In Hagerstown, Maryland, we stood in solidarity with a group protesting in front of a downtown abortion clinic there. I mentioned that this day in America there would be about 4,400 babies killed in their mothers’ wombs. In fact, I said, this is no different than all the people in a small town in America (pop. 4,400) being wiped out, every day. “Yeah, and it’s always someone else’s town too,” one woman lamented… In Hagerstown, I also talked with Ned Smith. Smith had recently gone with a group from CEASE (Center for Exchange And Solidarity) to El Salvador. He said he saw poverty practically everywhere, especially in the wake of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement). Smith said subsitence farmers in El Salvador were being driven out of business, and off their land, as mega-corporate farms in America (as an example), now flood the markets in El Salvador with cheap grain. Something to be America Proud of? Hardly. Note: I recently read an interview with author Chris Hedges. At one point, he said: “The ethic of corporations is to turn everything, from human beings to the natural world, into commodities that they will exploit into exhaustion.”
…drinking water in their homes.
In Hagerstown, Maryland, we talked with Fr. Nixon Mullah who is from the country of Cameroon. While he now lives in America, Fr. Nixon goes back to his village in Cameroon for a month each year. There he mobilizes groups of people to work on roads, build classrooms, and the like. He told me that the central government in Cameroon is slow to do practically anything. Given that he thought: ‘Why can’t people take the initiative on their own?’ Common sense. What’s more, he and a small group of others are starting a Mambu Development Institute to raise $50,000 so people in the village can have access to clean drinking water in their homes. To donate to the project, write to Fr. Nixon at St. Joseph Seminary, 1200 Varnum St., NE, Washington, D.C. 20017… In Hagerstown, we were also invited to dinner at the Przywieczerskis (I still don’t know how to pronounce it.). The husband Bob is about 50 years old and still plays competitive ice hockey with friends. A weekend warrior after my own heart, he has recently broken a wriist, injured his ribs… Yet he has no intention of ‘retiring.’ “I’d rather wear out than rust out,” he smiled.
“…fix my pockets.”
Out of New Jersey, we headed back into Pennsylvania, stopping first in Allentown (Remember the Billy Joel song?). Parts of this old blue-collar city are, indeed, as depressed at Mr. Joel sings about. While there, we talked with Frank Kutish who is very involved with the pro-life movement. He said every year in Allentown, for the past 30, his St. Paul pro-life group has raised money to sponsor a woman for nine months, if she wants to keep her baby but is in difficult circumstances… Out of Allentown, we stopped in Shartlesville, PA, and then headed on to Harrisburg. In Harrisburg, I passed out campaign cards and talked with Jim Carr. He lamented that he’s worried about the elongated recession. “You go to work today and you’re still not sure if you’re going to have a job tomorrow.” He added that while various international and domestic issues are important, what he believes a majority of people are mainly worried about is: the economy. “You say (as a politician) that you’re going to fix my pockets — and I’m with you,” he said.
stimulus money, alternator bolts, and toast
We went over the Washington Bridge out of Long Island and headed south on the New Jersey Turnpike. At a Service Plaza, I passed on a campaign card to a man from Massachussetts. He said he would have liked to see the general citizenry in various areas voting for where the government stimulus money would go locally. Good idea… Some of it, for instance, could have gone to our engine. Shortly after leaving the Service Plaza, a loud clanging noise started up in our 1978 camper. The bolt holding the alternator in place had shaken loose and was hitting the fan. With trucks rushing by at 75 mph, the camper noticeably swaying each time, etc., I found myself under the hood working feverishly to get the bolt back in place. I was able to fix it just enough (the threads were partially stripped) to get it to a garage in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where a guy named Tony actually welded the bolt in place, no charge. Just a: “Good luck on your mission.” …We then went to a YMCA in a rough section of Elizabeth. While the kids played basketball upstairs, I found myself in a no frills, basement free-weight room working out with a good number of Hispanics and Blacks. Some were tattoed with what looked like various gang insignias, and the like. I’m sure, just like in the inner city of Cleveland where we come from, that many down here are just trying to survive under extremely tough circumstances… The next morning we stopped in Westfield, New Jersey, where I stumped with a table of eight out on the sidewalk in front of Panera Bread on Broad Street. (They meet there every morning and are part of the town “brain trust.”) The banter was lively and we covered a number of issues. One man, lightening things up a bit, said his main “issue” was two slices of toast at Panera had recently been raised from 69 cents to 99 cents. Shortly after, this same man said he’d like the country to go to a much shorter work week, like just two four hour shifts — every week, that’s all “I can see why you’re concerned about the price of the toast going up,” I smiled. Note: I just read that Charter Schools now make up 4% of the schools in America.
over crowding?
While in Southhold, New York (at the eastern end of Long Island), I learned that to curb over crowding” in this rather well-to-do area, zoning now only allows for one single family dwelling on an acre of land. I recently read an article about a slum in India that has 18,000 people for every acre of land. What an amazing social justice disparity, huh… We headed back east, stopping in Farmingdale, New York. In the concourse of a mall there is a pro-life display, with a wide screen TV continually showing live (literally) scenes of little babies in their mothers’ wombs at all different stages of development. How we can allow these babies to be killed is just totally beyond me… Back in Southhold, I had interviewed Ann Reitman at a new Birthright satellite office there. Birthright provides counseling and referrals to things like government programs (WIC, as an example) all intended to help mothers with their pregnancies. In addition, Birthright provides some money for doctors, housing, and other suplmental support for mothers… Coming back east, we passed the town of Babylon, New York. Enough said. Note: Long Island bumper sticker sighting (on a compact car): Hummers are Bummers.
public enemy #1
We headed through part of New York City and over the George Washington Bridge the other night late. Quite a view! Then it was on to Long Island. We stopped in East North Port where I passed out campaign cards at a Panera Bread Restaurant… Then it was south to Patchogue (Indian name for something) where I passed out more campaign cards in the downtown… After this stop, we headed east to almost the far end of the north side of Long Island’s “fork.” In Greenport, we talked with Don Shea, a retired New York City policeman. He was just interviewed for a television documentary around his arrest of the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton. (Last century’s version of Butch Cassidy. During his almost 40 year criminal career, he stole some $2million.) Officer Shea fascinated our boys with a number of tales of “crime fighting” in the city. For more on my ‘tales’ of crime fighting in our country, see my preventing crime position paper…
…the man with a tool belt, and ‘kids like shadows’
In East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, we talked with a retired elementary teacher who had worked in the Bronx, New York. He said what we’re seeing in America is a domino effect. That is, as the discipline breaks down in a home, this gets translated into the classroom, which then gets transposed into all of society. That simple, and that tragic… Then it was on to Hackettstown, New Jersey. Here I talked with electrician Ken Rapach, who was working on a library renovation project. He said he’d just been talking to “the guys” about politicians in D.C. He said currently people in Congress get a full pension, sometimes for just serving one term. Why don’t these politicians, “like the rest of us,” have to be at a place a lot longer before they’re eligible for a pension? Mr. Rapach wondered. Common sense says this might even give them incentive to do a better job to stay in, the man with a tool belt on continued… From Hackettstown, we headed into Paterson, New Jersey. Poverty everywhere we turned, congestion on the streets, congestion in low-income housing, kids playing on basketball courts with rusted rims and broken glass… I couldn’t help but think of New Jersey’s Bruce Springstein singing: “Kids down here look just like shadows…”
Anyone remember that concept?
The Keystone State Tour 2 rolled on… At a Flying J Truck Stop in Lamar, Pennsylvania, I passed out campaign cards to some rock band ‘roadies’ just getting out of their tour bus. (Speaking of music, check out our “avge. Joe theme songs” at the bottom of our home page.) We then continued on through the Appalachian Mountains. In Milton, Pennsylvania, I put up a flier on a downtown community bulletin board, then headed a bit south to Lewisburg where the boys and I played some sandlot football… In Bloomsberg, PA, my daughter Sarah and I talked to a church youth group about abortion. One of the girls, a freshman in high school, said she and some other school teammates had won a formal debate about abortion. They took the pro-life position and she said she described, in graphic detail, what happens during the abortion procedure (dismemberment, vacuum extraction…). “It was really quite emotional,” she said. Note: A New York Times article today said that Google and a New York financial firm have each agreed to invest heavily in a proposed $5 billion transmission backbone for offshore wind farms along the Atlantic seaboard. It seems to me that if we’re going to do anything offshore, this makes a whole lot more sense than drilling for oil out there. Yet people will say the wind farms (solar, geothermal…) won’t be enough to provide for all our energy needs in America. I say they would, if we (…and here’s that s word): sacrificed. Anyone remember that concept?
stepping up more, and a Bison
Keystone State Tour 2 cont… We stopped in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, where I walked around the downtown passing out campaign flyers. I ended up in a conversation with Mike Barber who said that, while he’d been an independent, he finally declared with one of the main political Parties in order to be able to vote in the primaries. His contention is that every voter should be “independent” and have access to voting in any primary they so choose… That night we went to the Clearfield High School Homecoming football game. Clearfield’s mascot is the Bison and he/she (it was hard to tell) performs with the cheerleaders. Quite a feat, given the costume has to be a little cumbersome… This night, I ended up in a conversation with a man who works at the nearby DuBois Hospital. He said besides the regular hospital, there is a Clinic of DuBois that is staffed with volunteer doctors, nurses and other citizens doing any range of other clinic duties. Open two days a week, the clinic provides free services (even including dental) for the “working poor,” and others, of DuBois, he said… Out of Clearfield the next day, we stopped at a truck stop in Milesburg, PA, where I passed out campaign cards to people getting out of mini-tour buses on their way to Penn State’s Homecoming. I also approached a car load of students from Slippery Rock College. Two of the females were college hockey players and there was a male student from Minnesota with them as well. I said one of our campaign promises is to replace the Statue of Liberty with a (that’s right): Viking. “With a #4 jersey,” I added. He smiled and said I had his vote. Note: A front page story in USA Today said municipalities were starting to rely on citizens for some patrolling and investigative work in the midst of budget shortfalls. Several years ago, we researched a Citizens Patrol group in Indio, California. These volunteer citizens got squad cars, patrolled, but carried no guns and couldn’t make arrests. However, they would call in suspicious activity, etc. Like with the Clinic of DuBois, maybe it’s time we all stepped up more.
Anyone remember Ozzie and Harriet?
Keystone State 2 Tour cont… In Grove City, we got together with the Whitaker family. Parents Dan and Kathy take a refreshingly hands on approach to parenting. The family regularly prays together, they home school and they had their television turned off four years ago. Most of the stuff on cable/network television was getting too corrosive, said Dan (a former Catholic youth minister). The Whitakers do allow their children to watch an occasional “safe” movie or old time television episode, like: Ozzie and Harriet. (Ah, if it was only that kind of television again, or that kind of society again for that matter.) …I was told Wednesday was the annual international “Walk to School Day.”” That is, for youth who were able, it was encouraged (but not mandatory) that they, well, walk to school. This day I ended up in a conversation with a woman who appeared to be in her early 80s, and in great shape for that age. She laughed when she heard about an international “Walk to School Day.” She said as a youth in the late 1930s and early 40s, all the kids in the family walked some two miles to, and from, school each day in Boyer, Pennsylvania, rain, snow, whatever. What’s more, for the younger children who couldn’t make the whole walk? “We’d take turns carrying them on our backs,” she smiled. Boy , have times changed. And not necessarily for the better… Pulling out of Grove City, we stopped at Maxwell Motor Garage for some air. Owner Fred Maxwell scoffed when I offered to pay for the air. You heard right. There’s actually a place in America that still has free air! When Liz tried to start the other campaign vehicle, the battery was dead. Fred came out and helped us jump it, again for free. After getting a new battery — with a whole lot more cranking amps — at Auto Zone, we headed on. Next stops: Clarion and Dubois. Note: I read yesterday that President Obama has ok’d putting solar panels on the roof of the White House. That is, indeed, a step in the right direction, as is the Obama small organic garden. As president, I’d add a small wind turbine to the roof, turn off the air conditioning and significantly dial back the thermostat in the winter. In the face of what appears to be quickly advancing climate change, Liz and I want to do everything possible to ensure our children have a world to grow up in. I mean, what concerned parent wouldn’t want that?