Vote for Joe

Border Patrol car, circa 1930’s

Catching up on the summer… In late May, I had a house painting mishap, falling off a ladder from pretty high up. I broke my right wrist pretty badly, had surgery, and they put a plate in. I’ve been a bit hamstrung as a result, especially since I’m right-handed. But I soldiered on with a bit of newspaper reporting. Including writing a story about a local man who has this 1935 classic car, which was also the first car model used for U.S. Border Patrol. (Previously, they had just used horses.) While the car is cool enough, the border patrol thing is mixed for me, and our campaign. Especially now. The immigration policy currently in place, with the border virtually closed, and illegal immigrants being sent back, en masse, is unconscionable, if not plain evil. We did three Southern Border Tours, including meeting with a good number of illegal immigrants, who, for the most part, had come here, often with their families, to escape extreme cartel violence, abject poverty, political persecution… From these interviews, and much more, we crafted a Hispanic Immigration policy, which we think is much more in line with the gospel message, and just sound human decency.

“Moon” terrarium

I recently interviewed a woman at the local plant store who bills herself as a “plant artist.” She’s a retired college professor who took this up in retirement. And she had recently put this piece on display at the plant store, calling it “Moonscape.” Coincidentally, the Artimus moon mission had just recently returned. I have gone on record, often, during the campaigning, saying that as president, we would get no closer to the moon than looking at it through a telescope, or looking at it through, well, this moonscape terrarium glass. LOL (Lots Of Lunar). The money spent on these NASA moon missions, and beyond, would be much better spent funding projects to help the poor, to help the environment, etc., on this planet. Besides, if God, say, wanted us on the moon, he would have provided oxygen, a lot more gravity, and soil to grow plants, etc. Common sense… I also interviewed a local couple who have, a number of times, taken in exchange students from all over the world. Most recently, they were hosting students from Japan. They said they believed the way to bring the people of the world closer together, is to, literally, bring them closer together, proximity wise. Our “U.S. Department of Peace” paradigm is filled with initiatives to bring the world at large, and withing our country as well, closer together. *See…

Wheelhouse building

Catching up on the last two weeks… I did some reporting on a Christian Bicycle Cooperative called the “Wheelhouse.” (*See photo.) A group of volunteers solicit bicycles from all over the area, fix them up, and then donate them to people just getting back on their feet. For instance, people just getting out of prison, or people who are in alcoholism and drug rehab and have temporarily lost their driver’s license, and so on. Since 2017, The Wheelhouse has given away a phenomenal 1,600 bicycles — and counting… During this time, I also did a “Joe the Painter” wood staining of kitchen cabinetry job, to keep my populist image up, and to pay for stuff. Wink… I also attended a talk on the environment by a representative from the Anabaptist Climate Cooperative. He said that currently the environment was on the ropes in a number of different ways, whether vanishing bird and animal species; or clear-cutting forests; or developments encroaching on marshland areas, etc. Our position paper on the environment would line up with his paradigm in a good number of ways. The environment is, indeed, on the ropes, whether we want to admit it or not. *Note: With the weather breaking here, I’ve had a chance to take more regular bicycle rides (I ride in the winter as well, but not as much). Joe the Bicyclist (*see bicycle book at the bottom of the page on the Joe the Bicyclist link). The town I live in, Bluffton, Ohio, has been ranked as the “2nd Most Bicycle Friendly Town in Ohio.”

photo by Joe

Catching up on the last couple weeks… I attended a talk by a local TV meteorologist. While describing a plethora of weather phenomenon, and such, he said that, while he wasn’t sure to what degree, he believes climate change is real and affecting current weather patterns. Our administration would concur. What’s more, our administration would try to inspire a significant conservation mindset in regard to energy use. And our strategy is laid out in our Energy position paper, *see… I also interviewed a retired local highway patrolman. He said that every time that he approached a vehicle he’d stopped, there was always that concern that “…this could be the time.” The ‘time’ his life would be in danger. And while he had several perilous situations, in between high-speed chases, etc., he said that as he approached one car, he could see a gun on the lap of the driver over the man’s shoulder. As the man reached for it, this patrolman drew his gun and punched the driver in the side of the head with the gun handle. He then got the gun away from the man, who, it turns out, was wanted for attempted murder in another state. These officers, whether out on the highways, or in our cities, or in our small towns, put their life at risk every day. And our administration would support law enforcement at virtually every turn. For more on how we would do that, as well as how we would creatively approach crime in our society, *see… During this time, I also did an office painting job, in order to keep up my populace image, lol, and to continue to put food on the table. For a better look at some of my work in this area, *see… And in the evenings, I read a series of National Geographic articles in regard to healthy forest management, and so on. I’m continually trying to learn more for each of our positions. And, as mentioned earlier, I believe global warming is a real issue, and trees are a tremendously critical “carbon sink.” For more about our position on the Environment, *see…

National Geographic photo

Just finished reading about combat at the highest elevation in the world. According to a National Geographic article, after World War II, when the British relinquished control of the Indian subcontinent, they hastily decided to divide the region into two states, based on the dominant religions, Inda for Hindus and Pakistan for Muslims. A cease fire line was drawn through the middle of Kashmir to delineate this. Since then, there has been disputes over the line, including 40 miles that was left out of the drawing of the line by mistake. India and Pakistan have set up outposts and bases along the line, and over the years, a number of soldiers have been killed during these high-altitude skirmishes. What seems senseless about this, at least in part, is these battles are around mountainous land with seemingly no productive value. Note: Ron Garan, a NASA astronaut who spent 178 days at the International Space Station, said, looking down, he saw the earth as “…a single, borderless, and fragile entity. He argued that humanity’s focus on national divisions is a “lie” that vanishes from space.