Any picks for the upcoming election?

Well, I have a great fondness for governor Richardson. I think he's probably the most qualified of the lot. But I'm holding out my support, although I support him from the candidates that are now going, because I believe that Mr. Gore is going to come in and maybe before Labor Day. I think he will be the next candidate and I think he'll be the next president. I really do. Deservedly so.

What makes you think so?

I've heard, not from him specifically, but there's a lot of movement among the democrats. And it's no secret that Mrs. Clinton is of course qualified and I would love to support but the angst is that she could win the nomination and not the election, that Fred Thompson could beat her or Guiliani.

Don't you feel there's a groundswell of support now for Gore and environmental issues?

Mm-hmm. I think that if ever a nation needed a public servant desperately, it's now and he is the one. I think he's starting to realize that. Will he want to go through it again and put his family through it again? Accept that? I don't know, man. I wouldn't ask it of anyone but he has experience and he's done more than any public servant living for the world, not just our country and the environment, but for the real. But the measure of hope that he has provided and the inspiration he's provided, he may win the Nobel peace prize which wouldn't hurt either, next fall. If that went down, boy, we've never had a president that I can remember that won the Peace prize. I think we had one Nobel Prize winner, Mr. Wilson.

Carter.

Yes, you're right, but after. Not when he was president. I think Mr. Wilson, for economics, I don't know.

One word: immigration?

Oh, Jesus. Both my parents were immigrants. My father could not get into the United States in 1914. He was 16 years old, came with his brother Alfonso. Because there was a quota against Spaniards, not against Hispanics but Spaniards, because of the Spanish-American War. So he was denied entrance at Port of New York and he went to Cuba. And my father was in Cuba with his brother for several years and he saved his money and he came into the United States through Miami and worked his way up to Dayton, Ohio. He was naturalized in Philadelphia, not New York. And he met my mother in Ohio. That's where I was born eventually but don't get me started on immigration. We are a nation of immigrants. We are so made and we must not forget it. This whole issue is one of bullying. Finally, we have someone to blame for all our problems. It used to be Al Queda, it used to be this one or that and now it's the immigrants. They're responsible for all of our problems. What a load of bullshit. We ought to give thanks and praise for these people, welcome them in, praise them.

Do you have a sense your projects will influence social and political feelings?

No, I never think that it's going to go beyond what I'm asked to do. I never invite anyone to go with me to stand with me or protest or be a part. I never, ever do that because that's so deeply personal. To actually go out there and stand. I'm the biggest sissy I know. I'm not joking. I hate doing it. I worry about personal attacks and physical retaliation. Yes, I'm concerned about it. I have a family. I had to put a gate up at my house because there are so many lunatics coming around to protest me and throw things at the house. My family is innocent. So no, I don’t look forward to it and I haven't done anything significant except in my own soul. But I don't advocate, I'm not leading a movement or an organization. No, I'm not and I'm not able to do that. I'm a Catholic who believes in the command of the gospel to do nonviolence, to love mercy, to do justice and to walk humbly. Basically that's the four energies that we have to- - our founder was the nonviolent Jesus. Jesus did not approve of violence and it cost him his life. They didn't kill him because he was a nice guy. They killed him because he was demanding heart of the law, not the letter of the law. And he was an itinerant rabbi and it took both of them to get rid of him, church and state equally. "We gotta get rid of this guy because he's changing the situation, the power structure." Actually, he was examining it in a human way. He was leading with his heart, not the law. And he changed the world but he was nonviolent, and we've forgotten that. We have a just war theory. Sorry, Jesus did not say, "Well, there'll be no war except when you deal with this one or that. Sorry."

And we've hijacked the gospel and made it according to our ego. God is a reflection of who we are. I went to confession to a priest in a rural community down south one time. I was on the road working for a candidate and the priest, we started talking about theology and I was just amazed at this guy. He said to me at one point, "We don't know what God is, do we?" And he asked it as if well, maybe I ran into someone who does. I mean, do you have an opinion? You're just like saying, you know, I thought, Wow, the humility of that and the reality of that. We don't know what God is. God is the great mystery and every explanation that I have heard about God is usually what God is not. So what is God? To me, as a Christian, as a Catholic, the genius of God is hiding within us choosing to be human, flesh and blood. And choosing to hide where we would least expect to find that presence, within ourselves. Because once I look at myself and I can say, "Whoa, okay, God chose that? Okay. What about you? You can't be any different. And you, and you." So it becomes a recognition of our humanity with everyone else and that's the thing that connects us to everyone else is that presence. It's in you, you, you and you. But I have to find it in myself first and accept it. But we usually start from the outside. We project God. Oh, God is- - then we start punishing people and God becomes a reflection of our ego rather than we don't know what God is, the great mystery. I'm sorry to get into theology.

Your last protest was successful?

Yes, that was a quiet victory, but thanks to Mr. Schwarzenegger. Seriously, he got the message and he served the right cause there.