Vote for Joe

Russia is escalating it’s assault on bordering Georgia, at the time of this writing.   The New York Times reports that Georgia serves as a major conduit for oil flowing from Russia and Central Asia to the West.   So the widening conlict, it would seem, is partially about control and monetary gain for Russia (not just retaliation against an aggressive action)…   With the inevitably rough transition to a free-market economy in Russia, times have been hard for many there.   Some of this Russia/Geogia conflict, I believe, could have been averted with much more of a proactive humanitarian outreach into Russia when it initially converted to democracy.   At the time, I proposed the U.S. set up a “Sister City Program” with most of the towns in Russia.   Besides cultural exchange, and the like, this program could have included a regular outpouring of Sister City donated money into each town.   This would have not only helped the Russian people, but it would have helped stem  (or at least temper) things like this incursion into Georgia because, well, the Russian economy would have been doing much better by now —  with our help.   Not to mention this would have gone a long way toward diminishing lingering Cold War tensions between Russia and the U.S.   In fact, the window of opportunity for this massive Russia/U.S. Sister City Project is still there, but it seems to be  closing fast.   Note:    The average American is much more well off than the average Russian at this point. Yet we are lavishing ourselves with extras  (several televisions in the house, central heating and cooling, three full meals a day and snacks…) in the face of the Isrealite/manna story in the Bible.   Author Richard Lowry writes  about the concept of “Sabbath economics” and he says of the manna story.     Families were told to gather just enough manna for their needs each day.   In God’s economy there is such a thing as too much or tool little, as opposed to capitalism’s infinite tolerance of wealth and poverty, Lowry writes… We in America are confusing “wants” with “needs” in this country, out of self indulgence.   As a result, others starve elsewhere, others are plunged into war, others…

There has been talk this week by both major candidates about energy policies…     Our energy policy calls for, among other things,  a dramatic shift to much more sacrifice and the development of renewable energy technologies, I said at a debate at the National Press Club in D.C.   Anything less at this point, I believe, is akin to:  “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic…”   What do I mean by sacrifice?   We would provide tax incentives for Americans to house share.   When you share a home, you share heating, cooling, lighting… What’s more, you halve expenses so you have more discretionary money to install, say,  solar panels, wind turbines, and the like.   On a campaign stop in Winnona, Minnesota, we learned that city has a “Home Share Program” that helps connect people who want to house share…    House sharing  will also start to reverse urban sprawl, free up more money for social justice causes, exponentially enhance peoples’ community building skills…    During  a stop  Habitat for Humanity headquarters in  Americus, Georgia, we toured replicas of Third World homes, which, on average, are much   smaller than American homes.   Should we Americans be proud of this?   Should we Americans feel “blessed” by this?   Or should we Americans see all this additional space for what it really is?   The sin of gluttony.

Iran did some missile tests last week and, in turn,  the United States ramped up it’s rhetoric against them.   We don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons capability.   Yet we have nuclear weapons aimed all over the world, including, I’m pretty sure, at: Iran.   One would have to ask: What’s up with this?   A New York Times   article said the Bush administration has refused to rule out a miliatry option to rebuke Iran… On our last tour, we went to Sunday Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Oberlin, Ohio.   The priest said Jesus’s New Testament message was consistently that we shouldn’t return violence for violence.   So given the current state of affairs in the world, “…how many of you would vote for Jesus to be president?”   He asked.   Good question. Note:   Like other campaigns, we are in need of donations to keep on: Schriner Presidential Election Committee, 2100 W. 38th St., Cleveland, Ohio 44113.   Thank you.

Buckeye Back Road Tour cont.:   We were interviewed by NBC News ABC News (both out of Toledo) last week.   The NBC reporter asked about our Green Party bumper sticker…   The reason I attempted to vie for the Green Party nomination is because I believe when it comes to ecological wisdom,  social justice, peace building, decentralism… the Green Party has, by far, the best platform of any of the Parties.   Conversely, I do disagree with their pro-choice stance.   However in the other areas, it is a paradigm that’s time has come in this country.   We also appeared on the front page of the Fremont News-Messenger newspaper last week.   I told the reporter we look at global warming as a huge pro-life issue.   “No world, no life,” I said.

During our pit stop back home in Cleveland, I painted a room in a neighbor’s home that they set aside for foster children.   This couple is involved with the Catholic Worker outreach to the poor here.   They aggressively lobby to maintain low income housing for the disadvantaged in the area.   And both are strong peace activists.   In fact, one of their bumper stickers says:   “War is terrorism — with a bigger budget.”   …Speaking of terrorism:   We then headed back out, stopping first in Fremont, Ohio, where I gave a talk at St. Joseph’s Church on abortion.   (During Campaign 2004 I said to the Range News   in Arizona that with abortion “…we’ve become our own worst terrorists.”)   During the talk in Fremont, I said little babies being dismembered and decapitated in the womb  at nearby Toledo abortion clinics  should be front page news in the Toledo Blade,   every day!   But it’s just that we’ve become so   tremendously decensitized to it…   We then did a downtown whistle-stop event in Sandusky, Ohio.   The Sandusky Register photographer taking pictures this day was a former student at the Christopher Program in Columbus, an alternative high school.   Some four years prior, I had talked in his Political Science Class.   That semester each student had been allowed out of school twice a week to work on an issue or candidate’s campaign for the then upcoming 2004 Election.   As president I would lobby for more of these types of classes to heighten political enthusiasm among the young.