Day54 Friday 10/22/10

ran 2.6 miles

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

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

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

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

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

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

1,936.6 miles to go.

Day53 Thursday 10/21/10

ran 2.6 miles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1,939.2 miles to go.

Day52 Wednesday 10/20/10

ran 3.2 miles

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

Robert H. Jackson

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

Ronald Reagan

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

Sigmund Freud

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

G. Gordon Liddy

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

Voltaire

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

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

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

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

Vote on November 2!

1,941.8 miles to go.

Day51 Tuesday 10/19/10

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

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

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

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

1,945.0 miles to go.

Day50 Monday 10/18/10

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

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

1,948.5 miles to go.

Day49 Sunday 10/17/10

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

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

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

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

1,951.7 miles to go.

Day48 Saturday 10/16/10

ran 2.2 miles

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

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

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

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

1.954.3 miles to go.

Day47 Friday 10/15/10

ran 2.6 miles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1,956.5 miles to go.

Day46 Thursday 10/14/10

ran 2.6 miles

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

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

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

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

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

1,959.1 miles to go.

Day45 Wednesday 10/13/10

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

Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

1,961.7 miles to go.

Day44 Tuesday 10/12/10

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

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

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

1,964.3 miles to go.

Day43 Monday 10/11/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1,967.5 miles to go.

Day42 Sunday 10/10/10

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

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

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

1,970.7 miles to go.

Day41 Saturday 10/09/10

ran 2.6 miles

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

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

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

1,972.8 miles to go.