Vote for Joe

Catching up from the last week… While in South Bend, Indiana, I was invited to a Ph.D. level Law Class at Notre Dame University.   The class discussion this day revolved around the legal reasons the Bush Administration used for a preemptive war in Iraq.   The professor noted at one point that one rationale was Hussein’s violations of human rights, like “gassing the Kurds.”   I interjected that as the world’s leading producer of carbon dioxide, the U.S. was, in a very real sense, “green house gassing the world.”   And if the scientists are right, this is already playing havoc with weather patterns, including causing drought and famine in more arid countries now.   So, from a common sense stand point, wouldn’t other nations have the right to launch a preemptive strike at, well, us?   There was marked silence in the class… Later that night, I attended a talk at Notre Dame by the head chaplain in the U.S. Navy.   During the question and answer period, I asked about Catholic soldiers who adhered to the church teaching on Just War Doctrine.   Pointing, again, to the Iraq War — which Pope John Paul II said wasn’t a Just War — I asked the chaplain if he could see a time in the future when, for instance, a Catholic soldier could opt out of a war.   Just like an Amish person opts out of the military for their religious reasons.   He answered that he could, indeed, see that…   During the week, I took the kids to the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend where we played some football on the Astro-turf out in front of the building…   At an Art Walk in downtown South Bend, we stopped by a booth about the Studebaker Nationall Museum.   There was a ’50s Studebaker on display at the booth.   South Bend was the home of the Studebaker family and the collection of wagons, vehicles and artifacts at the museum span some 150 years…   While in South Bend, our family also volunteered at the Our Lady of the Way drop-in center for the poor here.   It is run by the local Catholic Worker group and is a sterling example of social justice at it’s best.   Everyone is welcome here…

The campaign continues… We stopped in Auburn, Indiana, where I talked with Mary Voiral.   She put up a full size crucifix in her front yard on a busy street here.   She said at a time when they are removing monuments with the 10 Commandments, and other religious symbols, from public places, wouldn’t it make sense for people of faith to display similar things in their front yards?   …We journeyed on to Kendallville, Indiana, where we visited the Mid-America Windmill Museum.   This is the second biggest windmill display in the world, with 54 large windmills on display.   (The first biggest is in Lubbock, Texas.)   The particular windmills on display at Kendalville are primarily for pumping water on farms, etc.   However, while at the museum, I learned Benton County, Indiana, was installing a wind farm with 360 wind turbines in a “Class 3” wind corridor.   Just this morning, our Jonathon, 6, was learning the following poem in ‘motor-homeschooling.’   “The sky is painted blue.   The earth is painted green.   And there’s lots of fresh air inbetween.”   I couldn’t help but think that we’re going to need a lot more wind turbines in this country for the poem to be: true…   We then headed northwest to Southbend, Indiana.   I talked to a couple Christian Response to the Globe classes at Holy Cross College.   [One of the classes was taught by Michael Griffin who is involved with the Peace Fellowship here.]   I told the classes that in my first “100 days as president,” I’d sign my allegiance to a ‘war.’   The War on Hunger.   I said with 24,000 people starving to death every day in the world, this would seem a huge issue. Note:   At an “Art Walk” today in downtown South Bend, I passed out fliers about the campaign.   I ask our supporters to download the Hand Out from the top of the home page and pass them out on the streets, throughout your neighborhood, etc. Thanks.   –Joe

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.

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.      

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.