We are in Rome, Georgia, on the next campaign stop. I was interviewed by WGAR radio yesterday. And the following is a blog entry my wife wrote last night: “I am conscious today of the privilege in which we live, Not the privilege of the wealthy who can buy a new Cadillac vs an old Dodge Dart. But rather, the privilege of the ‘secure.’ All over the world as I write this, there are people who suffer the anguish of insecurity. A mother in Iraq who has lost the security of a husband and a home — to the bombing. A woman in Africa who lost her security when her son was taken by para-military troops who are training him to kill. She awaits anxiously the next attack where she will likely be raped, even killed. A boy in Asia became aware of the loss of his innocence, and childhood security, when he witnessed a neighbor boy being sold into slavery to provide the next month’s food for the rest of the family. Will he be next? Over and over again, the security of childhood, personhood and livelihood is being lost in so many countries; while we in America, Canada, Europe… are quite secure by comparison. Doesn’t justice cry for a response? A response that changes things? Cleveland’s Joe Mueller responded by going to Iraq unarmed as part of Christian Peacekeeper Team. Bluffton, Ohio’s Matt Meyer went to Belize on a mission trip to work among the poor. We moved to the turbulent inner city of Cleveland to work with the homeless. Isn’t it time in America for all of us to ask ourselves where we can risk our ‘security’ in an effort to build real peace and justice for those less secure.” –Liz
2/10/07
We are in motion on our 20th tour leg for Campaign 2008… A few hours out of Cleveland, we stopped in Jeffersonville, Ohio, where I said to a man wearing a Brown’s hat that when we got to D.C. one of the first things we were going to do is have the Capital Dome painted orange and brown (Brown’s colors), “then have a big face mask put around it.” Not necessarily concerned about ‘partisan football,’ he said he was more concerned about: partisan politics. And what he’d really like to see in D.C. is a lot more cooperation ‘across the isles.’ Note: Driving into Nashville on Rte. 65, we found ourselves in a sea of vehicles rushing along, merging, exiting… An apt metaphor for our current society (materialism, technology…) speeding along these days at the same almost unchecked pace. To subscribe to the Catholic Worker philosophy is to slow down considerably, cut back considerably, and pay attention to the rhythms of the family, the rhythms of our neighbors, the rhythms of the earth. And in that, the American family would heal, communities would solidify and global warming would reverse. It’s simple on paper…
2/1/07
For the past month I’ve been working with Prescott Valley, Arizona’s Pablo Sanchez (web designer) to update our 2005 and 2006 Tour Maps. Each map shows a particular tour leg and includes a corresponding series of campaign vignettes. For the past two years, we have done 20 tour legs spanning some 25,000 miles for this election cycle. This on the heels of traveling some 60,000 miles for Campaigns 2000 and 2004. Note: Mr. Sanchez is also the founder of “Pro-Life Joe’s,” which is an international forum and information center for post abortion fathers, and reaches out to all those who share in the experience of abortion. They are: “pro-life, pro women and we regret our lost fatherhood.”
1/23/07
We have just finished our position paper on the Iraq War.
1/16/07
I was just interviewed by the Politics One blogspot. (Scroll to the Tuesday, Jan. 16 entry.) –Joe
1/13/07
All eyes have been on Denver because of the harsh weather this winter. “Cold hardly describes the temperatures these days (in Denver),” writes Robbie Goldman. We met with Goldman several years ago during a campaign swing through Denver. He is involved with the urban ministry Dry Bones, which works with homeless street kids. Kids living in sewers to stay warm, kids living in old, abandoned box cars to stay out of police sight, kids living in cold, back alleyways… Goldman gave us a tour of those haunts and introduced us to street kids throughout the city. It was summer. It’s not now. Those kids need help. Dry Bones needs help to help them. For an excellent look at a group working in the trenches for God, go to the Dry Bones website and watch their video.
1/8/07
I was interviewed on the Gene Chapman Podcast Radio Hour Saturday night. Mr. Chapman is running for president as an independent candidate. And his campaign manager, Doug Kenline, also participated in the show. Both have strong Libertarian bents. That is, they want to see way less government control when it comes to things like taxation of personal property and income. They construe this as “slavery” to the government and they talked about their positions with passion. While I concurred that some tax money may be squandered, I believe given the right paradigm and the right society make-up (a predominately benevolent one) taxation is a good thing if it is really used to help the environment, really used to help the poor, really used to help prisoners. (It is also my belief the church should be significantly helping in all of these areas as well.) Prior to the show, Mr Kenline suggested I view the new documentary Freedom to Facism. I did. It is quite telling (especially the last half hour) in regard to the accelerating evolution toward a U.S. National ID Card, probably soon followed by bio-chip implants to track citizens, monitor purchasing patterns, and so on. Freedom to Facism can be watched for free at… Note: To listen to the podcast interview I did with Mr. Chapman…
1/4/07
I’ve just been approached by the Green Party in Virginia to participate in a series of Independent Presidential Candidate Debates they are setting up at colleges throughout that state… This past week, I’ve also been finishing up our position paper on terrorism. And I make a point in the paper that responding to terrorism is not just about shoring up Homeland Security, but it is also about looking at the systemic roots of terrorism. Note: I told ABC News in Dayton that if a kid grows up in a dead end poverty situation in LA, Chicago, Cleveland… they are apt to join: a gang. If a kid grows up in a dead end poverty situation in Baghdad, Tehran, Calcutta… they are apt to join: a terrorist cell.
12/29/06
For the last week, I’ve been painting the interior of an office complex up the street that is being readied for a Cleveland, non-profit refugee service. The building was constructed in the late 1800s and just exudes character. The woodwork and cabinetry is solid (and I mean solid) wood, inlaid with intricate designs. It reflects an era when things were done at a slower, more considered pace and the work was meant to last, indefinitely. Now buildings are often slapped together with much less solid, prefabricated material that has a planned obsolescence (like car parts). We’re going at the wrong speed in America these days, too fast. Note: I told the Crescent News in Defiance, Ohio that, in many respects, it would be a step forward in this country — to go back.
12/27/06
Just prior to Christmas, my family and I participated in the annual, Catholic Worker: ‘Social Justice Bowl Game.’ My team, among others, included my wife Liz, who is from New Zealand and only knows rugby. And Marie, a Catholic Worker volunteer who is here for a year from Germany. Marie only knows soccer. In the first huddle, I directed Liz and Marie to both split left and go out for a pass. In unison they asked: “What’s a pass?” …In the Social Justice Bowl, everyone — in rotating fashion — gets a chance to try each position. Each peson gets a chance to run, throw or catch the ball at some point in the game, no matter how small, how slow (that would be me), how non-athletic… We played for almost two hours, with everyone giving it their all as they dove across the wet grass to make a catch, sprinted to beat a linebacker to the corner on a sweep, went all out to chase down someone who had broken free on a kick-off return… ESPN, however, didn’t carry the final score because, well, there was no final score. In this bowl game it’s truly not whether a team wins or loses in a traditional sense — it’s how they played the game. Note: In our campaign travels through Illinois several years ago, we came across an Amish ‘Field of Dreams’ with an ethos that was very similar to the Social Justice Bowl.