It's been great to have a bit of time off from the walk. I didn't realize how much I needed it until a couple of days into it. We have been pushing so hard for so long, and I've wound up spending a major amount of this time off just sleeping. As you can tell, I haven't stopped thinking and writing about what's going on, but having the pressure to make good mileage each day gone for a little while has been very helpful. At the same time, I'm anxious to get back to walking and will be doing so some time between tomorrow and Monday depending on the circumstances we encounter and the weather. Once we resume, I don't expect any more breaks other than unavoidable ones until we walk into D.C.

I've also spent some of my time off trying to get some things up on eBay to help with the financial considerations. If you're interested, look for items sold by radical_geezer (with the underscore). I hope to have more online before we get out of range of Hannibal.

A wonderful piece of news - within the next few days you will see the disappearance of the Walking Sale page (it hasn't seen much action at all) and the addition of a brand new page that I'm very excited about. We have two sons who are very gifted musically and they've both written and recorded some songs pertinent to what I'm trying to do. If all goes well, in a few days you will see a "Music" page added to the website where you will be able to hear the music they've done as well as download the individual songs as MP3 files. I've been wanting to do this for a long time and I'm excited that we're this close to making it happen.

We motored into Quincy today to attend a peace rally at Washington Park there. It was a very good experience even though - once again - it was one of those events where there was I think one person in attendance younger than ourselves. Also this morning I received a call from the Stacy Taylor show (KLSD Air America) back in San Diego and did another short interview with them. I'm really grateful that they're continuing to follow my walk.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007:  Fast forward to October, 2008. The following is a transcript of an address from the Oval Office:

Good evening, my fellow Americans. I come before you tonight because of the events of the past several days. As I am sure most of you are well aware, neither of the candidates for the presidential election to be held next month have been seen or heard from in the last several days and, naturally, this has been a cause of great concern and worry. The very first thing I want to do this evening is give you a piece of very good news - both candidates are well and currently under the protection of highly trained, professional members of the National Security Agency. I am afraid I am not at liberty to reveal exactly where they are at this moment, but I assure you, as your president, that they have come to no harm.

I have been watching with grave concern over the past many months as we have come closer and closer to election day. I have been hoping fervently that both of the public servants who have been vying for the highest office in the land would fully grasp the terrible danger our country is in - from the threat of terrorist attacks, to the proliferation of nuclear capabilities in the hands of rogue nations, to the necessity for more effective investigation tools and techniques to continue to keep our homeland secure from enemy attack or infiltration. Unfortunately it has become clear to me during this time that both candidates are incapable of grasping the terrible dangers we face and, in fact, were increasingly promoting programs and policies that would prematurely bring an end to the ongoing war in Iraq. This would, of course, lead to destablization of the entire mideast and a rapid spreading of the terrorism we are pledged to eliminate. Further, it has become clear that the election of either candidate would lead to an assault on the many measures I have put in place to safeguard the citizens of this nation, such as the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, The Defense Authorization Act and the Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act, to name a few.

These are difficult times. Nobody knows this better than me, your president. Being the president is hard work, and it means sometimes I have to make hard decisions. But as you know, I am the decider, and even in the most difficult times I will not shirk my responsibility to make those hard decisions. Last week, faced with what I believe is a great threat to our national security and international stability, I made one of those hard decisions.

Since it became clear to me that the election of either candidate would strike a terrible blow to the security of our nation and serve only to embolden the enemy, I exercised the authority granted to me under the Military Commissions Act and officially declared both candidates enemy combatants. I've already outlined some of the evidence upon which I based this declaration. There is much more, but for the sake of your safety and under the guidelines of the Patriot Act, I am not at liberty to - and in fact not required to present that evidence at this time. I must simply ask you to trust me. I am the president.

I realize this is an unprecedented action, and I know there are many out there who do not understand the situation as well as I do, and who will not be able to quickly comprehend how necessary this difficult decision has been to thwart the terrorists, preserve the security of our homeland and continue the hard work that will keep our nation great and secure our future prosperity. It is possible that these few, these people who cannot grasp the importance of true patriotism and the loyal support of their leaders in these perilous times, may well resort to violent acts in response to this measure. They will put you in great danger and seek to harm those who have pledged to protect you - unless I take immediate action to thwart such wrong-headed interference before it has a chance to spread through our nation like an evil vurus. But you need not worry, because tonight I will take just such action to protect you.

Under the provisions of the Defense Authorization Act wisely passed by your Congress and signed by me just last year, I am exercising my authority to deploy our military forces within the borders of our own country to maintain peace and order. And since so many of our herioc troops are presently engaged abroad in keeping us safe from those who hate our freedoms, I am exercising my authority under the Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act, also passed by your leaders in Congress last year, which permits me to assume direct control over the National Guard of every state in the union, and declare a state of martial law throughout the country in order to maintain public order during these difficult times. Your leadership was farsighted enough to structure these laws so that I need not suffer the delay of seeking either Congressional approval or the approval of any of the state governors in order to implement these measures. This means I am able to move very quickly to ensure your safety, something I'm sure you can all appreciate.

Obviously, since both candidates posed a threat to our security through their inability to comprehend our dangers and were overtly declaring intentions that would have emboldened our enemies, the election scheduled for next month cannot be held as has been our tradition. You should take comfort in this, because I know you would not have wanted to elect a person to this office who sympathizes with terrorists. But don't be concerned. Free, democratic elections are central to our democracy, and November's election will be held on schedule. Of course, due to the circumstances in which we presently find ourselves, neither candidate will be on the ballot. Since we are now under a state of martial law and it is imperative that we maintain public order here at home as well as continue the fight for freedom abroad, we will need a leader that understands the measures that are necessary to secure victory and preserve our freedoms. We need a president who understands the hard work it takes to be president and is willing to do that hard work. We also at this time need a strong sense of continuity in our governance and a leader with broad experience and a thorough knowledge of what must be done to protect us. Clearly, I am that person, and I promise you I will work hard for you until we are both victorious and safe. When you receive your ballot next month, my name will be the only name on it, so you may freely exercise your right to vote and permit me to continue the hard work that must be done.

We will prevail over the enemies of freedom. We will establish democracy throughout the world. A new age will dawn for America, the land of liberty and a shining beacon of moral righteousness to the entire world. Thank you for your attention and goodnight - and be sure to be in your homes by eight p.m. with the lights out.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007: Be forewarned - a major rant coming up.

Jonna and I have never met Cindy Sheehan. In the recent past we have had the opportunity to exchange a few short emails with her and have been hoping that at some point along our journey we would have the opportunity to meet her in person and come to know her more directly. We have only known of her - that she was a mother to a son Casey, who was killed in Iraq; that through her struggles to have a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Bush she became, in essence, the face of the contemporary peace movement; and that she had sacrificed much of her life and her health in the process of trying to end these wars. That was enough for us - we knew that she was a kindred spirit.

Today, several of our supporters sent us links to her Memorial Day letter (thank you, folks) in which she has officially bowed out of her efforts and is returning to California to try to regain some semblance of a normal life. We encourage all of you to read what she wrote. We wrote her an email today, thanking her for all she has done and sending our sincere wishes for her own personal healing and peace of mind.

In her announcement she talks in no uncertain terms about the myopic and self-serving vision of both political parties as well as the vicious infighting within the ranks of the peace movement itself - and she is dead on the money on both scores.

And tonight, as I write my journal entry, I am pissed as hell and I'm going to let some of it out.

From the beginning of my journey I have stated over and over again that I do not have either a political agenda or any political affiliations. This is, I expect, because I am much more of a cynic - my heart is not as pure as that of a righteous and grieving mother - and I suppose that has worked to my advantage. I have never expected either political party to end this war. I have never expected either political party to listen to our voice - until it becomes so powerful and so persistent that they will either listen or be deafened. I long ago stopped expecting any elected official to do the "right" thing unless and until We the People literally forced them to do it. I did not experience the rage of Keith Olbermann or the crushing betrayal that Cindy Sheehan felt when the Democratic party folded on the war funding bill, because it was nothing more or less than I expected.

Also, very early in my walk, we learned from some very wise people about the intense infighting and ego problem within the country's various peace organizations. Being a member of none of those organizations, it was our hope that perhaps at some time in the progress of the walk we could garner the support of a broad spectrum of those organizations, as we are totally independent of them and might serve, finally, as a place where they could come together and work together toward a common goal that advanced none of them over the other. Understand that, while that hope remains, neither of us are holding our breath.

Being outsiders to both the political and peace movement structures has served in some respects to our advantage. On the political side, it has allowed us to be open to voicing opinions and possibilities that would be outside the pale if we had a political allegiance or agenda - such as postulating what a person like Colin Powell might still be able to do for our country, like considering the opinions of a Republican candidate such as Ron Paul (read his work!), like envisioning a strong third party as a possible key to reclaiming our democracy. On the peace movement side, it has permitted us to focus clearly and consistently on our own specific and singular cause without being sidetracked or diluted by the various objectives any of the larger, more organized, better funded peace groups would bring with them. This is the way things have been, and this is the way things will be as long as I continue to walk - to D.C. and quite possibly beyond. My message when I arrive in D.C. will be exactly the same message it was when I began walking in November. My petition will be word-for-word the petition it was when I began.

The rant I want to offer tonight is directed at those of you who bear strong political party ties or who are directly involved with any of the larger peace organizations in existence at this time. It is not a rant I want to address directly to you as an individual, but rather one I hope you will convey to those in power in your organizations. It goes like this:

That you have chewed up and spit out a pure-hearted, selfless and utterly sincere person such as Cindy Sheehan is unconscionable. That the response in some circles to her walking away was to say, "Good riddance", to call her a media whore - or much worse - is several magnitudes beyond loathesome.

I am a nobody - this is true. I expect to remain a nobody. You may deem it not worth your time or bother to consider the words of a nobody. But before you turn me off, hear this. It is the nobodies of this country - not the political elite, not the peace movement movers and shakers - who will reclaim our democracy. It is the nobodies who will turn out in the streets and force our nation back to its Constitutional and ethical principles. It is the nobodies who will end these wars. It is the nobodies who possess the greatest power and loudest voice of all - and you have gotten on our very last nerve. While all of you were busy with your own infighting and power struggles you failed to notice a shift of tectonic proportions that has begun and is growing in our nation - what was once the anti-war left, that group of nobodies the political types could readily dismiss and the peace movement types could readily exploit, has now become the center, the very heart of our country. Most of us nobodies haven't fully realized that yet, but when we do - and the time is not very far off - it may well be too late for you to salvage your parties or your movements. At this point in time you dismiss the voice of a nobody at your own peril.

I can only speak for myself. I have a little walk going on here. It has a clear and specific purpose. If what I am doing resonates with your own notions about what needs to be done to salvage our democracy you are more than welcome to join me. If, on the other hand, you feel that I need to do things a bit differently, or I need to enhance my message with some of your own objectives or I need to behave in some way differently than the way I do - thank you for your input, knock yourself out, but please keep your distance. I may walk into D.C. all by myself. You may be able to provide resources and publicity and contacts to bring thousands of people together with me as I walk into the capitol. If you want to do that, it's just fine with me - but on the day I walk into D.C. it will still be my walk; I will still be carrying no signs, no banners and shouting no slogans. If you would like to transform my walk into some sort of circus or something other than what it is, I neither want nor need your assistance or support.

If that offends you to the point where you want to chew me up as you did Cindy, then do what you feel you have to do. But be warned - I will fight back. With whatever resources a nobody can muster, I will fight back. If I had the power to do so right now, I'd send you to your rooms without supper. I don't have that power, but I do have power. The power of one voice. The certitude that one person can still make a difference. The clarity to know that I may not be that one person - but I may be the voice that will empower and inspire that one person. So I will not be silenced. I will be heard.

Monday, May 28, 2007: ...and the award for the Stupid Billboard of the Month goes to...

Virgin Billboard:

Since I wasn't on the road this morning I had the opportunity to watch Meet the Press as Tim Russert interviewed (I use the term loosely) Bill Richardson. The entire hour wound up being a classic example of how the media is dumbing down the level of political discourse.

I am going to make perhaps an unwarranted assumption here and surmise that Mr. Russert is a relatively intelligent person, else he wouldn't be in the position he is. But there wasn't much within this hour to support my assumption. Rather, Mr. Russert led me to the conclusion that the media is now operating under a set of principles that it apparently has pulled out of its...well, that not only have no basis in reality but in fact run contrary to the whole of human experience.

What I'm talking about in this instance is the apparent conclusion on the part of the media that it is never acceptable for a politician to change his or her mind. Most of Mr. Russert's interview consisted of throwing a string of instances into Mr. Richardson's face that fit the pattern of "Two (years/months/weeks) ago you said (a/b/c) about (Iraq/immigration/gun control) but now you're saying (x/y/z). How do you explain this?"

The inescapable conclusion one draws from a relentless litany of such questions is that it is never acceptable for a politician to change positions on any given issue. Somehow, if you are a person to be considered worthy as a candidate, it seems you must be right the first time, every time.

Guess what, Mr. Russert? By this measure, nobody qualifies. Nobody. There are processes we humans go through as time passes, such as education, reflection, acquisition of new information, change. Through these processes we become wiser, more capable people. Taken together, these processes are called growth. And the process of growth includes - more often than not, actually - changing our mind about things.

But we are now expected to believe, it seems, that changing one's mind is never acceptable. And to make matters worse, the politicians have - each and every one of them - fallen into the trap. They have deduced that it is never acceptable to say, "I changed my mind" - even if they were capable of lucidly explaining exactly why they changed their mind. Instead, each time a politician is confronted in this fashion, it has become necessary for them to launch into a lengthy - and invariably nonsensical - justification that will somehow serve to illustrate that they were right in their previous conclusions and, even though their present position is diametrically opposed to the one they once held, they are still right.

Saturday, May 26, 2007: Well, I came awfully close to Hannibal today, but rain cut us off about four miles short. Becky drove leap-frog for me, and as we were close to home on the last leg, she ran ahead and fetched Katelyn, our youngest granddaughter, who walked the last mile with me. In the humidity, a mile was all Katelyn was prepared for today, so we drove her back home, intending to return in a bit and complete the last four miles. But then the rains came down. Oh well, it was just as well, as the walk was really bothering me for about the last five or so miles today. I don't know if it was the up-and-down of the hills around Hannibal, the humidity, the new insoles I got a couple of days ago for my shoes or a combination of these, but it's probably best I stopped where I did today.

The next rain-free day I'll complete the walk into Hannibal and over the Big Muddy into Illinois, but just a reminder - at that point Jonna and I are going to take several days off the walk to visit here in Hannibal with Becky and Joey. On this coming Thursday I'll be at a peace rally in Quincy at Washington Park. I'm told it will be a very small affair, but that doesn't matter.

Is the American Public Smarter than a Fourth Grader?

After Clinton, Obama and others voted against the war funding bill I heard some interesting comments from the other side of the aisle today. Can't remember who they were coming from, but they accused those who voted against the bill of damaging their campaigns by aligning themselves with the "radical left anti-war" wing of their party.

Excuse me? Have these folks been paying attention to the recent polling? Are they aware that a vast majority of this country wants this war over - and wants it over now? It would seem that the "radical left anti-war" wing has now become the center.

But the argument isn't whether our politicians are smarter than a fourth grader - it's about the public in general. So I want to ask that public a few questions:

Have you figured out yet that voting against the war funding bill does not in any way reflect that you want to let our military on the battlefield throwing rocks at their opponents - and to portray it that way is both reprehensible and moronic?

Have you figured out that those who truly care about the security of our country do not (a) force our military into an unjustified war, (b) subject our soldiers to multiple tours of duty in a war zone, (c) stretch our military resources to the point where we have no reserves available to respond to emergencies at home, (d) fail to institute a draft to strengthen the military forces they've weakened so drastically, and (e) cut funding for VA hospitals and veterans programs?

Have you figured out that waving the flag, playing cheerleader and spouting arrogant, macho rhetoric are not the hallmarks of a patriot? Have you realized that true patriotism isn't about "winning" - but rather about doing whatever you can to make sure your country does the right thing?

The road I've been walking lately is a very, very familiar one. For the first six months of our marriage, Jonna was serving churches in central Missouri and I was serving churches in central Illinois, so every week one of us would make the trip between the two places to be able to spend some time together. The road from Jeffereson City through Mexico to Hannibal was one of the routes we both frequently used.

Along this road is a business that has had us mystified. It's still there, and yesterday when I walked that particular stretch of the road I made sure I had my camera along so I could share this with you. Here's the business:

In case you can't see it clearly enough, here's a closeup of the sign in front of the building:

And here's a closeup of the name on the side of the building:

I'm not sure what to say at this point. We have wondered for many years what, exactly, goes on inside that building - but neither of us feel that we really want to know. I do conjecture, however, that patrons need to make it crystal clear the moment they first step through the front door which of the services offered by the proprietor they have come there for.

Just a few miles north of this business is a most unfortunate junction of Missouri highways:

I hope I can get this online tonight. Duncan, my faithful webmaster, is out of town for the next couple of days so I'm going to have to jump in there and see if I can post this all by my lonesome. I need to do an update of the route page as well, but I think I'll let that until Duncan returns.

On Jimmy Carter

After Mr. Carter's comments regarding the current administration I read a flaming rant about him on Slate today. I don't remember the author's name, but his rant was certainly wide ranging and vitriolic. I thought I might offer an alternative perspective.

To begin, I will readily admit that Mr. Carter's presidency was a pretty consistent disaster from start to finish, and that's a real shame. We could sit here and debate how much of that was the result of poor performance on his part and how much of it was due to circumstances beyond his or anyone else's control, but whatever conclusions we came to on that subject, it wouldn't change the underlying reality that his tenure, by any measure, was a mess.

But his life didn't end when he left the presidency behind. Moreover, rather than follow the fairly well established pattern of writing a few books, making some public appearances and endorsing the occasional party loyalist that other past presidents have taken, Mr. Carter went to work.

His work with Habitat for Humanity is fairly well known. Not as well known in this country is the success of his foundation in virtually eliminating an African disease that had annually blinded thousands of people. I'm not going to try to list his many accomplishments since his presidency - save one: the Nobel Peace Prize.

There are very few institutions that I universally respect. The Nobel institution is one of those few. When the Nobel committee awards a prize, whether I agree with the politics, religion, opinions or wardrobe of the recipient, I must put any such grievance aside and take my hat off to one who has received that award. As much as any organization can be free of external influences when making its decisions, I feel that the Nobel committee has been remarkably consistent in its clarity and focus.

As a result, my personal opinion is that, regardless of his performance while in office, I think that Mr. Carter stands as a model of authentic altruism, a concrete example of faith in action and has reflected the most worthy attributes of humanity over the past thirty years.

The author of the article in Slate fairly foams at the mouth in his attack on Mr. Carter. It is obvious from the tone of the article that the author's issue is not only with Mr. Carter, but religion in general and with anyone who disagrees with his personal point of view, no matter how authentic that person may be. It is, therefore, rather easy to dismiss his rant.

It is not so easy, however, to dismiss a White House spokesperson who decrees that Mr. Carter is "increasingly irrelevant." Regardless of this administration hack's pronouncement, I will continue to take seriously the opinion of any Nobel Peace Prize winner. I would also like to ask the spokesperson what sort of odds he's taking on his boss ever winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

I will give the spokesperson one point though - no matter what else anyone will ever have to say about the current president, no one will ever be able to try to pretend that he is irrelevant. Sadly, his relevance will still be deeply felt generations from now when the children of our grandchildren are suffering the repercussions of the festering wounds he has opened - and continues to pick at - through the long, dreadful days of his presidency.

"Y'know," I said to her, "I suddenly realized there is one person out there who could have the capability of running in 08 as a third party candidate and actually have a good shot at winning. You have any idea who I'm thinking of?"

She paused thoughtfully for a minute before confessing that she didn't know who I could have in mind.

"Colin Powell," I said. "Think about it." She obviously was thinking about it as I talked. "This is the one person who could have stopped this whole mess we're in before it ever got started. When he gave that ridiculous presentation at the UN, if he had instead stood in front of the microphones and said, 'This is a load of crap, ladies and gentlemen...I don't buy it and I don't think you should, either,' the whole railroad would have come to a screeching, grinding halt."

"That's probably true," she said. "But he didn't. Don't you think his credibility is permanently shot?"

"If we were talking about anyone else that would most likely be true. But we're talking about Colin Powell. He's incredibly smart, has tons of experience and a genuine presence. I seriously think he could do it. But it would all have to start with a straightforward apology. He'd have to acknowledge to the American people that he was fully aware of the impact he had on the process - that he understands he could have prevented the whole thing - and sincerely apologize for failing to do it."

"Do you really think it would work?"

"Yes, I do. As long as it was a straight out acknowledgement that he completely blew it, without trying to make excuses or blame anyone or anything else, I think he could.make it work."

"Well, we certainly need a strong third party. This business of the choice between Republican and Democrat is tearing us apart."

I agreed. "As long as we only have the two party choice everything gets portrayed in black and white. If you're for them, you're against us. A vote for them is a win for the terrorists. On and on. If we could get a viable third party in there maybe we could elevate the debate a bit and people would actually start thinking about their choice and what they're voting for, rather than casting their vote against what they've been sold is the dark side. Trouble is, we haven't been able to come up with anyone to lead a third party who has been strong enough to make it viable. I think Colin Powell could do it."

I think what I was saying was starting to really make sense to Jonna.

"He could run essentially on a platform of healing the damage which he's aware he's at least partially responsible for. Think of it. On top of that, he's a general. He knows as surely as anyone how hopelessly ineffective conventional warfare has become - he could be the one to bring about the evolution of war we've been talking about." Then I got another little inspiration. "For that matter, he could ask Wesley Clark to be his running mate. Now we've got someone from a Republican background, someone from a Democratic background, both of them highly experienced and greatly respected military people who have cast their lot together in a new direction to try to heal the country. I think it could have incredible impact."

"I'd vote for him," Jonna said. "If he did that - if he admitted his complicity and really wanted to try to repair the damage, I'd vote for him." That nearly knocked me off my chair, because my wife has about as little patience with or affinity for the military mindset as anyone I know. This kind of proved my point.

It could work. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the conversation we had. I'd like to know what you think. Is it going to take a military man to bring about the evolution of warfare? Will we need a third party to provide a voice to that portion of the country the Democrats shy away from as "radical" and the Republicans simply have no room for in their tent? Do we have anyone out there truly strong enough to lead a viable third party? General Powell, General Clark - are you listening?

P.S. I already know Al Gore is reading my journal. He must be - it seems he's just come out with a new book that says pretty much what I've been saying here. Can I sue?

Monday, May 21, 2007: There are things that wear me out more than walking. Speaking is one of them. And today I wound up speaking to three classes of high school students as well as a newspaper reporter, so I'm thoroughly wiped out tonight. I'm not complaining - I thought it all went very well today and I thank the staff at Payson High School for affording me the opportunity to talk to their students. It felt like they were engaged in what I was saying. I'm certain some of them were not able to embrace my ideas, but that's alright. I'm not asking people to agree with me; I'm only asking them to think, and I believe that we managed to accomplish that objective today.

THE LONG VIEW

As the administration fanned the flames for a pre-emptive attack on Iraq, one of the fairy tales Bush and several of his accomplices trotted out - with considerable success - was the "smoking gun becomes a mushroom cloud" imagery. It was blatant fearmongering (something I personally believe should be a felony punishable by lifetime banishment from the public arena with no chance for parole), but it worked.

Now, as the military/industrial complex sees the writing on the wall and realizes they are not going to be able to sell the Iraq war much longer, they are feverishly directing the politicians they own to play the same tune but just move the country one space to the right - to Iran. Fortunately, I don't believe this one is going to work, but they'll try it anyway. This is all done by employing a theme where the name of the country to fear is fully interchangeable and the rhetoric is identical - country X either has or soon will have nuclear weapons which they will certainly use against us unless we stop them immediately from acquiring the necessary technology - and the preferred way to prevent them is by bombing the snot out of them.

Well, sit straight up in your chairs, boys and girls, take a deep breath and pay attention, because I'm about to tell you something you should already know. I predict that very soon - certainly by the end of this century - any country that wants nuclear weapons will either have them or have the capability to produce them any time they desire to do so. Iran will have nukes. North Korea will have nukes. Peru will have nukes. The Bahamas will have nukes. Monaco will have nukes. Well, maybe not Monaco, but you get the drift.

The cold, hard fact we've been trying to avoid is that the nuclear genie is out of the bottle - and all the king's horses and all the king's men will never be able to shove it back in there again. We cannot turn back the technological clock, and with the exponential facility brought to personal and private communication by the arrival of the internet, the completely inescapable fact is that before too long the ability to produce nuclear weapons will no longer be the unholy grail it is now seen to be.

The point of this dire prediction is that the tactic of trying to frighten us into attacking other nations based on the possibility that they may soon attain nuclear capabilities is at the very best a temporarily effective but ultimately meaningless manipulation of our fears, and at worst, is completely and horrifyingly counter-productive.

When, in the process of trying to whip up public support for a nationally sanctioned atrocity such as we have wrought on Iraq, our current leadership demonizes the nations we're supposed to obediently fear and leading contenders to be the next in line for the presidency make jokes - jokes! - about bombing Iran, what do we suppose such sabre-rattling produces in the hearts and minds of the leaders - if not the peoples - of those countries? My guess is that, when such a country is threatened and demonized in such a fashion it would make them even more intent upon coming up with some way to defend themselves. But maybe that's just me.

At any rate, with the certain knowledge that the ability to produce and deliver nuclear weapons will inevitably spread, the kind of tactics we are presently using can do nothing but make it more likely that at some point in the future someone is actually going to push that little red button.

If we are truly serious about this problem - and we damn well better be - we should, at this very moment - be doing everything within our power to work toward producing a (very near) future world where the cooperation and interdependency among nations is such that the actual deployment of nuclear weapons becomes less and less - rather than more and more - likely. I don't have too many ideas right now about exactly how to do this, but I do know for certain that the current attitude and actions of our own country are diametrically opposed to this endeavor.

Perhaps we will be able to do it in a sane, reasonable manner. Perhaps it will take something more draconian - something along the lines of a global eye-for-an-eye agreement, a sort of "Nuke unto others as you would have others nuke unto you" international pact that dictated that any nation committing a nuclear attack would be immediately and proportionally subject to nuking of it's own territory. Sadly, I think it will be a long time before we see a world where no leader is crazy enough to want to nuke another country, but we already live in a world where no leader is ever crazy enough to want to be nuked him/herself. So maybe something like that would work at least as an interim measure until we all have a chance to grow up a bit more.

Saturday, May 19, 2007: I have never been what you would call a "body aware" person; that is to say I am pretty much oblivious to the signals my body sends me. In fact, there are several ways in which I actually seem to be cross-wired. People who know me well can attest to this. For instance, I don't get hungry. Instead, if I haven't eaten for too long a period of time I'll get a headache...then I know it's time to eat something. Perhaps the strangest one is that whenever I hurt myself - a sprain or something like that - it will send me into fits of laughter. The more it hurts, the harder I laugh. I don't know why I'm like that - I just am. It took Jonna quite a while to get used to it. I know it's weird, but it isn't anything over which I have any sort of control.

I say this by way of introduction to the fact that my body has probably been sending me signals for the past couple of days but I haven't been paying attention. I had another long day yesterday, again complicated by the disjointed frontage road in the area. Victoria, Jim and Saxon offered us a driveway outside of Columbia for the evening - as well as a wonderul dinner - and we took them up on it. I was too tired to even get a journal entry done, however, and zonked out relatively early.

This morning I felt like I was only about half awake, but wanted to cover the remaining distance from Columbia to the intersection of route 54 and Interstate 70 - a bit less than twenty miles. My body apparently did not think this was a good plan. It wasn't my feet or an injury or anything like that - it was just that I felt like someone has sucked all the blood out of me - and at about thirteen miles I had to concede that I had gone as far as I could for the day. Maybe I'm coming down with a cold or something. I don't know, but I hope I'll find some energy again tomorrow.

We drove ahead after the short day to Hannibal where our daughter Becky, her husband Joey and our youngest granddaughter live. For the next several days we'll be giving Nessie a bit of a rest and I'll be driving back with Jonna or one of the kids to my starting point in their car and continue the whole leap-frog routine. We'll return to Hannibal at the end of the day each day. This means that we'll have a real bed to sleep in each night for a while. It also means that Jonna and the guys will get a break from the road. It will take me about four more days to actually reach Hannibal on the walk - assuming good weather and my body decides to cooperate. When I officially reach Hannibal we'll be taking a break from the walk for about a week to spend some time with the kids.

It won't be a complete break, however. I already have a speaking day lined up and an interview, and we may be going into St. Louis during this period to meet with some people there. And of course I'll be back here in the journal regularly. But it will be a week where I won't be accumulating any official miles on the walk. Maybe my body is trying to tell me it needs that right now. It will also be a good opportunity to get some minor repairs made to Nessie. And we'll have a real bed. Neat.

Thursday, May 17, 2007 (late): Tough time getting to sleep - and I forgot about my encounter at Chouteau Creek this afternoon. Water was receding from earlier flood stages and I wondered if I might glimpse some of the local residents in the shallows over the overflow. I did. At least a dozen of them. If you want to make it sound pretty, they're very large goldfish. If you want to make it sound exotic, they're koi. If you want to tell it like it is, I'm pretty sure they're carp. But before you knock carp too hard, you need to get to central Illinois in the summer and visit some of the local festivals. A local favorite is carp sandwiches. I understand they catch the carp about a week before, keep them in fresh, clean water for a week to cleanse them, then filet them, score the filets and deep fry them. The scoring allows the deep frying process to dissolve all the tiny bones for which carp are famous. They're served on a bun with a slice of onion - and they're really very good - if you can get past the fact that it's carp.

Website traffic remains strong - tomorrow this month's visitors should exceed the number of visitors we had for the entire month of April. I want to remind everyone that the San Diego chapter of Veterans for Peace is currently matching contributions received through them, so if you want to increase the impact of your donation, send it to the VFP mailing address you'll find on the Contact and Support page.

When I checked emails this morning I saw that Anne had sent me a copy of the Kansas City Star article that came out today. The author, Lewis, also sent me a copy later. He did a great job I thought and, as always, we're tremendously grateful for the coverage.

I got another brain drizzle the other day and we've added a new feature to Nessie's posterior: we bought some stick on vinyl lettering and put "MILES WALKED" above the spare tire cover, then the mileage underneath, which today happens to be 2,073. I was wanting to put something on the order of one of those marquee type things there where you could just slide the numbers in and out - until I saw how much they cost. It's going to be way cheaper just to continue to buy the vinyl stick-on numbers and peel them off and put new ones on each day.

Another small thing I keep meaning to mention but keep forgetting. People are curious about this sort of stuff. My record for finding cash along my walk was I think $6.97 I found one day in El Paso - the six bucks all in one place and the change at various points after that the same day. Then on the outskirts of Arkansas City (I think) I found seven bucks for a new record. I thought that was pretty nifty. Then, while we were camped at Knob Noster State Park the other day, Jonna went to do the laundry - and found a 20 dollar bill in the lint filter of the dryer. I walk over two thousand miles and the best I can do is seven bucks. Jonna goes to do the laundry and comes back with a twenty. Sheesh.

This morning it seemed like our precautions were for naught - no rain all night long. But just as I decided it was time to remove Nessie's bonnet the rains started falling, so it looks like this may wind up being a no-walk day. The rain is light, however, and maybe it will let up in time for me to get some mileage in.

Since I have a little time available this morning I wanted to expand on an analogy I used while talking with Stacy Taylor yesterday on the San Diego Air America radio station. I was making the point that what I'm trying to say with my walk and my petition is not about what we ought to do, but rather it's about what we must do. All the talk about benchmarks and timetables and phased withdrawals and the potental chaos that might ensue if we simply left Iraq are straw men that are designed to distract us from the foundational reality of the situation - and that reality is that we are doing something wrong, and when we finally recognize that what we are doing is immoral, unethical and diametrically opposed to the very spirit of our nation, the first thing we must do is stop. Then we deal with the consequences.

And I likened the situation to that of a heroin addict who argues that he can't quit his addiction because he cannot face the withdrawal that quitting will produce. The more I thought about the analogy, the more apt I realize it is. I'd like you to think about it for a minute. In this case we aren't dealing with a drug addict, but rather with a military/industrial complex and an economy that is, in essence, addicted to war. In order to fuel an economy driven by Wall Street numbers, every corporation, no matter how well they did last quarter, has become obligated by market forces to do even better this quarter or their stockholders begin bailing like Bush administration officials leaving a sinking ship. In order to keep that going, it is necessary to create ever greater needs for their oil, their steel, their vehicles, their energy. And they know that one sure shot in the arm for all of these resources is a good old fashioned (and I do mean old fashioned) war.

So the corporations and the M/I complex have been on a terrific high lately...but now it looks like the people of the country have had about enough of providing the blood they're injecting into their veins to keep the ball rolling and are about to cut off their supply. And this is when we hear all the arguments coming out about phased withdrawals, about benchmarks, and about the chaos leaving would produce. Listen to these words, folks. Is it just me, or do they not sound exactly like the grasping at straws an addict does when confronted by people who insist it's time to clean up their act and get off the horse? Don't let these rationalizations obscure the fundamental reality, because that's precisely what they are designed to do. What we are doing is wrong - more and more citizens every day are waking up to that fact - and when we realize what we're doing is wrong, no rationalization we can come up with will alter the fact that the one thing we must do is stop. Period.

Now, to look ahead. We can learn much from this misadventure. Principle among the lessons we just might be able to learn is that the old fashioned war I mentioned is no longer effective at anything other than temporarily pumping up an economy. Once upon a time, wars secured borders, protected sovereignty and dispatched evil tyrannies. With the advent of terrorism and insurgency, the old fashioned war can no longer achieve those purposes. The arrival of the nuclear age brought old fashioned war to its end game - and so far, we've been smart enough to realize that the end game is global annihilation and have refrained from going there. But the fact that the world has been smart enough to refrain from destroying itself means that terrorism and insurgency will continue to be effective against old fashioned warfare, because the reality is that total annihilation is the only way to ultimately defeat movements that are fueled on an individual and personal level. As long as we have the sense not to destroy the entire planet, old fashioned warfare, unable to deploy its end game scenario, cannot defeat terrorism and insurgency.

So what is the answer? The answer, I believe - and as I've written about previously - is that warfare must now evolve. Warfare in a new milennium must now move away from the guns and bombs and murder of innocents and become truly a battle for the hearts and minds of people, rather than one for their lands and resources. The Peace Corps with Teeth concept I mentioned a short time ago would be an example of waging this sort of warfare. Other battlefronts in an evolved war would be such things as cross-cultural education and cooperation, sharing of resources and technologies, and an acknowledgement of the fact that in today's world all people are truly inter-dependent. This is the next step. It must come. It can arrive as soon as we are fully capable of grasping the fact that what we have envisioned as war up to this point is now as outmoded - and as incapable of succeeding - as a dinosaur. Perhaps this war will be the one that will awaken us to this truth.

Again folks, when this war ends it will be the people of this country who end it. Until that day comes we can all do something. We can't all walk across the United States. We can't all give thousands of dollars to help promote the causes of peace, sanity and the true American spirit. But we can all do something. When this idea caught hold of me and Jonna and I were first discussing it, one of the reasons I gave Jonna that I felt I really needed to do this was that, not too many years from now when people look back on this period of our nation's history and their jaws drop in disbelief that we could have allowed this to continue as long as we have, our grandchildren would be able to say, "At least grandma and grandpa tried to do something." Will your grandchildren be able to say that about you? What can you do? Maybe it won't be a big thing. Maybe it won't be a loud thing. Maybe it won't be anything more than sitting on a corner for an hour once a week with a sign as traffic passes by. But there is something you can do. Find it. Do it.

Answer to Today's Quiz: Oh, you already know the answer...and it's pretty damn frightening, isn't it?

Tuesday, May 1, 2007: We got up early and took a look at the skies - and it was a good thing. Since it looked like it could start pouring any minute we quickly got Nessie ready for the road and headed out to see how much of a walking day I could get in. I was pretty happy that we made it as far as the little town of Pomona before it began drizzling, but that was it for the day. We bent a little south to the Homeland RV park outside of Ottawa and just off Interstate 35. As it turned out, it wasn't raining down there, but in a couple of hours that would change and we wound up getting poured on pretty steadily this evening. So I guess thirteen miles for the day wasn't too bad.