B9

OPINIONOPINION

Mountain Views-News Saturday June 28, 2025 

RICH JOHNSON

 

JULY 4th LOOK AT PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

PUT THE LIGHTS ON

STUART TOLCHIN

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LaQuetta Shamblee


CAN WE LEARN FROM 
TREES?

Just for starters, in case you are having trouble remembering why the actual 
date, July 4th is significant, I’ll tell you. July 4, 1776 is the day the Declaration 
of Independence was ratified by the Second Continental Congress. That 
ratification established what we call the United States of America.

Digging deep into the weeds of our birth, the actual legal separation from 
Great Britain occurred two days earlier on July 2, when that same Second Continental 
Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence. The resolution was submitted by 
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and heretofore became known as the Lee Resolution.

In 1777 Philadelphia set the standard for Independence Day activities. An official dinner 
for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, 
troop reviews and fireworks. (Can we do that in Sierra Madre this year?) In 1778, from his 
headquarters, General George Washington marked July 4 offering a generous double ration 
of rum for his soldiers.

Memorable event in 1886. France gave our country a birthday present. It was a statue of a 
woman. A rather hefty woman who was 151 feet tall and weighed 225 tons. You may know 
her as the Statue of Liberty. The lovely lady of liberty was disassembled and a little more than 
two years later was completely reassembled where it stands to this day (who’s gonna move it 
lol?). Dedicated in a ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.

No surprise the United State Military Academy, known as West Point, opened its doors 
July 4, 1802. It was established by Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson avoided a lot of red tape 
in opening West Point by being President at the time. I guess who you know really helps, 
especially if it’s yourself.

Precisely one year later on July 4, 1803 President Jefferson doubled the size of the United 
States for a mere $15 million dollars. How did he do that you ask. He bought a piece of 
property from the French. A little piece of land around 828,000 square miles which came to 
be known as the Louisiana Purchase. I think he put up condos but I’m not sure.

Anyway looking at our present situation where our current political landscape is converging 
with our technical ability to broadcast news 24/7, I’m reminded of an old time radio and 
television series which aired for a short while on NBC radio. 

The program was titled The Bickersons, which gave us a daily slice of a married couple who 
spend all their awake time in a relentless verbal war. John and Blanche Bickerson were at 
each other’s throats while radio audiences around the world howled with laughter, possibly 
because it was a little too close to home. By way of comparison, we later had Leave It to Beaver 
on television and I’m here to tell you with certainty there would be no entertainment value 
watching a half hour slice in the day in the life of June and Ward Cleaver. 

Again, Churchill borrowing a quote said “…Democracy is the worst form of Government 
except for all those other forms that have been tried…” Democracy is generally considered 
the best form of government followed by constitutional monarchy.

Forty-four years ago two Irishmen came together in Washington D.C. Both politicians, one 
a Republican, the other a Democrat. The Republican, a former actor named Reagan reached 
out to the Democrat O’Neill, a career politician. Reagan was the new President and O’Neill 
the Speaker of the House. Arguably the two most powerful men in American politics. Their 
collaboration and compromises worked later in repairing social security. Then successfully 
on another compromise effort…the 1986 tax reform bill. 

When President Reagan was shot in 1981 Tip O’Neill visited him in the hospital. Aides tell us 
the two men recited the 23rd Psalm together.

As Republicans square off against Democrats (and vice versa) we all need to know conflict 
isn’t necessarily bad. And peace isn’t the only opposite of conflict. Resolution and boredom 
can also be the opposite of conflict. Every time we watch a baseball game we enter the world 
of conflict. We want our team to win. But the games would become boring if the opposing 
team didn’t have the ability to ever beat our team. We would soon lose interest.

Thirty-three years ago a fellow with the last name of King called a press conference in Los 
Angeles in the hope he could calm an angry city down. His first name was Rodney and his 
words were: “I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop 
making it horrible for the older people and the kids?”

Let’s take a tip from Tip O’Neill and Ronnie Reagan: Spend the day jousting rhetorically over 
the yays and nays of each other’s political and philosophical whims and priorities. Then, end 
the day at the local pub, bowling alley or coffee bar. Let the worst activity of your day be the 
overconsumption of calories.

On Monday while driving up the hill on the way to my house 
I noticed for the first time something very unique about one 
of the houses. The house had a patio extending from an upper 
story and a hole had been cut in the floor of the patio. Growing 
through the hole was a cedar tree covered with bark as trees 
usually are. As the tree extended upward through the hole, I 
could see that the outer bark of the tree had been removed and what was visible 
now was an intricate web of what looked like tubing or hoses. These hoses, often 
intersecting with one another were visible all the way to the top of the area where 
the leaves of the cedar tree extended up into the sky.

Immediately the thought hit me that this intricate web was probably like what 
exists within our human body's invisible to us beneath the skin covering. Perhaps 
information and messages were constantly being communicated between trees 
as they interacted with the external environment. I had been reading a book 
entitled Wild Mind, subtitled A Field Guide To The Human Psyche authored by 
psychologist Bill Plotkin.

The book describes the relationship between the human psyche and the rest 
of nature—a task akin to painting a detailed portrait in a stiff wind. Plotkin 
invites the reader into a conscious and embodied relationship with the non-
human world. In my articles of the last few weeks, I have discussed possible 
sources to our current problems. The recent detentions of vulnerable lawabiding 
individuals doing nothing wrong has demonstrated that there is something very 
wrong. Something must be done—but what can we as individuals do? 

We've known about the unfairness, dangers. and inequality within our society for 
a long time and although there has been a lot of talk things haven’t changed. The 
point of Plotkin’s book is that Americans and modern societies have traditionally 
limited their choices. He implores humans to feel and honor our kinship with 
all species and habitats “and to shape ourselves into visionaries with the artistry 
to revitalize our endangered world”.

For me this is where thinking about the trees comes in. I used my iPhone to look 
up what was going on beneath the bark of the trees. I read that there actually 
exists something man had labelled the “Wood wide web”. This term describes 
a complex underground network of bacteria, fungi, and roots that connects 
trees and plants to one another. Just like an MRI scan of the brain helps us to 
understand how the brain works, the map of the fungi beneath the soil helps us 
to understand how global ecosystems work. The trees assist each other in coping 
and adjusting to environmental conditions. They send out distress signals about 
drought or disease or an insect infestation

No, no one is saying that trees talk directly to us but remember that trees and 
humans share similar physical characteristics. Like the cedar tree we stand 
upright, have a crown on top and mobile limbs stemming from a central trunk. 
We can receive information from them which we can use to protect ourselves. 
The point of the Plotkin book is that in order to survive we must reclaim 
our original wholeness by not merely suppressing psychological symptoms, 
recover from addictions and trauma, manage stress, or refurbish dysfunctional 
relationships. Psychology has focused only on what is wrong with people and has 
neglected a larger story honoring what is right with us and utilizing our kinship 
with all species to save ourselves.

Look I know all the above probably sounds crazy. What also is crazy is that I 
listen to the news every day and hear no solutions to the problems overcoming 
the world. The climate crisis continues, air and water impurities face us. Wars 
continue and the continued presence of drugs and guns and alcohol threaten 
everyone’s safety. People have become frightened to have conversations with 
one another. Something else must be done or human extinctions becomes a 
real possibility. Where can we find answers? If there is a possibility of gaining 
information from the non-human world then by all means let’s follow that up 
and see what the trees can tell us. After all, the non-human world has been 
around for a lot longer than we have and that world has survived. 

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HOWARD Hays As I See It

CHRISTINE FLOWERS


DURING PATRIOTIC SEASON, 
SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT AMERICA

“The word of the president of the United States is good enough for 
me.” – French President Charles de Gaulle to JFK’s envoy Dean 
Acheson, explaining why he didn’t need to see CIA evidence of 
Soviet missiles in Cuba, 1962

 

I became more of a Dodger fan last week - and more inclined to doubt this 
administration can do anything without lying about it. The L.A. Times 
reported ICE had gathered outside the gates of Dodger Stadium but Dodger 
personnel wouldn’t let them in. ICE responded that the story was “false”; they were “never 
there”. After the pics came out, their story changed to - yeah, maybe they were there, but it was 
“unrelated to any operation or enforcement”.

 

Whatever, it wasn’t long before protestors showed up, followed by LAPD – to make sure all 
stayed outside the gates so fans could simply come and enjoy the game against the Padres. A 
protestor posted on Bluesky that when asked what the LAPD’s approach towards ICE would be, 
an officer replied, “put it this way. The Dodgers don’t want them coming in.” Another observed 
about ICE, “Just can’t get over how much they look like images of cartel out of Sinaloa or Juarez.”

 

That deployment of ICE and National Guard to Los Angeles isn’t making the headlines much 
anymore. The “big, beautiful” budget bill is stalled in the Senate. We’re nearing the end of that 
“90 deals in 90 days” period for promised tariff agreements – with only a couple of “frameworks” 
to show for it. So now the president is desperate for something to again make himself the center 
of attention.

 

The NY Times reports that according to Pentagon and White House officials, on a Saturday 
morning President Trump was watching Fox News and couldn’t get over the wall-to-wall 
coverage of Israel’s attack on Iran. He couldn’t accept that it was Bibi Netanyahu, rather than 
himself, now at the center of the world’s attention - so decided he had to “get in on the action”.

 

While days earlier Trump assured that we “had nothing to do with the attack on Iran”, now it 
was all “we” and “us”. It was “we” having “complete and total control of the skies”. It was Trump 
calling for Tehran to be evacuated “immediately” (a city of 9 million), and Trump demanding 
“UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” – while it remained solely between Israel and Iran.

 

After we did join the conflict with our own bombing mission, it wasn’t enough for Trump to 
simply mark it successful with thanks for the safe return of all personnel involved – he had 
to declare targets being “completely and totally obliterated”. Then CNN reported an initial 
Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that the stockpiles of enriched uranium might have 
been moved beforehand, damage to the facilities themselves was uncertain, with the overall 
result that it might have set back Iran’s nuclear efforts by “a few months”.

 

The story then was no longer the Middle East conflict we were now a part of, but about how, 
according to Trump, “FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK 
TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST 
SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY. THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE 
COMPLETELY DESTROYED!” This came as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine was 
saying it was simply “way too early” to make any finding one way or the other. 

 

This action came after Trump rejected the assessment from Director of National Intelligence 
Tulsi Gabbard, and basically our entire intelligence community, that Iran was not actively 
developing a nuclear weapon. Accepting that assessment would’ve meant that whatever the 
threat was, it was not all that “imminent” – making it harder to justify the attack. So, Trump 
simply labeled the assessment from Director Gabbard and our intelligence community as 
“wrong”, while expecting everyone in his administration to follow suit. 

 

When asked on CBS Face the Nation about intelligence showing Iran was not making a nuclear 
weapon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed that as “irrelevant” – telling host Margaret 
Brennan to just “forget about intelligence”.

 

As for Trump’s evidence-free claim of Iranian nuclear facilities being “obliterated”, retired 
Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson said on CNN that “The assessment is what we expected 
but what scares me about the whole incident is the politicization of our national intelligence. It’s 
so sad to see Secretary (of Defense Pete) Hegseth and (White House Press Secretary) Karoline 
Leavitt and others try to align our national security apparatus and intelligence apparatus 
with what the president said earlier. If that’s not true, we need to know it.” The point is that 
it’s important to know what the truth is – regardless of whether it aligns with whatever the 
president’s preferred ego-boosting narrative.

 

For Defense Secretary Hegseth, Trump’s plan “was bold, and it was brilliant”. And President 
Trump tells NBC that between Israel and Iran there’s now a ceasefire that’s “going to go forever”, 
and he’s “very happy to have been able to get the job done”. Apparently, there was a ceasefire 
announced on Trump’s Truth Social media platform, with no explanation as to how he came to 
speak for whatever the Iranian position might be.

 

We’re far removed from the time anyone would take “the word of the president of the United 
States”, or anyone in his administration, for that matter, as “good enough” for anything. Go 
Dodgers.

There are four 
holidays that 
occur in quick 
succession and 
symbolize our 
love of country: 
Memorial Day, 
D-Day, Flag Day 
and July Fourth.

The first and the last are the most 
important, because they commemorate 
those who made the ultimate sacrifice for 
our country, and those who created this 
beloved nation at great risk to themselves. 
That’s why it’s always demoralizing to see 
how they’ve been reduced, in large part, 
to beach and barbecue holidays with a 
sprinkling of testimonials to the true spirit 
of the moment.

Of the other two, D-Day is the least 
acknowledged, except among that tiny 
and ever dwindling group of people who 
hear the phrase “Omaha Beach,” and 
understand. My mother’s cousin, Adolph 
Pace, parachuted onto the beaches of 
Normandy, and his bride turned that 
parachute into her wedding dress when he 
came home.

And Flag Day? It’s not much of a stretch 
to wear something red, white and blue 
on the day, and it’s nice to reflect on its 
symbolism, and yes Betsy Ross appreciates 
a visit if you happen to be in Philly, but of 
the four it’s the least important.

But I truly do love this month-and-a-half 
long stretch where we remember, celebrate 
and protect our identity as Americans. 
Because other countries are bound by 
blood, language, culture and in many cases 
DNA. All we have is aspiration.

We aspire to be what Reagan called a 
“Shining City on a Hill.” That didn’t used 
to be considered hokey, naive or offensive. 
That described us perfectly, people 
who wanted to be on top of the human 
mountain.

Sadly, both progressives and conservatives 
have lost sight of the message.

As a registered Republican who embraced 
the GOP after decades of grappling with 
my moral compass as a Democrat, I used 
to have the zeal of a convert. I was so 
proud to belong to the party that oversaw, 
along with a pope and an Iron Lady, the 
destruction of communism. I was so happy 
to be a member of a party where — with 
very few exceptions — men and women 
believed in the sanctity of unborn human 
life.

But I don’t exactly recognize that party 
today.

The tone deaf sound of “America First” 
has replaced the rich anthem of American 
exceptionalism where not only is legal 
immigration a virtue and a gift, but using 
our own blood and treasure to protect our 
allies is an obligation.

Those we remember in Memorial Day did 
not die on these shores. They made the 
ultimate sacrifice in foreign lands, far from 
their mothers’ embrace and their fathers’ 
proud gaze. They did it to preserve our 
greatest export: democracy.

And immigrants? They were always “us,” 
our grandparents and great grandparents, 
many of whom came legally, some of 
whom did not.

Now, they are “them,” unless they are South 
African farmers who made a deal with the 
White House. It’s an oversimplification 
to say all immigrants are good, because 
there are in fact many multitudes who are 
mediocre. That’s human nature.

But shifting our default position from 
“welcome, make our country better” to 
“find another destination, we don’t want 
you” is tragic. In fact, those exact words 
were used by President Donald Trump last 
week.

But at least I can have conversations with 
conservatives. Progressives are convinced 
that the country is lost.

So many are rushing to obtain new 
passports from other countries in the same 
way a Kardashian buys a new handbag.

It’s acquisition for the sake of looking 
better than geopolitical virtue signaling. 
It’s not about loving the ancestral home, in 
so many of these cases. It’s about hating on 
the one in which they were born.

I’m embarrassed and angry by some of the 
MAGA excesses, including what I believe 
to be cruel acts spring from the toxic 
cesspool of Stephen Miller’s mind. But I’m 
not embarrassed by my country. I’d never 
leave it for greener pastures, because quite 
frankly there are none.

I have no real home these days. Politically 
I am much more comfortable on the right, 
but it’s far from a perfect fit.

There is a jingoism I see and hear in former 
comrades that shocks me. And when they 
try and say it’s all about “America First,” I 
turn them off.

So here I am, honoring the fallen who 
sacrificed for a country they would not 
recognize.

Here I am, remembering my cousin and 
his comrades, who saved the free world 
with their bodies on the beaches. Here, 
raising the flag and visiting Betsy.

And then thanking the flawed but godly and 
magnificent men who created glory out of 
chaos.

The rest of you can figure it out on your own.


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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com