Day305 Thursday 06/30/11

10 months!!!

ran 3.5 miles
Today ends the tenth month of running against Obama. Unfortunately, last night Google Blogger was down and I was unable to get Day304’s post up until this morning. Yesterday I broke the 900-mile mark and was excited to click the “publish post” icon when an error window came up.

So here we are and on this final day of running against Obama for the tenth month, Barack Obama has once again given us his reliable daily dose of subject matter to drop our jaws at, scratch our heads with, and too wonder about.

Obama intends to sit down and talk with the Muslim Brotherhood in the capacity that it appears the organization will likely be taking power in Egypt after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood does not recognize Israel, and this is their motto:

"Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."

The Muslim Brotherhood touts that it renounces violence.

Check out Day260 and Day261 for more information on the Muslim Brotherhood and how compromising our president sitting at a table with them can potentially be.

It seemingly requires so little common sense to make Barack Obama a one-term president as, day after day, he offers up so much material that questions his leadership from so many different angles. Yet it will somehow be a challenge to get him out in 2012.

Here are some stories in today’s news:

Geithner, who oversaw the largest debt increase of any Treasury Secretary in history, wants to step down. $3.7 trillion increase in the national debt ($3,723,575,990,130.10, to be exact, from January 26, 2009 until June 30, 2011---the debt Geithner oversaw is greater than all federal debt accrued in the first 204 years of America’s history).

Mark Halperin of MSNBC called Obama “a dick” on live TV, referring to his speech last night regarding the debt limit crisis America is currently enduring.

The GOP requested a sit-down with Obama and he declined. The White House responded by saying it was “not a conversation worth having”.

Greenspan: Fed’s massive stimulus package had little impact on economy.

Oil prices are back on the rise a mere week after the futile release of strategic oil reserves.

Golf anyone?

1,176.0 miles to go.

Day304 Wednesday 06/29/11

900 miles!!!

ran 3.2 miles
I broke 900 miles tonight and I could not be more excited to have surpassed the final century-mark before reaching one thousand miles---all out of concentrated passion to contribute what little I can to turn America around and to emphasize the importance of denying Barack Obama a second term.

Coincidentally, tomorrow will end the tenth month of running against Obama and, after 304 days of running, I can say it has not been easy but the frustration and disappointment Barack Obama’s ideas and policies have weighed us down with is what keeps me going. Daily, I draw inspiration from the words that come out of his mouth to continue putting one foot in front of the other to silence him on November 6, 2012.

To sum up the past 900 miles and 304 days, around 300 miles into running against Obama my left leg, over a matter of days, became almost useless. I limped when I walked and I was unable to continue running for eleven, or maybe thirteen days. Unaware that the soles of running shoes literally expire in what seems like overnight after 250 to 300 miles, resulting in general pain ranging from your toes all the way up your leg, I finally purchased two new pairs of shoes that I have been alternating for the past 600 miles. Right on schedule, now my right leg is hurting from top to bottom and I need new shoes again. The consistency is right on, every 300 miles. Then a couple months ago I got sick and sat out for five or six days. For any runners out there I thought that might be interesting, how long shoes last, and it varies with body weight and other subtle variations in body types and running tendencies.

The couple times I had to sit out were disheartening but it’s simply part of being human. If anything, my desire to demonstrate, through a peaceful and healthy method of protesting our president’s actions, was increased by wanting to not only catch up on the days I had lost but to surpass the goal I had initially set for myself.

The distance from the city I live in, Lafayette, Louisiana, to Washington D.C. and back is 2,080 miles and that was the distance I had set for myself to run between August 30, 2010 and November 6, 2012. That averages out to roughly 2.62 miles per day. My average right now is 2.96 miles per day and I am 104 miles ahead of schedule.

Thanks for keeping up with the blog and I hope you keep reading. Check out my facebook page to and give it a “like” if you want to follow.

1,179.5 miles to go.

Day303 Tuesday 06/28/11

ran 3.1 miles
Here is something we have not been hearing much chatter about as November 2012 slowly begins to materialize on the American horizon. What about the Senate and House races? What about the Gubernatorial races? How many seats are at play in Congress and how many Governorships are at stake? In the unfortunate event that Barack Obama does finagle a second term, will his agenda and his direction serve any real purpose if Republicans continue their majority in the House and claim a majority in the Senate?

In the Senate, 33 of the 100 seats are at play. Democrats are projected to have 21 seats up for election, 2 Independents hold seats up for election, and Republicans are expected to have 10 seats up for election. Currently, there are 51 Democrats, 2 Independents, and 47 Republicans in the Senate.

In the House, this will be the first congressional election using the new districts reapportioned by the population numbers collected from the 2010 Census. Elections will be held for all 435 seats in the House.

Eleven of the fifty governorships and territorial governorships of American Samoa and Puerto Rico will be in the 2012 race. Among those, only two serving governors will be term-limited out of office.

There will be a lot to think about on that not so distant Tuesday night of November 2012. And, based on the numbers above, any of these sets of races could slightly bend or aggressively veer in either direction.

1,182.7 miles to go.

Day302 Monday 06/27/11

ran 4.4 miles
In an article from TheBlaze.com, Rush Limbaugh defended 2012 GOP candidate Herman Cain today in the wake of recently being attacked and mocked by Jon Stewart on Comedy Central Network. Stewart took a jab at Cain’s message that Congressional bills should be significantly shorter and easier to read, suggesting that Herman Cain may have trouble reading or does not like to read.

All is fair, or at least almost everything, when it comes to comedy, as proven by shameless political skits on SNL, but Rush Limbaugh saw an opportunity here to defend and expound on Herman Cain’s good character and the hope he represents for Conservative ideas. Limbaugh argues that Cain represents everything the media says “does not exist” within the character of a black conservative.

“You identify yourself as a black conservative and you may as well be admitting that you’re a whore, or a prostitute, an Uncle Tom, you’ve been bought off, whatever, you’re not real. It’s not possible for a black person to be conservative. The way the media and the left look at this country, a black person who is conservative is a black person who would agree with the whole notion of slavery and would want to be a slave owner. That’s how bad it is. That is how devoid and distanced from reality that they are.”

1,185.8 miles to go.

Day301 Sunday 06/26/11

ran 2.7 miles

Today ends week forty-three of running against Obama. I ran 24.8 miles this week, averaging 3.54 miles per day.

My favorite past time has always been the game of soccer. To only slightly exaggerate how much I loved playing the game growing up all the way through my twenties, I would only be embellishing the truth a little to say that when I was born my dad may or may not have tossed a soccer ball at me in the delivery room as I was crowning and I might or might not have taken my first breath of life doing a bicycle kick out of my mother’s womb. I loved soccer that much.

So, when I read an article this morning about the Gold Cup Final at the Rose Bowl between the U.S. and Mexico, which America lost yesterday four to two, I was not surprised to read that the U.S. soccer team was booed from one corner of the stadium to the other for the entire game, starting with the National Anthem.

Why? Because Latinos filled three quarters of the stadium. I’m sure they were not checking for Green cards at the gate but, regardless of whether these fans were Latino-Americans or illegal aliens, their actions distinctly encapsulate so many things that are backwards in this country---so many things that have been leading us to a self-destructive path for decades.

This sums it up.

In what other country than America do the visitors have the home-field advantage?

Nowhere! Name one other country. You can’t because no other nation on the face of this Earth is as incomprehensibly backwards, constantly shuffling the most menial of priorities and paying so little attention to the issues that are really important, as America.

Mexico had the home-field advantage in America!

It’s not just at soccer games either. Look around. I did a post last Tuesday, Day296, which puts into perspective how the Caucasian population has been performing a slow suicide on itself in America for decades now. Yesterday’s Gold Cup Final was a testimony to this fact.

“When historians examine all these statistics in the future, they will surely ask why the Caucasian population extinguished itself: How did a race that created the finest republic in the history of the world eventually find itself in the minority of that very republic?”---Grace Vuoto

I would say our government is 100% to blame for letting our borders get so out of control and leading us to this point where American-Latinos actually boo America and cheer for Mexico. Something that has always irked every fiber of my being is the fact that Mexican-Americans (it is absolutely ridiculous that I even have to specify between a Mexican-American or an African-American or a German-American, instead of just saying we are all American) constantly wave their Mexican flags around with such little regard for the fact that they are in America and that they are Americans.

Ever done any research on Mexico? It’s not a great place to live. By all means, be proud of your roots and the nation you were born in or were descended from, but when you crossed that border and became an American, legally or not, you stepped into an insurmountable realm of opportunity that Mexico will not be providing for its people any time soon. That ought to be respected and praised, and it definitely should not be insulted or taken for granted by waving the flag of a country so many desperately chose to escape by any means they could scratch together.

Here is the article about last night’s final at the Rose Bowl.

"I love this country, it has given me everything that I have, and I'm proud to be part of it," said Victor Sanchez, a 37-year-old Monrovia resident wearing a Mexico jersey. "But yet, I didn't have a choice to come here, I was born in Mexico, and that is where my heart will always be."

When the final whistle blew, the Mexican fans, 80,000 of an estimated 94,000 total fans, remained in the stadium until the awards ceremony. As the U.S. team was awarded their second place trophy the stadium once again fired a resounding boo.

Only in America.

1,190.2 miles to go.

Day300 Saturday 06/25/11

300 Days!!!

ran 3.2 miles
Obama claims to be committed for compromise among Congress to find a solution to our nation’s debt, but he claims the focus cannot be on spending cuts.

"Of course, there's been a real debate about where to invest and where to cut, and I'm committed to working with members of both parties to cut our deficits and debt," Obama said in his weekly radio address. "But we can't simply cut our way to prosperity," he added.

“But we can’t simply cut our way to prosperity?”

Yes we can. But it’s all about hope and change that nearly, if not more, than half of America is begging for right now in the shape of a new president. Obama’s alternative to cutting spending is to tax, tax, tax. For every dollar the government cuts, one thousand more would predictably be spent on waste.

Pull up Google and type in Keynesian economics. It is a liberal favorite out of their playbook to demonstrate how to waste as many tax dollars as possible while convincing you otherwise. The concept is a proven failure and it is what our current president is advocating right now, on the heels of a failed, nearly trillion dollar stimulus package. The thing about Keynesian economists is that when their plans fail, their excuse is that they did not spend enough to begin with. Following that misconstrued logic, they encourage even more spending. And it doesn’t stop until enough time and ruin has passed that the pieces are too crumbled apart to put back together.

Can we cut our way to prosperity? Yes we can.

1,192.9 miles to go.

Day299 Friday 06/24/11

ran 3.3 miles
One day away. I’m pretty excited about hitting 300 days. It is getting close to a year now that I have been running against the President of the United States of America. That seems like a questionable thing to do on the surface but our Constitution allows every man and woman the right to speak out when they feel America, a nation that was intended to be governed by the people and represented by elected officials, is being led down an unconstitutional path. Our president’s approval rating is a reflection of just how dissatisfied America is, and Congress’ approval numbers are fighting for breath somewhere around 20%. The government is ruling and the people are going unheard.

June 30 will open up my eleventh month. This thing started out as an idea in a notebook, involving a lot of rambling and frustration that led me to acknowledge for the first time in my life that I firmly believe in the Declaration of Independence and everything this country has fought for since it was written.

When I look at the regressions Progressivism, or Liberalism, are forging an unnatural path toward, and the unexplainable trailblazing they are making, the only solace I can find at the end of the day is the meaningless ability to be able to say, “I told you so” once it is too late. But it will be too late. My ultimate opinion of Barack Obama at this point is that he will either earn the title-belt of worst president since Jimmy Carter or he will somehow win a second term and America, as we know it, will end. America will continue but it will be over as we once knew it.

As I said, this thing started out in a notebook. Day after day, speaking with different people and hearing others express the same frustrations I had felt with the direction America was heading, which all had led to the same thing---overwhelming disappointment and no action---inspired me to do something, regardless of how few listened, something, instead of just throwing my hands up in the air and feeling helpless.

In this notebook I began jotting down ideas and thinking about the American history that has led us to this point. I discovered the strongest sense of pride and appreciation I had ever felt for all of the men and women who have given their lives or sacrificed above their means to fight for rights we take for granted like voting, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion, just to name a few.

So, one day while sitting in traffic in Lafayette, Louisiana, I turned to my wife and told her that I would like to run against Obama every single day until November 6, 2012. I proposed my idea to her, which is this blog and the miles I run everyday, and she supported me. For that, among an infinite number of other reasons, I love her. She has sacrificed a lot of patience and time for me to pursue this goal I’ve set for myself and as this first year is nearing an end I am truly realizing how fortunate I am to have such an amazing wife. And my ultimate goal with this blog and running all of these miles is to be able to share the life my wife and I want to have together and to be able to raise our children in the America that we want them to experience.

It is not Barack Obama’s America.

1,196.1 miles to go.

Day298 Thursday 06/23/11

ran 3.1 miles
Some stats and polls from Rasmusen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 23% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 38% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of -15.

• Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 53% disapprove.

• Only 8% of American voters give Congress good or excellent marks, and only 26% believe our nation is generally heading in the right direction.

• For the fourth week in a row, a generic Republican candidate holds a slight advantage over Obama in a potential 2012 match-up. The unnamed Republican candidate earns 45% while Obama earns 43%.

• The latest poll taken by likely GOP Primary voters shows that Mitt Romney is in the lead with 33%, Michele Bachmann is in second with 19%, and Herman Cain is in third with 10% of the vote.

• Only 26% of Investors think the economy is getting better.

• Just 47% see buying a home as a family’s best investment.

Michelle Obama, when asked about the foods she likes most, during a function in South Africa, was thinking way too out loud, as she started a long ramble ending with something to the effect of, “I can’t stop eating French fries. But eat your vegetables…”

I find as little humor in that as when her husband said something to the effect of, “Shovel-ready jobs weren't as shovel-ready as we thought,” and then chuckled about the comment afterward. This is what we are up against---not the Obama’s, themselves, so much as the large portion of the American population who finds the Obama’s jokes as funny as they do.

Regarding Congress and our situation in Libya, Hillary Clinton is asking a rhetorical “Whose side are you on”. There will be a big vote on Libya this Friday.

America is projected to fall to third place in trade soon, after India.

More joblessness this week.

1,199.4 miles to go.

Day297 Wednesday 06/22/11

ran 3.9 miles

Chapter 13

The moon hung swallowed in darkness unadorned by stars. Like a lone pearl lazily strung on a frail thread the night sky seemed determined to part with its one dim speck of light. Silence as vast as the darkness engulfed the hour.

Two figures stood under a flickering streetlight. They were identical in their shadowy appearances. The edges of their trench coats rustled against their knees in an eerily gentle gust. The moon surrendered to black and the air suddenly stood still, like prey frozen in fear, as one of the figures leaned into the other and spoke.

“Your associate failed to complete his mission. He had succeeded in infiltrating the rebel group but was unable to complete the end task. What we know is that Jonas Cassidy is currently in the presence of who we think is the leader of the rebels. Her underground name is Erica Darco. She is with two other men whom we do not know the identities of. They are inconsequential. The objective remains the same except for one thing. We now want Jonas alive.”

A cricket chirped a rusted tune as a dark cloud formed above. Tides rose and children fell asleep. Men thought of plans and women worried. Teenagers walked the streets of their night world with blind rage and visible disbelief. News was the same old news and on the face of every Ex-American was the same old, lost American face. The chirping stopped as the second figure spoke.

“Regardless of how futile their ideas and resources are they continue to be a step ahead of us. We need to take a different approach.”

There was a pause like the space between a bad joke and a fake laugh. It had seemed only a moment for one but an eternity for the other.

He continued, “I understand what these people are after. I used to be like them. Jonas Martin Cassidy is a trumped up bluff. I don’t think he even fully understands what he is doing, why he is there or where he plans on going. He has no direction and yet he is driven. Insanity is his only motive…none of his decisions make any sense.”

The other man laughed quietly and employed sarcasm.

“Yet United North America with all of its government resources cannot apprehend or figure out this troublesome man? Insanity seems to be on his side. You are telling me, Mr. Corso, that ‘insanity’ is the best scapegoat you have to resort to as an excuse? I would like to believe that you could do better than that. This national continent is the strongest government in world history and you have the audacity to tell me that ‘insanity’ is our largest obstacle in apprehending one man? One man, Mr. Corso, is all we ask of you…and your deceased associate. Can you do what we are asking?

Mr. Corso was shaken. He was curious about the awry fate of his associate and he was fearful of the ultimatum just placed on his head. His lone ally on this cold, dark night was stolid and stern. He spoke in a tone of voice that demanded full attention.

“Let me explain something to you, Mr. Corso. It’s very simple. You are completely missing the larger picture with all of your words and ideas. I don’t want to hear words. I want to see Jonas Martin Cassidy in our custody. There is nothing more or less that you can do for me. And I don’t care if you think you know Jonas or if you used to be like him. You’re not him. You are not nearly as dedicated or focused, or as ‘insane’ as he is.

Listen. Let me explain something to you. There is a common fabric uniting all causes and actions. No cause lacks importance and no action goes unnoticed. The common fabric is selfishness. Nothing is done to any end without some kind of self-gratification. Actions take on importance and notice only because people want to be important and noticed. They are selfish. In Jonas’ case he feels guilty and obligated to atone for something; which in essence is a selfishness to fulfill one’s own needs. What he feels guilty about is what we need to find out. Every man has a corner deep in his mind and soul that orders his being and decides his actions regardless of what he thinks is right or wrong. Some men or motivated by irrepressible guilt and others are moved by sheer power. Jonas is not after power. He would rather die an unknown soldier than indulge in fame. We need to find what it is that Jonas Martin Cassidy is so willing to sacrifice everything for. What is it that he is so willing to die for?”

The streetlight above stopped flickering suddenly as though someone had a point to make. It did not beam on high power or cut out completely. It hummed a continuous, low voltage hint of light respective to the moon above it.

“The world, Mr. Corso, is a slippery chessboard with contracting and expanding boundaries. Rows after endless rolling rows of pawns mill away their time in tiny squares performing tasks and doing random things that not even they fully understand. Often curious what their purposes are and why it is they continue their questionable routines each day, they assign value to their actions and pride to their beliefs. This is what makes them human even though they constantly sacrifice and give their lives for Kings and Queens, often, whether they choose to or not. However, it is actually the knights, bishops and rooks that weave the world’s fabric.

You are a knight, bishop or a rook. You can choose. You are a play to ensure the survival of your King. We need you to capture an pawn. You need to understand how important this is.

Kings and Queens, Presidents, Czars, Prime Ministers, Shahs and Emperors possess no power without knights, bishops and rooks. Similarly, pawns have no voice or direction without the guidance or deceit of knights, bishops and rooks. Pawns are like ants that swarm and make a big fuss for a mere three or four minutes when a foot kicks their hill, only to pick up the pieces and to forget about it. And as it is the foot of the King or Queen, hung from puppet strings, that keeps kicking their anthill, it is the knights, bishops and rooks grinning in the shadows.

Knights, bishops and rooks are the weavers of everything that has led to our continental union. They are manufacturers of disillusion for the greater cause and freewill for the lesser few who understand the shackles of freedom.

To not accept the human element, the historically provable fact that we are by nature often selfish and destructive, that our good intentions rarely ever tip a scale of altruistic worth, and that we are completely unpredictable from one decade to another from one country to another is suicidal to human progress.

Knights, bishops and rooks…they are the only pieces of the world game that do not need to follow the rules of kings or queens and most certainly do not need to listen to millions of pawns. People like you, Mr. Corso, are certainly a convenience but do not overlook how dispensable and replaceable you are. We want Jonas alive and we want him now.”

1,202.5 miles to go.

Day296 Tuesday 06/21/11

ran 4.3 miles
“When historians examine all these statistics in the future, they will surely ask why the Caucasian population extinguished itself: How did a race that created the finest republic in the history of the world eventually find itself in the minority of that very republic?”

Sometimes swallowing a truth can be much like swallowing an abrasive and oddly shaped stone. Although there is actually nothing in your throat sometimes you hear an unexpected fact and instinctively gulp it down as though a porous lava rock were in your mouth.

In an article by Grace Vuoto, “Bye bye white (and black) America: Make way for Latinos, Asians”, Vuoto puts into perspective exactly where population numbers are heading in America and she offers some theories to explain the long path that has led to our very near future.

The first sentence in the article states that the white American population is “moribund”. This term means “nearly dead”, “having lost all sense of purpose or vitality”, or “becoming obsolete”. Figures from the 2010 census back this term up.

By 2041 minorities will be the new majority. One out of every six Americans is currently Latino and the Asian population has increased 43%(!) since 2000, going from 10.2 million in 2000 to 14.7 million in 2010.

By 2015 there will be more minorities under the age of 18 than whites.

This means that the future of America is now indisputably in the hands of non-whites.

As an aside, I mean no negative sentiments to any ethnicity living in America, whether legally or illegally, but this is a factual projection for the near future of America, which will be a real game-changer in the history of America. If you are from Mexico and I suddenly informed you that Caucasians would be the overwhelming majority in your country in the very near future, or if you are from Vietnam and I suddenly informed you that whites would be ruling your country soon---you would have to admit that you would be at least somewhat surprised and concerned. My interpretation of these Census facts is irrelevant. I am just stating the irreversible direction America is heading in.

Blacks also, America’s previous largest minority, have already been surpassed by Latinos. Latinos have been the largest minority since 2003. In more than half of America’s largest cities, Latinos outnumber blacks.

Why?

“When historians examine all these statistics in the future, they will surely ask why the Caucasian population extinguished itself: How did a race that created the finest republic in the history of the world eventually find itself in the minority of that very republic?”

Read the whole article here for more explanation and the staggering numbers that prove it. And as you do, take a look around and look at the things that are going on in Washington. Ask yourself why, when so little makes sense in this country, things are the way they are. It’s not an innocent game to see how effectively our nation’s leaders can confuse and frustrate so many American’s for reasons we cannot understand. Everything is deliberate and has an important reason regardless of how ridiculous particular actions and decisions our government makes may seem. Perhaps they are planning for the future without stating what exactly that future is.

1,206.4 miles to go.

Day295 Monday 06/20/11

ran 4.3 miles

Leaders of NALEO (National Association of Latino Elected Officials) are disappointed in Barack Obama for failing, for the third year in a row, to make an appearance at their annual conference. He had promised as a presidential candidate in 2008 to return as president. Whether he has one more year or five more years to reappear at NALEO as a president is obviously yet to be determined.

I seriously doubt he will make next year’s conference either; however, if reelected in 2012, I have a feeling Barack Obama will be attending this conference and many others every year as he will have nothing to lose, as the possibility for a third term is nonexistent. If Barack Obama gets his second term, he will have four more years that he will not have to answer to the expectations of a third election. This is true in the case of any second-term president, but in the particular case of Barack Obama the possibility of his second term is why I am running every day and posting every night to do whatever little I can to contribute to making Obama a one-term president.

On a similar note, GOP candidate Michele Bachmann spoke at the Republican Leadership Conference this past weekend in New Orleans pointing out a similar sense of disappointment, which NALEO and so many other organizations and individuals must be feeling regarding Barack Obama’s empty promises and lack of progress.

“This president has failed the Hispanic community. He has failed the African-American community. He has failed us all when it comes to jobs.”

Bachmann

She went on to state some staggering unemployment percentages among Hispanic and African-American communities, “The status quo certainly isn't working for the African-American community, with 16 percent unemployment, or the Hispanic community, with nearly 12 percent unemployment. It's even worse for the youth: For Hispanic youth right now, 26 percent unemployment; for African-American youth, 40 percent unemployment.” These numbers are backed up by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and they are extremely disappointing in respect to the promises Obama campaigned on to get so many voters to elect him.

1,210.7 miles to go.

Day294 Sunday 06/19/11

ran 3.1 miles
Today ends week forty-two of running against Obama. I ran 16.9 miles this week, averaging 2.41 miles per day.

This weekend during the Republican Leadership Conference (RLC 2011) a comedian, and Obama impersonator, named Reggie Brown, who is coincidentally from Chicago, took the stage in New Orleans at this large-scale event to mock Barack Obama and others, including GOP candidates.

It is uncanny how much this guy looks like Barack Obama. Before playing the video I thought it would be a few harmless jokes, something similar to an SNL skit, but this guy overdid it. His microphone was pulled before he could complete his routine.

I thought the whole thing was highly offensive, taken way too far, extremely insulting, and overall disappointing. Barack Obama is one of the last people I want in the White House right now but this sort of message, or tactless entertainment, was way out of place at an official Republican conference of this scale. It was yet another distraction and joke being made about something that is so dire and serious; America’s future.

1,215.0 miles to go.

Day293 Saturday 06/18/11

ran 1.0 miles
Obama visits a discontent Puerto Rico

A mere four hours in Puerto Rico ended with resentment as Barack Obama raised nearly $1 million for his campaign and attempted to woo Hispanic voters to support him in the primaries. BHO’s visit to Puerto Rico was the first by an American president since JFK’s and local legislators were angered that the president did not address any help or solutions to the island’s soaring crime rate and excessive height of unemployment, which is higher than any U.S. state.

Obama and Boehner play a round of golf today

Really?!

Ron Paul wins straw poll in New Orleans

Representative Ron Paul won a straw poll by a considerable majority in New Orleans today. He won with 612 votes of the nearly 2,000 delegates from 38 states that attended. Huntsman finished second with 382 votes, Bachmann was third with 191 votes, sand Cain was fourth with 104 votes.

ATM machines are killing jobs

In what has probably already been realized as a huge blunder, Barack Obama recently blamed ATM machines for high unemployment. It’s not necessary to type any more words to describe how ridiculous of a statement that is but, why not? ATMs are killing banker jobs. Where as you once went up to someone behind the counter, now people are using these ATM machines. Crazy, right? ATMs have been around since 1972. Not even Jimmy Carter, in 1981, resorted to such a ridiculous scapegoat.

1,218.1 miles to go.

Day292 Friday 06/17/11

ran 0.2 miles

• North Dakota was the thirty-ninth state to join the union on November 2, 1889, on the same day as South Dakota and thirteen years after Colorado.

• Population, as of 2010, is 672,591.

• Senators are Kent Conrad (D) and John Hoeven (R).

• Representative is Rick Berg (R).

• North Dakota has three electoral votes. Historically, the state has voted Republican in twenty-four of the thirty presidential elections it participated in. North Dakota has been a reliable red state for nearly fifty years. McCain defeated Obama 53% to 45%.

1,219.1 miles to go.

Day291 Thursday 06/16/11

ran 2.2 miles

Chapter 12

Jonas pulled his backpack off his shoulders. The room panged with uneasiness as Mason, panicking, slowly reached for a knife he’d had in his back pocket. Ben and Thomas flexed like a couple of cowboys in what they thought might have been a Mexican standoff.

Erica rushed over to Jonas and grabbed the remaining strap of his backpack. She threw it to Mason and told everyone to be calm.

“Mason, keep your blade folded. Ben, tell your friend to sit down. “

Thomas remained standing with an insubordinate look of conviction in his eyes. Erica saw doubt in Thomas and attempted to control the situation. “Sit down, Thomas. I can tell you everything that is in that bag.”

Thomas opened his mouth to talk. Nothing came out, but he perverted a sense of calm that was growing incessant second by second. Mason’s hand pressed down like an anvil on his shoulder before he could get a word out.

“Empty the bag, Mason.” Erica looked to Jonas to see if the bag contained the specific contents he was supposed to bring. Jonas nodded as Mason emptied the bag randomly, piece by piece.

The first object Mason pulled out was a plain white book with no title or name on it. It was curled up, torn and fringed.

“Every object Mason pulls out of this bag belongs to someone in this room. They are personal items that will either allow each of us to trust one another more or make each of us trust one another less.

”The second object Mason pulled out was a crumpled piece of newsprint paper folded over six or seven times. He had set it down with a tiny thud. The third object was a stack of beat loose-leaf paper folded in a pink sandwich bag. Mason had known exactly what it was as soon as he had placed it on the table. Everyone else had known what it was, too. Erica had turned it over to get a better look.

“What else, Mason?”

Mason had two objects left. There was what felt to be a pocketknife and what seemed to be a rock. A simple stone was placed on the table. There was nothing apparently special about it. An aged red pocketknife with a Boy Scout insignia was placed next to it.

“Is that all, Mason?” Erica sat down, crossed her legs, and patiently made eye contact with everyone in the room. She connected her eyes with Jonas last. And then, like a nun who had found virtue in breaking her vows, she placed a revolver on the small end table to her left. Everyone else in the room flinched and conspicuously prepared for what might have happened next,

“One of us is going to be exposed in a few moments.” Erica looked at and touched her gun to reinforce the urgency of what was about to unfold.

“Jonas, you are the only one that we can all trust. Grab your pink sandwich bag and pick up that gun. Stand in that open corner by the door and help us figure this out. Thomas, Ben and Mason, among us four someone is a liar and a traitor.”

The three men exchanged glances with one another as though they were all confident they were not the one.

Erica spoke. “Mason, that one is yours. The folded newsprint paper is yours.”

Mason unraveled the paper and pulled out his Purple Heart from years long gone. He had thrown it over the fence at the White House during the 2008 election. She knew what it had meant for him to throw it over that fence and she knew what it would mean for him to see it again, right there in front of him at that time.

“But how…” He was befuddled as Erica asked him to stand by Jonas. “I’ll explain later, Mason.”

Erica picked up her belonging. It was the curled up, torn and fringed book with no name or title. As she walked toward Jonas to stand by him and Mason she whispered something in his ear.

“I understand why you left, Jonas.”

Jonas’ heart thumped and then fell into his stomach. His brain echoed memories of how many times he had opened that book to a random page for guidance to continue his journey. That book was a guiding light for him, and Carmen Elise Sanders had written it. She was the author of his vision and the editor of his endeavors.

There were two objects left. A rusted single-bladed pocketknife and an old rock lacking description were the only two things separating Thomas and Ben.

“Ben and Thomas, one of you is with us and one of you is not. I don’t know who is who but this will settle it.”

Erica took a deep breath and said, “Ben, is the pocketknife or the rock yours?”

“The rock,” Ben said. He had no hesitation.

“Thomas, is the pocketknife or the rock yours?”

“This is not fair, Erica. I have been with you for over a year and all of a sudden you are calling me out? Ben has been with us for only a couple months. He is the suspicious one. He could have easily said the knife or the rock was his.”

“What are you so nervous about, Thomas? One of these two objects is yours and you should be able to identify it.”

Erica’s tone of voice was concise and calm. “Which one belongs to you, Thomas?”

Thomas’ voice became more controlled and his words began to fall more succinctly. “I don’t know what to tell you, Erica. Neither of those two objects have any significance in my life. But I am no traitor to our cause, either.”

Thomas sounded believable and yet it was curious that he did not have an object to claim when everyone else did. All eyes were on Ben.

“Ben, what is the relevance of that rock?” Erica leveled her stare into Ben’s eyes with ruthless conviction.

There was a stark silence. Jonas stepped forward and intervened. “I placed that rock and that pocketknife in my backpack less than an hour ago. I found them on the road on my way here and neither of them have any significance to one of you or the other.” Jonas said every word with his eyes aimed at Ben.

His glare was piercing and it had become apparent that Jonas knew something that only one other person in the room had also known.

“Mutiny,” Jonas said, “Is what our leaders had dealt America and its people. If anyone in this room thinks that politically uniting the continent of North America was a reasonable or humanitarian thing to do, raise your hand.”

No one moved.

“If anyone in this room believes the North American Government has any genuine interest in its people or their thoughts, raise your hand. Raise your hand if you enjoy being controlled and if you find comfort in not thinking for yourself. If you are satisfied with nothing, no self-motivation, no will to succeed, no voice to be heard, no concept of what it means to be alive and to be free, step forward.”

No one moved.

“Thomas, step forward.”

“It’s not me, Jonas! Erica?”

Erica reached into her pocket and pulled out a small paper box. The box was slightly larger than a matchbox and it fit in her palm. “This is your possession, Thomas…”

Ben suddenly lunged for the gun. He knocked Jonas over in his wake of desperation. There he stood with his back in a corner with the gun unsteadily pointed from one side of the room to the other and back again.

“You are the source of mutiny!” Ben pointed the gun at Jonas with an insane glare of hatred in his eyes. Mason took a step forward.

“Get back! Up against the wall. All of you!”

Erica took a couple steps toward Ben. He pointed the gun at her. He was trembling with fear. Erica was as calm as a cloudless day.

“Ben, may I just say something?”

“No! Shut up! You are wrong. People are not accountable. They are lazy and aimless. They desire guidance and they need a government to direct them.”

“Ben, “ Erica said calmly, “Let me speak.”

“Shut your mouth and get back. Get back! You people cannot even trust each other. Not one of you even knows the name of anyone else in this room.”

There was a quiet pause and Ben exposed a villain’s grin directed at Jonas.

“Except for you. Jonas Martin Cassidy. You are the reason I am here. You are the reason I have had to pretend to care so much about you people and your causes. I have been waiting for you and this moment for a long time. I credit you this, Jonas, that you have a real talent for writing political propaganda but it is a shame you wrote for the wrong side.”

Erica walked up to Ben with no hesitation. With no second thought she stood in front of him, tilted her head slightly and stared at him.

“Get back, Erica! It is Jonas that I want.” The gun was aimed right between her eyes an inch away from her forehead.

Erica slowly raised her hands up to Ben’s arms and advanced, moving her fingers down toward the gun.

“I swear to God I will pull the trigger, Erica. Put your hands down.”

Erica’s thumb found the trigger and she pushed it away from her. The gun made a hollow click.

“You have no God, Ben. You have no country either.”

Ben stepped back and pulled the trigger himself. Nothing. He pulled the trigger two more times with the gun pointed at Anna and then at Jonas. Hollow click. Hollow click.

Erica grabbed the gun out of Ben’s hand as he stared at it blankly. She gripped the barrel of the gun in her hand and wielded the weapon like a hammer to the left temple of Ben’s head. Mason picked him up off the ground and held him up with one hand. His other hand was a white-knuckled fist and he unquestionably wanted to end Ben’s life. Ben hung limp and lifeless in Mason’s grip.

“No, Mason. I know what you want to do. If you do it you are no better than him and I’d hate to lose the respect and trust I have in you. Put him down.”

Erica walked to Thomas and handed him the gun and his possession.

“Thomas, I am sorry you had to be treated as a pawn.

When we first met I had asked you if I could hold on to your gun. You had trusted me enough to part with it and now I trust you enough to give it back. Here is your gun and here are the six bullets that were loaded in it when you gave it to me. I only hope that you have learned in the last year you have been with us that we have not needed to use that gun one single time until now. And even now it was not fired off.”

1,219.3 miles to go.

Day290 Wednesday 06/15/11

ran 4.5 milesThe Heritage Foundation put out a quick and interesting little quiz called “Dirty Spending Secrets Washington Liberals Don’t Want You To Know”. It’s only five multiple-choice questions but they achieve an astonishing level of absurdity. Following the questions, you can choose to sign a petition to stop wasteful spending in Washington and, finally, Heritage Foundation gives you the opportunity to contribute to their cause if you would like, or not. Check it out.

Short post tonight. Not enough hours some days.

1,221.5 miles to go.

Day289 Tuesday 06/14/11

ran 1.8 miles
Some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 22% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 40% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –18.

• Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 54% disapprove.

• Only 26% of Americans think we should continue U.S. military action in Libya.

• A growing percentage, currently 54%, of American voters favor repeal of Obama’s health care law, and 46% think repeal is likely.

• Generic Republican candidate 46%, Obama 44%.

• Only 49% think U.S. should still belong to NATO.

• Only 28% of Americans say U.S. is headed in right direction.

Some random events of the day:

• The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today in favor of Governor Walker’s collective bargaining law.

• Barack Obama shrugged and chuckled as he confessed that there were not as many shovel-ready jobs that were actually shovel-ready after spending nearly one trillion dollars on poor decisions in the collective form of a stimulus package.

• Boehner leveled an ultimatum on Obama today informing him that unless he gets authorization from Congress regarding his actions in Libya, he will be in violation of the War Powers Resolution. This resolution demands approval by Congress within ninety days of a military operation or an automatic withdrawal.

• Speaking of ultimatums, while Obama is demanding outrageous concessions on the part of Israel, perhaps Netanyahu should demand America revert back to pre-1959 borders, before Hawaii had joined the union and became the American state Barack Obama was born in mere years later.

1,226.0 miles to go.

Day288 Monday 06/13/11

CBS News

ran 4.1 miles
As I type these words I’m watching the Republican debate on CNN. It is taking place in New Hampshire and there are some big names explaining their values and intentions tonight. There are seven podiums on the stage occupied by Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

There are few words any of these seven individuals could possibly utter that would make less sense than the ideas Barack Obama has been contradicting American progress with for close to three years now. Any of these seven individuals have my vote for the simple fact that they all represent “Someone Else” as a single candidate. Regardless of their differences, they all collectively oppose Obama’s direction and many of the legislation he has enacted. In fact, it is quite possible that most of the actions Obama has made and will make for a sum of four entire years might, should one of these candidates defeat Obama, negate the next four years simply trying to reverse the damage that has been done. Eight lost years. Tack on four more years of Bush leaving an economical mess for Obama and we are up to maybe twelve years of elected presidents undoing each other’s actions over and over like a hamster in a very pricey wheel. They spend incomprehensible amounts of time and money contradicting every four years with four more years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13.9 million Americans were unemployed last month, 2.3 million more than when Barack Obama took office.

That fact is more stunning and more definitive than any of the intelligent alternatives the Republican candidates had to offer tonight. It is succinct and it speaks for itself when contrasted to how many tax dollars have been wasted since January of 2009, resulting in even more unemployment and an overwhelming amount of deficit.

Here's another one. "Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected." All of these promises and expectations, all of the money we have invested into failure, when Barack Obama writes off his failures with a joke like that regarding jobs he had promised, which do not and never did exist, where is the progess in Progressivism?

Who is Someone Else going to be in 2012 and where do I get in line to vote?

1,227.8 miles to go.

Day287 Sunday 06/12/11

ran 0.6 miles

Today ends week forty-one of running against Obama. I ran 19.6 miles this week, averaging 2.80 miles per day.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords will be released from hospital care within the month. Pictures were recently released of Giffords seeing her husband off to space at a NASA launch in May. What an incredible story of strength. Giffords Congressional seat is still reserved for her, and once she is fully released from the hospital more news will be released regarding the status of her recovery. Currently, it has been reported that she has trouble communicating verbally, however, she can by all means string coherent sentences together.

Jared Lee Loughner pleaded “not guilty” to the obvious charges before him. Deemed incompetent to stand trial, he will more than likely never pay for his crimes and he will most definitely cause all of us taxpayers thousands of dollars a year for the rest of his life. He is an expensive and highly disappointing example of loopholes in our legal system. With that being said, Gabrielle Giffords’ story and survival is an absolutely amazing tale of human resilience and American fortitude.

1,231.9 miles to go.

Day286 Saturday 06/11/11

ran 2.8 miles
Some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 23% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 38% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –15.

• Overall, 48% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 51% disapprove.

• Generic Republican candidate: 45%; Obama: 42%.

• Only 24% say they share Obama’s political views.

Robert Gates, appointed by Bush, is out. He blasted NATO, pointing out how futile, pointless, and expensive the organization was. Good for him. Not good for conservatives, though.

Leon Panetta appears to be the man to fill Gates’ shoes. An Obama-appointed Secretary of Defense. If you feel like putting this guy in your google machine, then go for it, but you already know where he stands. I had never heard of him but he has a big spot to fill. Knowing that it falls upon Obama to appoint someone to this important position, I had every expectation that Panetta would be…not even going to say anything.

Secretary of Defense. Use your imagination. Think about what organizations an Obama-appointee of this scale would belong to. Picture what ideas a man is required to have to fill such a spot at the request of Barack Obama.

1,232.5 miles to go.

Day285 Friday 06/10/11

ran 3.5 miles
In case you may have forgotten…

“Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois State Senator who voted ‘present’ nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.”

That was an early and insightful quote from Charles Krauthammer, putting a leash on Obama’s undeserved hype before a teetering majority of this nation voted him into power for all of the, what many may argue, wrong reasons.

This guy even won the Nobel Peace Prize, having accomplished nothing, not having the dignity to refuse to accept such an honor he knew he did not deserve while so many others did, effectively lowering the criteria for every other recipient in the past and potential honoree in the future who may have genuinely deserved or will deserve the award...

...biting my tongue in this late hour to not allow absurdities to guide me to sleep.

1,235.3 miles to go.

Day284 Thursday 06/09/11

New Chet's Restaurant (The Blade/Lori King)

ran 3.8 miles

One week after Barack Obama was in Ohio speaking at a Chrysler plant, distorting truths about the success of the auto bailout, a local restaurant in the area, “New Chet’s”, which Obama made reference to in his speech, and a kitchen plant workers would often visit during their lunch break, has officially gone out of business after seventy years of serving the area.

“New Chet’s Restaurant” had been hit hard by the economy. Lunch deliveries to the Chrysler Group LLC’s Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio had been cut back to a third of what it used to be for a long time. Obama visited the plant on Friday and told the workers that without them, who would eat at Chet’s or patronize other local businesses?

What he said more precisely to hundreds of workers in Chrysler’s Wrangler plant was, “And this plant indirectly supports hundreds of other jobs right here in Toledo. After all, without you, who‘d eat at Chet’s or Inky‘s or Rudy’s?”

I don’t know about “Inky’s” or “Rudy’s”, but our president’s message of hope for one certain eatery in Toledo, Ohio was a dollar short and a day late.

This story is very small and isolated; no way to define an entire nation, but it is a sign of the times. It is also a slap in the face to Barack Obama, whose credibility is fizzling out more and more each day as we move closer to November 6, 2012. He is rightfully being scrutinized more critically as a questionable voice for dangerously high risks.

Our president loves pointing out Main Street, America examples of people who are struggling that he wants to help. Nearly every speech he reads breaks off into an aside of Mary, the waitress in Tulsa, or Jim, the electrician in Pensacola. “Chet’s” is a far more realistic and disappointing example of Barack Obama’s Main Street, America.

1,238.8 miles to go.

Day283 Wednesday 06/08/11

ran 3.5 miles

Chapter 11

A hero for the twenty-first century Americanadexican was a charismatic politician, a propaganda guru, or a media marvel. This hero was a man or woman who had no interest for any other people except that they continued giving them money for all of the prefabrications and lies he or she had seduced them with. It was at this point that America had finally gained eight more letters behind it. People actually wanted to emulate these politicians, gurus and marvels of mass destruction. There was a reason why only a few factions of people so desired to control everything. Very few are sure what exactly that reason was but it was obviously a big one because it has always been this way. The weak realization that millions of people aspired to follow and to be like these select few at any cost was the festering wound that America had become.

America had turned into a wasteland of opportunity where personal endeavors were discouraged and reliance on government and patriotism were enforced. There was no answer to what had happened in America in the first decade of the twenty-first century but there was a general understanding that absolutely nothing made any sense. The greatest shame in America’s slow, millennial suicide was that the last existing generations who had known better had not spoken out. Their children and their children’s children were born into a chaos that no founding father would have ever wished upon any one or any other country. Things were so good at the cost of other things being so bad elsewhere that they had no discretion in their selfishness. And the children were not to be blamed; the children who became men of every generation were to be blamed. The parents of Fear, Ignorance and Indecision bred Old America’s demise.

1,242.6 miles to go.

Day282 Tuesday 06/07/11

ran 4.0 miles

Dig the $534,000 of loose change you have under your sofa cushions, roll it up, give it to the IRS, and lets get America back on top. According to Dennis Cauchon of “USA Today”, that is the sum of money, $534,000, it currently requires from each and every household to pay for our nation’s unspent obligations; $61.6 trillion financial promises not paid for. Check in next week and that number will be even higher, on and on.

Taxes are likely to be going back up soon. Obama’s health care waivers are up to 1,500, nationwide, because it is simply unaffordable for so many. Unemployment is stagnant and disappointing. Our debt is out of control and handled with the same level of responsibility that a nineteen-year-old uses with fifty new credit cards. China’s arms are up in the air, threatening, and they are poised to make things a lot harder on us soon if we do not grasp control of our spending. And here’s Obama still blaming Bush, having achieved nothing but increasing our debt.

1,246.1 miles to go.

Day281 Monday 06/06/11

ran 1.4 miles
Weiner Exposes Himself; Caught Between Ethics And A Rock Hard Place; Pelosi Says She’s “Deeply Disappointed” in Weiner

Sorry, I had to do it. If you needed only one more reason to disapprove of Congress and to witness how naturally lying comes to politicians, Weiner is the perfect example of what appears to be a rigid truth shrinking into a flaccid lie. Thank you, Weiner, for the throbbing truth. Send Christopher Lee our regards.

In less humorous news, the waiver list for Obama’s health care plan, to be set in motion in 2014, continues to grow, our president’s Chief Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, will soon be the next in a line of core economic advisers who will be resigning, and, as is the case with most of the skewed numbers we get from the federal government, the bank bailout for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will cost taxpayers $317 billion, not the $130 billion usually claimed by the Obama administration. And this number continues to grow month by month.

Short post tonight. Thanks for swallowing your pride, Weiner, and spitting out the truth, distracting us all for a day.

1,250.1 miles to go.

Day280 Sunday 06/05/11

ran 3.0 miles
Today ends week forty of running against Obama. I ran 31.1 miles this week averaging 4.44 miles per day. For the past couple months I have set a goal to accomplish thirty miles in one week and I have continuously fell short of that goal. I’ve gotten close, but just couldn’t see it through. After today I have finally achieved thirty miles in seven days, with 1.1 miles to spare. It was a tough challenge but so are most of the important decisions and goals we all face.

This blog has always been about the strong history America has relentlessly flexed against every challenge it has ever encountered, in contrast to the current challenges we face in Washington D.C., namely a president intent on weakening the principles America represents and a liberal platform racing toward the exact predicament we have been staving off and have been liberated from for 235 years, since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. That predicament is a nation free of tyranny, one based on freedom and all of the tenets that follow such a God-given right. Barack Obama and liberal ideals are deconstructing, what was once a single brick at a time, now with a wrecking ball, entire layers of principles embedded with centuries of idealistic American brick, mortar, and concrete.

2012 is going to be the biggest crossroads this nation has faced in a long time. Our president is almost three years deep in failure, using scapegoats like the necessity of needing more time and blaming businesses for not hiring more workers. In three years this guy has wasted more money on more things than a human brain can even comprehend; he has wasted money on ideas that have been proven to fail and designed his plans around a multitude of arguments that an overwhelming many have condemned from the start.

What is he after? I just don’t get it.

I began this blog and started running all of these miles against Barack Obama to evaluate, on a daily basis, every argument, and there have been many every single day, to express how important it is to get this guy out of the White House. Lately, Obama’s shortcomings and his ability to not address his many failures, side-stepping them like a nervous child, appears more like a sabotage of America than a plan because there is no possible way that a man with the education and experience he claims to have can be this blind and juvenile.

I can hardly wait for the 2012 election to appear clearly and with more definition on the horizon of America’s future. There is nothing left to point out in Obama’s character that he does not exhibit daily, flaw by flaw.

Who is Someone Else and where do I get in line to vote for him or her?

1,251.5 miles to go.

Day279 Saturday 06/04/11

ran 3.8 miles
Some stats and facts about the state of North Carolina:

• North Carolina was the twelfth state to join the union on November 21, 1789, one year before Rhode Island and one year after New York.

• Population, as of 2010, is 9,535,483.

• Senators are Richard Burr (R) and Kay Hagan (D).

• Representatives are George Butterfield (D), Renee Ellmers (R), Walter Jones (R), David Price (D), Virginia Foxx (R), Howard Coble (R), Mike McIntyre (D), Larry Kissell (D), Sue Myrick (R), Patrick McHenry (R), Heath Shuler (D), Melvin Watt (D), and Bradley Miller (D).

• North Carolina has fifteen electoral votes. Historically, the state voted nearly exclusively blue from 1876 through 1964. Beginning in 1968, North Carolina has voted almost entirely red. Barack Obama ended the Republican trend by beating McCain 49.7% to 49.4%. North Carolina voters cast 4.3 million votes and the decision came down to merely 14,000 votes. In 2012, North Carolina will be one of the most battled-for swing states.

I’ve been posting these facts and stats for each individual state for the past thirty-three weeks. I’ve gathered some interesting history and realized certain things I never would have considered, otherwise. For example, the nine most populous states claim more than half of America’s total population. The twenty-five least populous states harness less than one-sixth of the U.S. population. Make of that what you will, but I can say, regarding our electoral college, something about the overwhelming differences in those two sets of numbers seems frustrating and highly consequential. I am not suggesting that popular vote alone should be the deciding factor in determining what single man or woman gets to sit in the Oval Office, but nor am I dismissing it as a better idea. Popular vote would have been a game changer on some occasions in the past. It is a different approach, yet it equally lacks any strategy or planning for the presidential election process we currently have.

This is what rattles me. A state like California, a state that if the other forty-nine states aspired to be like or viewed America through the same set of eyes with, a state who's example would lead to monumental failure the likes of which America has never before seen, has such a population and so many electoral votes. The questionable legislation California passes in their own state compared to the failures the state faces constantly and the bailouts their decisions cause the federal government, my and your money, the businesses they force out of their state with high taxes and incomprehensible restrictions, sending these businesses to states like Texas who legislate and think rationally, completely losing out on opportunity in their own front yard---and this state, California, has the electoral power to negate the rational thinking of ten other states in our union.

1,254.5 miles to go.

Day278 Friday 06/03/11

ran 4.1 miles
Some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 25% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 36% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –11.

• Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 50% disapprove.

• Rasmussen’s latest telephone poll among likely U.S. voters finds that a generic Republican candidate earned 45% of votes and Obama attracted 43% of the vote.

• Among U.S. voters, 26% say America is heading in the right direction.

Sorry for the short post tonight. Sometimes there just aren’t enough minutes in the day. I’ll have more time tomorrow.

1,258.3 miles to go.

Day277 Thursday 06/02/11

ran 5.2 miles

As I’ve previously mentioned in numerous other posts, I am a big fan of Herman Cain for president in 2012. Cain has outlined a five-point tax plan to put America back on top and to undo the anti-American trail our president and his liberal counterparts have been blazing through a forest of American logic and economic rationale, which already had its paths carved out. Here are Cain’s ideas and take note of how utterly different and full of sense his ideas are in contrast to what has defined the last 2 1/2 years of decision making in this country.

1. Eliminate the taxes on repatriated profits, which are earnings of American-based multinational companies that sit in bank accounts overseas to avoid double taxation for bringing their profits back to the U.S.

2. Make the current tax rates permanent. Families and businesses do not plan for two years at a time!

3. Reduce the corporate income tax from 35 to 25 percent, with the potential for additional incremental decreases over time.

4. Eliminate the tax on capital gains and their dividends.

5. Suspend payroll taxes for both employees and employers for one year.

Herman Cain is a proven leader and has a successful track record of turning large scale, borderline bankruptcies right side up. Our economy is in serious jeopardy, and Barack Obama and liberal ideology is doing nothing to make matters better.

Herman Cain intends to increase opportunity and expansion for those who desire to work hard and invest their time and money in an America that works. One of the primary reasons businesses are harboring so many dollars that they refuse to spend is because they have little confidence in Obama’s economic decisions or in his second term. This is only my opinion, but there is certainly a very big reason that so few American companies are contributing even half of their resources to attempt to keep our economy afloat. There is an immense lack of confidence in something in this country. It is certainly not doubt in hardworking American people. I think it is quite reasonable to believe it has much to do with Congress and our president.

I think there are a lot of people hoping this guy gets voted out in November 2012 and they have no reason to waste their money on Barack Obama’s plans when something as beneficial and fair as Herman Cain’s plan is potentially right around the corner. Rewarding businesses and making things easier for them, and interfering less with individual Americans, not raising taxes; these are all great ideas. And, for any of you out there who care little for hard work and the rewards that follow, and perhaps you cherish entitlements and avoid opportunity like the plague, by voting for a president in 2012 that does not want to raise taxes and wants to give huge breaks to Corporate America and maybe even let the wealthy keep their wealth, you will have a much better shot at riding out the ability to accomplish nothing and to earn money for it with Someone Else than you will with another four years of Barack Obama.

Just my opinion.

This is an interview Walton and Johnson conducted with Herman Cain today.

1,262.4 miles to go.

Day276 Wednesday 06/01/11

ran 4.6 miles

Chapter 10

Jonas always felt something was wrong. It was something greater than he could explain. He did not know how to take out of his heart the feeling he could not explain. The next best thing for him to do was to throw away everything he knew and to pursue this inescapable calling that demanded his every fiber of existence. After years of flowing from underground puddle to underground stream to underground puddle of so many unaccepted, black-marketed thoughts and actions that the rank-and-file surface no longer accepted or was brave enough to reclaim, he now found himself at the bay of his destiny.

Jonas inhaled. “Americanadexico”, he had thought to himself.

That was it. It was what it was. He did not know what he was going to do or what would happen if he had done it, but he knew he had to do something.

As a boy every man dreamed about being a hero. They all wanted to do “good” and to protect others from harm. Every man once wanted to battle villains and to bring criminals to justice. They wanted to stop evil and to save the girl. But something had happened along the way. Boys had grown into men. Very few men had remembered their dreams but they had recalled enough to recognize the confusion they had felt any time they saw something un-American or unfair. They were holding onto an almost unrecognizable smidgeon of American patriotism that their grandfather’s grandfathers had bled for them.

America had reached a point where the only choice left to sustain itself was to expand and socialize its people. America was dead. Everything that George Washington, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Jackson, Alexander Hamilton, and hundreds of thousands of other unnamed heroes had given their ideas and lives for was gone. As tragic as that was it was even more tragic that people simply did not care. They no longer had the ability, the passion, or the intelligence to care.

In the eighteenth century, a tiny coastal sliver of what America was to become took on the international leader of that time. England was the unequivocal King of the world and America was nothing more than a futile, unattainable idea. Whether it was God or human perseverance that allowed a man to be defeated by a mouse was of no consequence that thirteen colonies had defeated England, became America, and grew for many more than two hundred years into a religious and political paradigm of strong and faithful people that had been unmatched anywhere until now.

1,267.6 miles to go.