to help us ELECT MORE DEMOCRATS.
Email SenateDistrict47ATgmailDOTcom to get started.

Wherever you live, you are urged to become active in the political process, particularly being an informed voter, and contributing in other ways.

POSTNOTE. March 5, 10 a.m.: This mornings Minneapolis Star Tribune had an editorial on the importance of voting.  You can read it here: Star Trib Editorial Voting Mar 5 2024.

After reading this I was at breakfast in a popular suburban restaurant.  Some older guy was loudly proclaiming to his friend how they were killing democracy taking away his right to vote for his candidate. Of course, he was talking bout the Supreme Court decision yesterday, which was quite the opposite of his declaration, and at any rate an interpretation question.  I thought to myself, this is the kind of guy who’d be the pull quote example on evening news of how one side is thinking; and the reporter would be looking for a polar opposite, probably in the same restaurant.  At least, that’s how I see the news being reported most any time.  Controversy sells papers, so to speak.  Reasoned dialogue is what we need, but its boring….

March 5 noon:  Many thanks to Joyce for sending along Jay Kuo’s commentary on yesterdays Supreme Court decision.  You can read it here.  I wrote back to her: I agree with Jay Kuo on this. Even in my less-than-exalted career of attempting to resolve grievances of teachers, I was always aware of the peril of not having boundaries – it was possible to see chaos if care wasn’t exercised by both labor and management.

Get out and vote.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):
from Sue: Great message, Dick!!  I voted this morning! There were two voters ahead of me & two behind.  One was a young, BIPOC female. She asked for a Republican ballot.  I was perplexed – of course, said nothing. But, it occurred to me that perhaps she voted for Nikki Haley. That’s going to be my conclusion … & that way I’ll be able to sleep tonight!