Day231 Sunday 04/17/11
ran 4.5 miles
Today ends week thirty-three of running against Obama. I ran 27.4 miles this week, averaging 3.91 miles per day.
I found these videos at theblaze.com. The videos contain expletives and vulgarity. You've been warned. The videos are from the Oregon Tea Party Tax Day Rally, which took place on April 15, 2011. The rally was in Portland at Pioneer Courthouse Square and the Tea Party was anticipating union supporters to be present and to oppose them. Having taken a pledge to avoid violence, the Tea Party was heckled and ridiculed throughout the rally as the videos depict.
Free speech is free speech, but this is some pretty disturbing footage.
1,405.8 miles to go.
Day230 Saturday 04/16/11
ran 2.2 milesI saw “Atlas Shrugged” today in Baton Rouge. The movie stayed true to the book, only omitting what was necessary for time’s sake. Some things had to be cut as the original story in novel form is nearly as long as the text in Obama’s health care law, though far more interesting. The movie was a difficult and stirring depiction of a possible near future in America.
The message in Ayn Rand’s story, written over fifty years ago, fell right into place in a mere future look at America in 2016. If you’re in a city with a theater playing “Atlas Shrugged”, see it! Here is a list of the states and the few cities that are screening the movie.
1,410.3 miles to go.
The message in Ayn Rand’s story, written over fifty years ago, fell right into place in a mere future look at America in 2016. If you’re in a city with a theater playing “Atlas Shrugged”, see it! Here is a list of the states and the few cities that are screening the movie.
1,410.3 miles to go.
Day229 Friday 04/15/11
ran 3.6 miles
I’m driving to Baton Rouge with a friend tomorrow to see “Atlas Shrugged”, based on the novel by Ayn Rand. I had read the novel years ago and it has been on my “top three” list since. I highly recommend seeing this movie because it deals with many of the political issues America is dealing with presently, even though the book was written fifty years ago. The parallels between fiction and reality are stunning.
In the spirit of Ayn Rand and “Atlas Shrugged”, the video above gave me goose bumps when I saw it. Rand Paul, in Washington D.C., actually cited one of Ayn Rand’s other novels, “Anthem”, to convey his message on the direction America is taking in not utilizing its own natural resources.
I, for one, appreciate any form of art or philosophy or metaphor that is exhibited in our Congress to deliver the message that our accepted state of politics, the loopholes, closed doors and deceit that define our politics, at least sometimes needs to step away from its curious routine of doing whatever it is they do, which so few of us understand.
In closing, here are some stats and facts about Nevada:
I’m driving to Baton Rouge with a friend tomorrow to see “Atlas Shrugged”, based on the novel by Ayn Rand. I had read the novel years ago and it has been on my “top three” list since. I highly recommend seeing this movie because it deals with many of the political issues America is dealing with presently, even though the book was written fifty years ago. The parallels between fiction and reality are stunning.
In the spirit of Ayn Rand and “Atlas Shrugged”, the video above gave me goose bumps when I saw it. Rand Paul, in Washington D.C., actually cited one of Ayn Rand’s other novels, “Anthem”, to convey his message on the direction America is taking in not utilizing its own natural resources.
I, for one, appreciate any form of art or philosophy or metaphor that is exhibited in our Congress to deliver the message that our accepted state of politics, the loopholes, closed doors and deceit that define our politics, at least sometimes needs to step away from its curious routine of doing whatever it is they do, which so few of us understand.
In closing, here are some stats and facts about Nevada:
- Nevada was the thirty-sixth state to join the union on October 31, 1864, three years before Nebraska and one year after West Virginia.
- Population, as of 2010, is 2,700,551.
- Senators are John Ensign (R) and Harry Reid (D).
- Representatives are Shelley Berkley (D), Dean Heller (R) and Joe Heck (R).
- Nevada was one of only two states to join the Union during the Civil War. The state has had only three electoral votes from 1864 until 1980. Nevada’s population has more than tripled since 1980. The state has voted red for the majority of presidential elections since the late 1960s, excluding the Clinton years and Obama. Barack Obama defeated McCain by a margin of 55% to 43% in 2008.
Day228 Thursday 04/14/11
ran 3.4 miles
The state of Oklahoma has officially rejected a $54.6 million federal grant for ObamaCare. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said the state would alternatively use state and private money to improve its health care system. Oklahoma firmly believes a system can be achieved for an amount less than the federal grant albeit a $500 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year for the state.
Unlike the news we read and hear about everyday, this single action speaks volumes of what is really going on in this country. This action does not need an elaborate article written about it to understand what it means. A state that is already in the red by half a billion dollars is turning down $54.6 million from the federal government to get ObamaCare rolling and Oklahoma feels that this grant causes more harm than good.
In a related story, the Health Care Compact, which would restore authority and responsibility for health care regulation to individual states, is leaving a steady wake of progress. The Georgia State Senate passed legislation for the Health Care Compact today and it is now on the desk of their governor. Arizona’s State Senate passed the compact on Monday and it is on their governor’s desk.
The Health Care Compact has been introduced in 12 states and has passed the State House of Representatives in Montana and Missouri and State Senate in Oklahoma. In addition, in more than 36 states, citizen groups and state legislators are actively considering the Health Care Compact with legislative activity expected in the coming weeks.
"Our health care system is too large and too complex to manage at the federal level -- and too important to be debated outside the earshot of citizens. That is why today's passage in Georgia will enable citizens to engage in the policy process at their state level, and to prescribe laws that match the needs of their communities."
Here are some polls from Rasmussen Reports to close the post:
The state of Oklahoma has officially rejected a $54.6 million federal grant for ObamaCare. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said the state would alternatively use state and private money to improve its health care system. Oklahoma firmly believes a system can be achieved for an amount less than the federal grant albeit a $500 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year for the state.
Unlike the news we read and hear about everyday, this single action speaks volumes of what is really going on in this country. This action does not need an elaborate article written about it to understand what it means. A state that is already in the red by half a billion dollars is turning down $54.6 million from the federal government to get ObamaCare rolling and Oklahoma feels that this grant causes more harm than good.
In a related story, the Health Care Compact, which would restore authority and responsibility for health care regulation to individual states, is leaving a steady wake of progress. The Georgia State Senate passed legislation for the Health Care Compact today and it is now on the desk of their governor. Arizona’s State Senate passed the compact on Monday and it is on their governor’s desk.
The Health Care Compact has been introduced in 12 states and has passed the State House of Representatives in Montana and Missouri and State Senate in Oklahoma. In addition, in more than 36 states, citizen groups and state legislators are actively considering the Health Care Compact with legislative activity expected in the coming weeks.
"Our health care system is too large and too complex to manage at the federal level -- and too important to be debated outside the earshot of citizens. That is why today's passage in Georgia will enable citizens to engage in the policy process at their state level, and to prescribe laws that match the needs of their communities."
Eric O'Keefe, Chairman of the Health Care Compact Alliance
Here are some polls from Rasmussen Reports to close the post:
- Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 23% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 38% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –15.
- Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 50% disapprove.
- Only 23% of U.S. voters believe America is heading in the right direction.
- Remaining consistent, 51% favor health care repeal.
- Among American voters, 65% believe significant long-term spending cuts to be unlikely before 2012 elections.
Day227 Wednesday 04/13/11
ran 4.5 miles
chapter3
Jonas unclenched his hands, not realizing how tightly he was frivolously gripping at the steamy air in front of his face, and took another step toward the door. He raised his right hand slowly as though a weight was upon it and pressed through his cloud of breath with the intent to knock. His hand fell effortlessly into question. Unsure, like a squirrel that couldn’t decide whether to stay on one side of the road or the other as cars drove by, Jonas’ thoughts scurried left and right of right and wrong. He placed his knock back in his pocket, turned around, and mashed a new path of red and yellow tracks.
Next to what remained of a skeleton-like crepe myrtle Jonas found a seat on the curb of a quiet road a few blocks over. Lining the concrete edge were numerous cigarette butts, smashed acorns, occasional beer cans, endless leaves, random fallen branches, and unidentifiable scraps of paper. Nestled between a busted shoe and a faded can of beer was a wet dollar bill nearly torn in half. Out of the corner of Jonas’ eye was what appeared to be a wayward bum curled up in the fetal position, sleeping. His body was a crescent shape like that of a cat or dog trying to keep in their body heat.
Jonas was amazed that such things would simply be found on the side of a road. He picked up the dollar bill and put it in his backpack almost unconvinced that it was real. He was one block from a set of train tracks, a halfway house was across the street, a police car was advancing in his direction, an unsavory prostitute was giving him eyes and skin from the parking lot of a closed down barber shop on the other side of the road, a man was sleeping on the curb of a street next to him and, amidst all of this, he happened to find a dollar bill.
He thought nothing more of it and took a seat among the rubbish. Jonas pulled his book of unknown poems out of his back pocket and opened it up to page thirty-four as randomly as if he had opened to page seventy-eight.
The type of poetry Jonas liked most, as though quality and good craft were a gaping pair of incorrigible bucked teeth, tended to be strikingly inferior and poorly crafted. His opinion was that anything widely popularized was almost automatically incredulous. Wide popularization was the money idea put forth by the same opportunists who placed Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” on coffee mugs and made Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” a ring tone on cell phones. Inferiority and poor craft, according to Jonas, were equally as beautiful as anything else and stood no chance of being ruined or diluted by mass production, corporate sponsorship, general commercialization, or posthumous infringement of original intent and purpose. Jonas felt that a long road of potential progress before him was far greater than reaching an ultimate end of exploitation and misunderstanding. Jonas felt sorry for any fool who spent his entire life trying to make millions of people from any one given region concur on a single topic, an idea or a painting, foolishly conjectured or crafted in the name of politics or art. These people ended up on t-shirts, coffee mugs and posters until their messages and their ideas became so generalized and unremarkable that the most undeserving and uneducated minds available picked them up in thrift stores because they were fashionable five years before.
The poems in this book were important to Jonas for the one reason that the book had no author, no name, and all of the poems were untitled. At a garage sale, under a set of fluted plastic salt and pepper shakers and on top of a broken clock radio, Jonas had found the book and purchased it for $0.37. He had talked them down from $0.45. It drew him in as an act that another person had made with the full knowledge that there would be no payoff. Why would somebody spend hours writing letters, words, sentences and paragraphs on pieces of paper when they knew there would be no distinguishing factor or monetary reward, thereafter? It made perfect sense to Jonas and that was exactly why he had been carrying the untitled book around for three years.
He tucked the book back into his pocket and stood up. He breathed in the urban decay of his own generation’s self-wrought surroundings, ignored the redheaded hooker at what used to be Ike’s Barber Shop, and advanced in the direction of the crescent figure sleeping on the curb. Jonas gave him a mild nudge. When the man did not respond he gave him a restrained push. All Jonas wanted was a Bic or a match but he could see that nothing short of accosting the prostitute or standing on the man’s despondent head would get his cigarette lit.
He attempted to glance unnoticeably at the young woman across the street. She saw him looking in her direction and gave him a wink. Jonas stepped over the curled up man, brushed by the skeletal crepe myrtle, and walked to the old barbershop. She saw him coming and smacked her gum a little harder like an excited dog wagging its tail for attention. She spit out the gum and lit a cigarette as though inhaling smoke through her lungs and blowing it out of her mouth somehow made her seem like a better product or a more attractive business proposition. She was playing the role of whore like an amateur porn star in a poorly directed, underfinanced, failed adult film.
Jonas contributed nothing in capturing the scene as he walked up completely disinterested in everything she represented. As he got closer and closer she suddenly fell out of character. She tucked the hint of flesh she was teasing him with back into her armpit-soiled tube top and quickly zipped up her raggedy jacket. She took an unnaturally long drag from her cigarette and stood paralyzed with disbelief. Under her breath she mumbled three words as though she were asking an impossible question.
"Jonas Martin Cassidy?"
1,419.5 miles to go.
Day226 Tuesday 04/12/11
ran 3.3 milesA series of common themes I came across today led me to the subject of this post. First, I saw a story about George Soros speaking to Bloomberg Television concerning the U.S. economy---the debate over cuts versus government spending. He suggested that the U.S. could take on more debt and should stop obsessing about budget cuts. Soros argues that America should take on more debt and spend it on infrastructure.
Perhaps I should take the money I usually spend for my mortgage, burn it, invest in a pool and patio for my backyard with a credit card at an excessive interest rate, and further disable my complete inability to pay for any of it.
Second, I came across a story about Adam Klugman, host of the radio show “Mad as Hell in America”, and he said that he was sick and tired of liberals running from the term “socialism”.
He had this to say after progressive listeners called in to criticize his comments, inquiring as to whether he had ever read “Mein Kampf”.
“People have been brainwashed by the right into associating Socialism with Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia and not with free, highly successful democratic nations like Norway, Finland and the Belgium. And that’s why I said it. Because I believe it’s time for us to stop making up nice words to describe ourselves so Republicans will tolerate us. Liberal is not a bad word. And neither is Socialist. The fact that we’ve completely given up on these ideas demonstrates a defensive mindset that always keeps us on the losing side.”
Third, I saw that Obama is addressing the nation tomorrow to explain his “spending plan”. In contrast to our president’s interest, Paul Ryan has submitted a “budget plan”, which is receiving a lot of criticism for being too radical. The media has distinguished the two sides of economic paths with the two oppositional terms “spending” and “budget” plans. In an economy like this, I find it hard to believe that anyone would desire to label their plan to reconcile a budget deficit as a “spending” budget. But that’s what his agenda is. Spend, spend, spend.
Next, I read that the IRS, once it was definitively established after the ratification of the sixteenth amendment (the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes…) in 1913, is actually a Marxist concept straight out of the Communist Manifesto’s second of ten planks: A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. This tenet is what we Americans have come to know as the misapplication of the sixteenth amendment.
And the final thing I came across, like a breath of fresh air, was a feasible solution to reroute the direction our president and his liberal counterparts are leading this nation. If you have never heard of or don’t know much about the “fair tax” I highly recommend you check up on it. Here is their site. There is a Fair Tax calculator that will help you understand how the tax works and how it would effect you.
The guidelines of this tax are 133 pages. The IRS tax code is 72,000 pages. That is a stack of paper eighteen feet high. The bill currently has 67 co-sponsors in Congress. And $22 million makes the Fair Tax the most researched piece of legislation regarding tax reform in American history, backed by over eighty of America’s top economists.
The Fair Tax abolishes the IRS and achieves taxation in a way that most benefits the economy and the taxpayers. It’s a real possibility that is rapidly gaining momentum and definitely worth reading up on.
If you haven’t caught on to tonight’s theme it is the Marxist direction in which our nation is being led. Barack Obama has successfully united half, if not more, of America together to fight against his ideas to a degree that is incomparable to anything we have seen since the Civil War. So many states striving to avoid his health care law, the Fair Tax threatening to abolish the IRS and its 72,000 pages of possible ways to take advantage of taxpayers and ridiculous tax laws for businesses, and the birth of the Tea Party threatening so many of the choices he has made to compromise the values we define as Americans---these are just a few of the sleeping giants of defiance he has awakened with his hope and audacity.
1,424.0 miles to go.
Perhaps I should take the money I usually spend for my mortgage, burn it, invest in a pool and patio for my backyard with a credit card at an excessive interest rate, and further disable my complete inability to pay for any of it.
Second, I came across a story about Adam Klugman, host of the radio show “Mad as Hell in America”, and he said that he was sick and tired of liberals running from the term “socialism”.
He had this to say after progressive listeners called in to criticize his comments, inquiring as to whether he had ever read “Mein Kampf”.
“People have been brainwashed by the right into associating Socialism with Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia and not with free, highly successful democratic nations like Norway, Finland and the Belgium. And that’s why I said it. Because I believe it’s time for us to stop making up nice words to describe ourselves so Republicans will tolerate us. Liberal is not a bad word. And neither is Socialist. The fact that we’ve completely given up on these ideas demonstrates a defensive mindset that always keeps us on the losing side.”
Third, I saw that Obama is addressing the nation tomorrow to explain his “spending plan”. In contrast to our president’s interest, Paul Ryan has submitted a “budget plan”, which is receiving a lot of criticism for being too radical. The media has distinguished the two sides of economic paths with the two oppositional terms “spending” and “budget” plans. In an economy like this, I find it hard to believe that anyone would desire to label their plan to reconcile a budget deficit as a “spending” budget. But that’s what his agenda is. Spend, spend, spend.
Next, I read that the IRS, once it was definitively established after the ratification of the sixteenth amendment (the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes…) in 1913, is actually a Marxist concept straight out of the Communist Manifesto’s second of ten planks: A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. This tenet is what we Americans have come to know as the misapplication of the sixteenth amendment.
And the final thing I came across, like a breath of fresh air, was a feasible solution to reroute the direction our president and his liberal counterparts are leading this nation. If you have never heard of or don’t know much about the “fair tax” I highly recommend you check up on it. Here is their site. There is a Fair Tax calculator that will help you understand how the tax works and how it would effect you.
The guidelines of this tax are 133 pages. The IRS tax code is 72,000 pages. That is a stack of paper eighteen feet high. The bill currently has 67 co-sponsors in Congress. And $22 million makes the Fair Tax the most researched piece of legislation regarding tax reform in American history, backed by over eighty of America’s top economists.
The Fair Tax abolishes the IRS and achieves taxation in a way that most benefits the economy and the taxpayers. It’s a real possibility that is rapidly gaining momentum and definitely worth reading up on.
If you haven’t caught on to tonight’s theme it is the Marxist direction in which our nation is being led. Barack Obama has successfully united half, if not more, of America together to fight against his ideas to a degree that is incomparable to anything we have seen since the Civil War. So many states striving to avoid his health care law, the Fair Tax threatening to abolish the IRS and its 72,000 pages of possible ways to take advantage of taxpayers and ridiculous tax laws for businesses, and the birth of the Tea Party threatening so many of the choices he has made to compromise the values we define as Americans---these are just a few of the sleeping giants of defiance he has awakened with his hope and audacity.
1,424.0 miles to go.
Day225 Monday 04/11/11
ran 5.9 milesYou may not know this, but appropriations bills in the fiscal year 2010 contained 9,499 earmarks worth $15.9 billion. Leading this spree of irresponsible spending were Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss) and Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii). Combined, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, these leaders among earmark recipients secured $890,023,850 in 2010.
Follow this link to see how much you contributed to 2010 earmarks and what percentage your income bracket paid.
Here is something else you may not know. In February of 2009, Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, otherwise known as the “Stimulus package”. Early estimates had put the stimulus package at $787 billion. The most recent estimate by the Congressional Budget Office is $75 billion more, putting the total at $862 billion.
Follow this link to see what your share of the economic stimulus package is.
And here’s one more. Mandatory funds in the health care law are estimated at $105 billion. Mandatory spending is controlled by separate laws other than appropriation acts and these mandatory funds could possibly remain available to Obama and his administration to spend even if Republicans were able to defund the health care law.
Follow this link to see what your share of the beginning of socialized health care in America looks like.
To the right of any three of these links is a list of taxpayer calculators dealing with various projects our tax dollars are being spent on.
1,427.3 miles to go.
Follow this link to see how much you contributed to 2010 earmarks and what percentage your income bracket paid.
Here is something else you may not know. In February of 2009, Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, otherwise known as the “Stimulus package”. Early estimates had put the stimulus package at $787 billion. The most recent estimate by the Congressional Budget Office is $75 billion more, putting the total at $862 billion.
Follow this link to see what your share of the economic stimulus package is.
And here’s one more. Mandatory funds in the health care law are estimated at $105 billion. Mandatory spending is controlled by separate laws other than appropriation acts and these mandatory funds could possibly remain available to Obama and his administration to spend even if Republicans were able to defund the health care law.
Follow this link to see what your share of the beginning of socialized health care in America looks like.
To the right of any three of these links is a list of taxpayer calculators dealing with various projects our tax dollars are being spent on.
1,427.3 miles to go.
Day224 Sunday 04/10/11
ran 3.1 miles
Today ends week thirty-two of running against Obama. I ran 18.2 miles this week, averaging 2.60 miles per day.
Now that our President and our Congress have managed to agree on a disappointing and postponed 2011 budget, Tuesday begins the budget battle for 2012. If you consider how paramount the 2012 budget battle will be in contrast to the dollars and cents that our president and Congress have been arguing over since October of 2010 for the 2011 budget, this one will be far more prolonged and ugly. Plus, House and Senate seats will be on the table, as well as, a presidential election right around the corner by the time any agreements are taken seriously.
These months leading up to November 6, 2012 are going to be a rollercoaster. This is going to be a momentous election, which will have long-term reverberations pulsing through America’s future. There is a fork in America’s road and one direction or another is going to be taken.
To write or say something profound about America, something that everyone can agree on, is such a challenge because this nation is so big and the people who populate it are so diverse. No one has the answer. There is no answer. Democracy is a trial that has been going on in this country for over two centuries. And if it ever becomes a solution then it will be ruined. America is defined by the concept of individuals taking risks and reaping the reward of their hard work or taking risks and failing and then picking themselves back up again.
1,433.2 miles to go.
Today ends week thirty-two of running against Obama. I ran 18.2 miles this week, averaging 2.60 miles per day.
Now that our President and our Congress have managed to agree on a disappointing and postponed 2011 budget, Tuesday begins the budget battle for 2012. If you consider how paramount the 2012 budget battle will be in contrast to the dollars and cents that our president and Congress have been arguing over since October of 2010 for the 2011 budget, this one will be far more prolonged and ugly. Plus, House and Senate seats will be on the table, as well as, a presidential election right around the corner by the time any agreements are taken seriously.
These months leading up to November 6, 2012 are going to be a rollercoaster. This is going to be a momentous election, which will have long-term reverberations pulsing through America’s future. There is a fork in America’s road and one direction or another is going to be taken.
To write or say something profound about America, something that everyone can agree on, is such a challenge because this nation is so big and the people who populate it are so diverse. No one has the answer. There is no answer. Democracy is a trial that has been going on in this country for over two centuries. And if it ever becomes a solution then it will be ruined. America is defined by the concept of individuals taking risks and reaping the reward of their hard work or taking risks and failing and then picking themselves back up again.
1,433.2 miles to go.
Day223 Saturday 04/09/11
ran 4.7 miles
Some polls from Rasmussen Reports:
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
1,436.3 miles to go.
Some polls from Rasmussen Reports:
- Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 21% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 38% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –17.
- Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 53% disapprove.
- Roughly two out of three voters think Americans are overtaxed, and nearly as many say future federal tax increases should be voted on by the American people.
- Only 28% of voters say they share Obama’s political views.
- Among American voters, 48% side with the Tea party as opposed to the average member of Congress. Only 22% say their views are closest to those of the average member of Congress.
- Among American voters, 49% think the Tea party movement is good for the country while 26% think the Tea party is bad for America.
- Regarding taxes, 74% of Americans say they should pay no more than 20% of their income to the federal government. The average American currently pays 30% of their income to the federal government.
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
1,436.3 miles to go.
Day222 Friday 04/08/11
ran 1.0 miles
In a predictable manner Washington waited until the eleventh hour to reach an agreement to avoid a government shutdown. Leading up to this eleventh hour, April 8, 2011, these budget proposals had begun all the way back in October of 2010. On Tuesday, April 12, 2011, (in four days!) the debate begins for the 2012 fiscal year. Once again our priorities are at a deficit.
The way I see it, if a democratic President, a democratic Senate and a democratic House had not spent so much time passing strategically timed “lame duck legislation” through January of 2011, leading up to the time that America would be swearing in so many new conservative Senators and Representatives, this debate could have begun and ended a lot sooner than the final hour we now find ourselves in.
The knees of our economy are shaking from strain under the multiplied gravity Barack Obama is forcing upon our backs. His talking points only concern investments in a distant future of energy and a health care law that is simply unacceptable for the economy we are currently suffering.
Instant gratification for every disappointment we see right here and right now in America is impossible, but President Obama does not seem to see things through the same red, white and blue tinted glasses so many of us others do.
1,441.0 miles to go.
In a predictable manner Washington waited until the eleventh hour to reach an agreement to avoid a government shutdown. Leading up to this eleventh hour, April 8, 2011, these budget proposals had begun all the way back in October of 2010. On Tuesday, April 12, 2011, (in four days!) the debate begins for the 2012 fiscal year. Once again our priorities are at a deficit.
The way I see it, if a democratic President, a democratic Senate and a democratic House had not spent so much time passing strategically timed “lame duck legislation” through January of 2011, leading up to the time that America would be swearing in so many new conservative Senators and Representatives, this debate could have begun and ended a lot sooner than the final hour we now find ourselves in.
The knees of our economy are shaking from strain under the multiplied gravity Barack Obama is forcing upon our backs. His talking points only concern investments in a distant future of energy and a health care law that is simply unacceptable for the economy we are currently suffering.
Instant gratification for every disappointment we see right here and right now in America is impossible, but President Obama does not seem to see things through the same red, white and blue tinted glasses so many of us others do.
1,441.0 miles to go.
Day221 Thursday 04/07/11
ran 5.9 miles
I’m getting back on schedule starting today. I had a big run tonight to compensate for the meager runs I had to begin the week with. There are so many different things I want to post about tonight that I’m having trouble focusing on one single thing. Instead of elaborating on one aspect of current events in this country that make so little sense, I’ll just throw it all at you in the form of a rant.
Congress and our president continue to get paid if the government shuts down. The madman in Libya that Ronald Reagan bombed in the eighties and who we are now “kinetically” at war with (but don’t call it war) wrote Barack Obama a letter saying, “Stop the unjust war on Libya…And good luck with the election…Libya is hurt more “morally than physically” by allied nations. Yes, he really did write a letter to Barack Obama and requested that we cease bombing Libya, followed by best wishes for the upcoming election. How will our military react if they do not get paid due to a government shut down? NATO dropped bombs on the wrong side…again, striking rebels instead of Gadaffi’s forces. And who are these rebels? The man burning copies of the Qur’an in Florida has a $2.4 million bounty on his head from Hezbollah and has received over 400 death threats for the actions he and his thirty member church committed. Keep it up, Trump! As plausible as Barack Obama’s legitimacy may seem, there are just as many curious details that reasonably question Obama’s origin. When someone spends millions of dollars in legal fees to keep a simple birth certificate locked away, it is reasonable to believe that that person is hiding something.
1,442.0 miles to go.
I’m getting back on schedule starting today. I had a big run tonight to compensate for the meager runs I had to begin the week with. There are so many different things I want to post about tonight that I’m having trouble focusing on one single thing. Instead of elaborating on one aspect of current events in this country that make so little sense, I’ll just throw it all at you in the form of a rant.
Congress and our president continue to get paid if the government shuts down. The madman in Libya that Ronald Reagan bombed in the eighties and who we are now “kinetically” at war with (but don’t call it war) wrote Barack Obama a letter saying, “Stop the unjust war on Libya…And good luck with the election…Libya is hurt more “morally than physically” by allied nations. Yes, he really did write a letter to Barack Obama and requested that we cease bombing Libya, followed by best wishes for the upcoming election. How will our military react if they do not get paid due to a government shut down? NATO dropped bombs on the wrong side…again, striking rebels instead of Gadaffi’s forces. And who are these rebels? The man burning copies of the Qur’an in Florida has a $2.4 million bounty on his head from Hezbollah and has received over 400 death threats for the actions he and his thirty member church committed. Keep it up, Trump! As plausible as Barack Obama’s legitimacy may seem, there are just as many curious details that reasonably question Obama’s origin. When someone spends millions of dollars in legal fees to keep a simple birth certificate locked away, it is reasonable to believe that that person is hiding something.
1,442.0 miles to go.
Day220 Wednesday 04/06/11
ran 0.3 miles
Jonas shivered as a fall gust up heaved a small tornado of leaves just behind him. The tiny whirlwind left a wake of smothered, damp grass that was further rustled over by even more endless red and yellow hued debris. The earth was hard, slightly frosted, and premeditative with the onslaught of a cold, cruel winter ensuing. Jonas felt how bitter and dank the weather was outside but he drew a source of warmth from within. Based on a few of his less than tolerable prior experiences and the fact that he had been through much worse than this current position, he soldiered on shrugging hunger, the cold weather and the fact that he had no home or sure destination. He immediately felt better and began thinking about how long it would be until spring would arrive, even though winter was still yet to come.
There was nothing coincidental about the four seasons that composed the intentions of a single year. Nor was there anything coincidental about Jonas being at that exact location at that precise time with a determined purpose. Spring was rebirth and summer was life just as fall was an infliction and winter was death. Jonas was a means and the door of 216 Fifth Street was an end.
Everything, in its commonly peculiar way, was just as it should or should not have maybe or perhaps not have been. It was in this light, yielding to the loose and hazy chaos surrounding him, that Jonas felt divinity and solace, comfort, at its most clutching moment. He would sooner conduct conversation with a tree than confide in a priest. He would rather read Emerson on a patch of clovers than go to a church. And, aside from his dissident interpretation of organized religion and its questionable history, Jonas believed in a God and a way of life that was bejeweled with gems of thought that few others seemed to find any value in.
He was a spiritual man who contemptuously despised religion. He was a humanitarian who understood that charity was the worst possible thing to give to anybody. He belonged to nothing that claimed to have substance or power, except for his temporary jobs. They granted him sustenance and various roofs over his head, but he still felt violated for having to perform even the most menial of tasks for such uninspiring men and the corporate machines they were gears of. Jonas was always on the move. In a farcical manner he behaved the way other people expected he should when it was necessary only so they would leave him alone and not draw attention to him. He had no interest in long-term commitments or faith in any one thing. He had no pride in ownership or shame in poverty. Jonas, no matter which direction the currents of life pulled or pushed him, had only one concern and that was to watch the colors change.
Jonas, when challenged, penetrated those around him with an intimidating look of honesty and simplicity. Often mistaken for sarcasm, the look in his eyes forced others to think before they spoke or to say nothing at all. His thoughts in any given conversation were well articulated and his words were sophisticated and diverse; however, what made Jonas appear to be illuminated in respect to the gloom that surrounded him was his honest and simple belief that he knew nothing. Of life, of history, of religion, of facts and untruths, Jonas Martin Cassidy proudly admitted to himself that he knew nothing. Regardless of how many books or newspapers he had ever read, how far back in history his mind had delved, or how many religions he had studied, he realized one day as a summation of his efforts to learn as much as he could, that he knew nothing. A point in anything seemed elusive yet he found everything to be perfectly necessary. He believed in disbelief and this worked well for him.
Because he came to terms with this curious truth he chose to deliberately exploit the fact rather than hide behind its awkward reality by capriciously owning objects he did not need and owing worthless debt he had no desire to pay so that he could appear to be somebody who he was not. Jonas sensed early on that there was an imbalance of priorities that existed in everything that was Human. It had much to do with power and money, both of which concepts have been emblazoned upon Man’s most inner precepts since the first traces of human civilization.
Generally, people in this country either have more than they need or they have more than they want. If a person has more than they need then they have too much. Having too much creates fleeting and sparse feelings of guilt, but only every once in a while. These feelings of guilt are easily diverted by purchasing more things, which in turn alleviates the doubt that anything is wrong at all. When people become so easily persuaded and disillusioned as to believe that purchasing overpriced appliances and electronics in excess or financing unaffordable vehicles or homes, which they know will only put them at a financial disadvantage for years to come, becomes a measure of character, soul and integrity, something is wrong.
If a person has more than they want then they, also, have too much. However, these people do not suffer from guilt. They are completely apathetic to those around them who have much less and they intend to keep things that way, while convincing people otherwise. The masses of those who ungraciously have more than they need constantly praise and desire to be like those who have more than they could ever want. Allowing this absurd goal to pummel their pockets and fetter their futures with fear and greed, only expressing blurry glimpses of moral discontentment within the silence of their own homes, they strive to become the enemy that they are so envious of.
Jonas had an inclination that others felt this same way, too. But there seemed to be more allure for others to simply blend into society and its programmatic ways. Every few weeks or couple months people seemed to get the sudden urge to sporadically buy a CD, unnecessary home décor, uselessly elaborate electric appliances, a new computer because the one they got nine months before was apparently obsolete, or a new high definition television with surround sound just because the one they had was a couple inches smaller and the newer model was a few decibels louder. And once the purchase was made everything became all right again, at least for a while. They had succeeded in occupying themselves for a couple hours and it had made them feel important to make a purchase. What they had missed from the beginning when they had found themselves alone, sitting with nothing to do, impatient, bored, and desperate to not have to be forced to think about the most simple and obvious of natural thoughts, was the idea that everything just might have been wrong. And the reason they couldn’t sit still was because they knew they were a part of the problem.
What separated Jonas’ cloaked intelligence from the others was the fact that they seemed to think they knew everything and that if they ever doubted themselves they could simply medicate their arrogance with commodity purchases and the financings of unaffordable objects. Jonas, on the other hand, had thrown away everything he owned long ago to begin searching for something he was fairly certain he would never find: a reason to join society. His largest obstruction was the unwritten law that one could not join society; one had to blend into society. Jonas did not look at himself as a soluble ingredient for a social elixir.
Jonas had no available answers for the most minute of philosophical dilemmas, but he would utterly and accurately disprove any idea set forth by another. He could find no meaningful reasons for the movements he made in one direction or the other on any particular day, but he was determined to keep making them. And he lived by one single creed, which encapsulated his uncertainties in certain terms. Where there are problems one will always find solutions and where there are solutions one will always find problems. Even he knew this and he knew nothing.
1,447.9 miles to go.
chapter2
Jonas shivered as a fall gust up heaved a small tornado of leaves just behind him. The tiny whirlwind left a wake of smothered, damp grass that was further rustled over by even more endless red and yellow hued debris. The earth was hard, slightly frosted, and premeditative with the onslaught of a cold, cruel winter ensuing. Jonas felt how bitter and dank the weather was outside but he drew a source of warmth from within. Based on a few of his less than tolerable prior experiences and the fact that he had been through much worse than this current position, he soldiered on shrugging hunger, the cold weather and the fact that he had no home or sure destination. He immediately felt better and began thinking about how long it would be until spring would arrive, even though winter was still yet to come.
There was nothing coincidental about the four seasons that composed the intentions of a single year. Nor was there anything coincidental about Jonas being at that exact location at that precise time with a determined purpose. Spring was rebirth and summer was life just as fall was an infliction and winter was death. Jonas was a means and the door of 216 Fifth Street was an end.
Everything, in its commonly peculiar way, was just as it should or should not have maybe or perhaps not have been. It was in this light, yielding to the loose and hazy chaos surrounding him, that Jonas felt divinity and solace, comfort, at its most clutching moment. He would sooner conduct conversation with a tree than confide in a priest. He would rather read Emerson on a patch of clovers than go to a church. And, aside from his dissident interpretation of organized religion and its questionable history, Jonas believed in a God and a way of life that was bejeweled with gems of thought that few others seemed to find any value in.
He was a spiritual man who contemptuously despised religion. He was a humanitarian who understood that charity was the worst possible thing to give to anybody. He belonged to nothing that claimed to have substance or power, except for his temporary jobs. They granted him sustenance and various roofs over his head, but he still felt violated for having to perform even the most menial of tasks for such uninspiring men and the corporate machines they were gears of. Jonas was always on the move. In a farcical manner he behaved the way other people expected he should when it was necessary only so they would leave him alone and not draw attention to him. He had no interest in long-term commitments or faith in any one thing. He had no pride in ownership or shame in poverty. Jonas, no matter which direction the currents of life pulled or pushed him, had only one concern and that was to watch the colors change.
Jonas, when challenged, penetrated those around him with an intimidating look of honesty and simplicity. Often mistaken for sarcasm, the look in his eyes forced others to think before they spoke or to say nothing at all. His thoughts in any given conversation were well articulated and his words were sophisticated and diverse; however, what made Jonas appear to be illuminated in respect to the gloom that surrounded him was his honest and simple belief that he knew nothing. Of life, of history, of religion, of facts and untruths, Jonas Martin Cassidy proudly admitted to himself that he knew nothing. Regardless of how many books or newspapers he had ever read, how far back in history his mind had delved, or how many religions he had studied, he realized one day as a summation of his efforts to learn as much as he could, that he knew nothing. A point in anything seemed elusive yet he found everything to be perfectly necessary. He believed in disbelief and this worked well for him.
Because he came to terms with this curious truth he chose to deliberately exploit the fact rather than hide behind its awkward reality by capriciously owning objects he did not need and owing worthless debt he had no desire to pay so that he could appear to be somebody who he was not. Jonas sensed early on that there was an imbalance of priorities that existed in everything that was Human. It had much to do with power and money, both of which concepts have been emblazoned upon Man’s most inner precepts since the first traces of human civilization.
Generally, people in this country either have more than they need or they have more than they want. If a person has more than they need then they have too much. Having too much creates fleeting and sparse feelings of guilt, but only every once in a while. These feelings of guilt are easily diverted by purchasing more things, which in turn alleviates the doubt that anything is wrong at all. When people become so easily persuaded and disillusioned as to believe that purchasing overpriced appliances and electronics in excess or financing unaffordable vehicles or homes, which they know will only put them at a financial disadvantage for years to come, becomes a measure of character, soul and integrity, something is wrong.
If a person has more than they want then they, also, have too much. However, these people do not suffer from guilt. They are completely apathetic to those around them who have much less and they intend to keep things that way, while convincing people otherwise. The masses of those who ungraciously have more than they need constantly praise and desire to be like those who have more than they could ever want. Allowing this absurd goal to pummel their pockets and fetter their futures with fear and greed, only expressing blurry glimpses of moral discontentment within the silence of their own homes, they strive to become the enemy that they are so envious of.
Jonas had an inclination that others felt this same way, too. But there seemed to be more allure for others to simply blend into society and its programmatic ways. Every few weeks or couple months people seemed to get the sudden urge to sporadically buy a CD, unnecessary home décor, uselessly elaborate electric appliances, a new computer because the one they got nine months before was apparently obsolete, or a new high definition television with surround sound just because the one they had was a couple inches smaller and the newer model was a few decibels louder. And once the purchase was made everything became all right again, at least for a while. They had succeeded in occupying themselves for a couple hours and it had made them feel important to make a purchase. What they had missed from the beginning when they had found themselves alone, sitting with nothing to do, impatient, bored, and desperate to not have to be forced to think about the most simple and obvious of natural thoughts, was the idea that everything just might have been wrong. And the reason they couldn’t sit still was because they knew they were a part of the problem.
What separated Jonas’ cloaked intelligence from the others was the fact that they seemed to think they knew everything and that if they ever doubted themselves they could simply medicate their arrogance with commodity purchases and the financings of unaffordable objects. Jonas, on the other hand, had thrown away everything he owned long ago to begin searching for something he was fairly certain he would never find: a reason to join society. His largest obstruction was the unwritten law that one could not join society; one had to blend into society. Jonas did not look at himself as a soluble ingredient for a social elixir.
Jonas had no available answers for the most minute of philosophical dilemmas, but he would utterly and accurately disprove any idea set forth by another. He could find no meaningful reasons for the movements he made in one direction or the other on any particular day, but he was determined to keep making them. And he lived by one single creed, which encapsulated his uncertainties in certain terms. Where there are problems one will always find solutions and where there are solutions one will always find problems. Even he knew this and he knew nothing.
1,447.9 miles to go.
Day219 Tuesday 04/05/11
ran 1.1 miles
The Wisconsin Democrats who had fled Madison nearly two months ago to derail union legislation have finally decided to return with their tails between their legs to uphold the civic obligations they were elected by their constituents to perform…except at times when they cannot have their way. Two months must be how long it takes to regenerate a spine.
President Obama implored Congressional leaders to “act like grown-ups” today, referring to the threat of a partial government shutdown if a budget agreement cannot be reached by Friday. Obama sternly suggested they stop “spending our time quibbling around the edges”. Our deficit and the immediate urgency that has presented itself is no quibble. What kind of understatement is that? There is no quibbling at a time like this. And what edges are there? There is no edge to our deficit as our economy currently stands. There is no reachable edge to balance or teeter along. This deficit needs to be attacked head on and Barack Obama and his counterparts are the quibblers. Republicans are attempting to slash away at the deficit in the manner they were elected to do and Obama is obstructing this dire goal. What good comes from not cutting our spending habits at the knees? America will be able to pretend for yet another year that everything is perfectly fine and our economy will be that much worse at this time next year. This cycle must be broken and Barack Obama does not seem to have any interest in putting this country on a strict spending diet for its own good.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan warns that our country is at a “tipping point” in its debt crisis, which stands to “curtail free enterprise” and make way for a “gradual moral-political decline as dependency and passivity weaken the nation’s character.” Ryan is proposing $6.2 trillion in cuts for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins on Tuesday (and yes, that is in one week from now even though Congress has not even agreed on the 2011 fiscal year budget). This is the sort of stern and assertive leadership our country needs right now and which Barack Obama is obstructing from happening. I don’t get it. Whatever Obama’s big picture is he will never arrive at it until some real effort is shown by him to lop an entire limb off the body of our deficit…at least a figurative finger or toe and not just a single hair.
1,448.2 miles to go.
President Obama implored Congressional leaders to “act like grown-ups” today, referring to the threat of a partial government shutdown if a budget agreement cannot be reached by Friday. Obama sternly suggested they stop “spending our time quibbling around the edges”. Our deficit and the immediate urgency that has presented itself is no quibble. What kind of understatement is that? There is no quibbling at a time like this. And what edges are there? There is no edge to our deficit as our economy currently stands. There is no reachable edge to balance or teeter along. This deficit needs to be attacked head on and Barack Obama and his counterparts are the quibblers. Republicans are attempting to slash away at the deficit in the manner they were elected to do and Obama is obstructing this dire goal. What good comes from not cutting our spending habits at the knees? America will be able to pretend for yet another year that everything is perfectly fine and our economy will be that much worse at this time next year. This cycle must be broken and Barack Obama does not seem to have any interest in putting this country on a strict spending diet for its own good.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan warns that our country is at a “tipping point” in its debt crisis, which stands to “curtail free enterprise” and make way for a “gradual moral-political decline as dependency and passivity weaken the nation’s character.” Ryan is proposing $6.2 trillion in cuts for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins on Tuesday (and yes, that is in one week from now even though Congress has not even agreed on the 2011 fiscal year budget). This is the sort of stern and assertive leadership our country needs right now and which Barack Obama is obstructing from happening. I don’t get it. Whatever Obama’s big picture is he will never arrive at it until some real effort is shown by him to lop an entire limb off the body of our deficit…at least a figurative finger or toe and not just a single hair.
1,448.2 miles to go.
Day218 Monday 04/04/11
ran 2.1 miles
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens…Let it simply be asked, where is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
It is one thing to live and to be willing to die for such American principles as freedom of religion, but when these principles are used against a nation for the advancement of beliefs that serve no purpose other than to undermine the culture and beliefs of that nation, those freedoms are no longer tools for happiness and prosperity but weapons wielded to twist and maul the fabric of freedom.
The double standard that exists between America’s humble acceptance of all religions and those religions that despise America’s culture and beliefs is getting more and more difficult to accept. There is a fine line to walk when trying to balance the integrity of America’s religious freedoms and the insult some of those freedoms slap our nation in the face with when used divisively.
I don’t think George Washington was referring to Shariah law or any other oppressive system of belief that violates so many God-given human rights. I don’t think our first president ever condoned the idea of killing infidels or any other people who did not see things the way he or America’s citizens did.
The freedom America grants certain people to encourage such ideas as Shariah law as a real American possibility, the freedom this religious zealot in Florida has to make world news of burning copies of the Koran, the fanatical church members who recently legally earned their right to protest at American soldiers’ funerals, the freedom America grants to entertain the idea of putting a Mosque at Ground Zero---where does it end?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed today that President Barack Obama would face an end far more embarrassing than that of his predecessor, George W. Bush. His reasoning was that Obama uses force, as well as, deception and conspiracy. If that’s not snow calling rice white, I don’t know what is. Apparently we are supposed to play “fairly” and “transparently” against nations who despise our culture and our differing religious views.
George Washington’s emphasis on religion and morality as a necessity for America to thrive can hardly be argued, but we are threatened by another religion that seeks to buckle our beliefs and to impose itself upon this nation.
Our president began his term apologizing to the world for America’s elitist behavior and our nation’s “arrogance”. That obviously served no real purpose in maintaining America’s strength and integrity and it goes to show that no gesture, however humble it may appear, will appease people who refuse to accept your culture or your beliefs.
1,449.3 miles to go.
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens…Let it simply be asked, where is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
George Washington, Farewell Address
It is one thing to live and to be willing to die for such American principles as freedom of religion, but when these principles are used against a nation for the advancement of beliefs that serve no purpose other than to undermine the culture and beliefs of that nation, those freedoms are no longer tools for happiness and prosperity but weapons wielded to twist and maul the fabric of freedom.
The double standard that exists between America’s humble acceptance of all religions and those religions that despise America’s culture and beliefs is getting more and more difficult to accept. There is a fine line to walk when trying to balance the integrity of America’s religious freedoms and the insult some of those freedoms slap our nation in the face with when used divisively.
I don’t think George Washington was referring to Shariah law or any other oppressive system of belief that violates so many God-given human rights. I don’t think our first president ever condoned the idea of killing infidels or any other people who did not see things the way he or America’s citizens did.
The freedom America grants certain people to encourage such ideas as Shariah law as a real American possibility, the freedom this religious zealot in Florida has to make world news of burning copies of the Koran, the fanatical church members who recently legally earned their right to protest at American soldiers’ funerals, the freedom America grants to entertain the idea of putting a Mosque at Ground Zero---where does it end?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed today that President Barack Obama would face an end far more embarrassing than that of his predecessor, George W. Bush. His reasoning was that Obama uses force, as well as, deception and conspiracy. If that’s not snow calling rice white, I don’t know what is. Apparently we are supposed to play “fairly” and “transparently” against nations who despise our culture and our differing religious views.
George Washington’s emphasis on religion and morality as a necessity for America to thrive can hardly be argued, but we are threatened by another religion that seeks to buckle our beliefs and to impose itself upon this nation.
Our president began his term apologizing to the world for America’s elitist behavior and our nation’s “arrogance”. That obviously served no real purpose in maintaining America’s strength and integrity and it goes to show that no gesture, however humble it may appear, will appease people who refuse to accept your culture or your beliefs.
1,449.3 miles to go.
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