We finished our Virginia Commonwealth Tour and headed into North Carolina. First stop: “America’s hometown.” Or, well, that’s how it’s billed in Mount Airy, North Carolina. This is the small town where Andy Griffith grew up. This is the small town that inspired the Andy Griffith Show’s Mayberry. Now while for the most part, we’ve raised our children without television. We have, in recent years, allowed them to watch some episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, to their delight I might add. So the stop in ‘Mayberry’ was going to be a big thing for them. Funny, crossing into the town limits, I actually think the kids thought the town was going to be in black and white. (By the way, it isn’t. Which, ok I’ll admit it, was a little disappointing even for me.) Our first stop was Opie’s Candy Shop downtown. We got a half pound of mix and match chocolates for three bucks. As with the black and white thing, you also always want Opie to remain, well, Opie. But time inevitably marches on and Opie aka Ron Howard was recently featured on the cover of an AARP Magazine. If that doesn’t burst your nostalgic bubble… Anyway, it was a nice afternoon and a lot of tourists slowly meandered about the downtown taking in ‘everything Mayberry.’ I said to the candy store owner that I couldn’t help but think a lot of these people would really like the country to go back to Mayberry. She agreed. “It’s just getting from here to there,” I mused. Note: I just read an article about how “medical marijuana” is catching on in a good number of states. What’s more, it’s questionable how much is really being prescribed for, say, pain; and how much of it is really being prescribed for: pleasure. Does anyone actually think medical marijuana would fly in Mayberry? that was an era when right from wrong seemed a lot more distinguishable. Can I get an amen! Or rather, can I get a shazaaam! (My spell check is telling me that’s a misspelling. But I’m pretty sure that’s how Gomer spelled it.)
…saves 40,000 gallons of water a year.
We headed further south through Virginia on I-81, stopping at the Radford Rest Area. I love rest areas. I must have passed out campaign cards to people from at least 10 different states. At one point in the campaigning, after several cups of coffee that morning, I had to, well, urinate. And that’s another thing that’s great about rest areas, there’s a readily available place to, well, urinate. Turns out, not only were urinals readily accessible here (that is, after several truck drivers got through), but these urinals were also rather unique. They were no-flush “Sloan System Urinals.” According to a sign above the urinal, which you inevitably have time to read because, I mean, you’re just standing there, one Sloan urinal saves 40,000 gallons of water a year. There apparently is a cartridge at the base of the urinal that collects uric acid from your urine. The remaining liquid, which is not corrosive, then just flows down a pipe. Whenever I urinate, I always feel better. But this all made me feel doubly better. (If my wife Liz knew I was writing the blog entry like this…) I recently gave a talk at Notre Dame University. During the talk, I noted that some one-sixth of the world’s people don’t have access to clean drinking water. What’s more, we’re increasingly polluting the fresh water we do have. But with much more of this new sustainable water technology, we could begin polluting way less, and saving money to boot. Money that could be funneled into Developing World clean water projects. Note: The late Pope John Paul II once said that economic justice is about considering the universal destination of the earth’s resources, especially in regard to the “common good for society’s weakest members.” Translated, those of us in the Developed World, must do everything we can to get clean water to our brothers and sisters who don’t have clean drinking water. And there are tangible steps we can take to do that.
Go Hokies!
Our Virginia Common Wealth Tour continues… We headed out of Verona and on to rural Buchanan, Virginia. We stopped at the Buchanan Quick Stop (that didn’t seem all that quick ). A slow country music song was playing in the background of the store and some older African Americans were milling about out front. I passed out some campaign cards to them and noticed a rather large store marquee over one of their shoulders. It was out by the road. It didn’t read 2 Liter Coke 99 cents, or 2 Gatorades for $3. It simply read: Go Hokies! They take their college football seriously here. And this is something else we should be taking seriously… Note: The Obama administration has called for millions of dollars in federally guaranteed loans to build a whole new generation of nuclear power plants here. According to Z Magazine, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has admitted that 27 of the nation’s nuclear power plants have had radioactive tritium leaks. These leaks, like the one at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, can get into the groundwater, then rivers, then lakes, then us… Nuclear power has the potential to be: just too darn dangerous! I mean, would you want your kid drinking water with tritium in it? I don’t even think it’s too great that they’re drinking Coke, even at 99 cents for 2 liters.
Aren’t a lot of us ‘Zacchaeus’?
We launched our Common Wealth Tour through Virginia… We arrived at a city park in Woodstock (no relation to the Woodstock), Virginia, just before sunset. A local kids soccer team, “The Tigers,” was practicing. They let our Jonathan, 7, practice with them. The coaches couldn’t have been friendlier and Jonathan, while not Pele, held his own… The next morning a Jehovah’s Witness approached me in Woodstock and asked if I’d noticed the world was getting progressively darker. I said yep. (Wouldn’t take a moral theologian rocket scientist…) We talked for awhile about spiritual philosophies. It was a friendly exchange, and probably a first for me. That is, this Jehovah Witness was actually able to laugh a bit in regard to his religion. He told me Johnny Carson, after one of the major earthquakes in California, joked that Jehovah Witnesses probably fared the best in the quake. “Because they’re always standing in doorways.” …Before leaving Woodstock, I passed out some campaign cards to a group of guys talking in front of a Sunoco station, all dressed in camouflage outfits. And not one of them (Are you ready for this?) asked me my stance on gun control… We then headed south on Rte. 81 through the Shenandoah Valley. Fog shrouded the mountains, pierced at times by scattered rays of sunlight… Down the highway, we campaigned in Harrisburg, Staunton and Verona. In Verona, we spent the evening with the Maggie and John Nilo family, including their 10 children. Our kids paired up with some of their kids and had an absolutley great time (except for the BB gun incident). This evening, several other couples stopped by for a Bible study. The reading was about the story of Zacchaeus (the tax collector). The Bible study leader said tax collectors in those days were scorned, in part, because they were known to skim some of the tax money off the top for themselves. I enjoined that with 173 loop holes in our tax code in America, don’t many of us (who really don’t need the money) skim tax money off the top with these deductions? Money that could go to schools, social programs for the poor, to pay off the $12 trillion National Debt… It got somewhat quiet in the Bible study room for awhile. There goes a few votes. But isn’t it time a politician called a spade a spade?
…an American town being wiped out, every day.
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…