Vote for Joe

Our tour up Route 1 continues… In Colonial Heights, Virginia, we talked with Ted Du Varney, 68, who has diabetes.   (He actually looks like he’s in his early 50s.)   He now charts everything he eats on a computerized graph and, well, everything he eats is quite healthy now.   He said he’s turned the whole thing into a “game.”   With all this talk about healthcare reform lately, shouldn’t this also include a significant amount of talk about: prevention?…   Traveling further north, we stopped at a beach in Naragansett, Rhode Island, where our kids swam for the afternoon.   The waves were, oh, a little bit bigger (and cleaner) than the ones we see back home at Lake Erie… We then headed further north, where we stood in solidarity with some people protesting abortion in front of a Planned Parenthood office in Biddeford, Maine…   We concluded the Route 1 Tour in Biddeford and headed back west, stopping first in Haverhill, Massachussetts, where I talked at All Saints Church about abortion.   I noted that we’ve crossed the 50 million abortion threshold mark in this country.   By comparison, I said six million people were killed during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany… We then headed further west where we went to the YMCA in Hollyoke, Massachussetts.   While lifting some weights, I over-heard a man in his early 20s talking about his “addiction.”   He said he plays an “Assassin” video game for two to three hours every night.   This, basically, is about “going around and killing people,” he said.   What’s more, he said a new movie is coming out with the plot being about someone playing a similar game, but  they  actually control a real assassin who, basically, “goes around killing people.”   Our culture  is getting  so absolutely nuts it’s unbelievable.

Catching up on  some of our recent  backroads campaigning…   Just outside Huntington, West Virginia, I interviewed Frank Holcomb from Point Pleasant in Mason County.   He is a retired state trooper.   Several years prior, he had answered a domestic violence call and was shot in the leg.   He became disabled because of the injury and had to retire early.   Officer Holcomb has a wife, two young children and is a member of New Hope Bible Baptist Church.   We talked about how society was becoming more violent as a whole and I said it was my belief those who put themselves in harm’s way day in and day out should be compensated accordingly… While in Huntington, West Virginia, we spent time  on the Marshall University campus.   On Saturday Nov. 14, 1970, the Marshall University football team and staff (75 people in all) crashed just before reaching the Tri-State Airport runway while returning from a game.   Everyone was killed…   While in Huntington, we also talked with Grattan Gannon  .   His wife inherited the “Hatfield Cemetery.”   That’s right, the ‘Hatfield’ of Hatfield’s and McCoy’s fame.   We were told there’s not much fuedin’ going on these days.   In fact, the families get together for an annual softball game each year now.   After hearing this, I couldn’t help but ruminate that maybe that’s the answer to a lot of these current international conflicts (with Iran, North Korea…).   Maybe we should all get together for some softball games.   (And some actually intimate I’m weak on foreign policy.   Ha!)   Note:   Gratten is an absolutely fabulous story teller, the Garrison Keillor of Appalachia, if you will.   And, in ‘down home’ fashion, he  told us  that at one of the funerals at the cemetery, a rather cantancerous Hatfield was on his way to his burial.   He was in a coffin on the back of a pick-up truck.   The cemetery is at the top of a rather steep hill and as the pick-up was climbing it, the coffin slid off and created quite a ruckus.   “See, even dead I knew Jeb was still going to mess this thing up,” one mourner (sort of) was heard to say.

We’ve stayed in Huntington, West Virginia (pop. 50,000) the last week amidst a whirlind of activity.   I was interviewed by the online newspaper here and Channel 3 News did an interview during a whistle-stop event we held downtown.   Last Sunday I talked at all the weekend Masses at St. Joseph’s Church about pro-Life issues.   We then met with  columnist Patrick Grace, who is with Huntington’s Herald Dispatch newspaper.   We were on the same page with Mr. Grace when it comes to holding a Consistent Life Ethic.   That is, this sets us against abortion, euthanasia, poverty, pollution and anything else that can end life prematurely… We also stumped in the Jolly Pirate Donut place here with some guys at the counter who had seen the Channel 3 News spot.   One said:   “Whatever you do, don’t say anything against coal as you’re touring West Virginia.”   This still didn’t convince me that speaking against blowing the tops off mountains to get to the coal  isn’t called for.  

We traveled through the rolling hills of northern Kentucky, stopping first in Flemingsburg (pop. 3,100).   On fourth of July, we talked at length with John Dunn and Dwayne Roller, who  were both  in the Armed Services.   Mr. Roller received a Purple Heart during  the Korean Conflict.   And  Mr. Dunn was in Thialand servicing U.S. bombers flying into Vietnam.   (He vividly remembers the intense bombing of Cambodia just before the war ended.)   And while not everyone is on the same page when it comes to, say,  the Iraq War, the Vietnam War — now deceased Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who was one of the ‘architects’ of the Vietnam War, later expressed misgivings about it –;  we can all be on the same page in regard to recognizing the courage (and just plain guts) those ‘on the ground’ demonstrate during a time of war…   Both Mr. Dunn and Mr. Roller are also extremely active Christians who participate in small covenant communities. And Mr. Dunn also is quite  an astute Bible teacher…   While we were in  Flemingsburg, we also attended the Dunn family annual fourth of July celebration.   It was quintessential Americana, with hot dogs, hamburgers, country music, backyard fireworks and a homemade rocket launcher that fired (Are you ready for this?): potatoes.   In fact this was so   impressive (the potatoes would fly 300 yards or more), our administration  may well  consider putting in a bunch of  scud, oops, I mean ‘spud’  missile silos in, like, Idaho.     Just kidding, sort of.

From Liz: We just hit Route 50 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Route 50 is touted as the “Backbone of America,” running coast-to-coast through the center of the country. It made me reflect on the backbone of this nation, or for that matter any   nation: solid families. Solid families need solid marriages and  solid parenting, including solid child discipline. Most of us would agree with that, but in real life we often struggle to live it out. I believe part of the problem comes from growing up in a culture of indulgence and instant gratification. For Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and generations following, we have lived with much, and thought we had a right to much. Often with little effort on our part to achieve it. Along the way, we have lost the fortitude and resilience to hang in there through the “tough stuff.” How does that relate to solid families?      We get married and three months later the honeymoon is over. Now we argue, then have to do the hard work of communicating through conflict. The four-year-old is throwing a tantrum in the store and now we have to choose  between giving in to what  he wants, or leave and discipline the child.      Or, for instance,  a teen is drinking and we have the difficult decision to make about establishing household boundaries, knowing  the  youth,  in the short term, might make it extremely uncomfortable… Just north of Route 50 at a YMCA in Circleville, Ohio, the other day,  we were hussled into  an interior  room of a YMCA  when tornado warnings were  issued for the area. (When it comes to excuses not to exercise, this is a pretty good one.) Anyway, as we settled in for the wait, a 10-year-old boy —  on his way to manhood — started screaming and crying. He had apparently traded an item with another boy,  and now wanted  the item  back. The other  boy didn’t want to trade back, and thus the tantrum.    The boy  wasn’t getting what he wanted, and he apparently thought his behavior would force someone’s hand. A staff member, who appeared to be a veteran parent, showed up and firmly told the boy he couldn’t behave in that manner.    However, if he remained quiet, they could talk further. This was affective, and the ensuing converstaion allowed the boy to  express himself.  The staff member, in turn, established her boundary paramaters again as well, including explaining to the boy there would be no trade back. She also advised him in the future not to bring his own toys to the YMCA. Both her firmness, and respect for the boy, struck me as good solid parenting techniques.   Sadly,  this firmness and respect are things that  are predominately  lacking in our current society.  This staff person  impressed me so much, that I complimented her on my way out… I am challenged every day to practice backbone in my marriage and with my children.    Maybe we can support each other to build stronger families — and thus a stronger nation.