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.)
7/31/05
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.
7/30/05
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!”
7/29/05
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.”
7/28/05
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.
7/27/05
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.
7/26/05
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.
7/25/05
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.
7/24/05
I interviewed Tim Aldrich, who is retired after working for 37 years in the U.S. Forest Service Administration. He said the 1960s were a pivotal time for the environment, because prior to then there was almost unchecked logging, mining, and so on. But with the Winderness Act, the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policies Act… things started to change. Aldrich added that his own desire to help the environment came from his father, who was a staunch environmentalist long before it was cool to be an environmentalist.
7/23/05
We stopped in Kalispell, Montana where we interviewed Tierney Chabot and her mom Therese. Therese got Tierney, now 22, involved with Regnum Christi — an arm of the Catholic Church that takes faith very seriously. Tierney has been involved with young girl “Challenge Clubs.” These are peer support groups where girls and young women meet regularly to discuss things like “virtues” and how they are trying to live those out in the world. One popular Regnum Christi event for young women is a: Modesty Fashion Show. In a “tidal wave” of sin behavior in our current culture, Tierney said Regnum Christi girls: “rock to a different beat…” After the interview, I was interviewed by Kalispell’s Channel 18 News. I said to the reporter that part of our “common sense” platform involves environmental issues. That is, farmers are currently pumping all kinds of chemicals (herbacides, pesticides, fertilizers…) into the plants and soil — and then we are ingesting the chemicals, and getting cancer. “Common sense,” I said, “is that we: stop using things that cause cancer.” Read: organic farming. The reporter nodded.