Catching up on the end of the tour… The “Georgia On My Mind Tour” (original, huh) included stops in Thomasville, Albany, Columbus, and Ft. Oglethorpe. During one of the TV news interviews, our young son Jonathan told the reporter he might get a little bored with living at the White House. “I mean, all you’d pretty much see is just white,” he said, somewhat seriously. The reporter smiled. So did we… In Albany, Georgia, we met with the staff at the Bread Basket Bakery. This is a bakery with a purpose. The proceeds from the bakery fund a rather nice halfway house for recovering women in Albany… In Ft. Oglethorpe, we attended one of their monthly “Cruise-ins.” Old fashion cars are parked up and down the main street here and speakers on telephone poles blast out such tunes as Rockn’ Robin; the them from Happy Days; Mustang Sally… I knew the lyrics to the latter and started hamming it up by singing along — much to our teenagers’ chagrins. We then interviewed Max Stoker for a You Tube video on his 1954 Champion Studebaker. It was quite a car… Following this we drove through Tennessee north into Kentucky. On the last night of the tour, we stopped at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg. It was quite a night. Our kids got in a pick-up basketball game with some college students in this “old school” type, intrarmural gym. Watching the sunset over the mountains through some arched gym windows, with our kids playing a spirited basketball game on an old wooden floor in the foreground, was, well, something like a Norman Rockwell scene, in motion. We have had so many of those types of scenes, so many small town wholesome moments, in the traveling over the years. And Liz and I, as parents, have been tremendously blessed with it all. Note: The next morning on the way back to Ohio, we stopped in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, where we decided to ‘wet our whistles’ (sorry) with, of all things, Java Jo’s coffee. I passed out some campaign cards there and one of the workers, Robin Bowers, said she had two daughters — in the Marines. She said while she was on board with military cuts that were about blatant waste, she didn’t want to see any cuts to things that would help her daughters on the battlefield — “…as they are protecting our lives.” Note 2: At 3:58 p.m. Monday, “the beaver” landed back in Bluffton, Ohio. We travel in a “vintage” (that is when it’s not acting up) 1978 Dodge Beaver Motorhome. As coincidence would have it, Bluffton University’s mascott? That’s right: “the beaver.”
Georgia; and… Joe; 8 degrees hotter; farming in the ’30s; 3 Crazy Bakers…
We started the Georia On My Mind Tour in Thomasville where our Jonathan got in a spirited “sandlot soccer game” at Remington Park over the weekend. We then did a downtown whistle-stop event. Three TV news crews filmed. One of the shows started out: “Now it’s Obama, Romney and… Joe.” I liked that. The front page of the Thomasville News-Enterprise ran a story the next day about the campaign. I noted that the day before an Associated Press article carried a story saying temperatures for March were a record shattering 8 degrees above normal, which many scientists attribute to: global warming. I said running as a “concerned parent,” I didn’t want to leave a world of climate chaos for our children. (What sane parent would?) We propose a dramatic shift to renewable energy now, with, well, the concept of “sacrifice” making up for any energy shortfall… We then headed north to Moultrie, Georgia, where I talked with author Sarah Senkbeil. She had just published the book Company’s Coming about farming in the 1930s in America. (She’s 83 years old.) One of the lines from her book reads: “I’m trying to figure out how we can do what we do on a round world?” Gravity is, indeed, a mystery… As far as our campaign, we propose going back to a small farm agrarian based society where we, once again, farmed much like they did in the 1930s (organically, with small technology, and much more at ‘nature’s pace.’)… In Moultrie, we also stumped on the downtown square where there is an “eternal flame” for all the local fallen service people; a majestic magnolia tree that was planted in 1845, and the Three Crazy Bakers Bakery nearby. We stopped in for coffee, and more stumping. One of the ‘crazy bakers’ was a woman from Australia who got in a lengthy discussion with my wife, who is from New Zealand. Needless to say, the accents were thick. Then it was on to Albany… Note: For a copy of Sarah Senkbeil’s book, call: 800-741-2712 Note 2: While there’s been a lot of media stories, our main form of campaigning has been handing out campaign cards and putting up fliers on bulletin boards. And we’re asking our supporters to do the same from town to town. It’s our answer to the Super PAC million dollar TV ads.
‘JoeCare;’ ’50s diner; Tallahassee stumping; bagel ball…
The campaign rolls on… We were interviewed by the newspaper at Appalachacolla, Florida. I told the editor that in Grand Junction, Colorado, we researched a two-story hospital (Marillac Hospital) staffed by volunteer doctors, volunteer nurses and other volunteer citizenry who do intake, janitorial, landscaping… Everything is on a minimal sliding fee scale here for people without healthcare insurance. What’s more, this would work in every county in the country — and is part of our ‘JoeCare’ platform… In Carrabelle, Florida, I went around the town putting up fliers on a multi-tude of bulletin boards (our answer to the Super PAC multi-million dollar TV ads). At a ’50s diner there, I circled the part of the flier that says we’d like to see the country go back to the ’50s in a lot of respects. (And we’re doing this all without paid political consultants. I just figured that would play well at the diner. Smart, huh.)… From Carrabelle, we headed north for a whistle-stop event in Tallahassee. After the event, we stopped at the Metro-deli where when you order a bagel, the guy taking the order literally throws it (fastball, curve ball, it’s pretty amazing) to the guy by the toaster. I told the guys that if I’m asked to ‘throw out the first bagel’ somewhere, I’d bring them in from the bullpen. Onward to Georgia, and the Georgia On My Mind Tour (Part III). We pride ourselves in originality.
oil addicts, Transition Towns…
The campaign rolls on… In the last week we appeared in the Northwest Signal Daily News, which is circulated throughout Northwest Florida. I was asked about offshore drilling in a newspaper office not far from the Gulf of Mexico. I said while the oil from the Deep Water Horizon spill (the worst accidental spill in U.S. history) was cleaned off the surface, it sill floats in the water columns below the surface and is entrained in the sediment on the bottom as well. And speaking of ‘bottoms,’ I said that we have become a nation of addicts when it comes to oil and the Deep Water Horizon catastrophy should have been analogous to an alcoholic/addict “hitting bottom.” (Well, I call ’em like I see ’em — no matter who the local populace is.) Note: There is a movement afoot called “Transition Towns.” It is comprised, in essence, of people in psuedo, self-help groups who are supporting each other in getting off the ‘oil habit’ to help a town ‘transition’ to alternative forms of energy use. I attended one of these meetings in Cleveland and heard people supporting each other in bicycling more, walking more, losing the air-conditioning, cutting the heat back… and doing all this, and a lot more, in a variety of creative ways.
spark plugs, tail lights, ABC News, smoking…
Catching up on the last couple weeks (blog was down)… We launched on our next tour, heading south in our 1978 motorhome. A couple spark plug wires shook loose around Cincinnati and we were cresting hills on I-75 at 40 mph, with everyone leaning forward… Then the tail lights went on the fritz, but the folks at Sechrest Automotive in Williamstown, KY, took care of that. I gave “Brad” there a campaign card. He said he’d get it blown up and make a yard sign out of it… That afternoon, we stopped at a YMCA just outside of Lexington, Kentucky. The local ABC News affiliate was doing some filming at an anti-smoking display they had set up here this day. I told the reporter I was running for president and had some views on smoking. He said great, and did an interview. (And we continute to do this all without an advance staff.) Among a number of things, I said I was onboard with the new Surgeon General allowance for graphic pictures (black lungs, people with emphysima…) that will be included on the sides of cigarette packs this year. Only 20% of people now smoke in this country because, in part, because of agressive advertising against it. Smoking leads to so many attendant health problems in this country, including a form of slow suicide. That is everytime someone lights up, it’s like putting a little tiny gun with a little tiny bullet in one’s mouth. Note: Our healthcare platform is heavy on prevention.
Consistent Life Ethic talk; Haysville, Ohio; Pennsylvania Turnpike stumping…
Catching up… This last week I gave a talk at the Consistent Life Ethic 25th Anniversary Conference just outside of D.C. I said that I saw abortion, global warming, world hunger, one billion people living in slums without clean water or adequate housing… all as “pro-life issues.” This was preaching to the choir here… I also did some campaigning on the way out to D.C. While Romney and Santorum were battling it out for all of Mississippi and Alabama, I focused on Haysville, Ohio (pop. 1,000). While in Haysville, I stumped with a guy named Rich on the street about the economy, then passed out some campaign cards at the local barbershop with an actual operating candy cane poll, the whole thing, and then put up a “Joe flyer” at the Route 30 Inn. Since my sidekick, Matt, and I were already in the Inn [notice the play on words], we decided on a couple fish sandwhich platters. Instead of $1,000 a plate, they were $3.95 a plate, and that included fries! Incidentally, a trivia note about the restaurant: The seats at the counter are metal milk pails with John Deere tractor seats affixed to the top of them. They were actually quite comfortable, and definitely distinctive. (I’m obviously trying for the rural vote here.)… After staying at a small motel in Lisbon, Ohio, later that evening — 35 bucks a night and a view of a motel sign that was missing a few bulbs — we headed further east onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike. We stopped at a plaza at one point, and I passed out campaign cards to people coming out. The great thing about Turnpike plazas is there are people from all over. Who needs those millions of Super PAC dollars in TV advertising money, huh?
Bluffton press, Joe the painter/plumber, pampered pets, Tawa Indians… and sin
Busy week… A story about the campaign ran in the Bluffton News (circ. 2,000) yesterday. Well if you don’t carry Bluffton, you’re not going to carry the country. The story noted that I was being billed as “average Joe the painter” who lives on, of all streets, Main Street (literally). “It doesn’t get much more populist than that,” was my quote. Oh, and “Joe the Plumber” just won his Republican Primary bid yesterday — so there’s hope for us populist kinda guys… With the Super Tuesday Primary dust settling yesterday, I went to Ottawa, Ohio, to campaign. While passing out campaign cards downtown there, a woman approached and asked if I was on the same page as Ron Paul. I said I was when it came to simplifying government and getting back to the basics of the Constitution. I mean, common sense says the federal government has gotten way too complex. For instance, the recent Financial Reform Bill of 2010 was: 907 pages long. The whole Social Security Act of 1935 was: 28 pages long. C’mmon… Another thing that’s getting out of hand? Pets in America. While in Ottawa, I saw a “Pampered Pets” van go by. This week the AP carried a story explaining in 2011 we passed the $50 billion (that’s b, as in baboon) mark for: pet care. I’m sorry, but a good deal of countries in the world don’t have a GDP that high for a year… Note: Downtown Ottawa also has a “Lord’s Park.” There is a stone cross in the middle that says this is “…dedicated to Jesus who died for our sins.” Near the front of the park is a historic marker that explains that at one time the Tawa Indians inhabited the land here. In 1833 they were forceably removed to a Reservation in Kansas and the land was auctioned off to white settlers. The village was then called: “Ottawa.” I couldn’t help but think this was one of those ‘sins’ Jesus died for — but the marker doesn’t exactly say that. Maybe it should.
Brazil
We met with Becky and Ben Gambrell this week. For three years they were missionaries in Brazil, currently one of the poorest countries in the world. The Gambrells said in Brazil there was little in the way of medicine and little in the way of material goods, and so on. Ben said he found the transition hard coming back to the States because he’d hear people here complaining about what he now perceived as tremendously small things — in comparison to the plight of the people in Brazil. For instance, I’d just read that some 2,000 orphaned children in the slums of Brazil are tortured and killed every year (by police) because they’re begging for food, for instance, is a nuisance. Meanwhile many American kids are living with touch I-Phones, X-Boxes, three full meals a day and snacks… and regularly wanting more to boot. We would all do well to take some “cross-cultural” trips to impoverished countries, to not only put life in America in perspective, but to make these other peoples’ plights a lot more real — so we’d feel compelled to help more. Our foreign aid is currently 4%, and a lot of it goes to countries to help protect our interests (read: things like oil). Some 57% of our budget goes to our military — which is more than: the next 17 countries combined. You read that right.
bulletin board etiquette; Dixie Highway campaigning; brain trust; deductive logic…
Catching up on the last few days… Spent the end of last week going around Bluffton making sure our campaign fliers were still posted on various bulletin boards, in store windows, and the like. I’ve found you can’t just post them once and forget about ’em. Not everyone, for instance, adheres to “bulletin board etiquette.” They’ll put up fliers over yours, or move your flier to a less visible area, or… I mean, someone covered up half of one of our fliers with a flier about a “Gluten Free Seminar.” Of course this was on the local Health Food Store bulletin board, so natural food flier competition is going to be stiff… And I haven’t just kept my fliers in Bluffton. Over the weekend, I took a trip down the Dixie Highway, Route 25. This was the first roadway that stretched all the way from Detroit in the north to Florida. (Highway 75 now runs parallel to it.) At the “Dixie Diner” on the outskirts of Lima, Ohio, I had a cup of coffee and put up a flier on their bulletin board. I did the same at the “Meeting Place on Market Cafe” in Lima (getting a “homemade” brownie there). I’ve come to find “bulletin board etiquette” also entails buying something at the establishment where they’re going to allow you (hopefully) to put the flier up. This could get to be an expensive campaign for us, Super PAC money notwithstanding (or even on the horizon). After posting the fliers, I went to a nearby McDonald’s where I approached a table of men who looked like “regulars.” I opened with: “It looks like you guys are the brain trust in the town…” They all smiled. I then passed out some campaign cards and we talked politics for a time. It was noted that Rick Santorum had sponsored a car in the “Daytona 500 Race” this weekend. I decided not to tell them I was sponsoring (and even riding) a “bicycle in Bluffton” this weekend. I sensed they were conservative Republicans, so I thought I’d steer clear of global warming talk, and such. Typical politician. Note: I sat in on a graduate history class at Notre Dame University a couple years back. They were discussing when Saddam Hussein “gassed” the Kurds, and how we responded with a military strike. During the class, I noted that our country releases the most carbon emissions on the planet. If global warming is real, and it is setting in motion super-charged hurricanes, super-charged-typhoons, more drought and famine in arid countries… aren’t we, well, “gassing” the world? And if we follow this “deductive logic” (I used that terminology to impress the graduate students) through, wouldn’t that mean there should be a military strike against: us? It got kind of quiet in the class for a minute.
Student Senate Debate, op/ed piece, never giving up…
The heck with the Republican Debate this week, I went to the Bluffton University Student Senate President Debate instead. The two candidates squared off on, of all things: jobs. Just can’t seem to get away from that subject this year. There’s a policy here that students can only take one on-campus job a year. But both candidates “pledged” to lobby to broaden that. I, on the other hand, would have lobbied to split each job between two students, seriously (sort of). Actually, I had an op/ed piece run in The Courier newspaper in Findlay, Ohio, yesterday promoting: “job sharing” as a way to help the five million who are currently unemployed in this country. The concept is simple. Someone works from 8 a.m. Monday until noon Wednesday, then the other person comes in the rest of the week. Or, you could split the days in half, or work every other week, or… During our campaign travels out west, we learned the Monterey School System in California allows teachers to alternate half years, or even years. Some people who are currently employed are financially capable of doing this, tomorrow. Others might have to be a little life-style savvy and cut back in various areas. Either way, for some (like 5 million) this would definitely be doable. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “It’s not what your country can do for you, but it’s what you can do for your country (including your neighbor up the street whose out of work).” Note: Our Sarah’s homeschooling basketball team, the Eagles, soared (sorry) to victory in an eight-team tournament over the weekend. The Eagles beat their “arch-enemies” (their words) the Cougars. A team they’d lost to every time in the past two years, since the rivalry began. It was a real story in “…never giving up.” Something we’ve known well in the campaign.