I took our kids to a Bluffton University football game over the weekend in Bluffton, Ohio. Bluffton lost 41 to 7 against Michigan’s Adrian College. While there was a lot of reasons for the Bluffton loss (the first string quarterback got hurt, they fumbled twice, Adrian had a better passing attack…), I believe the main reason for the loss was Bluffton’s mascott: the beaver. In a collegiate mascott moniker world of, say, Nittany Lions, Texas Longhorns, Notre Dame Fighting Irish… a name like “the beavers” hardly strikes terror in anyone. “That is, unless you’re a tree,” a friend of mine back in Cleveland laughed… From Bluffton, we traveled west to Van Wert, Ohio, where a priest said during a Sunday Mass that he’d just read that 40% of people who graduate college now — will never read another whole book in their life. His point was that in this new world of quick TV sound bytes and internet surfing, that many have lost the ability to be contemplative… We moved on to Garrett, Indiana (pop. 5,000), where I talked with Mike Zumbaugh. He volunteers regularly at the city’s Recycling Center. He said he was initially ordered to work there as part of his Community Service. And he liked working there so much he’s continued on the past two years. He told me he was, indeed, concerned about the environment and this was his way of trying to help.
Does anybody remember ‘Ponderosa’?
We are now heading north… Yesterday we stopped at the Flying J Truck Stop in Beaverdam, Ohio, where we were approached by Don Baker. He said he was involved with a new group called The Sons of Patrick Henry (circa the Revolutionary War). They are concerned their liberty is being incrementally infringed upon and they are mounting grassroots efforts to protest this. (It is a spirit somewhat akin to those involved with the “Tea Parties.”)… In Findlay, Ohio, we talked with Larry Cole who owns the Findlay Transmission Service Center. He described himself as a “born again Christian” who is tremendously alarmed by the rapidly declining morals in this country. He said he’s shocked with a lot of the programming on television these days. Cole, 69, said we would do well as a society to go back to watching wholesome family shows like Ponderosa. In an earlier campaign tour, I told The Review newspaper in Alliance, Ohio, that I’d like to see the country go back to the 1950s when the pace of life was slower, neighbors helped neighbors and downtowns were vibrant. Just think Norman Rockwell (and Pa, Adam, Haas, Little Joe…). Note: We are asking people to help more with the campaign. See two entries back.
…chock full of behavioral problems
I talked with Larry Bubeck in North Star, Ohio (pop. 136), yesterday. He has an auto-mechanic shop in North Star, looks to be in his late 40s and was full of small town common sense. He said, for instance, that most kids these days are chock full of behavioral problems, have little respect for adults, have less and less of a work ethic… “You’d think at some point parents would realize that what they’re doing isn’t working,” he lamented. He recommends that parents again become a lot more disciplinarian, that paddling comes back to schools (“It worked for me,” he smiled.) and that youth again learn the value of work… Later that evening, I attended a Bible Study at St. Louis Church in North Star. The priest said that in the Roman Empire there was a lot of infant sacrifice to the various gods. He said now, with abortion, babies are being sacrificed to “the god of social convenience.” Note: Yorkshire, Ohio, was the home of Annie (“sure shot”) Oakley. Note 2: We are asking people to now get more involved with the campaign. Please see the last entry. Thanks.
…it has to happen now!
I got an e-mail from a supporter in New York City yesterday. A couple exerpts from Jared Adams’s letter: “I voted for you in the 2008 election… You were, and remain, the best candidate for the job. The idea of a third party has always been viewed as a far off dream buried within history’s pileup of two-party system candidates, and even more so by the now virutally invulnerable reliance on exorbitant campaign contributions from insurance companies, major media outlets and big business in general. There is an insidious outer shell that enshrouds Washington, seemingly impenetrable unless one is securely shoved deep into the pockets of these contributors for the ride in. Hope rests with very few, but with you sir more than most. You’re very existence is that of a bright beacon… The time is now more than ever…” Note: If you are a supporter out there who feels the same as Mr. Adams, the time to act to support the campaign is right now! There needs to be a groundswell of people putting up Vote for Joe homemade yard signs now; people renting billboard space (and designing the billboard); we need people downloading the new Hand-Out from the top of our home page and passing it out in their neighborhoods now; we need people ordering bumper stickers and buttons now; we need people writing letters to the editor about the campaign now, e-mailing others about the campaign now… In fact, we’re asking people who are really interested in seeing this third party thing happen, to sacrifice all kinds of time and resources to make it happen. To look viable in the year 2012, things have to start happening now with the campaign! Think of what a “David vs. Goliath” story this would be. Note 2: This is my last run.
…stop using the stuff that causes cancer
I talked at an Organic Farm Festival in Yorkshire, Ohio, over the weekend. More than 200 people attended the festival. It was conducted at Dan Kremer’s Eat Food For Life Farm. I said one of the things that is essentially being left out of the current Healthcare Reform debate is: prevention. That is, if people ate better, got more exercise and were less stressed — they wouldn’t get sick as much. Common sense. I explained Dan Kremer is an absolute “evangalist” for organic growing, and I would consider him for the Secretary of Agriculture post when we get to D.C. Kremer stresses that the artificial pesticides and herbacides being used on the crops now are creating chemical cocktails in our systems that are exploding into things like cancer. (One in three men in America now will contract cancer; and one in four women will contract cancer.) I added that in the midst of our “Racing for a Cure,” maybe we should be ‘racing’ even more: to stop using the stuff that causes cancer in the frist place!” Common sense.
too busy?
From Liz: As we get ready to embark on yet another campaign tour, I find myself busy, impatient, and more busy. But I’m probably not the only one. It seems to me most families feel pressure from too much activity these days. A rush that squeezes in from every side and cuts into quality time with the kids, the spouse. We have to be able to say “no” to some of this extraneous activity, and stick to it. But what to say no to? …Judy and Pete Hokey in Cleveland just said “no” to a job for Judy, that while bringing in some extra cash, would mean less time with her son and her husband. It’s imperative parents provide prudent leadership and vision for a family — or the family may well perish in a sea of busyness.
Knowing the desperation of the streets…
I’ve been in Cleveland the past few weeks readying for our next set of tours and doing some writing projects. Some of the writing has been about Bruce Stalla, 54. He was homeless in Cleveland for ten years. Year round he lived in a tent at makeshift “camps” throughout the city. He’s now off the streets and volunteering at St. Paul’s Community Church four times a week. He stocks food in the church food pantry, loads trucks and helps out in St. Paul’s thrift store. Knowing the desperation of the streets, Bruce said he is now vested in helping those still out there.
do the math…
In Chicopee, Massachussetts, we talked with Jackie and Bob Mashia on our last tour. They have a modest, one-story ranch style home. On the roof are four solar panels that were put in in the early ’80s. Bob said the panels heat the water for the water heater and saves him, on average, $100 a month. The initial outlay for the panels, with a government rebate, was about $2,500. When you do the math, the Mashias have saved a considerable amount of money over the years and the environment has benefitted as well. The Mashias also have a large rain barrel out back. They use the rain water to water their garden. Note: Last year the Mashias took a homeless woman into their home for awhile. The reason: She needed a place and Jackie said its, well, what Jesus would do.
a city on the edge
We live in a hardscrabble urban area of Cleveland, Ohio. And a couple days ago, I broke up a fight between a couple kids out in front of our local Rec. Center. Now kids fighting happens. But down here the fights seem more frequent and more intense. What’s more, people down here just generally seem more defensive, more edgy. And it’s understandable. That is, people in the urban areas of our country are surrounded with more homicides, more gangs, more drugs… It’s a continual pressure cooker. Note: I recently completed a book that, I believe, has an excellent blue print for how to bring significant change to our urban areas. It’s titled: America’s Best Urban Neighborhood.
grassroots health care debate
On our last tour, we stopped in Lee, New Hampshire, where groups of Republicans and Democrats were demonstrating about health care reform on a public green there one morning. We stopped and talked to both sides. On the Republican side, the consensus, basically, was that health care in America wasn’t “broken” (although some of the group acknowledged it could use some changes). For instance, one woman said there should be a cap on money you can receive in health care lawsuits so, in turn, insurance to doctors and other health care providers wasn’t as high… On the Democrat side, people were primarily for the health care reform being proposed because they felt more people (especially the low-income people) should have more access to quality health care… Frederick Berrien, MD, from Exeter, New Hampshire, was lobbying for Universal Health Care coverage. In a paper he was passing out, he writes: “Universal health insurance will decrease overall costs by providing access to covered preventive services and lower cost acute care, thus preventing the progression of expensive illnesses. The uninsured and under-insured presently do not seek preventive care such as mammograms, hypertension treatment, etc. They also delay in obtaining care for acute illnesses until preventable problems have progressed to debilitating conditions…” Like, say, some stroke victims… The other day I was near the West Side Market in Cleveland and heard a distraught man telling a friend what he’d just witnessed at the Market. A man was apparently having a stroke, had slumped to the ground and someone was frantically calling 911 — when the victim looked up and pleaded with the caller to put down the phone. “I don’t have insurance and can’t pay for this!” The man relating the story shook his head and continued: “Ironically, those might have been the last words this man ever says. And we’re arguing about health care reform in this country?”