Day160 Saturday 02/05/11

ran 6.2 miles
I ran a 10k today in Baton Rouge and put up a good time. The weather was bitter and cold but it was an awesome run. I ran with some friends and we all beat the times of our last runs. I can’t speak for my friends but I can certainly attribute my own drive and passion for running purely to the pursuit of making Barack Obama a one-term president.

I am absolutely exhausted and it has been a long day. As a final note, I received a lot of comments on my “Running Against Obama” t-shirt and found some new people who are interested in this blog and the future of their nation.

Sorry for the lull, I’ll be back to informing soon. Go Steelers!

1,655.5 miles to go.

Day159 Friday 02/04/11

ran 0.1 miles
I have a good reason for only running 0.1 miles today, which was the act of running a few houses down from mine as I let my dog out after work, and that reason is I am running a 10k tomorrow in Baton Rouge. I’m pretty excited. Although I have run that distance before on my own, I have never run an organized 10k.

I have to go to bed early and wake up early so tonight’s post is short and to the point. Tomorrow morning I am going to run as hard as I can with one single inspiration: the hope of getting America back in November of 2012.

1,661.7 miles to go.

Day158 Thursday 02/03/11

ran 1.0 miles

• Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Index rating shows that 26% of American voters strongly approve of Obama’s performance as president while 41% strongly disapprove, giving Barack Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of –15. Barack Obama’s Presidential Index rating is dipping back down to the consistency it had held up until a month ago.

• Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance and 53% disapprove. These numbers also reflect a dip in his popularity, which had risen a month ago and seem to be lowering back down to the past year’s levels, week by week.

• Rasmussen Reports finds that 58% of likely voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law, including 47% who strongly favor repeal. Just 38% oppose repeal and only 29% strongly oppose it.

• Rasmussen Reports shows that only 32% of likely U.S. voters say the country is heading in the right direction.

In an article by Dick Morris, “Obamacare: D.O.A.”, Obama’s presidential shortcomings are poignantly listed and put into context of what they mean for 2012. Considering a health care bill that is continuously sloping into landslide disapproval, stimulus packages that have achieved little for the price they had cost, and a general inability to point out anything positive done for this country for any significant majority of people in America, the next presidential election appears to be more and more of a challenge as each day passes for Barack Obama to become a two-term president.

1,661.8 miles to go.

Day157 Wednesday 02/02/11

ran 1.9 miles
From an article by John Fund from the Wall Street Journal, “The decision by Democrats to hold their presidential nominating convention in Charlotte, N.C., is an indication that the party thinks it can’t afford to give up gains made in the South when Barack Obama was elected in 2008.”

The choice to set up camp in North Carolina is a strategic effort to concentrate as much campaigning and attention to surrounding states, which were so instrumental in electing Barack Obama two years ago. Working against Obama’s potential success in 2012, the 2010 Census has shifted several electoral votes from states previously won by Obama to those previously won by John McCain. Barack Obama is not hopeful to win any of the states carried by McCain in 2008. Based on the decision to not host the convention in Missouri, a state Obama lost by less than 4,000 votes in 2008, southern states are obviously more important in the Democratic approach to making Barack Obama a two-term president.

“Should a Republican presidential nominee hold every McCain state and add Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia—all states that voted Republican in every year between 1976 and 2008—that candidate would command 218 electoral votes. If he were able to win Florida and Ohio, which routinely voted Republican during that same period, he would have 265 electoral votes—just five short of an Electoral College majority. Any of several states—Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico—could then make Mr. Obama a one-term president.”

1,662.8 miles to go.

Day156 Tuesday 02/01/11

ran 4.0 miles
In the spirit of Black History Month, also referred to as African-American History Month, celebrated since 1976 in America, Canada and the United Kingdom, I would like to spotlight some contemporary Americans who have contributed everything they could and continue to put forth everything they can to keep America the free, principled nation under God that it was intended to be. Tonight, Alan Keyes, a Republican presidential candidate in 2000, and the man who accepted an invitation from the Illinois Republican Party to run against Barack Obama in 2004 for the U.S. Senate, is the man I would like to spotlight and quote.

“Our first responsibility is not to ourselves. Our first responsibility is to our country and to our God.”

“The income tax is a twentieth-century socialist experiment that has failed. Before the income tax was imposed on us just 80 years ago, government had no claim to our income. Only sales, excise, and tariff taxes were allowed.”

“We must take away the government's credit card. With limits on both tax revenue and borrowing, the Federal government would finally be forced to get serious about spending cuts.”

1,664.7 miles to go.

Day155 Monday 01/31/11

ran 6.2 miles

Here’s something you may not know. In an article written by Anne E. Kornblut and Rachel Weiner, they reported that Jon Huntsman, the U.S. Ambassador to China has officially sent a letter of resignation to President Barack Obama. It is speculated that Huntsman intends to run against his boss for the position of President of the United States of America in 2012. If that’s not a shellacking to everything Barack Obama represents, I don’t know how much stronger of a message could be sent. He will step down from his post in April, leaving only three months to name and confirm a new ambassador, one of the most important postings in the world.

Appointed by Barack Obama in 2009, Huntsman is a Republican and once held the Governor’s seat of Utah. It will be a difficult task to replace him after the relationships and diplomacy he has successfully established. Huntsman is fluent in Mandarin, possesses extremely productive relations with China, and has been immensely instrumental in Obama’s efforts to make America more competitive and to build a business alliance with Beijing.

Yet another one of Obama’s appointees is jumping ship on his policies. Huntsman stands out uniquely, though, because in his case he did not fail, like his economic advisors and others who had resigned on behalf of the messes they had made. Jon Huntsman is resigning because he, the most knowledgeable man in America on U.S.-Chinese relations obviously disagrees with Obama’s direction and he apparently feels he can do a better job.

1,668.7 miles to go.

Day154 Sunday 01/30/11

ran 2.7 miles

• 21.9 miles run this week.

• Daily running average for the week was 3.13 miles per day.

• Total amount run in the past 154 days is 405.1 miles.

• Daily running average overall is 2.63 miles per day.

Today is the five-month mark of running against Barack Obama, protesting his radical ideas and legislation, and seeking solutions that will get him out of office on November 6, 2012. That date sits far off on a distant horizon that is hard to define, but as we get closer and visibility sharpens, our future will appear before us and we will either reelect Barack Hussein Obama or we will elect Someone Else. We don’t know too much about Someone Else at this point. What we do know is that Someone Else is a man or a woman who will largely oppose the direction Barack Obama has been steering this country. And, in the short-term scheme of things, that is enough for right now.

Having reached the five-month mark today and striding through 400 miles yesterday, I’ve reached a point in the growth of this campaign and protest against Barack Obama that I feel motivated to see how I can make this blog better. I am going to start including images and videos on daily posts, tweak the appearance of the blog, show some new t-shirt designs, and generally do whatever I can to give this blog as much potential as I can.

If you, the reader, have any ideas on what I can do to make this blog more concise, more navigable, or more effective, I welcome any ideas.

And with that being said, I also encourage anyone who feels the way so many of us do about the direction Barack Obama is leading our nation to get involved and to make a difference. In Lafayette, I have met a lot of people and organizations that are working to redefine the wasteful, over-bearing system of government America has had for so long, on federal, state and local levels.

1,674.9 miles to go.

Day153 Saturday 01/29/11

ran 3.1 miles
I hit my 400-mile mark today, and tomorrow will end the first five months of running against Obama. The running has been going smoothly and my distances are increasing. The blog has garnered a following that continues to increase and I’ve had the opportunity to meet some very passionate and involved political minds in Lafayette. The Tea party organizations are extremely friendly and motivating, and their meetings are filled with useful information and notable speakers.

Here is some commentary from www.teapartyoflafayette.com, following the State of the Union Address:

"Mr. Obama is a huge part of our problem, not part of any solution.

After he and his party immersed us all in massive debt and exploded the size of the Federal government, he now wants to arrest the size of that government at its present level.

In the face of this year's deficit of $1.5 trillion dollars and intractable unemployment-underemployment of 16%, he talks of fixing education, doing high-speed rail, and doubling our exports.

The Democrats have been "fixing" education for a long time. The teachers' unions have given that party hundreds of millions of dollars. That's part of the fix.

Doubling our exports will be achieved by continued devaluation of the dollar. That will make the products we still manufacture cheaper for the Chinese, but dollar devaluation will make all our Chinese imports more expensive.

As to the $100 trillion dollars of our unfunded Federal entitlements, Mr. Obama's Social Security solution is to encourage "both sides" to work something out; that's it, that's all he said. On Obamacare, he said he's not going back. Never mind that 26 states are litigating against this highjacking of individual choice, individual responsibility.

Mr. Obama ignores the obvious: the Nation cannot borrow itself out of debt.

Mr. Obama is another Hugo Chavez. As Rep. Ryan said in his response to Mr. Obama's speech, the Nation is at a tipping point. If not fixed now, we become a big Venezuela."

K. Thomas Noell, M.D.

1,677.6 miles to go.

Day152 Friday 01/28/11

ran 2.7 miles

• Maine was the twenty-third state to join the union on March 15, 1820, one year before Missouri and one year after Alabama.

• Population, as of 2009, is 1,318,301.

• Senators are Susan Collins (R) and Olympia Snowe (R).

• Representatives are Chellie Pingree (D) and Michael Michaud (D).

• Maine has four electoral votes. Historically, the state has voted red from the Civil War through the 1980s, only voting blue in 1912, 1964, and 1968. Maine has voted Democratic in the last four elections. Barack Obama won by 18% over John McCain in 2008. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states to not use the “All or nothing” approach to awarding electoral votes. Differing from the other forty-eight states, the winner of the popular vote gets two electoral votes, while one is assigned to the winner of each of Maine’s two congressional districts. This method was established in 1972, and is yet to result in a split electoral vote.

On to more pressing news, Egypt is currently in a complete state of chaos. The dictator they’ve had for the past thirty years has the entire nation at odds with him. Rubber bullets have been replaced with real bullets, curfews and authority are being ignored and overtaken, and earlier today the nation’s internet access was completely disabled by the government. At first glance, you don’t think to consider how much your daily life revolves around the Internet, and the idea that your government could simply pull a switch on its accessibility is even more preposterous.

The truth is, as coincidental as it may seem, that amidst all of the turmoil in our ally-nation of dictator-led Egypt, there is legislation being discussed in Congress right now, which would grant Barack Obama a “Kill Switch” for the internet in America. To even acknowledge this reality is absurd but it is true. Barack Obama wants the power to literally turn off the Internet if he deems it necessary.

Why? I can’t think of a logical reason but after seeing what is happening in Egypt one idea comes to mind. Our world is fomenting into a froth, spilling over the edges of the reality we’ve known for a long time, as a result of poorly led governments around the globe and it will probably get worse before it gets better. The next two years, not even considering the events that will happen in other countries, in America, alone, will be a time that will test your principles and strengths.

So, again, I ask why does Barack Obama want legislation that allows him to cut off 300 million Americans from access to the Internet? I can’t answer that question because it holds no American merit as far as freedom is concerned, but what is happening in Egypt right now is a good start to speculate towards a future that Barack Obama may foresee where he finds it necessary to silence certain Americans who don’t conform to his ideas.

1,680.7 miles to go.

Day151 Thursday 01/27/11

ran 3.4 miles
I attended a luncheon today with a group of dedicated and principled individuals who represent the ideal model of conservatism. We discussed the upcoming election for Parish Council candidates and what kind of men and women we would like to put in seats, based on ardent beliefs in lower taxes, lower spending, less government regulations, reducing the bonded indebtedness of the Parish, protecting the family, promoting limited government and supporting God-given rights. There was a man sitting next to me who I remember in particular because he completely understood my desire to simply do something, regardless of how little a difference it might make, and how important it was to simply be heard and to get involved…just to say “I’m trying to make a difference”. He had asked me a few questions including why I was at the meeting. I told him that I woke up one day and, out of sheer frustration with the direction America was heading, just wanted to scream. Instead, I started running and writing about it. I told him that if Barack Obama was reelected in 2012 that I simply wanted to earn the right to say that I did everything I could to prevent it from happening. That was when he looked at me, grinning, and said he knew exactly how I felt. I appreciated that. Turns out, this man who was sitting next to me had recently sat down and read the entire health care reform bill. His reaction was similar to mine. An urge to scream, an inability to understand why the bill was passed, and a driving force to do something about it, just to say he tried to make a difference, out of sheer frustration. He told me that he had once made a sign, which stated “Have you read H.R.3200?” and stood at a busy intersection of Lafayette during his lunch break one day, holding it up for thirty minutes. This is the sort of thing we need more of. Playing politician behind the closed doors of a comfortable home is much less effective than stepping outside and doing something about it, no matter how small the measure.

This blog began as a project with the sole intention of contributing to the effort of making Barack Obama a one-term president, regardless of how little its affects may influence the larger picture, but it has turned into much more over the past five months as I have gotten involved with others and gone to meetings for different political groups that include members from all over Lafayette and its surrounding cities. One thing I learned immediately was that getting Barack Obama out of the White House, which is extremely important, is only a short-term solution. Our president has awakened a giant among the American people and that giant, composed of millions across the American landscape, wants only one thing. We want our America back and in order to do that it starts at the grassroots level of local politics.

There are some amazing political minds and impressive things going on in Lafayette regarding our potential future state of political affairs. For a long-term solution one must start at the beginning; grassroots. As the Parish Council election draws closer I will keep the blog updated with information about the conservative candidates who adhere to the principles I stated above.

As an afterthought, if you are reading this then you are more than likely concerned with the direction our nation is heading under Barack Obama. If you have any interest in getting involved or getting informed, email me. There are a lot of facts on local, state and federal levels of government that you are probably unaware of and would find hard to believe.

1,683.4 miles to go.

Day150 Wednesday 01/26/11

ran 3.0 miles
Last night’s State of the Union Address reminded me of that Seinfeld episode where George relentlessly lied to his deceased fiancée’s parents about having a house in the Hampton’s even though he knew that they knew he was lying. But he persisted and persisted, going so far as to actually drive them out to the nonexistent house. Could Obama be a Costanza so bent on fulfilling a nonexistent agenda that he could drive America to a proverbial house in the Hamptons that does not exist?

If you haven’t seen that episode, I highly recommend it. Last night’s speech was filled with a bunch of fluff and talk about mid to long-term future goals in green energy and very little pertaining to the devastating crises we are currently experiencing or the inadequacies he has fallen short with, leading America further into debt.

George Bush did not create the economic problems we are currently storming, which Barack Obama excessively blames him for. To insinuate that one single man could possibly be to blame for our current state of affairs is absolutely ridiculous. This cup has been at its brim for a long, long time, enduring the volumes of many presidents and many congresses. What I find most interesting about Barack Obama is that we Americans, to a large degree, allowed so many politicians to waltz on our backs for so long with no public recourse. Obama, if any one man should be singled out, has single-handedly driven millions upon millions of Americans to speak out against their government in such overwhelming numbers for the first time in a very long time. In one breath he blames Bush for all of the problems under the American sun and in the next he spends billions of dollars on means that have shown no productive end. Yet there he stood last night before us all, asking that we work toward a future that has little to do with the next two years. He predictably took an escapist approach to the hole he has made for himself, filling it with puffery and utopian goals, which span the next two to three decades. What about right now, President Obama? What about the next two years?

1,686.8 miles to go.

Day149 Tuesday 01/25/11

ran 4.3 miles
One year ago, Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union Address and hopefully tonight’s will differ in the goals he verbalizes for our American future. As you view tonight’s speech and hear some of his featured quotes, keep these in mind from his speech in 2010.

"I have never been more hopeful about America's future than I am tonight. Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit. We do not allow fear or division to break our spirit."

This country is extremely divided due to legislation passed by Obama and the ideas of his fellow liberals.

"If there's one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans -- and everybody in between -- it's that we all hated the bank bailout. I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal."

It was equally painful when other bailouts followed and stimulus packages amounted to nothing notable in terms of the unemployment rate.

"For every success story, there are other stories, of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from, who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response. That is why jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010, and that's why I'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight."

How did that work out for you, America?

"I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But here's the thing. Even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future, because the nation that leads the clean-energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy, and America must be that nation."

While the Gulf States have been losing jobs and their economies have shrunk due to the drilling moratorium, our current Administration has made it clear that they have little interest in the wellbeing of these southern states or the epic boost in the economy and unemployment statistics, which drilling would bolster.

"This problem is not going away. By the time I'm finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year. Our deficit will grow. Premiums will go up. Patients will be denied the care they need. Small-business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether. I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber."

The health care reform bill, which is now law, will continue to make our deficit grow, premiums will still go up, patients will be denied a competitive level of quality health care, and small businesses will have great difficulty affording the mandated health care. Only now that ObamaCare has actually passed these looming threats he noted in his 2010 speech will be tenfold. Socializing health care has been done before in many other countries and it simply does not work. It looks like a great utopian idea at first, just like any other communist idea, but it just doesn’t work.

"If the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, a supermajority, then the responsibility to govern is now yours, as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership."

Perhaps they are not just saying “No” to everything but that they coincidentally disagree with nearly every idea that comes out of Obama’s mouth. They are not bashful children crying over spilt milk, they are rational minds Americans elected who are fulfilling the wishes of their constituents.

"The spirit that has sustained this nation for more than two centuries lives on in you, its people. We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don't quit. I don't quit. Let's seize this moment, to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more."

The year 2010 and Barack Obama’s decisions and leadership has been deemed defunct beginning with the message American voters sent him as a result of the November Midterm Election and ending with a Lame Duck session, which crammed in more last minute legislation than facts a college student can cram into their mind the night before a test.

Stay tuned tonight for Paul Ryan’s Republican rebuttle after Obama’s speech!

1,689.8 miles to go.

Day148 Monday 01/24/11

ran 2.7 miles
Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address will air tomorrow night and it is hard to predict how he will approach it. Many of his liberal counterparts are frustrated with the possibility of him positioning himself in the center of the aisle, a complete contradiction to where he was positioned during last year’s speech. If he placates to the right, it may be what conservatives want to hear, but it will also make him look like a man with no backbone in his beliefs. After passing his health care law, after the stimulus packages, after his intention to give all illegal aliens health care, obviously accepting them as American citizens, which our tax money would pay for, after all the actions he’s made and the ideas he entertains, how can he stand in the middle of the aisle after being so radical and destructive on the left only one year ago, up until the moment Americans voted and expressed to him in a united scream that we are not interested in what he is selling. In fact, if he does not stand behind that podium and promote how important his health care law is, how important the money he wastes is, and how brilliant every action he has taken so far is, then I would venture to say that any productive ideas submitted by the right, which he chooses to employ would be an admission of how wrong his direction has been for two years. One example we must never forget of how pliable and adaptive his beliefs are is the decision he had made to extend the Bush tax cuts across the entire board. I think it is great that he did it, but not extending them was one of his biggest campaign promises leading up to his presidency. The Barack Obama we may see tomorrow night, if he does happen to tread in the middle of the aisle and acknowledge some conservative ideas, is not the Barack Obama that the majority of Americans had elected in 2008.

“I don’t think he should have this tone that if he rolls on his back the new Congress is going to rub his belly. A lot of these guys coming to town campaigned against everything this president wants to achieve. The president needs to take an aggressive approach to make clear he’s not going to roll over.”

Rep. Anthony Weiner

Following the State of the Union Address, Rep. Paul Ryan will be delivering the Republican response. GOP leaders tout him as a leading Conservative thinker on federal spending. He is currently the chairman of the House Budget Committee, but the House is expected to vote to grant him an unprecedented amount of power to force spending cuts for the rest of this fiscal year. This power will allow Ryan a unilateral ability to set an overall spending level for the rest of the year, usually handled by a full panel.

1,694.1 miles to go.

Day147 Sunday 01/23/11

ran 2.7 miles

• 24.2 miles run this week.

• Daily running average for the week was 3.46 miles per day.

• Total amount run in the past 147 days is 383.2 miles.

• Daily running average overall is 2.61 miles per day.

Today ends week twenty-one of running against Obama. I’m on the brink of 400 miles and I’m about to break 5 months.

Looking back on the conception of the health care nightmare we now face, here is a look back on the days before it was passed. This is an opening statement from Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), ranking member of Ways and Means Committee, from March 20, 2010, pertaining to the consideration of H.R. 4872, the “Reconciliation Act of 2010” and Senate Amendments to H.R. 3590, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”.

“Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member Dreier, and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on this legislation.

The American people have spoken: they do not want the federal government involved in their personal health care and they do not want a bill that spends over a $1 trillion, raises more than one-half trillion dollars in new taxes, cuts Medicare by more than one-half trillion dollars and increases Americans’ health insurance premiums. Yet, that is exactly what will happen if the House passes the Senate Democrats’ health care bill and the Reconciliation bill tomorrow.

The American people have rejected this bill precisely because it taxes too much, spends too much and increases premiums too much. With a total of $569.2 billion in new taxes, these bills represent the single largest tax increase in American history. Just what are those taxes?”

If you have the stomach for it, here it is:

1,696.8 miles to go.