Vote for Joe

Recap: Interviewed Dan Schwankl who is a Catholic Worker at the Silk Hope Community in Siler City, North Carolina. In an act of civil disobedience (with a good number of other protesters) several years ago, Schwankl ‘crossed the line’ at the “School of the Americas” in Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was sentenced to prison for six months. It is Schwankl’s belief, as it is the belief of many others, that South American soldiers trained here go back to their countries and engage in torture, and other clandestine military operations. “We must stand up and speak truth to this” even if it means jail, Schwankl told me… We then headed west to Statesville, North Carolina, where I interviewed Jeanine Marsilia who teaches “English as a Second Language” in the school system here. Ms. Marsilia told me there are many illegal immigrants from South America in Statesville, and the children particularly have a hard time learning because they are continually “hungry, or sick, or their teeth are hurting…” There is a “5th Street Ministry” in Statesville with an “Open Door Clinic” that includes a wing for dental. However, I learned only two dentists, out of 32 listed in the Statesville phone book, donate any time (and it’s quite minimal at that) to the Clinic. I told a reporter for the Statesville newspaper that that is a social justice disgrace… We then headed further west to Newport, Tennessee, where a mother of two teenagers (who asked not to be identified) said she was concerned about doctors who think nothing about prescribing pain killers, tranquilizers and other pills with addictive properities to youth — without fully informing a parent about the hazards of the drugs. She said she believes this, in fact, sometimes sets up addictions in youth, and there should be more comprehensive safe guards per: informing both the youth and parents. Note: We spent New Year’s Eve in Knoxville, Tennessee. After the kids went to sleep, Liz and I stayed up and counted down the minutes to the new year in the silence — watching our cell phone clock. Is that the zenith of excitement, or what? Wait until you see what we have planned for the Inaugaral Balls.

We headed into North Carolina, stopping in Lexington. There’s a candy store on the main street here that was doing a bustling last minute Christmas business. We strategically parked our RV (with all the signage) outside the store and passed out literature for awhile… Later we took the kids for a walk up town amidst a beautiful array of Christmas lights and — statues of three pigs singing Christmas carrols. Oddest sight. Later I learned Lexington is the “Barbecue Capital of North Carolina.” Well, of course.

Recap of the last few days on the trail: At Mass on Sunday, Fr. Ted Kossee at Queen of Angels Church in Peebles, Ohio, said he had the funeral of a young girl who had been killed in a car accident, when the car her mother was driving apperently slid on some ice and crashed into a Dodge Caravan… I am currently drafting a position paper on transportation in the U.S. I note that the Old Order Amish (Mennonites, Quakers…) refrain from driving, in part, because it’s a grave matter to cause someone’s death, they believe, no matter what the circumstance. The point being, anytime we get in an automobile, we know there is a heightenned chance we might kill someone. Several years ago, I interviewed a man who has a driving school in central Ohio. He told me statistics show someone is killed every 13 minutes on U.S. roads. That translates into a little more than 95 traffic deaths a day, or the equivalent of a “half full jetliner.” He added if a half full jetliner went down everyday in America, there would be a major outcry — and flying might be a thing of the past. But in our ‘auto-addicted’ society, we simply look past these tragic deaths (like this little girl in Adams County), and go on: ‘injecting the miles.’ Isn’t it about time we move out of denial about our driving habits in America, and face the reality of what we’ve created?… And speaking of deaths, during an informal round table with some community members from Presentation Ministries in Peebles, Ohio, Bob Olsen told me about his efforts to save unborn babies over the years. Olsen used to live in Houghton, Michigan (in the Upper Peninsula). He said in Houghton there was a storefront clinic that referred women to abortion doctors. Olsen said he and a group of church members would protest in front of the downtown clinic every week for two years. Because of the protests, merchants also exerted pressure on the clinic to close as well. And it did… In Bluefield, West Virginia today I was interviewed by a local columnist. I said that on the way here along the Ohio River, we saw a lot of barges filled with coal. (Coal minig is big in West Virginia.) I said as president I would stridently work toward a shift from burning fossil fuels like coal (that causes acid rain, global warming…) toward much more clean, renewable energy from solar and wind sources. Well, few have accused me of pandering. Note: the Bluefield Public Library marquee reads: “Deck the Halls with Books and Holly.” Is that how it goes?

We are in motion for the next of our Campaign 2008 tours. To date, we have traveled some 11,000 miles campaigning for this election cycle. This tour will take us through 22 states (and even more potty stops).

Met with Ian Heisey who is involved with Cleveland’s Community Development Corporation project. Cleveland has 21 CDC programs throughout the city, all with a focus on improving the quality of life within the neighborhoods. Heisey is involved with the CDC program in Ohio City neighborhood here. The CDCs focus on safety issues, affordable housing, education, employment assistance… Heisey said his CDC project is the only one in Cleveland that also has a “Mediation Program.” Heisey, who helps coordinate this project, said neighbors sometimes develop friction with other neighbors over such things as persistent loud music, troublesome dogs, and the like. And instead of getting the police involved, the court involved… some neighbors in Ohio City opt for voluntary “conflict resolution,” which is facilitated by Heisey’s office. Note: Our administration would promote a U.S. Dept. of Peace, and a component would include similar Mediation Projects in communities across the country. The process gives people more tools in conlict resolution, which can carry over into family disputes, friendship disputes, and the like. So often relationships are destroyed simply because people don’t have the knowledge of how to do healthy conflict resolution.