Catching up more on our Buckeye State stop… In rural Bluffton, Ohio, I rode along for a time in combine as a local farmer harvested some soy beans. This was a 1985 combine and is the smallest model out there. He said this model new today would cost about $250,000. He continued that small farmers are at a real disadvantage to compete today with farming implement prices the way they are. What’s more, he said that currently on average farmers, across the board, get about $30 an acre subsidy from the government every year. He said this is a tremendous advantage to mega-corporate farms that encompass thousands of acres. Our agriculture platform calls for categorizing these huge corporate farms as monopolies, breaking them up and mobilizing the return of the small family farm, en masse. The small family farm was once the backbone of our country. And should be again… Note: Bluffton, Ohio, is the home of Bluffton University. Their mascott is “the beaver.” Last week the Bluffton News carried the following Sports Page headline about the university’s football team: Beavers Bite Down On Fall Season. I just love small town newspapers.
Israeli / Palestinian Conflict, soccer and deadly misquitoes
I was interviewed by a reporter from AOL News. He asked me, among other things, my take on the Israeli / Palestinian Conflict. I said that I believed the Israelis were participating in an illegal land grab that’s forbidden by the Geneva Convention. That is, it is prohibited that an occupying country can settle it’s own civilians on militarily controlled lands. In east Jerusalem, for instance, the Israelis are building 900 new homes as part of the Gilo settlement. I said as president I would push for a moratorium on these types of settlements, and I would push for a two state solution… We are staying at a friend’s farm in rural Bluffton, Ohio. They have a soccer net up against an old barn. Near sunset, I walked out to watch our kids play soccer with a couple boys on the farm. The corn in the background, an orange sky, kids running about playing and laughing, a soccer ball aloft… It was such a sort of Norman Rockwell scene. Earlier today in Findlay, Ohio, a man named Ray, who grew up in a ghetto area of Montreal, Canada, said to me: “Many people in small town America have no idea what an absolute blessing it is to live here.” …I was reading a National Geographic article about malaria tonight. In Zambia, one of the major reasons 20% of all children there die before they are five, is because of malaria. Tragically, many of these children never even get a chance to kick a soccer ball.
Common man. Common sense! …and a buckeye
Stopped at the Sign Shack in Findlay, Ohio. (Findlay, incidentally, is where Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger played his high schooll ball.) Over the years, we have had our campaign vehicle signage made almost exclusively by owner Joe Langhals at the Sign Shack. (When it comes to graphic design, he’s excellent.) This time around, I ordered the words: Common man. Common sense! And it was a ‘common sense’ conversation that I got into with Langhals and employee Josh Unverferth while waiting for the lettering. These two common “working guys” were, among other things, concerned about the Federal Debt (which is now over $12 trillion). Josh said that wouldn’t it make sense — common sense — to, for one, cut government expenditure until we pay off the debt. I said our platform called for the old-fashion concept of (If anyone remembers this…): “frugality.” That is when people were in debt in the old days, they actually tightened their belts and paid it off. At the end of the conversation at the Sign Shack, Josh said he’d liked what he heard and offered to pass out our campaign cards at a festival in Kalida, Ohio, this weekend. If you don’t carry Kalida, you’re not going to carry the country. Note: After leaving the Sign Shack, “Tom from Columbus” approached me in the parking lot at Arbys. He said he was impressed with the signage on our vehicle and added that his wife was recently back from the Glenn Beck rally in D.C. Tom said he would like to see change in D.C., and wished me luck. Noticing he was wearing an Ohio State University shirt, I passed on a campaign flyer to him and added: “When I get to D.C., one of the first things I’m going to do is have a big buckeye put on top of the Capitol Dome.” [I’ve gotta stop doing that. It’s getting to be like an addiction, or something.]
America’s best town
We’ve made a pit stop in Bluffton, Ohio, America’s Best Town…
‘Water, water everywhere…’
We’re in Bluffton, Ohio, visiting friends and campaigning. Last night we went to a Bluffton High School soccer match. They were playing Wapakoneta High School. For you recent history buffs, Wapakoneta is the home of astronaut Neil (“One small step for man..”) Armstrong. That’s right, the first person to set foot on the moon. Between the junior varsity and the varsity soccer games, I went to the Wapakoneta side of the stands and passed out campaign cards. While the subject didn’t come up (whew!), as president I’d seriously consider lobbying to at least temporarily end the Space Program. See, we’ve spent billions of dollars going to the moon, in part, to find out whether there’s water there. And we’ve spent billions of dollars going to Mars to find out the same thing. Meanwhile, one-sixth of the world doesn’t have access to clean drinking water on this planet. The rivers, lakes and oceans on this planet are becoming horribly polluted. A good number of underground aquifers are starting to dry up on this planet… I could go on with this, but you get my point. Wouldn’t common sense say we take the money to help the water systems on this planet, before exploring for water on planets (Are you ready for this?) where we can’t even breathe the air!?
Labor Day
In honor of Labor Day yesterday, I, well, labored. Is that intuitive, or what? I did some touch up painting on our motor home, and other odds and ends. During a Labor Day cookout in Bluffton, Ohio, last night, I talked with a man who works for a local construction company. The company recently got a contract to help with a 300-unit wind turbine farm in nearby Paulding County, Ohio. When completed, it will be the largest wind farm of it’s kind in the state. And it is my belief we need to continue to promote these kinds of alternative energy projects, both here and around the world. When the Copenhagen Accords sputtered (no specific targets for carbon cuts), columnist Gwyne Dyer wrote that a final climate deal must be asymmetrical. That is, the industrialized countries should take deep cuts in their emissions now, while developing countries cap the growth in their emissions soon. This means that all the countries worldwide need to be stepping up their alternative energy pursuits exponentially — with the industrialized countries helping to finance, say, solar and wind projects in the developing countries. Note: I believe we must take global warming seriously and one of our brief position papers on this outlines part of our strategy for reversing it.
“Dogs for Dollars”
Route 90 Run-N-Gun Tour cont… We sped along, stopping in South Bend, Indiana, where I talked with a teacher from St. Joseph’s High School there. He said the standard tuition at the school is $6,000 a year, far beyond the reach of many kids in the area. However, he lobbied for partial scholarships for low income Hispanic youths. And the administration went along. This year four Hispanic youth were given scholarships, with the possibility of more next year… We then headed on to Elkhart, Indiana, where there is a 16% unemployment rate. Driving into town, we noticed a graphic’s shop with a billboard that read: “We Make Signs for Money!” I then went to a downtown plaza where I passed out campaign cards to people sitting at tables around a small hot dog stand. The sign on the hot dog stand: “Dogs for Dollars.” Apparently when you’re living in a depressed town, you have to be pretty direct about needing money. Note: Our economy position paper reflects a new approach to the economy. One that could provide jobs for practically everyone.
“Fair Tax,” bee stings, and such…
Rte 90 Run-N-Gun Tour cont… We continued on Rte. 90, stopping in the Wisconsin cities of La Crosse, Madison, Straughton and Beloit. In Madison, I passed out some campaign literature to a man-on-the-street who said he wanted a “Fair Tax” instituted. That is, he’d like to see a uniform Federal “flat tax” on all items across the board — and the elimination of the income tax altogether… In downtown Beloit, while hopping back into the “average Joe” mobile, I sat on a Yellow Jacket bee. While he/she (to be politically correct) didn’t sting me at the point of contact, so to speak (thank God), he/she flew around to the front and stung me on the forearm. Apparently he/she wasn’t taken with our platform. Then it was on to Illinois. Note: Another oil drilling platform has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Could it be we are starting to hit somewhat of a “bottom” with our addiction to fossil fuels?
“Welcome to Welcome”
Rte. 90 Run-N-Gun Tour speeds on… In Worthington, Minnesota, we parked our camper/campaign vehicle in a Wal-Mart parking lot, right next to an auto racing dirt track. Talk about loud … The next day at Mass, we saw a man with a t-shirt that read America has now crossed the 51 million abortion mark, and counting… We headed further east, flying right by the town of Welcome (really, that’s its name), Minnesota. The city limits sign says: “The Friendly City!” If I’d been on town council there, my sign proposal would have been: “Welcome to Welcome!” …We drove on to Fairmont, Minnesota, where we took the kids swimming in Budd Lake (no idea who ‘Budd’ actually is, or was). After swimming a bit, I found myself in a round table, or rather round beach chair, discussion with some people who’d gotten together for a family reunion. The topic of “the border” came up. I said, for one, as president I’d do everything possible to keep drug cartels out. And common sense would say that part of keeping drug cartels out, is reducing the demand for drugs on this side of the fence. On an earlier campaign tour, I interviewed a sherriff’s deputy in Las Cruces, New Mexico, who said he’s regularly in on border drug busts involving 18-wheel trucks and thousands of pounds of, say, cocaine. But he also works with the local DARE Program for teenagers, to reduce the demand for drugs on this side. When I talked about this, some of the people at the beach had a rather “aha” moment. Note: While passing out campaign cards and stumping at the park next to Budd Lake, I told one man wearing a Minnesota Viking cap that when I became president — I’d introduce a Bill suggesting we change the Statue of Liberty to, that’s right, a big Viking. (Liz keeps telling me I’ve got to stop doing that from state to state.)
“One and Only Corn Palace”
In Mitchell, South Dakota, our seven-year-old Jonathan and I went downtown on a Saturday morning. We went to Jitters Coffee Shop first, where we stumped with some people there. While passing on a campaign card to the owner, she said: “You’re running for president of the United States?” I replied: “Well, somebody has to do it.” She laughed… There were some political debates slated for today at the “One and Only Corn Palace” in Mitchell. Jonathan and I left Jitters and headed to the front of the Corn Palace (big spires on the top of the building that look like ears of corn, the whole thing) where we passed out more campaign cards to a lot of people wearing various campaign buttons, etc. I ended up in a conversation with Steve Sibby, who is running for South Dakota Senate as an independent candidate. He said he was running because he was concerned big business had taken over both big political parties. His campaign motto: “Making YOU the citizen bigger.” That would have been ours too, if Mr. Sibby hadn’t thought of it first… We then went into the “One and Only Corn Palace” and sat in on a debate abut a Smoke Free South Dakota. A woman from the Cancer Society said those in South Dakota deserve a smoke free environment because, for one reason (or rather for ’60’ reasons), second hand smoke has 60 known carcinogens in it. Note: George McGovern was in the audience this day. He is a former senator and former Democratic nominee for president. What’s more, he was appointed by John F. Kennedy to be the director of the Food for Peace Program.