#78 – Dick Bernard: Back to school with the President

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Under ordinary circumstances I may not have heard that President Obama was going to give a televised talk to America’s school children at 11 a.m. today.  I’m long retired with no direct ties to public schools.
But these are no ordinary circumstances.  Last Friday morning, I got an e-mail, later withdrawn, in which the sender wanted to alert one of my mailing lists about her complaint about the President of the United States wanting to communicate with children, including her own, about their upcoming school year.  The speech was scheduled for today, September 8.  At the time of the e-mail, I had no context whatsoever.  
(The entire speech will likely be archived at the White House website  www.whitehouse.gov for anyone who is interested.)
The subsequent days were inundated with rhetoric.  For most school districts in my state, today is the first day of the school year.  It is an open guess as to what percent of the nation’s tens of millions of students will be allowed to see the talk live today, if at all.  When it comes to freedom of speech, apparently the President of the United States is, for some, off-limits, at least according to some who wish to shield their children from his thoughts (and in the process deprive the vast majority of the opportunity to hear what he has to say.)  
I spent an entire career in public education, so I know a bit about the reality of the public schools. 
A career public elementary school teacher, now retired several years, commented on the general situation on Saturday: “When I was teaching I would have been so happy to have the President reinforce my job by speaking to students.”  As to disrupting regular events on the first day of school, she said “The first day of school was always full of twists and turns.  Some kids haven’t slept all night because they are scared, some wish they were back home, some are worrying about their bus number, some wish they had a different teacher, some little ones are crying, some are hot (no air conditioning) some are very excited for a new year, etc.  I think it would be reassuring to have the President speak to them.” 
Of course, none of this matters to those who wish to shut down the opportunity for the President to communicate a positive lesson.  
Last Friday, after the e-mail brought the matter to my attention, I wrote to the heads of all of the major public education organizations in Minnesota, saying this:  “What I see is a flagrant adult example of bullying behavior, and you can rest assured that if the organizers of this nationwide protest feel they were successful in this campaign, you can anticipate much more aggressive moves on other fronts as time goes on.  This is not a constituency that will be satisfied with half-a-loaf.  Any sign of weakness you and your members show will be exploited and the problem will get much worse.
It is very ironic to me that this same President Obama, who some people apparently fear will influence their kids, is the same President who not-so-liberal Bill O’Reilly of Fox News wrote about in a cover story in the August 9, 2009, Parade Magazine, included in the St. Paul Pioneer press.  The article, very positive, is entitled “What Children can learn from President Obama”.  Read it.  It’s all very positive…about President Obama.  But now some folks don’t want their children to hear [that same President] speak, and are willing to sabotage the opportunities of other children to hear this message.”
What we are seeing goes far beyond mere hypocrisy.  
This story won’t end with today.
Now to watch the President’s talk to America’s students….
UPDATE: 11:23 A.M.
The ones who needed to watch this speech – the ones who campaigned against its being shown – probably will refuse to tune it in.  I hope they change their mind.

#77 – Dick Bernard: The political execution of Van Jones (and a possibility or two)

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Van Jones is now history, at least insofar as an office in the White House is concerned.
I heard Van Jones speak in person twice.  The last time, in March, 2009, was apparently his last public speech before joining the Obama administration.  I bought his book, “The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems” (HarperOne 2008).  It comes with an all-star list of endorsers.  It’s well worth reading.  He is a phenomenal person.
Of course, Mr. Jones has now been publicly executed, resigning from his post within the Obama administration for what appears to have been two ‘sins’: signing a petition, and using colorful language about Republicans.  I’m quite certain I signed the same petition some time (questioning the truth of 9-11*); and as for colorful language, my guess is that Jones ‘executioners’ were at least equally colorful in their description of him in their private meetings.  But that is now simply history.  Jones would be a distraction if he remained on the White House staff.  Life goes on.
Jones ‘demise’ is just the latest example of a contemporary political reality: anyone aspiring politically is fair game for anything, whether true or not.  There is no such thing as a truly personal life for a political figure.  We are all quite literally surrounded by our past, remembered or not.  This is a matter of consequence for our version of democracy.  We need gifted people in government; many gifted people say “no thanks” to public life, and not only because they can make more money elsewhere.  The ‘costs’ of the job are simply too high.
Van Jones is a gifted speaker and visionary.  That was obvious the first time we heard him in June, 2008, at the National Media Reform Conference, and the second in March, 2009. At the conclusion of the 2009 speech (at the University of Minnesota) we were told that he would likely not be doing more public speaking. There was another assignment in the offing, we were told.  It was not hard to put two and two together.  Not long after we saw him, he appeared on the White House roster.
Now, presumably, Van Jones can again speak as an individual.
But I really hope that persons interested in nurturing and development of a “Green Economy” don’t sit back and expect Van Jones to do the heavy lifting.  There is a real danger that could happen; perhaps it already had.  After all, one can reason, he’s in the White House, we don’t have to do anything more.  Not true.  In fact, the opposite is true.  With the opportunity comes the work.    
What better a development than have a million or more advocates for the change that Van Jones sought doubling their personal efforts to make his dream not only stay alive, but grow more quickly?
Personally, I don’t need to hear him speak again, and I doubt many others do either.
What is needed are “boots on the ground” doing what needs to be done; putting in place the multitude of ideas he so well articulated for the future of this nation.
Perhaps the Republicans have done the movement a favor – if we make it so.
* – This reminded me of a 9-11 project I need to do: check the July 23 posting at this blog for details.  You may wish to participate as well.

#76 – Dick Bernard: "Taking Woodstock" (and "zipping to Zap")

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UPDATE ON THE ZIP TO ZAP:  Subsequent to the September 6 update I received two most interesting items:  my brother, who had been involved in the event sent a research piece that was most interesting #mce_temp_url#   .  Then I ordered the 1991 documentary on the event, an equally fascinating summary of what happened during those interesting few days in rural North Dakota in 1969, a few months before Woodstock.  I’d recommend the 53 minute video to anyone with an interest in the topic.   It can be ordered through #mce_temp_url#
UPDATE September 6: see comment re Zip to Zap, as well as link references at end of this post.
Original Post:
Yesterday we went down the street to see the just released “Taking Woodstock”, a film I thought would give me a retro look at Woodstock 1969.  Maybe it would be a temporary release from the bizarre country we seem to be living in today:  A country where some people are terrified that the President of the country might have some unsupervised time with unsuspecting school children when school begins this week (more on that on Tuesday morning.)  A country where health care for all is somehow un-American.  One wonders where we’re headed, and my concern is not our President; my concern is the collective us.
“Taking Woodstock”  turned out to be a very good choice of movie.  It had a comedy aspect to it, and was not a documentary, but in the over two hours in the theatre it gave a pretty decent picture of how Woodstock impacted on small town New York state and the participants in the drama.  I wouldn’t call it an exciting movie – for a while I wondered where it was going – but it was interesting, and gave lots of food for thought.
In the end, it seems, Woodstock 1969 was an unintended very major event that was simply allowed to happen.  One wonders how such an event would play out today, with “cowboys” wandering the streets, armed and dangerous; moralists tut-tutting about immoral behavior, and all the rest.
The 1969 bottom line, or so it seems: in an atmosphere that could well have been chaotic and violent, Woodstock participants did their thing, peacefully, and the area recovered.  Even in the midst of a disastrous Vietnam War, there was a sense of sanity and civility that we seem to have lost today.
(There’s plenty of information available about Woodstock: a good source seems to be http://www.woodstock.com/1969-festival; for more about the film, http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_Woodstock )
For the record, I totally missed out on Woodstock in 1969.  I don’t remember a thing about it “back in the day”.  I remember hearing about the famous “Zip to Zap” in the spring of 1969 (my kid brother almost scored with Life magazine with photos he took there, in western ND); and about the moon-landing in the summer, but nothing about Woodstock.  Had I known about Woodstock, I would not have been interested. Wasn’t my thing.  Plus I was going to graduate school, building a new house, getting ready for a child who arrived August 25, 1969, etc.  On my priority list, Woodstock wasn’t….
Still, Woodstock has been an object of fascination for me over the years.  
I could grant that lots of the folks who hung out at Woodstock in the summer of 1969 – perhaps even most of them – engaged in one or another kind of dangerous or even self-destructive behavior.  But best as I know, their only potential victims were themselves.  They were surrounded by a genuine ad hoc community of sorts that cared whether the neighbors lived or died.  The atmosphere was live and let live.
Today the moralists would be out there with their National Guard troops and their blazing news releases raging moralism and hell-fire and damnation, and doing their best to quiet other voices.
The Woodstock.com site (URL above) gives a pretty decent summation of what seems to have been Woodstock 1969: “…a community of a half million people who managed to peacefully co-exist over three days of consistent rain, food shortages, and a lack of creature comforts. “Woodstock is a reminder that inside each of us is the instinct for building a decent, loving community, the kind we all wish for,” according to Joel Rosenman. “Over the decades, the history of that weekend has served as a beacon of hope that a beautiful spirit in each of us ultimately will triumph.”
If you can, see the film….
Note:  The person posting the comment on “Zip to Zap” has an interesting website #mce_temp_url#, which includes an astonishingly beautiful piece of music by San Franciscan Matt Venuti.  Do visit and share.

#72 – Dick Bernard: Lindsay's 23rd birthday, and some other 23rds

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Today is my oldest grandchild’s 23rd birthday.  This birthday causes me to think back…and ahead. 
August 22, 1986, when Lindsay was born, means of communication differed from today.  There was no public access internet; public e-mail was several years in the future; cellular phones were just beginning to be talked about.  When I called to congratulate Lindsay’s Mom and Dad on August 22, 1986, I used a pay telephone in downtown St. Paul MN.  Pay phones?????  They are few and far between in this day of cell phones.

Calling Congratulation August 22, 1986

Calling Congratulation August 22, 1986


The number “23” doesn’t stop at 1986.
23 years earlier, in August of 1963, I was newly married, a soldier in the U.S. Army playing war with the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized).  We were on maneuvers in the state of South Carolina.  I would guess that few of us in that Division realized that we were helping prepare for the Vietnam War, which was then still cool (in more ways than one), but which would soon erupt into a twelve year conflagration in southeast Asia.  We lost that war; today efforts are being made to ‘rehabilitate’ that history, and make it seem as if we won.
While we were slogging through rural South Carolina, learning first-hand about what segregation really was, elsewhere preparations were being concluded for a massive civil rights demonstration on August 28, 1963.  It was on that date that a young Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech before a massive audience on the National Mall in Washington D.C. It was truly a watershed moment.  You can revisit that major event at http://tinyurl.com/5f46w9. 
1963 was an important year for the American Civil Rights Movement .  It was the year of Martin Luther King writing his famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”, and many other events.  He wrote about 1963 in his 1964 book, “Why We Can’t Wait”.  I wonder what Dr. King would be thinking and saying today.
Go 23 years further back, to 1940, and I made my appearance in the world, in the time right after the Great Depression, and right before the U.S. entered World War II.  People of my generation are called the “Silent Generation” – we were too young to impact on WWII, too young to have lived through the Great Depression.  But we were deeply impacted by those events through our parents, relatives and surroundings.  Those really hard times became part of our very beings.
I wonder, this day, what things will look like for Lindsay and her generation, and their children, 23 years from now. 
The odds are almost certain that I won’t be around to see 2032.  Without the very active engagement of Lindsay’s generation, the times ahead promise to be unsettling and uncertain.  I’d like to feel hopeful.  But we’ve made a big mess of things, generally, especially the future, and those following us have got to turn things around for themselves.
Whatever I can do to help Lindsay and her cohort, I will do.  But we need to work together.
Happy birthday to you, Lindsay.
Happy future to you and all now and tomorrow.
A car with a message: LaMoure ND August 18 2009

A car with a message: LaMoure ND August 18 2009

#71 – Dick Bernard: Dixie Chicks, on the road…with fascism?

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Enroute to and from North Dakota last week, I listened, twice, to one of my favorite CDs, the Dixie Chicks 2006 release, “Taking the Long Way”.   I’ll listen to it again on Monday as I take the same trip back to my home state.
The CD is an inspirational one for me.
I knew of the Dixie Chicks before 2006, but barely.  I knew they were very big in country music circles. 
In mid-March, 2003, in London, “the top of the world came crashing down” on their career (quote from the title cut of the CD).
The George W. Bush administration was preparing to officially go to war against Iraq, and ten days before the bombs began to officially fall, lead singer Natalie Maines, a Texan, said “We don’t want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
The Chicks “paid a price” for that simple expression of free speech alright (the quote is from another cut of Taking the Long Way.)
Almost instantly, the group went from hero to goat amongst many of its “fans”.  It was labelled unpatriotic.  My recollection of the time was that tour dates were cancelled, threats were made against their lives (“shut up and sing or your life will be over“), radio stations black-listed their recordings, “fans” burned their CDs in public….  It was an awesome display of suppression of free speech, by people who supposedly are the proponents of freedom and free speech and liberty.
“Taking the Long Way” is the Dixie Chicks response to what happened to them in 2003, simply because one of them expressed an opinion.  They were subjected to a collective act of bullying and it worked.
I have no problem with demonstrations.  I’ve been in plenty of them myself.  They’re a hallmark of democracy.  But somewhere a line must be drawn.  Are we to wink at the guy in New Hampshire who shows up at a demonstration against President Obama, wearing a fully visible loaded gun?  Are we to sit idly by while local protestors stay on message by trying to drown out others who might have a different point of view, or try to intimidate people into not participating in town hall forums.  Or are we to cheer on media that glorify small groups of protestors by giving them publicity they really don’t deserve?  “Fascism” (a word that is being tossed around by the radical right these days)?  We’re not there…yet…but we’ve gotten far too close for comfort. 
Surely the people who, in 2003,  did in the Dixie Chicks,- at least temporarily, as well as the current bunch of organized disrupters, will declare their right to do exactly what they are doing, and did.  But do they represent anything different than the hooligans who made fascism work in Italy, and the brownshirts who were boots on the ground stormtroopers in Nazi Germany, scaring local citizens into submission? 
In the end, things turned out mostly okay for the Dixie Chicks.  That CD I’ll play in the car today, “Taking the Long Way”, won five Grammy awards in 2007.  Nonetheless, the Chicks paid a very big price – and likely are still paying a price – for expressing a political opinion.
And the Iraq War, six years after March, 2003, still drones on….
Here’s more about the Dixie Chicks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Chicks; and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_the_Long_Way.
As we need to take on playground bully’s, we need to take on public bully’s as well, including those nefarious groups that help organize and in other ways encourage them.
If you don’t have “Taking the Long Way” consider purchasing it.  Its 14 cuts tell a powerful story.  It’s last cut, “I Hope”, says it all for me.

#70 – Dick Bernard: Health Care and Government in LaMoure

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Other posts on this topic: July 24,26,27,29,30,31,August 1,2,5,6,7,10
See Update at end of post.
Friday I was in LaMoure (county seat of LaMoure County, ND, pop. 900). 
As is usual on my visits there, I was an early customer for coffee at the gas station on the east edge of town.  I got my coffee, picked up the daily Fargo Forum and the weekly LaMoure Chronicle.  The Forum front page was dominated by a large photo and headline “Conservatives rally in Fargo for ‘Tea Party’.  Speaker Hennen says ‘freedom is under attack’.”  (That phrase,’freedom is under attack’, would be amusing, were it not so tragically wrong.) 
As I paid for my small purchases, I noticed on the counter a newsletter, “Recovery Times”, put out by FEMA, the natural disaster section of the Department of Homeland Security.  A few months earlier LaMoure had indeed been ‘under attack’ by a near catastrophic spring flood, and at that time,  ‘government’ in the form of outside assistance was very, very welcome in LaMoure, North Dakota.  Indeed, Fargo, where the Tea Partiers were conclaving, had also had great need for FEMA in its own disaster a few months earlier. 
When in LaMoure, I always pick up the LaMoure Chronicle because I’m  a fan of publisher Gerald Harris’ Comments column.  He always seems to call it like he sees it, whatever the topic, and I enjoy his passion even though, I would guess, we are not ideological twins.  He seems to have no problem with disagreement, and has printed my letters in response to something or other he’s written.  If I’m correct, I like it that he’s willing to consider and even publicize other ideas.  Maybe, even, he can accept other points of view, and maybe even change his mind…not at all a bad trait.
Harris’ August 12 ‘Comments’ column was on Health Care.  I’ve retyped it in its entirety at the end of this column.  It speaks for itself. 
No question, the Health Care debate has taken on the cast of ‘government’ versus the people…and I always find that odd.  The people are, after all, the government.  Whatever the final results of the Health Care debate, the private sector will continue to reap the benefits.  Even if we went socialist (not a swear word to me), the government would be the health care industries biggest customer.
(Come to think of it, in the area of military expenditures, we are already ‘socialist’ – without huge government expenditures for ‘defense’, the massive defense industry would be treading water.  There’s apparently good socialism and there’s bad socialism, and it’s all around us.  Indeed, little LaMoure has a small operating military facility just outside of town.  It’s a piece of pork that goes way back to the time when a local boy was United States Senator from North Dakota.  There’s an old rocket on display right beside the motel I stay in when I visit….)
So, the Health Care debate rages on, as well it should, given the immense size and complexity of the entire Health care complex.  It is not an easy debate.  A couple of days before LaMoure, I was sitting with a group of 14 “birds of a feather” (Mr. Harris would likely observe we all were like thinkers), but what was striking when we talked about Health Care was that there were, even among ourselves, many points of view about what needed fixing, and how it should be fixed. 
What seems clear is that a fix is desperately needed, and continuing to deny reality is like putting off the operation for a cancer until next year, when we know more about the specific disease.  By then it’s too late for the patient.
What’s needed in this debate is not only ideas, but an ability on all sides to really listen, rather than getting stuck in some ideological cement. 
I appreciate Gerald Harris’ point of view.  I hope he appreciates mine, too.
COMMENTS by Gerald Harris, Aug 12, 2009, LaMoure Chronicle
The health care business is becoming a contentious issue in this country today.  There are those that think health care is a right and there are those that think if you can’t pay for it you have no right to it.  I happen to be one that thinks that children and those incapacitated should be taken care of no matter what parents and others can afford to do.  What I don’t think is a solution is for the federal government or state government stepping in to turn our private health care industry into a government controlled industry.  The thing that will do is take away the incentive to improve health care because there will be no reason to do so.  The reason people keep looking for ways to improve things, whether in the health care field or any other field, is they have a monetary or other incentive that drives them.  There has to be something that a person gains from improving things or they won’t do it.  For the most part people don’t look for better ways to do things just for the fun of it.
This is a nation that spends upwards of $3 trillion a year on medical care and that may indicate that we are a nation of hypochondriacs.  It may also mean that we are becoming an aging population has has never taken good care of itself physically.  There are many reasons for poor health and some can be prevented and some can’t and it is up to us to prevent as much of it through diet, exercise and sleep as we possibly can.  This in itself would lower our health care expenditures.
The problem that we face now is that all of our energy to solve the health care problem is focused on health insurance.  The federal government’s efforts are aimed at getting everyone insured through some sort of health insurance policy whether they can pay for it or not.  As I see it this is entirely the wrong approach.  If government wants to get involved at all, and they sure seem to, they should look at making health care available to all citizens young and old through a two or three tier system.  The Number one effort should be protecting those who can’t protect themselves and that is, for the most part, the young and the mentally and or physically infirm.  The country should see to it that all children age 0-18 have free health care.  The second thing is to leave the private health care industry, including the insurance industry, alone to provide health care as they see fit.  The third thing would be to provide a public health care system by expanding on the Veterans Administration health care system to include all those that can’t or won’t afford the private system paid by insurance or by the individual without using insurance.
Ths would provide competing health care systems that the federal government seems to want and it would provide health care to all.  The details of this could easily be worked out and it would be interesting to see what the general populace would do.
By providing for children we have solved the problem of seeing to it that most of those that have no choices have a chance at growing up healthy.
What the government is proposing will eventually cost a lot more money than it does now and probably be no more effective than what we have now.
**
“As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.”  Adelle Davis, 1904-1974.
Moderator Comment:  I certainly don’t carte blanche agree, or disagree, with Mr. Harris.  But the suggestion that the government is the problem brings back the comment about FEMA in LaMoure.  When there was a threatened flood, FEMA was there, even though it may well have been smarter for the town of LaMoure, and particularly the farms in the James River Valley, to be built on higher ground.   Government Health care (i.e. Veterans Administration) IS efficient…probably too efficient…it cuts into profits….
Letter to the editor published in August 19, 2009, LaMoure Chronicle:
I’m in and out of LaMoure from time to time, and when in town I always look for and appreciate Gerald Harris’ Comments in the Chronicle.  They make me think, even though I don’t always agree with them.
The August 12 column on Health Care is no exception.
I have a lot of experience with Health Care over many years; luckily I’ve been pretty health, personally.  Were it as simple as Mr. Harris and others assert.  As currently organized, medicine is extremely complicated and inefficient.
“Government” which seems to be, often, a hate-word, is all of us…not some sinister “them”.  Anyone on Medicare or who has ever been in a VA Hospital or in any way has been visited by catastrophe (your flood a few months ago) knows and appreciates the good side of “government” in Health Care.
The massive middle class – most of us, from lower to higher income – is the group that desperately needs reform of Health Care, and protection from the whims of private enterprise and economic downs.  Ironically, it is that same middle class that is mobilized to defeat the very reform that is needed.
So, you have insurance?  You can lose that job which has the insurance, or the rates or the coverage can change, or you move somewhere else.  What stability is there for the common citizen in our current system?  Precious little, I would submit.
I type this letter on an old computer that needs replacing due to innumerable upgrades, etc., over the years.  It was top of the line when I bought it, but no more.  In many ways, American Health Care policy is like this old computer.  It has patches on top of patches.  It needs, badly, “reform” (replacement).
The bottom line mitigating against reform is, I feel, the preoccupation with profits.  That is the main reason for the blizzard of misinformation about keeping what should be public, private.  There’s lots of money to be made from keeping the current system, and the prime beneficiaries are people living a life style that we cannot imagine.
Thanks, Gerald.  I have my own blog, and have written quite a lot about this topic in the last month. www.thoughtstowardsabetterworld.org is the address.  Start with August 15, where I write about the visit to LaMoure last week.
Dick Bernard

#69 – Dick Bernard: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Heather, and "…the land of the free, and the home of the" Rave!

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Note comments following this posting.
Yesterday afternoon, August 11, enroute home from a meeting, I listened to a portion of a public radio talk show about the death of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, she of the Kennedy family, and founder of the International Special Olympics.   http://www.eunicekennedyshriver.org/
An hour after I got home, we headed out to suburban Lakeville to see the final festivities of the season for my daughter and the Rave softball team.  Heather is, as described on the Shriver tribute, “intellectually disabled”, and the Rave is part of a league of similarly situated adults in suburban Minneapolis.  The three hours in Lakeville was a delightful end to a long and tiring day.  The Rave lost, but they won fourth place in the final game.  Heather had one at bat and struck out (unusual for her), but it was exciting, nonetheless, to watch these special adults and their extra-special coaches have fun together.  (Three photos from the game at end of this post.)
The juxtaposition, on the same day, of Eunice Shriver’s death and Heather’s final game of the season, with all the trappings: the Star Spangled Banner, a fried chicken dinner, and genuine 4th place ribbons for everyone on the team, presented personally to each of the players, on the field! , made for a nostalgia filled day for me. 
Eighteen years ago, in July, 1991, the International Special Olympics came to Minneapolis-St. Paul, and I made the very lucky decision to take a few days of my vacation and volunteer with whatever for a state delegation.  (There were delegations from around the world at this event.) 
It was a hugely inspiring few days, going here and there with the team, running errands, generally just getting next to the participants and the coaches as they were involved in their activities.
There were many high points in those few days, but nothing higher than the closing ceremony at the Minneapolis Metrodome.  I was among the sea of folks, partcipants, coaches and volunteers, who waited for what seemed like hours for the opportunity to walk into the Metrodome to what was a tumultuous welcome.  Even as I write, 18 years later, I get teary-eyed remembering that extraordinary evening to honor not only the competitors, but the entire “intellectually disabled” community worldwide.   The below photo I took that 1991 evening catches the mood for me.  I am sure, that night, that Mrs. Shriver personally and powerfully declared her signature phrase, “you have earned it“, to each and everyone surrounding me on the field, and to those in the stands and in the greater world as well.  It was awesome. 

Closing Ceremony, International Special Olympics, Minneapolis Metrodome, July, 1991.

Closing Ceremony, International Special Olympics, Minneapolis Metrodome, July, 1991.


It used to be that persons like Heather would be relegated to places like the “School for the Feeble Minded” we used to see when we visited our grandparents in North Dakota years ago.  Until yesterday, I had not heard the term “intellectually disabled” attached to this very special group of citizens. 
It has not been an easy transition from the good old days to today, but legions of people in very small and very large ways have, indeed, effected change in how special persons like Heather are treated by society.  They – the special people and their helpers – are all around us.  In Heather’s case, special recognition goes to her sisters Joni and Lauri, and her Mom, Diane.  “Thank you” does not suffice, but its the best I can do.
At the “Field of Dreams”, Aronson Park in Lakeville MN, I felt the same thrill, last night, that I felt at the Metrodome eighteen years ago.
I am grateful to Eunice Kennedy Shriver, but most especially grateful to the very special people, parents, coaches, staff, who make life a whole lot better for people like Heather, and bring lots of personal satisfaction to people like me.
Thanks, especially, Coach Pricco!
Heather being introduced to the spectators at the game

Heather being introduced to the spectators at the game


The Rave August 11, 2009

The Rave August 11, 2009


Emily on first, Dad first base coach

Emily on first, Dad first base coach


Comment on a phrase used in this post from a reader:
Just a personal pet peeve:
Not to discount the wonderful work of Shriver, but I really dislike the term “intellectually disabled.”  In fact, I very much detest the word “disabled” as applied to people.  It defines us by what we can’t do.  It’s negative.  I’d much prefer the term “differently abled” as cumbersome as it is.
We are all in a sense “disabled” in some ways, whether by age or ability or aptitude.  Setting people apart by what they cannot do does not bring all the various wonderful people, like Heather, into the mainstream to be appreciated for who they are and for what they can do and what they can be in our lives.
Words are powerful and convey messages, intended or not.
On a more positive note, it’s wonderful that Heather can have such a wonderful time with others who can watch and appreciate them.  Certainly not like “the old days.”  Carol Ashley
Brief Response:  I simply repeated the words I heard several times on the MPR program.  It was an interesting exercise to search the internet for the words “intellectually disabled”, and see the points of view there.  I agree, words are very important.  There are differing interpretations of their significance, I suppose.  Dick Bernard

#68: Dick Bernard: Putting the "n" back in "commuity"

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Other posts on this topic: Jul 24,26,27,29,30,31,August 1,2,5,6,7,15.
There is no such word as “commuity”, but that is what effectively happens when you remove the “n”, as in “negotiate”, or “neighborly” or “nice”.  Put the “n” back in, and you have, again, “community”.
We all have a pretty clear sense of “community”, and how a good “community” works.  Most of us live in such environments.  People may not know each other well, but when chips are down, they chip in and help each other.  Reluctant as they sometimes might be, ordinarily there is some kind of negotiations to make changes for the greater good of everyone. 
There are efforts to define “community” in very narrow ways.  Community, really, is all of us, together.  We are not isolated homes, villages or farms, and if honest about our history, we’ve never been able to exist on our own.  This is especially true today.    
This thought comes to mind as a well orchestrated and small, (and very well publicized) group of very ordinary appearing “thugs” are out and about attempting to make it seem like the current debate over health care reform will result in riots and chaos if such reform is passed. 
It is tempting to think that the situation is nearly out of control.  This is what we are led to believe, especially by media accounts.
But, I would ask, stop for a moment, and take a look around in all of the “circles” that you personally identify with: the people on your block and the few surrounding blocks; the neighbors down the road; the people who go to your church, or who you work with, or see frequently, whether they are friends are not.  Just ordinary people, like you.
What percent of these folks are likely to become a fascist militia to run riot if some law is passed which will improve they and their families lives? But that is exactly what this mis-named “debate” is about: inculcating Fear and Loathing.
I have done this little circle of communities exercise with myself.  I have a lot of circles I’m  one way or another part of.  Most of these circles are not full of people who think exactly like I do.
I would submit that the “thugs in waiting” in these circles are very few and far between – I guess less than 5% and that’s guessing very high. 
If we don’t capitulate (by inaction), and keep letting lawmakers know that we support the need for change, the likelihood is that the sense of crisis will dissipate…mostly because we are not talking, here, about radical changes (except, perhaps, as seen by some of the key ring-leaders against change who want chaos, but prefer to stay hidden in the shadows, and send out their own volunteer militias to attempt to make trouble.) 
I grew up with many sayings.  One which comes to mind, now, is that “quitters never win, winners never quit”. 
Well over 70% of the U.S. population wants change in Health policy.
Are we going to let some folks well inoculated with Fear derail progress in this area?
Seriously, look at your own “community circle census”.  It’ll restore hope.
Then get back to work.  Dealing with change is not a spectator sport.

#65 – Dick Bernard: The latest Poll…and the "protests".

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Other posts on this topic: July 24,26,27.29,30,31,August 1,2,6,7,10,15
The latest Poll.
Towards the end of last week news reports were that the public was becoming disenchanted with President Obama’s performance on the Health Care Reform issue. 
His poll numbers had dropped to the point that as many people disapproved of his performance, as approved: 46% to 46%.  He had gone from superhuman to merely mortal.  Basically, that was where the visible coverage (the coverage people notice because that’s what the media intend) ended. 
I decided to look up the specific poll.  It seems to have been a TIME Poll for July 27-28.  1002 people participated in the poll, with the results + or – 3%.  In other words it was a statistically valid poll.
You can probably still see the complete results of the poll, if you wish, at the  website pollingreport.com, then go to the surveys on health.
The TIME poll appears to have been one of those mind-numbing polls to answer, with Health Care Reform only one portion of the poll, and the Health Care portion having as many as 21 questions.  Whoever agreed to participate spent a long time on the phone, hopefully at a time they weren’t busy with something else. 
The specific question whose responses led to the headlines was apparently the first one in the Health Care Reform category: “Do you approve or disapprove of the job President Obama is doing in each of these areas…handling health care policy.”   
The questions all appear to have been forced choice, rather than graded response (“on a scale of 1 to 10, etc.).  Judging from my own very limited experience in responding to such phone polls – I can recall one seemingly interminable one some years ago – there is no room for reflection, or changing one’s mind.  It is a test of first impressions given to a sample of about a thousand people nationwide.  Valid?  Sure.  But truly useful information?  Probably not, unless you want to find some way to formulate the questions and then interpret the information to fit your own bias.
Down the road in the 21 poll questions is this one: “Who do you trust more?”  Obama 46%, Republicans 32%, Unsure 14%.  Error + or – 3%.
The “Protests”
“The days of rage” have apparently returned, NOT.
I put the word “protests” in quotes because the assorted expressions of anger at the back-home meetings, all breathlessly reported, are not protests at all…they are scripted, orchestrated and probably rehearsed street theatre. 
Personally, I think these “protests” will backfire on the organizers – most people want to hear rational discussion of the issues – and my guess is that as the month goes on the “protests”, while they will not disappear, will become less visible, including in their local areas.  I doubt that any of the politicians being targeted are befuddled by the protests.  Stay tuned.
“Protests” are not an exclusive province of the Right, of course.  Neither is the long term tactic of “P. R everything – disrupt – confuse – display anger” something new and innovative.  I put those words in quotes because they were part of an organizing strategy used against an organization I was part of in 1974, 35 years ago.  Years later I became a colleague of one of the organizers who had used those and other organizing tactics against us, and he gave me a copy of the notes he had taken at a training session he had attended in another state.
So, the protests we are seeing are really very old (and very tired) tactics.
Were I to be in a position to plan counter-“Protest” strategy, I would organize things to dissipate the energy/effectiveness of the protestors, without making the “protestors” seem like victims.  There are things that can be done.  I’ll feed in some suggestions….

#64 – Dick Bernard: the Health Care Reform Posts: a summation

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This is post #8 of 13.  Other Posts on this topic: July 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, August 1,5,6,7,10,15.
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”  Mark Twain (attributed)
Friday we took our 10-year old grandson to the local county fair.  It was his birthday, and he enjoyed the afternoon. (The Pig Race was the highlight: three heats, ten piglets.  That’s what Fair’s are famous for!  More in a moment on that.)
Walking the grounds, I saw our local state Senator standing by the DFL (Democrat) booth.  We know her, and stopped to say “hello”.  I asked her if there were many questions about health care reform.  She said it was amazing how much misinformation was out there, just from people who had stopped by and asked about this and that.
Her revelation was no new insight for me: just in my own little corner of the internet world, it is incredible – almost scary – to see the wild stuff that flows into my ‘in-box’, including from senders who know me.  (The stuff from people who don’t know me is far wilder.)  The lie machine is stuck on fast forward.  And people are believing the lies.  It seems that people know there is a serious problem, but are much like a person standing on a railroad track, watching a train barreling down on them, but paralyzed into non-action.  Not a good result…for the person.
Even in his hey-day, the late 19th century, Mark Twain was right: lies travel much faster than the fastest pig in that pig race at the Fair, while the truth is back in the barn, still “putting on its shoes”.  That’s why misinformation is so preferred a message, and so effective, at least in the short term.   But unlike the pig race, the lies are no laughing matter…including for the people who believe and often spread them, without knowing the difference.  Lies always have consequences.  The truth outs, but often not till the damage has been done.
When I  began thinking about this series of Health Care Reform posts a few weeks ago, I had no idea about what it would look like.  I did want to summarize how I saw the debate was developing , and I wanted to tell my personal story from 1963-65 – the time when my experience with the American health care system began.  The remaining six simply evolved on their own, ending with this post, the 8th.  (There may be more, but more likely from others.)
I’ve thought about this topic a great deal, largely because of my own history.
I’d like to leave behind a few very brief summary thoughts.
1)  The American Middle Class (the vast majority of us) is the real victim of the lack of deep reform of health care, and knows it.  Paradoxically, it is this same Middle Class which is being relied on to kill the very reform it needs, and the Middle Class comes through.  Sowing Fear, loathing, and manipulation of public opinion, especially by advertising, works wonders. 
2) An effective strategy to manipulate the public is to toss out fragments of the huge issue (i.e. will “illegals” be covered?).  This way the person can be against something, and help kill everything.  It is a good strategy, but offensive.
3)  Excessive profits (greed) is a very big problem. It is small consolation that in the end this greed will probably ruin even the profiteers.  Paradoxically, big business, which says it reveres competition, is not so adoring when the competitor (VA, Medicare, etc.) is more efficient (cheaper), and thus can compete.  Public efficiency doesn’t generate private profit.  Profits are the be all and end all.  In this case, competition is bad, killed or controlled.
4)  We Americans are victims of our own mythology of American superiority and invulnerability.  We still live in a fantasy world.  We should know better. Fantasy worlds have a tendency to collapse without warning. 
5)  Most troubling of all to me is that the now-minority opposition to reform demands negotiations, but then effectively refuses to negotiate or accept compromise.  It’s “my way or the highway” – a sense that the only right way is their way, alternatives be damned.   
At the County Fair which began this column, our grandson also lost a few shekels at a carny stand, the softball toss, and got a few midway rides.  Later at the pig race, all the ten piglets who made the round (one named BoarHog Obama – good laugh) each won the prize of an Oreo cookie – they’re no dummies.  Neither are the carny’s who can count on the rube’s. 
In the Health Care Reform debate, the Truth is, about now, getting up to the starting gate.  Will the common people who defend the status quo, and run the risk of being its  victims take any time to listen?  Will they demand change that is in their best interest?
Learn the issues and their real implications, and carry the truth.