WORDS MATTER, A LOT!

I was getting to the opinion page of the New York Times (still for free). At the masthead was a changing colorful banner advertisement for a "Wealth Management" firm. I have recently noticed this buzzword phrase, wealth management, directed at retired geezers, who presumably have a lot more than their social security and medicare to help them through their declining years.

What's in a name like Wealth Management? What do wealth managers do? It's what bean counters, investment counselors, and CPAs used to do, when I was in school and at work.

I even minored, a half century ago, in Business Administration and Economics, as a supplement to my engineering degrees. And I once audited a course in Business Law to learn the language of corporate bosses.

In recent years the communications subject of "framing" has come into usage in the political world. It was featured in a best seller written by UC-Berkeley Professor George Lakoff. His descriptive book was titled "Don't Think of an Elephant." But of course, we who read it can't forget that title. Lakoff writes that the words we choose to describe our message already have conditioned the recipient to think about the topic, as we would have them think.

Gun Control or Firearms Safety? Global Warming or Climate Change? Tax and Spend or Share the Sacrifice? Can you tell when you are being "framed?" I was just looking for an op-ed page.

As a senior in high school we had a very useful social science segment on Propaganda, and I still recall our teacher John Mather telling us about the Big Lie and other devices used by those who would control our minds.

So who will I go to for help in "managing" what money I have left, after a life of work, climbing and descending corporate ladders?

Public television has its corporate sponsors with pictures of whales to move us to "Pacific Life." NPR broadcasts with the help of a very peaceful "PAX Mutual Fund."

Let me simply recall a time-honored warning, Buyer Beware!

CAN WE LEARN ANYTHING NEW?

Watching a little television on a Sunday night in May I was assaulted by the commercial advertising my son-in-law sells. A previous show on PBS from Great Britain had entertained us, uninterrupted, with a drama titled "South Riding" It was a masterpiece.

Then, wanting to watch Horatio Caine's final episode of the season on "CSI: Miami," we sat through more than a dozen loud commercial pitches for our attention, before a wounded Lieutenant Caine was left on the ground to endure the long summer break.

Circuses and Bread. TV, professional sports all the time, and pizza everywhere. The American Empire declines, while we watch passively.

Around my house I have books, magazines, newspapers, several musical instruments, and a collection of LP records, cassettes, and CDs. Shutting off the television provides time to read, enjoy music, think, talk, write letters, essays, and poems.

This past week has marked a milestone in American history. Our terrorist enemy number one, Bin Laden, has been killed by a commando team after a ten-year hunt. President Obama has just reported why and how it was done.

I am taken back over my lifetime of listening to Presidents. Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and George W. Bush. From the White House our Presidents have spoken to us about war, sacrifice, and the defeat of America's enemies. But a couple are still out there, in Cuba and Korea.

It was during the Korean War that I first put on a military uniform, and it was during the energy crisis of Jimmy Carter that I took it off. I went to GTMO with the Navy four times, before it became an off-shore prison where United States civil and military regulations were adjusted.

What have we learned about war, peace, and freedom in seventy five years?
Do the religions of our forebears instruct us?
What are we teaching our children today?
Perhaps it is "Do not kill, steal, or bear false witness."

This week, as we reflect on what just happened in Pakistan, it can be a time to ask where should America be headed in this world. Who is our neighbor? And how can we be of service?

DISTRACTED? YES

For a couple weeks I have been complaining about the foolish or hateful distractions by extemists in the Republican Party. Distractions in the U.S. Congress, and in the Minnesota legislature. These are distractions over "Issues" that do no public good (in my opinion), but potentially can do great harm - to the poor, the elderly, and to many ordinary folk.

At the national level - with the painful, endless Great Recession going on for the unemployed and the underclass - conservative representatives and senators bloviate endlessly about deficits. They ignore how they put us into deficit by voting for the Bush tax cuts. They threaten to shut down the government - unless all of their Non-defense spending cuts are passed. These "Deficit Hawks" are distracting all of us, framing the national debate into a fight about "smaller government." Meanwhile, the people's business of immigration reform, environmental decay, and a bloated pentagon, goes unattended.

In the Capitol at St. Paul, Minnesota - we are given a proposed Constitutional Amendment for the people to vote on - about what they think marriage means. In this state of proven election integrity, there is a serious attempt to require voters to present a picture ID card before they can cast a ballot. Minnesota is only one of dozens of states where the national GOP is pushing this measure. The thinking is that this can reduce the number of votes by the poor and the elderly, who often have no drivers license. These are voters who often support Democratic Party candidates.

These two major distractions are sucking the oxygen from the State Capitol, where there is a financial crisis. To keep our state government running, we must provide additional revenue to undo the lingering deficit from former Governor Tim Pawlenty's eight years of "NO NEW TAXES!" This pledge of his was the only way he could capture the Republican nomination for Governor in 2002. And now he thinks he can ride a "smaller government" record to the White House in 2012.

The month of April has been filled with conflict and toxicity from these angry debates about nothing constructive. But then something else happened.

Wild fires in Texas. Tornadoes in Alabama. An awareness that Japan's recent catastrophe has lessons for Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California.

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and nuclear plant radioactivity are threatening the entire Pacific Rim. We are not prepared.

Ait traffic controllers, time and time again, fell asleep at their control centers in the middle of the night - unsupervised. OMG!

For more than a week the news media told us about an upcoming Royal Wedding and the same-day space shuttle launch of Representative Gabriel Gifford's commanding husband.

Too much! said the pundits, of the Kate and William event. What a distraction.

But very early on Friday morning, in a rented hotel room, I heard the NPR Morning Edition host describe a wedding ring ceremony from London's Westminster Abby, so I switched on the TV.

What happened next was a distraction. I was a young Navy Ensign on his way to Pensacola, Florida, to learn to fly. Next to me was the most beautiful girl I have ever known. I put a brilliant cut diamond ring on her finger. We pledged our lives to each other, and there was stirring church music. Then it was Kate and Will again in London, instead of Jean and Gordon in St. Paul.

It was time to go to work at the Minnesota Waters Conference in St. Cloud. It had been a distraction and a reminder, that there is work for us to do, ALL of us.

We are bigger and better than our current elected legislators.

They Really ARE Making This Up

In this first week of Spring 2011 I have watched political theater from the U.S. Congress and the Minnesota Legislature with dismay. Urgent public business is on their plates - poverty, unemployment, senseless weapons violence, global climate degradation, and three overseas war efforts, in Washington, D.C. In St. Paul we have
borrowed money from the public schools and other dedicated funds to "balance the books," but still are in the hole more than five billion dollars. The triumphant Minnesota Republican Party is churning out budget messages that slash programs and priorities that bi-partisan state governments have built up for the last four decades.

One searches for an explanation - why has our democracy apparently gone nuts?

Listening to the set speeches and talking points of a Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader McConnell, a Tea Party Spokeswoman, or in St. Paul, to Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, one hears rhetoric of alarm at an expanding government that is threatening our freedoms. Spending is out of control! Rampant fraud, waste, and abuse! Reform now! It's about public employee pensions, the K-12 education system, local government, higher education, and on and on...

Who is making this up?

Since Governor Reagan of California became President, we have had drummed into us that "Guvmit" is The Problem. It follows that Bigger Government is a terrible problem, so we must reduce it's size.

Since the early 1980's we also have "watched" as the income disparity in America has become huge. Ordinary folks have not benefited from gains in productivity, but a narrow upper class, that runs our institutions, has benefited mightily. By spreading this nutty speech, that defies logic, science, reality, and common sense, these favored few keep THEIR taxes small and shed responsibility for anyone else.

Let's examine a few of the "facts" they would have us accept.

We are "Broke." That is true only if no one expects our representatives to ask for a fair contribution from everyone, based on what they can afford. Governor Dayton has proposed adding an additional tier onto the Minnesota Income Tax that will gather several billion dollars to address the huge deficit left to him by former Governor Tim Pawlenty.

We need to "Reform" the way we teach High School. Use electronic technology, distance learning, new media. Leave no child behind. I suggest these speakers visit some nearby high school media centers and shop classes. Count the number of students in the classes. Talk to their teacher neighbors. Our Superintendent, School Board Members, and Teachers in my district need that withheld share of state financial support to do their jobs effectively. They are coping, but they also need more parental involvement and community support - Not Reform.

I must conclude that there is a concentrated effort, run by a handful of corporate masters, to poison the waters of public service in order to maintain their control and to continue to siphon off a lion's share of the profits of a captured free enterprise system.

MY TURN!

Time was when Newsweek was a pretty good magazine and a way for a busy person to get a weekly digest of important news and opinion. But then they were sold and sold again. Stripped of writers worth reading and of reporters who covered the news well.
There used to be a feature in Newsweek for volunteers with a fresh and important point of view. It was called "MY TURN."

Here is MY take on the past week -

A People's Party, according to Robert Reich. It's time to give up the compromises that are losing ground for ordinary folks, at the expense of the rich. Class warfare is underway, but noone dares to call it. We've got to fight for justice, for fairness, and for an end to the military empire that America has become. Major corporations have seized the levers of power. Join Robert Reich and Jim Hightower, of the Hightower Lowdown, and let the battles begin!

Rebellion against Gadhafi in Libya, whatever should we do? Dictators once were cool for U.S. foreign policy. Now we can't stand the sight of slaughter anymore. One pundit has eleven options for our Commander-in-Chief. Defense Secretary Gates warns that a No-fly Zone requires us first to destroy EVERY anti-air installation in the country.

Does anyone remember that after World War II the United Nations Organization was created with a Declaration of Human Rights? We were UN champions once.

Let's call again on the UN, like we did in June 1950 when South Korea was invaded.
This international organization was formed to end wars and to ensure human rights. We can support humanitarian and peace-keeping efforts of the United Nations in Libya right now. That is Option One from this observer.

Your turn!

POSTSCRIPT MARCH 10th! Yesterday, 3/9/2010, Newsweek arrived in my mailbox one day late. But it was worth waiting for. That same morning new editor Tina Brown was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition talking about the many changes she has made by combining her Daily Beast Blog and Newsweek. Hillary Clinton is on this week's cover. There are good writers again and some important news reporting. Even MY TURN is back. You saw it here first. -Gord

OUR WAR BUDGET MUST BE TRIMMED

The Dictator of Libya is holed up in Tripoli - "from the Halls of Montezuma to these Shores of Tripoli" - our Marines have fought gallantly for centuries. Today's news reports that tanks are circling Gadhafi's hideout. Earlier we learned that armed Libyan helicopters and fighter aircraft were firing on protesters in the streets. Since the United States has been the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of weapons for decades, it is no surprise when we learn that overseas tanks, aircraft, bombs, bullets, and even tear gas canisters are made in the USA.

The American gunman in Pakistan who killed two alleged assailants on the street turns out to have been a former employee of Blackwater and currently is working under contract for the CIA, in "protection." He has diplomatic immunity according to our government. It says so on his passport. We also heard reports that more than one passport was on his person. Is "Mr. Phelps" on a Mission Impossible?

Should you choose to accept our story, there still remains this question for America in the 21st Century: "When will we learn to live in this world as a force for justice, equality, and peace, without war?"

It is time to disarm ourselves of the unnecessary 20th Century weapons for wars we will never fight again. It is time to stop building a military global empire with American weapons assistance and military training of foreign personnel.

Our trillion dollar annual war budget must be trimmed, if we are to afford a decent society within our own borders. A society with justice and liberty for all Americans.

ARE WE A "SELFISH SOCIETY?"

Yesterday in the news two Midwestern politicians declared emphatically, "We're broke!" Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, both argued their case for drastic measures to cut state government expenditures. In this angry political winter, apparently "any lie will do" as loud voices shout their talking points. Cut spending! Keep yuour money! Low taxes mean more jobs!

We are a prosperous nation. Wealthy beyond anything previously known on earth. But we also are becoming selfish and insensitive to anyone in need. Unwilling to suggest any shared sacrifice or fairness, when it comes to recognizing human obligations. We are far from broke.

From municipality to township to county, state, and nation - all across America - there is enough wealth within our borders to provide decent support for the most vulnerable among us. Shame on the hypocrites who try to persuade us otherwise!

Governor Dayton has addressed Minnesota's deficit with a balanced and fair budget - with spending reductions and revenue increases. Republicans dogmatically reject any revenue increase from the individual income tax and insist that only spending cuts to education, health and human services must cover the billions of dollars in deficits and overdue deficiency payments, that have accumulated over years to reach a crisis.

Governor Walker across the border in Wisconsin has declared war on the bargaining rights of his public employees - in the name of eliminating a budget deficit about half the size of Minnesota's. With conservatives in control of the executive and legislative branches of Wisconsin government, Walker hopes to roll back the legacy of progressive labor rights and achieve a balanced budget by cutting the take-home pay and pensions of state workers.

Time was when we aspired to be a "Great Society." The threat in our state capitols today is the drift toward a "Selfish Society."