Vote for Joe

Buckeye Back Road Tour cont.:   We continue on down the Old Lincoln Highway (Rte. 30) through Ohio.   During an interview with a newspaper in Wooster, Ohio, I said there is a death on our nation’s roads every 13 minutes.   “That’s like a half full airliner going down in this country every day,” I said.   Our proposal is to reduce speed limits, across the board, significantly.   I mean that’s only common sense…   I also gave a talk at St. Mary’s Church in Wooster, explaining that for abortion to end, pro-Life people need to create the same type of non-violent social unrest that was created in the South to finally end Segregation.   More common sense…   We then headed to Mansfield where I gave a talk to students at St. Mary of the Snows School.   One boy asked:   “If America is the richest country in the world, why are there homeless children?”   I replied:   “Because, well, not everyone is very good at sharing.”   More common sense…   Today the Mansfield News Journal   noted that akin to “Joe the plumber,” I was “Joe the house painter,” with a twist.   That is, I’m “Joe the house painter” running for president.

Buckeye Back Road Tour cont.:   I did an interview on WHBC radio out of Canton, Ohio, today.   (Barrack Obama was in Canton yesterday.)   In regard to the financial crisis, I said I wouldn’t have bailed out  Wall Street.   “Stocks are merely a legalized form of gambling to make easy money.   And I don’t believe in gambling,”   I said.   What’s more, I said the country might do well to actually slide (or crash) into a full-fledge Depression.   Peoples’ priorities might finally shift, for the better…   As an example, polls show that for a majority  of Americans  the economy is the number one issue.   Meanwhile, I  pointed out  that  some 4,000 babies will be killed in their mothers’ wombs in America today, some 24,000 people worldwide will starve to death today, scores of people will be killed in the  Darfur Genocide  today…   And we’re more worried about our 401ks, ability to buy the bigger television set, etc… Just as we don’t   need a bail out on Wall Street, we do   need an attitude adjustment on ‘Main Street.’   A big one.   Note:   The radio host asked what our website was.   When I said voteforjoe.com, he responded:   “Is this like Joe the plumber?”   I laughed and said no, this is like “Joe the house painter.”   I also said, as ‘Joe the plumber’ is having an impact on the election, having campaigned in all 88 counties in Ohio at least twice over the years, ‘Joe the house painter,” might have an impact on the election as well.   See if we impact the vote in Ohio (even slightly), and it’s as close as it was last time in Ohio, well, it might change the complexion of the whole   race nationwide.   Wouldn’t it?   Note 2:   This week we  are doing a series of “whistle-stops” along the Old Lincoln Highway (Rte. 30) through Ohio.   Come join us.

Buckeye Back Road Tour cont.:   We’re back in Cleveland for our final pit-stop of Campaign 2008.   We are now at the 83,000 mile mark of campaigning over the past three election cycles, including two solid years of campaigning in Ohio.   The Columbus Dispatch noted last week that I said one of the first things I’d do as president would be to “get everyone in Congress, on Wall Street, on Main Street… calculators that worked!”   During an interview with the editor of the Franciscan University newspaper in Steubenville, Ohio,  last week, I said with 24,000 people starving to death in the Third World everyday (UN figure), I would push for much more foreign aid (this is currently 4% of the country’s budget).   Yesterday I told a reporter from the BG News at Bowling Green State University, that one of the first things I’d do when I got to D.C. was “change the national symbol from an eagle to a falcon (BG mascot).   On a more serious note, I told the reporter that reversing climate change would be a top priority…   The Cleveland Diocesan newspaper this week noted that I see the global warming as a pro-Life issue.   “No world.   No life…”   Coming up the eastern side of Ohio, we put up fliers in such towns as Wellsville, Ravenna, Lisbon…   Well, when you don’t have the money for the million dollar advertising, a well-placed flier in a small town could be just the ticket to Pennsylvania Avenue.   (And we continue to do this all without paid political consultants.)   Note:   ‘Joe the plumber’ from Ohio?   What about ‘Joe the presidential candidate’ from Ohio, who could just impact the vote enough — to change the whole complexion of the race.   Remember Ohio during Campaign 2004?

Buckeye Back Road Tour cont.:   Liz and I talked to three classes at St. John’s Catholic High School in Bellaire, Ohio.   The last presidential debate was the night before and it was dominated by talk of the economy.   I said to the students that today in America (like everyday) some 4,000 little, innocent babies will be violently killed in their mothers’ wombs, yet a majority of Americans seem more concerned about gas prices, their 401ks, their ability to purchase the new TV…   “What would that say about us as a society?”   I asked the class.   “Selfish,” a student instantly replied…   At Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, I met with Economics professor Mike Welker.   He told me we have become a tremendously complex society where, among other things, credit is embedded at almost every level.   This allows for increased problems around living above one’s means, of greed… I asked him what it would take to shift this around at a grassroots level?   He replied:   “Spiritual conversion.”   That’s what I love about Franciscan University.   You can’t even take a Math course here without learning about God’s Natural Order…   Earlier in the week, I talked briefly to an Ohio University Professor of Finance in Athens, Ohio.   She’s from Africa and said that trying to practice consumer moral constraint — in the midst of so much “temptation” (read: advertising) in America — is extremely   hard…   A front page article in the Athens Messenger   this week noted I “jog through the streets of Cleveland in an old pair of gray sweats and my favorite place to eat is the Old Fashion Hot Dog Place around the corner — chili dogs a buck and a quarter.”   Rampant consumerism?   Hardly…   Actually, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper this week noted that if I was president the traditionally lavish Inaguaral Balls would be preempted by a simple rice and beans meal in solidarity with the poor of the world — the saving going to help starving children.   The Dispatch also noted that the last thing I’d probably do on the first night as president would be to: shovel the walk.   (I would be a Secret Service nightmare.)

Buckeye Back Roads Tour cont.: We drove north into Cambridge, Ohio, where I did some impromptu stumping with the late afternoon ‘brain trust’ in a corner of a McDonald’s Restaurant there. Some 12 older guys were spread among about five tables. I stood in the middle and let them ask me questions. (Ok, so it wasn’t the debate at Hofstra University, but then again I bet Hofstra didn’t have chocolate sundaes on their dollar menu.) One man asked where I stood on 2nd Amendment Rights. I said I supported the right to bear arms, but with some reservations. I said, for instance, that I would like to see stiffer penalties for those who commit crimes like armed robbery. I also would like to see a ban on automatic weapons. “People don’t hunt with automatic weapons,” another man enjoined. “They do in Cleveland,” I replied… At our next stop in Bellaire, Ohio, we met Frank Kovalchik who was (of all things), a former gun dealer. He said that currently you have to fill out paperwork and go through a three-day waiting period to get a gun. But if the initial purchaser then wants to sell the gun to someone else — there’s none of these requirements. Kovalchik wondered how much common sense that makes? I wondered that, too. Note: A couple stops back in Lancaster, Ohio, Sabrina Modzelewski told me she and her husband Bill purchased a gun for self protection. They both took classes to learn how to use the gun properly and they keep the gun in a safety lock box (with a combination) so their children can’t access the gun. Besides the background check and waiting period, it would make sense that it be mandatory those buying a gun would be required to take classes in how to use it effectively, and safely (I mean, we have to take driving classes). What’s more, it would also make sense to me that it would be mandatory the purchase of a gun should also include the purchase of one of those safety lock boxes. (The purchase of a car, for instance, now comes with mandatory seat belts.) How many times do we read about a child accidentally being killed by a gun that was easily accessible? And on the issue of hunting… I would like to see much longer bow and atlatl (spear) hunting seasons and much less time for gun hunting seasons. It just seems to me that hunting with a gun is not very fair to the animals and leads to overkill in animal populations. What’s more, these types of kills are often taken for granted as opposed to the often longer, and more skilled, pursuit entailed by hunting with a bow or spear. And finally, we would do well to take a page (and some classes) from the Native Americans on how to use every part of the animal once it’s been killed.