Norway is a place to tease all of the senses, from the beauty of the fjords and fjells, the smells of the flowers and pastures, the touch of the lambs fleece, the sounds of the rushing streams and waterfalls. However, it is winter here now, and some of these pleasures are muted while waiting tor the spring.

The pleasures of Norway in winter are brought into the home with a cozy fire in the fireplace, much company with family laughing and talking, and of course the food. Let me share (drooling will be permitted here) some of the winter treats we are experiencing, and my appologies for ommiting many other treats from many other fine hosts:

 We arrived late from the airport, so at 3 AM we are enjoying a snack of cheeses and marsipan cake.

 A dinner at Tante Ruth's is an adventure in eating pleasure, she always pleases with her array of tastes; steamed coliflower and brockali, very tender and tasty pork ribs, red cabbage and more.

 Dinner at cousin Ruth's house in the heart of picturesque downtown Egersund, a seaside Norwegian town and commercial center. Ruth's daughter Cecelia put together a smørgesbørg variety of traditional Norwegian treats.

 Dinner at Ranghild and Olaf started with a smooth white chowder with many tasty morsals of baby shrimp caught by Olaf on his boat in the North Sea. This was followed by large fresh caught Norwegian lobsters. What a treat this was, along with the enjoyment of the company of four other couples, cousins all.

 And of course our hosts as always, Anne Elise and Øyvind, have provided us a continued array of foods to get us through the day. The highlight being the traditional Christmas Eve meal of lamb chops made in the traditional way of drying and salting, and served with an array of side dishes. Quite satisfying and tasty.  Another treat here was the Christmas Day meal of Tørsk, a very tender and light Cod from the North
Sea.

 

Did I get your attention? And, this was not all, since I missed some of the pleasures because of a stomach that seemed to be rebelling against such good things; diana can fill in these blanks 

It was so good to be with you, all the cousins and all theirfamilies in Norway.  We are blessed to be able to travel and spend time
with loved ones so far away.  We have many heartfelt memories of our time there.  Christmas in Norway – who would have thought?!  Hugs to all.

The trip to Zambia was again a blessing. The people on the farm are so kind and gracious,  and it gives me great encouragement to see them overcoming many serious obstacles to just basic survival; learning to farm Gods Way to increase crop production and thus alleviate  hunger and starvation, fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic through the drugs and education given by our onsite medical team Sal and Renee Marini, getting education through the school on the farm. And, some of the fellows are starting up businesses such as; furniture and carpentry, poultry, vege table and fruit growers, and dried maize (corn). The crops this year look very good, and produce is taken to market
several times a week.

A little background on the term farming God’s way.  Farming God’s Way(FGW)  is an organization started up in Zimbabwe (formerly South
Rhodesia)  by a white farmer who was able to survive the carnage resulting from the governments’ decision to force out all of the white farmers. What happened as a result was that the country was transformed from the bread basket of Africa into one that could not even feed its own people. Much starvation ensued, and many people died in the midst of very rich farmland, all because the new farmers did not know how to farm.  The good news now is that this surviving white farmer has been able to demonstrate very productive farming
principles, and now the Zimbabwe government has fully embraced the methods, so the future should look considerably better in years to come. In the case of FGW on the farm in Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia), a young fellow from South Africa has been coming to the farm for several years now, teaching the principles to our farmers. The principles are actually straightforward; do things on-time, with high standards, and little wastage. We can see the results in the crops in the fields.

As for the HIV/AIDS problem, this is so serious in much of Africa, and our clinical team fights the battle daily. The primary emphasis is
in testing for the virus, getting, and keeping, infected people on medication (especially pregnant mothers). It turns out that if the mothers stay on the medication throughout the pregnancy, then the infant will be infection free and have a chance at life. There is a twofold benefit to this program; The child, being infection free, has a running start at life, and with the mother taking the medication daily, fewer orphans are created. President Bush started a massive aid program targeting 15 countries, and hopefully the program can put a huge dent in this awful pandemic. Just in the two trips we have taken to Zambia, three young women from the villages of the farm have succumbed to the diseases that come from AIDS, so you can see the extent of the problem.  

I’ve just finished reading “Going Rogue”, and as I suspected,  the reading warrants at least two, if not three segments. In the first part, which I’ve reported previously, I’ve discovered Sarah Palin the person, the woman, the  wife, the mother and the concerned citizen. In the first segment, I’ve discovered a person of immense and deep integrity. Now I will report on the remainder of her autobiography, from her selection as Vice Presidential candidate, through the campaign, her, resignation as Governor of Alaska, and her vision for the future.

Sarah’s accounts of the campaign are interesting and personal, but a bit tedious. I was relieved to finally get through this porting of the book.

What happened to Palin, and to Alaska following the campaign are quite disturbing, but not at all unexpected given the nature of politics, and the politics of personal destruction.  The Governors enemies set out to destroy her, and her governorship by launching an unrelenting series of accusations and charges of misconduct. None of these charges had any merit, but each and every one of them required time and money to respond to and defend, both on a personal level, and also from the coffers of the Alaska treasury . The government of Alaska was being hamstrung by these charges, and in effect Governor Palin was finding herself neutered by these tactics. She finally concluded that for the good of the people of Alaska she would have to resign.

Resignation most likely would be the kiss of death as far as any future political aspirations were concerned, but there seemed to be little choice in the matter.

The left was quick to criticize her decision to resign, and now she was being savaged for doing the right thing. Resignation was the right thing to do, and for the right reasons; the good of Alaska and the citizens of Alaska.

When condemning this woman for quitting, shouldn’t we then ascribe the same condemnation to Barak Obama? Did not he effectively resign from his U.S. Senate seat on the very day he was sworn in, as he began his quest for the Presidency?

Let me tell you about some ghettos I live in.

I am a Born Again Christian who believes that “In the beginning
God create the heavens and the earth.” I do not believe in Darwinian Evolution
that took eons of eons to evolve me into the human being that I am. I believe
the evolutionary world view is preposterous. For me to believe such
non-scientific nonsense as this would require me to believe that the incredibly
complex universe we live in had to somehow simultaneously and miraculously
evolve in extreme synchronicity. My human systems would each have to evolve in
lock step with one another; the varied cells with all of their internal
complexity and purpose would have to evolve in synchronicity, else if evolved
separately, how do they organize in a system of systems that are all required to
exist at the same time, or not at all. Did my circulatory system evolve first?
Did my nervous system evolve first?  Did my skeletal system evolve first? Did my
brain evolve first so it could then design and direct the evolution of the other
systems. Did my digestive system evolve first? After all, food must be
transformed into energy, else all of this work of evolution would fail. Oh, and
as long as we are on the subject of food, did the vegetables and grains evolve
at the same time as I dis so as to be readily available for nutrition and energy
as I evolved? Oh, and for that, I suppose that we needed a solar system to
evolve simultaneously so as to provide sunlight, heat, gravity etc. And, to
evolve a solar system, we will have needed to evolve a universe for it to fit
into as well. Did my eyes evolve first? Did my sense of smell evolve first? My
ears?

No, it seems to me that in order to get a complete me, all
systems must be go, at the same time for any of it to work.

What about the earth I live on? The atmosphere we breath and fly
around in, did that just happen to evolve to the quantities and qualities needed
to sustain life?

What about our protective magnetic shield that keeps the
dangerous cosmic rays from killing us, did that also just happen to show up at
just the right time to keep us alive?

No, I guess since I am not a Berkley or Oxford educated
“scientist”, I’m stuck with the simplistic, and perfectly believable idea that
God did it all.

Oops, I had better get into the ghetto
of creationism.

I have trouble with how taking the life of an innocent human
being, without due process of law, can be constitutional.

After all, the embryo which will develop into a fully
functioning human being is alive; never has been dead.

And, the embryo is a human being; it’s never been anything else;
not a fish, nor a monkey, nor a dog. None of these things, it is a human
being.

But what of the rights of the mother over her own body? Fine, I
have no problem with that; a woman should have those rights.

But, but, but! This embryo we are talking about is not a part of
the mothers body, not in the sense that an arm, leg, kidney or heart is. We are
talking here of a unique and distinct human being, created by the union of
chromosomes from the mother and father.

How can it be that a Supreme Court could look at the 14’th
amendment which says “ … nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law … “ and base their abortion
decision on that very amendment?

Oops, I had better get into the ghetto
of pro life.

I am anti-gay!

Wait, wait, hear me out here! Let me explain, then
I’ll go to the ghetto, I promise.

Lets go to the basics in this matter. I don’t believe
there is such a thing as homosexuality, not in the biological or anatomical or
cellular science sense.

First, the biological and cellular level. As I recall
from my science class or health class, the thing that distinguishes the sex of
an embryo (and thus the resulting teen or adult) is the presence or absence of
an X chromosome at the time of conception. You can look it up, I’m no expert in
this type of science so I may have it a little wrong in the details. But hell,
it seems that those pinhead psychiatrists who claim genetic causes of
homosexuality don’t know either. The point being, is that it’s not
biology.

Then there's anatomy. Yea, here’s where it’s harder
to ignore the facts. In the vast, vast, vast majority (a phrase in popular use
these days) of cases a person is either male or female. No ambiguity here,
anatomy shows the bare naked truth.

With the known health dangers of HIV/AIDS, especially
with males, why in the world are we teaching our young impressionable teen age
boys that homosexuality is just an alternative lifestyle. Yea, there have been
great advances in medicine, and the life spans of male homosexuals is being
increased. But how many are getting this medication, and at what cost? More
importantly, how many are not getting the medications, and at what cost to them
in disease and lifespan? Before accepting, and even extolling this lifestyle,
shouldn’t parents investigate and find the truth? Who loves a person more, one
warning that continuing this lifestyle could kill you; or one who says, that’s
ok darling, just another way of showing love?

Now we are told that openly active homosexuals should
serve in the military. And, the decisions are being made by judges, congress,
and by a president who admits to never knowing a military service member prior
to becoming president, and has shown little interest since.  It seems to me that
a decision of this sort should be made by the Sergeants, the Petty Officers, the
Majors and Lt. Colonels; the leaders that have to deal with the consequences on
a daily basis, often under combat conditions.

Am I homophobic? No, not at all. I am expressing a
point of view that deserves to be discussed openly in the public arena of ideas.
Calling me homophobic or a bigot is not the solution here, it only pushes
legitimate discussion into the ghetto of fear.

Do I hate gays? Not at all, I just want the truth to
be known so as to minimize unnecessary suffering. Do I condone bullying and
violence against gays? No, not at all, I know first hand about being bullied in
the 9’th grade, and it’s not fun. I remember the times as a young teenager the
confusion about who I was sexually. I am thankful that this politically correct 
homosexual lifestyle nonsense did not exist back then.

Do I believe that people genuinely and sincerely
believe they were born homosexual? Yes I do, and for them I also hurt, and
understand the reality of their reality. Does this make it right? Wouldn’t it be
better to help these people come to an understanding that God loves them and
wants what he naturally created for them?

Oops, I had better get into the ghetto
of homophobia.

Islamophobia (ie. Islam + phobia, "fear") is
prejudice against, or an irrational fear of Islam or Muslims

Am I to succumb to charge of Islamophobia, and be
sent to the ghetto of Islamophobia?

No, I don’t have an irrational fear of Islam. My fear
is very rational, and based on the actions of Islam in the world over the past
100 years or so, particularly against the Jews and Israel. These actions have been
hateful to the point of genocide towards the Jews.

Item: During the 1930’s and 1940’s, Yasser Arafat's
uncle was the grand mufti of Jerusalem (the big guy), and spent time in Germany conspiring and
planning with the Nazis how to exterminate the Jews in Palestine. 

Item: The 6 day war of 1967, where again Egypt,
Jordon and Syria attempted to annihilate the Jewish nation.

Item: The War of Attrition (1968-1970) Again, a war
against Israel and forces of Egypt, USSR and the PLO.

Item: The Yom Kippur War (1973) Egypt, Syria and
other Arab states again attempting to destroy the “Zionist Entity”.

Item: First Lebanon War of 1982. Yet another
war.

Item: Second Lebanon War of 2006.

Item: Arafat's rejection of a very generous land for
peace offer, followed by an Arab Intifada against Israel.

Item: Iranian leader Ahmadinejad’s continual threats
of total annihilation  of the state of Israel and the Jews therein.

Item: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s attempted
visit to the Temple Mount results in yet another Intifada of violence against
the Jews.

No, I’m sorry, Islam is not a religion of peace and tolerance,
only hate , and can offer me little as an example of tolerance. My Constitution,
the First Amendment in particular, shows me how to be tolerant of all religions,
including Islam. 

Item: Isaiah 19 Message to Egypt
18In that day five cities in the
land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to
the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.

19In that day there will be an altar
to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its
border. 20It will become a sign and a
witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD
because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He
will deliver them. 21Thus the LORD will make Himself
known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even
worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform
it. 22The LORD will strike Egypt,
striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to
them and will heal them. 23In that day there will be a
highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the
Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24In that day Israel will be the
third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25whom the LORD of hosts has
blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands,
and Israel My inheritance.”

These verses in Isaiah have puzzled me for many years. I have
come to believe they are a description of the solution to the Middle East
Problem, they are the “Peace Process” that American Presidents have sought for
so many years. Without the Lord, there is no Peace Process, but the Lord of
hosts can, and will, bring about a peace.

Invite the Israelis to build their Holy Temple on the Temple
Ground in Jerusalem, in peace and cooperation.

Implore Arabs of the middle east to solve the “Palestinian
problem” as their own to solve.

Allow true freedom of religion in all Islamic nations and
cultures.

Allow true freedom for women in all Islamic nations and
cultures.

Throw off the Satanic regime of Ahmadinejad in Iran, with armed
revolution if necessary.

Am I Islamaphobic? No! Rather I am coming to the defense of a
truly great religion, Judaism. A religion whose people have for centuries been
threatened by the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Arafat and Ahmadinejad.

Oops, I had better get into the ghetto
of Islamaphobia.

There you have it, a thumbnail description of my
various ghettos.

But wait!  There are no ghettos here, at least none
that I live in. The only ghettos I live in are those that you may choose to put
me into. Ghettos that close off free discussion by calling names; ghettos of
intimidation and embarrassment. Please don’t succumb to that, lest the ghettos
of our imaginations become the ghettos of reality as in places like Nazi Germany and
Warsaw Poland; of the Communist Soviet Union, China and Cambodia of the
last century.  

I close with the fondest wishes of Liberty and
Opportunity to one an all.

Don Johnson

I’m 66 years old, the father of two grown children and have three wonderful grandchildren, and still married to my wonderful wife of 46 years.

But, I am falling in love with a younger woman, a beautiful and successful woman that is capturing my heart and soul at a rapid and frantic pace.

I’m falling in love with Sarah Palin.

No, not the flesh and blood Sarah, in the personal sense, but the flesh and blood Sarah I am learning about from her autobiography “Going Rogue”. Her story gives me great encouragement for the future of our republic. I will write this love letter in two parts; first is her life from childhood through her tenure as Governor of Alaska, and her selection as Vice President. The second part will be my impressions from the remainder of her book.

I have chosen to stop reading “Going Rogue” at her selection by John McCain because I want to capture the character of this marvelous person untainted by national politics and the national media.

So what is it about Sarah that I love so much?

She is the daughter of quite ordinary American parents, brought up in an environment of service to others, and to the community she belongs to.

She was captain of her high school girls basketball team which won a state championship despite an ankle injury late in the season. Sarah sat the bench during most of her high school basketball career, but rose to the occasion during her senior year.

Sarah took on a variety of odd jobs during high school, loved to read and was interested in politics from an early age.

She entered beauty pageants, and won a college scholarship by becoming Miss Wasilla, and second runner up in the Miss Alaska Scholarship Pageant

She worked her way through college at the University of Idaho.

Sarah was an admirer of Ronald Reagan, and his passion and conviction of the greatness of America.

She married Todd Palin, and together they have five children.

Todd and Sarah have a small fishing business, and physically work their boat during the season in a very tough and demanding natural environment.

Todd works in the oil industry on the North Slope of Alaska. He is an ordinary laborer, not an executive, so Sarah understands much of the day to day demands and strains put on families because of the long separations.

Sarah began her public service career as a council member of the City of Wasilla, and focused on infrastructure development, fiscal responsibility, and being an advocate for the people of Wasilla. She served two three year terms as council member.

Sarah ran for mayor because of her concerns about the heavy handed nature of Wasilla government. She won on a platform of local infrastructure development, fiscal responsibility and involvement of the citizenry. Under her leadership, Wasilla prospered. Sarah was not part of the local political establishment, but soon earned the respect of it’s citizens. One episode that caught my attention was her opposition to forced annexation of surrounding communities into Wasilla. Sarah’s philosophy and strategy was to invite these communities to join Wasilla, and if they thought it was to their advantage, then they would annex on a voluntary basis.

Sarah campaigned for, but lost a bid for Lt. Governor under Murkowski. However, when Murkowski became Governor, he appointed Sarah to be chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) where she learned a great deal about the oil and gas resources of Alaska, and their importance to the economic and national security aspects of Alaska and the nation.

Sarah went on to be Governor of Alaska, and I will close with a few things that demonstrate the character of this woman:

She campaigned for and won the Governorship as an outsider against a powerful (Republican)  establishment. She did this with a very bottom up, grass roots campaign where she won over the majority of the voters of Alaska.

As Governor, and because of her tenure at AOGCC, she was able to confront two major and long standing problems with Alaska resource development:

For more than three decades, there have been plans on the books to build a pipeline from Alaska, through Canada to the lower 48. However, because of longstanding political infighting, and government/industry corruption, the program was stalled. Governor Palin assembled a team that restructured this project plan in such a way as to benefit all the players involved; big oil, state agencies and the people of Alaska. With this new plan in hand, the Palin team has been able to push through the award of a contract, and the beginning of the pipeline. This in less than two years in office.

Another problem was with the drilling leases held by Exxon/Mobile on state land on the North Slope. For years, Exxon/Mobile sat on these leases with no production, in violation of the purpose of the leases to produce oil and gas. I won’t go into the details of why no production. This stonewalling had been going on for years, and the Palin team confronted it head on by threatening to cancel the leases and reopen them to competitive bid. The oil company backed down in the face of this real and credible threat, and began production on the sites. Again, in less than two years in office.

Being Commander in Chief of the Alaska Air/National Guard, the Governor has visited her troops in Kosovo, Iraq, and the wounded warriors in the military hospital in Germany. Her oldest son Track , enlisted at age 18, and has served in the infantry in Iraq.

The event that to me clearly shows the massive integrity and humanity of this woman, was the pregnancy and the birth of her and Todd’s fifth child Trig. Governor Palin confirmed her pregnancy while on a business trip. She was a very busy Governor/mother/wife , with much on her plate, and in the midst of some very difficult negotiations concerning Alaska resource management, and her first reaction was “why me Lord, and why now?”. The thought and escape of abortion entered her thinking at this point, but she dismissed it; in her words, “At that moment, I was thankful for right to life groups that affirm the value of the child.  That say, yes, every child has value and a purpose and a destiny.” The thought of abortion again entered Sarah’s thinking when it was discovered that the baby would be born with Down syndrome, but again the busy Governor resisted. Again, her words “”That fleeting thought descended on me again, not a consideration so much as a sudden understanding of why people would grasp at a quick “solution”, a way to make the “problem” just go away. But again, I had to hold on to that seed of faith”.

I’ve wondered over the years if and when America would get her Margaret Thatcher, that Iron Lady from England who teamed with President Reagan and Pope John Paul II to bring the demise of the Soviet Union. Glenn Beck in recent months is looking for the next George Washington.  Might we get both in the person of Sarah Palin? I hope we get the chance to find out.

Our friends Dean and Jill Elliot arrived from Ridgecrest Ca. on 9/25 to accompany Diana and me to the Restore Honor rally in Washington DC on 9/28. Together we had a wonderful time, beginning with a tour of the Mark Twain house in Hartford, a magnificent and beautiful house, in a beautiful Connecticut city.

We drove to Washington DC on Friday through the beautiful countryside of South Western Connecticut, Southern New York, Western New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, down into Maryland to Tyson Corner Virginia; a beautiful and scenic drive.

On Saturday morning we set out to the Washington Mall via the DC Metro; what an experience! The metro cars were jam packed, but the four of us managed somehow to squeeze in; I was reminded of a video I had seen of subway security forces somewhere in the Far East, pushing and stuffing people into the cars with no regard as to the space available. Most of us on the train were destined for the rally, and we actually had a good time with these people, with Diana actually getting a back massage from a lady behind her. Arriving at the Foggy Bottom Station, it took another 45 minutes to get out of the station, it was that packed. Although this was a hot and sweaty 45 minutes, it was enjoyable because it afforded the opportunity to meet and talk to new friends.

The new friend I talked to claimed to be a retired Army Intelligence officer who was part of the team that searched for WMDs in IRAQ. He related some interesting stories of this experience as follows: his team was looking for evidence of chemical weapons. He pointed out that chemical weapons, once they are mixed for use have a very short shelf life, on the order of 5 hours. I asked him if they had found the components necessary to mix the final product, either separately or together, and he said they did, in many locations, although since they were not mixed could not be counted as WMDs; In interrogating senior Iraqi officers they consistently told the interrogators there were no WMDs. However, when asked what their answer would have been six months earlier, they consistently answered that they (WMDs) were there; I asked about reports that WMDs were convoyed out to Syria prior to the invasion. He told me that they followed those leads, but there was no conclusive evidence that they either had or had not convoyed WMDs out of the country. On a side note here, Diana and I attended a lecture in San Diego, where General Sada, a top Iraqi Air Force General and close confidant of Salaam Hussein, testified that he personally had witnessed, and was part of the removal of the WMDs; The retired officer said that they did find a warehouse filled with castor beans, the main component of ricin, a very potent chemical/biological warfare agent. Was the man who he claimed to be? I don’t know, but he was certainly an interesting prelude to the coming day.

We arrived at the Mall at about 9:15, with the start of the rally being 10:00. The areas directly surrounding the reflecting pool were already filled to capacity, with the crowd spilling out into the trees on both sides, extending back to the WWII memorial. We settled in under the trees, about a third of the way back from the Lincoln memorial; not the most ideal place, as we could not see the memorial or the participants, and often times had difficulty hearing as well. But it was a great feeling just to be a part of this great event. People were still arriving, and if you have seen the aerial photos you can see the extent of the crowd.

The rally was advertised to be a non-political event, and it certainly was that. The call of the event and of Mr. Beck was restoring Honor by turning to God, and returning to the values of Faith, Hope and Charity; values that Mr. Beck has been emphasizing for quite some time on his TV program. The emphasis was on restoring these values in us first as individuals, and thus influencing and shaping the future of the nation in a positive and God honoring way. The rally also honored our military, and partnered with the Special Operations Warrior Foundation which provides college scholarships for the children of special operations personnel who have died in operational or training mission.

Thanks to C-SPAN, we were able to view the entire event later, and fill in the gaps resulting from such a large crowd. Much of my comments will be from the C-SPAN replay of the event. But first, let me share with you some of the things I did during the rally.

I have a new favorite hat, a “Vietnam Veteran” hat, which has been the source of mutual attraction between me and veterans of wars going back to WWII. During the day on the mall, I wandered around, sought out and talked to a number of veterans from WWI, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq.

I met three WWII vets, and one particular gentleman, who was sitting in his walker chair, stood when I shook his hand, smiled a very large smile, and told me of some of his experiences with General Patton in Europe. Another man was wearing his Army uniform coat from the Korean War, and also shared with me his time on the staff of the Nixon administration. Another man was wearing a Navy hat showing the USS Dixie, a destroyer tender. I am familiar with the Dixie from San Diego, and also when we came alongside her in the Philippines when we needed to re-gun because of barrel damage caused by defective projectile fuses which caused the projectiles to explode in the barrel. I also knew several sailors on the Dixie who were in my boot camp company. I’ve been wearing “The Hat” for several months now, and it has been fun talking to various veterans around the country. One of my first encounters with the hat came in Harpers Ferry West Virginia when a fellow wearing a similar hat greeted me with a “thank you, and welcome home”. If you may recall, retuning Vietnam military personnel were often greeted in a very demeaning way, including being called baby killers. Thus the “welcome home” is a common and belated greeting among Vietnam vets as a way to make up for past abuse.

Among the speakers, two were of special interest to me: the first being Pastor Charles Lewis "C.L." Jackson who was present as a boy at the 1963 Martin Luther King “I have a Dream” speech. Pastor Jackson spoke of that day, and the effect it had on him, and the nation. He was not shy in his praise of Glenn Beck who he called a man of God and a servant of God; the second speaker was Alveda King, a niece of the civil rights leader Dr. King.  She appealed to rally attendees to "focus not on elections or on political causes but on honor, on character ... not the color of our skin. Yes, I too have a dream. ... That America will pray and God will forgive us our sins and revive us our land." King also addressed the civil rights leaders and members of the black community who had been critical of the rally, responding that "My daddy, Rev. A.D. King, my granddaddy, Martin Luther King, Senior – we are a family of faith, hope and love. And that's why I'm here today. Glenn says there is one human race; I agree with him. We are not here to divide. I'm about unity. That's why I'm here, and I want to honor my uncle today."

Mr. Beck’s speech was inspired, and inspiring. I agree with Dr. Jackson that Beck is a servant of God, and is called to serve in a powerful way to heal the nation. What continues to amaze me is how God uses the most unlikely people, places and circumstances in order to accomplish his ways: The enslaved Israelites in Egypt calling out to God for help, and are sent a man (Moses) with a stick; The place and circumstances of the birth of Jesus to an unwed young girl in a backwater village in a Roman occupied land; and an alcoholic Mormon to rally Christians, Jews and Muslims in a return to the values of Faith, Hope and Charity in order to heal a nation.

I hope you will take the time and effort to view this event. You should be able to find it on C-SPAN, I do know that you can purchase a CD of the event there. I don’t know if you can see the entire event on the Beck web site, but I suspect you can.

But wait!! That wasn’t the end. The rally was quite peaceful, with no arrests or violence. There was one incident of confrontation that I am aware of, mainly because I was involved. It happened well after the rally was over, and the Lincoln Monument was reopened to the public. I was going up the steps when I notice a young man carrying a sign reading “Glenn Beck is a Bigot”. He and two other college age young men were staging their own protest, so I accepted the challenge of talking with them. The exchange was quite friendly, with no anger displayed by me or them. I asked some questions of them in trying to get them to justify their accusation of bigotry, got a response, of sorts, having to do with Islam. We exchanged ideas and I asked who their heroes were, and who informs their world view. We exchanged book recommendations, with the young man recommending Howard Zinn’s “A Peoples History of the United States”, and books by Noam Chomsky. My counters were “A Patriots History of the United States”, by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen; “Common Sense” by Glenn Beck, and Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny”. We parted on good terms, and I can only hope I made some sort of positive impact on these young men. This is the second time I have had such an opportunity to talk with young people having a contrary world view; the first was at a (you guessed it), a Glenn Beck book signing in North Haven CT. Again, the exchange was pleasant, with no anger expressed on either side, but rather some challenges to examine our points of view. It makes no sense to be confrontational or angry when talking with young students like these, it can only confirm their worst stereotypes of who they think you are. Instead, challenge them to examine the history of this nation, and look for the goodness that it embodies.

Later that night, we went to diner. Our waiter was a young immigrant from Bangladesh named Mohammed. The four of us took to this young man and had quite a pleasant time talking with him about his home, family and experiences that brought him to America. When several managers came to our table (separately), we began to feel that we were taking too much time with Mohammed at the expense of other customers. His manager assured us that this was not the case, and was pleased that his new employee (two days on the job) was making such a favorable impression on the customers. We then began a conversation with the manager, who is from Iran. We talked about his family, and how he came to America. He shared with us his sadness and embarrassment with the regime in Iran, and was hoping it would change soon.

When we left the restaurant, we decided that each couple would leave a generous tip for Mohammed, one included in the credit card, and another $15.00 cash we left on the table. It was fortuitous that Diana gave Mohammed our card with our contact information, because the next morning we got an e-mail from him concerned about the extra money and what should he do with it. He went to his manager and asked him, because he wanted to be a man of honesty and integrity, and was agonizing over what to do with what he thought was a mistake on our part.  Diana responded, telling him what we had done, with also a note to his manager praising this young man for wanting to do the right thing.

All in all, a very pleasant couple of days, with many pleasant memories.

Best Regards,

Don Johnson

 Sgt Popaditch in now running for congress in the 51’st district in Southern California (my old stomping grounds), and was being interviewed by Roger Hedgecock. Roger asked the sergeant about his memories of the event, and he recalled that the event of “seeing the faces of people who were seeing liberty for the first time ever changed my life and motivated me to continual service to my country (my paraphrase here).”

I rest my case.

don

Glenn Beck has started a series on his show called "Founders' Fridays". In these shows he highlights the founders of the nation. He usually does this by featuring biographies of the subjects, and where possible he brings in a couple of historians/authors of these biographies for a discussion, which includes a live audience.

To date Beck has featured:

.         George Whitefield, a revolutionary ware period preacher.

.         Samuel Adams, a man of great faith, and although very poor, was a great inspiration during the founding.

.         George Washington

.         Black founders, an especially good episode which highlighted a number of unknown and forgotten blacks who played significant roles in the revolution, and following.

.         Benjamin Franklin.

It was not that many years ago that I realized that I knew very little about the founders of my country. I knew a lot about Reagan, who I admired greatly and read much about. I knew a lot about Lincoln, and read a lot about him. But what about Washington; Adams, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, and others?

I started out to correct this large hole in my historical knowledge long before Beck came on the scene, but the task is huge, and the hole is large. I don't know if I was dumbed down or not by the schools, but I know that I was quite ignorant about such an important subject, and have been trying to catch up.

Glenn Beck coming on the scene has been a breath of fresh air, and provides an interesting and entertaining way to catch up on a lot of history in one hour a week.

If you are like me, and feel you need to learn more American history, or if you have kids, especially high school age, I urge you to take a look at "Founders' Fridays". Record it if you can, and I thing you can also access it at his web site.

Regards,

don

Glenn Beck; the man with four hands

·         With one hand he shines a bright light into the dirtiest, most corrupt and dangerous places in American government.

·         With another hand he shines a bright light onto the founding people, values and principles that have made this country the greatest civilization the world has ever seen.

·         His other two hands?  He holds a rabid, slobbering snarling wolf by the ears, and tries to keep it at bay.

You can help Glenn keep the wolf at bay. Grab hold of a part of that wolf yourself, and help to banish it from our midst.

Regards,

Don

Thanks, but I’ll just continue to do my little piece here in retirement. If I didn’t believe I could make an impact in preserving our republic, I’d just go to Philadelphia where this great nation was born, and die there with it.

From: xxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 2:55 PM
To: Don
Subject: Re: Arizona boycott

Thanks for sharing this.    Don, anytime you want to run for office you have our vote. 

----- Original Message -----

From: DonAndDi

To: 'DeMaio, Councilmember Carl'

Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 1:26 PM

Subject: RE: Arizona boycott

Council member DeMaio,

This time I do indeed sincerely congratulate you on your singular vote against the San Diego Council resolution re. Arizona.

The actions of so many against Arizona have greatly distressed me, and I would ask your indulgence in reading an e-mail I distributed to my friends and family, some of which do not agree with my stand.

Again, thank you for your principled stand.

Don Johnson

The last several days have been bad ones for me, filled with anger, frustration, depression, dark thoughts, blame and confusion.

We see states passing laws that have inflamed millions, we see a federal government ignoring and ridiculing that states laws, only to find out that the law hasn’t been read by the highest officials. We see charges leveled back and forth. We see cities threatening boycott against states, and we see other states on the verge of passing similar laws of self-protection. We see sports teams getting involved in heated political actions. We see threats of cities threatening boycotts,  of states by cities across the nation, and we see a counter threat to cut off electrical power to a major city. We see entertainment figures speaking out in anger and threats against basketball coaches. We hear the leader of a foreign nation, attack one of our states, with the blessing of our own federal leadership, and in our own seats of power. We have the president of Cuba condemning one of our own states.

What we have is chaos. How can and should we behave in the face of such a deluge of confusion?

I reacted and behaved badly,  I was wrong.

This morning, in a cooler mood, and after a bit of reflection, I hopefully can offer some words of encouragement.

·         Resist reacting as I did yesterday.

·         In the midst of my depression yesterday, and while I was trying to repress my lashing out (unsuccessfully), I found my seven year old granddaughter curling up in my lap like a little bug. I wrapped my arms around here and held her close and felt here love and warmth. It helped a great deal. I’m reminded of that little girl’s mother, years ago, who when she would see me slumped in my chair in a down mood, would climb up in my lap just like little Riley did yesterday. I asked her what she did when she felt sad and low. She told me that she liked to find someone with a problem and try to make them feel better.  Family; keep them close and treasure them; they can be your shelter in the storms of life.

·         I finally came back to a scripture that has served me well over the years “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”

·         And this one also “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”  (Ephesians 4: 29-32)

I hope this helps you in your individual struggle with these trying times.

 Best regards,

Don

From: DeMaio, Councilmember Carl [mailto:CarlDeMaio@sandiego.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:52 PM
To: Don
Subject: RE: Arizona boycott

Don,

Thank you for your email. I was the lone NO vote against the City Council resolution because it did not accurately reflect Arizona state law and did not speak for the vast majority of San Diegans who want to call the federal government to task for its failure to secure our nation's borders

In Service,

Carl DeMaio

Councilmember, 5th District

From: Don
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 4:09 PM
To: DeMaio, Councilmember Carl
Subject: Arizona boycott

I congratulate the wise San Diego City Council for their vote against the San Diego tourism industry. The fine people of Arizona can go to Sea World in San Antonio rather than San Diego, and also visit their own Grand Canyon rather than the many fine National parks in California. I’m sure that the small business owners at Old Town, Seaport Village, Mission Valley and throughout the county will not greatly miss the business generated by the Arizonans. The Zoo and Wild Animal Park will suffer a shortfall of revenue, but I’m sure that the very rich city coffers will be opened up to make up the difference.  I’m sure that all of the business in San Diego had a vote in this matter, and they won’t mind laying off employees, or going out of business.

Citizens of San Diego, rise up and throw these City Council members out of office.

Don Johnson

San Diego, CA

My fellow Americans, I am speaking tonight on an issue of great importance to this great American republic.

I view this action by the state of Arizona as a wakeup call, and an embarrassing indictment of the federal governments’ failure to protect U.S. citizens from harm emanating from a foreign nation.