Day314 Saturday 07/09/11

ran 3.4 miles
“It’s all about jobs. In it’s life, it (the health care bill) will create 4 million jobs---400,000 jobs almost immediately.”

Who is this oracle? Who is this guru of wisdom so adept to foresee such an indisputable future? Who is this investor in futures as colorful as rainbows are tangible? Who is this walking, talking head bobbling about with a series of three or four trademarked string pulls?

“But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.”

“Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs.”

“In our recovery package we put new standards of accountability and transparency, which we hope will now apply.”

Do not pass go. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

There is more flotsam and jetsam flowing through the murky waters of Nancy Pelosi’s mind than there is purity and patience in the river she represents.

(I'm no expert in body language but the manner in which Obama's hand presses into his face in the video above reminds me of myself when I am forced to sit in my dentist's waiting room awaiting a root canal.)

1,147.8 miles to go.

Day313 Friday 07/08/11

ran 1.9 miles
Stepping away from current events today. Here are a few good quotes.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Voltaire

“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

Justice William O. Douglas

“Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every man has a right to knock him down for it.”

Dr. Samuel Johnson English author, lexicographer

“Blessed are the young, for they will inherit the national debt.”

President Herbert Hoover

“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.”

Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798

“A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.”

H.L. Mencken

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”

Plato

“The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.”

Will Rogers

“Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties - 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. - In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, Liberals and Serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, Whigs and Tories, Republicans and Federalists, Aristocrats and Democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still and pursue the same object. The last one of Aristocrats and Democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all.”

Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, 1824

1,151.2 miles to go.

Day312 Thursday 07/07/11

ran 4.0 miles

“Let’s stop talking about new taxes and start talking about new taxpayers, which means jobs. This debt is the No. 1 issue on everyone’s minds and rightfully so. It is a major issue, but everywhere else, in the real world, the No. 1 issue on people’s minds is jobs. And I tell you, every other problem facing America — a mortgage crisis, a home foreclosure crisis, this debt problem — all of these issues get easier to deal with if people are gainfully employed across America. And the impact that unemployment is having across this country is devastating. …

Our job here [in Congress] is to do everything we can to make it easier for them to find a job, not harder. And I think that’s what we have to do when it comes to ‘a balanced approach’ and when we talk about revenue. We don’t need new taxes, we need new taxpayers, people who are gainfully employed, making money, paying into the tax system and then we need a government that has the discipline to take that additional revenue and use it to pay down the debt and never grow it again. …

So you look at all these taxes that are being proposed and here’s what I say: I say we should analyze every single one of them through the lens of job creation, issue No. 1 in America. I want to know which one of these taxes they’re proposing will create jobs. I want to know how many jobs will be created by the planes tax. I want to know how many jobs will be created by the oil company tax that I’ve heard so much about. How many jobs are created by going after the millionaires and billionaires that the president talks about? I want to know! How many jobs do they create? …

I traveled the state of Florida for two years campaigning. I have never met a job creator who told me that they were waiting for the next tax increase before they started growing their business. I’ve never met a single job creator who has ever said to me I can’t wait ’til government raises taxes again so I can go out and create a job. I’m curious to know if they say that in New Hampshire because they don’t say that in Florida. So my view on all that is, I want to know how many of these tax increases the president proposes will create jobs because if they’re not creating jobs and they’re not creating new taxpayers, they’re not solving the problem.”

---Florida GOP freshman Senator Marco Rubio from a speech made on the Senate floor

Sometimes you read something and you admire it so much because the man or woman who wrote the words articulated with such brevity and concision the exact idea you feel but are incapable of articulating yourself. That is what Marco Rubio’s words above just accomplished. Where is the common sense in the White House?

Here are some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 24% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 39% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of -15.

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

• Among American voters, 25% believe the America is generally heading in the right direction.

• Only 23% of Americans are at least somewhat confident that U.S. policymakers know what they’re doing when it comes to handling America’s current economic problems.

• Generic Republican candidate 44%, Obama 44%.

• Favoring repeal of the health care law hit a new high at 53%.

1,153.1 miles to go.

Day311 Wednesday 07/06/11

ran 4.8 miles

Chapter 14

Jonas was in a new place. He stepped into a tub of hot running water. A particular and rare kind of peace had fallen over him. It was one of the seldom moments when the entire universe stood still in all of its clarity---but only long enough to catch a glimpse of its simple geometry for a mere perplexing second. Jonas saw, somehow, men stripped and women bare with shame and confusion for so many questions they had so few answers for; children branded, tagged like so many heads of cattle in a herd, branded and tagged like commercial images in young impressionable minds content to follow those in front of them, behind them, and on their sides regardless of where it leads them; so many distractions to occupy and obstruct the precious little we would all like to know but don’t know how to ask for; to clothe, layer after layer, so many fabrics and materials of thin and delicate armor to protect what is so quietly inside of us all and to shield what is so piercingly intent to get inside.

Less than a breath later and Jonas returned back to the clumsy, lethargic reality that consumed his and everyone else’s lives.

Jonas thought about the poem he had read earlier. It was page thirty-four of Anna’s untitled book. He now understood that there was more to all of this than he had previously understood. The circumstances of Jonas acquiring that book were unquestionable. The intentions were still unknown but his puppet strings were being pulled and twitching with curiosity.

What people need now is another Henry Thoreau
to aspire towards on rainy days.

What we need now is a sunny gloom to rekindle
the hopes of our warm shadow’s rays.

People need to peel their hands from the mouths
of their souls to allow for noise and the power to not do what they’re told.

What we need now is quietude and screaming
at the inversely appropriate times that they would commonly behold.

Jonas sat in the hot water sweating in comfort. He thought about his mother. She used to always tell him, “If it sounds too good to be true than it probably is.” He wondered if something was too bad to be real if it couldn’t be. It did not go both ways.

1,157.1 miles to go.

Day310 Tuesday 07/05/11

ran 3.7 miles
“The staff names and salary report, required annually by Congress, was released on Friday by the White House. The timing, however, was probably an accident because last Friday most Americans were not watching the news closely and were thinking of not working for a three-day holiday weekend.”

Nice use of sarcasm, Andrew Malcolm, in an article for the Los Angeles Times. Are you suggesting that maybe the release of 454 Obama White House aides who will collectively earn $37,121,463 this year was strategically posted on a day when the American people were less likely to be paying attention?

“Because Americans would no doubt be pleased to know of the Obama staff's economic success amid the bleak national scene for so many others, we saved the information for today, when most Americans who are still employed are back at their own jobs and can share the joy.”

One small disappointing detail that this report failed to mention was the fact that 41 unidentified Obama staff members currently owe the IRS $831,000 in back taxes. That separate report came out last fall.

President Obama has upped George W. Bush by seven staff members and nearly $4 million from 2008. Also, nearly one out of every three earn more than $100,000 a year. That number has also been raised from Bush’s 130 staffers with that salary. And, twenty-one Obama staff members earn $172,200 a year, the highest salary.

Our national debt is $14.2 trillion, up 35% since Obama took office. While paying staff members an accumulative $37,121,463 a year is a drop in the bucket at the far larger scale of the economic crisis our nation is suffering, it is a matter of principle, the shamelessness and audacity Obama possesses to be so exorbitant---and not only in this particular instance, while our nation is coasting along at the brink of failure.

From Andrew Malcolm, here are some coincidental Chicago connections who happen to be recipients of the top pay scale.

"Chief of Staff William Daley, who is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who just retired and left the top Democratic-machine job there to Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama's chief of staff and before that held the Chicago House seat of Rod Blagojevich, who had given it up to become governor of Illinois, which he no longer is due to impeachment and, now, convicted on 17 counts of fraud.

The Daleys' father, Richard J. Daley, was also a longtime Chicago mayor whose operatives provided Illinois' crucial electoral votes to elect John F. Kennedy president back in 1960 before Obama was born.

Valerie Jarrett has a White House title as long as Chicago's winters (senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement). Before this, she was a chief of staff for the most recent Mayor Daley and hired an assistant named Michelle Robinson, who went on, of course, to become Mrs. Barack Obama, whose chief of staff also earns the top $172G paycheck.

This year, the one before Obama's attempted reelection, he reduced his staff by 15 people and $1.7 million.

Some White House aides have already returned to Chicago as campaign employees, including political strategist David Axelrod, who helped elect the most recent Mayor Daley, as well as, briefly, Sen. Obama and then President Obama. Axelrod also made the top salary when he had to live in Washington."

1,161.9 miles to go.

Day309 Monday 07/04/11

ran 1.4 miles
Happy Fourth of July!

Today is the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, our founding fathers came together, despite numerous fears and differences, and forged the document that has guided our nation to the freedoms and opportunities we all experience 235 years later.

There are many interesting details and stories surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but these are a couple of lesser known facts you may not realize. For one thing, when those men decided to sign that document they made a decision that would have had them shot or hung if they were unable to win the Revolutionary War they were currently fighting. It was a gamble and, while the odds were not on their side, providence and destiny were.

Ask yourself if you would have done it. Would you have signed a document that utterly defied the King of what was arguably the world power at the time? Could you have placed such a wager on your own head, on your family, on your fellow men and women, to risk everything for an idea you passionately believed in?

The men who signed the Declaration of Independence figuratively signed their names in blood, and if America had not won the Revolutionary War then the signers of that monumental document would have been hunted down and made examples of.

But we did win, with all odds against us, and I firmly believe it was providence and not chance.

One other interesting piece of history surrounding the Declaration of Independence is the final days surrounding the lives of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. It was on this day in 1826, the fourth of July, the anniversary of the day both of these men had signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, that they both died within five hours of one another.

Jefferson and Adams were the final surviving members of the original American revolutionaries who signed the Declaration of Independence. They shared a common cause in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; however, as time went on they differed more and more on how to achieve the American vision. Both men having served as presidents, Adams believed in a strong centralized government and Jefferson believed in a weaker federal government with more rights deferred to individual states.

Through years of heated arguments and differences, an animosity that had led to years of silence between the two ex-presidents, John Adams made the decision to contact Thomas Jefferson in 1812, wishing him many happy years to come. Thomas Jefferson responded with kind words and the two founding fathers looked past their differences and rekindled the friendship they had once had.

On July 4, 1826, at the age of 90, John Adams died. His last words were “Thomas Jefferson still survives”. But he was mistaken. Jefferson had died five hours before in Monticello at the age of 82.

1,165.6 miles to go.

Day308 Sunday 07/03/11

ran 2.5 miles
Today ends week forty-four of running against Obama. I ran 23.2 miles this week, averaging 3.31 miles per day.

In an article by Peter Wehner, “Obama Cannot Escape Bitter Fruits of His Policies”, Wehner (not to be confused with Weiner) points out the ineffectual rhetoric Obama continues to spew during these weeks leading up to the monumental decision of what to do about our debt.

Barack Obama mentioned eliminating a tax loophole for corporate jets six separate times in a press conference last week as though a nearly insignificant act like that would save student loans, food safety, weather services, and hundreds of other threatened programs. And it is worth mentioning that in Obama’s stimulus package, there was a tax break that encouraged corporations to purchase private jets.

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post looked into Obama’s claims and discovered that in the realm of a $4 trillion goal, the revenue that would be raised with Obama’s corporate jet plan would be $3 billion over ten years while student loans in 2011, alone, cost roughly $42 billlion.

Kessler findings, “So the corporate jet loophole — which involves the fact that such assets can be depreciated over five years, rather than the seven for commercial jets — just is not going to raise a lot of money. It certainly wouldn’t save many student loans.”

Barack Obama’s idea to end a tax break for corporate jet owners would gather less than one-tenth of one percent of what he is aiming for to reduce the federal deficit.

Wehner ended the article by stating that Obama’s most memorable theme in his press conference last week, ending a tax break for commercial jet owners, was “comparable to trying to dig a tunnel with a teaspoon”.

1,167.0 miles to go.

Day307 Saturday 07/02/11

ran 3.1 miles
No media sources on this thought. This is just my opinion, a frustrated American citizen like you. My interpretation of the stalemate on so many different issues that are throbbing like a bleeding artery in America (raising the debt ceiling or lowering the debt floor, creating jobs or not creating jobs, proving Obama’s health care plan unconstitutional or proclaiming it justified, Libya, Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, raising taxes, slashing spending, a possible national default on debt, and many other issues) is that both sides are doing nothing more than posturing, or sitting idly by and waiting to see if our current president is going to get a second term or not. Upon officially reelecting Barack Obama or swearing in a new president, it is then that drastic changes from one side or the other will fully begin to define the long-term direction of our nation. Obama will take America in one direction and Someone Else will take it 180 degrees in the opposite direction. It falls upon us to choose as an immensely collective deciding factor to opt for a hard left or a hard right at the American intersection we have all arrived at.

Shame on both sides right now, though, for letting our country arrive at this dismal point over the course of numerous decades, from both Republicans and Democrats from then and now. And shame on us, the people, for allowing these politicians to arrive at the crises we currently face.

On November 6, 2012, there will be a critical decision to be made concerning the near and distant future of America. There will be no “let’s give this person a chance and see what happens” or “maybe if we vote for him or her then this or that will change” or “perhaps she or he will meet us all in the middle”. This upcoming presidential election has no room for chance, there is no maybe this or maybe that, and there is no fence, or middle ground, to sit on.

All of these stalls and deviations from productivity in our federal government are tactics to wait out the 2012 election and to make decisions as slowly and with as little assertion as possible. After the Presidential, Senatorial, House and Gubernatorial races are all determined in November of 2012, there are going to be some brisk, abrasive, and swift decisions made regarding the future path of America, and it is going to be either one direction or the other. It is our responsibility to pick the right one.

1,169.5 miles to go.

Day306 Friday 07/01/11

ran 3.4 miles
Crazy day. It’s been non-stop since I woke up late this morning and it’s not letting up yet. I’m only going to post some stats and polls today, which reflect a plummeting Barack Obama, at least for now. As an aside, what about Strauss-Kahn? Somebody set him up and it could be anybody; any country. I don’t know much about this guy but someone are some group of people certainly do not want him to be the leader of France.

Anyway, here are some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 21% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 39% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –18.

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

• Among American voters 46% currently believe America’s best days have come and gone while 37% believe they are still to come.

• Generic Republican candidate is 46%, Obama 42%.

• Regarding a candidate’s religion, 10% of American voters would base their vote on that candidate’s spiritual beliefs.

1,172.6 miles to go.

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.