Vote for Joe

We have traveled to Napolean, Ohio where I interviewed two representatives of the American Foundry Society (AFS). Glenn Nelson represented AFS in D.C. last year by lobbying about a variety of issues, including the increasing outsourcing of foundry jobs in America. “Our industrial base (in the U.S.) is diminishing considerably,” he said. And there is not much of a dedication to “buy American” these days among U.S. consumers either, he added… I was then interviewed by Napolean’s News Signal newspaper. I told editor Brian Koeller that we should look at the higher gas prices, not as a “crisis,” but rather as an: “opportunity.” An opportunity to learn to conserve, while moving to more alternative (and cleaner) modes of transportation. I then talked about the hybrid bus we had researched at Bowling Green State University the day before… We then headed to Wauseon, Ohio where I talked with Steve Short about trade. Short is not an economist, but rather an average citizen — with some common sense — who has been simply thinking about trade issues for quite some time. He said in order to even the playing field internationally: To trade with countries like, say, China, the stipulation should be that workers there (in a specific field) get the same kind of ‘living wage’ (working conditions, benefits…) that American workers in the same field here get. In addition, Short said he believed that country should also adhere to the same environmental protection standards for industry that we do here… I was then interviewed by Fulton County’s The Expositor newspaper. Reporter Steve Colan asked me if there was anything different about this campaign, than the previous two. I said the main thing is that “we’ve learned even more things.” Then I talked about the Bowling Green State University hybrid bus, as an example. Note: Colan pointed out that many indicators would point toward us losing the election again. (It wasn’t clear which polls he was referring to, but nevertheless…) I said in response that if a town picks up on the hybrid bus idea and the air is a little cleaner for my children, or his, to breath: “We win.” I also said that, by the way… we are trying to win the whole thing as well.

We’ve headed back into Northwest Ohio where we stumped in downtown Port Clinton and then we were interviewed by the News Herald there. Reporter Kristina Smith asked my wife (and ‘almost First Lady’) Liz about the long road we’ve been on (three elections, 75,000 miles to date). Liz responded that: “We live in a culture of instant gratification. This (the campaign) is long term. It is a real commitment.” During the interview, I said America should be stridently exploring alternative energy sources. [However, one alternative energy source I am adamantly opposed to is: nuclear power.] This evening we took our children to a small beach on Lake Erie, in Port Clinton. As they walked the shore line looking for driftwood and shells, off in the distance — in what could be best described as an: eerie back drop — the Davis Bessee Nuclear Power Plant’s steam rose into the dreary, gray twilight sky. Just a couple years prior, (in what received much national coverage) a part of the Davis Bessee reactor had corroded to an alarming, razor thin thickness — before it was discovered. This technology, based on the research we’ve done, is way too dangerous. And in our quest for “immediate gratification (in the case of nuclear power: abundant energy now),” to quote Liz, we are putting children in this generation, and those in future generations, at tremendous risk. Note: Earlier in the day, we stopped at the Coffee Express in Port Clinton. T-shirts on the employees of the coffee house all read: “Life is short… Stay awake for it!” Let’s all stay awake for this nuclear thing as well.

I was interviewed on a morning talk show with WFOB Radio in Fostoria, Ohio. I was asked what I would do to help turn voter apathy around. (One of the hosts explained that during the last Election, their particular county had an anemic 31% voter turn out.) I said when we were in Pennsylvania campaigning a couple years back, I inteviewed a member of the Constitution Party who said he believes politics, at the very least, should be the “hobby of every American.” [He had explained he’d read where a former U.S. president — I forget which one — had said that.] If, indeed, politics was a “hobby” for most, you’d see much more participation — both at the voting booth, and in the political process in general… Note: At the station breaks, the hosts would take turns reading the forcasts for the day, and evening. It would go something like: “Forecast for today: Sunny and mild with temperatures in the mid 60s. Forecast for tonight: Cool and clear with lows in the upper 40s,” and so on… I asked if I could read the evening forecast at one of the breaks, and the hosts said sure. When it got to me, I said: “Forecast for tonight: (dramatic pause) Dark.” They laughed… I was also interviewed over the phone later this morning by a radio station in Marion, Ohio. I mentioned, as I do often, that in the Third World 24,000 people starve to death every day, according to U.N figures. And what’s more, I said many in the U.S. have become “food terrorists.” That is, studies show some 27% of our food is thrown away and we spend countless millions (maybe billions) overeating, or on non-nutritional junk food — (read: we’re hoarding, or wasting, food supplies and monetary resources: while little children starve. I explained, rather emphatically, that all this savings on wasted food, and such, would be much better spent on humanitarian aid agencies to many of these Third World countries.

A priest at St. Mary’s Church in Tiffin, Ohio this morning told me he believed people in the Pro-Life Movement should have a fund earmaarked for offering women in crisis pregancy substantial amounts of money (“Like $20,000,” he said.) — to keep their babies… We then drove to Fostoria, Ohio where I was inteviewed by reporter Tim Soster of the Review Times. Our Sarah, 9, and Joseph, 8, sat in on the interview. At one point, I said the children were participating in a “great social experiment.” That is, they were being raised without television because it is currently too corrosive and can lead to “brain atrophy.” I said story telling and reading excercises the mind because the listener or reader (Sarah has read 50 books this summer) has to picture characters, envision plot development, and so on. The kids then jumped in and told Mr. Soster about one of the more current stories (or rather: “tales”) I told them around a campfire in Peebles, Ohio. It was the story of the little purple people from “Planet Zig.” Mr. Soster, playing along (I think), said he’d actually heard of these aliens. [Don’t think I’m not going to try to get to the bottom of this UFO thing when I get into Office — not to mention immediately opening “Area 51” to the public.]… On a more sober note, I told Mr. Soster that I’d just read this morning that there are still some 68,000 people from New Orleans in shelters. I said this was a: “national disgrace.” That is, it’s hard for me to understand how, say, many more churches in the U.S. didn’t offer to take in at least one family (or individual). That is, one church member could provide space in their home, others could provide clothing, food, camaraderie in the form of social outings, funds to start over… Yeah, we’re providing money… but if 68,000 people are still in shelters. I mean, c’mmon… After the interview, we went to Bascom, Ohio where I played tag with the kids on some most refreshingly unusual playground equipment. Developed in part by the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s “Recycling and Litter Prevention” Division, this playground was made all of recycled material. The steel posts represented: 3 cars, or 64,000 soup cans. The wood chips were from power line trimming. The plastic benches were made with 446 milk cartons. Note: At a recent environmental seminar on energy, speaker Pat Murphy said we must become a society of “conservers,” rather than the current dominant paradigm of being, primarily: “consumers.” And this playground is a good example a shift in this area. Note 2: Meadowbrook Park manager David Hossler pointed to a rather expansive, white wooden building here and told me it was a dance hall dating back to the “Big Band Era” of the 1930s. Earlier in the day, I had told the reporter in Fostoria that ours was a “Retro Campaign.” That is, we’d like to see the country go back to a time like this when there was less crime on the streets, less pollution in the air, less drugs in peoples’ systems, and there was a much slower, saner pace to life… “To go back, I believe, would be to go forward in this case,” I said.

In Marion, Ohio today we did a whistle-stop event in the downtown area. Holding a banner that reads: “Average Joe” for President — imagine that!, we waved to passing motorists and passed out flyers to people on the street. One man said he was suprised at the New Orleans response time given how fast, say, the world responded the Indian Ocean tsunami… We then headed up back road Rte. 231. We stopped in tiny Wyandot, Ohio to pass out flyers to people in their yards there, then headed on to Sycamore, Ohio. While updating this journal in the library there, a group of youth approached and asked for autographs (A front page story about the campaign had run in the local newspaper today)… Then this evening I was invited to a Volunteer EMT Squad meeting at Sycamore’s Fire Department building. For the better part of an hour, squad members got quite animated as they talked about their opinions about a variety of issues. One woman, for instance, said she believed there was too much study pressure on youth in school today. She said it was her opionion this was leading to things like: more youth depression, even suicide. I explained part of our educational platform called for an easing of competition in the schools, and much more student volunteer work out in the community (as is starting to be generated by the relatively new school “Service Learning Projects”). I added that I wanted our children learning as much about helping others, as they do learning about math, science, English… Note: Earlier in the day, we had stopped back in Nevada, Ohio (pop. 800). There I met Bill Morgan, who was the former (and only ever) “Village Marshall” in Nevada. Hired by the village council, he was an officer for 20 hours a week, and for the other 20 hours he was the entire Maintenance Dept. That is, when he wasn’t patroling, he was plowing. During the winter he plowed snow. In the summer he patched streets,mowed cemeteries, the park, and so on. “Bill is the last of his kind, a real ‘Andy of Mayberry,”‘ Seneca County Sheriff’s Sergeant Scott Lantz told me. Sgt. Lantz said in his 22 years on the job in Nevada, Marshall Morgan only wrote: three tickets! Sgt. Lantz explained Marshall Morgan’s continual presence in the community was enough to quell crime considerably. And even though the marshall didn’t write a lot of tickets, he gave a lot of sort of informal (yet stern) warnings. Sgt. Lantz said as a youth growing up in Nevada, he once ran a stop sign just before getting to his home. Recounting the story with a smile, Sgt. Lantz said he’d already walked into his home and through a couple rooms when Marshall Morgan opened the front door and marched right in behind him. “They put those stops signs up for a reason!” The marshall scolded. No ticket was needed, the scolding apparently left enough of an impression. [This represents small town Community Oriented Policing at it’s finest, and we believe it shouldn’t be ‘a thing of the past.’]