#722 – Dick Bernard: President Obama's May 23 Speech on National Security, a day later

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I wrote before the speech yesterday. That story is accessible here.
The video and transcript of President Obama’s speech are both now accessible here. In my opinion, his speech, yesterday, was of far more than normal importance, and how the body politic deals with the abundant messages, long term, is of great importance to our country.
Two aspects of yesterdays speech were of greatest interest to me.
1. The encouragement to look forward, not backward: to truly put 9-11-01 in the past, where it belongs.
9-11-01 has been drilled into our individual and collective psyche, whether left or right or in-between or having no specific opinion at all.
Reminders of our rear-view-mirror view are not hard to find.
For just a single example: not long ago I was in the Hennepin (MN) Government Center, Minneapolis, the seat of Minnesota’s largest county. In the atrium area was an immense American flag with no signage about why the flag was there.
(click to enlarge)

U.S. Flag at Hennepin County Government Center April 12, 2013

U.S. Flag at Hennepin County Government Center April 12, 2013


I decided to ask about the flag. The first person, a receptionist answering the phone, had no idea why the flag was there; the person to which I was first referred had no idea either. The third person I talked to said the flag had been there for years, and had been put up in the wake of 9-11-01: “they had to do something“, she said.
I’m still trying to flesh out the entire story of that flag; but my point is, that the reason that flag exists has nothing to do with anything other than the shock of an event that happened almost a dozen years ago…and most likely the vast majority of people who see it have no notion whatsoever about its personal story. It may as well be hanging at half-staff….
I witnessed essentially the same backward looking devotion to 9-11-01 four years ago at the International Peace Garden in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota-Manitoba. That story is here.
When do we let go, and move on from 9-11-01? That was, I think, one of the Presidents prime messages to everyone, yesterday.
2. The significance of the protestor at the speech:
My spouse had told me someone was protesting at the Presidents speech, and later I saw the entire incident involving the protestor, Medea Benjamin. I’ve met Medea Benjamin, in September, 2008. She wouldn’t remember me. But she would if she looked up her name at the Registry of the United States Peace Foundation website where the entries are listed alphabetically, and checked Dick Bernard here (my entry is right after hers).
Memo to self: I need to gussy my bio up a bit! She and I approach the business of changing opinions a bit differently, but we’re in the same trade.
Consider becoming a Founding Member of the Peace Foundation yourself. I’ve been a Founding Member since 2006. Very few people I know who should be supporting this Foundation have taken the time to join.
But I digress: Medea is a career protestor; her reputation is built on protesting. That is what she does, her job, her role. I’ve known others like her.
The odds that the Secret Service and the President were unaware of her presence yesterday, or of what she would probably do during the speech, are infinitesimally small.
She may not have known, but I feel the Secret Service certainly did. She’s hardly a stranger in protests.
I’m pretty sure I saw one of her colleagues with her in a TV cut yesterday; she’s another activist who used to be in the Foreign Service.
Obviously I don’t know, and no one likely will ever know for certain, but my guess is that Medea was a useful part of the Presidents speech yesterday. Indeed, rather than ignoring or criticizing her, or even looking annoyed, he acknowledged her argument.
The anti-war left should be grateful. The President didn’t have to either allow or (in effect) participate in her performance. He’s made the same point she has before yesterday.
(Back in the 1990s, I recall being in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House, and witnessing one of those ‘made for TV’ demonstrations, where everyone in the ‘performance’ knew the rules, and the objective – to get on the evening news. The police were there, and the protestors, and the coordinator/spokespeople for the protest, and the paddy wagon, and a few media, and everyone was calm and well behaved. But at a certain appointed time, the demonstration took place and the protestors were arrested and hauled away.
Succintly, in my opinion, what people saw on television an hour or so later that day was simply street theatre, made for television.
And that time it was an important issue, too.)
And finally: one of my e-list noted that Ms Benjamin has a new book out, on Drone Warfare. Here’s the link if you’re interested.
But the issues raised by President Obama are very important. Do watch the speech or print out the transcript, and go to work.

#715 – Dick Bernard: On growing Elder.

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This afternoon, at the annual Heart of the Beast May Day Parade, the obvious salute at the end of the regular parade was to “Grandmas and Grandpas”
(Click on photos to enlarge them)

Near end of May Day/Cinco de Mayo Parade, south Minneapolis, May 5, 2013

Near end of May Day/Cinco de Mayo Parade, south Minneapolis, May 5, 2013


A Grandpa (at left) and a Grandma honor the May Day Parade as it nears its end, May 5, 2013

A Grandpa (at left, partially obscured by a lady) and a Grandma are honored by, and honor, the Minneapolis May Day Parade as it nears its end, May 5, 2013

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It was an especially nice, and particularly pertinent, touch to a topic that has been much on my mind in recent days, but has been on my thought screen for many years: how elders fit in (or not) in our contemporary American society.
In the last week or two I’d been concentrating on a long remembrance of past days at tiny Sykeston ND High School: the place I had graduated from in May, 1958.
Among many other memories, it occurred to me that at the time of my high school graduation 55 years ago, my Dad and Mother – he was the Superintendent and one of my teachers – were 50 and 48 years old respectively.
My oldest son is now 49. And my parents seemed plenty old, back then in May, 1958.
Then in mid-week last week, more or less impromptu, I had something to do with a gathering on Law Day, May 1, which by design celebrated several Elders, most over 90, all of whom had been prominent in their working lives, and now are part of the huge category called “who’s he?”, or “she?”.
In conversing with one of them – a man I scarcely knew before April, 2013 – I had occasion to remember a workshop from 1998, which became my Christmas card in 2000.
The topic was “Canyon of 60 Abandon”. The card is brief and can be read here: Canyon of 60 Abandon002
The premise of the Canyon story is really very simple: ours is a society which tends to discard its Elders at an arbitrary time called “retirement”. Oh, we give them things like Social Security and Medicare, but basically they’re marched off into a remote area to their old person thing, and (I suppose) hopefully leave behind a substantial financial inheritance.
The story goes on about one family who violated the society rules, and hid their Elder under their porch, ultimately to their great benefit.
In my recollection of that now-15 years ago workshop, the story-teller, Michael Meade, didn’t go into specifics about what value their Elder added to the family that benefited from his or her presence.
That is the essence of story-telling. It is left to the listeners to create the real-world basis of the story.
I’ve now been in that “Canyon of 60 Abandon” for over 13 years, and it has been a most interesting and extraordinarily enriching life experience.
There is something that the Elders possess that those younger cannot, and it is important that the Elders be valued and included and not discarded.
How our society relates to those “out to pasture” tells a great deal about us.
And it is important for us to really pay attention to these relationship questions, as we struggle, ever more, with an uncertain future, and with difficulties in inter-generational communication (think Facebook versus the face-to-face word-of-mouth) that our ancestors would have relied on not too many years ago.
Who do you know in that Canyon? How can they be more truly valued while they are living. And if you’re in that Canyon, what is important about not isolating yourself?
Can we talk?
ADDED Posts on this topic: June 7, 2013, September 1, 2013

#712 – Dick Bernard: Office of the President

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Tonight I was at the meeting where my wife, Cathy, completed the last of many terms as our Homeowners Association President, and before that on this Association Board, and another before that.
She left the Board only because she’d done more than her fair share over many years. There was no competitor, and no one asked her to quit. She got some very nice applause and compliments.
There are millions of Cathy’s out there, taking on responsibilities that no one else really wants. They all, whether good, bad or indifferent, deserve applause for what they do for all the rest of us.
(click to enlarge)

Cathy Bernard, April 25, 2013, presiding at her last Association meeting.

Cathy Bernard, April 25, 2013, presiding at her last Association meeting.


Down in Texas, same day, the George W. Bush Presidential Library was dedicated. All the living Presidents were there. Whoever the incumbent, whatever the position, however petty, being President is a tough job.
Cathy did a great job all these years: she was a hands-on President. It wasn’t always easy. She knew the 96 units; she had to deal with the usual problems brought forth by the 96 occupants (some of which are in foreclosure, owned by the bank).
You don’t know what the problems will be in being an organization President. Some had gripes about this or that tonight. But they weren’t griping about her; they were griping about this issue or that for which, if they owned a free-standing home, they would be solely accountable for solving – or not.
Meanwhile, down in Texas, today was G. W. Bush’s day.
Somebody said that the word “Iraq” was not mentioned once; someone else that the public opening will be May 1, the 10 year anniversary of “Mission Accomplished” – the day we “won” the Iraq War 43 days after it started….
Of course, the scale of problems the Bush Administration and the others had to deal with are more complex than those that Cathy and her small board had to contend with.
The only real difference, in my opinion, is the certainty that the G.W. Bush reality between 2001-2009 will be massaged so much to be unrecognizable, set up against the reality of those long, long eight years.
For the tiny most privileged few in our country, the eight Bush years were magnificent: he was probably the best President in History, according to them, and if they look at only the short term (which is all they care about: we Americans have very short memories.) A while back someone sent this pretty dramatic graphic on income equality in this country, from the San Jose Mercury News. It is worth watching it to the end.
The tiny minority has it all, money wise, in this country. They could easily fund the Bush Library. He deserves it, according to them.
What surprises me, constantly, is that the people who are being economically left behind tend to vote for the ones who create and massage the income inequality.
Do watch the video graphic about income.
The issue is not what Obama is going to do about it; it is what you and I are going to do about it.

#711 – Dick Bernard: Disabling the Winning Formula, working to change the usual conversation

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Last Friday my second post about the aftermath of the Boston Marathon came shortly after the identity of the suspects in the bombings were given faces and names.
Subsequent there have been tens of thousands of words about, especially, the one surviving suspect in the case, a true-blue young “Caucasian” (white, in other words), from the very region which gives Caucasian its name. The indicted young man has a funny name. While a naturalized citizen he’s an immigrant, a Moslem from a Moslem country. And his brother, now deceased, went to Russia at some point for reasons as yet unknown, but feverishly speculated about.
The tragedy is no longer the story. The alleged perpetrators provide endless spin especially for earnest sounding politicians and the media. The blather is constant.
The Boston Marathon tragedy has been reduced to digestible sound bites, depending on the desired message and audience: “MOSLEM”, “MOTHERS SONS”, “IMMIGRANT”, “FRIEND”, “CHECHEN”, U.S. CITIZEN, etc.
Words are dispensed to humanize, or de-humanize, persons. Are they of our “tribe” or theirs?
So, while the brothers are white, there is a desire to taint them by geography, by possible association, and on and on.
What is happening in this case is not new, of course.
However dangerous, “us vs them” is politically useful and has a very long history. The reach of all forms of media now makes it more dangerous than ever.
Sunday, at Catholic Mass, the first reading (which is required in every Catholic Church) was from ACTS 13:14, 43-52, in which “The Jews…stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory.” The reading is here: 1 Acts 13001
It bothered me to hear that Epistle (it comes once every three years) since I thought my Catholic Church was getting past labeling the Jews in its official narrative.
The Bible is a big book, and there are plenty of choices of readings. Why this one?
Fourteen years ago, April 26, 2000, we were among 40 Jews and Christians on a “Millennium Pilgrimage of Hope” which led us to places where Christianity truly went off the rails: places like Auschwitz-Birkenau and Terezin and Plaskow (the locale of the film “Shindler’s List.)
To say ours was an intense two weeks was an understatement: Christian and Jews together at the very places of some of the worst horrors of the Holocaust.
Back home, some months later, one of the Jews on the trip sent a review of a book on Oberammergau Passion Play (“Hitler’s favorite passion play…” which had its own impact. You can read the review here: Oberammergau001
Some years earlier, on the 60th anniversary of the first Atom bomb at Hiroshima, I had occasion to write a column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune about my grandmother Rosa’s reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki.
Rosa was a saintly kind of woman, and her reaction to the bombs was “Hurrah, the old war is over!” At the time, she had a son on a Destroyer in the Pacific theatre; a son-in-law who’d been killed at Pearl Harbor; a nephew next farm over who was a Marine officer in the Pacific; and a neighbor who had been killed in combat “over there”.
For her, the war had become very personal.
I wrote in the column that to Grandma, and most of our American “tribe” I would guess, “the war was very personal, in the person of their brother, their son, their nephew, their neighbor; those on the other side were simply “the Japs”.” (The column can be read here: Atomic Bomb 1945001
If we care about the future of our “kind”, which is humanity itself, wherever these humans live, we best learn to become a world community and reject the attempts to blanket label others and threaten war at every real or imagined time of crisis.
We need to deal with criminal behavior as just that: criminal behavior.
There was never a good time for war; today, the time for war is truly past.

#709 – Dick Bernard: The Boston Marathon

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Yesterday morning, before 9 a.m., I was at the gym exercising at my usual place. Behind me, visible in the mirror, were two women, exercising beside each other and quite loudly chatting.
One of them mentioned to the other that her husband was in Boston, running the Marathon, checking in from time to time.
A few hours later I heard the news of the bombs at the finish line at the Marathon. This probably changed the woman’s conversation. Perhaps I’ll read in the Woodbury MN news something about this today or maybe next week…. Such is how communication goes these days. Instant and worldwide.
I got to thinking about two happenings in my own life.
Back on April 20, 1999, I was in the car on the freeway in north Minneapolis when I heard that there had been shooting at a school in Littleton, Colorado.
Littleton. That was where my son and family lived.
Soon enough, I learned my granddaughter, then 13 and in Middle School, was safe. No cell phones then. It was via e-mail.
I tried to find where Columbine high school was on the then-version of Mapquest. The school location on the map was misplaced, I soon learned. My son and family, it turned out, lived only a mile from the high school, and later he said he probably had seen the two killers the previous day in a local McDonalds restaurant – just three of the customers at that time, that day.
But in those days, communications was not quite so convenient or instant (though it was pretty good.) There were cell phones of a sort, but not ubiquitous like now. There was cable, but not hundreds of stations vying on the competitive edge for news. I don’t think I was thinking, then, about what has since become something of a mantra for me: “too many news people, too little news.”
Then I thought back further, to December 7, 1941, when my Uncle – Dad’s brother – went down with the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
I was alive then, just 1 1/2, so I didn’t pay much attention.
Dad told me about his memories of that awful time years later. They didn’t know for certain that his brother, Frank Bernard, had died until some weeks later. The time was so chaotic that I don’t think there was even an organized Memorial Service for Frank. His parent were in Long Beach for the winter and had no car (they traveled by train, then), his sister in Los Angeles, and his brother in rural North Dakota. Making even a phone call was not a routine matter. No television. Less radio. The news coming via newspaper – I have the clippings.
We tend to forget that.
And now we are besieged for hours upon hours by repetitive images of the same exact thing; by speculation by experts about who done it, and why it was done. Everybody with their own agenda for communicating whatever it is they choose to communicate.
We’re a big country, and such incidents will happen from time to time.
We used to worry about the Russians bombing our school in central North Dakota in the 1950s; now, well you know….
We need to get a grip and keep things in a bit better perspective.
It was bad, what happened in Boston, yesterday.
As a city and as a nation and as a world we’ll survive it.
We really have it pretty good, here.

#703 – Dick Bernard: "Filing Cabinet" for The Hennepin Co Plaza United Nations Flag Issue

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POSTNOTE: The primary originating document is the blogpost for March 5, 2013, which is accessible here. Added material is dated.
*
UPDATE September 17, 2014: Relevant and current documents about this issue:
1. A 20+ page pdf of documents related to this issue can be viewed here: UN Flag Henn Co MN001 (pp 1-22). The first page lists the documents which follow. Inadvertently, 4 USC par 10, the intended final page, is not included. Accessible here: Flag Code Sec 10 (p. 23).
Two flag photos below were referenced, and sent to, Hennepin Commissioners with August 12, 2014 letter.
2. Sep 11 and 17, 2014 correspondence: Henn UN Flag Sep 17 14 (pp 24-30).
HISTORY DOCUMENTS, 1965-2013: UN flag Mpls Historical001

Flags at U.S. Bank Plaza, Minneapolis MN, Sep. 17, 2014. Hennepin Government Center in background. Four of the six flags appear to be corporate flags, along with U.S. and Minnesota. All flagpoles appear to be identical in height.

Flags at U.S. Bank Plaza, Minneapolis MN, Sep. 17, 2014. Hennepin Government Center in background. Four of the six flags appear to be corporate flags, along with U.S. and Minnesota. All flagpoles appear to be identical in height.

The American flag in procession with others at International Day, Concordia Language Villages, Bemidji MN, August 8, 2014

The American flag in procession with others at International Day, Concordia Language Villages, Bemidji MN, August 8, 2014

July 23, 2014, at Truck Stop near St. Cloud MN

July 23, 2014, at Truck Stop near St. Cloud MN

ONGOING INFORMATION ON THE HENNEPIN COUNTY PLAZA UN FLAG ISSUE
(Click to enlarge any photo)

Where the United Nations Flag used to fly before being removed after March 27, 2012. Photo taken May 7, 2013

Where the United Nations Flag used to fly before being removed after March 27, 2012. Photo taken May 7, 2013

ACTION REMOVING THE UN FLAG FROM HENNEPIN COUNTY MN PLAZA March 27, 2012: UN Flag Res 3-27-12001
To the best of our knowledge, UN Flag had flown continuously at the Hennepin Plaza site for 44 years, from May 1, 1968, forward.
The 2012 vote was unanimous – all seven Commissioners present on March 27, 2012 voting yes (unless otherwise indicated, all Commissioners (bold-faced) remain on the Board as of August 14, 2014.)
Commissioner Opat Moved adoption
Commissioner Stenglein Seconded the motion*
Commissioner Dorfman**
Commissioner Randy Johnson
Commissioner Callison
Commissioner McLaughlin***
Commissioner Jeff Johnson***
* – Commissioner Stenglein appointed CEO of Minneapolis Downtown Council in February, 2012, starting new job on June 1, 2012; in June, 2013, Stenglien left the Downtown Council position for unknown reasons (news article here).
** – Commissioner Dorfman resigned as Commissioner in Feb. 2014 to take another position.
*** – in the posted Minutes for 3-27-01 these individuals are listed as not present; but the official record of the meeting shows them both voting Yes on the motion.
Commissioner Linda Higgins was elected to Stenglien’s Hennepin County Commission seat in the November, 2012 election and thus had no involvement in the original action.
I wrote at length on the issue on March 5, 2013 here.
Friday April 12, 2013, I hand-delivered two letters to all Hennepin County Commissioners, and the uninvolved in the issue but nonetheless parties at interest, the Mayor and City Council of Minneapolis. The relevant portions of the letters is here: Henn Comm Ltrs 4:12:13001 As of July 15, 2013, there have been zero responses to my questions. A third request for the information was mailed on July 13.
The listing of all Hennepin County Commissioners, their districts, and office addresses can be found here.
Here’s a photo of the flags at Hennepin County Government Plaza taken Tuesday April 9, 2013, from the same steps where Gov. Elmer L. Andersen spoke May 1, 1968, on the virtues of World Citizenship and flying the flag of the United Nations at the Plaza.

Flags on Hennepin County Government Plaza April 9, 2013

Flags on Hennepin County Government Plaza April 9, 2013

CONTINUING INFORMATION ON THE HENNEPIN COUNTY/UNITED NATIONS FLAG ISSUE:
Former Governor Elmer L. Andersen’s speech at the United Nations Flag Raising at the Minneapolis City Hall May 1, 1968: Elmer Andersen I Trust..001
Timeline of Historical Events in the year 1968: 1968 Timeline001

The Hennepin Co Plaza flags as seen from inside Minneapolis City Hall April 12, 2013

The Hennepin Co Plaza flags as seen from inside Minneapolis City Hall April 12, 2013

UPDATE April 2, 2013: United States, Minnesota and United Nations flags et al, at Fairview Southdale Hospital, France at Hiway 62, Edina, April 1, 2013
(click to enlarge)
IMG_0960
One year ago today – March 27, 2012 – the Hennepin County Board quietly passed Resolution No. 12-0167, rescinding Resolution 86-7-539 and directing “to fly at the Government Center North Plaza solely the flags of the United States, Minnesota and Hennepin County, in compliance with the U.S. Flag Code.”
I wrote at length on the issue on March 5, 2013. That commentary is accessible here. In that commentary I noted on March 5 that “I’m still searching for more facts” on the U.S. Flag Code, and contemporaneous with my column I wrote my Congresswoman and both MN U.S. Senators seeking more definitive information on the legislative history of that Code.
Sen. Franken’s office was first to respond to my request, with 40 pages of information, including the Congressional Research Service (CRS) document on the United States Flag prepared by John R. Luckey, Legislative Attorney, February 7, 2011. (Citation on the cover: Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RL30243). Two pages of this report included highlighted sections (see attached pdf U.S. Flag Code (portion)001). In addition, a dozen pages of Legislative Documents were included, including this statement by then ND Sen William Langer, May 12, 1953: Flag Code (1953 Langer 001. Also received, another dozen pages of Congressional Record entries between January and June, 1953 Flag Code (1953 Cong) 001. All of these pages are included.
Some personal observations, at this point:
1. Whoever initially advised Hennepin County Commissioners on the U.S. Flag Code in 2012 was speaking opinion and not fact:
A. The Section of the code cited, 7, relates to the flag “when carried in a procession with another flag….”
B. In addition, the CRS analyst notes later that aforementioned Section 7 contains two subsections on point and these provisions appear to be contradictory (Subsections 7(c) and 7(g).
2. In reading the assorted documents, including the rhetoric in the Congressional Record, I noted these facts:
A. The Flag Code was originally passed June 22, 1942
B. The amendments to the flag bill, particularly relating to the United Nations flag, were first proposed on August 22, 1951, in the 82d Congress. They were ultimately passed in the 83d Congress in the Spring of 1953.
C. The key legislative actors at the time appear to be these: U.S. Sens Martin, Hendrickson, Knowland and Langer; Reps Reed (Illinois), Gross and McDonough.
D. The bill finally passed apparently included this language: “(b) Whoever knowingly violates the provision of this section shall be fined not more than $250 of imprisoned not more than six months, or both.” (Flag Code (1953 S 694) 001) To my knowledge, no such penalty language remains in the Flag Code, and apparently has not appeared there for many years.
3. I am old enough to remember well the post-WWII days of the police action in Korea, Sen. Joe McCarthy…. I was a teenager in rural ND when the 1953 amendment was passed. There was near hysteria, then, about allegations of “Communists”, including additional animosity towards the very existence of the United Nations. What happened in Hennepin County a year ago has all the appearances of a latter day manifestation of the same paranoia that caused our country so much grief in the Sen. McCarthy era.
It appears that the Hennepin County Board made its decision March 27, 2012, on at minimum incomplete information, perhaps without any debate. All but one of the Board members who approved the initial action remain on the Board, and it is time to reopen this file, and give the issue of the United Nations flag the dignified and public hearing it deserves.
POSTNOTE: As noted in the March 5 column, I had not paid much attention to flags, generally, including their arrangement, etc. This has changed. Recently I spent some time at a hotel in Orlando FL. The hotel is part of a world-wide chain, and I noted the flags out front: the U.S. flag, posted slightly higher than the Florida flag, with the Corporate flag in equal standing to the Florida flag. Flags do carry a message about us….
Here they are (click to enlarge):

Hotel, Orlando FL, March 24, 2013

Hotel, Orlando FL, March 24, 2013

Flags at Lincoln Center Elementary School, South St Paul MN Apr 16, 2013

Flags at Lincoln Center Elementary School, South St Paul MN Apr 16, 2013

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NOTE MAY 3, 2013: This page is the permanent “filing cabinet” for information about the events which began March 5, 1968, with the Declaration of World Citizenship by the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County.
On World Law Day Wednesday, May 1, 2013, the Minneapolis Star Tribune carried two commentaries directly related to World Law Day and the United Nations Flag, written by Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg of GlobalSolutionsMN.org and Minneapolis resident Jim Nelson. The United Nations Association of Minnesota is on record about this issue: UNA Position001
The evening of May 1, at Gandhimahal Restaurant in Minneapolis, 40 attended a dinner celebrating World Law. Here is a blogpost written about the event.
UPDATE August 20, 2013: Correspondence between a Henn. County Commissioner and Dick Bernard: HennComm08162013001
UPDATE September 11, 2013 here.
UPDATE December 19, 2013: Dec. 11, 2013, I sent the following to the Hennepin County Commissioners: Henn Comm Dec 11 13001 The mailing included the Dec 11, 2013, letter (in original misdated Nov 11, 2013) plus the Dec. 29, 2012, letter. In early November, 2013, I was made aware of a 1965 Declaration of World Citizenship signed by President Lyndon Johnson which directly relates to this issue. The post about that Declaration is here.
UPDATE June 14, 2014: My blog post for June 14 makes reference, and links, to this issue and post. I haven’t raised my question with the County Commissioners for some months, but will again.

#665 – Dick Bernard: When will we learn? Thoughts immediately after Newtown CT

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Friday morning we took a quick trip over to an area shopping mall to watch our 7th grade grandsons school band do a half hour mall concert. I’m always proud watching kids perform, and watching the teachers work their magic with those kids, and this concert was no exception. This band was a unit, playing a medley of Christmas songs for quite a throng of us, likely heavily sprinkled with parents and grandparents and other family of the students (our grandkid also had his aunt there. His Mom and Dad were at work, his Mom as a Middle School Principal a few miles away.)
(click to enlarge)

Concert at the Mall December 14, 2012


December 14, 2012


Enroute home we stopped at a store on busy France Avenue to pick up some items, and decided to have lunch in a casual dining place across the drive. Meal over, we walked past one of those ubiquitous flat screen TV’s on the wall, sound off, closed captioning on.
I noted something about a shooting in a school, and the view of the top of a school somewhere provided by a news helicopter. We stopped until the closed caption at least identified where the breaking news was taking place, and saw it was in Connecticut, and drove home.
The rest is history, and as we all know, the massacre at the Newtown CT elementary school became the story of the day, and will now dominate for awhile the public and perhaps even the political conversation – and it is a conversation we all need to be involved in about our American reverence for rights, freedom and guns, regardless of deadly capacity.
We’ve had plenty of warning and even practice in this conversation: Not long ago was the Aurora theatre; followed by the assault on the Sikh Temple; followed by the attack on the business in Minneapolis; the Portland Mall…and on and on. There were similar events before; others still to come. Pretty uniquely American….
Random acts of violence involving guns. We know that such events trigger similar events. Someone, somewhere gets an idea….
The debates again beginning will be predictable, I fear.
After Aurora the on-line Patch newspaper editor in Eagan started a poll/conversation on gun control. I had joined the conversation thread then.
Consistently about 60% of respondents were against any kind of gun control, and were passionate about it; the rest of us were more or less evenly divided in favor of gun control, or of restrictions on guns and ownership.
Aurora passed, and on life went, but the poll remained and I was still on the list to receive comments. After each of the above incidents the comments began again. I just looked (early a.m. on Dec. 15) and there are 684* comments, with the percentages consistent with my above comment.)
I’m guessing that sometime today the poll will return to my inbox, with the predictable passions continuing.
Of course, the 60% against gun control is reflective only of those who take the time to present their point of view in a non-scientific poll. It is just a poll, and is so acknowledged there.
But at least respondents present a point of view, even though it is one I have always disagreed with.
If there is to be a change in gun policy in this country, it is going to have to be from the people, including the many who think they can’t do anything, and complain that it’s up to the politicians.
Not so.
WE are the politicians in this and so many ways.
A wrong position on guns has for far too long been a political death sentence for our political leaders, and if we don’t like that, we’re the ones who will have to be, as Gandhi said, “the change we wish to see”.
Those middle schoolers at the suburban mall went home safely yesterday; 26 people, mostly tiny children, in a Connecticut town didn’t….
POSTNOTE: My favorite blogger has a good summary of yesterdays news about the CT massacre and the politics here. A pull quote from William Saletan included in this post: “This morning, a madman attacked more than 20 children at an elementary school in China. As of this writing, there are no reported fatalities.
A few hours later, a madman attacked an elementary school in Connecticut. As of this writing, 20 of those kids are dead.
The difference? The weapon. The madman in China had a knife. The madman in Connecticut had three semi-automatic guns.”
* UPDATE Dec. 19, 2012: I had wondered when the first comment would be added to the 684. I note that the article itself remains focused on the more recent Minneapolis shooting, but this comment appeared overnight from “Terry the Terrible”: “Bla, bla, bla. They already tried a ten yr experiment banning extra capacity mags, bayonet mounts(??? Musta been afraid of drive by bayonetings) and such and it did absolutly nothing twards reducing crime so we know another ban on (so called) assult weapons would be useless and stupid. Also. All of you folks that think taking all of our guns will solve every little thing need to be educated and taken to the range for a day of learning about and shooti.g yourself. You may even find that it is FUN! O.k., sorry for the rant. Peace… all you wicked and violent sounding gun grabbers. Leave us alone already- one of us might save your lives someday.”

#659 – Dick Bernard: "Black Friday" and "the Fiscal Cliff"

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A week ago today, Black Friday was raging. Actually, it began on Thanksgiving Day, and if one carries it even further, I first heard Christmas (shopping) music at my coffee stop right after November 1.
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Pre-Black Friday advertising, Nov. 17, 2012


Christmas in America is not so much a celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace; it is, rather, the major profit season for the entire commercial year. And it is likely primarily on credit card: “credit or cash?” is the mantra. Credit is preferred by merchants – more money to be made.
The main difference this year is the endless yammering over the supposed and dreaded “fiscal cliff” coming on December 31, when the 2002 tax cuts which have been a major part of the cause of our huge debt sunset.
So, while we members of the middle class are urged to spend money we don’t have on things we (or recipients) don’t need, of even want, we are to live in fear of the approaching fiscal cliff over which we apparently will tumble at midnight on December 31.
Happy New Year.
The best (and most entertaining) rendition of the fiscal cliff “conversation” came from Alan in Los Angeles early Friday morning. It is here, quite long as usual, but in my opinion, enlightening and very real.
Take some time to read it.

En Avant: A Significant Film Work in Progress on the French presence in Minnesota

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UPDATE: May 29, 2013: Here’s a 5-minute preview of the film. Note that it may take a bit of time to download, and that a password is required to access: the password is: enavant2013
French film producer and director Christine Loys has released this up-to-date precis about her project: Précis 130513
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An important film on the French presence in Minnesota, En Avant, is being prepared for production and at some point in the future will be released in France and in Minnesota.
At a special event at Alliance Francaise Minneapolis, on October 10, 2012, explorer and environmental advocate Will Steger of Ely, made brief introductory remarks before a discussion about the En Avant project.
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Will Steger at En Avant introduction at Alliance Francaise Minneapolis MN October 10, 2012


Why Will? The answer lies in one of those serendipity things some people call coincidences, but which to me have more of an “unseen hand” aspect to them. Christine: “Will Steger was there as my special guest because he was the first person to introduce me to Minnesota.”
Most Minnesotans know that back in April, 1986, Richfield native Will Steger led an intrepid group of adventurers on a trip by dogsled to the North Pole.
The adventure was successful, and back at home, on a chilly May day, I was among those who gathered outside the Minnesota state capitol for the welcome home. Theirs was a thrilling accomplishment.
At the time, there had been a small piece of news about a rather astonishing meetup on the Polar icecap on the 1986 adventure. It is best described by Jon Bowermaster, with this recollection by Will Steger:
“As I skied the last half mile [of the Antarctic crossing in 1989] I could not erase from my mind a picture of another time, another cold place. It was April 1986, the middle of the frozen Arctic Ocean, when [French doctor] Jean-Louis [Etienne] and I first met. He stepped to the top of a ridge of jumbled sea ice, seemingly out of nowhere, and we embraced, like brothers, though we’d never even been introduced. Everything that we’d done these past years evolved from that fated moment, from that embrace. We had turned our dreams – about adventure and cooperation, about preservation and the environment – into realities. We had the confidence to take risks, and the scene splayed in front of us now was our reward, our affirmation.
The Soviets had marked our entryway with red flags and made a Finish line. A gathering of one hundred, speaking a dozen different languages, swarmed around us as we came down the flag bedecked chute. As I called my dogs to a stop one last time and stepped out of my skis, Jean-Louis walked toward me. I lifted Sam onto my shoulder and Jean-Louis – completing the circle begun those years ago in the middle of the Arctic Ocean – wrapped us both in a bear hug.”
Back in France, Christine Loys, a photo journalist who initially was a friend of Dr. Etienne when he made his solo trek, became part of the Transantarctica expedition whose co-leaders were Will Steger and Dr Jean-Louis Etienne.

Will Steger, Christine Loys, Jean-Louis Etienne, 2009 in Paris, after Will had given a talk on climate change at the U.S. Embassy


Some time later, Ms Loys made a trip to this mysterious place called Minnesota, and in her journey through our state was startled to see French name after French name…towns, lakes, etc.
She learned that the motto of Minnesota is in French, L’Etoile du Nord; and that the motto of Minneapolis is En Avant, meaning “Forward”.
The French knew much about Quebec, and the French antecedents of Louisiana, but very little about this apparently French-drenched place called Minnesota, and Christine went to work.
The idea for a movie about the French in Minnesota was born, from the earliest days of people like Fr. Hennepin, to the present world-known Guthrie Theatre, designed by the French architect Atelier Jean Nouvel, which overlooks the very falls of St. Anthony which Frenchman Fr. Louis Hennepin saw and named in 1680.
Ms Loys hard work continues as she returns to France for some months, with plans to return to the Minnesota in 2013.
We wish her well.

Panelists at Alliance Francaise October 10, 2012


Panelists from left to right: Pierce McNally, attorney; Jérôme Chateau, CEP Normande Genetics, former President of the French American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) and today Vice President of FACC; François Fouquerel, Dean of “Les Voyageurs” at Concordia Language Villages; Robert Durant, Treasury/Secretary at the tribal Counsel of White Earth; Bob Perrizo, artist, journalist, writer, historian
Also speaking was Barbara Johnson, President of the City Council of Minneapolis who made the introduction. She is a descent of the French. Her maiden name is Rainville.
Dick Bernard was invited to make some remarks representing the 2012 Franco-Fete committee, of which five members were in attendance at the gathering.
This is also posted also here.

#629 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #50. The Senate District 53 Candidate Forum in Woodbury October 9.

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Last evening we attended the candidate forum for Senate District 53 at City Council Chambers in Woodbury. The event was expertly moderated by the League of Women Voters, and was televised by South Washington County Telecommunications Commission, and will likely be rebroadcast there between now and general election November 6. Check with SWCTC for details.
I don’t go to such events to become well-grounded in the candidates understanding and position on the issues. Only so much can be done with six candidates in one hour and many substantive questions, each limited to one minute answers.
Nonetheless I am glad we went.
Arriving home, there was an e-mail from a friend lamenting that she had forgotten about the Forum until it was too late. I responded “I thought everyone did pretty well (on both sides).”
In this case, “everyone” were candidates for Senate in SD 53 Susan Kent (DFL) and Ted Lillie (IR); candidates for HD 53A Pam Cunningham (IR) and JoAnn Ward (DFL); and candidates for HD 53B Andrea Kieffer (IR) and Ann Marie Metzger (DFL).
Five of the six candidates are female; two candidates are first term incumbents running for reelection, albeit in newly configured districts.
I didn’t expect any big surprises in this Forum, and there were none. I follow politics more closely than most and thus I’m more aware than most of the often huge gap between rhetoric and reality, especially when incumbents are defending their record without risking rebuttal by an equally well-informed colleague.
The battle-scarred veterans of the 2011-12 biennium at the legislature could, of course, defend their honor, and criticize the Governor and Democrats who were not there to give the other very substantial side of the story. It is to be expected. There is no priority for giving the two sides to the story, which there is, in abundance, in these “win-lose’ political hothouse days.
Mostly, I watched for sound bites and talking points and emphasis.
It should surprise no one that the DFL candidates (my partisan preference ‘side’) emphasized the needs of the middle class and support for labor; while the Republican candidates are tied to Business and Wealthy interests.
The Republican incumbents, Lillie and Kieffer, seemed to try to delicately dance away from their very real ownership of the two proposed Constitutional Amendments, even though they were architects of these proposals. Kieffer, in fact, was one of those who signed one of those ‘pledges’ to go for Voter ID. The DFL candidates were clear that they were in opposition. I don’t recall the Republican candidates saying how they, themselves, would vote.
(To me, these proposed Constitutional Amendments are the two defining issues of the difference between IR and DFL in this election. They are evidence of a breakdown in bipartisan problem solving.)
I was surprised by only one talking point that Rep. Kieffer actually decided to use in the gathering. It is the old Tea Party mantra: “we don’t have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem”. It is an old and very tired saw. Tuesday night was only the second time I have actually heard it in person. The first time was in the Woodbury Post Office line two years ago. I wrote about it then, here.
Oh, if it were all so simple as to reduce government of our city, state and nation to simple words and catchy phrases….
I think about what passes for political discourse these days.
Personally, I hope we’re getting to the end of the days of politics of slogans without substance.
Before driving to City Hall for the Forum last night, I picked up our mail, which included two attack ads, one against JoAnn Ward and the other against Susan Kent. One was from the Republican Party and the other from one of those ubiquitous “independent expenditure” groups. We are still a month from election, and I have kept all of the campaign mail that has come to our mailbox. All but 2 of the 17 ‘lit pieces’ have been from the Republican side; all but 2 of those have been attack pieces against the Democrat. All relate to this single local legislative district.
While completing this post, I was interrupted by a independent expenditure phone message in favor of one of the Republican candidates.
There is apparently a lot of money floating around for such campaigning this year.
There must be reason for Republicans to worry.
Yes, I’m DFL, and proud of our three candidates in SD 53. You can read about them here.
Directly related: here.