Day99 Monday 12/06/10

ran 0.0 miles
Something you may not know…Congress agreed to extend unemployment benefits for another thirteen months. On the surface, that sounds humanitarian and every bit like a giving gesture any government should be obligated to do for its people, but if you happened to be collecting these benefits for the past two or three years, with no disabilities to claim, I’m sure the decision made today must be similar to the feeling a working man or woman has when he or she works everyday and gets a raise or a pat on the back, only it’s different, because a lot of people or content to do nothing but collect from the government---and, statistically, these are people who vote for liberal ideas.

I like to do things. I like to set personal goals and to achieve things. I like to be challenged. I appreciate what I earn and the thing I like least is to ask other people or my government for help. Unemployment checks are a useful commodity for any man, woman or family who is facing adversity for a patch of time, but to grow rooted to the soil of the government and the idle nutrients it supplements some people with, for years, is more of a crime than a charity.

In the spirit of not simply complaining, but presenting a solution, too, I propose a deadline and a set of contingencies for these unemployment benefits to expire. As the deadline nears and some certain mouths refuse to stop sucking upon the teat of the government, present drug tests and more stringently documented efforts of attempting to seek employment. If a person cannot meet the minimal demands of being a contributing member of society then they do not deserve our tax money. And if genuine effort is made to contribute to society but opportunity is simply unavailable, no judgment should be held over any man’s or woman’s head, and they should be able to receive every bit of aid they need until they do find an opportunity.

I am trying to tiptoe over strewn eggshells that, obviously, no politicians want to address with any real sense of validity. It is a sensitive topic but I think this one fact speaks for itself: Long time recipients of welfare or unemployment checks do not, statistically, vote for Republicans. That being said, conservative ideas are not insensitive to certain voters, they are designed with the intention to motivate Americans to succeed and to not sit idly by.

1,832.3 miles to go.

Day98 Sunday 12/05/10

ran 0.0 miles
Today marks fourteen weeks. I am really bummed about not being able to run this past week but all I can do is take it one day at a time. Especially on the eve of making one hundred continuous days of running, something unexpected like this is disappointing but there is no use in dwelling on events that are out of my control. I actually have a stat for this week. The last day I ran was Monday and I decided that if my leg still hurt after that then I would stop running and make an appointment with a doctor. I am seeing the doctor on Tuesday and my leg does not seem to be feeling much better, so I am eager to get closure on what exactly the injury is. This week, or on Monday alone, I ran 2.7 miles, bringing my total amount of miles run to 247.7, averaging 2.53 miles per day over the past ninety-eight days.

Check back on Tuesday and I’ll post about what my doctor has to say.

1,832.3 miles to go.

Day97 Saturday 12/04/10

ran 0.0 miles
I’m in New Orleans for the weekend with my wife and her family and it is absolutely beautiful; sunny, cold (the way December should be), and teeming with Christmas shoppers. We checked out the shops on Magazine Street, saw the Christmas lights at City Park, got snowed on at Harrah’s, and ate some awesome food (Café Maspero was my favorite).

However, there are a couple of curious things I saw here. One was a homeless man who walked up to us and asked, “Do you have any change because Obama doesn’t have any?”

The other thing I saw was Christmas trees…everywhere; the nerve of some people to impose such a symbol on others. They were in homes, in businesses, in front of buildings, and two that I saw were even ninety or a hundred feet tall. Real trees, artificial trees, white trees, green trees, red trees---they were everywhere scaring and intimidating people back into their homes.

Back to the homeless man, his appearance drew pity and I avoided even beginning to think of what the cold night still held for his suffering, but I found his approach to begging to be both a clever pun and representative of America’s sentiment towards Barack Obama and just how deceiving his entire campaign was. Even this desperate, homeless man was convinced two years ago that Obama’s change was going to trickle down into his own tin cup.

Back to the trees; those colorful, ornamented and glowing trees of religious oppression and intimidation, with their popcorn strings and candy canes, that so many malevolent Americans maliciously cut down and put in their houses and businesses for the sole purpose of continuing a beautiful tradition of peace, harmony, prayer, thankfulness, appreciation, gift-giving, and a holiday that illuminates every child’s imagination more than any other day of the year, while making the hearts of adults, even the angriest grinch’s, every once in a while, glow as a reminder of why we are all really here.

See what just happened there? I switched it up on you to place emphasis on how ridiculous this “Christmas tree” debacle and “Merry Christmas” ban in America has become. What ties this whole post together is some news I came across today out of Southlake, northeast of Fort Worth, Texas, in which a branch of Chase Bank was forced to remove a Christmas tree that was donated by a friend of the branch manager. The artificial tree was assembled and decorated on the Monday before Thanksgiving and taken down one day later. Some complaints were filed by customers of the bank apparently leaving Chase Bank with no choice but to remove the offensive monstrosity of age-old American culture.

Happy Holidays!

1,832.3 miles to go.

Day96 Friday 12/03/10

ran 0.0 miles

• Hawaii was the final state to join the union on August 21, 1959, seven months after Alaska.

• Population, as of 2009, is 1,295,178.

• Senators are Daniel K. Akaka (D) and Daniel K. Inouye (D).

• Representatives are Charles Djou (R) and Mazie Hirono (D).

• Hawaii has four electoral votes. Historically, the state has been blue since 1960 excluding the 1972 and 1984 elections (Nixon and Reagan). Hawaii is also the state Barack Obama was born in, which was a great source of speculation and controversy in his first year as president regarding the proper documentation to prove his birthplace.

It’s been two years since Obama has been in office and numbers that should be high are low and statistics that should be low are high. Unemployment is up to 9.8%. Debt is festering like an infected wound. Everything this man, our president, campaigned on was unrealistic.

The tide is rising and drowning Barack Obama’s credibility. I follow just enough news to keep my brain from taking on the form of peanut butter, and my mind is still tacit enough to point out that what is happening with his presidency is very interesting and equally predictable. The majority of people in this country are against the big decisions he’s made. What American people do want is what he does not want. Barack Obama is now faced with the difficult decision of swallowing his pride and letting conservative direction make a success of his presidency or to further push his agenda, which is inundated with statistics in all the wrong places.

Amidst all the crises roiling the United States, Obama made a surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan today. Bravo on the gesture, but in what reality does it make any sense for our president to be jumping all over the globe in the span of one single month, after a midterm election that rejected his policies, when he is needed so urgently here? His actions over the past month suggest that foreign affairs are more important than the problems weighing on American soil.

1,832.3 miles to go. Today is the fourth day I haven’t run. It is disappointing, but I am going to see a doctor on Tuesday to figure out what is wrong with my leg.

Day95 Thursday 12/02/10

ran 0.0 miles

• Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval poll indicates that 22% of the nation’s voters strongly approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 39% strongly disapprove, equaling an Approval Index rating of –17 compared to –14 on this day last week.

• Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance as president and 54% disapprove.

• In November, 36% of American voters identified themselves as Republicans, 34.7% considered themselves Democrats, and 29.3% were not affiliated with either party. This is the largest number of conservative voters since February 2005. Only two years ago, Republicans stood at a meager 33.8% and Democrats towered above them at 41.4%.

Following the endless news of each day is both taxing on time and nearly not worth it. It is usually not my interest to allow something so trivial as the posturing and flexing of politicians and the lofty clouds their heads float upon to steal my time away, but Barack Obama is sort of a big deal. And I don’t mean that in a good way. Politics, as a whole, if you view it in broad strides and not under a day-to-day microscope, are a predictable loop of push and pull that most often end in a somewhat functional manner of governing; Americans get to be Americans and politicians get to be politicians. But every once in a while, Jimmy Carter was the last one, someone comes along after one of the two primary parties have been in power for too long, and they are granted the opportunity, through voter discontentment due to politicians getting carried away with the inestimable powers they have, to get away with doing something drastic. The stars aligned for Barack Obama in 2008. Bush averted his eyes to critical matters that have contributed much to our current economic state, leaving Obama with a lot of maneuverability to push any agenda he chose. Obama came, he saw, he shined, he was elected, and now he is becoming the product of what American history repeats cyclically. I firmly believe Barack Obama’s greatest purpose in American history will be to squeeze a hero, like a diamond out of a lump of coal, into the 2012 presidency; a candidate who will be every bit as significant and heralded as Ronald Reagan after Jimmy Carter.

1,832.3 miles to go.

Day94 Wednesday 12/01/10

ran 0.0 miles
On Wednesdays, I usually post a few quotes from American leaders, writers, or artists, from the past or present, which strike my American heartstrings and force goose bumps to the surface of my skin. But on this particular day, one man who stood alone and said something so definitively reflective of American’s sentiments across the country deserves the spotlight by himself.

Indiana Representative Steve Buyer is the man of the day who stood before his peers and told Nancy Pelosi, “This is why the American people have thrown you out of power,” when refused the request to speak for five minutes to debate certain legislation being passed in Chamber. He then patiently requested to speak for one single minute. Pelosi continued to refuse his simple request, which was completely tyrannical and unconstitutional, and then he absolutely blasted her.

This was the scenario---Congress is currently in its “Lame duck” session and Barack Obama and his liberal proponents are trying to utilize all of the votes they still have to pass bills they fear will not stand a chance once the new Congress is sworn in. Not only are democrats on the verge of losing a large number of chairs they needed to pursue their agenda, which we Americans voted out, but they are about to be replaced with senators and representatives we voted for who will not be so easily persuaded to align with the liberal agenda. Many of these new senators and representatives are going to forego persuasion and downright buck Barack Obama, and that is why every bill you are hearing about in the news right now is extremely questionable. They would not stand even remotely in their current written forms once the “Lame duck” session ceases and the votes that were cast on November 2 become a reality.

1,832.3 miles to go.

Day93 Tuesday 11/30/10

ran 0.0 miles
Today marks a bitter-sweet mile marker in this campaign. I have been running for exactly three months, all ninety-two days of it, until now. I am very proud of that and I am extremely grateful for everyone who has motivated me and followed this pebble of opinion for the last quarter of a year. Unfortunately, I have injured my left calf muscle to a point that demands rest for at least a few days. I am going to see a doctor early next week to see what the problem is and hopefully it will be nothing too drastic.

Case in point, the miles I am not running while my leg heals I will make manifest through working harder on these blog posts and keeping current events and facts about America and its vast history flowing.

Just as a government has unforeseeable crises appear from out of nowhere, it is still that government's obligation to reach the goals it has set for itself and for the rest of America. With that being said, however minor or severe my injury turns out to be, I am going to persevere toward my goal regardless of how much catch-up it requires.

1,832.3 miles to go.

Day92 Monday 11/29/10

ran 2.7 miles
Here are a few facts you may not know. They go together as well as a peanut butter, turkey and anchovy sandwich, but they are equally stimulating to a curious palate. Hope you’re hungry for a bite of what America once was and could possibly be again with a side of what it is not and may never be again.

Theodore Roosevelt’s expectations of immigrants and what it means to be an American citizen, as he stated in 1907:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…there can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…we have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

Ever heard of the “Transaction Tax”? Here is a video of Nancy Pelosi advocating this tax, which she views as a great idea. She proposes placing a 1% tax on literally all transactions. Whether you fill your vehicle with three gallons of gas from a local gas station, pull twenty dollars out of your nearest ATM or purchase a $300,000.00 house, if this tax ever became a reality the government would get 1% every single time you made a purchase. Pelosi defines the tax as a nearly unnoticeable percentage of money that would fill the governments “Tills” with revenue to create jobs and to pay off national debt.

This is the exact presumptuous, pompous and arrogant line of thinking that sparked the American Revolution. We fought for Independence because of Britain’s exorbitant demands of taxation, in which the King got fatter and the people in the colonies received nothing in return.

And lastly, a couple of quotes that reinforce the reality of Barack Obama’s ideas:

“The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

Margaret Thatcher

And from an anonymous mind, “Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don’t have to prove they are citizens.”

1,832.3 miles to go.

Day91 Sunday 11/28/10

ran 2.1 miles
Today completes week thirteen. Nearly three months in and I am grateful to say my biggest problem is a chronic, minor soreness in my left calf muscle that is reluctant to go away. I can put ice on that every few days and that small pain takes nothing away from the larger picture I am after. Running and blogging against Barack Obama gives me a sense of peace and allows me to sleep better at night because, ultimately, a leader like Obama smothers and suppresses my interpretation of what America is meant to be.

When you view this country as a limitless ideal in which anything can be done, it is absolutely frustrating to see radical liberal ideas implemented, as they appear in the light. Where I feel the great chasm between conservative and liberal ideas reaches its greatest depth is in the voting base at large of each side. And, unfortunately, this separation and difference of political beliefs could be a lengthy civil war of ideas, which will block any real progress for a nation divided. The greater number of American voters who do not cower away from hard work and take pride in saving or spending the money they worked hard to earn as they see fit I would call conservatives. And those who see no merit in what so many of these others hold to be self-evident as the American way I would call liberals. It is no prejudice to state that, statistically, the immense middle class and small business structure working hard across the American landscape is a crucial gear in America’s economy and culture and that they do not tend to vote for liberal ideas. You may interpret for yourself what that says about the immense amount of others that do vote for such ideas.

I have run 245.0 miles, averaging 2.69 miles per day.

1,835.0 miles to go.

Day90 Saturday 11/27/10

ran 1.8 miles

• In an article from The Associated Press, discussing Barack Obama’s recent indulgence in foreign affairs versus the domestic interests of Americans, it is interesting how the recent spike of involvement on the foreign policy front is stampeding through the important matters at home, after an election that saw international topics as unworthy for discussion or campaigning. Furthermore, Obama spent only three days abroad (Czech Republic and Afghanistan in April) in the last year leading up to his parties “Shellacking” on November 2. I cannot say whether or not he has compensated for his yearlong lack of foreign diplomacy since the globetrotting began after the Midterm Elections, but he has certainly made up for the taxpayer money he did not spend last year on his extravagant trip to India.

• Sarah Palin, while being interviewed by Glenn Beck on Wednesday, had a slip of the tongue as she made a response to Beck regarding our South Korea ally when she stated, “…Our North Korea ally.” Beck quickly corrected her and she explained her verbal slip. The media, however, made headlines out of it with the intent to ridicule her. Palin criticized the media via Facebook and pointed out ten gaffes Barack Obama had, which the media did not see fit to report on front pages, once again pointing out the biased approach to reporting news that has sensationalized this country with misgivings. Among our heralded president’s slips were such follies as “My fellow Americans in all 57 states,” “The time has changed for come,” “We know that countries like Europe,” and “ The reforms we seek will bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system”. If you don’t remember hearing about these it is because, for the most part, the media did not deem them newsworthy.

The road to 2012 will be getting in gear soon. Some very critical decisions need to be made immediately among democrats and republicans, which will be foretelling of what Barack Obama’s real interpretation of November 2 was and what his reaction to America’s disappointment in his decisions over the past two years is.

Presidential candidates will be announcing their nominations before we know it. The names everyone seems to be talking about at this point are Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee. Palin has received the most press recently after an interview with Barbara Walters in which she stated she was confident she could beat Barack Obama in a presidential race. Do you think Sarah Palin has what it takes to dethrone Barack Obama? Would you vote for her?

1,837.1 miles to go.

Day89 Friday 11/26/10

ran 2.6 miles

• Georgia was the fourth state to join the union on January 2, 1788, seven days before Connecticut and one year after New Jersey.

• Population, as of 2009, is 9,829,211.

• Senators are Saxby Chambliss (R) and Johnny Isakson (R).

• Representatives are Jack Kingston (R), Sanford Bishop (R), Lynn Westmoreland (R), Henry Johnson (D), John Lewis (D), Tom Price (R), John Linder (R), James Marshall (D), Tom Graves (R), Paul Broun (R), John Gingrey (R), John Barrow (D), and David Scott (D).

• Georgia has fifteen electoral votes. Historically, the state has participated in every presidential election excluding 1864, due to secession. From 1868 until 1960, Georgia has been exclusively democratic. In 1968, Georgia voted for Independent George Wallace. The state has been republican since, barring Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, and Bill Clinton in 1992.

I apologize for not keeping today’s post up with the current events of the day but I have nothing more to add tonight. My amazing and lovely wife and I bought our Christmas tree tonight and we are busy decorating and putting lights up. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a tolerable Black Friday.

1,838.9 miles to go.

Day88 Thursday 11/25/10

ran 2.6 miles

• Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval poll shows that 28% of American voters strongly approve of President Obama’s performance and 42% strongly disapprove, giving Barack Obama an Approval Index rating of –14 compared to –17 on this day last week.

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

• Among American voters, 57% favor repeal of Health Care Law.

• Nationwide, 66% of voters favor a proposal to cut the federal payroll by 10% over the next decade. Only 22% oppose the proposal and 12% are not sure.

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and hope everyone had a wonderful day spent with family. In the spirit of thanking God for everything we’ve been blessed with and sharing these blessings with family and friends, I’d like to thank you for reading and following this blog, and supporting my run against Barack Obama.

1,841.5 miles to go.

Day87 Wednesday 11/24/10

ran 3.1 miles
I ran the “Camellia Crossing” 5k tonight in Lafayette, Louisiana and finished with a satisfactory time worthy of thanking Barack Obama for the inspiration to run so furiously against him. It has been less than three months since I started this campaign against Barack Obama’s reelection and I have improved my running time of 3.1 miles by over six minutes. If national debt and American principles were approached in the same manner as the 1200-plus people that ran tonight approached the idea of self-preservation, the goal to succeed, and the unmistakable tenacity to achieve something with no reward except for what they felt inwardly when they crossed the finish line, this country would rediscover itself as the amazing nation it has the potential to be when politicians with radical agendas are not in office attempting to redefine America by whittling it down to a common nation.

America is not common. America works hard to fulfill the great expectations our forefathers projected upon us. America is people and not politicians. Barack Obama does not like the appearance of America’s elitist swagger and would like to level the international playing field. If you feel sorry for being American then you are reading the wrong blog.

My impression of Barack Obama’s first two years is riddled with images and articles of our president behaving in an unexplainably apologetic manner with every foreign leader he visits. He compulsively blames like a spoiled child and then seeks solutions to our problems by printing monopoly money that has served no real purpose other than to further empower China, the next potential world leader, through borrowing. China, committed to communism, could be the twenty-first century template to America’s future if our government continues to not produce results.

In closing, here are a few quotes from some well-known runners.

“If you don’t invest very much, then defeat doesn’t hurt very much and winning is not very exciting.”

Dick Vermeil

“The greatest pleasure in life is doing the things people say we cannot do.”

Walter Bagehot

“What counts in the battle is what you do once the pain sets in.”

John Short

1,844.1 miles to go.

Day86 Tuesday 11/23/10

ran 2.6 miles
On this day in 1749, Edward Rutledge, one of South Carolina’s representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, was born in Charleston. He made a name for himself in American history by being the youngest and one of the boldest signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Going against the grain of the majority of his Congressional cohorts, Rutledge was reluctant to declare independence. In a letter to John Jay, one of New York’s representatives who shared a reticence in rushing into the declaration, Rutledge was concerned whether moderates like himself and Jay could effectually oppose a resolution for independence.

Edward’s brother John preceded him serving as a South Carolina Representative. As the Revolution steamed to a boil among the colonies, it fell on Edward, who was not eager to sever ties with Great Britain, to sign the Declaration of Independence, at age twenty-six, to push the message of unanimity and to bolster the Patriot’s stand.

Having signed the document, Edward Rutledge was the youngest American to risk his life by signing the Declaration of Independence.

It takes a lot of courage and humility to compromise your own beliefs or to sway even a few degrees for the good of a greater picture. I foresee many democrats crossing the aisle for open-minded discussions with republicans over the next two years. It is a shame more did not take the initiative to do this during the first two years of Obama’s presidency. If many had not convicted their decisions to the general belief in liberalism, and instead worked toward an itemized solution to the problems Americans face, many democratic Senators and Representatives would possibly still have their jobs. Their blind commitment to principal and lack of realizing the human element is what separates the men and women who lost their seats on November 2 from men and women like Edward Rutledge who have the sensitivity to make big decisions on behalf of the people they represent and not in the name of their egos or legacies.

1,847.2 miles to go.