Finished goal of running the distance of 2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C and back!!!...plus 339.1 miles


0.0 miles run this week.
Daily running average for the week is 0.00 miles per day.
Total amount run in the past 800 days is 2,419.1 miles.
Daily running average overall is 3.02 miles per day.

Day490 Sunday 01/01/12

ran 0.1 miles
Welcome to 2012. Last night, while we were ushering in the new year, Barack Obama seized the opportunity to sign the National Defense Authorization Act. This act, among other things, allows indefinite detainment of American citizens with no trial for any reason our government sees fit.

Any time our federal government signs something into law on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, I think it is safe to say that what they signed is usually a huge injustice to the American people. It’s a sucker punch. It’s a cheap shot. And they only get two of them per year so you know they choose the most controversial laws they can find for these two holidays. For example, the Senate passed Obama’s health care bill on Christmas Eve, 2009.

The reason they pick these holidays to enact absurdity is because the media is reporting holiday stories the next day---and, people don’t want to think about the nonsense that is churning daily in Washington on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. So they swoop in and pillage while we are distracted by warm, pleasant holidays with friends and family.

President Barack Obama released a signing statement after signing the act. While most of it strikes me as disingenuous fluff, this one particular quote caught my attention.

“Moreover, I want to clarify that my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a Nation.”

There are so many things wrong with this statement. This is a pledge coming from the same man who said he would be a one-term president if the economy was not fixed in three years. It’s been three years and the economy is far from fixed. Those are some strict terms but he set them, not us.

Obama has lost credibility when it comes to the economy. However, the one area he has thrived in is dealing with terrorists. And now that every American is a potential terrorist threat and can be snatched up in the middle of the night, just not under his administration, Obama does have credibility in Bill of Rights defying nightmares like this. He signed this monstrosity into law, but as a consolation he claims that his administration will not authorize “the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens”. Beyond the fact that those words mean nothing, what about the next administration and the one after that? Barack Obama has signed into law the biggest threat to civil liberties we have seen in a very long time. He has cracked open a gate and eventually this gate will be wide open.

“…I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.” Traditions and values? These are laws. These are laws that America was built upon. They are the essence of America.

Almost forgot...today ends week seventy of running against Obama. I ran 20.7 miles this week, averaging 2.96 miles per day.

592.7 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day125.