Category: Archives

AVOID SHAME

April 30, 2024 / PAPA

My brother called me yesterday. He was distraught. Not about any of the usual health issues that seem to multiply for us old guys with each passing year. He’s had his share of surgeries, procedures and hospitalizations. Nor did any local sports teams fall short of hope. Those were not the cause of his concern. He was beside himself, nearly speechless and in despair that anyone in this country, much less supposedly educated college students, were loudly and proudly cheering for the Hamas butchers. They actively support evil. And, based on what can be dicerned from the news, they have no shame in such depravity. Somehow they think they are on the side of justice.

Today our conversation seems all the more ironic because April 30, 1945 is the date the real architect of genocide killed himself in a bunker in Berlin. It seems inconceivable that his hateful philosophy that gave rise to monstrous crimes could ever come to American shores. Make no mistake; it is seeking a foothold here. Beware of the usual word games of misdirection from those who do not have your best interests at heart. After a free country, Isreal, was attacked in an unspeakable fashion many in this country started to say the Isreali right to self defense should be limited for the sake of innocents. The “we are against butchery by Hamas but also against too much war” crowd. Then came some perverted colonialism nonsense. Isreal is bad and Palistinians are noble goobly goop. It took some time but it’s much clearer now; there is a ton of hate of the Jews. Signs, chants and slogans. A few suffer a public slip of the tongue and say zionists don’t deserve to live. Or, Jews should go back to Poland.

Poland? These young minds couldn’t be trying to reference Nazi death camps could they? Does Auschwitz rings a bell? A lady in my gym today said what is going on at Columbia University reminds her of the “Brown Shirts” of Germany. Good point. Donning the scarves, colors and symbols of Hamas. A history professor at Wisconsin who escaped from Nazi Germany in 1933 always pointed to the power of the Third Reich’s symbols in its rise. He said that the outside Nazi poison began to infect his school. Before he fled across Lake Constance he was told by a girl who he thought was a friend that he should “go back to Jerusalem”. Tonight on the news a young person was filmed smashing in the glass doors of the school’s library. Kristallnacht anyone? Like my brother I never thought such a level of antisemitism would ever rear its head in America. I was taught that antisemitism was wrong and the point was driven home by movies. (Gentlemen’s Agreement, Diary Of Anne Frank and Exodus.) And, by exmple. I remember a Catholic barkeep who traded places with a Jewish man on religious holidays. It is difficult to believe what is being said/done to Jews and Isreal now. That such conduct is tolerated in the halls of Ivy and the Executive Branch of the US government is astonishing. (Scolding Isreal while it is in the midst of defending itself sounds like a really good idea right now, Tony. Or, was John McCain right?)

By the way. Yesterday was the date in 1945 when US troops freed Dachau. Never, never again best not become a hollow sound in your lifetimes in America. We know it has and can happen in hate filled parts of the world. There is a shame for what is starting to happen in America right now. Avoid such folks. Read your history. Pursue critical thinking. Remember, US citizens stood up against evil and the Bund never took root here some ninety years ago. (Look up Milwaukee’s German population and the conversion of Camp Hindenburg to Camp Schurz.)

MEMORIES FOR MEMORIAL DAY

May 28, 2023 / PAPA

This weekend pays respect to those who died in the service of our country. However, earlier this week Papa was reminded of a joyous outcome from the Vietnam War. When I was in law school I had a roommate from North Dakota. It was a super state in my eyes. It provided me a good roommate. People from North Dakota were close knit. If Phil Jackson was in town to play basketball, 20 or 30 kids showed up at the game. A few were in college, some had local jobs and others were simply passing through town. Everyone from ND knew everyone else. So, it did not surprise me that around 1966 an Air Force pilot showed up at our apartment doorstep. He was on his way to Vietnam.

To prove that alcohol does not eliminate one’s memory, a statement he made stuck with me. His dream in combat was to find an enemy supply train and attack and destroy it. A laudable ambition in war I suppose. However, in the deep recess of my mind at the time was the sentiment from a popular song. Please General Custer I don’t want to go! It was a time when all honorable young males faced the reality of military service. It wasn’t long after that evening that we received word that he had been shot down. I don’t recall any further news. Time slipped and surged forward. Graduation, marriage and soon it was my time to deploy to Vietnam. Followed by an eventual return home for me. For others their fates lingered in time.

This week’s news included covering a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the return of the Vietnam POWs. My recall from 1973 was of several return flights, all televised. Spread out over weeks/months depending on the health condiiton of the heros. This week my memory returned to the day in Fort Ord that I witnessed Loren Torkelson of North Dakota step off his Freedom Bird. He was alive and free. I didn’t know he was alive until his name flashed on the TV. Fifty years ago. I am glad for the reminder of that good memory.

This weekend my memory will return to the other two men with whom I had some connection. A high school classmate of my brother and my fraternity brother at Wisconsin. Both were pilots in Vietnam. Both were lost/killed in action. I mourn their loss. And for all of life that they missed. I’ll always remember them as young. Unlike me and the old vet passing out poppies at the grocery store today. It’d be difficult for either of us to raise our arms high enough, quickly enough to give a proper salute much less soldier. During only a few minutes of conversation two old goats had more in common than the fraility of age. Our connection was formed when we were young. It’s mostly unspoken. It is just there. That simple interaction is something I wish Bill and Norm had lived to experience.

I did get a poppy for each of you. I always do. It’s a good symbol. Take some time and think about it. As you go through life I urge you to be a good citizen. It’s the right thing to do. And, it is perhaps a small sign of respect for the sacrifice of men represented by the poppy. This year’s family get together will of course include Papa’s music. A heavy dose of the 1940’s. Humm along.

FUSION

December 11, 2022 / PAPA

You’ll live to see it. I mentioned fusion with a net energy gain on the horizon at some earlier point in this blog. Probably in a post when Papa lamented the sprouting clutter along the highways. i.e. Huge propellers and dark solar panels. Mere decades fom now, clean energy will exist that will lift all folks in all countries towards greater prosperity. I hope that science even advances the goal to sooner rather than later with private sector input. The old 1950’s ATOMS FOR PEACE concept.

Stayed tuned for a possible breakthrough announcement. As early as this week according to reliable news sources. If you drive along the Canadian highway to your cabin in future years and see clean/uncluttered ridge lines remember that dreams can be realized. Aim high. As an old friend once told me, “The sky is the limit as long as you are looking up.” (I think he thought Papa had directional challenges.)

POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION

September 30, 2022 / PAPA

Every so often one of Papa’s pet peeves rise up to irritate. I was in a “no news” mode north of the border when I became aware that a new Prime Minister of Great Britain had been selected. Because the prior PM had resigned, a nation wide election was not needed. However, his political party did need to select a new leader. So, members of parliament from his party nominated and whittled down candidates. When two prospects remained, members of the party voted for a preference. Just the party members.

In a fashion that is similar to how our major political parties selected leaders in the past. (Mostly caucuses/conventions) When my personal interest in politics was heating up in 1960 I believe that less than half of the states conducted Presidential primaries. (Wisconsin and West Virgina’s results for JFK helped change that calculus.) Now, primaries dominate. Which is why a peeve has arisen during my residency away from home. In Wisconsin a person registers as a voter. Then you can vote in any party’s nominee selection process. Out west a person can’t do so without registering/affiliating as a party member. As a registered independent I am precluded from voting in a primary. To me it is a sham that 30 or 40 % of the voters here are claimed to be members of a political party simply because they are coerced into registering with a party..

If a person believes in the principles of a particular party, they shoiuld fill out an application, pay dues and be a “party” member. Go to meetings and help formulate party policies/agendas. Join up! (When I was young I went to both a local republican and democrat party meeting. Neither passed my “folks I’d like to have beers with” test.) Of course, party registration facilitates a lazy man’s route. Straight party ticket voting eliminates the bother of thought. Thinking too much can hurt one’s brain. Back home, common sense made it easier to vote closer to a 50/50 party split. Out west the local one party monopoly has mostly abandoned sense. It is no longer a question of who’d I’d like to have a beer with; it’s an entire herd of folks I’d never ever sip beer with. And, I like beer.