The Bus

Sunday’s Opinion section had a very interesting commentary by Mike Miles.  More below in “The Bus”.

First: In Minnesota, absentee voting begins on Friday, Sep 18.  All details are at the website of the Minnesota Secretary of State.  For other states, The Washington Post provides what seems to be an excellent and easily used link, here.  I saw this in a most interesting commentary by Dana Milbank of the Post.  I never thought we’d reach this point of near chaos in our democracy.  We have, we’re the only solution, one person at a time.

ALSO, Friday begins the annual Twin Cities Nonviolent program (Minnesota).  All details are available here.   This is an important ten days dedicated to nonviolence in our lives.  Check the program and participate and share this information with others. This is a serious venture, of a global program on Nonviolence.

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The Bus: It was a real, and pleasant, surprise to see the Sunday Minneapolis Tribune feature opinion on Sunday: “Extremism is not what we believe, but how” by Mike Miles.  Here’s the pdf of the article: Mike Miles STrib Sep 13, 2020

Peaceful protestors have been taking an abundance of false cheap shots, lately, as if they are thugs, which they definitely are not.  I’ve known the movement since shortly after 9-11-01.

I think I met Mike Miles once, a brief time on August 29, 2008, here in Woodbury.  [Please note Mike’s comment at the end of this post.]  I would not have known that but for the comment, in his column, about driving a peace bus accompanying Kathy Kelly and peace activists who walked from Chicago to St. Paul with planned arrival to coincide with a big peace march coincident with the beginning of the 2008 Republican Convention in St. Paul – the one where John McCain was nominated for President by his party.  Oh, how time flies by….

Here’s a photo of the bus and the walkers on August 29, 2008, at Ojibway Park in Woodbury:

Peace Bus, Aug 29, 2008, Ojibway Park, Woodbury MN photo: Dick Bernard

The Peace bus in Woodbury August 29, 2008

The bus was a support vehicle.  The activists walked the entire route.  At the end, Kathy Kelly, spoke at the Peace Island Conference, sponsored and put together by the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers.  We competed with the GOP Convention a couple of miles away, the convention receiving most of the attention, but was an amazing conference, nonetheless.

Here’s a dialogue at the Woodbury Library with local residents the evening the bus arrived:

Group discussing the bus trip at Woodbury Public Library Aug 29, 2008

Here’s Kathy doing her talk at Peace Island:

Kathy Kelly at Peace Island Conference, St. Paul MN, Sep. 3, 2008

There remain seven weeks to election.  Get to work.

COMMENTS:

from Bill: Thanks Dick for the remembrance.  Back then David Harris and me and others joined Kathy’s group outside of of Red Wing and walked wither into town.  They spent the night in Red Wing where they helped us prepare for the VFP march on Sunday night on the march from the capital to the RNC.