I just interviewed a former Ohio Northern University professor who advocates for a single-payer healthcare system in America. As just one example, of many, he said a majority of healthcare providers in America average between eight to 20 hours a week of office time just to take care of insurance forms, and such. A single-payer system, he argues, would eliminate a lot of this type of extraneous paper/digital shuffling, if you will. While we were on the road several years ago, I interviewed Dr. Rudolph Mueller (the author of the book pictured here). He, too, advocates for a single payer system. A line from his book: “The [single-payer system] must be publicly accountable, publicly financed, locally administered, and provide quality accessible care for everyone.” Our healthcare position advocates for the essence of this, but we think that instead of being administered from D.C., it should be decentralized from county to county throughout the country. This is much more, what’s called a “distributist” orientation.
I just wrote a newspaper column titled: …growing “green concrete.” During a stop in Oklahoma City a number of years ago, I met with a man who had turned his quarter-acre lawn in that city into a “permaculture,” with numerous vegetable plants, berry bushes, fruit trees… Robert Waldrop said that all growing green grass was good for is “raising sheep” (unless, of course, you have younger kids who need to play in at least part of the yard). On the front end, Americans waste some $40 billion a year keeping their yards green (toxic fertilizers, weed killers…). Money that could be spent on developing country sustainable agriculture projects. What’s more, if we grew a lot more of our own food at our own homes, this, too, would be substantial savings — that could also go toward all sorts of ending world hunger projects. There, indeed, would be enough food to feed the world, if we in the First World realigned our lifestyles to do just that. Note: At the end of time, we’ll ask: “But Lord, when did we see you hungry?”
The ‘mercury’ reads that the temperature is right for another run. [And I continue to do this all without paid political consultants. LOL.] Anyway… I just officially declared today for yet another U.S. presidential run, my 7th. Stay tuned.
Okay, barring any “…bottom of the ninth” miracles,” at noon today, or thereabouts, that will be it for me for Campaign 2020. That’s right, I hadn’t conceded yet either. I’ve always been of the ilk: “With God, all things are possible.” I mean, it’s even Ohio’s motto — which is where I’m typing this from. As my last “official” act of Campaign 2020, I just sent a pro-life column to my editor that I was up late last night writing. Why I continue to contend that this is important, in fact the preeminent issue of our country, is simply that, while many have almost become numb to abortion, we continue to live amidst a modern day Holocaust unparalleled in the history of mankind! And this, most assuredly, is not lost on God. What’s more, my campaign, by far, had/has the best formula for ending abortion. Instead, the person being sworn in at noon, has a formula for making abortion as sweeping, and wholesale, as anyone can imagine. And the spiritual consequences for our nation, not to mention for each of our eternal souls, loom ominously. That simple. Biden’s mantra was that this election was “…for the soul of our nation.” He, indeed, is right. But, tragically, it’s not in the context he’s thinking. In fact, he’s 180 degrees off. Note: I want to thank a special supporter of the campaign(s), California’s Joe Moreaux, for the countless hours he’s put into the effort. It will not go unrewarded, even if there won’t be a front row seat to the Inauguration — this time. “God bless you Joe.” And I also want to thank Elizabeth Wood for her ongoing support all these years. Elizabeth, you have been an absolute blessing!
Catching up on the last few weeks… During an Ada Village Council meeting I covered recently, it was noted that Ada was just listed as the “79th safest town in America” by an organization called “Safe-wise,” which tracks centralized crime and safety trends. This is in no small part because of the village’s “SAFER” program, which is an amalgam of law enforcement, business community members, general citizens… who all team up, through regular meetings, seminars, and so on, with a focus on promoting a form of “Community Oriented Policing,” if you will. For more on our position on crime, see… During that same council meeting it was noted that Ada would operating on a $6.9 million budget in 2021, and what’s more, the mayor noted that the village continued to operate “…in the black.” Now if the federal government could just figure this out. We have, and for more on our position on this, see… In the same newspaper edition, there was a column I wrote about the national debt, which now stands at $27 trillion. Incidentally, one trillion is $1 million dollars multiplied by a million. (Wrap your head around that!) Our platform: Tighten our belts, raise taxes… AND PAY IT OFF! So we don’t kick the can down the road to our kids… And speaking of our kids inheriting stuff: I also wrote a column about global warming and how it relates to Antarctica. That is, as with every place else on the globe, it’s warming down there, according to more and more news reports. The reason its warming, if global warming theorists are right, is because we’re burning too much fossil fuels. Ironically, with the thawing in Antarctica, this is making drilling for fossil fuels more conducive. When you put CO2 and CO2 together, you get: NUTS! Our administration would not push for drilling down there. We’d push for energy sacrifice across the board for the American people, while ramping up, exponentially, renewable energy. This would include, among a good number of things, asking Americans to “…live more simply” in regard to their purchase of items, etc. We forget, it takes the burning of fossil fuels to make most of these items. What’s more, our society should go to great lengths to move from a throw-away society, to one that focuses on maintaining and conserving items to the 9th degree. Another article that I wrote during this time, is about a rather elaborate thrift store in Bluffton with 100 volunteers who spend all kinds of time repurposing items that have been donated. And if some are beyond repurposing, they go to great lengths each month, to get those items to a recycling center in the county… For more on our energy position, see
I attended the ‘Covid-outdoor’ Community Christmas Service here in Bluffton Christmas Eve. (It was 20 degrees, and actually a bit colder with the wind chill.) It featured candles, candy canes, Christmas carols, and, well, I’m running out of words that begin with c. It was tremendously moving and focused on: What’s really at the center of this whole Christmas thing. English Lutheran’s “Pastor Kevin,” during a brief talk, said that the spiritual reality is that Christ is the ultimate “…vaccine that leads us to eternal life.” And his wife Debbie, during the “Children’s Time,” said the candy cane is the perfect Christmas witness symbol. That is, upright it looks like a shepherd’s staff. Turned the other way, it looks like the letter J (Jesus, Joy…). What’s more, she said that by Christ’s (red) blood, we are washed white.
I just wrote a newspaper column about the Antarctica Treaty. It was the first treaty of the Cold War. It was initially signed by 12 nations, including the U.S. There are now 54 nation signatories, and counting. The treaty specifies no nation, at this point, can “own” any part of Antarctica. But the nations can set up research station to do environmentally, non-invasive research. And part of this research, at this point, is how global warming is effecting Antarctica. (Read: thawing, with an exponent.) But some, unbelievably, see this as a good thing because it makes the region more accessible to drilling for fossil fuels and the like — when nations start jockeying for ownership. I note in the column that when you put CO2 and CO2 together, you get: idiocy. Burning fossil fuels is accelerating rising sea levels, massive forest fires, super charged hurricanes and typhoons, drought and famine in more arid countries, thawing in the polar regions… The latter being ‘the canary, or rather the penguin, in the coal mine.’ We would do well, and our administration would push for this, to leave Antarctica what it currently is: the world’s largest nature preserve. And we would do well, concurrently, to start sacrificing much more when it comes to cutting back on energy use, while ramping up alternative energy sources. That is, if we’re interested in being good environmental stewards — the way God might see it.
Mexico. The last two years have been the bloodiest to date there. A lot of it is attributable to turf wars between drug cartels. In the ultimate Catch 22, President Andres Manuel Lopez recently created a new National Guard with some 70,000 troops to combat this. But with pressure from the Trump Administration, many of these troops have been diverted to deal with immigration enforcement issues. Here’s the rub… It’s America’s demand for illegal drugs on “…this side of the border,” that is largely fueling the creation of these drug cartels that, by extension, are also creating mayhem south of the border. To come at this systemically, and with common sense, our administration would ramp up drug prevention and rehabilitation programs in America by a factor of 10. And concurrently, we would also ramp up, exponentially, U.S. DEA intelligence to Mexico to help rein in the current cartel activity. It’s time to own our responsibility for this in regard to creating the demand for the drugs. That simple. Note: On a campaign stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico, I interviewed a sheriff who is in on some of the big drug shipment busts at border crossings there. But he said he’s also helped start a local D.A.R.E. Program, to help prevent drug use among the youth — because he realizes what I wrote about earlier in this post. *For a look at what needs to happen multi-dimensionally to tremendously cut down on illegal drug use and addiction in America, see…
I’ve just picked my local “Sports Person of the Year” for one of the area newspapers I write for. The boy is a senior at Ada High School, has a mild form of autism, and gets in games, occasionally, toward the end — if the team is winning, or losing, by a lot. He’s played football, basketball, and baseball since he was quite young. And even though he knows he’s not going to get in the games much, he, nonetheless, gives it 100% at practice. One of his coaches told me the boy is an “absolute joy” to be around, and consistently brings everyone’s moods up. The true character (Notre Dame University student) in the movie “Rudy” comes to mind. We could learn from these guys, well, more than we often do.
…from a local high school student’s display board on human trafficking
I am writing a newspaper article this week on human trafficking. It’s now a $150 billion industry world wide, and growing. Kids, and adults, are trafficked for sex, for cheap labor… Talking to a local Command Task Force Director, he said he worked on a case several years ago where a number of Chinese people, over time, were lured to a Chinese restaurant in southwestern Ohio (Mercer County) with the promise of a “fair wage.” However, when they got here, their documentation was taken away by the restaurant owner, they were forced to work 16 hours a day, sometimes more, for $50 a week. And they, some 40 of them, were put up in one home the restaurant owner also owned. The detective said that this, in essence, amounted to indentured servitude. This also goes on with child labor, a lot of times in Third World countries. As president, I’d robustly tackle this, to get as many kids, and adults, out of harm’s way as possible. It is such a tremendously nefarious web.
