The NCAA Final, Hurdsfield and Sykeston

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Tonight in downtown Minneapolis MN either Virginia or Texas Tech will be National Champions in College Basketball.  You won’t see us among the 74,000 in the stands.  Easier to watch it on TV.

My contribution to the tournament is some reminiscences of country North Dakota Basketball in the 1950s.  More about the photo in a moment:

Pictured above is the Sykeston Wildcats of 1957-1958.  I’m top left, next to my Dad, who was coach more of necessity than interest or coaching ability.  He was also the Superintendent of the tiny school (nine seniors that year).

We did pretty well that year: 15-4, winning the County Tournament at Fessenden (photo above).  We played Hurdsfield twice, beating them at Hurdsfield 71-38; and a second time in Sykeston 80-41.  At the end of this post is a bit more about our team and our season.

But this blog, before Virginia and Texas Tech tip off tonight, is about a marvelous piece of North Dakota history, forwarded to me a few weeks ago.  It is about Hurdsfield High School in 1953-54 and it speaks eloquently and humorously about the reality of tiny town basketball on the prairie.

The description is six pages, well illustrated, and can be read in its entirety here: Hurdsfield ND 1953-54001.  The author, then, was a first year teacher from Wisconsin.  When he wrote the article he was a retired history professor with a distinguished career.

The article unleashed a flood of personal memories for me, as I would guess it would similarly jog the memories of other old timers, with their own stories from their own towns.

I’ll leave this post with the two pages from the tiny Sykeston yearbook of 1958, for those interested in more information about our basketball team of 1954-58: Sykeston 1957-58001.  (An earlier Sykeston team, in 1950, won third in the ND State Class C tournament.  I was 9 years old at the time, and at the game, but don’t remember anything about it.  But I was there! Sykeston 1949-50001.

May your favorite team win, and may it be close!

POSTNOTE comments April 10, 2019:

The NCAA final was awesome. In the end, Virginia defeated Texas Tech in overtime.  The official story is here.

From Larry: Thanks  for the photo.  I remember Jerry Sondag from long ago at VCSTC, as well as, of course, Dick Bernard!  from Dick: Duane Zwinger also went to Valley City State Teachers College.  Arlo Neumiller became a dentist.  I’m not certain of the others.

Two other notes came after the initial posting:   from my sister, Mary: Great fun…these guys put a lot of energy into March Madness as did the slightly less aggressive and talented from the old days – course the Flos and the Marys of the era remember the importance of the cheerleader! 

Dick: Ouch!

from the 1958 Sykeston Annual:

Sykeston Cheerleaders, 1957-58

From the Sykeston Yearbook for 1949-50: Sykeston Girls 1949-50003

In 1957-58, I don’t have record of a girls team.  I do remember that girls basketball, as it was, then, restricted any team member to half-court only.

A note from Darleen, who was a PE teacher in the 1960s:  “I read the article on Hurdsfield after I returned home and it is a winner!!!    I had not planned to read it & definitely not the entire article, but as I read, I couldn’t put it down.   I taught in some of the gyms that he wrote about — of course none that had a trap door in the middle of the court or a ladder to get to the latrine.   Carrington’s “old gym” was similar to what [the author] described and Rugby’s I’ll have to tell you about — a real classic.

Rugby is where Phil Jackson played in his Junior High yrs.”
“Phil Jackson” struck a chord – NBA legend who learned basketball in ND.  When I was in 8th grade, in Ross ND, the high school team played in the county tournament in the brand new fieldhouse in Williston ND.  My recollection is that we were to be part of the first game to be played in this fieldhouse, which was also where Phil Jackson played his high school basketball a few years later.
None of the other team members wanted to lead the team out for the game, so I ended up with the honors (this was an afternoon game, and I don’t recall more than a few in the stands.)  For years, the fieldhouse was named in honor of its famous Alumni.  Here’s an article about it.   Memories….
Oh, by the way, the Women’s NCAA champion 2019: here.
from Debbie: I appreciate your story about your HS basketball team.  My uncles, the Messner boys, (from 6 to 11 years older than me) were basketball players too and good ones.   My mom used to take me to their games in Pekin Auditorium before I even started school, so I’ve been a basketball fan forever.  The Messners won a regional tournament back in the late 50’s and it was a great triumph for tiny Pekin.  My uncle Melvin is receiving the award.

Pekin High School Basketball Team 1950s, winner of Regional tourney in Class C.

 

Celine Dion

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Sorting through papers recently, I came across a photo, received in October, 2007, from my cousin, Pauline.  The photo was taken in April, 2007, in Las Vegas, with Celine Dion, Pauline and three of her sisters, one of whom knows Celine very well.

Five French-Canadians, all five Canadian.

I’d guess everybody knows Celine Dion in context with her music.  A quick trip to YouTube has Celine and Peabo Bryson singing the title song from the movie Beauty and the Beast.

But the photo by itself would not have jogged this blog.  Another event yesterday brought the idea to celebrate a bit those of us proud of our French-Canadian ancestry.  More in a moment on yesterdays happening….

The Grandpa of the four sisters was the older brother of my Grandma, from the tiny village of Oakwood North Dakota.  That would make my Dad and their Dad, first cousins.

Grandma Josephine, born 1881 at then-St. Andrews ND at the junction of the Park and Red River of the North, lived her long life with Grandpa Henry Bernard, native of Quebec, not far from where she grew up, in Grafton.  In 1899, her brother, Arcidas, born 1876, in Dakota Territory, and spouse Clara, came north to farm  in the French-Canadian area south of Winnipeg Manitoba.  In the way of all pioneers of all nationalities, their ancestors and mine came to establish themselves in various places, becoming good citizens, wherever they lived.

“The rest of the story”?

Yesterday, we stopped in to give the neighbor across the street a little assist with a couple of things he needed help with.  Don, now 89 and every day more fragile, is proud of his ancestry, mother French-Canadian and Native American, and father, from Luxembourg roots.

Don is feeling his age these days, and divesting of his small treasures.  His small home is a museum, from years of travel and collecting, all, now, in his past.

This day he gave a gift: perhaps 20 CDs he’s kept over the years.  There was a variety, but two I especially noticed, Celine Dion.  Later I looked at them, and played them.  One was from about 1990, the second from 1993.  From the discography, I learned that they were Celine’s first two CDs in English, when she was in her 20s.  (She had several earlier, in French.)  The jacket of the first is pictured below.

 

Heritage is important.  Tomorrow Don will attend a talk about the French precedents of the Mendota area of St. Paul-Minneapolis.  The presentor will be from another French-Canadian historical place down the Mississippi River, Prairie du Chien WI.

Interested in things French-Canadian and Minnesota?  Visit our website FAHF.org, the French-American Heritage Foundation.  Among many resources there, click Library, click Chez Nous and you can find 1000 pages of a newsletter for French-Canadian published 1980-2002.  Check it out.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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“…Everyone in this country should have good food and medication….”  Snippet” of conversation overheard by passerby at local fitness club, March, 2019.  See postnote, near the end of post.

More on “the AGED” “below the fold”….  Please read the last paragraph.  I am hoping that this post will provide lots of grist for conversation and thought.

From the public brochure for the new Medicare Law, 1965. See the entire brochure, and more personal comments, “below the fold”.

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I would strongly encourage watching the entire hour program with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aired on Friday, March 29, but I’m not positive whether the entire program, as I viewed it, will be available, or when, but significant portions can be viewed here.

Much of the conversation Friday night centered around pieces of a proposal called “The Green New Deal”, which can be read here.  Of course, the proposal is controversial.  What isn’t controversial these days?  This is a proposal about helping preserve our – especially the next generations –  future.  The Green New Deal is a very conservative notion; and who better to shape that future than young people, like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, who will have to live in it.

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As I watched the MSNBC full hour with Chris Hayes on Friday evening, I was thinking of the “generation gap”.  I’m about to turn 79; Chris Hayes, host, said he was 39; Ocasio-Cortez is 29.  As Hayes said, “you can do the math”.

This is my first mention of Ocasio-Cortez at this space; the first in 1,442 published posts since 2009.  I suspect it will not be the last.  She, and many others, are the vanguard for saving the the future of their generation (people like me will be dead and gone).  The Green New Deal is a heap better than planning for the next war, or pretending a belief will make something  true.

One of my grandchildren is older than Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, and since her birth I’ve made no secret of my commitment to trying to make a livable future for this younger generation.

Bah-humbug to those of my generation who dismiss their kids and grandkids future.  We’ve all seen that bumper sticker “I’m spending my kids inheritance”.  It takes on new meaning in these days of attempting to dismiss climate change and the like.  We are spending everything…we don’t know exactly when it will run out, but the clock is ticking faster, and as everyone who is old knows, it doesn’t last forever.  “You can’t take it with you“.

I am an elder, so I know a fair amount about what a long life lived is all about.  About sacrifices made for me, about mistakes I’ve made, about this or that witnessed or experienced by myself or my ancestors before me.  Things like War and the Great Depression.  We dismiss the past and ignore the future at our great peril.  Our greatest investment should be the future of those who will be here long after we’re gone.

The current Vice-President (quick, what’s his name?) had an applause line the other day, which seems to be a new ‘nut graph‘ for all occasions.  All that “green” meant, in his rendition, was “taxes”…. “And the only thing green about the so-called Green New Deal is how much green it’s going to cost taxpayers if these people ever pass it into law.”   (This comes direct from Fox News…anyone interested in finding it can simply do the google, like I did.)  “[T]hese people”…?

Of course, into the same speech came the current scare-phrase du jour: “socialism”.  (There is a lot, good to be said for “socialism”.  Medicare, which we elders covet, is really a “socialist” program….  This is a discussion we need to have, with a very open mind.)  “Don’t touch my Medicare” someone will say; in the next breath they’ll say “socialism is evil”.  The two are peas in a pod….

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“HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE AGED”

Found in the abundant junk at the North Dakota farm in 2015 was the entire Medicare brochure from 1965: Medicare001. Sometimes junk is a treasure.  This is worth reading in its entirety.   The front cover is pictured at the beginning of this post.

Everyone has their own story:

In 1965, Medicare had just been enacted into law, and the potential recipients included my grandparents, Ferd and Rosa Busch, then 84 and 81 years of age.  Their last kids at home, Uncle Vincent and Aunt Edithe, also living on the same farm, were 40 and 45 respectively, and Medicare coverage for them was many years away.  I was 25, then, and my wife had been buried the very weekend Medicare had been signed into Law by President Lyndon Johnson.  My wife had died of kidney disease at age 22.  My oldest son, Tom, now 55, was a year old.  (My other grandparents had died in 1957 and 1963, each dying in hospitals.)

My grandparents were on Medicare.  Grandpa Busch died suddenly at home a little over six months after Medicare began.  I doubt he had ever been hospitalized, though I’m sure he should have been.  Grandma briefly used Medicare the last few months of her life in 1972.  I have been on Medicare, now, for near 14 years.  It has been an economic and physical life saver, most recently open heart surgery 4 months ago.

Nowadays there are people who think that Medicare should end; there are others who think everyone should be on Medicare.  Should health be a right or a luxury?  That is the essence of one of the current debates.  Paradoxically, many of those who most want to get rid of it for others in the future, or things like the Affordable Care Act, are people who now directly benefit from the program.

Such is how things seem to go.  Alexandria and Chris are now young, and they will, Lord willing, grow old, as I have been privileged.  Medicine, drugs, and other “socialistic” programs do cost money, and not everyone benefits directly, but the benefit is always there if needed.

The politics of this and other programs is stark, these days.  Medicare will be saved for people of my generation, until we are dead.  It is politically expedient.  Money will be saved by cutting the benefits (and perhaps ultimately the entire program) to the younger people, hoping they won’t notice.  After all, why bother?  They are “forever young” and won’t have to deal with it.  And there is that deficit, swelled by the tax cuts of 2017.  Magical thinking, is what I’ve heard it called.

This is time for the youth to take over, and I applaud Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and many, many others in her group of new leaders.  There are great numbers of elders, like me, who’ll support their efforts.  But, sadly, probably even greater numbers who don’t much care about what happens in the future, and are focused only on the now, and on the ever more dimly remembered “good old days”.

To the young:  get on the court;  keep on, keeping on!  It is your future that is at stake.

This and following: World Trade Center New York City June, 1972 photos by Dick Bernard

1978 card from Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

POSTNOTE: The comment which leads this post was made earnestly and civilly from a young man to a young woman.  I’m the one who overheard it.  I don’t know the context, the before or after.  It marked, to me, a good beginning point to one of many an essential conversations.  What are the rights of a human being in this by far the richest country in the world?  (The U.S. has about 5% of the world’s population, and 25% of the wealth).  What are our responsibilities to those who have less?

THE SHORT AND LONG TIME SOLUTION: I support the aspiration of young people (those my kids age and younger).  The world we leave behind, is the one that they inherit.  In a democracy, it is those who act who prevail.  This means, among other things, that the young need to not only vote, but to act in their own behalf – supporting what they need for their future.  They need to encourage others to vote, well informed, and to support good candidates in all the ways necessary, including financially.  They can’t afford to be lazy or complacent.  This is hard work.  But work which needs to be done, and cannot be delegated.

COMMENTS (see additional at very end, below):

from Michelle: Thx Dick! Always love your perspective

from Nancy, about a film about Ocasio-Cortez now at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival: “If you have time, Dick, you may want to attend this film. It will be shown three times during the MSP Intl Film Festival — I already bought my ticket for April 13th. I assume that tickets for this will go fast, so you should probably buy online ahead of time, if you plan to go.”

from Molly: Thanks, Dick, for a good post and for the link to another good post.

from Norm: I am just an ordinary individual as well albeit with a curmudgeon side that shows through on occasion.

Yes, I will read again the piece that you forward regarding Sagan and the clowns [here] and think about it some more, something that I think all of us should think hard about and reflect upon what we helped to create.
For example:
  1.  Why did the voters in MIchigan, and especially union voters, show their appreciation for Obama and the Democrats for bailing out GM and saving all of those high paying jobs with good benefits by voting for Trump…when the Republicans wanted to let the company fail?
  2.  Why did so many people and seniors in particular buy into the bull crap that Obama Care was going to cut their Medicare benefits?
  3. Why did so many Democrats get on their purist high horse and vote for Trump out of spite instead of Clinton because the Democratic Party did not endorse an Independent as in an Independent (not then and not now is Sanders a Democrat)?
  4.  They did understand that the next president was going to be able to fill several slots on the SCOTUS and that Trump would sure as hell pushing for very conservative candidates compared to what Clinton would likely have sent forth.  They did understand that those appointments would/could affect public policy for generations to come, didn’t they?  Of course, they did not think that issue thorough very well as they only were concerned about taking their bats and balls home and sitting and whining “poor us ain’t awful” in a secluded corner…”they didn’t nominate our man so we just are not going to play!”
  5.  Why did we in the most condescending politically correct manner send a politically unseasoned novice to Congress allowing her think that she was so important and then immediately began stepping all over herself and confirming for many that the Democrats are all about identity politics all worried about the so called “underrepresented groups” (what a croc!) at the expense of its long standing and long supportive base?
Yes, Dick, we have to think long and hard about these things and more and try to resist the significant part of our DNA that allows us to shoot ourselves in the feet whenever we can so as to be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as they say.
We often cite Wellstone and his assertion that  we all do better when we all do better…something that we often trumpet as who we are and/or could be but almost as often something that we do not put into practice due to political correctness, “underrepresented group” myths, and so on.

A Peace of My Mind

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Mark you calendar:

Tuesday, April 9, will be a marvelous 10th anniversary celebration of a great project, John Noltner’s “A Peace of My Mind”.  You’re  invited to the party in South Minneapolis.  All details are here. 

My acquaintance with John goes back a number of years when we met at a meeting of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP).  I asked John if he recalled the year: “Best I can recall we first met at a MAP meeting in 2010.  I came as I started A Peace of My Mind so I could meet some folks in the peace community and learn a little more about what was going on.”    I responded to John, that was how I got involved with MAP, in 2002 – I simply came to a meeting.

Not long after, to my recollection, John did one of his first programs at the Nobel Peace Prize Festival at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.  I stopped in.  It was a well received program.  And on it has gone, to an ever broader audience.

John’s project since the  beginning has been to record the images and the stories of people around the U.S., emphasizing peace.  As I recall, he came from a background of professional photographer for national magazines.  The time before 2010 was not the best, economically, and projects began to dry up, and John gravitated to his “A Peace of My Mind”.  Today, the project is a traveling exhibit around the United States, and features persons from around the United States.

(Two of the persons on the front cover of his first book (below), Flora and David, have been very active in organizations part of the MAP community, as are several others among the 51 whose stories are told in the book.)

The newsletter for A Peace of My Mind is here.

Items available from A Peace of My Mind, including John’s books, can be seen here.

The cover of John Noltner’s first book, published in 2011

American Stories, John Noltner, 2016

Mueller Time

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I write at 6 p.m. CDT on Sunday, March 24.

I have followed the Russia matter very closely since the beginning, and I will continue to follow it closely in the future.

Having said that, doing a search, I find I mentioned “Mueller” in blog posts in only three posts on two dates: 18 Dec 2017, and 17 February 2018 (there are two posts on Feb 17, the second here.  He’s mentioned in both – I checked).  NOTE: I mention these only if someone wants to fact check me.  They are there, not easy to find.

This matter is by no means over.

Don’t forget the boatload of indictments, and already the numerous convictions (which odds are will be pardoned) and issues galore waiting in the wings and outside the chief executives pardon authority.

Time to go beyond twitter….

Monday, March 25, 2019, late evening:

Minneapolis StarTribune March 25, 2019

The morning Minneapolis paper page one headline.  The print headline is the old style version of a Tweet via Twitter…one doesn’t need to read the story to get the intention of the editors (who would certainly sign off on this one).

Not long before the morning paper came the Just Above Sunset summary of the previous days event: To Deepen The Pain and Antagonism, was long and informative as usual.

It is easiest, of course, to just read the headline…or the tweet…and come to a conclusion.  Depth is important to understand.

We’re now more than 24 hours into the debate on nothing at all.  The Mueller Report is in hiding, virtually no one has even seen the report except for very tiny snips; the President chose his conclusion; as has the Attorney General.  Nobody but a very few people know what is in the complete report.  Someday, perhaps.  I’ll comment when I know something more substantive than I do now.

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This evening, March 25, we went to a very good meeting with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and local legislators, Sen. Susan Kent and Rep. Steve Sandell.  We were in a room filled with people who give a damn about community and country; community leaders, and advocates for this or that issue, and just plain citizens.  It was a good place to be.

It was a refreshing meeting, very civil, question and answer handled in a superior way that I’d like to see used more often (note at the end of this post.).

Attorney General Keith Ellison, Sen. Susan Kent and Rep. Steve Sandell, Woodbury MN March 25, 2019

I go to lots of meetings.  I remember a previous meeting some years ago in this exact same space almost exactly ten years ago, April 9, 2009, (link above), called by then-Rep. Michele Bachmann (R).  That meeting was supervised by local police, and open questioning was not allowed.  It was not a welcoming place that night.  Your role was to sit down and shut up and feel privileged that you were even allowed in the place.  There may as well have been a wall between the speakers and the audience….

“What America Looks Like” is up to each and every one of us.  Last night was a good exhibition of this.

POSTNOTE: Moderator Keith Ellison gave all of us an opportunity to speak.  The ground rules: 1) no more than one minute; 2) several persons spoke; then each representative responded to any of the questions which pertained to them; 3) there was another round of questions, handled similarly.  Everything went very crisply.  The meeting was very orderly, ending on time….

Karla asked, after reading: “Dick if you have a minute, please let me know why this forum was so successful.  Speakers. Topics. Citizen participation. Trump.”  Carol, who was at the meeting, also responded:  “I agree!  That was a very good meeting.  I’m quickly gaining respect for Ellison in his new job.”   Probably, Carol and I would have differing reasons for agreeing the meeting was good.  I had a sense that people in the room, generally, felt respectfully included, including those who outed themselves as Republican (which they wouldn’t have had to do).  Even at one somewhat tense moment, discussing “stand your ground” position on gun control, Attorney General Ellison was very respectful in his disagreement with the person who had taken the position.  It was just a good meeting.  I’d like to hear from others who were actually there.  And from anyone who was at the April 9, 2009, meeting referred to above.

For Peacemakers…

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A special event in the Twin Cities.

Tomorrow (March 20) 6 p.m. at the Weyerhaeuser Auditorium at St. Paul’s Landmark Center :

‘Myths, Legends and Epics’ through the lens of veterans’ experience

All details here: Storytelling Day 2019

 

 

Christchurch

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Yesterdays mayhem in Christchurch, New Zealand, overwhelms.

Best I can do is to share an overnight e-mail from a group I highly respect, the Islamic Resource Group. You can read it here.

My brief blog post, yesterday, Time for Ilhan, directly pertains, as well.  If you are anywhere near the “camp” that I’m in: that we’re all human beings, in this world together, watching and then reflecting on and discussing the film with others, would be an excellent start to creating something constructive out of a heinous destructive act we have again witnessed.

You can watch this 89 minute film online.  Personally, I’m going to lobby for it to be a special addition to the upcoming Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, April 4-20.  Time for Ilhan is all about politics, and politics is every one of us, whether we like to think so or not.

Best we consider how we fit in as part of the solution, rather than lamenting the problem.  And most important, that we act….

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Directly related: Today’s Just Above Sunset, “The Guys With Guns”

Also related: Ilhan Omar, here.

 

TIME FOR ILHAN, film

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Thursday evening was dismal, weather wise, but I decided to make the crosstown trek over to First Unitarian Society to see a new film, “Time for Ilhan“.  I knew no more about the film than the text of an e-mail from a mailing list a day or so earlier; Rep. Omar has been in the news lately, and it seemed a good use of time.

It was far more than a good use of time.  Along with 100 or so others, we were treated to a very well made and timely film about running for political office, introduced by the filmmaker herself, Norah Shapiro, the publisher of Minnesota Women’s Press, Mikki Morrisette, and a most impressive lady activist from the Minneapolis Somali community.

film producer Norah Shapiro (center) discusses Time for Ilhan before the showing on March 14. At right is Mikki Morrissette, publisher of Minnesota Women’s Press

Cong. Omar has, of course, been very much a part of recent news.  I don’t live in or even near her district, which is more or less the University of Minnesota area, so had no particular reason to get to know her at the time she first ran for state legislature in 2016.

The 89 minute film is only about the 2016 election, but this is precisely what gives it more of a personal impact.  It is about Ilhan’s run for office against a 43 year incumbent, Phyllis Kahn, and a male Somali political activist, Mohamud Noor.  Imdb and Rotten Tomatoes.  A Hollywood Reporter review is here.  The film is an intensely personal look at the potential and the problems of candidacy for someone who doesn’t precisely match the perceptions of what an acceptable candidate should be, in contemporary societal terms.

Judging by the tsunami of non-conventional successful candidates in 2018 elections,  Ilhan was, without knowing it, at the beginning of a welcome wave.

“screen shot” at showing of Time for ilhan, March 14, 2019. Dick Bernard

Of course, the topic du jour  came up.  Filmmaker Norah Shapiro, a Jew, brought it up her self.  The film had already been completed when the firestorm erupted recently in Washington and elsewhere.  I thought Shapiro handled the topic very well, briefly and succinctly and adult.  Nothing more needs to be said.  All of us in the room got it, I think.  It was a particular honor to be able to actually see the filmmaker in person.

This is a time of intense change in the American political landscape, and I for one welcome it, with all of the potential for mistakes of one sort or another when new players arrive on the scene.  The rules are changing, and one wonders about the endurance of the new players; and the ability of the old players to change….

The film is, in film terms, just beginning its life.  It should be very broadly watched and discussed by anyone who is interested in changing the American political landscape.  Rep. Omar had the courage and spirit of youth to take on what was a daunting issue.  She will succeed.

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Related Post, Ilhan Omar, here.  (At the time I compiled this, beginning March 6, I had no knowledge about the film described above)

Golan Heights (earlier titled “Ilhan Omar”)

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POSTNOTE March 22, 2019: Golan Heights, etc.  Read  and reflect on “Not Thinking Things Through”, Just Above Sunset for the first day of Spring, 2019.  It is an important piece for the conversation about the issue of Israel.

I have found it dangerous to express opinions on the topic of Israel, but I need to again take the risk:  for many years I have felt, and occasionally said, that Israel, even more than Oil, is the long term crisis in the Middle East.  It is the tinderbox, and all that is needed is somebody dangerous to strike a match.  I have further said that AIPAC is no friend of the Jews…it is not an easy sell…but I hope the Democrats stay away….

No different now: history is filled with splendid little wars that are valued by tyrants to validate themselves.  In the longer term, these never end well, note even the Big and Glorious ones like the Third Reich,  but oh, they feel so good at the beginning.

I’ve seen the Golan Heights, if only from a distance.  It was part of a brilliant sunrise at Nof Ginosar on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee in January, 1996.  A little later we took something dubbed the “Jesus Boat” (after an ancient relic of a boat preserved there) down to Tiberias for a fish dinner.  It was a delightful day.  I don’t know if Golan extends to the Dead Sea, but if it is, we saw it closer up at the now-resort place infamously remembered as Sodom.

The most recent splendid little war for the U.S. was Iraq, of course.  “Mission Accomplished” May 2003?  Now the Current Occupant and his assorted entourage seem to have devised their own winning formula for the Middle East.  I’ve watched the dominoes, like Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran….  But tyrants are doomed to lose, but they take down with them their dreams of dominance and control.

Caveat Emptor.  Beyond the “big yawn” is a future we will regret.

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(Original Post, titled Ilhan Omar, March 9, 2019)

Earlier this week came the “firestorm” of commentary about Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.  At the end of the week came the anti-hate resolution passed near unanimously by Congress.  In between came a flurry of comment about the issue within my own personal list.

Personally, I support Rep. Omar’s rights to speak out on issues, and I believe her comments were appropriate and respectful.  I think the Congressional resolution was and is appropriate, and I hope those who regularly rely on hate speech are at minimum reminded of their own abundant sins when using words to “kill” others, like “illegals”, Muslims, and on and on.

Here are two links which help describe who Ilhan Omar is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilhan_Omar and https://omar.house.gov/.

It is not lost on me that yesterday was International Women’s Day, and that, in Minnesota, debate continues about ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment.

Following is the conversation earlier this week:  (the comments are passed on with permission)

I – The comments received March 7 about my own comments;

II – My personal comments on March 6, which preceded the responses in # I;

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I – (sent only to those who had commented by March 7, 2018):

I am sending this to the ten of you who have responded thus far.  I am thinking this is time to post this as a regular blog, including your comments as presented below.  I have more to say as well.
If you would rather your comments not appear, or if you have thoughts to add or revise, let me know by tomorrow.  I will probably post this later on Friday.  Many thanks for your inputs.  Sometimes tensions like this are really important to getting at crucial issues.

Comments

from long-time friend: Interesting discussion.  If I may put forth some thoughts on the subject.  Since Ilhan Omar is a Semite she can hardly be accused of making an anti-Semitic statement by just talking about the American Jews being so supportive of the Apartheid Government of Israel.

For openers you might inform your audience that Semites are a branch of the Caucasian Race, having nothing to do with religion. The primary factions of the Semites are those that descend from the Patriarch Abraham and include us Arabs, the Hebrews and two other groups whose names I cannot remember at the moment.
You might also bring up the fate of colonialism as it relates to the invasions and occupation of the continents of North America, South America, Africa, Australia and a large part of Asia.  Just as the colonists drove the indigenous peoples off their land, usurping their wealth, enslaving some of them and took control of their land, Israel is doing the same thing to the Palestinians, as per the attached chart.  There are many in this country that still don’t feel any shame for what we did to the Native Americans, so a lot of this may not have an impact upon your audience.
We have also talked about the Balfour Project, but that might be a bit too far for openers. Although Paul Waldman hints at that with his comment that“support for Israel has become increasingly associated with conservative evangelicals and the Republican Party”.  The evangelical extremes continue to push for stronger support of Israel in keeping with the Balfour Project.  [Dick: This seems a good website about BalfourProject.
I will be interested in how this all turns out.  Keep up the good work.
from Carol: I’m really interested in this.  On the one hand, the new House was elected to put the brakes on the Trump administration, and in some manner send him packing.  The Republicans love this whole flap, and it’s sucking up all the oxygen and taking away from the main goal.  But I agree with you – I don’t see that Omar has (purposefully, at least) said anything so wrong.  She obviously comes to this from a different perspective – and it’s way past time that we had this dialogue.  The rulings that those who have a contract with government must support Israel, for example, are awful.  Our own president sees fit all the time to criticize the others of our allies…  But Israel can do no wrong.
I think the House leadership was delighted to have all their new young, diverse members they could show off – but they were kinda expected to hunker down and fit in.  So now they have the nerve to have their own opinions – and express them!  Horrors.
[My Jewish friend]  tells me that most of American Jews do not support the current Israeli government, nor its treatment of Palestine.  Apparently the bulk of Israeli government supporters at this time comes from the right-wing evangelicals.
This is from my perspective: I may have said that I was raised very right-wing conservative.  And all my growing-up time I heard that Israel was “God’s chosen people,” and that if America ever turned its back on Israel, God would turn His back on US (that extended to any criticism also).  I told [my friend] that I was stunned the first time I ever heard a person in authority criticize Israel.  Obviously, we need to always have their back – but it’s really dangerous for the U.S. to have an ally that we have to pretend can do no wrong.
from Joyce: I haven’t yet had a chance to read Alan’s blog today, but I will read it soon. Meanwhile,this (Tom Friedman, NYT March 6) is powerful, and it reflects my opinion.
from Jermitt: Many of us have trouble differentiating the difference betwee Israel as a country and the Jewish Faith.  There is clearly a confliect when we consider them as one, i.e., a Jewish state.  Israel is a political geography state, as I understand it, but is a state when most of the people practice the Jewish Religion.

I too, believe there are times when politicians are pressured into supporting Israel and/or Israel’s political leaders when it has not been the best interest of the USA.  Not supporting Israel may give you the label of not supporting the Jewish community, which should not be the case.

from Norm: Omar has to learn as did Wellstone when to speak out to be taken seriously as well as when not grandstand as she has been doing and no doubt will continue to do as long as she is in congress or until she has a come to whomever talk with some who will hold her attention.

Wellstone did the grandstand bit at the Viet Nam Memorial as a protest against sending troops somewhere into SW Asia.

He quickly learned that was a dumb-ass thing to do as most VN vets thought that using their memorial as his pulpit was disrespectful of their service let alone that of their friends and buddies with names on the Wall.

He did learn quickly and well as indicated by the great number of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle coming to town for his funeral.

There were there to show their respect for a colleague with whom they often disagreed but a fellow and important colleague never-the-less.

They did not owe Wellstone a damn thing as the dumb ass Rich Kahn claimed that they did during the service beyond just showing their respect for him as they did with their attendance.

Israel is no angel here as you implied, Dick, but the Palestinians in many cases are not either.

Omar has to learn when to speak up to be effective let alone taken seriously.

I hope that she figures that out very soon but I am quite sure that she will not do that any time in the future.

She is a product of condescending political correctness and the group hug folks and, as such, does not have any good pollical sense of how to be taken seriously s a new congresswoman.

Wellstone learned the hard way how to do that and hopefully, Omar will as well…but I seriously doubt that she ever will…or will ever even want to for that matter.

from Ed: I appreciate the letter in support of Omar’s right to speak. As a member of two progressive Jewish groups who oppose the current Israeli policies on dealing with the Palestine issue, I am happy to support Betty McCollum’s positions on this controversial issue, which are close espoused by Omar.

Omar is a first term representative who would be wise to emulate Betty. Skip the Tweets and get to work like Al Franken did and become an effective representative for the 5th district.

Omar should follow the lead of Betty, a more senior progressive representative who knows how to work the system. Omar is on a self-destructive path which is sad for all her constituents. She is too eager to be in the limelight, She should shift gears now.

from Paul: Thanks for the link, Dick. It brings much clarity to this latest kerfuffle.

from Jeff: [About] Ilhan Omar and the weaponisation of antisemitism [Guardian, March 6, 2019, Joshua Leifer]

from Donna:  Another interesting article about Ilhan Omar’s statements.  Thanks for you blog.  [Washington Post Plum Line Blog March 5, 2019]

from Lillian:  I agree 100% [with your comments.  [See II below].
I was angry when Netanyahu was invited to speak to the House.  The head of another country has no place speaking in/to congress.  Which goes to Omar’s  comments of dual loyalty.
We blindly support Israel (in an attempt to prove no antisemitism? ) while they deny the whole Palestinian country basic human rights.  Omar is brave to verbalize this.
II – (My originating post, March 6, 2019)
The column, Discriminating Tastes,  is a long and, and in my opinion very important, column about the Rep. Ilhan Omar controversy and the hypocrisy surrounding it.  You need to not only read the whole column, but then reflect on your own attitudes.

*

Just to be clear, I have no issue with Rep. Omar.  Her District is a short 20 minute or so drive from where I type, and I am in her county often – it is where we go to church.  She has the same rights as anyone, including allies of AIPAC, to express her opinion.  At the same time, I’m nervous about writing and sending this e-mail.
*
It is from Rep. Omar’s district that 40 of us, half Catholics and half Jews, went on a Pilgrimage to Holocaust sites in Czech Republic and Poland, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, in 2000.  My 60th birthday was spent at Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Our joint congregations have a large plaque at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.  I am told it cost $50,000 evenly split between Temple Israel and Basilica of St. Mary.  I was responsible for over $1,000 of the contribution.
*
It was also in her district, about a year later, when I was called by some of my Pilgrimage colleagues to explain myself at some statement I made which implied criticism of the Jews position on the Palestinians in Israel.  My colleagues knew me well enough to not “denounce” me, but I felt treated no differently than I see Omar being treated today.  I don’t recall the exact issue, but I think it was around the issue of the wall of separation (West Bank Barrier) then under construction to keep Palestinians separate and restricted.
[This] was particularly close to me, since four years earlier I had been to Israel with a group, one of whose leaders was a Christian minister who was Zionist supporter.  On my wall, to this day, is a plaque signed by Ehud Olmert,  then Mayor of Jerusalem, who later had his own legal problems. A month before we went to Israel came the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, by a Jewish ultra nationalist.
One of our first stops on our tour was at his grave.  We were in Bethlehem before the wall was built; we were allowed into the Dome on temple mount.  It was a different time, apparently.
*
One of my friends, back then, was the then director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.  He died over ten years ago, but he and I had civil conversations of my position that Israel was exacerbating the problems in the Middle East.  This was during the time of the Iraq War.
*

AIPAC and Netanyahu are not neutrals in this issue.  Over the years I’ve paid most attention to the Pro-Peace Pro-Israel group J Street.  If you go to their website you will see their position on the issue du jour.  My interest is human rights for Palestinians.

*
At minimum, read Discriminating Tastes, think and if you have the courage, talk about the issue.
*
PS:  Just days ago I sent out a link in a blog which I hope you now visit.  It is a 7 minute video, “A Night At The Garden”, New York City 1939, accessible here  (4th paragraph of blog).  It shows our country at its worst – and we’re not that far from that today, though the specific rhetoric has changed….

Near entrance to Birkenau Death Camp May 4, 2000. We had been given permission to wallk between nearby Auschwitz and Birkenau. It was a very somber reflective walk. Photo by Dick Bernard

III – There were a flurry of responses to the responses.  It is my election to close this blog with the above comments.  And to encourage  open, respectful and in-person discussion among people who have differing points of view.
When I wrote my initial opinion on March 6  (Section II above), the most significant personal statement was in second para: “At the same time, I’m nervous about writing and sending this e-mail.“   Even as an ordinary, old white man, I have an internalized fear of offending anyone in, shall I say, the protection of AIPAC.  I have more than one reason for saying this.  That will have to wait for another day.  Succinctly, AIPAC is not a reliable friend of the Jewish community or Israel, in my opinion; neither is another well know  fear-monger, the current President of the United States.
Of course, there are endless arguments one way or another on any issue.  Here’s one from today’s Washington Post, called outstanding by a Jewish friend.
IV – Among several other comments, here’s one which responded to this post, from a good friend in England who’s Syrian Christian.  

A few comments & quotes regarding this continuing chronicle.

You wrote: “She has the same rights as anyone, including allies of AIPAC, to express her opinion.  At the same time, I’m nervous about writing and sending this e-mail”. A few years ago the distinction was made & respected: criticism of Israel & Zionism is fine as opposed to anti-Semitism (usually taken to mean attacks on Jews & Judaism although Arabs are Semites as well) which is wrong. Nowadays criticism of Israel & its policies is becoming increasingly taboo especially in the US which is more royalist than the king – even in Israel many criticize their state’s policies. In France, where anti-Semitism is already outlawed, there is a suggestion to ban anti-Zionism & in the UK the squabble about anti-Semitism is threatening to split the labour party.

 

Writing about the secular Zionist leadership, Ilan Pappé said: “though they did not believe in God, He had nonetheless promised them Palestine,” & he goes on: “the Bible was not taught as a singular text that carried any political or even national connotation . . . leading rabbis treated the political history contained in the Bible, and the idea of Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel, as marginal topics in their spiritual world of learning. They were much more concerned, as indeed Judaism in general was, with the holy writing focusing on the relationship between believers, and in particular on their relations with God.” Now Pappé is an Israeli Jew living & working in the UK so I guess he can get away with such opinions without being attacked. The whole question of (a single dominant) identity has come back with a vengeance & combined with the return of unrelenting nationalism in many parts makes for an explosive mixture.

 

Ilhan, Ihlan let’s call the whole thing off!

“The Long and Winding Road”

/0 Comments/in /by

from TPT (Channel 2, St. Paul MN) newsletter for February 2019, p. 2

Tonight (Monday Feb. 25, 9 p.m.) and Thursday 8 p.m. : “MINNESOTA EXPERIENCE: JIM CROW OF THE NORTH

Roots of racial disparities are seen through a new lens in this film that explores the origins of housing segregation in the Minneapolis area.  But the story also illustrates how African American families and leaders resisted this insidious practice, and how Black people built community – within and despite – the red lines that these restrictive covenants created.  A Twin Cities PBS original production.”  

The above, and following, items are some recent and very relevant comments on where our diverse and still conflicted nation is on the notion of living together as a people in the United States and Global Community.

From Jeff: “Watch A Night at the Garden – Field of Vision.  This was nominated for an academy award as a short documentary.”  This is about 5 minutes, film from 1939 in New York City.  Watch it all.  You will be asked to sign in to confirm your age.  You will see why.

from recent Letters to the Editor printed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Feb. 19 and Feb 22, 2019…worth reading and thinking about and discussing: World Citizenship003.  Presented are four brief letters with differing points of view.  This pdf can be enlarged for easier reading.

None of the above items have direct relationship to each other, except for their direct relationship to the general topic of “getting along”.

In the same time period came two programs, for and by young people, which helped expand my own vision about relationships.

Friday I was invited to attend a kids movie, the third production of “How to Train Your Dragon”.  It opened Feb 22 and is in theaters everywhere.

I thought this would simply be a cute kids movie, and I knew granddaughter Lucy had a long-time fascination for dragons.  Her Mom, took us to the show between blizzards.  The film is, in my opinion. a gentle talk on the conflict we all have between options of getting along, or not, and  empowers young people to make a difference.  Yes, it is a fantasy, and it is for kids, but I found myself wrapped up in it.  It is by no means a waste of time.

Then came yesterday afternoon, with the same family, at the annual scholarship concert for Angelica Cantanti,  This was a wonderful live music concert featuring the music of The Beatles.  Of course, there is no film of this program, but here is the program for the afternoon: Angelica Cantanti002.  The songs the kids sang are on pages 5 and 6 of this program.  If you’re of an older generation, even the names of the songs will bring back memories.

POSTNOTE:  I live in the world of “oldtimer”, but the more I see of the kids world, of most any age, I think they are “getting it” and are ready to take on the task of making the world a better place, despite too many efforts to harken back to how it was, not all that long ago.

The same TPT (see first paragraph) show “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”, the story of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m.

POSTNOTE 2:  Last night, the film Green Book won major awards at the Oscars.  We saw the movie, and it deserved the plaudits.  It added to the sense of optimism I conveyed in the first paragraph of the Postnote.  This mornings Washington Post brings another view.  You can read it here.

I continue to be optimistic about the U.S. making a significant turn in the area of race relations, even when such optimism seems ridiculous given some current events, like the Coast Guard Officer strategizing to cleanse the country of people he disagrees with.

My optimism flows from the young people, and by “young” I mean my grandkids age, who have been raised in a more tolerant environment than their parents or myself.  Recently my daughter, a school Principal, and myself had a brief snippet of conversation about bullying in schools.  Of course, it still exists, she said.  But the larger point is that kids coming to school with varying handicaps (weaker), were most likely to get affirming support from their less challenged classmates.  People convey such attitudes to their children.

There is hope.

Concerning is the kind of opinion expressed by the 60 year old woman on February 19 (link to Minneapolis Star Tribune letters above).   She certainly has the right to say what she says, publicly, as does the companion letter affirming what she had said.  Holly and Dorothy are not alone in our country, and there are lots of them, including large numbers of women, who we have traditionally thought of as being more tolerant and gentle.

We’ve come a long ways in my 78 years (the New York City rally in 1939 not long preceded my birth in 1940).  We have an awful long ways yet to to go.

Keep on, keeping on.

COMMENTS:

from George: Thank you, Dick, for getting our attention. Apparently, there were also many Trump votes in 2016. I believe that these two issues are somehow connected.

from a friend in England:

Many thanks for those thoughts Mr Bernard – the Beatles’ Long & Winding Road has always been one of my favourites of theirs.  The issue is intriguing & explosive. I very much appreciated your including 4 letters published by the Star Tribune on the topic. They clearly demarcate the two sides – and this in Minnesota, one can only be worried about the rest of the US! So many places are torn apart by this matter & it is changing the political landscape in many western countries including Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, UK, Germany & US . . .

 

As is often the case it’s not black & white & both sides have valid points to make. I like to think it’s a case by case problem. Take the US for example. Some like the Quaker William Penn arrived intending to live alongside the original inhabitants thus Philadelphia was established as a city of brotherly love. Others arrived with loaded guns & with far from brotherly intentions. In Latin America many Spaniards came as Conquistadors while in Paraguay there are ruins of Jesuit & Franciscan settlements which were established with the best of intentions. The original inhabitants could be of two varieties as well the naturally welcoming & the reflexively belligerent.

 

There is also the question of numbers. I doubt even the most idealistic & romantic would welcome a billion Africans into Europe or a billion Chinese into the US? Of course the lowest of the low are the cynical (cynic comes from the Greek: dog or dog like) politicians who inflame emotions in their own interest come what may. Statements like some of president Trump’s are inexcusable, e.g. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people”. So only a small minority is made up of good people & there is no certainty even about this because the president only assumes this is the case. Wow. How many votes did that get me?

 

Inflammatory statements could come  from anywhere. How should Europeans feel upon hearing the late Libyan leader Gaddafi’s remark: “We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe—without swords, without guns, without conquest—will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.” & often the media isn’t doing the world any favours. In the UK, after decades of anti European slurs etc, people voted (marginally: under 52% to over 48%) to leave the EU for various reasons paramount among them the worry about immigration. A case of shooting oneself in the head fortunately non-fatally.  Here exaggerated a bit to be sure but with many valid points!

 

I am fond of “The meek shall inherit the earth”  – the way things are going there mightn’t be much left to inherit though.