Wednesday, October 1

It was wonderful t see wind-powered Kansas as I drove through the rolling countryside early in morning.

I stopped by the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum on my way through Abilene. When I saw this familiar quotation from President Eisenhower, I was reminded of how great it felt to have a president that people respected.

"Every gun made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. . .This is not a way of life at all. . .Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." from "The Chance for Peace" Address in 1953. Eisenhower understood that a nation cold, hungry, under educated and poorly housed was a cache of "weapons of mass destruction" hidden in our midst.

I still have my "I Like Ike" button.

Later that evening I listened to a program about a person in Harlem making a real difference in the outcomes for many kids there. The program is called "Baby College." It is a program for parents wanting something more for their children than they have had. Drawing from the latest research on child development, these parents begin learning parenting skills that make a difference. The program includes schools from preschool to 12th grade. Children coming up through this program are now in the third grade, and in one of the poorest parts of the nation have scores on the New York state test that are on par with those of the the most affluent parts of the state. The write up of this program is in a new book, Whatever It Takes. As I heard the testimony of parents in this program, tears of hope flowed down my cheeks. Go get it. There are many signs of hope, even in the midst of Wall Street meltdown.

When I looked at the polls this morning, I saw more signs of hope. Obama up in Michigan, Florida (imagine -- Florida!), Ohio and Pennsylvania. Maybe our job in Ohio will be just bringing the votes we already have and making sure they are counted. That's a lot easier job than having to recruit the votes in the first place.

I'm going to add a couple more pictures from Abilene but I'm not sure where they will end up. Aparently I have two duplicates. But I can't seem to delete the copies. The building is downtown Abilene and the hose is the Eisenhower home. Oh well. Time to hit the road.