Day367 Wednesday 08/31/11

ran 3.0 miles
Here is what happened one year ago on Day2.

One little boy wanted a blue balloon and another little boy wanted a red balloon. They fought and fought. The little boy who wanted the blue balloon called the little boy who wanted the red balloon a poopie head. The little boy who wanted the red balloon called the little boy who wanted the blue balloon a fart face. They pouted and pouted. They simply could not agree. Back and forth, they went on and on.

Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red! Blue! Red!

Back and forth they went.

Something similar to that story was in the news today. President Obama has finally chosen to announce his highly anticipated plan for creating jobs next Wednesday. But, coincidentally, he plans to air it during the Republican presidential debate taking place in California on that same night. This action is both childish and clearly divisive. Partisan brinksmanship, anyone? He is once again saying one thing and doing another.

Here is an article that describes the back and forth between the boy with the blue balloon and the boy with the red balloon. It is too ridiculous to even describe the exchanges that transpired today between Obama and Boehner. Our president was definitely the younger, less mature and ornery of the two children. Boehner was resourceful and more realistic with his arguments. That is a plus for him but it is still absurd that Barack Obama would choose the night and air time of the Republican presidential debate to release what will more than likely be an underwhelming plan for creating jobs.

990.1 miles to go.

Day366 Tuesday 08/30/11

Year 2

ran 3.2 miles
Today is the first day of a new year of running against Obama. I am going to begin adding a link at the top of each post, which will lead to what was posted on that day one year before. It will look something like this:Here is what was happening one year ago today on Day1 of running against Obama.

Thanks again for reading and keeping up with the miles. I am excited about beginning the second year of this campaign and I appreciate your support! There has been plenty to write about on a daily basis so far and I doubt events will get any less exciting.

I feel no different about the reasons I listed on Day1 for running against Obama. Considering how fragile our economy is and how its condition worsens minute by minute in giant strides, it is not only counterproductive but extremely dangerous to the mere $0.60 of each dollar we are able to salvage when things like Obamacare, stimulus packages, and entitlements run-a-muck are devouring our path to progress. We only continue to fall behind. It requires little vision to see where the path we are on will lead if sweeping reforms on how the federal government conducts its wasteful business are not taken.

Regarding the Tea Party, in my opinion, conservatives have the Tea Party and liberals have the unions. If you were to conduct the slightest amount of research into the behavior of these two factions, I think you would find that one represents a bully demanding others’ lunch money and the other represents a simple desire for this country to not go broke and for individuals to try harder to pay for their own lunches. I do not find it necessary to distinguish which is which.

Barack Obama is expected to announce a big jobs plan next week and I think I speak for many others than myself when I say that I cannot wait to see what this long awaited solution will be. My prediction is another stimulus package of some sort followed by random acts of taxation from every direction.

I’ll finish tonight with one of the most dismal statistics I have found: In 2010, close to 47% of households paid no federal income tax. Many of these people even received tax returns…when they paid nothing. One must stand on their head to comprehend this kind of stuff---and there is so much more in Washington D.C. to view from upside down.

993.1 miles to go.

Day365 Monday 08/29/11

ran 4.4 miles
Could Hillary make another run against Obama? That would be the rematch of the millennium (we are only just over a decade into this thousand year period and there’s only so much material to work with so far). What even happens to a president if he or she loses their own party’s primary?

As it turns out, Franklin Pierce, America’s fourteenth president (1853-1857) from New Hampshire, has been deemed by many historians as the worst president in American history. He is the only president who was abandoned by his own party and not re-nominated to run in the 1856 presidential election. He was replaced by James Buchanan.

Historians Philip B. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt expressed a common sentiment in “The American President” that Pierce was "a good man who didn't understand his own shortcomings. He was genuinely religious, loved his wife and reshaped himself so that he could adapt to her ways and show her true affection. He was one of the most popular men in New Hampshire, polite and thoughtful, easy and good at the political game, charming and fine and handsome. However, he has been criticized as timid and unable to cope with a changing America."

Franklin Pierce did not technically lose a primary, he was simply not re-nominated. He was the only president in American history to underachieve this dishonor but history has a way of repeating itself.

Today marks one entire year of running against Obama!

996.3 miles to go.

Day 364 Sunday 08/28/11

ran 3.4 miles
Last full week of running against Obama for the year! Today ends week fifty-two of running against Obama. I ran 20.4 miles this week, averaging 2.91 miles per day.

I was skimming through www.politifact.com and came across some interesting quotes. I’ll put this thing into a trivia format for you:
“The black unemployment rate (has) increased since the recovery has begun.”

Marc Morial

True. White, Hispanic, and Asian unemployment eased, Black unemployment got worse.

"Fifty-one percent -- that is, a majority of American households -- paid no income tax in 2009. Zero. Zip. Nada."

John Cornyn

True. Nada.

"Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers? … Fox viewers, consistently, every poll."

John Stewart

False. The data is much more contradictory.

The Medicare proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would "allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for pre-existing conditions."

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

False. Budget resolution specifically bars the practice.

"We're borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend."

Kent Conrad

True. Living just a little bit outside our means.

"The average unemployed American has been out of work for almost 40 weeks."

Paul Krugman

True. Joblessness is at or near record lengths.

1,000.7 miles to go.

Day363 Saturday 08/27/11

ran 3.1 miles
This is pretty cool. There is a new application available on the iPhone, “Obama Clock”, to count down Obama’s time in the White House or his re-election. The information displayed on the app includes:

• countdown clock

• approval rating

• public debt

• unemployment level

• gasoline cost per gallon

• housing price index

To refresh the data simply press the pin on his left lapel. The Obama Clock has a Facebook page, too. I just purchased it for $0.99. Great idea for an app! It is a bipartisan approach, which our president would appreciate, for now, anyway, to document in a no-nonsense manner that this is our president and he is what he is. There are no opinions are spin on this app, just numbers that are hard to swallow.

1,004.1 miles to go.

Day362 Friday 08/26/11

ran 2.2 miles
I stumbled across an informative article from Big Government, written by Jeannie DeAngelis. “When Obama Loses America Wins” is the name of the article and the content is exactly what the title implies. It is still one of the great mysteries of the universe, for me, anyway, how so many people continue to passionately support the current president of the United States of America after so little hope and change has materialized in the massive wake of spending our country into oblivion. And he’s not done, yet. After almost three years with Obama, imagine a second term with this guy, in which his ideas and actions are not limited by his chances of being reelected. If he makes that second term, that’s it. He would have nothing to lose as he persevered on this destructive path. As an aside, I think liberal ideas have every much of a right to exist as conservative or any other ideas. But this president is failing at an extremely overpriced rate. I’d like to see the Democrats put someone else up to run against him.

Back to the article, here are some quotes:

“According to Barack Obama, if things in America are ‘worse instead of better,’ it’s not because of poor presidential leadership, lack of economic direction, out-of-control spending, class warfare, expanding entitlement programs, or regulations gone awry. Without mentioning them by name, Obama intimated that the situation in Washington DC is the result of rabid Republicans driven by a rowdy band of Tea Party activists who refuse to tax and spend the country into oblivion.”

“Earth to Obama – America already sent a message to Congress; we sent them there to do what they’re doing, attempting to stop you. You’re the one not getting the message.”

“…In a typical attempt to further portray political opposition as the sole obstacle to economic success, President Barack Obama, ever deficient in personal self-awareness, once again projected his own intentions onto the other side: ‘There are some in Congress right now who would rather see their opponents lose than see America win.’”

1,007.2 miles to go.

Day361 Thursday 08/25/11

ran 3.2 miles
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 45% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –24.

• Overall, 42% of voters at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance. During Barack Obama’s presidency, his rating has been lower only once, on June 18, 2010. On that day it was 41%.

• Only 14% of voters believe America is generally heading in the right direction. This is the lowest percentage of the Obama Administration.

• The presidential candidate who polls closest to Barack Obama is Ron Paul. Obama 39%, Paul 38%.

• Among American voters, 71% say too many people receive welfare who shouldn’t.

For you local readers here is some information on the upcoming Lafayette City-Parish Council election on October 22, 2011, courtesy of Tea Party of Lafayette. The page endorses certain incumbents and others who are running. You can find voting records, check out the re-districted map, and research what issues you hold valuable for the future of Lafayette and which candidates represent those values.

1,009.4 miles to go.

Day360 Wednesday 08/24/11

ran 2.4 miles

Here is Chapter 20 of "I am Erica". To read from the beginning click on "I am Erica" in the Categories section.

Chapter20

Jonas and Erica sat trembling across from one another in an abyss of black. There were desolate noises and occasional grunts that didn’t quite seem human. Although the blind darkness had set Jonas and Erica seemingly far apart, they were actually positioned closely enough to one another to reach out and feel the cuts and bruises on the other’s face.

Their hands were tied behind their backs and their feet were bound together. Each had a gag in their mouth, which forced their breathing through broken noses and crimson, coagulated nostrils.

In the darkness they were unaware that the frightening sounds they had kept hearing were their own. They didn’t know that they were facing each other for the first time in what seemed like weeks. The heavy breathing of what sounded like a fierce animal snarling was themselves right in front of one another.

All of a sudden there was a loud click like a generator being turned on. Slowly, the room began to fill with light. At first it was soft, hazy and nearly nonexistent. Second by second the light intensified until it was absolutely blinding. Jonas and Erica had seen very little light in recent days. Their eyes squinted and burned for minutes until finally Jonas focused through a single eye an image of what appeared to be Erica directly in front of him. The sight of her exaggerated all of his facial features in a writhing torrent of pain. He squirmed desperately in his bindings until he realized it was useless.

“Erica?” he said through his gag in a low mumble. She sat across from him barely moving. It had taken her longer to acquiesce to her new surroundings and Jonas could see terror in her eyes

Somehow she managed what appeared to be a smile, only detectable through a slight and brief squint in her eyes and attempted to speak Jonas’ name. Nothing came out but muted mumblings.

Seconds later menacing footsteps grew louder and louder heading in their direction. They were even and swift and had almost reached them. Jonas and Erica took a moment to roll their eyes around the room they were in. It was a huge space and even slight noises seemed to have made echoes. It seemed to be an airplane hangar or a space the size of one, absolutely empty except for Jonas, Erica and the footsteps that had just arrived behind Erica. A man stood and met Jonas’ painful gaze. He stared Jonas in the eyes and was not going to stop until Jonas blinked first or averted his own stare, like a master asserting superiority over a dog. Jonas unlocked his sight and looked down at Erica. The man spoke.

“Isn’t that better?” he said as he removed the gag from Erica’s mouth. She coughed achingly and gasped for air. The man walked around to Jonas and patted him on his head and rubbed his hand through his hair.

“Are you going to behave, Jonas?” He removed the gag and said, “That’s a good boy.”

Jonas bit for his hand snapping his teeth together just after the man had safely recoiled. The man immediately countered with a backhanded slap to Jonas’ face. All included, Jonas, Erica and this mysterious monster of a man were extremely surprised when Jonas actually managed to grip a large portion of his foe’s swinging hand with his teeth. The government man was clearly in pain and had not expected this outcome. His right hand was stuck from pinky to middle finger in the gnashing teeth of Jonas Martin Cassidy. This act only served to humiliate and piss off the nameless man. He pulled out a pistol with his other hand and hit Jonas over his head with it. Jonas refused to loosen the grip in his jaw. He bit even harder.

The man turned behind him and struck Erica with all of his might square in her nose. She was completely unsuspecting and squirming to help Jonas in case this may have been a predicament for escape. She fell completely over on her chair’s end, unconscious. Jonas immediately loosened the grip of his teeth and then his jaw altogether. The enemy hit him squarely in his forehead with the butt of his pistol. He fell over, blankly, upending the backside of his chair.

1,012.6 miles to go.

Day359 Tuesday 08/23/11

ran 3.1 miles
As our debt ceiling continues to be raised our president’s floor of approval continues to drop. Today is a new Rasmussen record for Barack Obama. He earned a Presidential Approval Index rating of –26 today. The poll shows that 19% of the nation’s voters strongly approve of our president’s performance while a whopping 45% strongly disapprove. This is a new low for our president. He tied his previous September 2010 record of disapproval yesterday with a –24, and today he broke that record with a –26. Barack Obama’s favorite person to blame, Bush, did not break –30 until near the end of his second term. In half the time Obama will have overwhelmingly outspent Bush’s entire eight years and he is on a straight, narrow path to earn new lows of disapproval in less than half the time it took his well-known scapegoat to achieve such levels of detest.

According to new national debt data, our American debt is growing at an average of $3 million dollars a minute. Check out this article for some unbelievable, disappointing numbers.

1,015.0 miles to go.

Day358 Monday 08/22/11

ran 3.0 miles

From thehill.com, “Dozens of Wall Street executives who supported President Obama in 2008 have donated to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign this year.”

In an article by Jake Interrante and Bob Cusack, they share a review of fundraising data, which shows that sixty-seven people who work in the financial sector and had contributed to Obama in 2008 are now giving their money to Mitt Romney. This is not earth-shattering news but it is worth noting.

Jumping ship comes in the wake of Obama’s bullying rhetoric on Wall Street, notably when our president was pushing for what is known as the “Dodd-Frank financial reform law”.

These sixty-seven flip-floppers are employed by a large number of banks, private equity firms and hedge-fund companies, including Credit Suisse, The Blackstone Group, Stanwich Group and Goldman Sachs.

“One of the donors is Joshua Harris of Apollo Management, who recently bought the Philadelphia 76ers. Others include Oscar Schafer of OSS Capital Management, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Barry Sternlight with the Starwood Capital Group and David Blitzer of the Blackstone Group.”

What else? The FCC finally gave up on the “Fairness Doctrine”, which is actually the exact opposite of what it implies. It is censorship and it is a shame that it took this long to abandon. On a separate note, our president skipped his eighth hole on the golf course today because cameras were waiting for him. I have to wonder if he would have welcomed some camera time if he were not so consumed with failure. Don’t mistake his avoidance of the media for modesty. If the vision he had for this country were successful or, in other words, if he had achieved cramming his ideas down our throats and had not mistakenly under-estimated the intelligence of the people who, one by one, form the fabric of this country and their ability to speak out when the government is failing, he would have been hamming it up. Oh, and Morgan Freeman wants Obama to “get pissed off”. He feels he has been “horribly sandbagged” and it makes him “so angry”. Thank you for that, Mr. Freeman.

1,018.1 miles to go.

Day357 Sunday 08/21/11

ran 2.7 miles
Today ends week fifty-one of running against Obama. I ran 20.4 miles this week, averaging 2.91 miles per day. Sorry for the short post today, catch up tomorrow!

1,021.1 miles to go.

Day356 Saturday 08/20/11

ran 2.6 miles
I am getting close to reaching one year of running against Obama. Today is the day that one year ago I decided I was going to take on this campaign until November 6, 2012. This idea had struck me in a McDonald’s drive through in Lafayette. My wife was driving and we were talking about how helpless we felt as people under a presidential administration and a congress we disagreed so much with.

At this time, Obamacare and the stimulus package were still fresh in our minds. At this time our president was saying things to the effect of “if Republicans want to get on the bus they can get on but they will have to sit in the back”. Now this man is basically campaigning on how partisan and unfair Republicans are. He will be campaigning on blame after such arrogant comments like the one cited above.

This campaign started as a result of getting so fed up and tired of hearing so many people complain about the same things in Washington going on every day. And every time someone finished their rant or tirade, red in the face, sweating and panting, they would throw their hands up in the air and say something like “But what can you do about it?”

This was when the idea hit me. If this guy does end up getting elected again, which is somehow quite possible, I want to contribute something, anything I can, to make Barack Obama a one-term president. By continuing to run these miles and to post on this blog every day I feel that if he does get reelected and my children or grandchildren one day ask me, “How did things get to this point? Why was I born into such debt that I did not ask for? Why didn’t you do anything about it? How could you and so many others let America get to this point?”---if they ever ask me questions like these I simply want to be able to tell them I did try.

So there it is.

1,023.8 miles to go.

Day355 Friday 08/19/11

"Both the stock market and President Obama's poll numbers are tanking..."

John Zogby

ran 1.9 miles

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 41% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of -20.

• Overall, 45% of voters at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance and 53% at least somewhat disapprove.

• Only 53% of homeowners believe their home is worth more than they paid for it.

• Among Republican primary voters, 58% think the Tea Party will help the GOP in 2012. Only 22% believe it will hurt.

• Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 44%, Democrats 37%

• GOP Primary: Perry 29%, Romney 18%, Bachmann 13%

1,026.4 miles to go.

Day354 Thursday 08/18/11

ran 2.6 miles

Sorry for the late post. A storm hit us last night and knocked out electricity for the night, right up until the moment I closed my eyes to go to bed. Random lights and electronics all suddenly turned on after having waited four or five hours. Insult to injury. Here’s getting back on track.

President Obama demanded Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down from power today. Assad has been attacking and killing his own people who protest his leadership and Obama, as well as, many other countries are demanding Assad relieve himself from power and implement a democratic approach to their government. After addressing this and a few other highly critical international and domestic problems, our president promptly packed his bags for ten days at Martha’s Vineyards.

In the real world, where real people live and work and do real things, giving Assad an ultimatum to step down as Obama closes the door of his car to head out to a ten day vacation would be like you or me telling our boss how bad we think he is at his job, telling him or her that you or I could do the job better, and then putting on a pleasant smile and saying, “By the way, I’m going to go to Florida for the next week and a half. Thanks.” This approach lacks all sense of urgency and cannot be taken seriously.

On a lighter note, here are some facts about the state of Rhode Island:

• Rhode Island was the thirteenth state to join the union on May 29, 1790, one year before Vermont and one year after North Carolina.

• Population, as of 2010, is 1,052,567.

• Senators are Jack Reed (D) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D).

• Representatives are David Cicilline (D) and James Langevin (D).

• Rhode Island has four electoral votes. Historically, the state has voted blue since 1928, except for four presidential elections (twice for Eisenhower and once for Nixon and Reagan). Obama defeated McCain by nearly 28% in 2008.

1,028.3 miles to go.