Day63 Sunday 10/31/10

ran 0.8 miles
Today ends nine weeks of running against Barack Obama. I have run 164.8 miles, averaging 2.62 miles per day. I ran a 5k yesterday, Maddie’s Footprints Forever, and scored a good time. “Maddie’s Footprints” is a great cause worth checking out.

Jumping right ahead to the larger picture, if this election on Tuesday grants opposition the chance to halt Barack Obama’s agenda, what will be interesting is what these new senators and representatives are going to do. Don’t be fooled by spin that the current uprising of American citizens protesting their government is entirely attributed to liberal ideas. Right now, any candidate who claims to defy liberal ideas is the right candidate.

So what now? These people have a huge expectation to fulfill. And if they don’t do it, despite media bias and the articles they will print, Barack Obama will only gain strength scrutinizing conservative legislation regardless of whether they are good or bad.

This upheaval of the people is not a product of Barack Obama. I would never give his thirsty ego that satisfaction and it’s just not the case. I would say that he just happens to be president right now and he attempted to call America’s bluff. He is the proverbial straw that is breaking our American backs. And now that we are calling him out, his only excuse is to blame.

“The Democrats are about to feel the full force of a tidal wave, tsunami, or a 7.0 earthquake.”

Democratic pollster Peter Hart

Historically, this kind of thing happens all the time. Whichever party has their president in office trends toward voting out members of that party during the mid-term elections of any given president’s first two years. Frustration among American voters has been boiling for decades and Barack Obama is just radical enough to turn the heat up even more while our country already boils over with steam and frustration.

American politics desperately need some good, fresh minds. Things are corrupt and shady on both sides of the aisle. Right now, I believe it would be a huge justice to this country to make Barack Obama a one-term president. With that being said, there are many more items to address in the future. But right now, our president has the power and ability to pivot this country in a direction that may take generations to reconcile.

1,915.2 miles to go.

Day62 Saturday 10/30/10

ran 2.6 miles
The final days of blitz-campaigning have come to an end for Obama in Cleveland, Ohio. As Tuesday approaches, Democrats stand to endure a volatile rejection of two more years on Capitol Hill.

“Obviously, the other side is enthusiastic,” Barack Obama said while in Ohio.

“We’ve got to make sure our side is, too,” Obama said to the enthusiastic crowd in Cleveland.

Republicans feel sure they will dominate the House with conservative votes. It would be a stretch for the GOP to overcome the Senate, but there is hope and it is possible. Depending on swing states, to contend all facets of government, which loudly defy Barack Obama and everything he has done over the past two years, nothing is impossible. It seems that American voters are electing a new enterprise of change and a different source of hope from what Obama has been peddling over the past two years. There is little left necessary to undo the path he has paved, except to understand that a path can be paved, repaved, and repaved again, regardless of how tumultuously wrong its stones are set.

Vote on Tuesday!

1,916.0 miles to go.

Day61 Friday 10/29/10

ran 0.9 miles

• Colorado was the thirty-eighth state to join the union on August 1, 1876, nine years after Nebraska and thirteen years after North Dakota.

• Population, as of 2009, is 5,024,748.

• Senators are Michael F. Bennet (D) and Mark Udall (D).

• Representatives are Diana DeGette (D), Jared Polis (D), John Salazar (D), Betsy Markey (D), Doug Lamborn (R), Mike Coffman (R), and Ed Perlmutter (D).

• Colorado holds nine electoral votes. Historically, the state has voted red in all but four elections since World War II.

• According to Rasmussen Reports, Republican candidate Dan Maes has only single-digit support in the gubernatorial race, but Democrat John Hickenlooper is nearly tied with Independent candidate Tom Tancredo.

• Incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet and Republican challenger Ken Buck stand with even numbers. They will hold a nationally televised debate on Sunday as they race toward Tuesday’s finish line.

By this time next week, potentially, some of these House and Senate seat-holders will have been voted out. I ardently hope the list I have comprised of Senators and Representatives of various states over the past couple months requires much revising after Tuesday.

If current polls prove themselves even half worthy of validation, Barack Obama should be facing some nearly impenetrable obstacles for the next two years. If this conservative victory prevails, the actions of Obama’s first two years as president will be condemned and stand to be rectified. That is what disgruntled voters expect and hopefully Republicans will be able to deliver steadfast resolution. While victory could be sweet right now, if Republicans do not fulfill the new sense of “Hope” and “Change” that the majority of American’s may or may not want, depending on Tuesday’s results, it will only strengthen Barack Obama’s campaign in 2012.

Republicans need to assert themselves over the next two years with a determination that is equal to or greater than their desire was to be elected in the first place.

1,918.6 miles to go.

Day60 Thursday 10/28/10

ran 2.6 miles

• Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval poll reflects that 25% of American voters strongly approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 45% strongly disapprove, giving Obama an Approval Index rating of –20, compared to –14 on this day last week.

• Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president’s performance and 55% at least somewhat disapprove.

• Today’s “Election 2010 Balance of Power” summary predicts the Democrats to end up with 48 Senate seats and for Republicans to finish with 45 Senate seats. California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia are all toss-ups. Republicans would need six of these seven toss-up states to win the majority in the Senate.

• Today’s “Gubernatorial Scorecard” shows the Republicans with 28 states, Democrats with 13, and 8 toss-ups (Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, and Vermont).

• Larry Sabato, a professor at the University of Virginia who has made a reliable name for himself in election polling, has posted his final predictions in his article “The Crystal Ball’s Final Calls”. He predicts 55 Republican seats gained in the House and 8 Republican seats gained in the Senate.

Five days left until the election. Tuesday could be an incredible day in history and a huge statement that we American citizens can still have a voice among all the indecipherable chatter of politicians. The puffery and misleading antics that consume the American election process are deceiving and overwhelming to everyone when they start asking themselves the important questions. With that being said, I find great comfort in reading over some of the words of America’s founders. It helps to reconnect with the true intentions of America’s conception and why it is still such an amazing nation thriving in its third century of unrivaled freedom.

This is a quote I memorized the first time I read it. And I hold it on a pedestal to the current events that mock its message.

“Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence. So shall the life into which you have entered, be the portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss.”

Thomas Jefferson

1,919.5 miles to go.

Day59 Wednesday 10/27/10

ran 2.6 miles
Senator Mitch McConnell, who will become the majority leader if Republicans gain control in the mid-term elections on Tuesday, made a bold statement recently that has the president and his democratic counterparts enraged at his partisan intentions.

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

My interpretation of the liberal notion that republicans are blocking Barack Obama’s agenda for the mere, spiteful sake of blocking liberal ideals is that it simply is what it is. Obama does not seem to understand the rules of the political game. He seems to think that he somehow deserves to get what he wants. Our whole system of government is a brilliant design of checks and balances. Republicans are not supposed to bow down to democrats and I would hope that democrats never bow down to republicans, disheveling the governmental design our forefathers formed for us and future generations. It is not the Senate or the House who are obligated to appease any given president’s ideas. It falls upon the president to find a method and a middle ground to achieve what he desires with the consent of his Senators, his Representatives and his citizens.

Barack Obama’s most popular excuse for not being able to deliver the “Hope” and “Change” he adamantly promised is that Republicans are blocking his motives. I think he should not have promised over 300 million Americans something he could not deliver---actions he cannot deliver because of our rational system of checks and balances in this country. It is as though Barack Obama was actually naïve enough to believe he could be elected president and that every intention he had would somehow magically come true, because everyone has to listen to the president. He could not have been more wrong. He is not in touch with this country and what the majority of its people want. He is, however, a monumental blamer. Barack Obama blames every promise he fails to seal, like a child, on everyone but himself because he appears to think he is a king, or a despot, in more modern terms, which I think is what he is working towards, especially if he is given a second term.

Checks and balances. Checks and balances. Checks and balances. One more time, checks and balances. America’s system of checks and balances has been established since its conception and for Barack Obama to promise the “Hope” and “Change” he has, having faced so many obstacles with republicans and intuitive logic, his reasoning can only be attributed to a complete fantasy, in which American citizens are ignorant herds of sheep, or a total misconception of the reality that a president needs to lead by example before he blames everyone else for not being bipartisan.

1,922.1 miles to go.

Day58 Tuesday 10/26/10

ran 3.2 miles
On this day in 2001, President George Bush signed into law the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism response to the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The USA PATRIOT Act, an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”, was intended to empower law enforcement and intelligence agencies, heightening their abilities to deter future terrorist attacks on America.

As an aside, what is the connection between our government and its obsession with acronyms? That is the longest, most ridiculous acronym I have ever come across. It makes you wonder what the order of priorities are when you see an acronym like that. Before all the important details of the USA PATRIOT Act were knitted out, I think it’s safe to say the acronym had all ten words applied to each letter, as a selling point of what their intentions were. It’s actually insulting, as if to say, “America, you are not really going to understand what exactly we are planning to do here, but we went ahead and made this fancy acronym so you can fully understand the Act we want to sign into law. Just follow these ten words. They’re pretty clever and if you take the first letter of each of the ten words it spells ‘USA PATRIOT.’”

As a future reference, anything our government tries enacting with ten or more characters that form an acronym is probably an edgy and risky idea, which your government believes is a strategy, though infantile, to winning your approval.

Regardless of our government’s condescension of its people’s intelligence, the USA PATRIOT Act was bound to have some cracks in it, but it had to be done. The majority of congress, on both sides of the aisle voted for it, but as time dwindled on, the Act lost popularity among civil right’s activists and organizations like the ACLU. It was not long before politicians who had voted the Act into law began to recant their decision, believing too much unchecked power was being wielded by the government to snoop into the lives of Americans. The Patriot Act was compared to the 1960s and 1970s when the FBI bugged and infiltrated anti-war and civil rights groups.

When those towers came crashing down, we all know something had to be done. The USA PATRIOT Act, barring the ridiculous acronym it stands for, was necessary but, as time tends to do, the severity and sense of urgency faded away until the Patriot Act turned into something else; a snooping, pestering and overbearing government.

If nothing else, September 11 has illustrated how circumstantial different times can be. This country was absolutely united and filled with compassion after that tragedy. Since then, the things that resonate most as being important during a crisis have once again faded away for a while. I would like to believe that tragedy is not necessary to highlight the important issues of any given day, but it is unfortunate when that is so often the case.

Speaking of acronyms and the childish antics politicians utilize to earn votes and approval from American people, whom they seem to believe are at twelve-year-old reading levels, stories are already making headlines about voter booth tampering, ACORN conspiracies, and the whole spectrum of corrupting the mid-term election. Things like this are one of the reasons why I never voted one single time until Barack Obama ran for president. I voted against him. A couple years have gone by and I have kept up with politics only to grow more fed up. I am going to vote against Barack Obama in 2012, as well, if he continues in the direction he is going and does not make an effort to undo what he has done or to repeal the damage he has already set in motion. I have come to a point now, as I’m sure many others have, too, that I don’t believe simply voting is even enough. That is why I am running. I feel like a member of a thoroughly united voice that goes unheard. I don’t know what else to do except to continue running and writing. These are the only tools I have to protest the corruption of politics and the intentions of our president.

1,924.7 miles to go.

Day57 Monday 10/25/10

ran 3.2 miles
This is a really cool quiz worth checking out! If you have ever questioned where exactly you stand politically and feel unsure about it, this quiz can help you understand what political party your beliefs and ideas coincide with most. The result of your quiz, which only takes two minutes, exceeds the status limitations of mere democratic, republican or independent . Your result is also plotted on a graph to give you a proximal value of how far away or near your ideas and beliefs are to other parties.

The Fraser Institute commends this quiz as, “A fast, fun, and accurate assessment of a person’s overall political views.”

The Washington Post said this quiz has, “Gained respect as a valid measure of a person’s political learnings.”

Suite University claims it, “Is the most concise and accurate political quiz out there.”

This quiz is really quick and easy. Check it out.

Tomorrow marks the final week before the Mid-term election. Brace yourself for a lot of last minute meaningless babble and mud-slinging. All we can do is vote against the actions of the past two years, which cannot be twisted by rhetoric or denied by excuses.

1,927.9 miles to go.

Day56 Sunday 10/24/10

ran 2.6 miles
Today completes eight weeks of running against Barack Obama. I have run 148.9 miles, averaging 2.66 miles per day. It’s a struggle some days to continue this campaign but what keeps me going is the threat of Obama getting a second term. It is evident to anyone who follows politics that election-time is a ruthless, unscrupulous and irrational battle, which requires millions and millions of dollars per candidate to invest nonsense into our minds. Facts and beliefs are free and they are the only things needed to earn votes. I believe to overcome Barack Obama in 2012 it will take a focused public that scrutinizes his every action and protests any further decisions he makes that move America closer to the point of no return. The decision to socialize health care is the only evidence necessary to realize that if our government can take one industry over then they can take over other industries, too, crippling free enterprise and everything that makes this country prosperous, powerful and free.

It starts on November 2. This election could be a monumental page in American history. American voters are going to be listened to by the ballots they cast. If Americans are content with what Obama and his liberals have done over the past two years then it is what it is, and we take him and his agenda on in 2012. But if the votes reflect that an overwhelming majority of people are disappointed in the direction Obama has set for this country, the staggering numbers of liberal seats lost and conservative seats gained could be record setting for one single election.

1,931.1 miles to go.

Day55 Saturday 10/23/10

ran 2.9 miles
Barack Obama has been scrambling around the past five days making appearances in Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Minnesota. While in Nevada Obama urged his listeners, “We’ve just begun. We’re just in the first quarter.” Presuming he has three quarters left and not just one he continues, “I can’t have you tired when we’re just getting started.”

Reverting back to his latest favorite expression, calling his opponents “Snake oil salesmen”, Obama continued to blame filibusters, poor attitudes, and a large portion of Americans he referred to as the “No-you-can’t” crowd as the obstacles to his “Change”.

The truth is the “No you can’t” crowd is very big and they don’t want Barack Obama’s change. The populace Barack Obama panders to may be equal in size but they do not possess even one half of the passion that the people who want him out of office do. When in current history do you recall anything like the Tea Party as we know it today emerging and potentially conquering a government and its agenda?

Conservative minds often toil with the beliefs and actions of conservative leaders but when is the last time you saw a liberal movement with the momentum the Tea Party has? Given the paradigm of statistical democratic voters, they could never construct a movement like the Tea Party because their ideas simply lack substance and long-term sustainability. It’s exactly like their perpetual attempts at hosting radio shows, which discuss their issues. People don’t listen to them, their ratings are low, they don’t get advertising, and they get cancelled. The reason Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, among dozens and dozens of others, get tuned into is because they discuss issues that people care about and they express their ideas with concision and logic. Barack Obama is doing his best to defy logic and America is simply responding.

My three main issues with Barack Obama and his agenda, as I have stated before, deal with health care, immigration, and his stimulus packages.

Socializing health care would be an epic gesture of what could follow in the next ten years. If our government can take over one industry why can it not take over another? And power of that magnitude has been proven by history to get out of control and to cause chaos.

It is a well-known fact that vast portions of liberal voters are ethnic minorities. I have absolutely no problems or judgments about that. My great-grandfather arrived on Ellis Island only four generations ago. But the contemporary calamity we face with illegal immigrants and their growing numbers is a giant elephant in the corner of everybody’s room that our government will not deal with. And, if left to liberal ideas, suppose we simply legalize all of them, completely ignoring the fact that they are criminals who broke our American laws by not undergoing naturalization. There are millions upon millions of them. The liberal train of thought is to legalize these people with complete amnesty regarding their premeditated crime of entering this country without proper documentation. To liberals, they feel like good Samaritans, but maybe all they are thinking about is votes to build their self-serving political careers.

Stimulus packages are already out of control. The monopoly money Barack Obama has thrown up into the air will indebt our born and unborn children and it has served no real purpose, other than to let the government step into the boardrooms of automotive manufacturers and banks. And, unfortunately, the economic policies Obama adheres to find the only solution to failure to be the distribution of more unprinted money.

1,933.7 miles to go.

Day54 Friday 10/22/10

ran 2.6 miles

• California was the thirty-first state to join the union on September 9, 1850, two years after Wisconsin and eight years before Minnesota.

• Population, as of 2009, is 38,292,687. California has been the most populous state in America since 1970.

• Senators are Barbara Boxer (D) and Dianne Feinstein (D).

• Representatives are Michael Thompson (D), Walter Herger (R), Daniel Lungren (R), Tom McClintock (R), Doris Matsui (D), Lynn Woolsey (D), George Miller (D), Nancy Pelosi (D), Barbara Lee (D), John Garamendi (D), Jerry McNerney (D), Jackie Speier (D), Fortney Stark (D), Anna Eshoo (D), Michael Honda (D), Zoe Lofgren (D), Sam Farr (D), Dennis Cardoza (D), George Radanovich (R), Jim Costa (D), Devin Nunes (R), Kevin McCarthy (R), Lois Capps (D), Elton Gallegly (R), Howard McKeon (R), David Dreier (R), Brad Sherman (D), Howard Berman (D), Adam Schiff (D), Henry Waxman (D), Xavier Becerra (D), Judy Chu (D), Diane Watson (D), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D), Maxine Waters (D), Jane Harman (D), Laura Richardson (D), Grace Napolitano (D), Linda Sanchez (D), Edward Royce (R), Jerry Lewis (R), Gary Miller (R), Joe Baca (D), Ken Calvert (R), Mary Bono-Mack (R), Dana Rohrabacher (R), Loretta Sanchez (D), John Campbell (R), Darrell Issa (R), Brian Bilbray (R), Bob Filner (D), Duncan Hunter (R), and Susan Davis (D).

• California holds fifty-five electoral votes, which is 10% of America’s entire electoral college. Historically, the state has voted Republican from 1952 through 1988, except for the landslide loss of Barry Goldwater in 1964, and they have been Democratic since Bill Clinton was elected president.

California’s Senate race between Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, continues to be a steady tie in the polls. Rasmussen Reports latest survey shows Boxer with 48% and Fiorina with 46%. California is obviously considered one of the six toss-up states for the Senate race and a GOP win would be a monumental statement of how fed up this country is with Barack Obama and his radically democratic agenda. The simple fact that Boxer’s career as a Senator is being so severely threatened speaks for itself.

1,936.6 miles to go.

Day53 Thursday 10/21/10

ran 2.6 miles

• Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval poll suggests that 28% of American voters strongly approve of the president’s performance in the White House and 42% strongly disapprove, giving Barack Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of –14, compared to –18 on this day last week.

• Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance and 52% at least somewhat disapprove.

• Among American voters, 65% prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes and only 25% take the opposite view and favor a government with more services and higher taxes.

• Rasmussen Reports FedEx Fact of the week: 47% of consumers say their personal finances are getting worse.

• Today’s “Election 2010 Balance of Power” summary remains the same as last week, predicting 48 Democratic senate seats, 47 Republican senate seats, and five states continue to be toss-ups: California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, and Washington (all currently held by Democrats).

• Today’s “Gubernatorial Scorecard” predicts 28 Republican states, 13 Democratic states, and 9 toss-up states: Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

On the November 2 ballot, as we vote for our leaders, there will also be a total of 10 constitutional amendments to vote for or against. This link describes them in understandable terms. The one at the top of the list, just to show how quickly we tend to forget things, deals with the public uproar from two years ago when lawmakers attempted to give themselves exorbitant raises to their salaries. This amendment would require any approved salary increase for state elected officials to take effect only once their term is over, disabling them from wielding the power to give themselves raises during their own terms. If you only vote for one of these amendments make it this one. The way these amendments are written once the curtain closes behind you are nearly untranslatable. The lawyer-speak diction these brief amendment descriptions are written in is legal because, as a citizen and voter, it is your responsibility to look over them on a broader scale before walking into your voter’s booth.

These ten amendments are worth looking over for approval. If passed they will become part of our Constitution and that is something worth studying up on.

1,939.2 miles to go.

Day52 Wednesday 10/20/10

ran 3.2 miles

• “It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.”

Robert H. Jackson

• “Conservatives were brought up to hate deficits, and justifiably so. We’ve long thought there are two things in Washington that are unbalanced---the budget and the liberals.”

Ronald Reagan

• “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened by responsibility.”

Sigmund Freud

• “A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.”

G. Gordon Liddy

• “So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.”

Voltaire

Whereas some, blessed enough to live in America, think their time on Earth is some kind of spectator sport with free tickets and hotdogs, I like to think our time on Earth should be a series of challenges and rewards. The object is to understand that sometimes you lose and sometimes you win, but the journey, the act of applying yourself and behaving in a manner that is useful, is what we are on Earth to do. I believe the soul and every fiber of human life on Earth is here for an unlimited amount of potential to be seized by each individual's own actions---not by the actions of governments.

You will rarely hear a politician on either side of the aisle say anything to this effect:

“You should not rely so much on your government because you have every tool you need within yourself to succeed.”

The more educated, independent and driven a nation’s people are the less powerful their government is. Responsibility falls on us to keep our government in control. Too many of our politicians are like whiny, spoiled children who compulsively lie and create wakes of devastation that only a selfish child could not realize is destructive. The people of a nation are the guardians of their government and our current administration desperately needs to be disciplined.

Vote on November 2!

1,941.8 miles to go.

Day51 Tuesday 10/19/10

ran 3.5 miles
On this day in 1781, hopelessly surrounded in Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered 8,000 British soldiers to an overwhelming Franco-American force, ultimately ending the American Revolution.

Cornwallis’ numerous victories against the Americans in the recent past and his reputation were rivaled by few other British generals. As Cornwallis settled and fortified Yorktown, General George Washington ordered the Marquis de Lafayette and his 5,000 man army, currently in Virginia, to block Cornwallis’ escape from Yorktown by land. Washington’s 2,500 soldiers in New York combined with a French army of 4,000 men led by Count de Rochambeau to bolster their numbers. And with the aide of a large French fleet under the Count de Grasse, Washington was able to encircle Cornwallis by land and sea, rendering the end of the Revolutionary War and the beginning of what America was to become for what the Founding Fathers hoped would be a very, very long time.

It is easy to neglect or not realize how young this country is and to fully underestimate how much important history has been packed into it in such a short amount of time. America is only 234 years old, from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Technically, it was not a free and independent country until September 3, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed, but the point is America is less than 250 years old. That is a smidgeon of time compared to other regions with well-documented early civilization. America is the capitol of the world and it is in its infancy. This is a huge statement! Other countries, which are struggling desperately among a broad spectrum of problems have been civilized and governed for thousands of years, compared to our less than two and a half centuries, and look where they are now.

America is like a young child that somehow, almost impossibly (use your imagination) was conceived by a couple of parents in their eighties. America was born among dozens of siblings ranging in age from fifty to sixty years old. And what the young child did was take the initiative to look at every single mistake his brothers and sisters had ever made and to not repeat them. That is America’s strength and if it does not utilize it the greatest waste in history will occur. This globe has been completely covered and there are no new terrestrial frontiers. There is no new Land of Opportunity to rely on should this one fail.

1,945.0 miles to go.

Day50 Monday 10/18/10

ran 3.2 miles
Here is something you may not know. When is the last time you heard anything about ex-President George W. Bush? He is laying low in Texas working on his memoir and seldom appearing at paid speeches. He has no plans to aide in bolstering the GOP’s chances of reclaiming Senate and House seats in November and nor was he asked to join the campaign trail. His memoir will be published shortly after the November 2 election.

I like to believe that a perfect storm is brewing for a hero to emerge in 2012. Between Bush’s eight years and Obama’s two, we can derive that the American public is now fully aware that whatever George W. Bush can be blamed for, economically, Barack Obama can find a completely new and different way to reach an even more unbelievable outcome. If anything, Obama has proven that he can throw the term “Change” around ten thousand times but we must credit him that he has uninhibited originality and possesses an unrivaled sense of boldness in terms of getting his agenda and goals set forth with absolutely no remorse or compassion to the long-term damage this country will endure. Health care reform, loose immigration laws, and excessive stimulus packages or not the proper tools right now for putting out the destructive fire that is roaring higher and more broadly week by week in America.

1,948.5 miles to go.

Day49 Sunday 10/17/10

ran 2.6 miles
This ends the seventh week of campaigning against Barack Obama. I have run 128.3 miles, averaging 2.62 miles per day. My budget is officially balanced. The daily average required for me to complete this goal is 2.62 miles a day, so now I can begin putting some miles in the bank in case of unforeseeable circumstances that may prevent me from running what is required to reach my daily quota. I elected to take on this challenge knowing it would begin with a difficult deficit and after seven weeks I have budgeted my miles and balanced my goal.

I stumbled across a few interesting links and facts recently. This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while regarding Obama’s destructive path of single-handedly dismantling what generations upon generations of Americans have worked for well over two hundred years to preserve. As you move your mouse along the faces of the painting a zoomed-in image appears on the right side, giving a description of who or what you are looking at. There is another interactive painting on the bottom right of the page worth checking out.

I have been posting a few “Open letters to President Obama” over the past couple weeks and here is another one every bit worth reading. This letter was written by celebrity Jon Voight.

And here are some interesting facts about Barack Obama that cannot be ignored. These facts are taken from an insightful article written by Larry Elder, “Obamalism—as we know it—R.I.P.”. Elder absolutely lambastes, with logic and reason, the decisions Obama has made and the extreme measures he has taken to worsen the economy he inherited and to do anything but resolve America’s critical issues.

1,951.7 miles to go.

Day48 Saturday 10/16/10

ran 2.2 miles

• Democrat incumbent Senator Patty Murray of Washington has held her seat for nearly two decades but polls have her nearly even with her Republican opponent Dino Rossi. Within the past month Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton have all made at least two visits to the state of Washington to help in her campaign. This kind of attention demands questioning just how important this state will be on November 2, 2010. There is speculation that Washington could be the deciding state for the balance of power in the Senate, given the favorable amount of attention top Democrats have devoted toward continuing Murray’s career as a Washington Senator.

• Republicans need to win 40 seats to clench the House majority. This goal is not only ascertainable but many Democratic officials presume their losses could easily exceed that minimum number. A GOP takeover would demote Nancy Pelosi from being House speaker and would force Obama to negotiate with Republicans on every single legislative item presented.

• Republicans must maintain 18 of their Senate seats and clench 10 of the 19 Democratic seats in order to gain the Senate majority. Given the outrage Americans feel attributed to President Obama and other liberal politicians, this goal is a reasonable expectation. However, there are a number of states that are so tight no polls, even down to the last day before the election, can hint toward one outcome or the other.

With this election beginning to glow in the horizon of our long-term future, I can’t help but stand in disbelief, unable to comprehend what end democrats are after. What is the end? I see the means to the end, but what is the award at the end? I am no politician and I freely admit that there is very, very much that I do not know or understand in this curious world, but why would any given group of people so adamantly desire to break something that works better than anything else in the world? America works and Obama wants to change it? There is a peculiar grimace on the face of America, and if you look deeply into America’s eyes you will see that this country is frustrated and more aware than ever.

1.954.3 miles to go.

Day47 Friday 10/15/10

ran 2.6 miles

• Arkansas was the twenty-fifth state to join the union on June 15, 1836, fifteen years after Missouri and one year before Michigan.

• Population, as of 2009, is 2,889,450.

• Senators are Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D).

• Representatives are Marion Berry (D), John Boozman (R), Mike Ross (D), and Vic Snyder (D).

• Arkansas holds six electoral votes. Historically, the state has voted entirely Democratic until 1964. In 1968, Arkansas favored third-party candidate George Wallace. Since then, it has been Republican in six out of nine presidential elections, voting twice for fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton and once for Jimmy Carter.

According to Rasmussen Reports, today’s polls predict Arkansas, with two current Democratic senators, will be a solid GOP state by the time the ballots are counted after November 2. Indiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wisconsin are Democratic states that share the same prediction. California, Illinois (Obama’s own state), Nevada, Washington, and West Virginia are toss-up states. There are only seven states, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Connecticut, predicted to walk away with Democratic Senators.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of this countdown to the midterm elections. To be a part of this vote is absolutely epic. There has not been so much at stake in decades concerning our policies and our adherence to the Constitution of the United States of America. Barack Obama has somehow managed to completely deviate from the more traditional crises, which we usually vote presidents into or out of office for, and has decided to call what he thought was America’s bluff.

Because of Barack Obama this country has woken up from its decades-long complacent slumber. There have always been important issues but this man is detouring those important issues and creating a whole new set of problems, as though breaking some glass in your kitchen were easier to sweep up after taking off your shoes and socks to kick and scatter the glass in every corner.

If he and his counterparts are voted out of office, he and his ideas will go down in history as the man who made America remember and fully appreciate its history and its principles for the first time in a very long time. Voter turnout will speak for itself and the final result could be a great moment in American history or it could be “Change”, as described by President Barack Hussein Obama.

1,956.5 miles to go.

Day46 Thursday 10/14/10

ran 2.6 miles

• Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval poll indicates that 27% of American voters strongly approve of Barack Obama’s performance as president, while 45% of American voters strongly disapprove. His presidential Approval Index is –18, compared to –13 on this day last week. Among liberals and conservatives, 52% of Democrats strongly approve, while 76% of Republicans strongly disapprove. As for those unaffiliated with either major party, 20% strongly approve and 51% strongly disapprove.

• Overall, 44% of voters at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance and 55% at least somewhat disapprove.

• Today’s “Election 2010 Balance of Power” summary projects Democrats winning 48 senate seats and the Republicans winning 47 senate seats on Election Day. Five states are currently considered toss-ups (California, Illinois, Nevada, Washington, and West Virginia).

• Today’s “Gubernatorial Scorecard” predicts 27 Republican states, 16 Democratic states, and 7 toss-ups (Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont).

Enough numbers. Make history on November 2. This election has the potential to be an epic page in American history. And there is a reason why stakes are higher now than they have been for a very long time. It is because America is slipping through our fingers and the politicians who supported this drastic deviation from red, white and blue deserve to be unseated.

1,959.1 miles to go.

Day45 Wednesday 10/13/10

ran 2.6 miles
“What history distinctly earns through patience and concision futures squander in blind repetition and excess.”

Anonymous

Midterm elections are in less than three weeks and all of the politicians have their striped tents set up with three rings of circus acts, well-rehearsed, under the pointed tops of their campaigns. In my state, Louisiana, I have an Obama-backer, Charlie Melancon, and a republican, David Vitter, who is associated with the exploits of a brothel in New Orleans.

Barack Obama, not far down the road, will be up for re-election against someone else and that circus will be comparable to a holiday in Rome’s ancient coliseum, lions and gladiators, disingenuous baby-kissing, people all over the place being entertained by ruthless political posturing that serves no real purpose but to manipulate people to a higher degree than the opponent.

Until a vast amount of people in America can begin to understand that their happiness is not contingent upon the politicians they elect, we are getting nowhere as a nation. Self-assertion and serving a purpose of your own, with pride attributed to yourself and not to the pockets of others, is the first step in limiting government.

Some of the greatest moments and eras in history, such as when America fought for a revolution that they should not have statistically won, were derived from a sense of humble patience and a concise will for people everywhere to succeed as long as they chose to try. Great moments in history are not achieved by repeating mistakes of the past over and over again. The mistake I am referring to, which other countries have tried and others still practice is Communism. It is clear as can be if you take a moment to think about it. Assess your lifestyle and everything you have right now and then imagine being a citizen of Cuba or China. Do you want to be in the pocket of the government? Do you not want to think for yourself or not have any ambitions? Do you not want to have a voice? Socializing America even slightly is a contradiction of what America stands for and socialism is also a last resort for any country to continue. We are not in “last resort” status and for Obama to move in that direction is an insult to everything we work hard for everyday.

In America, great moments come from letting this country be what it was intended to be and President Obama’s decisions reflect no intentions of letting this country be what it was meant to be.

1,961.7 miles to go.

Day44 Tuesday 10/12/10

ran 3.2 miles
There are millions upon millions of unsung heroes, both alive and deceased, who do and have done things on any given day to sustain the integrity of America and its principles. Rather than post about something we all recognize as a memorable day in history, perhaps a tribute to everyday people, who are equally significant, is just as important.

On this day in history, at any given time, someone in America has grinned inwardly with a humble sense of pride because they achieved a goal that they had sweat and bled for. At any given time, someone in this country stood up for something they believed in and they changed states of affairs, allowing them to simply sleep better at night. On this day in history, somebody woke up and got out of bed and went to work, once again lubing the gears of this incomprehensibly massive machine called America, asking in return only to be left alone to live his or her life, unfettered from the nearly unbearable gravity American politics have heaved upon our backs. On this day in history, someone realized that reliance on any government is an impediment to his or her self-being. On this day, at any given time, someone wanted to scream from the top of a mountain that the way to beat a government is for individuals to set goals and to do everything they can to obtain them. This single noble act, which I believe we were put on Earth to perform, to have a chance to embrace life and live it to its fullest, is the one ultimate obstruction that any government faces; a nation of self-fulfilled citizens is a nation where presidents, senators, and representatives have no firm ground in which to create complication out of nothing.

Government is by all means necessary, but obligation falls upon every individual citizen to rely on it as little as possible. The decisions Barack Obama is making right now are like hollowing out a giant rock, which is America, and stuffing it with feathers. America is losing its structure and becoming a pillow for anyone to rest their heads on.

1,964.3 miles to go.

Day43 Monday 10/11/10

ran 3.2 miles
This is an open letter written to President Obama by Jeffrey S. Howard, a normal American simply trying to succeed.

“In today's dangerous world, we need a president with experience, leadership and courage. Unfortunately, you have shown us little of those traits.

Your childhood and younger years denied you the opportunity to grow up as an American man, and that is no fault of your own. Unfortunately, your lack of empathy for and experience of a traditional American upbringing has left you out of touch with those of us who grew up learning the traditions and work ethic of our predecessors.

You have never accepted the honor of military service, or held and survived in any sort of entry-level working position. You are bereft of many of the basic building blocks of a true American personality and worldview.

You have never experienced the icy hand of fear caressing your gut during a firefight when your very survival from second to second depends on your luck, wits, fellow troopers and the grace of God. You have never sweated out a payroll when your receivables are late.

You've missed the rewarding feeling of flogging a loaded truck all night to deliver a load 500 miles away at 7 a.m. You never shoveled cow manure for less than minimum wage to earn enough for a rattletrap car. You missed out on greasing dump trucks on the night shift, and never had the opportunity to start out cleaning restrooms and sweeping floors in a factory.

Your education was in the law, and you ignored any opportunity to absorb the lessons of history or the theories of economics. You have never experienced the law of the jungle in the private sector.

While you play golf and basketball and surround yourself with "the swells" enjoying concerts in the People's House, those of us in the general public dine on Spam and Costco burgers. I can't put my wife on a 747 and send her to Spain so she can be ready to spend 10 days on Martha's Vineyard when she gets back. She works seven days a week and so do I — spreading four full- and part-time jobs between us to make ends meet.

I watch in pain while my business venture slides into oblivion and my small IRA erodes as your economic policies push the nation into a double-dip recession. This economy is locking up again, and you cannot blame former President Bush. The great construction jobs I created are ending while you pour trillions in borrowed money into the public sector to buy votes. I blame you personally for appointing the ship of fools you have as Cabinet officials and advisers.”

Open letters written to Obama are flooding the web with like sentiments of disappointment in the direction America is heading (go to your favorite search engine and type “Open letters written to Obama”, they are numerous). Everyday citizens of various industries who point out blatantly poor decisions made on behalf of our president write these letters. I am obviously biased in my opinion that Barack Obama and his like-minded counterparts need to leave Washington figuratively tarred and feathered, so, I can’t help but wonder, how many more detrimental decisions does this man need to make before we are left with no impetus or hope?

1,967.5 miles to go.

Day42 Sunday 10/10/10

ran 2.1 miles
This post makes six weeks. I remember in elementary school we received report cards every six weeks. Those six weeks seemed like an eternity. Now, six week increments come and go like forgettable strangers passing on a sidewalk. When I was in elementary school Ronald Reagan was our president. That man was elected president at a time when America was falling apart. Incumbent Jimmy Carter was attempting to do much of what Barack Obama is actually getting away with today, the USSR was in an arms race with America, and the United States was looking for a hero.

When Reagan entered office unemployment was at 11%. Among other statistical deficits, Reagan led this country out of a hole that liberals had tunneled to nowhere. Reagan broke up Russia’s socialist republic, created 15 million jobs, and, among many other accomplishments, managed to do all of this by usurping the gossip of media and the politics of Congress, by speaking directly to the American people. Ronald Reagan was known as “The Great Communicator” and we need a hero like him as soon as possible.

I have run 109.3 miles so far, averaging 2.60 miles a day.

1,970.7 miles to go.

Day41 Saturday 10/09/10

ran 2.6 miles

• President Obama’s National Security Adviser, General James Jones, is leaving the administration this month. This departure is the fifth top-level adviser to walk since July.

• Senate staffers will indulge in a two-day splurge of back massages, organic food testings, milk mustache photos, and other spoils next week during a Health Fair put on exclusively for staffers. While these men and women enjoy the best health care in the country contrasted to millions of hardworking Americans who struggle everyday, it is we the people, who are trying to make ends meet, who are paying for this Health Fair with our tax dollars. There will be activities running the whole spectrum of personal health. Vendors and service providers were not commented on and nor was the sum of money this will cost taxpayers.

• The jobless rate is stuck in the proximity of 9.6%. There are 305,689,000 people in America meaning that 29,346,144 people are without jobs. If you average that by 50 states, roughly, 586,923 people are jobless from state to state. These numbers are one of many convincing lenses to look through to understand how ineffective and wasteful Obama’s stimulus packages have been. Health care reform will only worsen the situation at a full stride. The decisions Obama has made are rife with what seems to be contempt for this country and his change that he speaks of so often is…socialism…there is no other word for it.

1,972.8 miles to go.

Day40 Friday 10/08/10

ran 3.2 miles

• Arizona was the forty-eighth state to join the union on February 14, 1912, one month after New Mexico and forty-seven years before Alaska.

• Population, as of 2009, is 6,595,778.

• Senators are Jon Kyl (R) and John McCain (R).

• Representatives are Ann Kirkpatrick (D), Trent Franks (R), John Shadegg (R), Edward Pastor (D), Harry Mitchell (D), Jeff Flake (R), Raul Grijalva (D), and Gabrielle Giffords (D).

• Arizona holds 10 electoral votes. Historically, the state has voted republican since 1952, barring Bill Clinton’s win in 1996.

In April 2010, Arizona’s governor, Jan Brewer, signed a rigid bill on illegal immigration into law. The bill allows local law enforcement to apprehend illegal aliens if they do not have the proper documents to prove their legal status. This sounds logical. If they are residing in Arizona illegally then they get sent back home. This sounds logical. Most other countries burden foreigners with much gravity pertaining to legal documentation and legal motives for being in their country. But not America. Obama seems to want to level the greatness of this country with scattered shortcomings of various other countries, but is it not an arrogant statement, concerning the status of ultimate power, to say to the world that we are the one nation possessing power and economical strength that is too cool to be more rigorous about the laws concerning what foreign people in our country are doing at any given time? No other country with the success and the verve we possess is nearly as loose on immigration as we are and eventually it will be the end of America as we know it. America will go on, but it will not be our America.

Pertaining to Arizona’s decision to take illegal immigration seriously Jan Brewer, a pioneer in creating some real change in this country, had this to say, “The law represents another tool for our state to use as we work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix.”

This sounds logical.

1,975.4 miles to go.

Day39 Thursday 10/07/10

ran 2.6 miles
Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval poll indicates that 28% of Americans strongly approve of Barack Obama’s performance as president, while 41% strongly disapprove. His Presidential Approval Index is –13, compared to –17 on this day last week. Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance and 53% at least somewhat disapprove.

Deviating from statistics and polls, the story about McDonalds and approximately thirty other companies being awarded exemption from Obama’s health care plan was jaw-dropping when I read about it. This makes no sense on so many different levels.

This attempt at health care reform, before it is even implemented, had to be waived for thirty major companies comprising nearly one million part-time or low-wage employees. These are the people that the health care bill is supposed to help most. The bill was designed so everyone could have health care. And now, the majority of people who need health care through intervention of the government, a government that wants other people to pay for it, at a penalty of fines if they don’t, may not be able to receive it because these companies threatened to drop the insurance altogether because they cannot afford it.

“Without waivers, companies would have had to provide a minimum of $750,000 in coverage next year, increasing to $1.25 million in 2012, $2 million in 2013 and unlimited in 2014.” USATODAY.com

If the government waives one single company, that is precedent to waive more. Perhaps if every company requests exemption we can turn this bad idea around. And what’s the end game? If these companies can’t pay these insurance premiums now why would they be able to at any other time in the future. This makes no sense. Our government conjured up this utopian health care bill, which they think is revolutionary and some how good (turn on your television and look at the riots and protests occurring in Europe; their behavior is a product of social programs going bad and running out of money---these plans are designed with the best of intentions, but they just don’t work…ever…anywhere, and our government is trying to do it after so many others have failed?), they believe it is indisputable and necessary, yet they so easily come to the aid of thirty companies, to save them from the costliness of the health care they designed, representing one million employees to grant them waivers from their own ridiculous health care program, which is designed to help, most of all, the very people who said they refuse to participate because it is too astonishingly costly. How can these politicians be so adamant and passionate about something that completely contradicts its intentions before it is even put into effect?

The Department of Health and Human Services awarded these waivers because the part-time and low-wage employees who currently receive minimum benefits were going to lose all benefits because these companies threatened to drop health insurance altogether. President Obama assured America that no one would lose the coverage they currently have. This may be one way to prevent him from breaking his promise but it is certainly not right. It is far from it.

This demands repeating: One million people, who this health care reform was primarily designed for, stood to lose their health insurance altogether, unless the government stepped in to exempt them from the health care plan that is supposed to help them, before it was even put into effect. How does this make any sense?

1,978.6 miles to go.

Day38 Wednesday 10/06/10

ran 3.2 miles
“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”

Plato

“We’d all like to vote for the best man, but he’s never a candidate.

Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard

“Politicians are people who, when they see the light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.”

John Quinton

Both Democrats and Republicans have successfully contributed in mongering lies, spewing insincere intentions, and uniformly setting this country on a regressive path that will take a long time to reconcile. I’ve said this before and I will continue to say it: Barack Obama and his radical agenda are simply the straws, which his ego views as concrete pillars, that have broken the proverbial camel’s back. That camel is the people of this country, and it actually takes a ridiculous sum of wrongdoing to get a massive number of people of this country to rally against their leader and their government, but Barack Obama and his democratic counterparts have done it. They kicked over the wrong anthill and the ants are tired of rebuilding their humble mound they work so hard for.

Up until now, many Americans shrugged most challenges outside of their personal bubbles because they were unaffected. It was not because they were selfish, but because they were hardworking and self-sufficient. They contributed to society. They did not need to rely on the government for sustenance and they did not want the government interfering with their lives.

These people are being interfered with now by an entity that they believe has no right to impose itself like such an unwelcome houseguest. That entity is our own government and this administration has overstayed its welcome.

1,981.2 miles to go.

Day37 Tuesday 10/05/10

ran 3.2 miles
On this day in 1947, President Harry Truman was filmed for the first-ever televised address from the White House. His primary topic was food-conservation, requesting Americans to decrease their consumption of grain to help starving Europeans. Europe was still rebuilding from World War II and famine was a constant struggle.

Truman, the thirty-third president, had requested farmers and distillers to slow grain use and implored the public to abstain from eating beef on Tuesdays, eggs and poultry on Thursdays, and to save a slice of bread each day. This food program was brief and served its purpose swiftly helping to revitalize economic growth in Europe.

In 1947, television was a new technology and exclusive to a privileged few, numbering in only thousands of homes. But by the early 1950s, televisions were in millions of households.

Each of Truman’s following White House speeches, including his 1949 inauguration speech, was aired on national television. Truman was the first president to air a paid political advertisement on television, as well, pioneering the avalanche of political ads we are bombarded with today.

1,984.4 miles to go.

Day36 Monday 10/04/10

ran 3.8 miles
Oklahoma has recently passed a number of new and bold laws. Surmounting Arizona’s recent new immigration laws with boldness and controversy, the state has enacted six new laws, which more states will hopefully follow the model of.

• Oklahoma has declared itself a sovereign state, not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, joining Texas, Montana and Utah in sovereign status (HJR 1003).
• On the front lawn of the Oklahoma State Capitol the Ten Commandments will be displayed (HB 1330).
• Oklahoma is now incarcerating all illegal immigrants and sending them back where they came from unless they choose to undergo the process of being a naturalized citizen (HB 1804)
• Oklahoma now has the right to collect DNA samples from illegal aliens for storage in their criminal database, for criminal investigative use (SB 1102).
• The people of Oklahoma voted for the right to bear arms, confirming citizens have every right to possess and transport weapons in their vehicles.
• The people of Oklahoma voted to print all drivers’ license exams exclusively in English, following the logic that all road signs are printed only in English.
  

This is a huge statement and it is likely that more states will follow this stream of logic, unfettering themselves from the shackles of Barack Obama and his agenda. Initiative like this at the state level is a preemptive insurance policy against administrations with ideas like Obama’s and all future governmental gears that have un-American machines to build.

1.987.6 miles to go.

Day35 Sunday 10/03/10

ran 2.0 miles
Today marks five weeks, 88.6 miles, and 16735 words. My daily running average is 2.53 miles a day and my daily posting average is 478.1 words a day. These miles and words have opened my mind and heart to avenues they have never known before now.

To establish where I am coming from and how valuable this goal is I would like to point out that I have no desire to run everyday or to post on this blog every night. But I find it to be a necessary burden for a worthwhile cause. This world may be large but that is no reason for anyone to be small. When I don’t want to run I convince myself to persevere by imagining how petty I am to consider idleness when so many soldiers have and continue to serve in our military, fighting for our freedom. They don’t get to wake up and say, “I don’t feel like doing this today.”

When I don’t have time or energy to type a post for this blog I remind myself that, by candle light and no modern technology, our forefathers drafted a brilliant path against all odds for this country to follow. And for me to not continue this goal would be an insult to every success this country has had for more than two centuries. It is a testing goal, but it is nothing compared to what so many others have done.

1,991.4 miles to go.

Day34 Saturday 10/02/10

ran 2.6 miles
Scanning over articles and current events from the past week, I found a lot of bone and not much meat. There was a lot of interesting news but it’s the same predictable material day after day. Countries in Europe are protesting and rioting, Obama is doing everything he can to save his cause, firing and hiring administrative members, blaming republicans for everything that’s wrong, the Pope and the Muslim religion can’t keep the ink off the papers across the globe, Senators and Representatives are spending millions upon millions of dollars to campaign for seats that only earn an average salary of $174,000 per year…

…Let’s take a step back. How can anyone justify spending millions of dollars on vinyl signs, billboards, advertisements and appearances when a candidate’s actual plan is the real substance of the matter at hand? And whatever this man’s or woman’s plan is should be intuitive and self-explanatory. It should not require millions of dollars to sell an election. It should take a plan, common sense, and voters who are interested in the state of their country and educated about its history and current events.

I’m going to crawl out on a thin limb and make a judgmental call. President Obama’s entire plan is to make things work out for everybody and to make things equally enjoyable in America. While I believe this effort is a tenet of communism, I am curious to know why Barack Obama, or Bush, because I know that is who he would blame it on, has not said, “Wake up, America! If you want something you have to earn it. The government is here to serve as little intervention in your life as possible. We want you to succeed by yourself and you have every ability to do it. So what are you waiting for?”

That’s my America.

1,993.4 miles to go.

Day33 Friday 10/01/10

ran 2.6 miles

• Alaska was first made into a district on October 18, 1867. The district became an organized territory on August 24, 1912, and finally became the forty-ninth state on January 3, 1959, after Arizona and before Hawaii.

• Alaska was purchased from Russia through the negotiations of William Henry Seward, secretary of state under President Lincoln. Our government paid $7.2 million dollars for the land (2 cents per acre). Many Americans at the time called the purchase “Seward’s Folly”, regarding Alaska as an icy wasteland. As it turns out Alaska thrives in mining, is rich in oil and draws much tourism.

• Population, as of 2009, is 698,473.

• Senators are Mark Begich (D) and Lisa Murkowski (R).

• Representative is Donald Young (R).

• Alaska has 3 electoral votes. It has been a red state since it joined the union excluding the presidential election of 1964, voting for democrat Barry Goldwater.

• Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas and possesses more than half the world’s active glaciers. The state is larger than England, France, Italy and Spain combined, yet if its population density were applied to New York City, only 16 people would be living in Manhattan.

The polls open up tomorrow for the election of local officials here in Lafayette, Louisiana. Many people fail to vote for even Senators or Representatives, or even for the President of the United States (I used to be one of them), but get out there and make a difference. Do some research. I know voting is the last thing on a lot of people’s minds because it may not seem important, but look at it like a cold, clear glass of refreshing water. You never fully appreciate how good water tastes or how vital it is until you are forced to drink a warm cup of murky water filled with impurities. If you ever lost your right to vote you would cringe like you had just took a sip of that rusty, parasitic water. Appreciate and utilize your right to vote. People died for it.

1.996.0 miles to go.