Our family drove across the border into Ft. Wayne, Indiana, last night for our kids’ homeschooling basketball games. It was at a recreation center that featured everything: “Indiana basketball.” There were pictures of Larry Byrd, Bobby Knight throwing that famous chair onto the court… (Actually, there’s been a few times when I’ve felt that way during the campaign.) Cutest moment: Our Jonathan, who is eight-years-old in a league that’s for 10-to-12-year-olds, is usually the shortest kid on the court. His number is: “O.” This night he was matched up with an opponent who was actually as short as Jonathan His number was also: “O.” As they lined up for the opening tip-off, you could just kind of hear all the parents going: “Awww…” Just before going to the Rec Center, we stopped at JoJo’s Travel Center in Ft. Wayne for some coffee. While there, I put up a campaign flier. I thought: ‘Vote for Joe… JoJo’s… yet another consonance marketing coup.’ Note: While driving to Indiana on Rte. 30, some 300 wind turbines come into sight in rural Van Wert, Ohio. These just recently went up, and make up the biggest “wind farm” in Ohio. On a campaign tour out west several years ago, I told the Tehachipi News in California (that town is rimmed with wind turbines as well) that our administration would push renewable energy to the max in the face alarming levels of global warming now. [Because, well, you want all those “# Os” out there to have a world left to grow up in. I mean, what sane parent wouldn’t want that?]
a button, carrying Bluffton, contraception controversy
I have spent the week campaigning around our hometown, Bluffton, Ohio (pop. 3,875). Well the way we have it figured, if we don’t carry Bluffton, we aren’t going to carry the country. (To reiterate, we’re doing this all without paid political consultants.)… Last night I wore my campaign button to a “Community Meal” at the Senior Center. During some discussion at our table, the current “contraception controversy” came up. There was concern about the complexity of the issue. I said it seemed pretty simple to me. As an “accommodation” to religious institutions, the Obama administration has shifted the burden of providing free contraception to the insurance companies. Since this will cost more for the insurance companies, they will pass on those costs to (Guess who?) the employer who is paying for the policies. That would, by the way, mean (among other employers) CATHOLIC HOSPITALS, CATHOLIC COLLEGES… Although religious views on contraception vary from denomination to denomination, Mike Huckabee said: “…this week we are all Catholic.” Note: A more basic issue: Should the government be able to do an end run around an established “Conscience Clause?” Common sense says it wouldn’t seem so in a democracy, would it? Columnist Cal Thomas wrote that this would be akin to forcing a “conscientious objector” to engage in combat, even though there’s a Conscience Clause to exempt them. It’s the same principle.
fliers, the Congo
The last few days I’ve been going about Bluffton, Ohio (pop. 3,875), putting our new flier up on various bulletin boards (coffee shop, laundromat…). And we’re asking our supporters to do the same in their towns, counties, etc. Amidst the swirl of Super PAC million dollar ads, and major Party candidate million dollar ads, well, we thought we’d come up with a different approach. Call me a minimalist… Besides, we think all that money could be better spent on, oh I don’t know, maybe the people of The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Seriously. In doing some foreign affairs research on that country this week, I learned the grinding poverty and overcrowding there — among 19 million people in eastern Congo — is leading to starvation, disease, extreme violence… The crisis here has largely alluded world attention, in part, because people in America, for instance, are so fixated on all the over-hype around: a presidential campaign. Just think how far, say, that Super PAC money would go in feeding the Congo’s hungry, bringing medicine to the sick, and helping quell the violence… Note: During a talk to a student group at Mississippi State University, I said our administration would focus on bringing a lot more help to the world at large.
fracking…
I was going over some Earth Science homework with my daughter Sarah yesterday. The subject this assignment was about the natural formations of rocks, which have all kinds of intricate dynamics and take extremely long periods of time. As coincidence would have it, last night I picked up an Ohio State University Alumni Magazine that had an article about “fracking.” This is a relatively new process of pumping chemical-laced water into the ground under high pressure to break up rock and release fossile fuels (oil and natural gas). For eastern Ohio, where exploratory drilling has begun, this could mean hundreds of millions of dollars and up to 200,000 jobs in related industries. Oh yeah, and it was also noted there is serious concern groundwater, surface water and wildlife habitats could be significantly damaged in the area. So, how often have we let this sort of “gold rush” mentality in this country trump things that, sustainably, are way more important? And when are we going to learn?
Christian Democratic Party;
This week I’ve been in touch with a representative from one of America’s newest political Parties, the Christian Democratic Party. Headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, their literature explains that: “Chrisitan democracy” is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. In other words, in our current society that would look like a mix of conservative and liberal philosophy. From the “conservative” side, for instance, they are against abortion and gay marriage. Yet, in what would seem “liberal” to many, they are strong on social justice and environmental stewardship. A quote: “Regardless of whether one believes in global warming or not, we maintain that caring for the environment is a great personal virtue… We wholeheartedly support environmentally friendly policies.” The Party’s platform is not only balanced, it’s a good reflection, I believe, of how the gospel message would relate to each contemporary issue of our times. For more, see: www.cdpunitedstates.webs.com. Note: To stay with the environment a minute… We have traveled the country extensively researching alternative energy applications: wind projects in North Dakota; geothermal heating in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; solar projects in New Mexico… During a talk at the University of Notre Dame, I said that if global warming is real and we sacrifice, and also ramp up renewables, we save the planet for our children. If global warming turns out to be not real, and we sacrifice, and ramp up renewables, for our children’s sake: BIG DEAL! In other words, the world gets a little greener — and we grow spiritually from the whole thing.
Unincorporated Territories, a huge explosion, a four-year-old
I’ve been doing research this week on the Unincorporated Territories, and former Unincorporated Territories, of the U.S. One of the former ones is the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. conducted 67 nuclear detonations. The Atomic Energy Commission regarded the Marshall Islands as “…by far the most contaminated place in the world.” One of those tests was the “Castle Bravo” hydrogen bomb detonation. It was 1,000 times more powerful than each of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It contaminated more than 7,000 square miles of the surrounding Pacific, including some of the inhabited Marshall Islands. Reports of birth defects, cancer, and so on, in the area spiked quite measurably in the following years there. A question: After seeing what happened with the radiation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, how could we possibly justify detonating a hydrogen bomb(s) in an area where there’s people — or, well, anywhere? Given factors like, oh I don’t know, maybe the: wind. Note: During a campaign tour down Rte. 95 in the West several years ago, we attended a “Nuclear Weapons Free World Conference” at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. There was a Japanese man who did a one-act-play recounting the day we dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He re-enacted it as a four-year-old, because he was there that day as a four-year-old. The same day his mother and father and siblings all died.
Cuba
During the Republican presidential debate last night, there was talk of positions toward Cuba. Cuba currently remains closed to American investments as a result of a 50 year travel and trade embargo. The Obama administration, like administrations before, have chastised Communist Cuba for it’s human rights violations, but at the same time Obama has loosened restrictions on Cuban/American travel. And American businesses are now looking at Cuba as a future market. This is, indeed, a complex geo-political issue. Yet, fundamentally, I don’t believe tourism or business profits should trump human rights violations. With Raul Castro continuing in the same vein of his brother Fidel’s “iron fist” rule, scattered pockets of protest are emerging throughout that country. It’s too early to tell whether there will be a ‘Cuban Spring,’ but let’s hope the Obama administration (or whatever administration is to come) helps support the possible congealing of this movement on as many strategic fronts as possible.
hobbling; robust Space Program (not); way out of this world…
I’ve been hobbling around town the last few days with a torn calf muscle. (Whenever I put on my basketball shoes, I think I’m 18-years-old again.) I’ve used the time to do some more research for the National Debates (call me an optomist). One of the things I’ve been looking at is NASA. And as coincidence would have it (and, well, because it was staged in Florida), that topic came up last night in the Republican Debate. Each candidate, more or less, said they were committed to a robust Space Program. President Obama has echoed that as well. During a talk at Notre Dame University several years ago, I said all the great minds coming out of Stanford, MIT, etc., were developing these ultra-expensive, ultra-complex spacecraft — to take us to places where: “We can’t breathe the air. There is no gravity. And there is no food. Wouldn’t that be, oh, A LITTLE HINT GOD DIDN’T WANT US THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!” My research notes that NASA spent $209 billion alone on the 30 year Shuttle Program, which just ended. Ya gotta wonder, wouldn’t that money have been better spent on the poor in our inner cities and the scores of people starving to death worldwide — ON THIS PLANET?! Note: A Science News Magazine recently reported scientists believe they have found a red dwarf star that may be habitable, with temperatures that could range from 14 to 24 degrees (Spring in Barrow, Alaska). Only problem is: It would currently take 200 years to get there. Now I know that wouldn’t be for me. I have a hard time getting Liz to agree to a weekend away campaigning by myself. And anyway, if you really wanted that experience — why wouldn’t you just go to Barrow and take a side trip to look at the pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, or something?
homeschool basketball; polarized; Obamacare; contraception…
Liz and I attended our kids’ Homeschool Basketball League games last night in Harrod, Ohio. Both Sarah and Joseph’s games were quite spirited. Afterward one of the other parents approached me and wanted to talk politics out in the hall. He said he was torn about who to back in the Republican Primaries. I said I was torn too. (Just kidding.) He said he, like many others, wondered if any of these candidates could beat President Obama. I said the whole thing, it seemed to me, was getting way too polarized. For instance no matter what President Obama does, the Republican knee-jerk response seems to be that it’s “all wrong.” I mean, is there an “adult in the room”? Common sense says he’s done some good things and some not so good things, and there’s been all sorts of complex shades of grey inbetween. Just like with any of us. For instance, the spirit of his healthcare plan seems to be helping get healthcare insurance to those on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum. And I believe that sentiment is good (although I disagree with the type of approach). However a decidedly ‘not so good thing’ in the shades of grey in Obamacare, I believe, is that the L.A. Times today reported that Catholic hospitals, universities and other religious institutions are “mandated” to offer health plans that provide contraception benefits at no cost to their members. The Times said the American Catholic Bishops were infuriated and this was a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights. I’d have to agree. No matter what one feels about artificial contraception, the Catholic Church teaches it is counter to God’s Natural Law, and a “serious sin.” Thus, it’s my belief the “conscience clause” should, indeed, be applied here.
Chihua Chihua, Border Tours, NAFTA problems
I talked with Matt Arnold today. He and his family were missionaries in Chihua Chihua, Mexico, for 17 years. They worked with indigenous people in the rural areas there. He said it’s not “African poverty,” but the poverty there is significant — and just one poor growing season away from major problems. In fact, because of an unexpected cold snap that came through Chihua Chihua last year, Arnold said come harvest time there there may well be some dire needs. (For more on Mr. Arnold and his mission go to ntm.org.) During our conversation, Mr. Arnold also alluded to the escalating violence across Mexico. On a campaign “Border Tour” a number of years ago, our family went to Juarez, Mexico (billed as the “Murder Capital of Mexico”). Some 200,000 people there live in slums with no running water, no sewers, no electricity… What’s more, many work in multi-national plants there making $3 a shift, not an hour, a shift. Note: With the passing of NAFTA in 1994, it opened the door for more and more ‘sweat shop’ situations throughout Mexico and Latin America.