VETERAN'S DAY 2015: BRAVADO OR SOMBER QUESTIONS?

Just as we are about to celebrate Veteran's Day, it is reported that Military funding for programs to recruit people for military service is under investigation by Senator Jeff Flake and John McCain,
Republicans of Arizona.*

The Senate investigation has produced a 100-page report which has unearthed questionable Military marketing contracts for $6.8 million with  professional sports teams by all leagues in what is termed
"paid for patriotism."

Instead of spending time and energy on developing ill advised contracts with organizations already profitable without the addition of tax payers money, the Military failed to first ask itself a number of
important questions.  Questions like:

Are the promises we make to recruit people for military service fulfilled?

Could it be that people no longer respond to the call for military recruitment because
we are less than honest with plans for the Military future?

Is it possible that people no longer wish to respond to recruitment policy
that seems to make one group of people less deserving than another?

Do we question the fairness of tax payers money to enrich major and minor sports leagues
so the Military can stage a patriotic message?

Could it be that the military has forgotten the worth of human life?

This Veteran's Day we need to honor the men, women and families who have served and who do serve this Country by working to fulfill our promises to them not through questionable bravado
or "paid for patriotism" but with our honest and somber gratitude.


*Emmarie Huetteman, New York Times (11-05-2015)

A SCAREY STORY: "GUN RAGE" IN THE SUBURBS!

Recently I attended an afternoon meeting in one of St. Louis's affluent suburbs.

I was early so I parked next to the curb a few doors down from the address I wanted.
While I waited for the meeting to begin, I pulled out my phone to catch up on my messages.

I was engrossed in conversation when I noticed a cobalt blue luxury sedan pull up and stop next to me.

My first inclination was that I had parked in some one's space. My car is a '98 beat up sedan.

I looked up. There was a well groomed meticulously dressed man shouting at me
through his car's closed window .

 I turned my phone off and opened my window to find out what was wrong.

The driver who was red in the face was pointing at the back of my car and waving his hands. At first I was frightened by his demeanor. His words were less than gentle  they were accusatory and filled with rage.

When I took a breath and listened for a moment, I realized his problem was not with me, my car or the space I had pulled into. None of these bothered him. What bothered him was a sign I had on the rear bumper of my car that said, "Gun Sense Voter."

When I got over my fright, his arrogant, insulting words did not bother me as much as the ignorance displayed by one with the intelligence to know better. After his tirade had passed, he drove off and I was glad that neither he nor I had a gun with us.

Would that I could say the same for people in other towns and cities throughout this land.

BREAKING DOWN THE GENERATIONAL DIVIDE

Two weeks ago I attended a dinner at a friend's home in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Unfortunately the cold weather did not permit the dinner to be served out of doors in the traditional skua, so we ate inside.

 We were eight people around the table, each one representing a different generation. I guessed that my hosts were in their late forties, early fifties. Their children, a son about nine and a daughter in her first year in high school.

 The other guests included a couple, the woman still working as a Judge in the St. Louis court system and her husband a former Airline executive, now retired who bakes breads for non profit organizations and Frankie Muse Freeman, nationally know attorney and civil rights activist,
and me.

Our conversation included the nine year old son's story of hikes with his father to find eatable mushrooms in a local park, to a discussion of candidates running for the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominations.  We spoke of family recipes and about organizations working for more equable opportunity and fairness in all facets of daily life.

All the while, the young man played with his cell phone even though his sister seemed enthralled with the adult conversation.

As we talked I marveled at Frankie Freeman who will be 100 next year. Her eyes may be failing but not her mind nor her inquisitiveness nor her desire and ability to still "right" things. She insists on people calling her Frankie no matter who they are or were they are so I will do so here.

Frankie was breaking glass ceilings long before we knew what the word meant. She earned her degree in law at a time when women were thought to be best kept at home. Even so she married raised two children and has known the joys and sadness that life hands many from time to time.

As a black woman, when she looked for a job she had to struggle to have her educational credentials recognized. She  met that challenge by opening her own law office, one in which she still worked until just a few years ago.

 She has written The book, "A Song of Faith and Hope," about her life and has served on numerous city, state and national commissions dealing with human and civil rights, been honored by many of them, is a devoted member of her church, but is eager to learn about other faiths as well.

 Frankie has meet with presidents, governors and elected officials in Missouri. Recently she was appointed to serve on the Commission on Presidential Scholars, was named St. Louis Citizen of the Year, and will be honored at the 33rd Annual Thomas Jefferson Society Dinner hosted by the Missouri Historical Society in November.

Even so, the night she attended the Sukkot dinner I watched and listened as she spoke with interest and enthusiasm to our youngest guests. For those of us who were older she kept bringing our far ranging conversation back to the City of St. Louis reminding us that there are no easy answers and there is "still much work to do right here."

 I came away from that dinner feeling hopeful that the barriers which sometimes exist between generations can be broken down if we, like Frankie Muse Freeman, are able to deal honestly with the reality of human problems and respect each other as we go about the work of overcoming them.

GRANDMA, POLITICS AND THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

I grew up in a large family of aunts, uncles and many cousins.  Very often the whole family congregated at my grandmother's home where she "ruled" over all of us.

When we would come together, more often than not conversation would turn to politics.

As children, my cousins and I would stop whatever we were doing to watch and listen to the adult discussion and behavior especially when they were talking "politics." They would raise their voices, sometimes get up from the chairs they were sitting in or push themselves away from the table so hard they spilled coffee or soup as the case might be.

Sometimes people would get angry and rise their voices and get very red in the face. Sometimes they shouted at each other. When the voices were especially loud, someone would shout something that made grandma raise up out of her chair and yell, "You believe that and I'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge!"

As a child I was intrigued that my grandmother owned a bridge.

During this month of September 2015 I have been thinking a lot about my family here and abroad.I have been thinking too about my grandmother and her ability to get even ill tempered, uninformed but passionate members of the family to take a minute to quiet down and think.

When the candidates running for office make uninformed promises that are ill tempered, and worse yet, could do real harm to program and services people need, it is time for voters to tell the candidates, in the words of my grandmother, "You believe that and we'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge!"

GO FOR IT JOE!

Dear Vice President Biden,

This is to urge you to enter the Democratic nomination to run for the 2016 Presidential election.

Here is why.  Right now, our country is in great turmoil and your extensive experience in elective office is needed.

You have served the people of your state. this country and around the world in a principled, decent manner in keeping with this Nation's best interest and tradition.

You understand the connection of each state's laws to the other and how they apply or fail to serve people, our land, the air we breathe and the water we drink as well as the potential of the still to be understood bounty of the seas.

You respect federal law and equitable justice and taxes for all.

You are able to learn from mistakes you make and move forward without blaming others.

Your personal history includes the ability to put aside a real sense of pain and sadness  to help others.

You do not "dumb down or over simplify" complex issues we face as a nation and you encourage others to do the same.

Your years of living provide you with the ability to recognize feelings of insecurity and anxiety in others while negotiating and ameliorating human and world issues.

You respond honestly and directly to questions from the public and press.

You are not reluctant to speak of governmental incompetency and fraud and then go on to do something about it.

Through personal family history you recognize the benefits that advocacy and unions have been to increasing better working conditions, safer product use and educational opportunity for more rather than fewer people.

Your good humor, flexibility and common sense enable you to move about gracefully even in ever-changing  times.

Mr. Vice President, should you move forward to take on a run for the nomination,  I  do not offer you campaign expertise, nor money, nor influence of any real importance  but I do believe there are many who would support what I am saying in this letter.

I believe they and I would offer you our most precious treasure  should you decide to run, our votes.

Go for it Mr. Vice President!

Sincerely.

Beverly D. Rehfeld      

THIS TIME: LAW AND COMMON SENSE WIN!

On August 3, a federal judge in Idaho struck down the State's so called ag-gag law for violating the First Amendment.

The Law in question is also found in seven other states and was purported to be about protection of private property.  The Law was advanced by farm owners and the agriculture lobby to protect against the release of undercover videos taken by animal welfare advocacy groups.

Under the Law anyone, journalist or farm employee could face jail and be fined should the expose result in losses to farmers by exposing misconduct to the public eye. Sponsors of the ag-gag Law
claimed that videos exposed the industry to public opinion,

In striking down the Law the judge said that food production for the public market is not a private
matter.

When I read about this decision I thought of the many times in our country's history when exposes  led to changes in the manufacturing, production and distribution of products which indeed affect
the health and safety of people.

So often when we discuss quality of life issues like water pollution, or gun control or community health, arguments against advancing common sense changes are denied with less than accurate legal
interpretation of The Constitution.

The Idaho decision is a welcome one as it clarifies that difference between the state's right and public interest in seeing what goes on behind closed doors cannot be negated by state legislators.

This time Law and common sense won!

REFLECTING ON THE ADA

On July 26th when we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act,  I thought not only of the people who have benefited from this Law and of how much as  Society we have gained, but I also thought of people who brought the ADA to fruition.

I thought too of the long struggle to have the voices of those with little or no political power heard.

I still remember the names and faces of those I had the privilege  of working with, many of whom I still hear from.  Some have died, but all helped me learn and grow.

These are some of the people who I remember and without whom the ADA would not have been possible:

From parents and families who in the face of many obstacles still believed that there was a place for people with disabilities to learn and be productive in our society;

To those who wanted to use their own voices to be heard and successfully formed their own organization, "Speaking for Ourselves;"

To the Federal Judge wise enough to close down one of the country's most notorious institutions where both staff and patients had lost their humanity;

To the student intern who helped developed a small brochure called, "What do you say to a person with mental retardation? Try, Hello!"

To the many care workers and  University trained professionals who patiently and encouragingly offered therapy in music, art and  vocational skills;

To the attentive record keepers who found flaws in systems that sometimes lost track of family members that had been inadvertently  incarcerated and then took the time and made the effort to rectify the error;

To the diversity of people of all color, of all educational and economic means who worked long and hard to bring about society's change in attitude;

To business people who understood the value of hiring employees who were productive and reliable;

To a small group of actors who took a chance to tell the story in a different way through mime;

To far-sighted state and federal legislators, small community elected officials and to national and international figures who listened and then brought the power of their authority to help all of us better understand our obligation to each other;

All of them and others came to mind as the Americans with Disabilities Act celebrated its 25th Anniversary on July 26, 2015.