Vote for Joe

’66 Catalina …photo by Joe

Catching up on the last month, or so… I did a newspaper article interview with a local man who has a 1966 Catalina classic car. His father was a classic car collector, and he grew up bonding with his dad over cars (as is often the case in America). I interspersed some ‘classic car quotes’ throughout the article. Example: “Sons grow into their father’s car legacy, one bolt at a time.” Note: Our campaign asks Americans to consider going back, in some regards, not necessarily to the 1960’s, but rather: the 1950’s. See… I also did some ‘foreign relations’ studying about Sudan, a country in tremendous turmoil right now. Civil war, looming famine… An article in National Geographic noted: Sudan has experienced a coup, a global pandemic, record setting floods, and a 2019 revolution. [It is also one of the poorest countries in the world.] Our administration’s foreign affairs policy would spin around trying to bring much more help to these kinds of countries. The gospel message demands nothing less. See… In another National Geographic Magazine story about Native American resurgence in the U.S., it was noted that an organization called, “Braiding the Sacred,” has a goal of bringing back Indigenous farms, and foods, across the country. The organization is currently working with more than a hundred farmers in a dozen Native American nations. Our administration would help subsidize these kinds of initiatives, as part of a tangible amends package to the Native Americans for past atrocities. See… I also conducted an interview with a woman from a nearby town, who has since gone to Nashville, where she is making it as a singer there. She said her life, for a time, was derailed with addictions to alcohol and OxyContin. However, she found Celebrate Recovery, a Christian 12-Step program, and she is doing quite well now. Our society, at this point, is saturated with addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, shopping, compulsive debting, workaholism, compulsive eating disorders…). I was an addictions counselor for the better part of a decade and have seen this first-hand — including how it is affecting society at large. To heal the country at its roots, this needs to be comprehensively addressed. See…

photo by Joe

Bluffton’s Annual Classic Car Show this June featured, well, all sorts of classic cars — like this Mustang. Part of our platform is to ask Americans to consider going back to a time in America when the pace of life was slower, neighbors knew neighbors (way more than they do now), and the streets, and schools, were once again safe for our kids. I once told Ohio Magazine that I used to “…be concerned about our kids doing okay in school, now I’m more concerned about them being shot to death in school.” For more on the sociological paradigm shift I’m proposing, *see… During this time, I also did an interview with a man who, in his retirement, regularly volunteers at a non-profit local thrift store (…the proceeds going to a Third World outreach), he is the football announcer in the booth at the high school football games, and he keeps the stats at the high school basketball games. It’s his way of helping to support the local kids. He is your quintessential man-about-town… And staying with local volunteers, I also interviewed a man who is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospherics’ Cooperative Weather Observation Program. He records the minimum daily temperature, daily rain totals, snow totals, frost depth, etc. Between him, and his son-in-law, who took over when his father-in-law died, they have done this, without missing a day: FOR 77 YEARS! Besides sending the data to NOA, the information, back in the day, was also published in local newspapers, broadcast on local radio shows, and so on. Another great example of the spirit of volunteering in this country. *See other blog entries that include inserts about volunteers we’ve encountered across the country, and so on.

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.”