We attended Mass in Coshocton, Ohio, this morning. The gospel reading was about a farmer who has a good harvest. Instead of giving some of it away to people less fortunate, he builds another barn to store all of it for himself. God calls him a “fool” because, apparently, he’s headed to Hell for that decision. The priest in his homily then said to a group of rather well off parishioners(compared to the Third World)this wasn’t, necessarily, about “divesting” one’s material stuff… I sat flabergasted. There are some 24,000 people starving to death every day in the world, millions more people are without the basics in medicine, shelter, clothes… Of course, this is about divesting a lot of our American stuff.
10/20/07
average JoeOhio Tour cont: We were told the Circleville Pumpkin Festival outdraws the Ohio State Fair. So, of course, this was our next stop. There were pumpkin rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream (yuk), pumpkin cup cakes… The winning pumpkin in the size category was: 1,508 lbs. Steroids? After going through the heart of the festival passing out campaign flyers, I came across part of the parade route, which was lined with chairs. It was a couple hours before the parade, but some people were already seated. So I walked up the street passing out more cards and telling them I was “…the early part of the parade.” See, we don’t even need a highly-paid campaign strategist, or anything. Note: A front page story in the Lancaster Eagle Gazette today noted that my campaign was, in part, focused on global warming, world-wide poverty, and the decay of American’s inner cities.
10/19/07
average JoeOhio Tour still cont.: We did a whislte-stop in downtown Lancaster, Ohio, today. Mayor David Smith stopped by to say hello. Nice guy. A reporter from the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette also came by for an interview. She asked me about my stances. I said the day before, I talked with Gloria Knott in Cambridge, Ohio. She had been on two medical mission trips to Haitti and said the people there, including the children, were horrendously malnourished (“…a piece of sugar cane may be all a child has to eat for a day there,” she said). What’s more, many children spend the entire day just looking for small amounts of clean water and many sleep in cinder block structures at night with no roofs and partial walls… I told the reporter from the Lancaster Eagle that it is “unconscienable” that we have a 33% obesity problem in America in the face of this poverty. It is just as inconscienable that we ‘gorge’ ourselves on excessive entertainment, nice cars, quite comfortable homes… while these little kids in the Third World starve. Are we nuts? Do we not think we’re going to have to answer for this at Judgement? And the only reason we’re not hearing this from the pulpits of America (for the most part) is because our so-called spiritual leaders (priests, ministers, etc.) are gorging themselves on excessive entertainment, nice cars, comfortable rectories and homes…
10/18/07
average JoeOhio Tour cont: We drove into Cambridge, Ohio, where we did a downtown whistle-stop. A reporter from the Daily Jeffersonian newspaper did an interview. We talked at length about global warming. I said, among other things, that like in war time: I would ask the American people to sacrifice. Even if that meant rationing energy use, etc. She responded that it really is a war on the environment that we are seeing today. For more on our environmental stance as it relates to global warming and other issues, see…
10/17/07
We did a whistle-stop event in downtown Stuebenville. Reporter Dave Gossett from the Herald Star newspaper interviewed me. I said we believed in a consistent life ethic that sets us against abortion, euthanasia, embyronic stem cell research, pollution, poverty… and anything else that ends life prematurely. And in regard to poverty, I told Mr. Gossett that our family had moved to the inner city of Cleveland to live side-by-side with the poor in solidarity (and to help). That is the real key to changing our turbulent inner cities. It’s just getting people and churches, for instance, to get behind this.
10/16/07
average JoeOhio Tour cont: We headed into Stuebenville, Ohio, where we stopped at Franciscan University. Every other t-shirt here, and this is not much of an exagerration, has a Bible quote, or a picture of Christ, a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary… These students take their faith seriously. While walking about and passing out campaign stuff, I learned a Franciscan student group goes to an abortion clinic in nearby Pittsburgh, PA, to pray every Saturday morning. Another group had organized a “Trick or Treat for the Poor.” They were going around town dressed as saints and asking people for non-perishable food or monetary donations for the poor. Actually, you hardly can take a math course at Franciscan without learning about “God’s Natural Order” and how that relates. Note: After we got our kids to bed in the motor home, I went into a small chapel on campus to pray. It was 10:30. There were some 15 students in there praying.
10/14/07
Heading further east in Ohio, our campaign vehicle went on the blink. Translation: It wouldn’t start. Where it broke down, providentially enough (I like to think), was in an Auto Zone parking lot in Minerva, Ohio. My father-in-law Stuart, an Auto Zone guy named Mike Ross, and myself spent the better part of the afternoon trouble shooting (and buying parts). A gas filter, a distributor cap and a coil later… it finally fired up. Mike couldn’t have been more helpful and I promised him a position on the Air Force One mechanical team when we get to D.C. (My wife Liz keeps saying I’ve got to stop doing that.) What’s more, with global warming and all, my administration’s Air Force One may well be a small Cessna…
10/13/07
The Morning Jornal newsaper did a big feature story on the campaign today. A few excerpts: “In this campaign (2008) the Schriners have done 30,000 miles in a donated (conversion) van that looks more like a member of a Grateful Dead entourage than it does a campaign headquarters.” [That might be, oh, stretching it a bit.] “…he (Schriner) wants to phase out subsidies for traditional farmers and redirect that money toward more organic start ups, farmland preservation and the development of small, non-polluting farm technology.” [Lisbon, Ohio is right in the heart of Ohio farm country. How’s that for not pandering?] Note: It is my faith belief that we are called to be excellent environmental stewards of the land. I am Catholic and I read once where St. Benedict said we are to treat the things of God’s nature as we do the sacred vessels of the altar. Our agriculture platform reflects that.
10/12/07
We met with Tim and Ann Miller in Lisbon, Ohio. They practice “apostolic farming.” That is, they look at the land as a gift from God and do everything organically — instead of pumping toxic pesticides, herbacides and fertilizers into the soil. Our agricultural platform calls for pulling subsidies away from farmers using these toxic chemicals (which are depleting the soil and causing, among other things: cancer). In a short piece about our campaign prior to a whistle-stop event in Lisbon, the Morning Journal newspaper noted that I am a concerned Midwestern parent. One of the things I’m concerned about is our kids getting cancer from modern wheat, soy, broccoli…
10/11/07
I was interviewed by the Salem News in Ohio. I said that a lot of our platform is based on Catholic Social teaching. For instance, we are pro-Life across the board. That is, we look at abortion, the environment, the poor in the Third World… all as “pro-Life” issues. I also noted to the reporter that when the dust clears from the Primaries, our campaign may be one of the few Pro-Life campaigns left. And the time to support us (on every level) is now, so we can become as viable as possible: Schriner Presidential Election Committee, 2100 W. 38th St., Cleveland, Ohio 44113.