For the last three days, we’ve been at a conference on a “Nuclear Free World” at the University of Las Vegas. (Today is the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima.) The atom bomb was experimented with at the Nevada Test Site, 60 miles northwest of here. And as a child growing up in Las Vegas, featured Conference speaker and peace activist Janet Chisolm said she would often go to designated locations aways off from the desert site (with sun glasses) — as did many in Las Vegas — to watch the above ground atomic explosions. She said the government had assured the population here that it was safe, and the local newspaper would run articles about various proposed tests, including maps about where to go to watch the expolosions. Note: And that was only the start of all this nuclear madness.
Yesterday we entered Nevada, still on Hwy 95. In McDermitt, just across the state line, I interviewed Chris Abbruzzesa, who is a local project coordinator for the Student Conservation Association. Abbruzzesa, two college interns and some local high school students doing a Service Learning Project, were all working on a prominent native plant display along the highway here. He said the naitve plants will be accompanied with descriptions written in English and in Shoshone. (The Parute-Shoshone Reservation is close by and some of the Native American high school students were collaborating as well.) McDermitt High School science teacher Mary Baird told me some of the tourist revenue generated from the display will go to financially help the reservation here… Today we drove through the desert to Fallon, Nevada where I was interviewed by the Lahontan Valley News. Reporter Burke Wasson asked me what my most “interesting” campaign stop in the past seven years had been. I said: Savannah, Georgia, but not for, oh, “traditional reasons.” I told Mr. Burke that while in Savannah seven years ago, I was walking down a downtown street with my then 3 and a half year old daugher, Sarah. We saw a homeless man sleeping on some steps. Sarah asked what was wrong. I said the man was homeless. Sarah then frantically tugged at my shirt, saying: “Daddy, Daddy… we have to find him a home.” From this, I developed part of my platform on dealing with the homeless: “Everyone become three and a half years old again.” Note: Speaking of homelessness… Last week in Weiser, Idaho, I learned about a church project to build rather nice homes for fairly large families in the Third World for: $2,000 a home. Then, on Hwy 95 in Oregon I was passed by a Lexus, that looked like it had all the options. The car probably cost some $60,000. If you do the math, $60,000 would house 30 homeless families in the Third World. The Lexus license plate said: “SPOILD2”. And I couldn’t help but think, yep — aren’t most of us in America. And I wondered: How many of us would be willing to sacrifice the new Lexus, Saturn, Honda… for a used, $1,000 or $2,000 car (or better yet, public transportation), and spend just a little bit more to get it running good enough — so that little homeless children in the Third World had a roof over their head (and adequate food, clothing, medicine…)? Mother Theresa once said America was the most materialistically rich, and most spiritually poor, country in the world. It’s not hard to see why.
Still on Hwy 95, we headed out of Idaho and into a vast corner of Oregon that can be best described as the proverbial: “No Man’s (or Woman’s) Land.” Hwy 95 through here spans some 230 miles and is dotted in four places with, not towns, but rather tiny “outposts.” Fascinatingly enough, in the first outpost: Jordan Valley, we stopped at a small Catholic Church where, wouldn’t you know, Bishop Robert Vasa was vacationing. (He is the Bishop for the Diocese of Baker, Oregon.) We talked late into the night about spirituality and the modern world… Today we headed further into “No Man’s Land,” stopping first in Rome, Oregon, where all there is is a small cafe, a gas pump and an apartment above the place. The mailbox on the other side of Hwy 95 reads: ROME. That’s it. Simply: ROME. I put a flyer on their wall, joked about probably being the only presidential candidate that will stop here this election cycle, or any election cycle, then headed on to Burns Junction (pop. a small cluster of trailers). There I met Julaine Wagner, who works in the cafe here and lives in “nearby” (30 miles away), Arock, Oregon. “How do you spell Arock?” I asked. She said: “Like: a rock.” Julaine told me her and her husband are also ranchers, and they got married four years ago — on horseback, in December. My son Joseph asked if it was cold. Julaine said it was… (If we don’t carry Rome and Burns Junction this Election, well, I’ll be surprised.)
The topic of embryonic stem cell research has been in the newspapers that past several days since Bill Frist announced he believes there should be federal funding for this. I don’t. Several years ago I attended a seminar in Michigan given by a professor of bio-ethics at Ave Maria College. He noted that science shows that life, indeed, begins at conception — with, for instance, the whole genetic code already being in place for that human being, not to mention the immortal soul. To take this life, no matter how benevolent the cause might seem, is simply: wrong… In New Meadows, Idaho, I read an article about local “Retro Ranchers” Debra and Steve Campbell who raise some of their cattle the old fashion “traditional way.” That is, these cattle are grass fed and they don’t use hormones or antibiotics to artificially stimulate quick growth. Hormones and antibiotics that can cause all sorts of problems in our systems as the next ones in the food chain.
We’ve headed further south along Hwy 95 to Grangeville, Idaho where I was interviewed by the editor of the Idaho County Free Press, David Rauzi. The last topic we talked about was the tremendous breakdown of the nuclear family in America (60% divorce rate now). Then, wouldn’t you know, in tiny Pine Hurst, Idaho we met Phillip and Julie Good who had a bumper sticker on their car that said: “Married for Life.” I asked. Turns out the Goods have been involved with the “University of the Family,” a Christian ministry out of Littleton, Colorado, since the late ’80s. And they have taught regular 12-week courses on building healthy marriages throughout the local area. Weekly subjects include: Praying Together as a Couple; Communication; Forgiveness… Julie said the number one reason for divorce, she believes, is “selfishness.” That is, the refrain(s) go: “He doesn’t do this… And she doesn’t do that…” Note: Coming out of Grangeville early this afternoon, it was 100 degrees when we descended into Hell’s Canyon. To cool off, we then went swimming in what the Native Americans in these parts call: “The River of No Return (Salmon River).” Hell’s Canyon. The River of No Return. Tell me Bill Frist, Hillary Clinton, or Ralph Nader for that matter… would be that brave!”
While in Moscow, Idaho I interviewed Brad Jaeckel who teaches a course on Organic Farming (and runs a 3 acre organic farm Community Sponsored Agriculture project) for Washington State University here. He said there has been a movement in the last 25 years for more and more small liberal arts colleges to add these kinds of things to their curriculums because some public sentiment is moving in that direction… I then interviewed Kelly Kingsland of Affinity Farms in Moscow, who has a one-acre organic garden in the city limits here and sells at the local farmer’s market. “We don’t want to use petroleum to bring our food to market,” she said… Then it was on to Cottonwood, Idaho where I interviewed Sr. Carrol Ann Wassmuth who does Forest Management for 1,000 acres of forest at a monastery here. She is a Benedictine nun and said the Rule of Benedict is to: “Treat everything as if they were sacred vessells of the alter (including all in the environment).” She has given talks on such topics as: “Stewardship, Ethics and Responsibility” and “The Spirituality of Foresty.” She added: “I am an environmentalist, and I log.” She said in a healthy forest you may sometimes hear “wind through the trees, birds — and a chain saw, if (the latter) is being used responsibly.”
We’ve traveled further south to Moscow, Idaho where I was interviewed by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Reporter Kate Baldwin asked about my platform. I said as president I’d work to end the Space Program, not because of the current problems with the Shuttle, but because we’re spending billions to get to Mars to see if there was ever water there (so we can perhaps in the future make it habitable), meanwhile on “this planet” there are scores of little Third World children dying from drinking contaminated water — every day. I said I believed the money would be much better spent on cleaning up the water on this planet now — for these little childrens’ sakes.
I was interviewed by Coeur d Lane, Idaho’s newspaper. The reporter asked me to share an interesting vignette from the road. I said in Brookings, Oregon during Campaign 2000 I approached a man on the street late one night, shook his hand and said I was running for president… The man stepped back, with a distinct look of surprise. After he collected himself, he said the last time that this had happened to him was some 20 years ago in a park in Chicago on a Saturday night. He said a slightly built man, with a marked southern accent, approached him out of the blue, shook his hand, and said: “Hi, my name is Jimmy Carter and I’m running for president.” The man told me he merely smirked at Carter (who was a relative unknown at the time) and kept walking. This time he smiled at me, and said that maybe I, indeed, had a chance… The night before, I gave a brief talk to a prayer group at St. Puis X Catholic Church in Coeur d Lane. The youth here had just returned from a missions trip to Mexico. One youth, Jenny Cornutt, said she had been almost shocked at the poverty she saw. Saying, for instance, that children played in dusty streets and dirt yards with, well, practically nothing.
While our children played a sandlot baseball game with a group of Amish children in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho, I interviewed Elvy Miller who told me the Amish here were feeling a spiritual calling to help facilitate reconcilliation with the Native Americans in the area. Elvy said because of the intense persecution his people felt in Europe prior to coming to America, they felt a special empathy for the persecution the Native Americans have experienced here. (Miller had recently talked at Gonzaga University’s “Institute of Hate Studies” about these types of issues.) …Also while in Bonner’s Ferry, a “Deacon Joe” at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, said when it comes to abortion and women saying they want to have “ownership” over their bodies — that these women must remember where their bodies actually came from in the first place. (Read: God.) Also while in Bonner’s Ferry, I interviewed John Gale, who is the former president of Chris Kraft Boats. He started the Rotary here and said the organization is about promoting goodwill among business people in a community.
We have intersected with Rte. 95 in northern Idaho. Our next tour route will be down 95 almost all the way to the southern U.S. border. Border to border, this trip has been referred to as: “The hard ride of 95.” …We attended a Baptist service in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho where the pastor said each profession, if done with God’s will in mind, can be considered a: vocation. The pastor said when a member of his congregation was recently asked what he did for a living, he replied: “I’m an ordained plumber.” …Later in the day, I smiled and told Janet Hanson, a reporter for an online newspaper in northern Idaho, that I was an “ordained presidential candidate (in so many words).” That is, I was trying to keep the gospel message in mind when establishing our platform. I told Ms. Hansen we were strong on social justice, for intance, but I was concerned many spiritual leaders in this country aren’t. She asked how so? I said many pastors, priests, and so on… sleep in $300 beds; while a majority of those in the Third World sleep on straw matts and don’t have medicine for their children.