Vote for Joe

While the Democrats and Republicans were doing Zoom Conventions (sans the Trump/White House lawn thing), I was ‘zooming’ (sorry) around Ohio on yet more of my “Buckeye Blitz Tour.” This night I headed down the Old Lincoln Highway, stopping in Beaverdam, Cairo, Gomer and Elida. [My son Jonathan was actually playing a soccer game in Elida tonight, so, in an attempt to be ‘fiscally responsible,’ I combined trips — to save money.] It was a productive night. Jonathan’s team won, and I had some good stumping experiences. Stay tuned… Note: At one point in our campaigning over the years, we actually did a Joe Campaign Tour down Old Rte. 66. It was quite a ‘kick.’ (Sorry, again.)

I’ve been listening to the Democratic National Convention on and off the past few nights. I’ve also listened to a steady stream of media “analysts” (and I use that phraseology loosely) saying how Michelle Obama “…knocked it out of the park” with her talk; her husband, Barack, was charismatic with, as usual, exemplary oratory skills; Kamala Harris’s talk was not only “history making,” but a rallying cry for the party, and Joe Biden conveys a “deep sense of faith”… In who? Satan? These people are for the absolute wholesale slaughter of defenseless human beings in their mothers’ wombs. Just on this one point (and with the Democrats there are many more), it doesn’t get any more evil than this! Period. Note: There are some “Democrats for Life” in the party, but they, at this point, are an extremely small faction.

Just wrote a newspaper story about a local man who recently moved here from Portland, Oregon. He’s renting a place that, when he moved in, had about a third of an acre of well-manicured backyard lawn. Not anymore. He set to work putting in a good sized raised bed garden (heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin…) ; a wild flower garden, with milkweed plants for butterflies; he planted a couple pear trees; put in a couple grape vines; and for good measure, planted an oak tree sapling that will be providing a good deal of shade and a great wind break — in about 25 years. And he’s doing it to help reverse the environmental devastation that often comes with your basic green lawns. For instance, lawns receive the most toxic fertilizers and pesticides of any “crop” in America. This all destroys valuable top soil and leeches into the groundwater. Lawns are also the most irrigated crop in America, averaging getting 200 gallons of drinking water per person per day. And overall, we spend $40 billion a year just to keep our lawns green. Note: What this man in Bluffton is establishing in his backyard is what is referred to as a “permaculture,” which is, basically, an interdependent eco-system. (He also did keep part of the grass.) Our administration would turn the White House lawn into a highly productive permaculture and try to inspire the same throughout the country. For more on this, see…

Catching up on the last couple weeks… Late at night, I’m continuing to review the criteria, from state to state, to be an “official” write-in. Each state’s criteria is different and there is a jumble of protocol to meet (some difficult, some not so difficult)… During the days, I continue to write for two local newspapers — often about stories that tie into various parts of our platform, and so on. For instance, we’re staunch “religious liberty” supporters. And last week, I covered a ‘town square’ prayer vigil for a young girl who had been Life Flighted to a Toledo hospital the night before and was in critical condition. Christians from around the town gathered, prayed and read from the Bible. It was a heartening display of Christian solidarity. [The girl was an active youth group member at a local Assembly of God church.]… I wrote a column that expressed that defunding the police was “…left of ludicrous.” What we should be doing, I wrote, is ‘funding’ the police way more, in tandem with citizens stepping up way more with community initiatives to supplement local police work. In our travels, I researched citizen “Crime Alert” block programs, citizen Mediation programs to cut down on police work and court dockets, community “Crime Stopper” programs… I also researched an Indio, California CHIP (Citizens Helping Indio Police) program that had citizen volunteers driving about in squad cars handling minor things and calling in more significant things. This was helping cut down on police burn out, and helping make Indio safer in general. For more all this, see our position paper on crime… Also during this time, I wrote a story about a local Cars & Coffee (see photo) monthly gathering where classic cars sit side by side with, well, your more run of the mill local cars whose owners have, nonetheless, kept them up quite nicely as well. For instance, a classic 1957 Nash might be parked next to a 2007 Volvo. Our platform calls for Americans to value and maintain things much more, as opposed to the “planned obsolescence throw-away culture” that seems the predominant paradigm these days.

Catching up on the last 30 days… To keep my “populist” image going, and to put food on the table as well, I’ve been doing some house painting. My son Jonathan is working with me this summer. And when he’s not doing that, he’s practicing soccer. He’s a senior this year, was named 2nd Team All-State last year, and their team went to the State Championship Game. This year I’ve just got my fingers crossed there will be a season at all… I’m also continuing to do free lance writing for two local newspapers, with many of the articles tying into various aspects of the platform. For instance, I did a story on a small town local merchant who, during the shutdown, was on the verge of losing the business — as are many small business owners across the country. Our position revolves around downtown revitalization in these small communities and, over the years, we’ve researched a number of models to help affect a shift back to this. I also did a story focusing on a family here, and how they, in part, survived the Great Depression. A lot of resilience, a lot of thrift, and a lot of prayer. Note: It is also crunch time for ballot access, which, it looks like, will be “official write-in status” for me. (Unless there’s some kind of a miracle.) So late at night, I’ve been going over the criteria, filling out forms, and so on, so I can be an “official” write-in.