There’s just a few more hours!

The great witching hour approaches and in Middle Earth, in Mordor our great hero, America, is being held over a vat filled to the brim with boiling, deadly chemicals. Who can save us?
by Charlie Leck

One of the voices of compromise in the U.S. Senate is John McCain (Arizona). Amazingly, he’s been telling young conservatives, new to the Senate, that they are in fantasyland if they really believe they can pass a balance budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Here’s a video from the Senate floor in which McCain lets them know they are “deceiving America into believing such a thing can pass the Senate.”

“You’re in fantasyland, and you’re doing your constituents a disservice by perpetuating the falsehood that such a thing can ever happen.”

Whoever thought that I would hail McCain as a great voice of reason, sanity and compromise? Huh?

Senator McCain pointed his new, conservative colleagues to a July 27 editorial in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that tears into Republican ultra-conservative as out of touch with reality.

“The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue, and the public will turn en masse against Barack Obama. The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor.”

That’s the fantasyland that John McCain is talking about; however, it is not a fantasy to these crazy and passionate Republicans. People like the craziest of them all, Michele Bachmann, have got these rookies believing such things are possible. They don’t get it that they will be weakening the American economy beyond belief and a very costly government economic program will then be necessary to retrieve the country from despair.

Today’s America has some of the lowest taxes on earth among the developed nations of the world. Many people enjoy staggering wealth because of the government and the protections and encouragement it gives the private sector. Bachmann and her fantasizing followers would bring that all down. In fact, America’s wealthiest citizens are willing to accept a reasonable tax increase on their income if it will enable the American economy to get even stronger.

Sure, we spend too much. We spend too much on some of the craziest programs the mind could devise and we can make cuts to expenditures (including military spending), but we have to be reasonable and we can’t leave older citizens, the poor, and children in need of top-notch educations in the lurch.

“There’s just a few more hours! That’s all the time we’ve got – a few more hours before it’s twelve o’clock.”

Let’s hope John McCain and other reasonable voices in the Senate and House can convince the radical members of the Tea Party that this is not a video game we’re playing here. This is real! It’s for all the marbles.

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John Boehner or Monty Python

For an especially good laugh how about we roast John Boehner – no, no, I don’t mean make fun of him, but I mean roast him!
by Charlie Leck

Instead, how about a little Monty Python in order to get away from John Boehner’s incessant sniping and howling? Because I forgot to get my radio-alarm reset to the classical music station, the damned BBC awakened me this morning to the sound of Speaker Boehner screaming across the hallway in the U.S. Capitol Building, asking the Senate Majority Leader to put something on the friggin’ table. Something! Anything! Could you please? Anyone hear me? Anyone? Are there any Democrats alive anywhere anymore?

Terribly hard on the nerves – such bellowing!

Now here’s something for you to look at that makes absolute sense and should solve America’s problems and settle everyone’s nervous condition. And, you might get just a little snicker out of it. Boenher, of course, wouldn’t understand, but that’s not our problem.

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UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand

The B-24, the predecessor of the mighty B-29

This is the second book I’ve read by Hillenbrand. She’s a talented writer of the true story and both of these books are worth a read!
by Charlie Leck

I started to call this a book review, but changed my mind. I know nothing about technically reviewing a book. Instead, this is just a book recommendation for you. I’ll say enough about it, however, that you’ll be able to determine if this is the kind of book for you.

A half dozen years ago, or so, I read Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit. It was a really well written and captivating account of the great race horse – and it was subsequently made into a very successful movie. From a pure enjoyment standpoint, I rated that first Hillenbrand book very highly.

Now she’s written UNBROKEN. It was recommended to me by a number of people whose opinion about books I trust. I, in turn, am recommending it to you. It’s one helluva book and one riveting story set during the pre-World War II years and also during the time of that war.

The book is a biographical account of the extraordinary athlete Louie Zamperini who had so desperately looked forward to the 1940 Olympics. He had intended to smash records there. He was already within a few seconds of the four minute mile many years before Roger Bannister finally cracked that heroic mark. Had the war not come, Louie would have accomplished the feat many years before Bannister.

The set-up information about Zamperini’s youth and his track success before and during the 1936 Olympics is all great fun and entertaining reading. However, the real story here is about Louie’s survival on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean for 46 days with no provisions other than a pint of water AND then of his survival in brutal Japanese prison camps.

Dozens of times you’ll want to say: “I don’t believe it!” Louie Zamperini and his buddy and pilot, Russell Allen Phillips (Phil) are the heroes of this great story. They survived on the mighty sea against all odds and they survived the wretchedness of the war prisons.

When the Japanese pulled them off their life raft, they each weighted less than 80 pounds. They had survived using every skill and every ounce of strength they could muster. When they realized what life would be like in the prison camps, they longed to be back on their tiny raft and floating aimlessly at sea.

Hillenbrand tells the story so well that you will go to these places with Louie and Phil and you’ll be gripped by the adventure in ways that you won’t believe. It’s an account about survival among the mighty sharks – and survival without food and water – and, even worse, survival when your human dignity has been stripped away.

“The crash of Green Hornet had left Louie and Phil in the most desperate physical extremity, without food, water, or shelter. But on Kwajelein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Men subjected to dehumanizing treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness and find that hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live. One American airman, shot down and relentlessly debased by his Japanese captors, described the state of mind that his captivity created: ‘I was literally becoming a lesser human being.’”

So, this is a book broken into three parts: (1) Louie Zap’s youth and track success; (2) Louie’s and Phil’s survival at sea; and (3) Louie’s and Phil’s survival in the horrific Japanese prison camps. Your emotions will rise and fall in each section and there will also be many surprises for you. You’ll laugh at times and cuss at others. You’ll revel in victory and cringe at defeat.

“On one of the last days of October 1944, Louie pushed a wheelbarrow over the Omori bridge, through the village at the bridge’s end, and into Tokyo. With him were another POW and a guard; they’d be ordered to pick up meat for the POW rations. Louie had been in Japan for thirteen months, but this was the first time that he had passed, unblindfolded into the society that held him captive.

“Tokyo was bled dry. There were no young men anywhere. The war had caused massive shortages in food and goods, and the markets and restaurants were shuttered. The civilians were slipshod and unbathed. Everyone knew that the Americans were coming, and the city seemed to be holding its breath. Teams of children and teenagers were shoveling out slit trenches and tearing down buildings to make firebreaks.

“Louie, the other POW, and the guard arrived at a slaughterhouse, where their wheelbarrow was filled with horse meat. As they pushed it back toward Omori, Louie looked up at a building and saw graffiti scrawled over one wall. It said, B Niju Ku. The first character was simple enough, the English letter B. Louie knew that niju meant twenty and ku meant nine, though he didn’t know that ku carried another meaning: pain, calamity, affliction. Louie walked the wheelbarrow into Omori, wondering what ‘B twenty-nine’ referred to, and why someone would write it a on a wall.”

The incredible B-29 would bring the war to end in both Europe and the South Pacific. When Louie and Phil were taken prisoner, it had not yet begun to fly. After their long period of isolation at sea and after the attempts to break their minds and spirits in unbelievably cruel prison camps, the two airmen remained proudly unbroken. Their story is mind blowing and amazing! Hillenbrand tells it beautifully.

I’m Tuning-Out American Politics

Give me that old time classical music station from now on because I need some peace in my soul!
by Charlie Leck

For a long time – years and years – I’ve enjoyed waking up in the early morning hours to BBC Radio and NPR. A little news reporting from around the world brings me to and gets me thinking and going. I think, after the last few days – starting with the horror in Norway and now the awful and cranky voice of John Boehner talking about the debt crisis – I think I’m going to retune the radio to the classical music station and wake up to something soothing and sane.

This morning, Boehner was awful. His comments were the perfect example of what has happened to American politics, showing us that respect and moderate public debate are things of the past.

“President Obama hates it. Harry Reid hates it. Nancy Pelosi hates it. Why would Republicans want to be on the side of President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi [is] beyond me.”

The comment came in a Boehner interview with The Right Scoop blog (see below at about the 7:15 mark). Even Laura Ingraham, on that conservative blog, said the remark was “condescending.” And then went on to say…

“…if Boehner doesn’t understand that then he needs to step down as Speaker and hand the gavel to someone who does.”

I just can’t stand the attitude that Boehner brings to his job. He’s a frightening man who makes appeals to the lowest standards of human decency. How sad! If you want to listen to the interview, watch the video below; but I recommend you don’t put yourself through it.

I like to visit and read Jim Wallis’ blog, God’s Politics, because I find it very uplifting and informational. This morning, Jennifer Kottler made the contribution and she says exactly what I feel about the current drift of American politics. I’ll leave you today with that. In the meantime, it’s classical music for me and to hell with politics!

Where Has All the Sanity Gone?
by Jennifer Kottler 07-27-2011

Where has all the sanity gone?

I, for one, never expected in my wildest dreams to pine for the days of Ronald Reagan. But I’m there.

And for everyone who is blaming “everyone” on this debt ceiling debacle, you’re just dead wrong. The Democratically controlled House and Senate in the 80s did not hold President Reagan hostage when he had to raise the debt ceiling. And that is exactly what is happening. And the problem is that this is a train wreck that has been months in the coming. The only thing that we don’t know is how bad the carnage will be.

But we do know who’s going to be hurt most: It’s the people who come to my church’s front door every day. It’s the guy I met last week who is trying to make ends meet with a $300 per week job (in New York City) with three kids and a wife, on parole, and at the end of his rope. He doesn’t need piecemeal charity; he needs an economic system that rewards hard work and allows him to work and provide for his family. He doesn’t want to end up back inprison, but he knows that he might go back to the underground economy so that he can feed his family. It was 104 degrees here last week, and he’s already thinking about his kids needing winter coats and boots and school supplies.

So let’s ruin an already weak economy because it’s really not going to hurt the people who make the decisions — the millionaires in Congress, and the corporate executives who put them there.

It’s also going to cost lives in the drought ravaged Midwest, and the poverty-stricken Global South. When elephants fight, it’s the mice that get trampled.

I can’t stay silent any longer. I’m calling my member of Congress (Praise Jesus! I have one to call again, now that I am no longer living in Washington, D.C. ) and my senators. But they are not holding up the process. You who live in “red states” and “red districts” need to raise your voices and let them know that there will literally be hell to pay if they don’t do something about this now. It’s not about ideology. It’s about the economy, stupid.

Trust me, I get the fact that these people only care about one thing — defeating Obama. At this point, I could care less about that. I care about the fact that the number of people coming to my church is multiplying and my capacity to help them is shrinking. And I’m sitting here on Park Avenue in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in one of the wealthiest cities in the world. It’s also one of the most expensive places to try and make ends meet if you are on the wrong end of the income spectrum. I can only imagine what my ministry colleagues are facing in other places.

So I’m pleading with whatever sanity remains in Washington to not take our country down over your political agenda. Give Obama the courtesy to do what he needs to do to run the country. You’ve got another 15 months to make your case that you could run things better. And if you think we’ll forget about this, you’re wrong. The people in need will keep coming to my door. I wish I could send them to yours.

Rev. Jennifer Kottler is the associate pastor at Park Avenue Christian Church in New York, New York. A long-time advocate for justice, Jennifer has served in advocacy ministry for more than eight years through her work at Protestants for the Common Good (Chicago, IL), the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, the Chicago Jobs Council, and at Sojourners.

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The Republican Party Cannot Govern

The current GOP is mired by promises made from which it cannot back down!
by Charlie Leck

I’ve read it in several opinion columns lately and I’ve come to agree with it: The national Republican Party, as evidenced by its lack of discipline and cohesion in the House of Representatives, cannot not currently govern. This is a new phenomenon. Though I’ve disagreed rather strongly with the ideologies of that Party, I have always respected its ability to manage the government. Now the GOP is so divided by ideologies that are poles apart that it cannot manage itself; therefore, it is frightening to think of it managing the nation.

And amazingly, it is trying to manage the nation through its control of the House.

Remember! Do not forget! The Republican Party controls only the House – that is one-third of the three arms of government. It has not earned the right to dictate policy to the Senate and the Executive Branch.

It may seem beyond belief, but this party in chaos may bring the great wheels of government to a crashing halt later this week. Hold on! The results of the sudden stoppage may be very traumatic.

Here’s a helpful web site put together by the Washington Post: It will enable you to see who runs government from A-Z or from Alabama to Wyoming. If you have not been contacting your Representatives about this matter, you should now urge them to get some kind of acceptable compromise passed in the House.

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The Great Communicator on Debt Limit Crisis

Ronald Reagan knew what a failure to extend the credit limit could do to this nation and he spoke out clearly!
by Charlie Leck

In 1987, when President Ronald Reagan faced down a congress that threatened not to extend our national credit limit, the great communicator spoke with certainness when he told the nation the following:

“…this brinksmanship threatens the holders of government bonds, and those who rely on social security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would sky rocket, instability would occur in financial markets and the federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well earned reputation for reliability and credibility – two things that set us apart from much of the world.”

Watch the following MSNBC Lawrence O’Donnell interview of Bruce Bartlett about this subject. You’ll also hear Rachel Maddow read a section from Reagan’s diaries (it’s good stuff). As she tells us, Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 times while he was President.

Every person in America should be outraged at what Tea Party Republicans are proposing to do to this nation. And, every person should be communicating their anger to their Representatives and Senators.

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What's a Guy to do?

It’s not a good day for the nation or the world as the U.S. inches toward financial disaster and Norway tries to recover from an insane, senseless and violent attack!
by Charlie Leck

What’s a guy to do? The world seems to be going crazy. The situation in Syria is absolutely awful. Violent dictators should somehow be dealt with. But, how? The world is going nuts, indeed, and the U.S. cannot inject itself in every one of these situations. We can’t afford the two or three we’re already in.

Poor Norway! What a good nation! Now it is punished for its role in Afghanistan and Libya – or that’s what appears to have happened in that nation. Guess what! The nut behind the shootings, and possibly the bombing also, is a lunatic Christian fundamentalist by the name of Anders Behring Breivik. Lord, what havoc is wreaked in your name! This NY Times story is the most thorough and enlightening that I’ve read about the matter.

Then there’s John Boehner, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He’s proven to be as poor a leader as I dreaded he was going to be. In my lifetime I do not remember a less capable leader of Congress than this poor, incapable schmuck! He’s going to cause calamity in America! On Friday he walked out of talks with the President. He’s acting like a baby. We’ve got a national disaster waiting to happen and Boehner is on an ego trip. The best story I read about the situation is this one from the Washington Post.

Here’s some places to go to find out just what the debt/credit limit business is really all about…

Ezra Kline blog: Everything you need to know about the credit limit in one blog! (This is really an excellent piece!)

Associated Press Q&A on debt limit…

Now, I’m going to find something enjoyable to do with my Saturday. Things are a bit too crazy in the world for me right now. I think I’ll hide my head in the sand.

Oh, by the way, it’s brutally hot in Minnesota again today and there are serious storm warnings. This is the most awful summer I can remember enduring up here. I can’t wait for autumn weather.

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The Story of My Life

As some of you know, I am pulling together 10 of my short stories to publish in a small volume, so let me try out the shortest one in the volume on you -- for your comment!
by Charlie Leck

FICTION

One time, years ago, in a dream, I turned down a date with Jane Wilder. You must remember her. She was a big Hollywood starlet. She wasn’t a sex-pot, but she was a real looker. And, she wanted to go out with me. She sent some of her people to talk to my people. My people were in favor of it. They thought it would do wonders for my career. I put a stop to the whole thing on the spot. I didn’t want to go out with Miss Wilder.

I was in love with Nancy Thurlbinger. I had been since the 4th grade. I told her so, too. We were on the playground behind the public school and she was climbing on one of the contraptions set up for such activity. I wandered over to where she was stretching her arms and legs to move her delightful body from one square of iron to another.

“You know,” I said to her, as she awkwardly moved across the bars, “I am in love with you.”

She giggled and jumped down from the climber. It was too great a distance for her and she tumbled over when she hit ground and must have hurt herself. She rose, crying, and scurried off toward our teacher.

I was asked, by Miss Dablowski, our teacher, to stay following dismissal that day. I received a very stern lecture from the old woman about not doing such things. It turns out that I was accused of frightening Nancy so severely that she jumped from the jungle bars in utter fear and sprained her ankle quite seriously. I wanted to tell Miss Dablowski about Nancy’s little giggle and argue that it hadn’t sounded like fear to me, but I did not. I was so relieved to hear that my parents would not be told of the incident, that I cut my losses and kept my mouth shut – something I have not been entirely good at for the ensuing 55 years.

Never again did I tell Nancy Thurlbinger that I loved her; though I always have over these many years. It is the story of my life.

I watched her quite stealthfully over the ensuing eight years of school we had together. I don’t believe she ever realized I was watching her so carefully. I was pretty good at concealment.

Her hair grew longer and she began to decorate it with curls and ribbons. I remember the first day that she wore lipstick. I can also call to mind that day when I first noticed that she had breasts that caused a little, gentle ripple in the front of her dress. I found myself staring at them, but I don’t think she or anyone else ever noticed how my eyes were locked on her chest.

People didn’t often take notice of me. I was pretty well ignored. I should say, to be more factual, that I was completely ignored.

It was quite odd to arrive in my fifth grade classroom, walking randomly into it with a small group of boys onto whom I had simply and silently attached myself, and have the teacher offer greeting to each one of them and, yet, not mention my name.

“Lynn, David, Edward… hello boys and good morning. Please take your seats! You, too, Raymond and Teddy.”

My name is William, but I have barely ever heard it in my life. It wasn’t only my fifth grade teacher who ignored me, but so did my classmates and all the subsequent teachers in the classrooms in which I studied over the next 16 years.

Occasionally I would be addressed as “Hey, you!” However, most of the time, I was simply ignored and not spoken to at all. It is the story of my life.

On the day of my graduation from high school, during the commencement ceremony, I could feel the deep sense of shock that swept across my classmates and teachers when the principal, read my name aloud from the list that was before him at the podium.

“William Journal Outrighter?”

His emphasis was on the question mark, indicating his surprise that this was my name or, perhaps, it was some curiosity about who in the world this person might be.

Nancy Thurlbinger’s name was called near the end of the ceremony and she crossed the stage to receive her diploma. I sat in my chair, wedged between two classmates whose family names also began with the letter “O” and I watched as Nancy walked toward the principal. Her breasts were swollen in size now and they were the most attractive knockers in our class.

That was fifty years ago. That was the last time I ever saw Nancy Thurlbinger.

And now I hold in my hand this invitation to the 50th reunion of our high school graduating class. Among the names of the Reunion Committee is hers, Nancy (Thurlbinger) Hammonholder.

Though I have not had a single contact with any single student from my graduating class in these fifty years, I am not surprised that they have found me and contacted me; for I still live in the same house, at the same address, that I lived in on the day of our commencement. When my mother and father died, I simply moved into their larger bedroom and here I am yet today.

I stared at Nancy Thurlbinger’s new lastname – Hammonholder. It was a name with which I was famililar. Mr. Jacob T. Hammonholder, was the Chief Executive Officer of the Four Square Bank of New York, the largest and most profitable bank in all the world and in which I had begun investing in 1959. I wondered if Nancy could possibly be married to that Hammonholder.

Faithfully, each year from 1959 until this current one, I have invested whatever funds I could manage not to spend during the year in the Four Square Bank of New York. In some of those early years it only amounted to $500 or so. After a few years it became $2,000 or so. Eventually, since I had not rent to pay and had risen to a supervisor at the county home for unadopted, orphan boys, the sum grew to a number of thousands of dollars. I have never withdrawn a cent from those invested funds and absolutely paid no attention to their growth. That is the story of my life.

I turned the invitation over and looked at the list of addresses to which we could reply about our intentions to attend. Yes! There it was. Nancy was indeed Mrs. Jacob T. Hammonholder.

I rose and went to my father’s old desk in the back hallway, just next to the door that led to the stairway down to the cellar. From a drawer I took the most recent statement that had just arrived from the Four Square Bank. I flipped through several pages and found the bottom line number in which I had never shown any previous interest.

$21,089,764.21

My!

This home of my parents is paid for. I spend very little taking care of it. I’ve never eaten glamorously. I have no hobbies on which I spend money. My favorite activity is reading and I pay an annual fee of $26 to the library to keep up my membership. All my books come from and are returned to the library’s shelves. I now receive over $800 per month in my social security check and I find I can easily live on that amount. My pension from the county exceeds $20,000 each year and I have always spent that immediately on the purchase of shares in the Four Square Bank of New York.

I sat down at my father’s desk and turned on the little reading lamp that sat upon it. I pulled a little piece of scrap paper from the cubical in which I kept such things to use as notepaper. I scribbled a note, as neatly as I could, to Mrs. Jacob T. Hammonholder, accepting the invitation to attend the reunion of the Ratsford High School graduating class of 1958. I signed it, without flourish, from William Journal Outrighter. I folded three twenty dollar bills, to cover the cost of the dinner, into the note paper and pushed it all into an envelope and addressed it to Mrs. Jacob T. Hammonholder at 1180 Park Avenue, New York City. I proudly wrote out the return address – the only address I had ever known as mine – 20 Hillside Avenue, Ratsford, New Jersey. I placed a current stamp in the corner of the envelope and sat looking at the product of my elderly, shaky hand.

I rose and walked the letter to the post office in the center of downtown. As I walked, I brought clearly back to mind the vision of Nancy Thurlbinger, walking across the platform to receive her high school diploma, with her large breasts bouncing joyfully as she walked. In fact, I have never in my life seen a woman's naked breasts. That is the story of my life.

The reunion will take place in the building that was our high school. It is now an elementary school. It is exactly eight and four-tenths miles from the house in which I live. I intend to purchase a new car -- a big, black sedan by Cadillac -- and since I do not have a driver’s licence, I shall hire a professional driver to take me places in it. Certainly, I will expect him to drive me to my class reunion. Even though none of my classmates will remember me or recognize my name, I shall enter proudly. When I reintroduce myself to Nancy Thurlbinger – now Mrs. Jacob T. Hammonholder – I will ask her if she remembers the day she fell off the climbing contraption that stood on the playground of our elementary school because I told her I loved her.

If she looks at me oddly and runs away, crying hysterically, I will only concede that this also is the story of my life.

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Minnesota Government is Open Again

For better or worse, our state government is back at work and our state parks, rest stops, licensing bureaus and all the rest is back in service!
by Charlie Leck

It took three weeks, but Minnesota is open again. It’s all been pretty embarrassing and downright stupid.

I think the Republicans will pay for this in the next election. Minnesotans are not stupid people and they will realize which party it was who held us all hostage until they got exactly the ransom they wanted. Some of the solutions proposed by Governor Dayton would have been simple to enact and would have reduced the damage that budget cutting is doing to so many of Minnesota's hardworking families.

It is vital that Democrats take back control of the state legislative process to return sanity to governance. It will be important for Democrats to expose the selfishness of the Republican Party and the host of lies they’ve been continually telling.

I found it incredible that Republicans wanted to weaken the education of children in Minnesota at the very time it needed to be strengthened. Improving care for Minnesota’s down-and-out people became impossible under Republican control of the House and Senate.

A half a dozen victory gains in the House and in the Senate will put Democrats back in control. I don’t think that will be a problem after this pitiful performance by Republican legislators

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Minnesota Blues

I’m singin’ the Minnesota Blues
by Charlie Leck

The temps strolled on past 100 degrees yesterday and the humidity index hovered around 80. That’s bad stuff for nearly everyone, but it’s really tough on old guys who are out of shape. I ventured out a couple of times and found myself sucking hot air that heated up my throat and lungs and I didn’t like it. I retreated to the air conditioning. Even in the cool house I felt sluggish all day long.

Highways were buckling in the heat today. Interstate 94 threw-up a section right near downtown, just before the highway goes under the city through what we all call the Lowry Tunnel.

Our animals – the sheep and horses – are suffering, but we’re making sure they have plenty of water and shade.

I wondered about old people who don’t have air conditioning in their homes. The idea made me feel so revolting that I sponged away the thoughts. We’ll read in the paper tomorrow about people who died in their hot homes.

This is the state I love about as much as anyone can love a place – a parcel with boundaries that form one of the great 50 states of the Union. Right now, however, it’s a hang-dog place and it sucks. It’s not just the heat and humidity. It’s also the political atmosphere and the sense of selfishness I’m hearing out of so many politicians. Our state government is still shut down. It’s been nearly three weeks now. It’s a political mess and most of us – the voters – are pretty fed up.

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (Republican, Buffalo, MN) has got to go. I hope voters see her for what she is in the 2012 elections (if she’s up for reelection). She’s a vacuous sort of person who can’t even control her own party. She latched on to a mantra and won’t let it go for the sake of common sense and decency for our state. Her senate district is close enough to my own that I’ll get involved in her next reelection bid and work against her. She closed a deal with the Governor on this budget impasse and it looked like we’d get government opened up and working again, but she couldn’t get enough votes out of her own party to pass the compromise.

I’ve got a sneaky feeling that the Tea Party isn’t as universally liked as a lot of people believe it is. This state crisis can be laid at the feet of the Tea Party types and nearly the entire blame can be placed on their shoulders. I’m angry at them and so are a lot of other Minnesotans. When we gophers get angry we can react much more like giant black bears. That’s what will happen in the 2012 state elections. Republicans will be defenseless in that election and dozens of them will be thrown from office.

I’m just off a two week vacation. I had family surrounding me for the entire time. All the grandkids were here. Most of my kids were home for the family reunion and suffocating us with love and attention (I loved every second of it). Though the weather was lousy and the news was awful each and every day, I managed to soak up a lot of love and enjoyed our family retreat. I’ll give the Grandview Lodge, up in Nisswa, Minnesota, four and one-half stars out of five for the way they treated us. The resort really caters to kids and there are so many activities from which to choose every day that it’s a delight to hem and haw over the choices. The food options are also wonderful. And, the golf is great for the parents who can sneak away during the day. And, after spending a week there in a beautiful home, I don’t need to sell the farm in order to pay the bill.

In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few photos I took during the grandkids' visit.

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This is My Song

This remarkable hymn inspired me as I sang it with a group of wonderful people who were memorializing my nephew!
by Charlie Leck

I was in Boston over the last few days to attend a memorial service for one of my nephews – a guy I was very close to and for whom I held enormous admiration and love. The service was arranged by the department for which he worked at Boston University. It was an extraordinary event and it was deeply helpful to all of those in mourning. Though a hot, hot, hot day in Boston, the large, non-air conditioned chapel at the University was packed with admirers, followers and family of my nephew.

My real point here is to say that I was terribly impressed by the closing hymn of the service – one which I can’t remember ever singing before. It contained a message that I think all Americans should understand and carry in their hearts. I’ll present it here for you to think about. Put to the music of Finlandia by Jean Sibelius, it was very inspiring music. I prefer the first two verses that were written by the rather obscure poet, Lloyd Stone, in about 1935. The other stanzas were added at a later time and clearly carry a less universal and more Christian tone that spoil the spirit and message of Stone’s poem. Therefore I’ll give you only the first two stanzas and attach the final three as only an after-thought.

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine:
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.

If you ‘d like to hear the hymn sung, go to this version by Joan Baez. Below are the other three verses that I think detract from the extraordinary message of the first two.

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a prayer that peace transcends in every place;
and yet I pray for my beloved country --
the reassurance of continued grace:
Lord, help us find our one-ness in the Savior,
in spite of differences of age and race.

May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a world united, righting every wrong;
a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth's kingdoms,
thy kingdom come, on earth, thy will be done;
let Christ be lifted up 'til all shall serve him,
and hearts united, learn to live as one:
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations,
myself I give thee -- let thy will be done.

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Words from 1 John 4

I am in Boston today (12 July 2011) for a memorial service for Jim Leck, my nephew, and this is what I will read at his service.
by Charlie Leck

The disciples of Jesus – the men who walked the earth with him – must have been stunned and confused after his death. They were anxious to explain their loyalty to this man and how extraordinary he had been. They also wanted to explain what he had been trying to teach them about God and their personal relationship to the Creator.

When I think of Jim, I immediately think of the letters of John in the New Testament and how John defines and describes God. I promise you, it works for Jim and he’d be nodding his head as I read these words.

“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love / does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him….”

“If any one says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.”

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Bachmann Watch Continued

Here are a few little things that the informed voter should know about Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
by Charlie Leck

Watch this episode of The Young Turks as they evaluate Congresswoman Bachmann’s knowledge about Iraq. By the way the video begins with one of them saying, “Michele Bachmann is a crazy person, you know.” They shouldn’t say things like that.

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Watch this video about Congresswoman Bachmann’s knowledge about the possible harmfulness of Carbon Dioxide. Amazing! She’s totally ignoring the huge increase in the amount of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution and the burning of fossil fuels.

As for saying things about people that aren’t very nice, how about the video below in which Congresswoman Bachmann refers to our gangster government? Sure she’s quoting a newspaper columnist, but, watch how enthusiastically she does so. Almost everything she says in this speech in the House has been shown to be wrong. General Motors is on their own and going strong now and that’s thanks to the government that propped them up during hard times.

That’s enough viewing for now. I mean, ENOUGH ALREADY!

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Some Things Must Be Cut

It is inevitable that this Congress is going to make some major spending cuts and something you like and I like is likely to be cut!
by Charlie Leck

There will be cuts! It’s inevitable.

I don’t think it is likely to be things that directly affect seniors – you know, our Medicare programs or Social Security benefits. Those fellows who want to get reelected are fully aware of the voting strengths of seniors in America. I also don’t think it will be to Obama’s highest achievement – his health care program – because the bean counters have made it clear that the program really will save us money.

Nevertheless, count on cuts being made to things you particularly don’t want cut. In my case, it’s transportation funding. I’d gotten very excited in the last year about the talk of high speed rail travel (European or Japanese style) that would connect all the major cities in America. I was looking forward to boarding a train here in the Twin Cities and ending up in Manhattan 8 or 9 hours later – perhaps after a good night’s sleep in a comfortable private room. Kiss the idea of a high speed rail system goodbye – at least in my lifetime.

Roads will suffer, too. If you drive much, you know how badly in need of repair and rebuilding are America’s federal highways – as is the massive Interstate system. Those repairs and rebuilding will be postponed and there will be lots of patchwork done instead. The American Society of Civil Engineers has publically said that a trillion dollars should be added to our current level of spend just to maintain a state of good repair to meet the demand that will be placed on that infrastructure.

Farmers, I think, are going to lose many of the federal aid payments they’ve gotten in the past. That, of course, will knock off another whole bunch of family type farms and play into the hands of the corporate farm movement. The ethanol production program has already taken a serious body blow from which it will probably not recover.

A lot of the experimental energy programs that Obama had hoped for and promised in his campaign will be seriously delayed.

Expenditures on defense will take a hit, but not as serious a one as I think it deserves. There is tremendous waste in our military system and it really should be cleaned up. It probably won’t be.

What else? Education? Tuitions will blow the caps off college and university attempts to control their rise. Bong! It will be difficult to attract teachers at the elementary and high school levels because salaries will stagnate and benefits will be cut back. There’s a decade of trouble ahead for America’s education system.

What about federal parks and recreation lands? Budgets will be cut for these institutions and the quality of service in them will be reduced.

We’ll also spend less on watching over our environment and regulatory programs and research on environmental dangers will be cut back.

Already there’s talk about reducing the regulatory controls that were put in place after the banking scandals of the last decade. Watch out for your money and the scalawags who want to get their hands on it!

All of this will last an election cycle or two – perhaps even a decade – and then those in command, as well as my children and grandchildren, will have to pay to rebuild a nation decayed by inattention and proper care.

History will look back on the Tea Party and declare that it brought disaster to America and America’s standard of living.

Other nations will have raced past us before we realize the mistake we’ve made. This was not the time to cut and run. This was the time to invest. America is a very wealthy nation and we could easily have afforded it.

Selfishness did us in!

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