Links – Page 4 – Thoughts Towards a Better World

#857 – Dick Bernard: Final Day of 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College.

March 9, 2014/0 Comments/in Community, History, International Relations, Links, Minnesota, Peace & Justice /by dickbernard

Dates for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum: March 6-8, 2015
Posts for previous days accessible here.
Today’s short and final session of the 2014 Forum was very interesting, beginning with a debate about the success or failure of the 113-year Nobel Peace Prize Forum, and ending with a very stimulating talk by 2011 Nobel Laureate Laymah Gbowee of Liberia.
In between was the final series of breakouts. My choice from among seven options was a well attended session, “Nonviolent Resistance: Still Relevant?” with Dr. Mary Elizabeth King of the University for Peace. Dr. King’s website is here. Her activism began in the Civil Rights days of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
As with previous days, today’s debate about the relevance of the Peace Prize as well as Ms Gbowee’s Laureate address are accessible on line. You can view them here.

Laymah Gbowee, March 9, 2014

Ms Gbowee’s talk, and her answers in the following question and answer session, were particularly powerful and revealing, much different than I recall the focus of presentation of F.W. deKlerk on the same stage two years ago. The difference, perhaps, is more due to the fact that deKlerk, when he won his award with Nelson Mandela, was a career political actor in South Africa, representing, in effect, the ideology of the international political establishment in the years of Apartheid; while Ms Gbowee rose from common citizen to grassroots activist to one who helped change her nation, Liberia.
Both spoke powerfully from their personal framework of reference remembering their time in history.
And, of course, gender difference and traditional role differentiation between men and women plays a major part in the different ways of speaking, and differing priorities in prepared remarks.
Ms Gbowee had some powerful insights. I highly recommend watching and listening to her presentation.
She chose as her theme “how to reclaim our boundaries for peace”, a variation on the Conference theme: “Crossing Boundaries to Create Common Ground”.
The debate between Geir Lundestad, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, and Jay Nordlinger, Senior Editor of the National Review, was more predictable. Likely the choice of who you felt won or lost the debate depended on your bias going in.

from left, Jay Nordlinger, Stephen Young, moderator, and Geir Lundestad, March 9, 2014

I happen to think that the Nobel Peace Prize has had a remarkably effective history, given how people organizations work and the fact of its 113 year history.
The Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize is easily the most well known of many variations on the Peace Prize, and, indeed, more well known than the companion prizes awarded by the Swedish Nobel Institute.
Prior to the event I printed out and read a March, 2001, essay by Dr. Lundestad about the first 100 years of the Nobel Peace Prize. It prints out at 25 pages, and can be accessed here.
Jay Nordlingers book about the Nobel Peace Prize can be ordered here.
Of course, Dr. Lundestad’s summary stops at the year 2000.
The Peace Prize recipients since 2000 are as follows:
2001 – United Nations and Kofi Annan
2002 – President Jimmy Carter
2003 – Shirin Ebadi
2004 – Wangari Muta Maathai
2005 – International Atomic Energy Agency and Mohamed elBaradei
2006 – Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank
2007 – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore
2008 – Martti Ahtisari
2009 – President Barack Obama
2010 – Liu Xiaobo
2011 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Laymah Gbowee, Tawakkol Karman
2012 – European Union
2013 – Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Minnesota Boychoir March 9, 2014

SOME RANDOM PERSONAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
It is an honor for the Nobel Peace Prize to be criticized. This means they are doing something worthy of notice.
My own life work was public education, and since at least 1950 the National Education Association (NEA) has annually recognized a National Teacher of the Year, chosen from among nominees from state affiliates across the country, who in turn are nominated by millions of their peers at the school building levels.
Teacher of the Year is a grassroots up award.
The Teacher of the Year program has never purported to select the “best” teacher in the U.S.; rather, to honor a teacher who especially well represents the ideals to which all teachers aspire. “Teacher of the Year” is criticized too. But it has been and remains a wonderful program.
So, too, is this the case in the annual selection of the Nobel Peace Prize winner: someone/some agency spotlighted for his/her/their efforts for Peace, consistent with what likely was Alfred Nobels wish as imperfectly expressed in his Will.
To me, personally, it seems that “peace” and “war” are antonyms, not synonyms.
I am not aware of any “War Prize” (except for the t-shirt I occasionally see which declares the U.S. as “World Champion” for “winning” World War I and World War II.
In its imperfect way, the Nobel Committee, in its many incarnations over 113 years, has attempted to select a candidate or candidates who fit the written criteria established by Alfred Nobel himself, in his Will in the 1890s.
We are now a world of near 7 billion population, with near endless variations of increasingly sophisticated ways to destroy ourselves.
A Peace Prize is ever more important, every year, not just once in awhile. Seemingly increased emphasis on grassroots nominees like Ms Gbowee is as wonderful as it is essential.
When Alfred Nobel died (10 Dec 1896), the population of the world was less than one-fourth of what it is today, and humans were infinitely less sophisticated in their ways of destroying each other.
The carnage of war has increasingly been innocent citizens rather than formal military, and we see examples of this in each and every conflict.
In a profound way, someone like Laymah Gbowee exemplifies in effect the “World Citizen of the Year”, doing something noteworthy to make the world a better place, one community, one person, at a time. In many ways she symbolizes a “changing of the guard”, ethnic, nationality, position in society, which threatens the age-old status quo of white male domination. Of course, this increases push-back from those who ran things, but doesn’t change the result.
I have long treasured two timeless quotations which summarize my own feelings on this matter, and which have long began and ended my own website (currently being updated) to two citizens I admire, Lynn Elling and Joe Schwartzberg:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”
Gandhi
Neither Gandhi nor Margaret Mead ever won the Nobel Peace Prize but they, like every one of us, was fully capable of making a difference….

#810 – Dick Bernard and Paul Miller: Remembering a Memorable Trip to Haiti, December, 2003

December 6, 2013/0 Comments/in Haiti, History, International Relations, Links, Peace & Justice /by dickbernard

(click photos to enlarge)

Map to approximate scale by Dick Bernard; map rendering by Paul Miller.

Backpack, Haiti Dec 2003. 18 Mai is Haiti’s Flag Day, a day of national pride.

Ten years ago, early morning on this date, December 6, 2003 – a Saturday – I waited to board our flight from Minneapolis to Miami and thence on to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. There were six in our party, led by Paul Miller of Woodbury: Jeanne Morales, Andy Fisher, Jeff and Rita Nohner, and myself. Except for Paul, none of us had ever been to Haiti, a mysterious place to me.
Eight days later we returned: a life experience which forever changed me, for the better.
Late 2003 was a time of national pride but also great political turmoil in Haiti. Within three months, February 29, 2004, the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been overthrown by a U.S. backed and (very likely) orchestrated coup d’etat. We travelers apparently associated with the wrong friends (all very decent people, supporters of the Aristide administration, all doing very good things for ordinary people in Haiti.) I recall no personal times of tension, though we traveled freely to many places in Port-au-Prince. But by my count, one person we met was murdered outside the Presidential Palace two days after we met him; two persons we met ended up arrested before the coup (one of these “killed” by character assassination); at least two others went into exile at the time of the overthrow; another was killed by poisoning about a year later.
There was plenty of violence around and about in the land. In the manner of political narratives in media-rich countries like our own, the violence was falsely attached to President Aristide loyalists. “On the ground” in Haiti, it seemed to be the other way around: a legitimate government itself was under attack.
I wrote about our journey a few weeks after I returned. The writing remains on the internet here. Subsequently, I wrote about the coup d’etat, and about other things relating to Haiti, including a powerful 2006 visit to the interior of the country. Those links can be found at an outdated but nonetheless pertinent site here.
In 2008 came the summer of four hurricanes hitting Haiti broadside; and, of course, the horrific January 12, 2010, earthquake. Times have not been easy for Haiti.

Haiti’s future at Sopudep School ten years ago, Dec. 2003

Rea Dol (at right) talks about Sopudep School

Paul Miller, our group organizer and leader, to whom I will always be grateful for the opportunity to visit Haiti then, and later, offered his recollections on December 4, 2013: “As anniversaries go, this one is daunting. Ten years ago I led a group of conscientious US citizens to Haiti to see first hand the conditions that existed there. It was my 7th trip to Haiti. It was my most significant trip because we met with people directly engaged in Haiti’s struggle to have a voice in its political affairs amid very real threats to their lives. Having the right to determine your own political leadership is not a lot to ask for but it wasn’t to be. Three months after our visit, Haiti’s fledgling democracy had been usurped, again, by the country that claims to be the leading defender of freedom worldwide. It was shocking to be told on the morning of February 29, 2004 by my friend Dick Bernard, that President Aristide had left Haiti. As events go, this one is right up there for me. I remember where and when I was told, just like I remember where I was when JFK was shot in 1963 and where I was when the earthquake struck Haiti in 2010.
It’s impossible to believe in the good intentions of your government when you understand what they have done, in our names, to the least of us, our brothers and sisters in Haiti. The coup that reportedly caused thousands of deaths didn’t feature the nifty slogan that came with the USAID tents after the 2010 earthquake that stated that it was a gift from the American people. This “gift” from the American people didn’t get advertised, you had to choose to see the truth. It’s a choice most of us don’t like to make because we want to think of ourselves as a voice for the voiceless. It’s a noble illusion that most of us hold on to despite the mountains of evidence that suggests otherwise. As our friend, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, said about our government during his impassioned homily during our visit to mass in 2003, “they help the killers, they don’t help the healers”.”
As time went on, a slogan “start seeing Haiti” took on real meaning for me, and doubtless for the others as well.
Today I maintain a listserv for passing along occasional items about Haiti.
Paul Miller, who now lives in Northfield MN, remains, with his daughter Natalie, very active in Haiti Justice activities. His website is here.

Hillside homes above Petionville. This area was among those devastated in the 2010 earthquake. Particularly note homes of the elite, on the top of the ridge.

POSTNOTE: thoughts in a letter written by myself some hours after the above was posted.
“There are endless memories. It was a gentle experience. The people we met were marvelous, including the poor. But it was a time of intense political turmoil. Th U.S., with support of Canada and France, was determined to get rid of the democratically elected President Aristide and ultimately they succeeded three months later. In a sense, I lived behind the sound bites that passed for “information” in the States. It was not a routine trip – perhaps a little bit like wanderng around in Benghazi, or Damascus, or Cairo today – except the enemy was our own government, determined that Aristide had to go, and bankrolling his opposition who in turn paid people to organize demonstrations or kill people, etc.
But, honestly, never did I feel the slightest personal tension.
I do remember the last afternoon and evening in Port-au-Prince.
I was resting and fell asleep at our residence, awakening with a start to a lot of yelling nearby which sounded ominous.
Turned out that next door to our residence was a soccer field, and the players were arguing about a disputed call. That was it, an argument on a soccer field.
So, life went on. The last day we had to dodge an occasional burning tire in the street. The last night we stayed in the Hotel Oloffson made famous by novelist Graham Greene in The Comedians and spent a couple of hours listening to a well known Haitian band, RAM. The next morning we went to the airport and headed home. In Miami, the Miami Herald headlined the instability in the Haiti we had just left.
I could go on and on. We had experienced the Ugly American policy first hand, and the story would continue….”

#739 – Dick Bernard: Celebrating N. American Country Relationships at the Canadian Consul-Generals Home, June 26, 2013

June 27, 2013/0 Comments/in Economics, History, International Relations, Labor, Links, Minnesota, Peace & Justice /by dickbernard

Ours is an extraordinarily complex society which, perhaps defensively, too often retreats into shorter-than-shorthand descriptors to describe ourselves and others.
So, one says “Canada” and it means something, as does “Mexico”, or “NAFTA”, or on and on and on. Snap judgments often based on little information cause all of us serious problems.
Thus, it was a privilege to view for a moment, yesterday afternoon, positive relationships between neighbor countries on a Cedar Lake shore lawn, hosted by the Minneapolis Consul-General of Canada and his spouse, Jamshed and Pheroza Merchant. The occasion was an early celebration of Canada Day, and the specific purpose, per the invitation, “for a special tribute to Canada-U.S.-Mexico cooperation, from twenty years of NAFTA to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
Like any negotiation, these agreements are imperfect, but better than no agreement at all. They provide some “rules for the road” to trade relationships, and they are constantly being reviewed and, likely, re-negotiated.
(click to enlarge photos)

Canada Consul-General Jamshed Merchant, Minneapolis, June 26, 2013

Perhaps I was invited to attend because I am “French-Canadian” representing a fledgling organization “French-America Heritage Foundation (F-AHF)“. The words hardly begin to define the complexity – there are hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who share in one way or another French-Canadian roots, and many more whose roots are directly from France, or have as native tongue the French language, or interest in same. I am only one.
Then you expand this to the word “French” and it becomes far more complex still. My friend and fellow F-AHF Board member Francine Roche, Quebecoise, also at the gathering, could discuss this complexity at a much deeper level than I.
Suffice to say that on that lawn we heard representatives of Canada, Minnesota (the U.S.) and Mexico speak of the trade relationship between their three countries which this year involves over $1 trillion dollars in economic activity this way and that. I saw this relationship this afternoon in the local Toyota dealer while having my car repaired. The new car stickers invariably cited where the car components were made and assembled, mostly U.S. and Canada (“U.S./Canada”) and Japan….
We might pretend we are omnipotent: “the United States”. As one of the speakers described us, for them it is like “sleeping next to the giant”, but the relationships are far more complex than that, going back many years, transcending that hideous wall of separation along the Mexican border that supposedly is needed to resolve the illegal immigration question in our congress; or the much more benign symbol of international friendship, the Peace Garden between North Dakota and Manitoba, which goes back to the 1930s.
Several handouts at the gathering help define the terms, especially U.S. and Canada, and I’ve attempted to reduce them to readable pdf’s, as follows:
1. Canada-U.S. Partnership Map:Canada-U.S.001
2. Celebrating the Canada-Minnesota Partnership: Canada-U.S. Brochure001
3. Minnesota-Canada-U.S. Brochure: Canada-Minnesota001
4. NAFTA Works, from the Trade and NAFTA office, Mexico’s Ministry of the Economy: Mexico-U.S.-Canada002
In addition to Mr. Merchant, great weather, fine wine and magnificent food, those of us in attendance heard interesting remarks from representatives of the respective countries.
Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon spoke of the close relationship we share with our neighbors to north and south; as did Alberto Fierro Garza, brand new Consul of Mexico in St. Paul; and Mr. Lyle Stewart, Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture.
Boundaries may divide us, but in so many ways, we are all part of North America, and indeed, of the entire planet. And I felt honored to be part of the gathering to see this demonstrated.
In our nation and world the political issue will continue, but we are lucky to have people in all countries who can see beyond differences and the short-term, and view the greater good of all.
Here are a few photos from yesterday:

MN Lt Gov Yvonne Prettner Solon June 26, 2013

Consul for Mexico in St. Paul, Alberto Fierro Garza June 26, 2013

Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture Lyle Stewart June 26, 2013

Listening to speakers at the Canada Consul-Generals lawn party June 26, 2013

Cathy Bernard and Francine Roche at the Consul Generals gathering June 26

#708 – Dick Bernard: Reflecting as I Relaunch

April 14, 2013/0 Comments/in Links /by dickbernard

I first published at this space on March 25, 2009, four years and now-708 posts ago.
If you do the math, that’s about one post every two days – far more than I ever anticipated.
Lately, there’s been a lull in the action: 7 posts in the last 30 days; one for every four. The hiatus began with 12 days in Florida, and I haven’t quite got back in gear.
It’s not for lack of topics. In fact, the problem is that there are too many topics from which to choose. If you stop by this space once in awhile, you’ve noted I’m an eclectic sort, writing about whatever, whenever something crosses my path in which I am interested. And there are a lot of things that interest me.
I had in mind – and still do – a stand-alone post about my friend Dr. Michael Knox, a retired professor whose dream and passion is a United State Peace Memorial. I’m on his rolls as a founding member, as is my wife, Cathy. It’s $100 bucks well spent, in my opinion. “Why not you?” I ask. Or someone you know. His project is just getting a good start. Why not be a pioneer?
Michael traveled a lot in his day job, and on a trip to Washington DC noted that there are infinite monuments to War, but one is hard-pressed to find anything that relates to Peace. He’s working to change that. Getting the word out about what he is doing is the most important task.

Michael Knox, U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation March 17, 2013

Witness for Peace off Clearwater Beach FL March 15, 2013

My Florida trip included plenty of conscious opportunities to see ordinary people at work. I made a deliberate decision to go across Central Florida from Sarasota to Ft. Pierce, totally off freeway. It’s a very different Florida than the tourist brochures…. And I also decided to just watch people as they live, a grocery store clerk, etc. In our too-frantic world, we often misse the obvious.
The world – even Florida – is full of common folks just doing their best to get by. They aren’t in the news, but the country wouldn’t survive without them.
The main reason for extending the Florida trip was to attend a conference of retired teachers in Orlando, and I ended up being a presentor for a couple of sessions there. I would guess these folks averaged 35-40 years of public school teaching. I’m quite certain their main interest – apparent from attendance at the breakouts – was protecting their pensions, now vigorously under attack. They tried to plan well under the rules, then somebody decided the rules had to change. That’s the dilemma of being a, dare I say, “Public Servant”.

Retired teachers at a conference in Orlando FL March 23, 2013

Next door to them, in a much larger venue, was a current guru of “think and grow rich”, a very attractive woman who rose from homelessness to wealth, and probably gains most of her wealth from people who pay money to hear her spin tales to, as a common t-shirt said, there, “Decide Freedom”. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, go for it. She had a large attendance, no doubt. They paid good money to attend her weekend series. Sunday (below photo) seemed to emphasize young people; the previous night, older folks…. She doesn’t need my additional publicity.

There was a certain amount of dissonance, I felt, between the two conferences, next door to each other in the same hotel. Reality versus Dreams.
Maybe it was just me.
Oh, so many topics. (And there are several more in line, maybe, as time goes on.) About the time of the new Pope’s election, and the never-ending dysfunction of American politics, I heard the Canadian Consul-General speak, very diplomatically, of course, comparing the U.S. and Canada people and systems. I was there less than an hour, but what a substance filled hour it was.
Stay tuned.
Maybe the real reason for the lack of activity, though, are things happening here at home. I think I have the Commissioners of a very large county in my area nervous. I discovered something they considered routine back in December, which has taken on a life of its own. I think they have reason to be at least a little bit nervous. You can read about it here. The up-to-date news on this issue begins “below the fold” – a ways down on the page.
And in a couple of weeks I’m sponsoring a little deal on the occasion of Law Day, Wednesday, May 1. The guest speaker, arranged just yesterday, is a 93 year old gentleman who’s former President of America’s largest Association of Lawyers, the American Bar Association.
That will take a little of my time…. But learning from elders, as Mr. Brink is, is very important.
Come on over, if you’re in the Twin Cities. Access to information is at the aforementioned March 27, blog.

#691 – Dick Bernard: Towards a Rational Conversation About Guns, continued

February 19, 2013/0 Comments/in Guns, Links, Politics /by dickbernard

UPDATE Feb. 24, 2012: Brief comments and photos from today at State Capitol at the end of this post.
February 3 I published a post about Guns. You can find it here, with an important update on February 11. An additional update was published on February 23, here.
Last night came an e-mail announcing hearings at the Minnesota State Capitol Room 15 February 21 and 22. Here are details.
Earlier last evening I had been at a community meeting in St. Paul’s Frogtown (the issue was simple school-community relationships, not guns). Most of us there were strangers to each other. One older man and I struck up a conversation. He had been at the earlier House hearings on Guns, and he was struck by how many angry men were in the room. He felt intimidated. But the experience made him ever more committed to make a difference on this most critical issue. (Frogtown has its own reputation relating to violence, and our meeting was multi-cultural and multi-racial. But the issues that came up were all about building better relationships generally, and not guns at all. I found that interesting.)
Guns in our society do not make for a simple rational conversation. Indeed, after the Feb 3 post, someone named Alex wrote an on-line comment suggesting I wasn’t capable of a rational conversation. I have no idea who “Alex” is – on-line comments are anonymous – so I can’t even engage in conversation with him – or her. I know nothing more than the comment.
So be it.
But I did decide after the post to try to get an idea of what people I know think about the gun issue, and I drafted a brief questionaire to try to find out. Half of the 46 people who received the questions answered the survey – a high percentage return. I bill myself as a “moderate pragmatic Democrat” so that can be a clue as to the people surveyed might be.
The results are at the aforementioned blogpost.
Before you look, I’d suggest you answer, for yourself, the same questions I asked my friends. The questions are below.
And then, get into more conversations with people you know.
We don’t need gun policy to be made by angry men sitting in a hearing room. But that is how it will be if we do not get into action.
The survey questions:
1. Do you (and/or someone else in your own home or dwelling) own a firearm(s) (“guns”)? Yes or No
A. If you answered “Yes”
1. How many firearms are in your home or dwelling?
a. What kind(s)?
b. Where are weapons kept?
c. If you needed the gun for defense right now, how accessible and/or useful would it be to you?
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PERSONALLY USED A FIREARM?
a. For what purpose?
2. For everyone:
If you could decide, what would “reasonable regulation” of firearms look like?
3. Have you ever used a gun for self-defense (against a person), and in what manner? Or do you personally know of someone who has (other than in war – or one of those stories heard from your cousin about his neighbor’s dentist’s brother or the like)? Versus, how many people have you been personally acquainted with who were killed by guns (except for war); how many were due to domestic violence?
The group answers are in the Update, accessible here.
They are just opinions of good people.
What is your opinion?
UPDATE February 21, 2013
My visit to the Capitol today was quite brief. The Hearing Room was limited to 40 people, with tickets. There were large numbers of people waiting in line for the overflow areas. In the end, I chatted with some nice people, took a few photos, and came home. Joan Peterson of Duluth is the lady in the photograph below. Her card gives a website of commongunsense.com which looks like a very informative site. She had the ticket to the proceedings, and she’s active in assorted ways, including Domestic Abuse Intervention, the Brady Campaign and Protect Minnesota.
The battle was between the buttons, today. “Minnesotans Against Being Shot” versus “Self-Defense is a Human Right”. At least one guy in line was packing heat. I picked up and am sporting a Minnesotans Against Being Shot, the button of ProtectMn.Org, “working to end gun violence”.
If you favor better regulation of firearms, now is the time to be very active with your elected officials at every level. Good things will come out of activism this year. The issue is on the table, and the NRA can’t control the conversation as they would like.
(click to enlarge photos)

In line. Note the holstered handgun

Joan

Two-sided sign

#685 – Dick Bernard: An e-mail from Vanuatu: Changing Communications Means…and the potential threats therein

February 7, 2013/0 Comments/in Links /by dickbernard

My sister, Mary Ann, decided to begin her retirement years by taking her skills as Nurse Practitioner to the Peace Corps.
Since early October she’s been in the south Pacific island country of Vanuatu, a remote place east of Australia that I had never heard of. Since November 10, 2012, I’ve been sharing her experiences in an ever longer blog post which you can read, here. The most recent note from her was yesterday, and it is at the very end of the post.
(click to enlarge)

Vanuatu, South Pacific

A couple of days ago came a news bulletin that the south Pacific had been hit with an 8.0 earthquake, with threat of tsunami. Vanuatu was mentioned, and I got concerned. After all, my sister now lived there, and I had just heard from her that she had just moved to a new island to do some work. It was all a routine deal, but the routine changed with the announcement of the quake.
Still, you don’t just pick up a phone and call Vanuatu. The last letter from Mary Ann took 13 days from writing to being received here. Things are different.
They’re very different than long ago, however.
She has limited opportunity to use e-mail, but she told us she was safe via an e-mail (reprinted in the aforementioned blog), and that she’d gotten the all-clear about the tsunami threat via a text message from, presumably, the home office of Peace Corps in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Her site was, she said, about 600 miles from the actual epicenter of the quake, so she was a long ways away. She didn’t even mention feeling the quake. Sea was calm.
The episode got me thinking back to WWII and that same part of the Pacific. My Uncle (and Mary Ann’s as well), Lt. George W. Busch, was a Naval Officer on a Destroyer in the Pacific Theatre, and he wrote many letters to his sweetheart, then his bride, from there. And she wrote back. And they kept all of the letters, which I had an opportunity to read a few years ago.
How terribly tense it had to be, then.
As WWII went on, people learned of the carnage at places like Tarawa beachhead, and knew their soldier or sailor was over there somewhere, but for all sorts of reasons had to endure long delays to get information about living, or dying. It was over a month, for instance, before my grandparents and Dad knew for sure that their son and brother, Frank Bernard, had been killed on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
By the end of the war, the U.S. became really pretty proficient in getting information back and forth from the South Seas and other places, but, still, one could count on at least a week from the time a letter was written till it was received.
Lots can happen in a week.
Even in Vanuatu, today, Mary Ann is hooked in, and in almost an instant a single e-mail from her (there have only been two or three thus far), can be transmitted worldwide in seconds.
We can’t imagine what it must have been like years ago.
But we aren’t out of the woods, either.
Yesterdays news included a clip that the entire electronic network to which we have become virtual slaves is potentially at risk due to cyber threats from others (as, they are at risk from us – this is not a one-way game). Our convenience hangs by a rather slender thread, and if the network goes down, everything is affected. Gives cause to wonder.
Tuesday’s paper brought an interesting column about our collected data, generally. Well worth the read. Energy Inefficiency, It’s In the Cloud.
And Al Gore is in Minneapolis today, speaking on his new book The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change. I think I’ll stop over. Westminster Presbyterian Church at noon today. Free. Get there early.

#652 – Dick Bernard: Thoughts Towards a Better World

November 13, 2012/0 Comments/in Links, Peace & Justice, Quietings /by dickbernard

(click on photos to enlarge them)

Suburban Woodbury MN sunrise October 9 2012

When I initiated this blog site in 2009 I chose to call it “Thoughts Towards a Better World”, since my interest was in a future which would be a positive legacy to my grandchildren and all of their cohort on the planet earth.
Often, I will admit, this seems to be a goal beyond attaining, but I march on, trying to stay optimistic and do my tiny little part “towards a better world”, and invite others to do the same. We are in the world as it is, hence my photo of traffic and a sunrise – perhaps dissonant, but nonetheless the reality most of we Americans and indeed others in our world share.
Yesterday, in the detritus of Election 2012 came a remarkably uplifting piece of video, about 6 minutes in length, which I would invite you to enjoy. You can access it here. It is exactly as it is. You don’t need to forward it. Do check it out. It is narrated, beautifully, by Brother David Steindl-Rast.
And consider some suggestions which follow, or construct your own positive vision for the coming weeks, months and years, and do something to implement that vision. I emphasize the word positive. Mostly we have become mired in an incessant cesspool of negative messaging, primarily in a ‘war’ vocabulary. It isn’t useful.
Here’s an invitation to visit a couple of websites, and to consider participating in some way in their message of Peace.
Consider sponsoring or beginning discussions about becoming a Peace Site. You can get the information here. This is a worldwide program which got especially strong legs in Minnesota a number of years ago, but continues to this day. As best as I can determine, the original Peace Sites were in New Jersey: Peace Sites NJ 1982001

Eagle Scout Eric Lusardi, family and friends dedicate a Peace Pole, Peace Site and Peace Garden on the International Day of Peace, September 21, 2012, New Richmond, Wisconsin.

Minneapolis’ Lynn Elling, still actively engaged and in his 90s, adopted Peace Sites as one of his “driving dreams” towards World Peace. Here is a film clip from about 2000 about Lynn and his notion of Peace Sites. Peace stories are often interconnected, and here’s a website I initiated in 2008 about Lynn and Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg, Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, himself a powerful advocate for a better world.
Participate in the 25th anniversary celebration of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College in Minneapolis MN March 8-10, 2013. The information is all here. This will be an uplifting and inspiring event including two Nobel Laureates.
There are endless, truly endless, lists of positive things we all can do, one tiny bit at a time.
As the video says, powerfully, today is unique, a new day. So will be tomorrow, a new day, and the next, and next. Perhaps a glimpse at R. Padre Johnson’s magnificent painting of the Global Human Family (below) can help spur us on to do a little bit of good each day.

Photo of a print of R. Padre Johnson's work, the Global Human Family

When Padre Johnson talks about being with people in 159 countries in the world – his own experience – he emphasizes being with people in food and in dance.
Here’s a wonderful website of dance to togetherness.
POSTNOTE: On Jan. 6, 2013, in Minneapolis will be a preview showing, invitation only, to a film about Garry Davis, World Citizen. If you are interested in more information, contact dick_bernardATmeDOTcom.

#646 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #63. Your future is completely in your hands, now.

November 4, 2012/3 Comments/in Community, History, Links, Politics, President Obama /by dickbernard

The American people – of which you are one – decide their future on Tuesday, November 6.
The choice has never been more stark, at all levels, in all states.
If you are an ordinary person, as I am, and 98% or more of the American people are ordinary like me, you are well advised to vote your personal interest and vote straight ticket Democrat on Tuesday, November 6.
In my entire life, I have never been as partisan as I am right now.
I believe in a multi-party democracy; in the value of differences of opinion. I am as I’ve said publicly since I began this blog in 2009: a “moderate pragmatic Democrat….”
But today’s Republican party – indeed since at least 1995 – has become ever more radical, extreme, “take no prisoners”, win-at-any-cost. The objective is permanent control of government at all levels by a tiny fringe of amoral partisans. Their fantasy is no more permanently attainable than was Hitler’s Thousand-year Reich.
If you are looking for old-line moderate Republicans, you will be hard-pressed to find them in todays Republican party. They’ve been purged, or resigned, or relegated to minority status.
The Democrats are the party of moderation now, the reasonable party.
You’ll vote (or not vote at all). Maybe you’ve voted already.
Be careful. Your vote has consequences.
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Tomorrow: What led to my decision to recommend a one-party vote this year?
Tuesday: We’re all responsible for this mess. What now?
(If you wonder what that #63 in the subject line means, simply put Election 2012 in the search box, click, and you’ll find a list of all the posts I’ve done on Election 2012, beginning 6 months ago. #1, March 18, 2012, is here.)
Check back Monday and Tuesday for #64 and #65.
Twice before, in 2011, I did extended series on political issues: 18 posts from Feb 17-March 20, 2011 on the Wisconsin Government shutdown; many posts from June 29 – August 8, 2011 on the Government shutdown crises both in Minnesota and the United States Government.
COMMENTS (note possible additional comments at the end of the blogpost itself):
From Bob in Ohio, Nov 4: What worries me most in this election is the level of general ignorance that pervades the electorate.
And I have little confidence in the voting system as we have learned all too well here in Ohio. The pressure on elected officials in the controlling party of the state to behave unethically to influence the elections is disgraceful.
I will be absolutely amazed if this election does not turn on some quirk in the system that most of us will not believe.
From Will, Minnesota, Nov. 4: The Republicans probably have the voting machines fixed in key states, Karl Rove is smarter than any Dems, any organization such as ACLU, CCR and we will enter the Second Dark Ages, for how long, who knows?

#624 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #46 – 4000 days at War in Afghanistan

September 19, 2012/0 Comments/in Afghanistan/South Asia, Community, History, Links, Peace & Justice, Politics, War /by dickbernard

Someone has calculated that today, September 19, 2012, is the 4000th day of the beginning of the War in Afghanistan: the day the bombing began, October 7, 2001.
Except for isolated demonstrations, including one this afternoon from 5-6 p.m. at the Lake Street bridge in Minneapolis, there will be little attention paid to this anniversary.
One of the few newspaper articles I have kept for posterity is one from October 8, 2001: Afghanistan Oct 7 2001001
This is a short article, simply describing the results of a poll of Americans at the time about going to War. It is worth reading. If you don’t care to open it: succinctly, 94% of Americans approved of the bombing of Afghanistan for whatever reasons they might have had for the action.
For a politician to be against the war in 2001 would have been almost certain political suicide.
I was one of the 6% who, had I been asked, would have disapproved of the bombing in 2001.
My opinion wasn’t based on being anti-war, then, though it was that singular event that launched my subsequent activist life.
As a military veteran myself, in the Army at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, in a unit that was mobilized for possible action, I was not altruistic.
Very simply, on that dark day in 2001, I could see absolutely no long term good coming out of attacking a country, Afghanistan, whose only ‘sin’ was harboring an isolated bunch of terrorists who were soon to become enshrined in our political conversation as “al Qaeda” (which, to my knowledge, is simply an Arabic term, al-qa’ida: “the base”).
October 8, 2001, was a very lonely time to be against War, I can attest.
Only about one of twenty Americans agreed with me, and most thought there was going to be a long war, and were okay with the idea and (I suppose) thought that we’d “win” something or other.
Not long after, of course, our sights shifted to Iraq, a country which had nothing to do with 9-11-01.
Of course, our futile exercise in supposedly attempting to eliminate evil in the world is succeeding only in slowly destroying ourselves.
“The Base” has to be pleased.
I probably won’t change anybodies mind, but take a bit of time today to consider a few numbers related to that number 4000 (my apologies for any math errors):
2977 – the number of deaths on 9-11-01 (including citizens of over 90 countries, but excluding the 19 hijackers, none of whom were Afghan)
2686 – the number of days of War on President George W. Bush’s watch
1314 – the number of days of War on President Barack Obama’s watch
Nov. 9, 2009 – the approximate date where we’d been at war for 2977 days: one day of war per 9-11-01 casualty.
There is no prospect of ever “winning” the war against terrorism, or Afghanistan, yet we persist in our fantasy for all the assorted reasons we might have. There is no still sane politician who will argue that we must end war now, or ever.
The fault is not the politicians (unless we extend the definition of “politician” to include ourselves, each and every one of us.)
There is no truer example of the truth of Gandhi’s words “we must be the change we wish to see in the world”.
Start where you’re at, as an individual, today, now.
A good place to begin to focus is this Friday, September 21, the International Day of Peace. There are numerous links. Here is the one that is at the top of the google search list.
Personally, I’ll be over in New Richmond WI, witnessing 14 year old Eric Lusardi’s becoming an Eagle Scout (the public ceremony is at 4:00 p.m., New Richmond Community Commons). Part of the ceremony will be dedication of a Peace Site.
Eric exemplifies Gandhi, and I think he’s an exemplary example of youth for our future as a people and a planet.
For some personal inspiration for Peace, visit A Million Copies, here.

#623 – Dick Bernard: "Radio Silence"; Franco-Fete; Le Vent du Nord; and Lori Sturdevant

September 16, 2012/1 Comment/in Links /by dickbernard

For the past few, and for the next few days, this blog will be relatively inactive. The primary activity for this blogger is to help make a success of a major Minneapolis-St. Paul event called Franco-Fete which can be read about here, here and here.
Succinctly, Franco-Fete is in four distinct parts: Friday evening Sep 28, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church Minneapolis; Saturday during the day, and in the evening, at DeLaSalle High School on Nicollet Island in Minneapolis; and Sunday Sep 30 at noon into mid-afternoon at St. Boniface Catholic Church in northeast Minneapolis. All details are at the above websites.
For anyone with even a small interest in things French or French-Canadian, Franco-Fete will be an stimulating and interesting time.
8 1/2×11 event poster here: Poster (letter-size, image) (r03)-1
*****
Of course, life goes on in the larger world of politics, etc.
For everyone, Lori Sturdevant in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune writes a column “How do we break down our walls?” that is well worth reading.
Here’s to civil conversation – as impossible as it seems to be!