New American Dream

Joe Mayer

Elaine Mayer visiting with Minnesota Congressman
Tim Walz during his open office hours in Rochester.






"Bombing on Tribes, Obama's First Gift to Pakistan."

A banner with this message was shown as part of a protest in Pakistan for the United States action of dropping a drone-carrying missile killing their civilians. This was the first military action under Obama's administration.


From Joe Mayer's most recent column

[see full column below]





The New American
Dream Interview

JOE and ELAINE MAYER live in Rochester, Minnesota.

Joe is a retired high school teacher, former city councilman and past member of the Olmsted County Social Services Board. He is a member of the Rochester Lourdes High School Sports Hall of Fame, as a coach. Joe is a frequent author of essays, columns, various pieces.

He is a contributor for the blogspot Vox Verax. voxverax.blogspot.com.

Elaine is a professional manager, having her initiation into the complexities of this profession since marriage. She also has taught, and has worked in the Mayo Clinic Library.

The Mayers are two of the original members of the Southeast Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers, and are helping to launch Earth Community Coalition of SE MN. They have been foster parents for children and teens.

They have eight children, living in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Californaia, and Winnipeg; and 17 grandchildren.

____________

The New American Dream Trivia Question: To win a button that says, "Bush Is Lying About What He Knew," be the first one to correctly answer the following.

Elaine & Joe Mayer met ...

a. At midnight Mass b. On opposite sides of the confession booth c. In the faculty lounge d. On the picket line e. In grade school f. In high school

____________

NAD:

Joe, Elaine, hello, welcome and thank you for taking the time. Where did you both go to school? High school, college.


JOE:

St Mary’s in Waterloo, Loras College in Dubuque


ELAINE:

Immaculate Conception in Cedar Rapids, Clarke College in Dubuque




NAD:

The Rochester peace group is extraordinary.

Very organized, very active.

How long has it been going? How do you all keep going, so strong?


JOE & ELAINE MAYER:

We organized in 2002 before Shock and Awe, and participated in our first Peace Demonstration at that time.

We have met some wonderful people of all ages and faiths, but mostly they are progressives; we find our strength in these new relationships.




NAD: Do you have hope in Obama?




Even with President Bush,
there was a shred of hope
that he would realize the
consequences of the direction
our country was taking and turn it around.


Democracy is not dependent on its leaders,
it is dependent on its citizens.




JOE & ELAINE MAYER:

If we didn’t have hope in Obama, we would consider becoming martyrs!

Even with President Bush, there was a shred of hope that he would realize the consequences of the direction our country was taking and turn it around.

Democracy is not dependent on its leaders, it is dependent on its citizens.




NAD:

If so, do you think it will be tough to switch to being for something, rather than against, as with Bush?


JOE & ELAINE MAYER:

Our lives will not change much because Obama needs as much support as we can give him.

The Democratic Congress is influenced by the same corporations, the same lobbyists, the same sources of contributions.

We continue to be for the same things and will continue to monitor how well our representatives in government are meeting the welfare of all the people, especially those poor and vulnerable whose voices are tuned out by the powerful.



The Democratic Congress
is influenced
by the same corporations,
the same lobbyists,
the same sources of contributions.




NAD:

Would you like to choose one of these to answer, elaborate on? We don't ask this to make fun. We ask because we really seek the answers.



— Are UFOs real?

In this universe of daily discoveries, it is possible although we can’t claim that we ever saw one.



— Did we land on the moon in 1968?

Yes. The photos are striking.



— Did Bush knock down the towers?

There are too many unanswered questions about the towers; the pattern of implosion, the personal accounts of hearing several explosions, the failure of our monitoring system, etc. Because of the mysteries surrounding the towers, Bush and the governmental powers are suspect.



— Was Paul Wellstone's death an accident?

After the Wellstone plane crashed, the crash site was cleaned up shortly afterwards, making a thorough investigation impossible.

Why was the crash attributed to weather when the weather was fine? How did the plane take such an erratic direction after it was in contact with the control tower?

There are too many unanswered questions about the crash that took the life of the senator who campaigned against an invasion of Iraq.




There are too many unanswered questions about the crash that took the life of the senator who campaigned against an invasion of Iraq.




NAD:

How did you survive the Bush years?


JOE & ELAINE MAYER:

We survived with a lot of help from our Peacemaker friends. Together we found the courage to swim against the current.



NAD:

Well, they are [were] not over yet. Has it ever crossed your mind that he and Cheney might not leave office voluntarily?


JOE & ELAINE MAYER:

Yes, we have thought it possible that they would not want to leave, and it is not encouraging that so many citizens have been apathetic to the erosion of our rights and the failure of adherence to law.




NAD: Would you like to see the past put behind us, or would you like to see members of the Bush administration tried for war crimes, such as lying to start a war, torture, Guantanamo, murder.


JOE & ELAINE MAYER:

We think the Bush administration should be held accountable for their illegal actions.




More:

Joe Running For Congress


Joe's Columns on Vox Verax

__________

Trivia Question Answer:

The Joe and Elaine we are intimate with met at a dance, nothing as exciting as the answers above.




Joe Mayer's most recent column:


Feb. 1, 2009
Progressive Ponderings

by Joe Mayer


Killing Civilians

"Bombing on Tribes, Obama's First Gift to Pakistan." A banner with this message was shown as part of a protest in Pakistan for the United States action of dropping a drone-carrying missile killing their civilians. This was the first military action under Obama's administration. The picture was shown around the globe. The consequences of this action:

· Demonstrates how deeply entrenched is the belief that American military might can control the world and bring peace.
· Badly fractures Obama's "change you can believe in."
· Is seen as pursuing the Bush administration's actions.
· Reveals what happens by keeping the same Secretary of Defense.
· Discounts the conclusion of our own intelligence agencies that our violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan creates more terrorists.
· Grants more gifts to our military/industrial/Congressional complex.
· Weakens a U.S. supported Pakistani government by turning its own citizens against both us and its government.
· Advances al Qaeda and Taliban recruiting efforts.
· Capitulates to the neo-cons and their Project for a New American Century.
· Defies Pakistani and Afghan history of failed attempts at foreign colonization and occupation.
· Places Obama into the same presidential category as Lyndon Johnson – great on domestic policy but hounded from office by aggressive, illegal and immoral foreign policy.
· Destroys diplomacy.
· Offends Obama's anti-war base, the first large group to endorse his candidacy.
· Brands an anti-war candidate a war president.
· Weakens the Pakistani government possessing nuclear weapons and opens the door to…

We Americans usually look down through the crosshairs from high in the sky at a target our masters have convinced us is evil. 9/11 was different.



... our own militarism will continue to define and defeat us.



WE were the object in the crosshairs. The violence on our soil created an extreme sense of patriotism, nationalism and militarism. Those Americans with a different viewpoint were branded unpatriotic, soft on terror, disloyal.

In a similar way, peoples who find themselves within our U.S. crosshairs also react with extreme patriotism and nationalism, often fundamental religious fervor, hatred of the violator, revenge in mind.

The 9/11 attack was not committed by Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or North Korea. It was not an act of war by any nation. It was a criminal act by individuals.

We took our eye off the real target. We allowed our leaders to divide us. Patriotism blinded our values. Without a defined goal we sacrificed our young peoples' lives, our sense of unity, our treasure, our integrity and our reputation.

Until the Obama administration can define our real objectives in the Middle East, can define "win," and can define America's place in the world, our own militarism will continue to define and defeat us.