Day262 Wednesday 05/18/11

ran 3.3 miles

Chapter 8

The door opened achingly with a dull creak like an old man slowly extending his jaw to form words with garbled consonants and muted vowels. It was dark inside as a single figure emerged before Jonas. A dull lamp directly behind the figure’s head distorted his shady features.

Jonas had a cynical wit for detecting trouble and at that moment nothing had felt right. The figure in front of him looked vaguely familiar and particularly threatening. Jonas could see it was a large man and there was something in his hand. After a few seconds of silently staring at Jonas the figure stepped forward into the light and spoke.

“You don’t look like much. Come in.”

Jonas immediately recognized the man as both a friend and a stranger though he had never personally met him. In the underground world, which they were both cast into, real names were rarely ever used, close friendships were a burden of too much emotional gravity, and staying in the same place for too long was considered dangerous. The underground was larger than any of its enemies had estimated, yet this rendezvous had much planning and very specific purposes. For now, 216 Fifth Street was Jonas’ temporary destination and the man standing in front of him was a face he had seen not very long before.

Upon entering, Jonas felt coy and small. The space was confined and the windows were boarded up. The interior had an odd presence similar to that of a fortified brown paper bag. The walls were chipped all over with various rotted materials. A derelict, thin curtain hung over an obscured window, which looked like it would tear in half were a tiny mouse to cling to it. The floor was a decrepit stretch of wood-paneled unreliability that creaked with every step. In many spots the outside ground was visible through cracks and holes.

There were two other men sitting at a small table in a corner and neither of them acknowledged Jonas’ presence. He heard a toilet flush in the back of the house and asked, “How many of you are here?”

“You make five. The two over there are harmless, Ben and Thomas. You can call me Mason. I’m sure you know names don’t mean a thing around here.”

There was an awkward pause similar to that of the moment a truth may have suggested falsifying itself.

“And you are Jonas Cassidy, one of the few most admired and hated men on this new continent, Americanadexico.”

A voice came from afar. It was a woman. Her voice was familiar yet distant.

Mason was the crescent shaped man on the side of the road. The object in his hand was a pack of cigarettes. Grinning, he asked Jonas with a mild nudge and a restrained push, “Got a Bic or a match?” Ben and the other two men started laughing as she suddenly walked into the room. A brisk silence fell over everyone.

It was Carmen.

“Hello, Jonas. Outside…we had to do what was necessary to ensure no one was following you or watching us. We could not bring attention to ourselves.

Carmen was now wearing plain, loose clothing. She was a fugitive in white cotton and baggy denim.

“From this point forward you will address me as Erica.”

Jonas and Carmen were the only ones in the dimly lit room who knew one another’s true identities. Jonas could sense no one else knew and that Carmen wanted to keep his and her history hidden.

“It is dangerous to be free in this country and too many people are looking for us. I know you are already aware of our disposition but I don’t want you to misinterpret our first impression with you. We are good at what we do and we believe in what we do.”

Jonas was impressed and in awe of Carmen. Moments ago he had felt sorry for her and he was disappointed in her. Now he had discovered that she was like him. He saw that she was one of the few people that were not afraid.

“These are my friends and now they are your friends. If they introduced themselves already then you probably know them as Ben, Thomas, and Mason. I do not know their real names and they do not know mine. We choose to know as little as possible about each other. However, we all know who you are and unfortunately everyone else does, too. I hope you will trust us, Jonas. And if you don’t, I will personally hand you over to the authorities with no remorse. You’ve come this far, Jonas, and if you don’t challenge yourself to succeed right now then what was it all for? You can either testify your faults to the government or you can falsify the government with your truth.

A curtain suddenly tore in half as a tiny rodent fell to the floor and scampered across the splintery terrain with a rather large and weightless strip of yellow flowered pattern falling further apart with each tiny step.

“Jonas, we know who you are and we know what you are. Our task is to make sure you understand what you are."

Jonas had a look of excited terror on his face. Everything was happening so fast. Minutes before he was content to wander aimlessly in what seemed to him a museum of uninitiated existence. It was so comfortable and easy to sit aside and watch things rapture and to blame others instead of expressing his ideas and making his voice heard. Jonas had always dreamed about the rapture and rising above the silence, but now that he was at his destination, he was afraid.

Carmen, or Erica, could sense the urgency and immediacy of the moment in Jonas’ despairing eyes. She slowed things down to give him a chance to catch up.

“This man that keeps shoving you around and asking for a Bic or a match is Mason. Ten years ago I would have said that he was a patriot, a proud American and an enemy to anyone who threatened the preservation of America and its freedom. If I were to call him a patriot now he would be offended to hear that I was referring to him as an ungrateful and disillusioned man who had the overrated ability to passionately recite words from newspapers, television shows and radio programs like a talking head with a string drawn from the back of its plastic skull that was incapable of acting upon his own thoughts. If I were to call him a proud American now he would be enraged by the notion that I may have thought he approved of the actions of his government. And now that America’s greatest enemy is its own government, Ben is an enemy to his own country.”

Jonas grabbed the pack of cigarettes out of Mason’s hand and lit one. He looked at Erica through a cloud of smoke and said, “So what do we do now?”

“That’s what you’re here to tell us, Jonas.”

Jonas was now alone. Like a lake, hidden, he was surrounded on all sides but he was by himself. The two that went by Ben and Thomas looked at Jonas with critical eyes carefully sizing his silence. Mason lit a cigarette. The sound of the match igniting seemed to vibrate in the ruinous walls and the odorous smell of sulfur emanated through the still of the moment. Jonas and Carmen stared into one another’s eyes. He knew this would be the last time he could think of her as “Carmen”. They both wanted to say so many things they each knew could not be said.

The vacancy of emotion Jonas displayed was a disappointment to all. He had tentatively received the honor and respect of an unlikely leadership for a cause that pervaded and illuminated his very being. For someone who often felt the world and all its creatures to be nothing more than a random pocket of change jingling in the cosmos, he was in awe.

Jonas elected not to display his awe like a stoic poker face concealing a hand. He was still unsure whether his cards were good or bad and if it were not for Carmen’s presence he would have probably left 216 Fifth Street as quickly as he had found it. He did not know these other rogues and he was unaware of how they expected he should have reacted. What Jonas really wanted was to run and that was precisely why he had stayed. Although fear compelled him it was the tragedy of eventually dying with the regret of cowardice and the torment of unanswered questions that truly terrified Jonas and his unknown fate. He was still unsure of any certainties and he did not understand at all what exactly these four individuals had wanted from him.

1,312.3 miles to go.

Day261 Tuesday 05/17/11

ran 4.1 miles
As a follow-up to last night’s post, here are the details about Chris Holton, of the Center for Security Policy, and what his presentation on Shariah law and Islam entailed. There was a lot of information covered and in an attempt to not make this post too lengthy for patience and too jumpy to connect its dots, please bear with me. Here it is.

In May of 2007, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey among all walks of Muslim Americans and one particular question they asked was this:

“Can suicide bombing of civilian targets to defend Islam be justified?”

Among the 2.35 million Muslims in America, in 2007, including 1.4 million over the age of 18 (the target group of the survey), this was the response:

Often/sometimes: 8%

Rarely: 5%

Don’t know/refuse to answer: 9%

Never: 79%

At least 13%, and an undecided 9%, entertain the idea of suicide bombings targeting civilians in America.

Ignoring the 9% who don’t know or refuse to answer, the 13% alone that do condone suicide bombings comprise 182,000 Muslims in America, according to this Pew survey.

This same question was asked to adult Muslims under the age of thirty and these were the results.

Often/sometimes: 15%

Rarely: 11%

Don’t know/refuse to answer: 5%

Never: 69%

Again, this survey was taken four years ago. Among the age group most recruited for suicide bombings, at least 26%, and an undecided 5%, entertain the idea of suicide bombings targeting civilians in America.

Ignoring the 5% who don’t know or refuse to answer, the 26% alone that do condone suicide bombings comprise 109,200 Muslims in America, according to this Pew survey. That percentage exceeds one out of every four Muslims between the ages of eighteen and thirty in America who find suicide bombings to be at least somewhat acceptable.

This was another question:

"What is your view of Al Qaeda?"

Favorable: 5%

Somewhat unfavorable: 10%

Don’t know/refuse to answer: 27%

Very unfavorable: 58%

Same question to Muslim adults under 30:

Favorable: 7%

Somewhat unfavorable: 16%

Don’t know/refuse to answer: 19%

Very unfavorable: 58%

70,000 Muslims in America admit a favorable view of Al Qaeda.

29,400 Muslims in America between the age of 18 and 29 admit to having a favorable view of Al Qaeda.

This was in 2007.

The Muslim religion is far too large to label in any one way. But it appears that a significant and threatening minority of Islam is hijacking the peaceful majority of the Muslim religion.

Moving on, in 1991 documents were uncovered in America from a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that has sired Al Qaeda and any other organization you can think of that deals terrorism in the name of Islam. The documents were titled “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America”. (Here is some more information on the documents)

These were the contents:

1. An introduction in explanation

2. The concept of settlement

3. The process of settlement

4. Comprehensive settlement organizations

The mission statement:

“The Ikhwan (brotherhood) must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

“Sabotaging its miserable house…by their hands.”

Infiltration.

Abdurahman Alamoudi. 2004. Alamoudi was the president of the American Muslim Foundation under Clinton’s and Bush’s presidencies and he is currently spending the rest of his life in jail. He held an extremely high position with much clout and much say in our president’s decisions regarding the Muslim community in America. Alamoudi was a terrorist and, along the lines of the above mentioned mission statement of “sabotage” and implosion by our own hands, he infiltrated the United States to the highest political position a Muslim can hold in this country. He had a hand in global terrorist attacks, he was a mouthpiece and an ear for organizations like Al Qaeda, and he had every desire to kill Americans through acts of terrorism, and he was shoulder to shoulder with two of our presidents.

There is much more to be said but I think this is sufficient enough to make you lift an eyebrow and mull things over.

1,315.6 miles to go.

Day260 Monday 05/16/11

ran 3.9 miles

I attended an Acadiana Patriots event tonight that Chris Holton of the Center for Security Policy spoke at. Holton is a highly educated man regarding Shariah law, the Koran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and, among many other things, the level of infiltration that Islam has penetrated not only the American government but the entire globe. I know that sounds like a presumptuous mouthful, but the words this man shared with the crowded room tonight were as disturbing as they were true.

Chris Holton has been interviewed by Glenn Beck, appeared on numerous Fox News programs, and has been interviewed on numerous radio talk shows, such as Laura Ingraham’s show.

He knows what he is talking about and the facts he has, combined with the unbelievable reality that exists, which so few are even aware of, are absolutely staggering. The event was well worth attending and the questions that followed grew lengthy in time, so I don’t have time to elaborate tonight on the details of what was said by Chris Holton. Tomorrow’s post will be filled with details. Not enough time tonight.

1,319.7 miles to go.

Day259 Sunday 05/15/11

ran 2.9 miles

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

I have some quotes for today’s post from Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. Thoreau is one of my favorite writers and I recently stumbled across and purchased an old edition of “Walden” and “Civil Disobedience” at a garage sale. The copy I purchased (for a quarter) was printed in the mid-twentieth century when books had only cost $0.75. “Civil Disobedience” is only twenty pages long and it is filled with quote after profound quote. This essay was first published in 1849 out of Massachusetts. The first quote is one you will recognize.

“That government is best which governs least.”

“The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.”

“Trade and commerce, if they were not made of India-rubber, would never manage to bounce over the obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and, if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads.”

“Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.”

“He who gives himself entirely to his fellow men appears to them useless and selfish; but he who gives himself partially to them is pronounced a benefactor and philanthropist.”

“I quarrel not with far-off foes, but with those who, near at home, cooperate with, and do the bidding of, those far away, and without whom the latter would be harmless.”

“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”

“Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence.”

“The best thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor.”

“Know all men by these presents, that I, Henry Thoreau, do not wish to be regarded as a member of any incorporated society which I have not joined.”

“They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountain-head.”

“If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonable experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations.”

“There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.”

1,323.6 miles to go.

Day258 Saturday 05/14/11

ran 3.4 miles

President Obama is aiming to speed up domestic oil production. If all it takes for him to pursue a course of action he completely disagrees with is for gas to go from $2 and some change to $4, increasing week by week, then what will it take for our entire economy to be put on the proper path of reconstruction. In proportion to unacceptable $4 gas prices, what Obama intends to do with health care plus what he has done with stimulus package “monopoly” money divided by how little effort he shows to slash our deficit multiplied by his lofty and unrealistic goals subtracted by two and a half years of progress, unpaid, what is happening to our economy is equivalent to encouraging $6 gas if it is only at $4.

These gas prices have a crushing gravity on our wallets, but our economy, a much larger picture, as a whole, is in peril. Gas coming back down to $3 or less, in something between a near and distant future, is a huge step in the right direction but if our economy as a whole is severely ill and refuses to seek treatment, then Obama’s step toward easing the process of obtaining drilling permits on U.S. waters serves as much purpose as a band-aid on a cut artery.

And it is important to keep in mind that one of the very last things the president of our country wants to do is to encourage drilling for oil in America. Obama has expressed his disapproval of oil as a thriving energy resource in America through both words and actions.

To paint a picture, our president is currently going against everything he worked for with his prolonged moratorium on drilling. The Horizon explosion in April of 2010 was a perfect opportunity for Obama to do what would have required a lot more time, energy, and deceit, otherwise. I, for one, find it insulting and senseless when I think of the jobs, money, production, and progress the moratorium cost compared to the fact that one year later our president is in the headlines “speeding oil production”.

1,326.5 miles to go.

Day257 Friday 05/13/11

ran 3.6 miles

You may not know this, but S.679, a bill introduced by the Senate in April, is on its way to abolishing Article II, Section 2, of our United States Constitution. This bill is called the “Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act”. To everyday people like you and me the name of that bill translates to “Obama’s Dictatorial and Counter-Constitution Act”

Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution outlines that the “advice and consent” of our branches of government, the House and Senate, have the power to advise and approve or disapprove of the president’s decisions regarding who he appoints to certain Departments, Administrations, and Boards.

S.679 will give Obama exclusive power to confirm any individual he chooses to whatever position he wants to fill with no concern of what you, your Representatives, or you Senators have to say about it.

These are some of the 200 positions at risk:

• The Agriculture Department’s Commodities Credit Board
• Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service Administrator
• The Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• The Commerce Department’s Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
• The Defense Department’s Assistant Secretary for Networks and Information Integration
• The Education Department’s Assistant Secretary for Management
• All 7 of the Assistant Secretaries of Energy
• The Department of Homeland Security’s Director of the Office of Domestic Preparedness
• Homeland Security’s Assistant Administrator of FEMA for Grant Programs
• The Department of the Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Management and CFO
• The Treasurer of the United States
• The Director of the U.S. Mint
• The Governors and Alternate Governors of the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• The Governor and Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank (amending Section 3(a) of the Asian Development Bank Act)
• The Governor and Alternate Governor of the African Development Fund (amending Section 203(a) of the African Development Fund Act)
• The Office of Management and Budget’s Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management
• The Director of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund

S.679 was proposed by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on March 30, 2011. The Washington Post applauded this act as “a better process” and referred to the 200 positions being exempted from Senate confirmation as “non-policymaking, non-senior positions”.

Article II, Section 2(a), of U.S. Constitution

“He shall have Power (the president), by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.”

1,329.9 miles to go.

Day256 Thursday 05/12/11

ran 3.5 miles

From CNBC, “Obama Tells Companies to ‘Step Up’ and Hire Workers”. Calling on corporations to do more to help the economy, Obama projected that it will take at least “several years” for our economy and its needs to recover. That’s wishful thinking. Perhaps he should question why so many companies are sitting on so much money and why they are so reluctant to invest it in jobs or expansion. It could be because they don’t believe in Barack Obama’s intentions or policies.

“We’ve got a lot more work to do to get businesses to invest and to hire,” Obama said to an audience at a town-hall style meeting hosted by CBS.

Unfortunately, his idea of encouraging corporate America to invest and hire is to tax and mandate.

1,333.5 miles to go.

Day255 Wednesday 05/11/11

ran 1.4 miles

Chapter 7

Jonas stood uncertainly at the door unsure of what or who was behind it. There were a few faded newspapers scattered around the foot of the door lending to the house a sense of vacancy. Across the top of one of the tattered papers in bold print read the headline “Incumbent Confident For 2016 Election”.

“It’s not even November of 2016”, Jonas said under his breath. Polls, debates, scandals, skeletons, and baby kissing were all in full gear. Mind numbing senselessness would soon inundate the delicate fabric of rational thinking through any media outlet it could find. The only aspect of this election Jonas found even mildly amusing or interesting was a sardonic curiosity of who the next untapped mass of voters would be and how sinisterly they would impact the existing and dwindling minority of traditional American beliefs in government. Jonas believed the 2012 election exploited an immense frontier of new voters when his country allowed millions upon millions of illegal aliens to legally remain within U.S. borders and become naturalized citizens (and voters). The message to the world was that this country granted unlawful deviants amnesty and that its laws were pliable and easily revised by criminals. The numbers, and the power created by the numbers, had grown exponentially over a small matter of years. And just a few years was all it took for an entire continent of three countries to go through the preliminary steps of becoming one single nation for reasons even the government had much difficulty lying about and Americans found impossible to understand.

The government began blatantly opposing the demands of the people it was supposed to be protecting and treated their votes and ideas as though they were nothing more than blank scraps of paper in a permanently sealed suggestion box. It took years for the people to finally stir and to understand that something was wrong. And when they did it was far too late. Their reactions were meaningless and as useless as a 6:20 train ticket at 8:00.

Jonas was one of a group of rogue individuals who had allegedly committed crimes of “unAmerican-thought”. He was accused of thinking and speaking against his country. Something had been wrong for a very long time and it was being ignored like a highly detectable cancer. There was a general feeling among many that something bad was coming or that something good was going away. But few felt compelled to speak out about it or act on it. They were convinced that everything they were told was to be unquestioned and they were comfortably powerless with their surroundings. Freedoms, one by one, were being limited or taken away. Much had changed for the worst in a short period of time and nobody had seemed to care. The rights and will of the government’s people thinned away like a shallow, muddy puddle evaporating all of its hope into a cloudy void. The people’s government was the proverbial atmosphere collecting the hope and it was not going to precipitate a drop of fairness any time soon.

Governments do not claim mistakes and they do not retract or negotiate fault.

Jonas did not rob or shoot anybody. He was not a terrorist. Not once had he ever placed another human being in potentially fatal harm. Jonas simply wrote a manifesto, which became something larger than he had ever expected.

When something is done or said by the government it will be seen through until it works or until the people get tired of hearing about it, only to forget.

Jonas and those like him were considered threats to the new nation. They were threats to continental democracy, which many would call progressivism, and accused of treasonously hating their own country with intentions to plot against its people.

Governments do not die. Nor or they living things yet they control us.

Those who aided and abetted Jonas and those who thought like him were dutifully encouraged to publicly denounce their beliefs or to be immediately exiled from the country, United North America, once apprehended.

The only tools a government should need are simplicity and common sense. To imply that there is anything else necessary is both ill-intended and opportunistic.

Jonas refused to believe what other people had said about him on the radio and what newspapers had printed about him. The media portrayed him as a monster regardless of the truth. He chose to risk exile by his own country. Before the God he knew in his heart, before all the wars his and other governments created, before all of the wasted life so many seemed to sit idly by, before welfare recipients and the large percentage of them who lacked so much belief in themselves, before congressmen and governors who had been holding on to impossibility for far too long, before Hollywood, New York, Houston, Ontario, Cancun and the rest of the continental union, before the lack of sensitivity and the abundance of selfishness that made this entire world go around, before the President and all of his men, Jonas decided that he would have no part.

Things were not always like this.

1,337.0 miles to go.

Day254 Tuesday 05/10/11

Barack Obama and Common photo from Huffington Post

ran 3.3 miles
Tomorrow night President Obama will be hosting a poetry ceremony at the White House, which “Common”, a poet or rapper of some sort with ties to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, will be headlining. Common, otherwise known as Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., makes lyrical allusions to inciting violence in America, including typical “rap” themes filled with misogyny, guns, and a generally immature and irresponsible use of expletives. I thought about littering the rest of this page with some examples of his work but that would only dignify his it.

Yet again, Barack Obama is displaying how little he cares about America’s interpretation of his actions. This guy, Common, is as offensive and obscene as Jeremiah Wright and, under any other circumstances, I can’t think of one president from the past or the future who would care so little about inviting such a controversial figure into the White House.

1,338.4 miles to go.

Day253 Monday 05/09/11

ran 3.4 miles

I had posted back in March of this year about China’s full sprint toward claiming the title of “World’s Largest Economy”, while America, fighting against itself, coupled with a president intent on spending money we don’t have and decreasing the value of the American dollar, sets a mediocre pace of something between a walk and a jog toward its future. I understand the goals and I see the vision Barack Obama has, a future that looks bright on the horizon yet is completely unrealistic, but the bridge he is building to obtain that future is made of popsicle sticks.

You may not know this but China has recently surpassed Japan and claimed the status of the second largest world economy. This news preceded the tragedies that occurred in Japan recently and China is projected to overtake America’s economic stride in 2016, according to CNN Asia Business Analyst, Ramy Inocencio.

Inocencio’s source is the International Monetary Fund and its new GDP forecasts. China’s gross domestic product is speeding toward a projection of $19 trillion, an $8 trillion increase in the next five years. America is forecasting $18.8 trillion in 2016, an increase of only $3.5 trillion in the same period of time. With numbers like that and the state of our economy, China’s economy stands to exponentially surpass ours after 2016.

With everything currently at stake in this nation, the 2012 budget battle in particular, our president and liberals are showing little interest in slashing spending, while conservatives are attempting against all odds to climb back to the surface of our deficit.

In early March of this year, Barack Obama had uttered one of the most ridiculous and defining statements of who he really is when he suggested that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. President Hu Jintao does not receive very much scrutiny from the Chinese press and the Chinese people he represents don’t have many disagreements with him when he speaks in Tahrir Square. They are a communist nation. What exactly does Obama mean with words like that and what president of the United States of America possesses the tactlessness to say such a thing? He compared the iron fist of China to the freedom America has been fighting for and maintaining for nearly 250 years in a light that casts a shadow on everything America stands for and illuminates the tenets of a government that does not let their people even criticize their leaders in the slightest manner. Those words Barack Obama uttered to America speak for themselves.

1,341.7 miles to go.

Day252 Sunday 05/08/11

ran 2.3 miles
Happy Mother’s Day!

Today ends week thirty-six of running against Obama. I ran 26.7 miles this week, averaging 3.81 miles per day.

Without delving too deeply into what is a sensitive and strained issue, it has always fascinated me, particularly over the last two and a half years, why so many other Americans would deliberately choose to vote for a democrat, to believe in liberal ideas, and be willing to fight for them. Immediately, by making that statement, my words might suggest that I am some sort of a closed-minded, selfish person who cares little for the opinions of others, but I assure you, that is not the case. I find great virtue in our two party system and if we were to leave one party or the other to their own devices for too long, no good would come from it. The two parties, the House and Senate, the Justices and the President all play watchdog to one another, and it is a brilliant system of maintaining order in an arena of such large amounts of power.

To restate what I was getting at earlier, I fully accept that I may think differently from others and that others are bound to think differently than me, but with this upcoming election having so much riding on it, right here and right now, I don’t get what supporters of Barack Obama are after; especially now that his mesmerizing campaign is over and America is now in the state it’s in two and a half years later.

I’ve always liked that quote, "If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart; but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain.” It really is interesting to wonder who is the typical Republican voter and who is the typical Democratic voter? Aside from literal definitions and ideologies, if we could put a face on each of these two voters, what would they look like? What would they believe in? What would they do for a living? The questions are endless?

Do you ever find yourself behind another vehicle in traffic that has an Obama/Biden bumper sticker and then suddenly find you are switching lanes and speeding up just to catch a nonchalant glimpse of who this person is? It’s because you want to put a face to something you cannot understand. And it goes both ways. A McCain/Palin bumper sticker has an equal reaction for certain others.

When I look at what Barack Obama has done and the trail he is blazing through a country, which is looking less and less like America, this is how I define the collective Democrat and the collective Republican:

Democrat: “I would like less personal freedom and unrestrained growth of government.”

Republican: “I want to hear as little from the government’s mouth as possible and I want it to shrink back down to the size it was intended to be.”

Democrat: It’s not fair for me to have to work for the things I have and want. I’ll vote Democratic and the government will take care of me.

Republican: Please stop interfering, federal government, so much with the goals I have. I don’t need you nearly as much as you would like to believe and yet you force yourself upon me as a constant obstacle.

Democrat: Rich people don’t deserve the money they have. They are dishonest and Democrats will take that money from them with high taxes and spend it on me.

Republican: I applaud the wealthy and their successes. If I am rich one day it will be because I worked hard for it. If not, I will take pride in providing for myself without taking advantage of the government.

As an afterthought, it is interesting to point out that there are as many wealthy Democrats as there are Republicans, yet if they were taken out of the picture, I am by no means implying that they should be, the battle of ideas becomes one between people who work hard to earn what they have and people who work less as hard but feel entitled to other peoples’ money; people who want the federal government out of their lives versus people who welcome the idea of being under complete control of the government.

1,345.1 miles to go.

Day251 Saturday 05/07/11

ran 3.9 miles
Fox News recently hosted the first Republican Presidential Debate in South Carolina. Standing behind podiums were Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Gary Johnson, and Tim Pawlenty. Absent were names like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney.

The debate was symbolic of the gate at the starting line to this race officially opening. I am obviously biased in my approach to 2012. I want Barack Obama out and I will vote for a box of nails if that is what he is running against. I am going to follow these candidates closely over the next year and a half and form opinions about them like everybody else but, ultimately, whoever earns their way to being the final name on the Republican ticket is going to go against everything Barack Obama represents. While it is important to make informed decisions and votes to get the best man or woman to November 6, 2012, it is also an unavoidable fact that regardless of who it is they will campaign on rebuilding the deconstruction this nation has been weakened with for so long and they will go against the ideas Obama stands for. Whoever it ends up being I am voting for them, whoever that Someone Else will be.

After the campaign gate was opened and the debate took off I was particularly excited to see what Ron Paul and Herman Cain had to say. I don’t know enough about Santorum, Johnson, or Pawlenty to form anything more than a first impression but I have always been a big fan of Paul and I am extremely interested in Herman Cain, a name many have never heard of.

Ron Paul has a realistic, “matter-of-fact” approach to the problems America faces. His ideas make so much sense that they seem out of place in a setting such as Washington. Paul is a long-time Representative out of Texas.

Herman Cain, on the other hand, has never served as a politician and that is a strength worth recognizing. But, then again, Barack Obama barely had any experience either. However, Herman Cain does have a dazzling amount of experience in the corporate world having served as CEO of different corporations. He is best known for his success with Godfather’s Pizza. He became CEO at a time when this company was flailing toward bankruptcy and in a short period of time he turned the company around and had it making profit again.

At this early stage, of these five candidates I like Cain the most. He is genuine and comfortable when he speaks and he has a highly successful background, he has never been a politician, which I think is a real virtue, and he endorses the Fair Tax, which would abolish federal income taxes and the IRS. If you don’t know anything about the Fair Tax then check it out. It is gaining a lot of momentum and it would solve many of the problems America faces.

1,347.4 miles to go.

Day250 Friday 05/06/11

ran 4.2 miles

• New Mexico was the forty-seventh state to join the union on January 6, 1912, one month before Arizona and five years after Oklahoma.

• Population, as of 2010, is 2,059,179.

• Senators are Jeff Bingaman (D) and Tom Udall (D).

• Representatives are Martin Heinrich (D), Steven Pearce (R) and Ben Lujan (D).

• New Mexico has five electoral votes. Historically, the state has voted for thirteen Democrats and twelve Republicans. As split as New Mexico’s votes have been over the past ninety-nine years, they have remarkably only voted for the losing side twice (Gerald Ford in 1976 and George W. Bush in 2000). Barack Obama defeated John McCain 57% to 42% in 2008.

April jobs +244,000, yet unemployment back up to nine percent. Fannie Mae reports $8.7 billion loss for first quarter; seeks $8.5 billion more from taxpayers. Gas national average $3.99. No word of 2012 budget talks in the news.

Osama Bin Laden.

Osama Bin Laden.

Osama Bin Laden.

Osama Bin Laden.

Osama Bin Laden.

This good news and massive distraction from the issues that were being covered up until Sunday night could not have come at a better time for our president. The more important domestic issues we have been wrestling with have been put to the side like a steak pushed away to devour a few fries.

Osama Bin Laden.

1,351.3 miles to go.

Day249 Thursday 05/05/11

ran 3.5 miles
Some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 26% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 35% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –9.

• Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Barack Obama’s performance and 50% disapprove. Since Osama Bin Laden’s death, Obama’s numbers have improved, though only an amount nearly not worth mentioning. This nation’s interpretation of its president remains almost equally divided.

• Regarding Obama’s budget proposal, 30% of American voters favor it and 50% oppose it.

• Dropping slightly, 47% of American voters favor repeal of Health Care Law.

• Only 25% of American voters believe America is heading in the right direction.

Gas prices are through the roof, jobless claims are at an eight-month high, polarized budget battles are being waged with no end in sight, and our president has the audacity to discuss a tax on how many miles you drive each day. This is part of the administration’s Transportation Opportunities Act. Where do they come up with these names? “Opportunity”? For who? That makes as much sense as limiting conservative talk radio with a “fairness” doctrine. It’s not fair; it’s censorship.

Who discusses a tax per mile driven at a time like this? It is insult to injury! Nearly half of the people in this nation do not even make enough money to have to pay federal income taxes. While they certainly sit on the receiving end of others who do pay income taxes, I don’t think this would settle well for them, either, or anybody else.

1,355.5 miles to go.