Vote for Joe

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.”

We’ve headed into Nebraska where I was interviewed by the Ogallalla newspaper. (I practiced pronouncing the name more than a few times before we got to the town, so I didn’t lose any votes.) During the interview, I told the publisher that we would push for a National Health Care System — like they have in Candada, Denmark, New Zealand… — so there would be equitable health care for all. Sound spiritual principle would beg for that, we believe — especially with 46 million Americans who have no health care at all right now. In tandem, I told the publisher, we would also push for more: Marillac Clinics. Several years ago, we researched the Marillac Clinic in Grand Junction, Colorado. Doctors, nurses, community members who do intake, clerical, janitorial… work, all volunteer time at the clinic so those without health insurance in Grand Junction have a place to go. I told the publisher if you could get these types of clinics going in many towns in America, it would defray some of the additional tax it would take to subsidize a National Health Care System.

We are now heading diagonally back to Ohio on Hwy 80. I was interviewed by Chris Marcheso of the Fort Morgan (CO) Times yesterday. I told him that a big part of the reason Third World poverty exists is because priests and minisiters in ‘First World Countries’ (America, Canada, many European countries…) are not graphically talking about all the abject poverty in places like Haiti, Uganda, Biafra…, and in tandem, exhorting their congregations to dramatically sacrifice and help much more, because, simply: “nine times out of 10, these (spiritual) leaders are very comfortable themselves and are not motivated to encourage sacrifice.” Note: After a talk I gave at Xavier University during Campaign 2004, I addressed this issue. Afterward, a priest approached me and said Pope John Paul II had said the Western World and the Third World were playing out the gospel parable of: “The rich man and Lazzarus — the beggar at the gate.” The cliff note: The rich man is indifferent to Lazzarus, and the rich man ends up in Hell as a result… Note 2: To contemporize this parable a bit more: Compared to most of the Third World, most of us in America are: “rich” — no matter what our arbitrary American categories say are: “rich, upper middle class, middle class…”

A few weeks back, I got a case of minor heat stroke and dehydration. In addition, I picked up the flu — as we were going through the desert in Nevada. We don’t use air conditioning in the campaign vehicle, for environmental reasons. And to finish the particular tour route we were on (HWY 95), meant we still had to go south into Arizona, in August. We made a decision to go on, even though my temperature was about 102 or 103… We made it, and shortly after the fever broke… Two days ago, USA Today had a cover story about illegal immigrants making the trek across the desert in Arizona, on foot. According to the article, smugglers drive the immigrants north ot the barb wire fence, cut through it, or climb over it, and enter the desert in Arizona — where summer temperatures reach 115, or higher. They dodge motion sensors, video cameras, helicopters and agents with infrared goggles. If something goes wrong, the “coyotes” think nothing of abandoning these people in the furtherst reaches of the desert, also according to the article… As a result, more and more of these immigrants are dying. The cause of : hypothermia and heat stroke. The article further explained: “As the body temperature soars to 107 degrees, pressure plummets, vital organs fail, victims suffer cramps, nausea, exhaustion. Some strip or go crazy. Ultimately, they just sit down and collapse”… Makes what I went through seem quite minor. And what’s more, many of these people brave all this because: their kids are hungry. How can so many of us, and especially those of us who profess to be spiritual, be so cold to their plight?

A front page story ran in Colorado’s Valley Courier newspaper yesterday about the campaign. The story noted we had moved to the inner city of Cleveland to live side-by-side with the poor in order to be of better help… The story also noted that I thought the increased gas prices were actually a “good thing” (There goes some votes, huh.), because it might get people to drive less — which, ultimately, will cut down on greenhouse gas emissions… The day the article ran, I met with Leon Moyer of Alamosa. He rides a little motor scooter (which gets 85 miles per gallon) all around town. He said because the bike is less than 50 ccs, he doesn’t need a license plate or insurance for it. And he doesn’t believe in insurance anyway. “It’s a form of gambling,” he told me. And he added that many churches actually are opposed to: gambling. Fascinating perspective.