Postcard from the Busch farm, July 10, 1911

We went to Fahrenheit 11/9 this afternoon at our neighborhood theater in Woodbury.

Absolutely, see it.  Likely Fahrenheit 11/9 is playing at a theater near you, and I think it is already available on-line.

It nicks everyone, not the least, the 100,000,000 people who chose not to vote at all in 2016.

President Obama doesn’t escape unscathed….

A few personal thoughts “below the fold”:

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I’ve been a fan of Michael Moore since Roger and Me (1989).  The year before Bowling for Columbine was released in 2002 we saw a 20 minute preview segment of that film, introduced by Michael Moore himself.  That winter evening, he was an hour late.  Still, there was so much interest that they filled the large church a second time.

I think I’ve seen all of the Michael Moore films.  Fahrenheit 11/9 is the best of the lot.  I didn’t know how my wife would react.  She had the same response as I.  The film grabbed us and held on.  You could hear a pin drop in the theater.

There is a villain in the film and it is every one of us.  There is also a hero in the film: potentially it is also every one of us.  We are the government we respect…or revile.

I was looking for “over the top” moments – I was most nervous about what I’d heard about the comparison with Nazi Germany.  What comparison there was in the film – and there were and are direct comparisons – were highly appropriate.  We are, after all, theoretically a democracy, and the people ultimately bear responsibility for the people we elect, and the decisions our elected leaders make.

We are, I feel, too much a nation of “me” folks, demanding what we want – our personal priorities.  We deserve our fate.  Our future, long term, is not bright if we stay the present course.

We must be a nation of US, as in collective “we”.

Since our leaders are elected by ourselves.  Who votes for them, or for their opponent, or who doesn’t vote at all for any reason, makes a huge difference.  If we end up with tyranny, we are the ones who so decide that course.

Far too much, Trump has become the face and voice and attitude of America to everyone, everywhere.

Fahrenheit 11/9 gives a great deal to think about.  The film was not entertainment, it was education.

See Fahrenheit 11/9.  Do yourself a favor.

And ask yourself, what does this say to me about my own role in this country of ours?

It is easy to get mired in the ‘daily dismal’ (my words).  It is not difficult to find positive things (each of which can have their negative ‘sides’).

Some thoughts, some of which invite additional reading.

If you haven’t already, REGISTER to vote.  If you aren’t already, GET INFORMED ABOUT ALL THE CANDIDATES ON YOUR BALLOT.  SHARE your opinions and requests.  VOTE, and stay engaged for the long haul.

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Tomorrow begins the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg University in Minneapolis.  All details are here.  I’ll be there.

Fresh Energy is, in my opinion, a super star in accomplishing results in positively addressing climate change.  Their annual benefit breakfast is October 3, details at their website.  Take a look at what they’re doing, which is to say, making a big difference.

Another group worth a look is Climate-Smart Municipalities, which I literally stumbled across at the University of Minnesota some months ago.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals encourage activism at the local level.    Learn about the 17 Goals, and find some way, in your local area, to become engaged in helping make our planet healthier.  These goals are the successor to the earlier Millennium Development Goals.

A local group, Twin Cities Nonviolent, has organized a very impressive program on “10 Days Free from Violence:”, which begins September 21 and ends September 30.  Here is an opportunity to engage for the first time, or re-engage, in positive activities which benefit us all.  While this particular event is Minneapolis-St. Paul area based, it is modeled on a similar project in Carbondale IL.  Initiatives like these deserve encouragement, and support and most of all engagement.  Each of us can make a positive difference, but it requires personal engagement.

As many know, September 21, the first day of Fall, is also the International Day of Peace. First set in 1981, ironically, the annual observance was set as Sep. 21 each year by the United Nations during the week of September 11, 2001.

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Sex Abuse and the Catholic Church:  As today’s headlines state, Pope Francis is calling all of the Catholic Bishops to Rome in February, 2019.

I have referenced this issue before, with links.  See this 2013 post, and specifically look for links to two long and excellent pieces, published in 2003 and 2005 in a newsletter called Bread Rising, by Richard Sipe.

More recently, on Labor Day, 2018, my post  included, near the end of the post, three recent statements by a Minneapolis Priest, a Twin Cities Bishop and an Archbishop about this issue.

Those seeking a permanent and total resolution of the problem are seeking the impossible.  Catholics number possibly a billion members, tens of thousands of hierarchy of one sort or another, in every nation, all of whom are human beings.  I have watched the evolution of the abuse issue for many years.  The Church is not sitting on its hands.  I stay Catholic.

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There is a battle going on between the forces of Fear and those of Hope.

I stand with Hope.

A memento given to dignitaries who attended the 90th birthday of Harold Stassen in 1997.  Stassen was the last surviving signer of the United Nations Charter in 1945.

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“Home” for my entire life has been North Dakota or Minnesota.  In these precincts, “summer” is usually the time period between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  In Minnesota, today is always the last day of the State Fair.

The Snelling Avenue Gate, Minnesota State Fair, 2018

Those who follow my “life” know that this has not been a routine “summer”.  (Yes, I did go to the Fair on Thursday.)

Some thoughts, as unofficial “Fall” begins (the day after Labor Day):

Bennie: Grandson Bennie and his Dad were in a horrible car accident the Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend.  It has been an entire summer in two hospitals.  Best I let his parents define where things are at at this point in time.  Here is the CaringBridge site.  It is at times like this where you become aware of the tremendous service provided by medical and other staff and volunteers and others, like the Ronald McDonald House, at times of need.  I am grateful.

I also have a heightened awareness of what it means to have health care…or not.  Those who have despised the Affordable Care Act (derisively called “Obamacare”) should be very aware of what they seem to be so actively working to eliminate.  All of us are going to pay a very heavy price for our short-sightedness, and in the not too distant future.

Joni:  I especially single out daughter Joni, today.  Tomorrow she opens Oltman Middle School in nearby Cottage Grove.  Joni is a veteran school Principal.  Last year she was Principal of the old Oltman in St. Paul Park, and also the supervising Principal of construction of the new school, which is described in todays St. Paul Pioneer Press: Oltman Middle School001.  I’m proud as punch of Joni.   As I’ve told her, 53 years ago, as a young junior high school teacher, I was one of the faculty who opened the brand new Roosevelt Junior High School in Blaine MN.  Time just races by.

Roosevelt Junior High School, Blaine MN, 1968. Photo by Dick Bernard, pilot of the plane, Frank Bernard.

Two Grandkids headed off to new adventures this summer:  Spencer is in the middle of Boot Camp for the Marines at Camp Pendleton CA.  I suspect that today will be like all days in basic training.  He’s about half way through, I calculate.  Graduation is Oct. 12.  We hope to be there.  Ted is newly enrolled at Wartburg College in Iowa.  I saw him for lunch before departure.  His t-shirt said it all about him: “4 out of 3 people struggle with math”.  He’s one who revels in math – a “pi guy”.  Thought of him, too, when the marimba was front and center at Basilica of St. Mary yesterday.  He’s a music guy too, which tends to ‘rhyme’ with math.

Some serious items, not of a family sort:

This summer brought a kick in the teeth for those of us who feel Unions have brought a great deal of value to this country.  The U.S. Supreme Court took a meat ax to the concept of “fair share”.  The issue is complex, and I’m biased.  An article that seems to be fairly even-handed is here: Fair Share002 .  It is worth your time to read, and to discuss.  I could have highlighted sections.  I chose to leave it as is.

I’m no “babe in the woods” on this issue, having been teacher union staff for 27 years, most of which were under “Fair Share” Law, enacted bipartisan, and found legal by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1970s.

I wrote to the private sector management friend who gave me the article: “I do muse about why unions are so despised – maybe it’s the “I” focus of todays society – ‘all that matters is what matters to me’ – a diminished sense of community.  Forgotten is that much of the middle class prosperity, now diminishing, came from more disposable income resulting (directly and indirectly) from union negotiated wages and fringe benefits.   I remember what it was like before Unions helped fuel prosperity.  The backslide is intensifying.”

And then there’s the matter of being Catholic in this time of stress around misbehavior of Priests and Bishops.  The vast majority of clergy are tarred by the misdeeds of the very few…what is unfortunate is that the evil deeds of some are used to tar everyone, whether guilty or not; regardless of how far back in history.

We seem to have a tendency, generally, to entertain the notion of collective guilt in perpetuity.  At least, that’s how it seems.

Here, for anyone interested, are the positions of our pastor at Basilica of St. Mary and the local Archbishop and Bishop.  These are public information.  For the record, I commended our Pastor for his statement, and subscribe to his number 4.

Here they are: Basilica Fr John Bauer001 and Catholic Bishops Sep 18001

The Veterans for Peace National Conference is in St. Paul this week.  Here are details, including a pdf of the Program Booklet.  I’ll be there for at least the day sessions Thursday and Friday.  I’m a longtime member.

This 8×10 by Robert Muldar was given to dignitaries at the 90th birthday of Harold Stassen in 1997.  It symbolizes the United Nations, then 52 years old Stassen was the last living signer of the United Nations Charter in 1945.

Across town, in Minneapolis, this week, is the National American Legion Convention.  This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Legion, as it is the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, “The War to End All Wars”.  It takes little more than a cursory look at history to see how false was the hope of ending war by the winners humiliating the losers at the end of WWI.  WWII was the result 20 years later.

From a 1918 celebratory book on the winning of WWI.

Out of WWII came the United Nations which, while imperfect, has staved off WWIII, the war to end humanity, for over 70 years.  The United Nations has managed to change the tone of relationships between and among 193 nations and over 7 billion people to something more positive.  Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s death on Saturday gives an opportunity to consider the real need for a United Nations.  One can hope that its “heart” can continue to convey a positive example to the rest of us, where we all live.  I’ve found Dr. Joseph Schwartzbergs 2013 book, Transforming the United Nations System, Designs for a Workable World, a very helpful and understandable volume.  Check it out, here.

Also, being recognized this week at the Veterans for Peace Convention in St. Paul is the 90th anniversary of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, a valiant effort at legislating world peace among nations.  The pact is named in part for Frank Kellogg, Calvin Coolidge’s Secretary of State, who co-authored the important pact.  The venue for the Vets for Peace convention is on Kellogg Blvd in St. Paul, named for Frank Kellogg.

I happen to belong to both American Legion and Veterans for Peace.  The expression, “oil and water”, comes to mind about their respective philosophies, though both consist primarily of veterans of active duty in the U.S. military.

The Legion Convention will get the most press attention, I suspect.

I root for Peace.  As I once heard a victim of conflict powerfully say, we need “healers”, not “killers”.  Peace through Strength (War) is a contradiction in terms.  History shows, over and over, that it does not work, except in the short term.  Bodies and minds – “heroes” – lie in its wake.  We need to constantly explore why we  citizens refuse to recognize how deadly and worthless war is, for all of us.

My tiny contribution to this conversation is a piece I put together perhaps three years ago, on casualties of war as experienced by the civilians in the United States.  You can read it here: War Deaths U.S.002.  It is a single page, and speaks for itself.

POSTNOTE:  I noticed, here, that three of my four statewide candidates won in yesterdays Minnesota Primary election.  There’s much to learn from the results for all candidates.  Now, more or less 80 days to the main event, Nov. 6.  More at the end of this post.

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Before yesterday’s Primary I outlined what follows below.  Just some thoughts on political propaganda:

One of several contested DFL seats yesterday was Attorney General (AG).  There were five DFL candidates for AG on the ballot, one of them MN Congressman Keith Ellison.

So comes the Aug. 13 (Monday) Minneapolis Star Tribune, top of the front page headline:

Election day, a followup in the same newspaper, well hidden on page 5 of the B Section headlined “Alleged Ellison video not released“, with a paragraph nestled in the middle that the person alleging the video would not be posting it for many reasons “including that it’s traumatizing, humiliating and sets an expectation that abuse survivors must prove their stories.”  Full article here:Ellison Aug. 14001.  It’s worth reading.

So it goes in the fetid swamp of political assassination.  Timing is everything.  Make it impossible for the accused to marshal a defense.  Somewhere there is truth, but this assassination attempt was made, with the Star Tribune complicit (it didn’t have to publish the story, much less give it primary front page headline the day before the election….)

Ellison’s experience is the reality every politician, (and every one of us in some way), confronts in this day of instant assessment of guilt.  Any politician with any moxie has to anticipate the most negative bombardment close to election day – “the October surprise”, it is usually called.

We will be bombarded with this kind of stuff from now until Nov. 6, and after.  Why?  Because it works…a sad commentary on us as citizens.

So, we know it’s coming.  The only antidote is to control our impulse to judge at the moment of accusation, anything written particularly by an opponent, or unflattering photos of the other candidate, or whatever else passes for political posturing.  Yes, this is hard.  Negative stuff, like the Ellison allegation, works…because we allow it to work.  In fact, we may even find it funny.  It is not.

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There’s lots to say: some personal commentary on propaganda.

In this day of Government by Tweet, propaganda is very simple.  Here’s a good-humored example between friends.

My good friend, Frederick Johnson, mentioned that a review of his most recent book could be found in the latest issue of the well-respected journal Minnesota History.

I subscribe to the journal, but hadn’t seen the review, so when I got home I looked it up.  You can read the full review here: Patriot Hearts001.

Frederick and I are good friends, so after reading the review, I wrote him with my own review of the review:  “I cut into my very busy schedule today to read the review of Patriot Hearts.  My summary, and I quote directly from the review: [your] “judgments seemed a bit off”.  But, so what else is new!?”

c 2017, Goodhue County MN Historical Society

We had a good laugh.  My next sentence was “Of course, I jest.  Great job.”

Patriot Hearts was my book of choice for the annual week at the lake some weeks ago.  I highly recommend it.

But, this is about propaganda.  Yes, the reviewer of Fred’s book indeed had said “judgments seemed a bit off”  on two specifics (you can find this in the last paragraph of the actual review).  But three lines from the bottom, the reviewer concludes that Johnson’s book “Is a brilliant study in how easy it can be to use patriotism as a cover for subverting democracy for private ends.”

What I had done, of course, with my 6-word “review” in jest, was to ‘cherry pick’ the words that seemed to cast the book in the most negative light, when the totality of the review was very positive.

Of course, use or misuse of information has always been a problem.  Frederick, who is a respected historian in Minnesota, had to work with whatever documentary evidence was available.  His book is about 1917, the entrance of the U.S. into WWI, as played out in a single Minnesota County.  If you look through his 347 footnotes, they reference contemporary newspapers and such of the time.  He spent an immense amount of time in research to write his book.  Still, even historians have to go with the data that they have (which is far superior to a headline in a newspaper from two days ago…time gives context, which in Patriot Hearts case is 100 years.)

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In this time in history when communication techniques are ever more sophisticated, and everything seems shorthand (Twitter, etc), it is a wonder that politicians are willing to say anything at all.  Anything can be twisted and manipulated by anyone, particularly if the audience is susceptible to the power of suggestion (think of the word “liar” which became a synonym for Hillary Clinton, when Mrs. Clinton was a world-class truth-teller compared to the Current Occupant of the Oval Office.)

Then there’s the matter of photographs.

In the good old days – say 1917 – it was hard work to take photos for publication; and hidden cameras, if they even existed, were very rare and difficult to manage.

Even then, people of note learned some tricks of the trade: if you’re going to have a glass of wine at the reception afterward, note first if there is a camera around, and if so, don’t get caught on film holding the glass.

Nowadays multiple cameras and recording devices can be and probably are everywhere in almost any room, and the owner of the photo or recording can pick and choose from amongst hundreds of possibilities showing the person in the best (or worst) possible light in a pro, or anti-piece.  It is a terrifying time for a public person, any public person.

There is plenty of room for discussion, even with just these examples.

The prudent advice is, I think, to train oneself to avoid depending on sound bites and such (of which Twitter is a main one)  to make judgements about anyone or anything.

Of course, most of us are susceptible to pitches, especially about things which resonate with our own biases, so the problem is a difficult one to control.  But it is something we can all work on.

Extra credit:  Take some time to look up the Creel Committee (Committee on Public Information), and Edward Bernays, who was part of that committee in 1917.  Bernays became one of the geniuses of propaganda (including advertising).  Bernays work helped teach Joseph Goebbels….  We are immersed in propaganda every day.  It has been perfected here in our own country.

POSTNOTE (continued)

In my previous post on the Primary Election, I listed all recognized candidates except one, Matt Pelikan, DFL endorsed for Attorney General.  There was a simple reason.  I had no context at all with him.  Nobody had said anything to me about him.

Sunday before the Primary, at a DFL Senior Caucus picnic, Matt Pelikan stopped by and talked with us for a few minutes.  His photo is below.  He is a young man and he is worth getting to know for the future.  Here’s his story.  Another young person who’s showing up, on the court.  Impressive.

Matt Pelikan, August 12, 2018

COMMENTS:

from Carol:  I disagree with your assessment of the article re Ellison.  Should papers not print something because it’s right before an election??  Then they would REALLY get accused of bias.  I’m pretty sure if Trump were accused of some horrendous deed right before the next election, we’d all want that printed…