Day585 Thursday 04/05/12

ran 3.2 miles

http://youtu.be/L4OzabHa-Do

Above is a link to a video of White House press secretary Jay Carney answering questions about what was perceived by many to be an intimidating and threatening message to the Supreme Court justices regarding the constitutionality of ObamaCare.  I would have embedded the video in the same way I have embedded videos over the past year and seven months of running against Obama, off of YouTube with no problem on any other given day, but for some peculiar reason every submission of this video I can find blocks me with the message "Embedding disabled by request".

All the more reason to click on the link above.  Somebody doesn't want you to see it.  Watching Jay Carney attempt to keep his neck above the waters of Barack Obama's actions is entertaining in and of itself.  This guy is half-decent.  Our president gives this guy a sack of rocks and tells him to knead them flat like dough and he nearly does it.  Carney takes crumpled up balls of aluminum foil and turns them into nuggets of fool's gold.

It's just fortunate for our president that the vast majority of Americans don't catch these press conferences.  They are constant reminders of just how stupid, gullible, and incapable the current administration thinks we are.

276.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day220.

    

Day584 Wednesday 04/04/12

1,800 Miles!!!

ran 4.6 miles

This map speaks for itself. 

The only thing I am going to say is that Americans in every single state have to show their driver’s license for a multitude of different reasons that serve logical purposes but, when it comes to voting, twenty states require no identification to vote.  This policy reeks of liberalism and accordingly makes absolutely no sense.  I’d venture to say that if every state did require a driver’s license, which is not that farfetched of an idea, or some sort of identification then liberalism would be forced to completely redefine its platform of ideas in order to avoid ceasing to exist.  The Democratic Party would have to employ ideas like personal responsibility, common sense, and the message that if you are an American and you are proud of it then you should be able to proudly present a form of identification in order to vote in an election in the greatest country on Earth. 

This is how Republicans think, though, and while conservatism is far more logical and enduring for the principles and the longevity of this nation, Barack Obama advocates the idea that being asked to show identification to vote for the President of the United States of America is a form of intimidation or racism.  It is a shallow puddle this man gathers his ideas from and the map above is proof of how soft this country has gotten when it has been convinced that not providing identification to vote in twenty states is acceptable.

279.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day219.

Day583 Tuesday 04/03/12

ran 3.2 miles

President Obama has been publicly inserting himself into the Supreme Court discussions regarding his Affordable Health Care Act.  Making indirect threats to the justices and imposing his influence on something that, while the origins of this law do have much to do with him, its deliberation has absolutely nothing to do with him or his opinion or his threats.  Tactless behavior for a president of the United States of America.

The mockery the justices made of ObamaCare and his individual mandate suggest the law will be overturned, but it would not at all surprise me if they ruled it constitutional.  The only reason I think it may be ruled constitutional is because so many millions of Americans who had preexisting conditions are now insured and because the age limit of Americans in their twenties who were uninsured can now stay afloat on their parents' coverage.  To overturn the mandate, which I think is the constitutional thing to do, would be devastating to those who would have that insurance ripped away from them.  Our president would blame the justices and Republican ideology for being basically heartless, but I would argue that our president anticipated this exact scenario to be the gravity to keep his unconstitutional law firmly in place.  Let's assume for argument's sake that the millions who currently have insurance who did not have it before due to ObamaCare were not entitled to it until later in the near future.  This law would be thrown out in a heartbeat.  This is the use of leverage in its most potent form. 

Our president has been inserting himself into the Supreme Court case with the argument that elected officials passed this law with a "large" majority of Congress and so it should not be overturned.  Not true. 

When it comes down to it, the Senate sneakily passed this sweeping, unconstitutional monstrosity on Christmas Eve in 2009.  Any time something gets passed in Washington on Christmas Eve, fear it.  The vote was 60-39.  While that seems like a large majority at first appearance, which is what Barack Obama is referring to, the law actually passed by one single vote (Thanks a lot, Arlen Specter).  In the case of the Affordable Health Care Act the Senate had to have 60 votes to enact the law (normally 51 votes does the job, but after Republican filibustering a vote of cloture was made, requiring a two-thirds vote for the bill to pass) .  So, ObamaCare passed by only one vote.  59-41 is one vote short.  This bill passed by the skin of its teeth.

In March of 2010, the House passed it by a vote of 219-212.  Not one single Republican voted for it and 34 Democrats voted against it.

This is not a large majority, Mr. President.  This is the dividing of a nation.  And, not that it matters, because ordinary people can't think for themselves according to D.C., but on any given day polls show that 60% to 70% of Americans do not want ObamaCare.

Coincidentally, in November of 2010, during the midterm elections Americans went to their precincts and voted out an overwhelming number of those Senators and Representatives who sided with Barack Obama, his health care law, and his stimulus package.  Yet, our president stands in front of the camera, confidently insisting that the Supreme Court will uphold his law, as though there is not a shred of doubt among him or the hundreds of millions of Americans (and illegal aliens) he leads.

284.4 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day218.

  

Day582 Monday 04/02/12

ran 3.3 miles

“You know, each of us is only here because somebody somewhere felt responsibility, yes to their families, but also to their fellow citizens.  Also to our country’s future.  That’s the American story.  The American story is not just about what we do on our own.  Yes, we’re rugged individualists, we expect personal responsibility and everybody out there has got to work hard and carry their weight…

…We also have always understood that we wouldn’t win the race for new jobs and businesses, and middle class security if we were just applying some ‘you’re on your own economics’…

…It’s been tried in our history and it hasn’t worked.  It didn’t work when we tried it in the decade before the Great Depression.  It didn’t work when we tried it in the last decade.  We just tried this.  What they’re peddling has been tried---it did not work!”

Barack Obama speaking at a fundraiser at the University of Vermont

It’s no longer disappointing to hear such Communist rhetoric from our president compared to the disappointment that nearly half this country actually accepts and wants to adopt these ideas, which have been proven to fail over and over again in other countries across the world and throughout time. 

Whether you start with Karl Marx and the “Communist Manifesto” or dig deeper into history, big government and its appetite for unlimited power have been suffocating freedom, individuality, and everything that has defined America for nearly two and one-half centuries.

I am making the exact opposite and equal argument our president is making.  Essentially, he claims America is a failed system and that we, as a nation, need to purge our “rugged individualism” and live collectively.  We all need to pull our own weight, but no need to pull too much weight at once. 

“Look around,” he might say.  “No one else is working nearly as hard as you.  Ignore your determination.  Let your goals go.  There is no need to work this hard.  You are making the others uncomfortable.  With everyone united together and pulling their own weight, it is not necessary for you to work harder than others.  There is no real reason for you to be competitive with others.  In fact, if you don’t slow down and quit being so selfish with your talents and your perseverance I may be forced to have you psychologically examined to determine your defect.”

This is the direction we are heading in.

“You’re On Your Own Economics”---Our president says it’s been tried in our history and it hasn’t worked.  Did he grow up in this country?  Is he aware of our story? 

(rhetorical questions, of course---I am beyond the “birther” stuff---I don’t care whether Barack Obama was born in America or Timbuktu and his intentions for the future of America speak for themselves---there is plenty of material to make arguments against him regardless of what hospital he was born in)

America has faced some of the greatest adversities on the face of this Earth and we are here today because we are fiercely competitive and we refuse to lose.  We pay taxes to fund everything from the title of the most powerful military on the face of the planet to generously aiding those who are in hard times, and even those who, for whatever reason, absolutely refuse to contribute to society in any way.  Our tax dollars offer a teat for anyone’s sustenance, but the responsibility lies in each individual to release their lips from government codependence when the time is right.  Comparatively, a baby is weaned from its mother’s breast within a year, maybe two, on average.  Why is it that adult-aged men and women, like children who have been fooled by the teat that feeds them for far too long, continue to suck, and suck, and suck.  They are being denied the opportunity to adapt in the real world and to embrace and act upon whatever goals and dreams they may have. 

This is, in my opinion, the self-destructive societal direction President Barack Obama is steering America in.  His ideas grow more optimal with every individual who gives up and sells themselves to the notion that they are entitled to the rewards of other people’s hard work rather than earning the dignity they deserve, but policies like Obama’s discourage.

One last, separate issue to touch on---our president declared today that the Supreme Court could not legally overturn ObamaCare because he’s “confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”

It was not a strong majority, Mr. President.  However, there is a strong majority of Americans who want the law repealed.  And why all of a sudden is Congress so important?  According to our president, Congress no longer has the right to vote on war acts.  American military involvement now passes through United Nations.  Check your premise, Mr. Obama.  You cannot pick and choose principles only when they are convenient for you.

287.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day217.

Day581 Sunday 04/01/12

ran 3.1 miles

Today ends week eighty-three of running against Obama.  I ran 25.0 miles this week, averaging 3.57 miles per day.

This video won’t make you any smarter or more informed, but it is one of the most ridiculous journalist face-offs I’ve ever seen.  Regarding the Trayvon Martin case and all of the hoodie-hype surrounding it, these two guys look like they should be on the set of SNL.  Piers Morgan rightfully blasts this guy, Toure, and I think it is a perfect example of the liberal/conservative double standard that holds way too much authority in this country. 

The video gets really good at the beginning of the eleventh minute, but if you watch the whole thing listen to the message from each side and imagine if each man’s words were coming out of the other man’s mouth (role-reversal).  Piers Morgan would no longer have a job at his network and Toure would have used an excessive amount of common sense that would have left his listeners nothing more than confused.

Example:  At one point, Toure expressed to English-American Pierce, who has been in America for six years, that he had not been in America long enough to understand America and the American soul.  Now, for argument’s sake, if Toure happened to be an African, who had been in America for six years, and Pierce had told him that he was incapable of understanding America or being able to fully embrace everything this country stands for, I think it is safe to say he would have been fired.

290.9 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day216.

Day580 Saturday 03/31/12

ran 3.3 miles

Listening to our leader, Barack Obama, speak makes me feel like I am a hopeless, deprived, victimized adult with the attention span and brain power of an eight-year-old.  I know that I am none of these things, but the manner in which he addresses us makes you wonder if he doesn’t think it.

“We can either settle for an economy where a few people do well and everyone else struggles to get by…”

Nice use of hyperbole, Mr. President.  And your broad definition of the “middleclass” lacks all meaning when you lump together everyone excluding the elite and those on poverty.  I am a member of the middle class.  Most of the people I know are members of the middle class and we have no interest in what you’re selling.

“Everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules…”

Are we in the same universe, Mr. President?  There is a certain amount of human unaccountability and fallibility that is etched into our existence as a species and when you speak of farfetched utopias like a world where everyone plays fair and everyone is a winner, I have to think you are completely out of touch with reality.  I would rather an approach where individuals passionately try to succeed on their own, fail multiple times, succeed multiple times, and then fail again---all without the intervention of the federal government.  That is what life is about, learning from mistakes and using what was learned to succeed---not a mantra of organized fairness that actually requires hundreds of billions in tax dollars to pay for mediocrity when unleashed potential at the cost of smaller government is the better, American alternative.

294.0 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day215.

Day579 Friday 03/30/12

ran 1.5 miles

Here is a breakdown of what might have been Barack Obama's worst week in the White House yet:  Not knowing the facts and recklessly jumping into the Trayvon Martin case (directly opening a floodgate of full-blown racial tension, even making the ridiculous comment that he and Trayvon looked alike and could have been father and son), caught on a live mic assuring the president of one of our greatest rivals that he would have more flexibility (more ability to sell America out minus the threat of another election) once he was reelected, the Supreme Court made a complete mockery of his arguable crowning achievement (Obama's lawyers were stuttering "ums" and "ifs" all three days, even when given simple questions by justices Obama selected), and Barack Obama's greatest underachievement of the week was to finally unify every single Democrat and Republican in the House of Representatives by having his 2013 budget rejected by a vote of 414-0.  Has that ever even happened before?

(source)

Here are some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 28% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 41% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of -13.

• Overall, 48% of voters at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance while 52% at least somewhat disapprove.

• Obama 46%, Romney 45%

• Obama 47%, Santorum 42%

• 54% expect U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Health Care Law

• 58% oppose reducing size of U.S. nuclear arsenal

• 29% say U.S. heading in right direction

297.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day214.

Day578 Thursday 03/29/12

ran 3.6 miles 

Barack Obama has a brilliant plan to lower gas prices by increasing taxes, or ending current tax breaks, on big oil companies.  This brilliant plan does nothing more than slow oil production and whatever money is taken from the oil companies is paid back to them through higher prices at the gas pumps.  

This is nothing new and it is as bad an idea now as it was every other time it's been discussed in the past.  Barack Obama and numerous members of his administration have openly stated they desire high gas prices, and what he is doing now is nothing more than posturing to appease frustrated Americans while, at the same time, getting exactly what he wants.

Whatever sum of tax dollars our government commandeers from big oil companies will most likely be wasted on something like Solyndra---and we will be paying more at the pump.

"Democrats have proposed 'raising taxes on American energy manufacturers — something common sense and basic economics tell us will lead to even higher prices at the pump,' said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. 'Frankly, I can't think of a better way to illustrate how completely out of touch they are on this issue.'"

from CNN article by Alan Silverleib

This effort to curb big oil tax breaks has virtually no chance of going through Congress and everyone, including our president, involved knows it.  It is a farce that Democrats can use to say Republicans don't care about high gas prices and they refuse to do anything about them.  Republicans will be able to argue that Democrats and Barack Obama are so out of touch with reality that this is the best idea they can come up with.

Both sides win while we continue to pay $5 billion per day to keep our government afloat.  (Not kidding about that $5 billion per day to keep the federal government up and running---check it out here)

298.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day213.

Day577 Wednesday 03/28/12

ran 5.0 miles

Today ends the third and final day of lambasting and ridiculing ObamaCare within the walls of our Supreme Court.  After what we have heard over the last three days, if ObamaCare is ruled constitutional in June then our justices will have put on an Oscar-winning performance as we look back to these past three days.

JUSTICE SCALIA:  Mr. Kneedler, what happened to the Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment)? You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages? 

(Laughter.)

JUSTICE SCALIA:  And do you really expect the Court to do that? Or do you expect us to — to give this function to our law clerks?  Is this not totally unrealistic? That we are going to go through this enormous bill item by item and decide each one?

MR. NEEDLER:  Well…

(Source)

Four of the five conservative justices have expressed little more than complete disapproval of Barack Obama’s sweeping health care legislation.  The only reason all five have not expressed these same sentiments is because Clarence Thomas has not spoken a single word during a Supreme Court hearing in six years.  But it is safe to say he feels the same as the others.  Even liberal justice Sotomayor was skeptical in her statements and line of questioning.

This individual mandate, which the Obama administration is all of a sudden referring to as the “personal responsibility clause”, has to be struck down if our Constitution has anything to do with it.  Should it be upheld the federal government would possess the precedent to ultimately force Americans to purchase or do whatever they desire in the future.  It is government at its largest and most threatening and American people at their least free and prosperous.

302.4 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day212.

Day576 Tuesday 03/27/12

ran 4.4 miles

Today’s discussion of the ObamaCare mandate will go down in American history as one of the most important and pivotal dialogues of our nation’s twenty-first century.  There are four liberal justices and five conservative justices, however, two of the conservative justices, Roberts and Kennedy, are viewed by Obamacare supporters as swing votes.  Justice Anthony Kennedy was deemed to be the most likely to uphold the mandate with the four liberal justices, but he seemed to be the most doubtful of all the justices to rule it constitutional.

If today was any sign of what direction the Supreme Court is leaning then things are looking really bad for Barack Obama.

"Could you define the market? Everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food, therefore, everybody is in the market; therefore, you can make people buy broccoli."

Justice Antonin Scalia

"So can the government require you to buy a cell phone because that would facilitate responding when you need emergency services?"

Chief Justice John Roberts

"All right, suppose that you and I walked around downtown Washington at lunch hour and we found a couple of healthy young people and we stopped them and we said, 'You know what you're doing? You are financing your burial services right now because eventually you're going to die, and somebody is going to have to pay for it, and if you don't have burial insurance and you haven't saved money for it, you're going to shift the cost to somebody else'. Isn't that a very artificial way of talking about what somebody is doing?"

Justice Samuel Alito

"The reason this is concerning, is because it requires the individual to do an affirmative act. In the law of torts our tradition, our law, has been that you don't have the duty to rescue someone if that person is in danger.”

Justice Anthony Kennedy

"Can you create commerce in order to regulate it?" and "So the Federal government says everybody has to join an exercise club?"

Justice Anthony Kennedy

One last thing, here is, possibly, the biggest flip-flop in Obama history, which is of the same substance our justices are arguing against the mandate with.  Speaking against Hillary Clinton’s plan for health care during the 2008 Primaries, Barack Obama argued against an individual mandate stating, "A mandate means that in some fashion, everybody will be forced to buy health insurance. ... But I believe the problem is not that folks are trying to avoid getting health care. The problem is they can't afford it. And that's why my plan emphasizes lowering costs."

At that time Barack Obama felt that solving the issue of the uninsured with an individual mandate was as logical as ending homelessness by ordering people to purchase a home.  And he was right.  It is likely his own argument from 2008 will be instrumental in the demise of his own landmark legislation.

In July of 2009, "During the campaign I was opposed to this idea because my general attitude was the reason people don't have health insurance is not because they don't want it, it's because they can't afford it. And if you make it affordable, then they'll come. I am now in favor of some sort of individual mandate as long as there's a hardship exemption."

If Barack Obama loses this mandate then ObamaCare falls apart.  If ObamaCare falls apart it would be devastating to his already mere 50/50 shot at re-election.  Essentially, these justices, these nine individuals are going to set this presidential election on a course that will be difficult to reroute.  

Source

307.4 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day211.

Day575 Monday 03/26/12

ran 4.1 miles

The Supreme Court is in the middle of one of the biggest arguments in modern American history. ObamaCare is to be deemed constitutional or unconstitutional and, either way, the decision will play a major role in the rest of our lives and those lives of generations to come.

If the law passes with no changes made to it then it will be one of the last breaths of our Constitution.  Unlike most Supreme Court cases, in which Justices have preceding cases to help guide their decisions, this case is one of a scope and magnitude that America has never been forced to examine.

This case is going to be the precedent for all future cases involving the federal government attempting to rewrite the United States Constitution and to further impede on our freedoms.  This is the question:

"If the federal government can mandate health coverage on every single American then what is going to happen in the future if they try to force you to buy a certain type of car, or to eat certain types of food, or to work certain kinds of jobs, or to watch certain types of television programs, or to only view certain types of news?"

This ObamaCare verdict is going to be the precedent for all of these important future issues that may surface from the bottom of bad ideas, where they should remain buried and unobtainable.  And if it is ruled constitutional then the government will have succeeded in disregarding our original Constitution and replacing it with a new one that will be made up as we go along.

Fortunately, there are bits and pieces of this law that can be found unconstitutional, while other parts may be found constitutional.  The reason this is fortunate is because ObamaCare immediately loses its source of strength by taking out mere bits and pieces of it.  Look at it as the gears, cogs, and springs in the middle of an extremely elaborate watch.  The watch serves its purpose as long as every single piece is doing its job.  But if you take one little spring or gear out the entire watch ceases to work.  

One of the gears of ObamaCare is the mandate and if that piece gets removed then this watch can be thrown away.  If it stays then our government, as a matter of precedent based on the Supreme Court's decision, will have the ability to mandate anything they want in the future.

311.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day210. 

Day574 Sunday 03/25/12

ran 3.2 miles

Today ends week eighty-two of running against Obama.  I ran 21.5 miles this week, averaging 3.07 miles per day. 

315.9 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day209.

Day573 Saturday 03/24/12

ran 3.4 miles

Ads like this one, put out by Rick Santorum's camp, who coincidentally won my state's primary (Louisiana) today, reinforce how ugly, brutal, and desperate the political arena is.  I obviously want Barack Obama out of the White House, but not like this.  This video is a representation of everything impure in the political process.  There is little that is pure in American politics but this is not the way.  It is a shame that a presidential candidate should feel the need to employ such scare tactics when there are so many simple reasons (that don't require exaggeration) Barack Obama has made for himself to convey the message that he does not deserve a second term.

The video uses imagery set in 2014 with grim props and a dark setting foreshadowing a frightening near future.  The truth is, all unavoidable natural disasters and unforeseeable international events aside, our current president is far too crafty and intelligent to let the bottom fall out during his second term.  

America's erosion has been a long and slow process but this is a resilient nation.  Just pointing out that Rick Santorum's ad is farfetched and based on scare tactics.  That being said, there is much reason to be afraid, but Barack Obama's record, alone, is plenty of material to wage against him without having to resort to weak, threatening tactics like this.

It's just disappointing.  I honestly thought a real hero was going to emerge in 2012 and, in my opinion, one has not.  I'll take any of them over Barack Obama but none of our Republican candidates are fulfilling the expectations I had...

...which made me realize a larger picture.  We invest way too much interest and admiration, too much of ourselves in this one individual we call President of the United States of America, when he is actually just one more man or woman among hundreds of millions who simply needs to leave us alone as much as possible.  Barack Obama is not small government.  He is the exact opposite and whoever finally runs against him will be the anti-Obama.  That, if nothing else, is a good start to creating a better future for America.  

But, the reason Barack Obama has angered so many, the reason he woke up people like me who were in a political coma for so long, is because of his radical actions to make the federal government much larger than it deserves to be or was ever intended to be by the founders of our great nation.  The simple idea of a president trying to expand the government's size and authority at the rate Barack Obama is sends a direct message that he and his administration have little faith in your and other American's ability to live their own lives and for us to make our own decisions.  In simple terms, his effort to increase the size of government is a direct message that he thinks Americans are too stupid to think for themselves.  And he has the audacity to think that he knows what is good for me better than I do.  

Put that in an ad Santorum.  It isn't even necessary to scare Americans with cinematic special effects.  We are already scared of what a second term under Barack Obama will do to the future of America.  We are looking for a new leader who will stop spending money that does not exist (creating a debt for our unborn children that they had nothing to do with), shrink the federal government, and unleash the private sector.  The more the government leaves Americans alone, the more liberty and prosperity flourishes.  Barack Obama is moving in the exact opposite direction.

319.1 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day208.

 

Day572 Friday 03/23/12

ran 0.1 miles

Here is the fiftieth state in my effort to collect important facts and the history of each state’s presidential voting history.  When November 6 arrives and we all cast our votes, just click on “states of the union” in the category section to the right and (in alphabetical order) you can check out a brief history of each state, how many electoral votes they have, and other important information.

Stats and facts about the state of Wyoming:

• Wyoming was the forty-fourth state to join the union on July 10, 1890, six years before Utah and one week after Idaho.

• Population, as of 2010, is 563,626.

• Senators are John Barrasso (R) and Michael Enzi (R).

• Representative is Cynthia Lummis (R).

• Wisconsin has three electoral votes.  Historically, the state has voted Democratic only once since 1952 (Lyndon Johnson in 1964).  In 2008, McCain defeated Obama by 32%, his widest margin of victory.  One last interesting fact, Wyoming has the smallest population in the Union and is, therefore, the most over-represented state in the electoral college.

322.5 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day207.