We’ve been in Ft. Collins, Colorado, the past week stumping and doing some campaign vehicle work… While in Wal Mart picking something up, I noticed the woman in line in front of me was buying six boxes of Cracker Jacks, that’s all. I asked. She said she had a soft spot for Cracker Jacks — “…because that’s where my first wedding ring came from.” She continued that her husband was just back from Vietnam, was broke and found an orange plastic ring in a Cracker Jack box that he gave her, as, well, a down payment. They’ve been married 40 years now and she held up a gold wedding ring with a big diamond in it. “He’s done pretty well since then,” she smiled… The other night, our family was invited to an outdoor barbeque at a local architect’s home in Ft. Collins. He told me his profession has been hit hard by the recent recession, including the bubble bursting around the housing market. I said with so many foreclosures, and people on the verge of foreclosure, it amazed me that more people haven’t gone to things like house sharing between families, or at least renting out a room to a single person, etc., to stay afloat financially. I mean, common sense says it’s time to be creative. On an earlier campaign tour, we learned Winona, Minnesota, actually had an online House Sharing Program that matched people according to housing needs. Note: An article in the Denver Post today reported that the number of deaths among illegal immigrants crossing the Arizona desert from Mexico is soaring because of the increased heat. Some 40 bodies have already been found and the deaths could top the single-month record of 68 in July 2005. “Authorities think the deaths (men, women, children…) are likely due to the unrelenting heat in southern Arizona and the tighter border security that pushes immigrants to more remote, rugged and dangerous terrain.” Several years ago, we did a “Border Tour” that took us into Juarez, Mexico, where we saw extreme abject poverty and thus: the reason some people come here. On a radio show in Ocala, Florida, I said to turn our back (or build the fence higher) on such tremendous need is absolutely unconscienable. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t fight drug cartels, etc.; but it does mean we’d ramp up help to people in genuine need.
she quit
Our family stood in solidarity with a group protesting abortion in front of a Planned Parenthood facility in Ft. Collins, Colorado. One of the protesters was Linda O’Brien, a former pharmacist. A Catholic, Ms. O’Brien said she decided to actually quit her profession because modern pharmacy has gotten to the point where distributing things like artificial contraception (including such abortion causing agents as “the morning after pill”) has become common place almost everywhere. However, the use of these is expressly forbidden by the Catholic Church and Ms. O’Brien didn’t want to be in a postion of compromise on this… After the protest, we attended a meeting with representatives from pro-life groups throughout northern Colorado. During the meeting, Luke Hellwig, a student from the University of Northern Colorado, showed an absolutely excellent computer video presentation he’d designed about a pro-life weekend they were putting on at the school this Fall. One of the things these students do the week of the event is walk around the campus barefoot. When people ask, they plug the event and talk about their pro-life beliefs. The event is called Bearfoot for Babies (UNC’s mascott is: the bear) and features a host of pro-life speakers, 3,300 “memory crosses,” a “Dance for Life” (50’s Sock Hop), etc. It will be held Oct. 4th through 8th on campus.
“don’t vote”
Our Rocky Mountain High Tour continues… During a downtown sidewalk sale throughout Ft. Collins, Colorado, Jonathan and I set up on a corner and passed out campaign literature. One couple in their mid-20s shunned the literature, explaining they “don’t vote.” I always get a bit incredulous with this response, especially with people in other parts of the world risking their lives to vote… I had stopped at the Ft. Collins Library to update our website earlier in the day. A woman was walking out with a t-shrit that read: Polar Bears Against Palin. Tongue-in-cheek kidding aside, in the face of increasingly mounting evidence that global warming is advancing at an alarming rate, we have to act decisively to reverse it. For our kids, and for future generations. Note: While passing out more campaign literature in Ft. Collins, a woman said she liked my domestic policies — “…but how about your knowledge of foreign affairs.” “I read a lot of National Geographics,” I smiled.
congressional hopeful, and immigration
I met with Ken “wasko” Waskiewicz, who is running for U.S. Representative in the 4th District of Colorado. He’s running as an independent and has a wife and eight-month-old daughter. He told me having the baby motivated him to make the world a better place. Thus the run. (We often explain that Liz and I are running as concerned parents from the Midwest.) Ken has been stumping the past several months, going door-to-door in his free time. His father, Ed, has knocked on 3,000 doors himself for his son. Ken is campaigning on a platform that includes, among other things: term limits for all in D.C.; stopping wasteful government spending; a flat tax; reducing the National Debt… Ken’s father used to have an immigration consulting business in Alaska and said his belief is immigrants should come here on a three year work visa. At the end of that time, if things went well, the person would be eligible for citizenship. Note: The other night in Berthod, Colorado, I talked with a Republican who said that people who believe in amnesty for illegal immigrants — “… should offer to sponsor one.” [Our campaign believes in amnesty for many who are here because of poverty and political oppression. Helping them seems the essence of the gospel message.] Note 2: Bumper sticker sighting in Ft. Collins, Colorado: Proud member of the right wing conspiracy
pro-life angels and a 3% chance
Met with Pete Spagnuolo who helped establish the Respect Life Committee at St. John the Evangelist Church in Loveland, Colorado. He moved here from Florida several years ago and has been an absolute dynamo. Through his efforts, his Pro-life group now has 22 members. They regularly pray and protest in front of the abortion clinic in nearby Ft. Collins. They have brought in pro-life speakers, including author Jane Brennan (book: Motherhood Interrupted) who was a drug addict, a prostitute and had had three abortions — “…before she had this incredible conversion experience,” said Spagnuolo. He said he is also a member of the Knights of Columbus that, in Coloardo, is raising $54,000 for a sonogram machine for a crisis pregnancy center in Aurora, Colorado. He said that last year, Aurora had 450 teen pregnancies, which placed them 13th in the nation in that category. Note: Sapgnuolo’s wife Virginia is the director of the Gabriel Project in Loveland. This is a non-profit that provides counseling, food, baby clothes, maternity clothes… for women in crisis pregnancy. Virginia told me there are currently 58 people (they’re called “angels”) involved with the project. Note 2: This week I stumped at the Anthropology Coffee Shop in Loveland. While talking to a small group of people about environmental issues, one woman had a suggestion in regard to wind turbines. She said we are creating this big, free-standing wind turbine structures. Why not put smaller wind turbines on top of existing power poles, which are already connected to the grid. Her point was the free-standing wind turbines clutter the landscape and you have to burn fossil fuels to make all the metal for the bigger turbines… Another man said he voted for a third party candidate for president last time. He said prior to the election, his friends were saying those kind of candidates often have just, say, a three percent chance of winning. “If you had a three percent chance of getting out of prison (versus no chance at all), wouldn’t you take those odds,” he smiled.
“Drums keep pounding rythym to the brain…”
We’re in Loveland, Colorado, where I interviewed Adrian Yanez. He is a music teacher at a local school and worked in the music industry for years as well. He said music connects with us on three levels. That is: physically, mentally and spiritually. And what connects with these is rhythm, harmony and melody. Mr. Yanez, who is Catholic, said there is a lot of secular music that conveys good messages. However, he said there is a lot that doesn’t. And what’s more, it (rock, rap, hip hop…) appeals to our carnality, our materialism, our tendency toward violence… This is such a tremendously important point, in looking at triggers that, at least in part, lead to the sociological problems we have today. Violence is almost off the scales in our big cities, to rap back beats. Sexual acting out is rampant, as explicit rock lyrics (“Why don’t we do it in the road…”) psychologically urge us on. Drug use increases exponentially (“One pill makes you morbid, another makes you small…”). For us to think that much of this music is merely inane background noise that doesn’t influence us is: merely nuts. As parents, Liz and I closely monitor the music our children listen to (as do the Yanez’s). In these days, it’s important parents, well, be parents. Note: Walking into the weight room at Loveland’s Chilson Rec Center right after the interview with Mr. Yanez, the first lyrics I heard over the sound system were: “Let the music be your master…”
a different type of Memorial Wall
Our Rocky Mountain High Tour continues… We headed north to Boulder where we visited the “Memorial Wall for the Unborn” at Sacred Heart of Mary Church there. It honors: “All unborn babies lost to abortion, miscarriage or stillborn.” At the top of the section on the wall to the babies who have been aborted, it reads: “Blessed are they who morn, for they will be comforted.” -Mathew 5:4. Below were various rectangles with various short thoughts inside. Some read: “I realized too late.”; “Part of me died too.” –Your loving sister; “Please for give me.” …Leaning up against the bottom of the Wall was a small basketball, a doll, a model plane… In Boulder, we also went to the Whole Food Market for lunch. As I was walking in, a man asked me about my platform. I said I would be considered progressive leaning when it came to my stances on the environment and social justice. And I would be considered conservative when it came to “life issues.” He asked what that meant. With the Memorial Wall still fresh in my mind, I said I’m, for instance, against abortion. “I guess that’s all I need to hear,” he said, turning and briskly walking off. As I watched him go, I thought of the small basketball leaning up against “the Wall,” that would never get bounced. Note: Some 11 Russians have just been arrested as part of a spy ring in the U.S. The Wall Street Journal noted that for the past 20 years, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, both Russia and the U.S. have continued to participate in “espionage and counter-espionage” against each other. Maybe this is just me, but if we don’t want Russia spying on us, MAYBE WE SHOULD STOP SPYING ON THEM! (I’m serious.)
Got altitude?
We continued north to Lafayette, Colorado, where I saw a t-shirt that read: Got altitude? … In Lafayette, I interviewed Ben Venvigel who was at the Los Alamos nuclear site at the same time Albert Einstein was there, working on the atom bomb. While Venvigel said he saw “the bomb” as an istrument for peace (ending World War II), now he’s not so sure, and in fact a bit leary of the technology. He related that JFK once was quoted as saying: “Let’s put an end to the atom bomb, before the atom bomb puts an end to mankind.” Bumper sticker sighting in Lafayette: Who Would Jesus Bomb? …While in Lafayette, I also talked with George Peirce, 85. He was raised in rural Texas during the Depression. He said he, his father and five siblings all lived in an abandoned cotton mill. And if it wasn’t for FDR’s “New Deal,” he said he wasn’t sure the family would have survived. He said at the height of their own family crisis, the government began providing regular food staples. What’s more, the father eventually got a job with the New Deal’s Public Works Project crushing rocks for new roads in the area.
Is kickball an Olympic sport?
Our Rocky Mountain High continues… We traveled north to Lafayette, Colorado. There I met with Paul Spotts who is president of Catholic Young Adult Sports. In the Diocese of Denver, the organization is putting together a series of leagues (kickball, softball, flag football…) to get youth who, say, might not be talented enough for high school sports, involved with organized sports nevertheless. Spotts told me the main priority is building community among the youth, while providing an “entry way to Catholicism” for some. “It’s soft sell evangilazation,” he added… At the Lafayette McDonald’s, I stumped with some of the patrons. One man was Jeramy Hughes, who is a “senior scientist” with Cold Quanta in nearby Boulder, Colorado. He told me they expriment with lasers on atoms. I asked him what particular application(s). He said because the science is so new, they are still trying to figure all that out. “We’re a solution looking for a problem,” he smiled… I then went to the Lafayette Library where I put up a campaign flyer on the Community Bulletin Board there. This library’s entire roof is an array of solar panels and there is an intermediate sized wind turbine out front as well. Lafayette sits about 5,500 feet above sea level and gets a significant amount of wind. Note: Bumper sticker sighting in Lafayette, Colorado: Sea level is for Sissies!
‘on the ground strategy’ and socks
Our ‘on the ground’ campaign strategy continues… In the face of million dollar political advertising, we’re currently going with: “average Joe” fliers. Well, it could work… In Wheat Ridge, Colorado, I put up a flier on a bulletin board in King Sooper Grocery — right below a season schedule for the Mile High Grizzlies semi-pro football team. (Bulletin board placement is everything.) We then drove into downtown Arvada, Colorado, where I put a flier up on the community bulletin board on the square in the ‘Old Town’ area, then I walked about passing out more campaign literature… Then if was off to North Geffco Park in Arvada, where our Jonathan, 7, played in the sand at the playground with a group of kids and I passed out yet more campaign literature to some of the parents… Afterward we went to Shannon’s Thrift Store where the boys got a few used baseballs and I bought a couple second-hand pairs of socks. (Have I mentioned it’s a low budget campaign?) Note: Last evening at the Arvada YMCA, the coach of one of the teams there let our kids join in on a practice scrimmage. Liz and I ran the scoreboard clock. We all had an absolutely great time.