The following is some other highlights from our week in Nebraska… We took the kids to an old Pony Express Station in Gothenburg. The Pony Express was put out of business by: the telegraph. And now it’s: Instant Messaging. When’s it going to stop!… I was then interviewed by the Gothenburg newspaper, explaining we had researched mentoring programs to help in the inner city. Reciprocally, the reporter told me former Nebraska University football coach (and current Nebrasaka state senator) Tom Osborne had developed an extremely affective mentoring program in Nebraska called: Teammates… In Grand Island, Nebraska, I was interviewed by the Publisher of the Hispanic newspaper: Buenos Diaz Nebraska. Oscar Erives asked my position on the southern border. I said we had recetly gone to Juarez, Mexico to look at conditions there (read: abject poverty). That is, families living on $3 a shift factory wages. They live in cobbled together shacks, no electricity and malnourished babies dying from drinking contaminated water. I said my policy would be to mobilize as much help as possible for people south of the border. And if some needed to come here to get help, then my administration would try to make that as easy as possible for them as well… While in Nebraska, my wife Liz interviewed Tobi Chacon, who homeschools her three children and is planning a six week cross cultural immersion trip to Mexico so they can learn more about their father Frank’s heritage, and the Mexican culture in general… Shortly after, we traveled to York, Nebraska where a reporter for the York Times News asked me my take on American agriculture. I said agri-business these days in the U.S. can grow at such volume on huge farms that they can, frequently, undercut small subsistence farmers in Mexico who are selling to the local grocery store. I continued that many see this as a “strong America” that can compete with anyone on the international market. I said I saw this for what I believe it really is: a social justice travesty… We then headed on to Ashland, Nebraska, where we attended a service at the First Congregational Church and a Bible Study afterward. During the service, Rev. Roy Paterik prayed for the political leaders of the country, then added: “And may we as Your church — hold them accountable.” Note: Up the street from First Congregational in Ashland is St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The marquee in front of St. Mary’s read: “You Think It’s Hot Here.”… And to round out the Nebraska experience, we stopped in the Old Town area of Omaha, Nebraska, where we did an afternoon whistle-stop event on the corner of 11th and Howard. During the event, Stqan Stearns stopped by. He’s was in Finance and Accounting for the military, recently retiring after 22 years service. He said the current round of military base closings (as with the prior ones) have quite an affect on local economies. He said while local dollars circulate throughout the community, with local merchants, local people in general, taking a percentage of that dollar; the federal money that comes into a community from military personnel, and so on, often dramtically bolsters the local economy because each dollar is a: “new dollar.”