#233 – Dick Bernard: August 28, 1963 and today.

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August 28, 1963, I was a soldier in a U.S. Army Infantry Company. We were playing war in South Carolina, and had been slogging through the outback of that state for a week or more. Certainly, we had no access to television, and I don’t recall any contact with the outside world via radio either. We may as well have been in southeast Asia, which is what our training was about.
The August 28th March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech passed by without any notice on our parts. In fact, we didn’t know it was taking place.
We had, however, had our brush with segregation, deep south style. Our unit was integrated – the Army was integrated – but in the rural south you went by the rural south’s rules.
At one point, a bunch of guys came across a high school that had a shower. Whites were welcome, only. Another time there was a restaurant incident where the whites would be served but not the colored.
In Saluda, S.C. I recall a laundromat with the white entrance (the good machines) on street level; the colored entrance (the cast-off machines) in the lower level, down the hill. Country stores had segregated counters for serving white and colored. The rules were the rules.
One time a member of our company came up with a copy of the Atlanta Constitution, then and still Georgia’s premiere newspaper. In that paper was a most remarkable advertisement/column “Pickrick Says:“, advertising Pickrick Skillet Fried Chicken for 25 cents, but devoting most of its full column length to a segregationist diatribe by owner Lester Maddox, who some years later became Governor of Georgia.
I didn’t keep that paper, but “Pickrick” and Maddox stuck in my mind. Some years later, in Atlanta for a conference, I wanted to see this Pickrick place, and did, in then-new Underground Atlanta.
Some years after that I went to the microfilm library at the University of Minnesota and printed out Maddox’ weekly rants for the month of August, 1963. There were five of them. I still have the copies.
On August 31, 1963, Maddox commented on “The Washington March” of August 28. Verbatim, here is what he said: “The Washington March proved that the Communists have gained a stronghold in labor, religion and government. It also proved that the movement is not one that is Christian, American, nor is it a movement for equality, but has turned into a fight against the white race. White renegades in public office, education, religion, labor, the news media and in business are guilty and the blood to be shed will be on their hands.“*
Maddox went on with other comments of a similar nature about other things, but when I hear later about today’s charade on the National Mall in Washington, I will be using my experience in 1963 as relevant context.
Eerily, what Maddox said 45 years ago resonates with today’s fear-ridden haters who will make up the nucleus of tomorrows gathering. These are people who would like to roll back the clock to the good old days when Negroes knew their proper place, and that place wasn’t equal.
We’ve come a long way since 1863 and the Emancipation Proclamation, and 1963, when there was a Dream that somehow 1863 would come to reality. We will not be turned back in 2010. But there is a powerful and vocal faction that considers progress in things like peace and justice to be somehow evil, and their presence will be seen today. They need to be exposed to the bright light of day.
* – The best response to Maddox is from Martin Luther King himself, in his 1964 book, “Why We Can’t Wait”, which chronicles 1963. This book is still in print. About the only point King misses in the book is the Communist accusation. At the time, he likely did not know that J.Edgar Hoover’s FBI was trying to find links between him, the movement he was leading, and Communism. To my knowledge, Hoover/FBI found no such links, ever.
In a sense, Maddox’ comment about “white renegades” probably basically fits King’s comments on what he observed in the same year. The power structure, including churches and labor unions, did its best to blunt the civil rights movement. Prosperous Negroes, who had made good money in the existing system, were not interested in the risks inherent in social change. Individual Priests, Nuns, workers, and other “renegades” did make the difference. They were the ones who appeared in public, especially in the early days. They disobeyed their bosses, people like Maddox, and took risks.

#232 – Dick Bernard: Politics on a Stick

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Yesterday was the opening of the Minnesota State Fair, and like much of Minnesota, my State Fair gene kicks in, and I’ll make my way there, zombie-like, making my usual rounds, having my usual “health foods”, and come home again. It’s an annual ritual. I can’t help myself….
Every two years, coincident with the State Fair, comes the intensity of partisan politics and the endless parade of political advertisements on radio, television, and fliers in mailboxes. With large populations to reach, candidates must advertise. It is an essential.
But as “Nutrition” is to Whatever-is-on-a-Stick at the Fair, so “Truth” is to Political Advertising. Nutrition and Stick Food are oxymorons; so, often, are Truth and Political Advertising.
In politics, the intention is to make oneself look as good as possible; the other side as bad as possible, while seeming to tell the truth. This is at its most perverse from the assorted political action committees that have high-sounding names, but represent very narrow constituencies who prefer not to be known to the public.
Oddly, “we, the people”, not only enjoy dishonesty, we seem to crave it. What an odd way to pick our leaders.
Caveat Emptor.
Most people are willfully ignorant of politicians and the position they take, and politicians are wary of the dilemmas of honest politics, so I guess it is wishful thinking to imagine a more enlightened day when political argument can be intense, and those who participate can be trusted to take honest positions without need to trash their opposition or misrepresent their own…. But I can dream.
In the meantime, for those who do care, and do participate, I think it is important to make every effort to get to know the candidates, particularly the ones you are inclined to support, as well as possible, and to actually take the time to work for them in the ways that are available: money and time being the primary ones.
There are excellent candidates out there, well worth supporting. Often times their positive attributes are buried underneath a fog by their opponents, usually in negative political attack ads. Best to simply dismiss these and seek out some semblance of truth from other sources, which are available. And to judge the candidate not only one or two favorite issues of yours, but to consider the reality of the tensions they have (or will have) to daily experience in faithfully representing their diverse constituencies.
Personally I do think there is a major and substantive distinction between parties in this instance, but this blog is not a place to highlight that distinction.
I do offer, however, a historical picture of who controlled the government in Washington D.C. from 1977 to the present: Congress makeup 1977 on001. I felt compelled to do this chart in April of 2009, two and a half months into the Presidency of Barack Obama, because, even at that time, Obama was being labeled a failure by his enemies.
As I say: Caveat Emptor.

#231 – Dick Bernard: The Minnesota Orchestra; Preparing for the BBC Proms

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August 20 we spent a delightful evening at the Minnesota Orchestra Guarantors Concert at Orchestra Hall.
We’re long-time subscribers, so the superb music was no surprise. Beginning Friday night, August 27, 2010, the same Minnesota Orchestra performs in London at the famed BBC Proms – the only American orchestra on this years Proms list.
Over the years we’ve seen lots of conductors and guest conductors at the podium at Orchestra Hall. They are all leaders. But they are part of a team – an Orchestra – extraordinarily talented musicians who work together to bring to life music composed, most often, by long dead composers. Friday night we listened to Barber, Beethoven and Bruckner. (Minnesota Orchestra is a union orchestra, but this adds to its functionality. Conductors and Union members work within the rules to fashion brilliantly presented music.)
A few hours before Saturday’s concert, thanks to a couple of tips, I went to page 288 of the September, 2010, issue of Vanity Fair magazine to read a long article “Washington, We Have a Problem”, outlining the extreme dysfunction of our current political system in the United States.
Sitting there in row four directly behind Conductor Osmo Vanska at Orchestra Hall, I couldn’t help but compare/contrast the performance of a superb Orchestra against our own U.S. of A. as played out by its leaders in Washington and most especially the huge lobbying corps behind the scenes.
One might say that we in the U.S. have selected a Conductor for our National Orchestra. He is called “President of the United States”.
We bring our Conductor to a podium, facing an unruly mob of orchestra members (we can call them “Congress” and “Senate”), many of whom have no interest in anything other than the conductors failure. Within this Orchestra are people who not only do not practice the music for the performance to come, but feel it is their right to play whatever tune they feel like playing during the concert, if they even bother to show up. There is hardly any discipline in this motley crew; they are ‘hired’ by voters often with little interest in other than their own limited parochial issues. Some see their sole role as sowing discord.
Meanwhile, out in the audience of this national “orchestra”, we’re chatting up a storm, texting, cell phones out and at the ready, arguing with the people in front, behind and to the side, some of us trying to listen, but most of us immersed in our own worlds and needs. We feel no need for restraint or cooperation. I want country western from that bunch up there; you want 70s light rock; somebody else actually came for the dreadfully boring music we’re hearing up there – old, dead music. And we have to pay [taxes] for this?
What I describe isn’t much of a recipe for “success”.
Yet we extol our system of government as being the best that ever was or will be: a shining model for the world.
Friday nights concert at Orchestra Hall was superb, as expected.
And likely, at the BBC Proms in London on Friday night, August 27, our Minnesota Orchestra will be a superb representative of the very best that is America. Follow the tour here.
We deserve better from our own government.

#227 – Dick Bernard: The last truck out….

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Last night about 6:55 p.m. local time I turned on the TV to watch some evening news.
Rather than what I expected, I was watching the last combat units pulling out of Iraq into neighboring Kuwait. I sat transfixed by this until near 9 p.m. my time, and (if I recall rightly) 3:53 a.m. local time in Kuwait, August 19, 2010, when the last immense and other-worldly combat vehicle went through the border gate, which then closed behind it.
I felt I was witnessing history in the making.
At this moment, 5 a.m. local time on August 19, 2010, there is little on the internet news behind this screen I’m typing on. I’m sure this will rapidly change. NBC-MSNBC had the exclusive reporting rights on this one apparently because they possessed the technology to instantly cover the breaking story, which was secret until it actually happened.
Now the torrent of commentary and controversy will begin along all sorts of predicted trajectories. This was, after all, a withdrawal of the last specifically designated combat troops in Iraq, and 50,000 American troops remain in Iraq, and Afghanistan is the issue du jour. (Area map with Minnesota superimposed for scale is Iraq environs ca 2005001.)
But it is an historic event ranking, for me, with the time I stopped along highway 2 in northern Minnesota to listen to the account of “the Eagle has landed” on the moon (July 20, 1969); the early afternoon when I was in a science lab in Hallock MN when the PA announcement came that President Kennedy had been shot (November 22, 1963); the evening in 1991 when the car radio brought news that the U.S. had invaded Iraq in Desert Storm (January 16, 1991) (March, 1991, note from a GI there, to me, is Soldier letter 1991001); Afghanistan Oct 7 2001, and Baghdad (March 20, 2003); the iconic last helicopter out of Saigon (April 29, 1975)….
I will especially be watching to see how (not if, but how) the very odd “coalition” of the Far Right and Far Left will position on this particular historical development.
Neither Far Left or Far Right seem to have any time for President Obama these days, for precisely opposite reasons. They have joined forces in driving down his poll numbers – it is a perfect example (in my opinion) of the danger of drawing false conclusions from seemingly obvious data in polls. Lately “the fur has been flying” over a comment about the “professional Left” from the White House Press Secretary. Since I mostly “hang” with people over on the dark (left) side, and indeed watched last nights development on the news program of one of these “professional Lefties”, I’ve seen commentaries ad infinitum about that supposed slight a few days ago.
A friend, a couple of days ago, caught this unholy alliance idea pretty well, in a personal comment on another issue: “The truly interesting thing is how the left and the right see Obama…. One sees him as a “communist”, the other sees him in cahoots with Wall Street. Based on that alone he must be doing something right.”
Ironically (my opinion), President Obama is the voice of moderation, seeking some stability in this almost collapsed nation of ours, and this requires navigating extraordinarily rough seas.
So, I’ll watch and see how this all plays out.
Tonight, just by happenstance, I’m moderating an inaugural and small community conversation brought together by five of us to try to get into civil conversation about issues of the day. It will be an interesting experiment, hopefully the first of many such conversations of people of differing feelings and beliefs. (We gather at Peaceful United Methodist Church on Steepleview Rd in Woodbury if you want to join us – 7 p.m.)
What I witnessed on TV last night wasn’t on our agenda for tonight.
Tonight it likely will be.
Stay tuned.
(NOTE: I have other commentaries on the general issue. Most recent is a commentary on Afghanistan. Simply print the word in the Search Box. War is another category.)

#225 – Dick Bernard: Social Security celebrates a birthday

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Sunday, August 15, 2010, is the 75th birthday of the signing of the Social Security Act. Actually the day was a Wednesday, and there is more than ample history available at the Social Security website.
As a veteran recipient of the benefits of Social Security, and as a contributor to the program for many years as an employee, I have an obvious interest in the act.
As a person, I most often think of the Act in the context of my Grandfather Bernard, my Dad’s Dad. In his story is the story of both the history of and the need for a national system of income security.
Grandpa turned 65 on February 26, 1937. This happened to be virtually coincidental with the first actual payouts to Social Security recipients. Since this was a brand new program, he had likely contributed nothing to it. A heckuva deal. But life is a bit more complicated than that.
For many years, Grandpa was chief engineer in the flour mill in Grafton ND. He had a first-grade education, was a self-made and hard-working man, the “bread-winner” of the family, and proud of it. In context of the times, he was middle class. They owned a house, car, and were thrifty, saving money in the local bank. In 1925, he and Grandma took their only vacation that I know of: they spent a month back in the Quebec of his birth.
Life was going along well, that summer of 1925, when he was 53, and Grandma 44. These were the good old days, when heroic men fed their families and didn’t rely on the dole. Women stayed at home and raised the kids, and if you weren’t shiftless you worked for a living: no unemployment insurance or the like.
But then as now, unbeknownst to them, a curve ball was to deliver a strikeout to their best laid plans.
In the month of May, 1927, a couple of weeks before my Dad graduated from high school, two events happened within the same week in Grafton ND: the flour mill closed its doors forever; and the bank which held all of the family savings went under, leaving the family with no livelihood or savings. Dad had planned to go to college that fall, but those plans were delayed. Grandpa was 55, not the expected retirement age.
The Great Depression is usually marked as beginning in 1929. Theirs started two years earlier. Their youngest son, Frank, was still at home, 12 years old.
There is little historical record of how they survived the first half of the 1930s. Grandpa is said to have gotten some income from being a night watchman at the closed mill. He possibly received some income from a small pension resulting from service in the Spanish-American War in 1898-99 – a promise long-delayed by Congressional inertia. They probably got some assistance from relatives in the area, and they took in a couple of farm kids as boarders during some of the winter months. Some of the bank savings finally came back to them at about 10 cents on the dollar.
But when Grandpa qualified for Social Security in ’35, it was undoubtedly a god-send to the family, and it made possible a tiny house which they bought in Grafton, and lived in till they died in 1957 and 1963 respectively.
Today Grandpa’s generation is gone, and Dad’s is rapidly departing. Social Security has been a welcome reality in their lives.
I’m in the lucky generation to have the full benefits of Social Security.
The next generation – my kids – is much more vulnerable, and seems unaware of its vulnerability, and is courted to reject Social Security in favor of rugged individualism once again.
Ironically, the coalition to privatize social security seems to be some of the the youngers and the elders, for opposing reasons.
I hope they both wake up before the youngers experience the consequences of short-sightedness.
Grandpa thought he was secure, too.

#224 – Dick Bernard: "God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy"

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Minnesota’s 2010 Primary Election is now history. Let the analysis…and the wars…begin! And there will be wars.
The August 10 election had meaning; of course, everyone has the right…and tendency…to attach their own meaning to the results, and will. This includes me. For me, there are essentially three kinds of voters in political elections: those who vote FOR somebody; those whose vote is AGAINST someone they badly want defeated; and the third category: those who don’t vote at all. The third category has a whole smorgasbord of reasons for not voting, and is always the largest single bloc – an odd fact in this country that supposedly reveres its devotion to the practice of Democracy.
On Tuesday, a huge portion of the Minnesota electorate did not bother to vote, even with a long absentee voting “window” easily accessible. For whatever reason, they just didn’t care.
Here are some small contributions to this conversation:
First, the most recent 2010 Primary Election Results can be found here.
When I last looked at this site, about 10:30 a.m., August 11, here were the totals for Governor only, with virtually all votes counted and reported:
Independent:
Tom Horner received 11,315 votes, or 64% of the total cast for Independent candidates for Governor.
Republican:
Tom Emmer received 106,110 votes, or 82% of the total.
Democrat (DFL):
Margaret Anderson Kelliher received 174, 378 votes or 39.83% of the total.
Mark Dayton received 180,558 votes or 41.24% of the total.
Matt Entenza received 80,092 votes or 18.2% of the total.
These totals are, of course, meaningless without some context.
In the last high profile election in Minnesota, for United States Senator in 2008, the final vote total, after every conceivable vote was analyzed and recounted, showed this:
Al Franken received 1,212,629 votes
Norm Coleman received 1,212,317 votes
(Coleman-Franken final election results 2008 election can be found here.)
The only relevant “apples to apples” comparison I choose to note from the above data is the number of persons who actually voted in the 2010 Primary and voted for a DFL candidate, compared to the number who actually voted for the Democrat (DFL) candidate Al Franken in 2008.
Now will come the “spin” from all sides, the liars poker which passes for elections in the United States.
We will get what we deserve: a barrage of thinly disguised propaganda, presenting carefully crafted lies designed to pass as the truth.
We know what we’re getting from these “promises” and misleading messages.
It works.
In fact we demand it.
Which leads back to the title of this piece, “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy“. As the singer probably said to the old man, “Ain’t that the truth.”
Caveat Emptor.

#221 – Dick Bernard: Flogging the "Truth"

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Yesterday’s news brought three bits that seem very much related and pertinent. Then, today, came a John Stewart piece that is an appropriate summary.
1. A St. Paul man, Koua Fong Lee, was released from jail halfway through an eight year sentence for criminal vehicular homicide. The judge said he was entitled to a new trial, and the County attorney said they wouldn’t be asking for a new trial. In other words, he was innocent of the charges for which he was jailed. In our system, the injustice of four years in jail is now called justice. The entire story is in today’s papers. The Minneapolis paper front page headline says “A FREE MAN“. If Mr. Lee is lucky, most people will believe that he got a raw deal in being sentenced in the first place; if he’s unlucky, some will say he got away with murder.
2. Last night a news clip featured Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, U.S. Senate Minority leader, talking in politician-speak. What he was saying, without saying it directly, was that “compromise” is not in the vocabulary of today’s right-wing politicians. “Just say No” is what passes for bargaining…and it has worked, if the only definition of success is making sure there is as little progress as possible towards a moderate centrist country, and in the process re-taking control. McConnell was lying, in a politically acceptable way.
3. Yesterday afternoon came an e-mail commentary from a friend, speaking about another piece of recent national news, and commenting in effect on both of the above: “If people – millions and millions of people – still think that Obama is not even a US citizen, then any other facts are really beside the point to them. how do we navigate in a political waterway where facts are void? I have not figured this out.
But I am very much understanding now what the head of LaPrensa told me in Managua, Nicaragua, when I visited there during the Contra war of the mid-80s. La Prensa was their newspaper and one of [then-President Ronald] Reagan’s big beefs with Nicaragua was censorship of the press. So, we asked the editor of the newspaper if he censored the press. He said yes. We asked why. And he said something like this, “Here’s what we censor. There are people who create images of the Virgin Mary crying, and they say that she’s crying because the Sandinistas are in power. We say we’re not going to print that because it’s not true. They say we are censoring.” I really get that now – does free press mean we have to continue to let “news” stations like Fox report falsely – tell true lies? Is/Should lying really be protected as “free speech”?
My friend makes an important point.
In #1, above, Koua Fong Lee was let down, apparently, by a less than effective attorney, and in addition didn’t have the benefit of knowing that other vehicles similar to his would later have similar spontaneous acceleration problems, causing a tragedy 2006.
In #2, Sen. McConnell was politically lying with a straight face…his lie wouldn’t even be considered a lie in today’s America. It would be talked about in different kinds of words, like “spin”. But its intent is no different than any bald lie told by a kid to mislead or deceive.
Between the politician and the public stands (supposedly) the media, who we have come to trust to convey accurate information.
That trust has been more and more violated – witness the Breitbart-Sherrod video fiasco recently (the intentionally false editing of a video to make it appear the speaker, Sherrod, was saying something essentially opposite to what she was saying).
One is taking a big risk believing anything at face value from any medium.
We can choose to be trusting and naive when it comes to picking our source of news. It is dangerous to ourselves and our society.
Post-script, pre-publish: as I completed the above draft, in came another e-mail with this 10 minute segment from John Stewart’s Daily Show about Congress’ failure to act to pass a bill to give medical care aid to 9-11 First Responders. In the end, in my opinion, Stewart is talking not as much about Congress itself, as he is about we who are manipulated by sound-bites and political ads.
Caveat Emptor.

#220 – Dick Bernard: Target, MN Forward, and the other side of "Branding"

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Breaking news on this issue. The remainder of this post was written before this news bulletin was received.
In recent weeks Target Corporation has found itself in the national Bulls eye for corporate sponsorship of a “business as citizen” political action committee called MN Forward.
Pipsqueaks, common citizens like myself, can’t impact on such a behemoth…or can we?
I keep thinking back to a surprise snowstorm around Thanksgiving, 1983. I was enroute to Duluth, and at tiny Canyon MN, the snow on four-lane highway 53 became so heavy that I and other motorists were literally stopped in our tracks, and had to be rescued by snowmobiles.
Salvation for me was being able to stay overnight in the tiny store/gas station/home which is pictured below. The proprietors harbored myself and an over the road trucker who was, like me, stalled on the freeway. We had beds to sleep in, and a simple macaroni hotdish – under the circumstances a gourmet meal.

Canyon Standard Oil Station Spring 1984


The Canyon store had been, and continued to be a good way stop for me as I traveled from Minnesota’s Iron Range to Duluth. I’d get gas, maybe a candy bar, and engage in some conversation.
The first credit card I ever had was a Standard Oil card, and it was used exclusively for gas and oil – this was in the days before full service convenience stations. Standard Oil had my loyalty – a positive brand image. Not only did I have their card, but one of their stations had gone the extra mile to give me exceptional service.
But all was to change, probably less than a year after the Thanksgiving good deed.
I stopped by the station as I always did, and the owners told me they were no longer going to be carrying gasoline. Standard Oil higher-ups had decided they were too small, and they were taken off the distribution list for fuel products. Their only sin, best as I could tell, was their small volume. They weren’t worth the trouble. Ultimately the store closed.
When the Canyon Store stopped selling Standard Oil products, I stopped going to Standard Oil, and I never went back, even as the brand changed names as the company was bought and sold. If the sign said “Standard Oil”, wherever I was, I went to the next station down the road….
Twenty years after Standard Oil had issued me one of their credit cards, I stopped patronizing Standard Oil. Their branding had become a negative for me.
I’m not naive.
My petty amount of business would not bring Standard Oil to its knees.
Similarly, my not shopping at Target will not seem to have an impact.
But image is critical to a company like Target, or like Standard Oil in an earlier day.
You cannot rebuild a reputation simply by hoping people will forget.
I never did….

#219 – Dick Bernard: The Practice of Politics

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July 22 I took the four hour training required to be an Election Judge in Minnesota. A half dozen instructors from the County Elections Department led the 30 or so of us in attendance in the mind-numbing process of at least seeing, one time, the kinds of things a judge needs to be aware of on election day. Judges are required to reveal their party designation, Republican, Democrat or Independent. On election day you will see lots of pairs of judges: one of one party, one of another. It is important, and in my experience the judges take their duty of non-partisanship seriously.
Yesterday I voted absentee for the Primary Election which is next Tuesday, August 10. That process, too, went easily and orderly. The person who gave me the ballot took her job seriously. While there is much heat about a minute number of scoundrels playing fast and loose with the rules (criminals voting, and the like), the odds of such happening are infinitesimally small compared, even, with the even worse scoundrels suggesting foul play in elections. While the odds are certain there will be mistakes made by citizens like me who are judges in any elections we are trying to do our best and the process works extremely well.
In between July 22, and August 2 was an interesting time period for me, a time of getting involved in my parties activities.
Here’s a small photo gallery and commentary on the hard – sometimes agreeable but not always – work that candidates have to do to get noticed by an electorate.

Tarryl Clark, candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 6th CD, marches in the Lumberjack Days Parade in Stillwater, Sunday July 25. She had just returned from a speaking engagement at a Convention in Las Vegas.


Tarryl Clark was in Las Vegas for the Convention of a group called Netroots Nation, and introduced U.S. Sen. Al Franken there. She said that they had knocked on 4,000 Nevada doors during her time at the Convention – door knocking is a staple of local politics. A California friend of mine, Jane Stillwater, was at the Convention and said this: “I had the honor of meeting Clark at her event…Sadly…not all that many people showed up. But I did! She was in competition with people getting ready for the big Kos party, plus the main speaker ran late that evening. But Clark served dessert!…Wish I could do more to help. I gave her ten dollars. And a hug.”
I thought about that $10…if every voting age American gave an average of $10 – and only $10 – to help their choice for representative get elected, that would mount up to about $2 billion. You cannot get elected for peanuts in this country. Most don’t contribute at all.

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (WI) at a lawn party fundraiser in Minneapolis, July 25, 2010.


My spouse, Cathy, is a big fan of Russ Feingold, and she is talking with him at this lawn party. As with Tarryl Clark and all candidates for major office regardless of party, fundraising has to go across state lines. It would be good to have public financing and strict limits on campaigning but until that happens, candidates need to meet and greet wherever they can. The public exposure is essential.

Garrison Keillor introduces Congressional candidate Tarryl Clark at a fundraiser at his home on July 28.


I would suppose most of us really came to see the Keillors home on Summit Avenue in St. Paul (nice place). But here too, celebrity fundraisers are critical assets in a campaign. Keillor put on a mini-Prairie Home Companion in his living room. We were packed in like sardines…and loving it. On leaving, I noticed a very large pile of fund-raising envelopes.

Peter Woitock, an organizer for a non-partisan organization, Working Famillies Win, meets with a group of interested citizens on July 29.


People like Peter are unsung heroes, young folks doing the scratch organizing that is so difficult in these polarized times. His group wants to get grassroots and non-partisan progressive oriented conversation groups off the ground around the country. I really admire people like him and support them however I can. Check out Working Families Win.
Politics is a grind, but a most important one. Every one of us is Politics.
Get involved. It’s productive and important work for our democracy.
Minnesotans: get out and vote on August 10.

#218 – Dick Bernard: Infrastructure

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This morning is a hot and sticky one here in the Twin Cities.
An hour or so ago, I was about a mile into my usual 2 1/2 mile walk when I met another walker who seemed to be in some distress. I said “good morning“, and he said “I don’t think I’m going to make it back“, and sat down with a nearby garbage can as his backrest. Sweat was pouring off of him.
We were a ways out in the woods, so to speak, though not that far. “Do you have a cellphone?“, I asked. “No“. Neither did I. Lesson #1.
Where do you live? He gave me his address. Neither of us had a pencil or paper. Lesson #2.
There was nothing I could do for him just staying there, I had no idea when or if there would be other walkers coming by, so I told him I’d go to get help, and I backtracked my route reciting over and over his name and address: “2531 __ Unit __, J__K___”
Back at the road and closest neighborhood – perhaps a half mile – I walked to the nearest house and rang the doorbell. No answer. People were at work. Should I go to the next house, or the one across the street, or “catty-corner”?
I was walking across the street when I saw a mini-van driving towards me and I waved it down. Thankfully, it stopped. A young woman, Jenny, with a small child in the back seat rolled down her window and I described the situation and said it looked like a 911 call was needed. She immediately dialed her cell phone. “I’m in Nursing School“, she said, willing to help, and she proceeded to drive down the walking path to the man, who was still sitting beside the garbage can. She talked to the man, all the while on the phone.
An ambulance was on the way. The man’s condition was such that he could get into the car, and she drove back with him to the nearest road. All seemed under control, and I went on…but shortly changed my mind and backtracked to make sure all was okay.
I arrived at the road, and along with Jenny there was a State Highway Patrol and a City Police vehicle, and an ambulance was just pulling up. JK was being assisted from the car to the ambulance, and as I write I have no idea how he is doing: whether it was a heart episode, or dehydration, or something else that he was experiencing when I met him at that garbage can. But I know the situation was extremely well covered by the responders.
All the walk home I kept thinking of lessons learned from this episode, and the primary one was how lucky we are to have an “infrastructure” which includes, especially, people who care about each other, including the ones they do not know; and how important it is to have well trained and available municipal services.
I also was reminded, this morning, that I am part of this infrastructure, and if I am lucky enough to have a cell phone, a pencil and a piece of paper, they will, along with my hat and personal ID, be essential parts of my preparation for my daily walk.
Our infrastructure is also a very fragile thing…easy to imagine that it is really not all that necessary, and a drain on our finances: a good topic for political bashing. But this morning on a local walking path, was evidence to the contrary.