Understanding The Elderly

Old people are the last bastions and examples of civilized behavior.  They are needed more today than ever before. 

Old people hold the door for the next person.  They trust strangers and are respectful to women.  If you bump into an old person on the sidewalk, they’ll be the ones who apologize.  

They are annoyed by disrespectful behavior and bad manners.  They are repulsed by all the numerous forms of verbal vulgarities and the public vulgarity routinely displayed on TV, in movies and on social media that are inexcusably disrespectful to our women and children. They are revolted by alarming levels of selfishness, deceit and lies that routinely go unchallenged. 

Old people are uncomfortable with disrespectable displays toward our flag and national anthem.  Yet they know this activism is protected and encouraged under our constitution.  They know it was this rebelliousness that led to the formation of our nation, propelled the labor movement, led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ended the Vietnam War, stripped away Watergate lies and gave us equal treatment and protection for gays.  They know that taking a knee during the anthem is our only hope for ending our sixteen-year wars in the Middle East, halting the spread of a rapidly advancing police state, achieving advances in health care and ending the callous indifference toward the middle class, the poor and underprivileged. 

Old people are outraged by the acceptance of the blatant national hypocrisy surrounding our young military men and women.  For all our lip service, no efforts demanding an end to our wars, demanding our troops be brought home, or demanding an end to our wasteful spending and loss of life is not being demanded.  

Old people remember World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy, and Hitler... They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age, the Berlin airlift, and the Marshall Plan, The Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Old people remember exactly where they were the day President Kennedy was assassinated and, on those days, when Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy where shot to death. 

They remember exactly where they were on “Nine- Eleven,” when the first American walked on the moon, when the US hockey team won the 1980 Olympic Gold Medal, when President Richard Nixon resigned from office, the day the Vietnam war ended and the day they discovered they would forever be in love.  

They more than likely will tell you that the very best days of their lives were the days their children and grandchildren were born. 

Their life is simple and their cares are few.  While their days may be short, they have never been more peaceful than now, knowing that they have achieved the joy and contentment of being loved by those they love most in life.

Charlottesville And Revisionist History

We are in the midst of an era of insanity.  This isn’t the first time America has temporarily lost its mind.  What is important is that we refuse to allow the residual effects from such an era to take permanent hold in our national conscience.

In the aftermath of the horror in Charlottesville, there are those busy trying to rewrite history and thus alter its proper perspective.  To suggest why is speculative but it requires we all be outraged at the attempt to do so.  Since that confrontation, no less than a dozen different individuals have stated publicly that the Civil War was fought to end slavery.  Hearing it again could push one over the edge.

Lincoln made it clear that the major impetus for the war was secession and the preservation of the union. 

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.  If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.  What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.  I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause." 

ABOVE CITATION: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, "Letter to Horace Greeley" (August 22, 1862), p. 388 

Gettysburg Address; “testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” 

That endurance was of UTMOST importance.  This reality should, in NO way, diminish the utter disgust that Lincoln had for the barbaric practice of slavery.  Only that the preservation of the union was his most deeply held conviction.    

Those with limited knowledge of history always point to the fact that Lincoln’s moral outrage over the practice of slavery grew as the war marched on.  They like to suggest that that signifies the war was fought over slavery.  The truth is that the longer the war raged on the greater national opposition grew to the bloodshed. The demonstrations in the streets in the north made the Vietnam protests look like a tea party.  Lincoln was hung and burned in effigy.  The north wanted the war over.  Lincoln needed northern support to continue with the war.  As such he increased his moral outrage over slavery to quell the opposition.  He used the strong emotional pulls surrounding the inhumanity of slavery to strengthen support for the cause - to gain the support he needed for continued acceptance of the awful human carnage and wanton destruction necessary to save the Union. i.e. "...  I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause."

To suggest that the Civil war was fought to end slavery is to suggest the Second World War was fought to end the Holocaust.  Both were incredibly positive residual benefits but they were not the primary motivation for the conflicts.

Amplifying moral indignation to a sacred level clearly engenders a heightened sense of pride through morality.  Yet if that amplification is seeded in falsehoods, it can also result in destructive, deceitful manipulation. Beware of false gods clocked in historical rewrites.   

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”   

~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Politics And Religion

Both religions and political party’s serve more to disenfranchise our nation than they do to strengthen it.  They are the principal vehicles responsible for most of the divisiveness, polarization and intransigence that is crippling our nation today.

 The recently held Presidential Election in France should aid us in placing political parties in their proper perspective.   

 France does not have a two-party system.  Although France has many political parties, their system is designed to protect the nation from a full-fledged two-party influence on power.  As such, two elections for their president are held.  In the first round of voting all candidates vying for the office appear on the ballot.  If none of those many candidates receive a clear majority of the total number of votes cast, then a second - run-off - election is held two weeks later between the two candidates receiving the largest number of votes.

All the evidence at our disposal clearly indicated that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the most distasteful candidates to the American people.  Yet, come election day, the country was faced with choosing between one of those repugnant choices. 

 If America embraced the same system as France, then our initial ballots would have contained Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Gary Johnson and etc., all of whom, along with Ted Cruz, could have syphoned off enough votes to make Donald Trump a non-factor. 

 We should also remember that Hillary was unable to gain enough delegates through the primary elections to secure the Democratic Party nomination.  It was the Democratic Party shenanigans of Super Delegates that put her over the top. 

 Granted, we would first need to implement campaign finance reform.  Such reforms would provide exactly the same amount in federal funds to all candidates to wage their campaigns. No further funds could be spent in the pursuit of the presidency.  This would naturally mandate the repeal of “Citizens United.”  These reforms, in conjunction with the application of the French system of election are initiatives America should be seriously considering.   

 

The problem with religion is the concepts employed in defining God.  Just exactly what He is and what He represents?  As long as such an evaluation is determined by human beings, many of the aspects surrounding that evaluation could very easily be flawed - I.E. Eating meat on Friday.

Some see God as Vengeful and Vindictive using fear-mongering as motivation for proper behavior.  Christian concepts do NOT support capital punishment.  Yet most Christian Americans approve of it.   

There is much contradictory evidence in support of the fact that God is not Sodom and Gomorrah nor the God Who flooded the world in the story of Noah.  We see time and again that He is the Entity that fed starving people with fishes and loaves, cured lepers, healed the lame and the blind.  He is the God of Mary Magdalene that reminded us that only those without sin can cast the first stone.  He is the God of “love thy neighbor,” “do unto others as you would have them to do unto you” and “no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his brethren.”  As such, other Americans see God as a Loving, Caring, Compassionate Entity capable of forgiveness that the human heart cannot comprehend. 

 Once we have established, in our arrogant and infinite wisdom, just exactly what God is, how would we then deal with the first amendment?  Would we be tolerant of those whose perspective and beliefs run contrary to the demand for that universal acceptance?  Would that demand further alienate and divide us through hatred and intolerance?  Do we really believe that God would want us to behave in that manner?

 

Our founding fathers cautioned us time and again against the acceptance and formations of both political parties and organized religions.  But we have scoffed at that wisdom leaving us with incredible levels of hatred and alienation.

 “Love thy neighbor…” and “do unto others…” is all that is necessary to make America great again.  To achieve that requires far less importance being placed on manmade religions and political parties.

Forever Dayton’s

Dayton’s was a department store once located in the frozen wilds of Minneapolis, Minnesota.   

Dayton’s entire business philosophy was based upon the age-old axiom of; “the customer is always right” and “our word is our bond.”  

With regards customer service, all customers were to be treated respectfully and all issues were to be resolved immediately and to the complete satisfaction of the customer. 

This method of doing business served the Dayton family well.  They were among the most successful and became one of wealthiest families in Minnesota. 

Minnesotans who experienced the long-term grandeur of this magnificent emporium have at least one inimitable story about Dayton’s.  Consider the young mother who took her two very young sons shopping in downtown Minneapolis.  Such a 1950’s excursion would naturally include a stop at everyone’s favorite department store, Dayton’s. 

The oldest of the little lads was demanding an immediate visit to the toy department.  While mom had promised that such a visit was forthcoming this little guy had run out of patience with his mother’s infernal browsing and the insistence that her desires take precedence.  

In an attempt to quell the whining, she assured him that the toy department was on the same floor they currently occupied and that would be their next stop.  This youngster, like all youngsters of his era, knew exactly where the toy department was located and it wasn’t on that floor. To prove he was right he ran over to a man and asked him where the toy department was.  The lad knew he had to work at the store because he was a man and men weren’t seen shopping in Dayton’s in the middle of the day – only women. 

The gentleman told the little boy it was three floors up and directed him to the escalator. 

The mother came over and collected her insulant offspring.  She apologized to the gentleman but as she did, she noticed a number of sales clerks were smiling and laughing.  In her somewhat embarrassed state, she asked if her son had said something rude or impolite.  They responded that the lad was very polite but that the man her son approached – the man she had just apologized to - was none other than Donald Dayton, the president and grandson of the founder of that magnificent emporium.  

So, this mom was able, by pure happenstance, to meet one of the Twin Cities most notable residents.  Naturally the next stop was indeed three floors up and the toy department.  All was once again, right with the world. 

Christmas wasn’t Christmas without a visit to Dayton’s.  The entire downtown Minneapolis area was beautifully decorated (since abandoned).  The true centerpiece was Dayton’s.  Its window displays found gazers three to five people deep. If little lads weren’t perched high atop their father’s shoulders, they would have to push their way through the crowd to gawk at the exhilarating magic.

As years passed, the stores eighth floor auditorium was turned into a cornucopia of Christmas delight. Each year a different Christmas story would be told through remarkably beautiful animated Christmas holiday displays.  The line to see these treasures could stretch down to the third or fourth floor of the store.  The wait could be two hours or more and was never viewed as an annoyance.  Everyone knew that yet another thrill was forthcoming.  At the end of the story, it was time for the visit with Santa.  Dayton’s was masterful at making Christmas special. 

In 2001 the Dayton’s name was replaced by Marshall Fields and later Macy’s.  Most Minnesotans refused to accept the name change and throughout the years continued to refer the chain of department stores as Dayton’s, no matter what name appeared on the buildings. 

That little boy from the 1950’s saved and closely guarded old Dayton's shopping bags. They became one his most prized possessions.  He would take them along when he went shopping just in case anything was purchased at Macy's.  He would then insist the purchases be placed in the Dayton's bags. The Macy’s personnel were as pleased by this demand as his mother was with his persistence for an immediate visit to that toy department.  He found it great fun and a very special way to remember the store and remind others of its once glorious existence. 

On March 19, 2017 the downtown Minneapolis flagship store, built in 1902, was closed. 

If we live long enough, we eventually experience days in which we lament the fact that we may have lived too long.  That was one of those days. 

Unfortunately, all that remains of Dayton’s is the memory of an elation that could once be understandably expressed by tossing ones’ hat into the air in front of the old venerable department store – an elation that can only be recaptured today by viewing the opening credits for the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Abortion In American – Lies And Hatreds

Abortion supporters and foes alike, lie, deceive and promulgate misconceptions as each irrational side struggles for domination in setting the agenda, framing the arguments and controlling the debate.  This must end if we are serious about reaching any consensus and, thus, any peace of mind on this contentious issue.  

President George W. Bush aptly pointed out; "You have to keep repeating things to catapult the propaganda."  In other words, if people hear something often enough, they will, eventually begin to believe it irrespective of its validity. 

Senator Kyl’s Lie was followed by his office attempting to disguise the facts through more deception.    

The Hyde Amendment bars the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortions except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape. 

Therefore, the reference to “subsidized abortions” is based solely upon the assumption that should federal funding be eliminated, leaving only private donations, that the funding to perform abortions would dry up.  This suggests that private funds alone would be insufficient to continue abortions.  The statement wants us to ignore any possibility that more aggressive fund-raising could alleviate the loss should federal funds be pulled.  What funding would look like on both sides of this argument is a mystery and not a fact. 

What is absent in this dialog is whether government funding is NEEDED by Planned Parenthood.  Should it be determined their funding is as necessary as the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on subsidizing the oil industry, then their funding should be discontinued.  Planned Parenthood currently services some 2.7 million patients per year and has provided service to 20% of the women in America since its inception.   If they are unable to gain financial viability we would need to know why, especially when every other medical provider in this country is getting rich.  Conversely, if Planned Parenthood clinics are victims of insurance company or government bias or discrimination then that too must end. 

Singling out Planned Parenthood for destruction as a means to end abortion is at best disingenuous. It in no way addresses the crux of the problem or the passions that fuel the controversy.  

One of the main arguments is that Planned Parenthood performs the majority of abortions in America.  The predominate argument behind drumming Planned Parenthood out of existence is that abortions would then be vastly reduced.  This is far more a fantasy than a reality. 

Texas leads the country in ridding itself of Planned Parenthood.  Services once provided through Planned Parenthood are far more expensive as funding once available through Planned Parenthood has dried up. The additional demands placed on the ill-equipped remaining clinics have made appointments difficult to secure. The closures have also resulted in limited availability to sexual education and contraceptives.  As a result, unwanted pregnancies and unplanned births are up in Texas.  Increasing unwanted pregnancies through increased medical costs and limited education and contraceptives is hardly effective in reducing abortions.  Closing Planned parenthood to limit or eliminate unwanted pregnancies and abortion makes as much sense as closing McDonalds to curb obesity.  

Another popular misconception is that Planned Parenthood encourages and strongly recommends abortions be performed.  This charge is based upon the ludicrous 90% deceit.  This also has the effect of yet another deception.  Planned Parenthood is reaping enormous profits through this bogus number of abortions performed.  There is no evidence to support even the hint of that suggestion. 

We should also consider the 15-year-old who was raped and became pregnant.  She was financially burdened and opposed to aborting her baby.  Believing she had nowhere else to turn for help, she went to Planned Parenthood.  To the young lady’s surprise, she was NOT pressured into an abortion.  Instead, Planned Parenthood respected her wishes and gave her the care, resources and support she needed for a healthy and positive pregnancy and birth. They also provided her with a support group for young parents.  

http://reverbpress.com/sexes/women/teen-rape-victim-baby-thanks-planned-parenthood/

The essence of this controversy lies in the necessity and proper purpose of abortion. 

Common sense dictates abortion must remain legal because of its humane necessity in dire medical circumstances and because it must be safe i.e. Physical health problems account for 4% of all abortions and Fetal Health Problems for 3% of All Abortions. 

Another key legal component is that Roe V. Wade needs to be amended.  In 1973 contraception was limited.  Today it is plentiful.  Forty-four years ago, birth defects were untreatable.  Today most can be treated.  Today disabled children are protected by a bill of rights. 

As a result, women who once firmly believed their right to privacy was inviolate are now troubled over not knowing where their privacy ends and another human being’s dignity begins.  This brings us squarely face-to-face with the moral issue.  

The largest demand for abortion is in the area of elective procedures to end unwanted pregnancies. This naturally has created moral concerns.  These concerns accurately stem from the level of responsibility that needs to be borne by women who freely consent to sexual activity and become pregnant in an age where there is no reason for them to be pregnant. These pregnancies not only result from careless or selfish behavior but from uniformed and ignorant behavior as well. 

Yet the irresponsible demand that these medically unnecessary abortions be allowed to continue even though alternative solutions (adoption and advanced medical care) exist, needs the same careful scrutiny as the legal considerations.  

If we are serious about vastly curtailing abortion, we need to enact just one law. A heartbeat is not detected until six weeks after fertilization.  If elective abortions were deemed illegal after the first six weeks of gustation, it would address the irresponsible conduct and abuses.  This would aid greatly in the reduction of the total number performed.  

Those in the Pro-Choice camp keeps telling us that that is unreasonable.  They say ad nauseum that women cannot  know they are pregnant during those first six-weeks.

That is as big a lie as Jon kyle's lie.   No matter which set of statics you encounter, one of the stats that is universal is that the largest percentage of abortions occur during those first six-weeks. 

Finally, abortion requires sound thinking and reasonable minds to find solutions and to change cultural and societal perspectives.  Forward progress will be inordinately difficult to achieve if the debate continues to be fueled by hatred and selfishness, based upon lies, deceit and misinformation with the ultimate goal of clubbing the opposition into submission.  

Eliminating these elements and that mindset, rather than the political voodoo of attacking Planned Parenthood, would be far more advantageous in accomplishing the most desirable result.

The real evil here is abortion on demand – NOT Roe V. Wade and for God Sakes, certainly NOT Planned Parenthood.

American Muslim Hatred

All that is good is spawned by love.  All that his evil and destructive is spawned by hatred.  America has reached that fork in the road.  Which path will we choose to travel?

Attempts to justify Muslim hatred appears to be growing.

 Most of this paranoia is based upon a perverted belief that “ALL MUSLIMS” embrace a literal translation of the Quarn.  No evidence yet exists to support that wild-eyed accusation.  There are Muslims that vehemently deny it and then there are El Qaeda and ISIS.  If history has taught us anything, it is that they are a greater threat to one another than they are to anyone else.  Eight-hundred-thousand (800,000) refugees have entered the United States since September 11, 2001.  According to United States State Department figures, only 20 of them have been arrested on terrorism charges. 

If we are to use holy books, like the Quarn, as a basis for discriminatory thinking, then how should we view literal translations and thinking toward the Christian Bible?  

 “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” - Leviticus 20:13

 “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,…”  - Exodus 21:24

 YES – The Christian bible is full of violence and hatred.  Should that discredit the entire Christian philosophy and teachings?  Do ALL Christians take these disgusting passages literally?  Or, like Muslims, are there just a certain segment of the Christian population that distorts biblical references thus making Christianity unpropitious?

 If we lived in another country would we be willing to embrace people who come from the following environment?  Would be as quick to attach the label of ALL to Christians in as we attached to Muslims?

 ALL Christian Americans are uncivilized, vicious, violent people.  They are ALL members of the Ku Klux Klan. It is NOT safe to walk the neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago; too dangerous to take a stroll through Central Park after dark.  They engage in and support spree shootings and mass killings of even children. They ALL shot and kill their police officers. While they may not behead the enemies to their society, they kill them through lethal injections. The largest population of pedophiles has been discovered in the Catholic Church. We need to be very suspicious of ALL these Christians.  After all – can Christians really make good citizens?  Just look at all the hatred and violence in their bible and the history of their awful, brutal religious wars.

 The analogy, while accurately applied to the thinking of many Americans toward Muslims, is, as demonstrated, ludicrous.  

These hatreds signal a serious lack of proper judgement that should, by now, be viewed as totally deplorable in America.  These beliefs also require ignoring that untold thousands of American Muslims have assimilated into American culture and are making substantial contributions to our nation and way of life.  This bigotry also manifests and promotes a serious danger.  – the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is just one example.  We must be committed to challenge and stomp out any form of bigotry whenever and wherever it raises it’s hateful, ugly head.

Finally, if this anti-Muslim hatred isn’t shamed into submission, we will eventually need to determine what discriminatory policies and practices we will institute without validation for their justification.  We will then need to determine if we still hold fast to the principles that "…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”  We have done this in the past when instituting the Jim Crow doctrine of laws.  Are we really willing to relive that awful evil?

 “I look to a day when people will NOT be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”       ~ Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 If we forget this, we lose our country. But what should be far more alarming is that we also lose our souls.

Remembering the "The Say Hey” Kid

“Phil Malat of Coon Rapids wrote this heart-felt tribute to Willie Mays on the occasion of Wondrous Willie's 80th birthday:”  ~  Patrick Reusse

Random Ruesse at 1500 ESPN KSTP Web Site

Published Friday, May 6th, 2011 - 5:48pm

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He was 10 and heard all the stories of a mythical center fielder who roamed Nicollet Park in Minneapolis. 

The boy knew of his long homers. He knew of his rocket arm, his blazing speed, his bushel basket catches, and had heard all the stories of his climbing the centerfield fence to snare fly balls destined for places outside the grasp of mere mortals. 

Yes, he knew that the town was heartbroken and angry when the major league team, the New York Giants, hijacked him away when he was hitting .476.

The 10-year-old was shown the letter printed in the Minneapolis newspaper, written by the owner of the major league team, apologizing to the fans for taking their hero away. The only time in major league history that was done.
By the time all this was made known to the lad, things had changed.

Nicollet Park was a distant memory. The Minneapolis Millers now played at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. The boy now could only know of the center fielder's prowess and exploits through the newspaper, sports magazines, Life Magazine, Look Magazine and anything else he could get his hands on to read. He could only yearn and dream about what it would be like to see him play. 

But there is a God, and he watches over baseball and young boys. 

One night at the dinner table, the boy's father announced that he would be taking his sons to Met Stadium to see an exhibition game between the Millers and the Giants. The boy would no longer have to dream and yearn. The reality was at hand and the excitement was indescribable. 

On arrival at the old Met, the fans learned the major league team had decided not to play most of their starting players. Speculation was they did not want to risk injury in a meaningless contest, or perhaps they didn't want to embarrass the Millers, the Triple-A farm club. 

So the center fielder sat on the bench. 

This would not be tolerated by the fans. No one cared about the score. The stands were filled with those who wanted to see him play again. 

Beginning somewhere around the end of the third inning the fans began chanting; "WILL-EEE, WILL-EEE, WILL-EEE" and did so before every Giant at bat.

By the sixth inning, the Millers led 3-1. It was time for the Giants to hit.

"WILL-EEE, WILL-EEE, WILLIEEE." 

Two Giant runners had reached base.

"WILL-EEE, WILL-EEE, WILL-EEE." 

He emerged from the dugout and took his place in the on-deck circle. The crowd went crazy.  

The hitter bunted the runners over to second and third. 

The boy was finally going to see this legend, his hero, at bat. It took three, maybe four pitches; before a long fly ball was hit so hard it not only cleared the left field fence but traveled over the white protective fence beyond the outfield fence and into the parking lot. 

The Giants led 4-3. No Millers' fan cared. 

That was my introduction to Willie Mays. 

I would see him play on a few more occasions. Mays never disappointed. Even if he went hitless in a game (something I never witnessed), you never felt cheated. The style and grace, the effortless manner with which he played the game, watching the bushel basket catches - these things were enough to make a game with Willie Mays memorable.
Why this remembrance now? 

The "Say Hey Kid" turned 80 today. That 10-year-old boy is now in his 60s and he cannot find suitable words to express his wish to Mr. Mays for a happy birthday. 

What he can offer is the wonderful sentence that the great Jim Murray once wrote in honor of Wondrous Willie: "The first thing to establish about Willie Mays is that there really is one." 

I can still hear the crowd at Met Stadium: "WILL-EEE, WILL-EEE...''