Day525 Sunday 02/05/12

ran 2.8 miles
Today ends week seventy-five of running against Obama. I ran 23.7 miles this week, averaging 3.39 miles per day.

Nevada has spoken and they want Mitt Romney. Romney had a landslide victory winning nearly half of the vote, just as he had achieved in 2008. The next few states the candidates will be visiting have Romney polling on top and it is looking more and more like he will be the candidate to face Obama. That being said, though, nothing would surprise me as this year continues to unravel.

I will take any one of these guys we have to choose from to go head to head with Barack Obama. Romney is not my first choice but I will take anyone but Obama. My first choice is Ron Paul and here is my logic. The most efficient way to counteract someone as radical as Barack Obama is to replace him with someone equally radical in the opposite direction. I don’t think Paul stands a good chance of being the final nominee, but that is where I stand.

The general consensus is that Romney has the best chance of defeating Barack Obama, but it is an unpleasant reality we face that our candidates’ ideas are compromised by the notion that they don’t stand a chance against Barack Obama. Even more unfortunate is the idea that Barack Obama is such a threat. I would put a plank of wood up against this president and vote for it, but there are plenty of others who feel very differently.

474.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day160.

Day524 Saturday 02/04/12

ran 2.2 miles
According to a story from TheGuardian, written by Tania Branigan, China recently cut off Internet connections and mobile phone signals with the simple flip of a switch on a specific thirty-mile area in Sichuan. This area in Sichuan was the site where two Tibetan exiles were shot and killed during a protest. As a result, an uprising is surfacing that the Chinese government would like to quell. The Chinese government claims that Tibetan monks were attacking the Chinese police and that they responded in self-defense. However, the monks claim they were holding a peaceful protest.

I tend to believe the monks. The reason I am sharing this story is because I think it is important to realize that this sort of thing can happen to us right here in America. Remember Egypt? The beginning of the Arab Spring? The Egyptian government flipped the switch on the Internet to prevent its people from organizing through social networking. As you read these words our American government is discussing numerous forms of Internet censorship and our president also has a kill switch for the Internet. As issues continue to escalate around the world and right here in our own country, it is frightening to imagine waking up one day in the middle of a science fiction novel like “1984” or “Brave New World”.

If you have ever read George Orwell’s “1984” then you are familiar with the formula 2+2=5. If have not read the book, and I highly recommend it, "2+2=5" is a conclusion that the books fictitious government convinces the lead character, Winston, to understand and accept as a logical sum of two and two. As ridiculous as that sounds, the novel was far ahead of its time, as science fiction tends to be, but here in reality, in the year 2012, here is an explanation from the mind of a government proving in their eyes that two plus two can indeed equal five.

These are some quotes from CMP (Connected Mathematics Project) textbooks. These textbooks are not widespread but they have been in circulation since the nineties and they are the product of the "New World Order" that our government and many other governments have slowly been working toward since the first Bush. The Agenda 21 story you may have heard about represents an effort to create a global village in which constitutions and history are done away with and the entire earth is governed by one united entity. Their vision is one where everything is miserably fair and oppressively equal. One of the first things necessary to perform a task of this gravity is to dumb-down an entire generation of human beings; hence, Connected Mathematics.

"They learn that mathematics is man-made, that it is arbitrary, and good solutions are arrived at by consensus among those who are considered expert."

Basically, humankind arrives at a state of idiocracy in which they do not have the desire to question how two apples in one hand and two apples in the other hand make five apples, but experts, or their government, tell them there are five and they simply nod.

"Because the curriculum does not emphasize arithmetic computations done by hand, some CMP students may not do as well on tests assessing computational skills...We believe such a trade-off in favor of CMP is very much to students' advantage in...the world of work."

???!

Here is another example of two plus two equaling five.

"Generally, more highly educated people, who have higher incomes, consume more resources than poorly educated people, who tend to have lower incomes. In this case, more education increases the threat to sustainability."



Global sustainability. Global equality. Global utopia. This stuff sounds farfetched but it has been permeating through the cracks of our American pride and beliefs for two decades and we are beyond the point of simply closing our eyes and just hoping that it goes away.

I can tell you this. Freedom, liberty, and capitalism have never been the result of a human conditioning process. They do not require textbooks, propaganda, or convincing. I'd venture to say they are human elements. They are inherent and instinctive. Yet, right before our eyes, we all apparently need to be re-educated.

477.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day159.

Day523 Friday 02/03/12

1,600 miles!!!

ran 3.7 miles
Today was a big mile marker and just a few days ago I finished the seventeenth month of running against Obama. It’s still hard many evenings, running and getting caught up in all of this news on a daily basis, but I feel it is important. There is a questionable sense of navigation steering our American ship and it is often difficult not to question the validity of our nation’s compass.

Now that Barack Obama’s presidential term is culminating we can only review what has happened in what will soon be the past four years and attempt to filter his actions into a more concentrated conclusion.

In 2008, we were already $9-plus trillion in debt, Barack Obama was running for president, blaming George Bush for every problem we had, and even claiming that it was unpatriotic for Bush to raise the debt ceiling, further increasing our national debt---an action Obama would go on to outperform. America was in an official recession and our president decided to sign sweeping legislation to reform health care, which would cost hundreds of billions of nonexistent tax dollars. He signed a stimulus package teetering on one trillion dollars that went on to reveal its greatest accomplishments in the form of bonuses for bankers and bankrupted alternative energy corporations. Then the mid-term elections arrived. Americans spoke up by firing many of the Democrats who voted for Obama’s ideas. The House of Representatives acquired an eclipsing majority and nearly claimed the Senate. From that point forward, Barack Obama increased his executive orders, deflected all blame onto his Congress, and, coincidentally, Occupy Wall Street emerged. As an aside, here is why I think OWS was a completely orchestrated, well-organized plot to stir class warfare in America. If nothing else, America is original. We are pioneers of social and political movements. OWS showed up to the international protest party way too late. But, on the other hand, the Tea Party was responsibly and effectively creating real change before the Arab Spring or the unoriginal, uninspiring Occupy Wall Street group showed up. Our president currently blames Congress for all of our problems and his reason is because they refuse to cooperate with his vision. But the members of Congress he is referring to were put into office by Americans from numerous different states that wanted to put the brakes on his motives. They are simply performing their job description as assigned by the people of America who voted for them.

So here we are. It’s a full-blown battle of money and mudslinging to win the votes of hundreds of millions of Americans. Our electoral process is unscrupulous and seems to deviate from everything that would normally define logic, but it is what it is.

When November arrives this year and you cast your vote, remember that everything Barack Obama has achieved, whether he has made your life better or worse, has been on the backs of unborn Americans in the form of national debt that shows no signs of decreasing any time soon.

479.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day158.

Day522 Thursday 02/02/12

ran 3.5 miles
WWJD? Remember that? What would Jesus do?

Apparently Jesus would like Barack Obama to raise some serious taxes and to redistribute wealth. Today, Barack Obama successfully achieved channeling not only Jesus, but also Muhammad, Moses, Plato, any one of the numerous Hindu deities, and a few other Gods, saviors, and prophets and they all seem to concur that they want our president to raise taxes and to redistribute wealth at a scope never before conceived in American history.

WWBOD?

How does this man push legislation encouraging abortion and gay marriage and in the same breath cite the Bible and refer to the Koran. Choose one or the other because you cannot have both, Mr. President. The American bible-thumpers see right through you and we all know how Muslims feel about homosexuality. As a side note, I am not conveying a position with either abortion or homosexuality. I am just pointing out how oblivious our president is to the contradictions that are coming out of his mouth and how desperate he must feel to make reference to as many religious and philosophical figures he could think of in one breath---all agreeing that his idea is the most illuminated one out there. His idea has been tried many times and has failed an equal number of times.

483.5 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day157.

Day521 Wednesday 02/01/12

ran 4.8 miles

There is a refreshing glimpse of what could be.

The WashingtonExaminer reported Gallup’s annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers yesterday in an article written by Conn Carroll.

According to Gallup:

“Overall, Obama averaged 44% job approval in his third year in office, down from 47% in his second year. His approval rating declined from 2010 to 2011 in most states, with Wyoming, Connecticut, and Maine showing a marginal increase, and Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia showing declines of less than a full percentage point. The greatest declines were in Hawaii, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico.”

We often hear that President Obama is a huge threat to win a second term and that only this candidate or that candidate can beat him, but then you see Gallup put out a prediction of a humiliating defeat as the map above indicates and one can’t help but wonder why there is so much contradiction in the information that constantly cascades through the minds of every one of us.

My point is, that map above is one that I hope becomes a reality in November, but it could reflect a completely opposite outcome and I would be equally indifferent to its message. Our news sources are all over the place and equally abundant are their contradictions with one another. News is good but it is up for interpretation.

The question of whether Barack Obama deserves a second term or not has little to do with all of the debatable information our eyes and ears gather sitting in front of computers, radios, computers, newspapers, and magazines. This guy has not been walking a tight rope between two political sides in which arguments can counterweigh one another to maintain a sense of balance. There is no aisle. The aisle is a wall that Barack Obama built with his decisions.

My biggest concerns are the strength of our economy and the decimating of our national debt. Everything else dovetails right into the empowerment derived from these two issues being dealt with directly. Our president is achieving nothing, regardless of unemployment numbers, gas prices, house values (none of which are anything to brag about), or anything else you can think of, as long as he keeps building all of his (arguable) successes on piling up debt that is the product of spending money by the trillions that simply does not exist.

487.0 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day156.

Day520 Tuesday 01/31/12

ran 2.8 miles
We all know the score in Florida. So, here is to keeping our eyes on the ball.

Clinton, version 2.0: “it’s not just the economy, stupid, it’s also the debt.”

From an article written by David Rogers from Politico

This will make four consecutive years that Washington faces a $1 trillion-plus deficit. And this sum of tax dollars is actually a sub-deficit of our total deficit of $15.2 trillion, which is in the process of growing to an additional overall $16.4 trillion.

Our debt at the end of 2011 surpassed GDP for the first time in America history. No household lives like this so how is it that our federal government does? It makes no sense and it will only last so long.

Nearly half of this country is convinced that Barack Obama has made progress but what I don’t understand is how that percentage of people consider his actions to be progress when everything he has done has been at the expense of inflating our national debt to a point that it will pop like a balloon in the very near future.

If you or I had a credit card with an endless spending limit and if we had no sense of obligation to pay the debts we stacked up then we could also do some convincing things to make us equally as impressive to those who so passionately support Barack Obama and his failed direction. Our current president has no desire to quell our national debt and every desire to increase it. Yet nearly half of this country does not recognize the destructive destination right in front of their faces. It’s a simple, straight highway and the exit form America as we know it is just on the horizon.

491.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day155.

Day519 Monday 01/30/12

17 Months!!!

ran 3.9 miles
There were a lot of good news stories today but this is the one I chose to cover tonight for the simple reason that it is just ridiculous enough to fully represent the overboard thought processes of extreme liberal groups.

From a HuffingtonPost article, written by Michael McAuliff, “A liberal super PAC is set Monday to launch what it is billing as a multimillion dollar campaign to ‘Take Down the Tea Party Ten.’”

This campaign is being run by the progressive group CREDO (a group that can receive unlimited donations) and their objective is to defeat ten members of Congress viewed by the left as the “worst of the worst”.

Before even reading deeper into this story it is my opinion that the Republican names on this liberal list ought to be flattered for being singled out and the bland, childish accusations the progressive group is assaulting them with only serve as further evidence of how out of touch some of those on the left are with all reality.

“We’re talking about some of the most odious members of Congress. Even for Republicans these guys are low...We're going to empower local activists to organize their friends and neighbors to lay out the truth about their representatives in the most basic terms. They are anti-woman. They are anti-science. They are hypocritical, bigoted, and have said and done things that are downright crazy. They've done more to embarrass their constituents than they have to govern or work toward solutions. They are unfit for Congress, and we're going to help their constituents hold them accountable."

Campaign Manager Matthew “Mudcat” Arnold

Only six Representatives have been selected as targets so far. They are Representatives Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), Steve King (R-Iowa), Allen West (R-Fla.), Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), Frank Guinta (R-N.H.), and Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.)

The CREDO super PAC will be opening offices in each of the targeted members’ districts to network with individuals in the areas who already oppose these members of Congress.

Anti-woman? Anti-science? Hypocritical and bigoted? Downright crazy?

These accusations are more meaninglessly general and unfounded than the grade-school level message our president’s State of the Union Address achieved on Tuesday night.

Good luck, CREDO, and here is a recent quote from “downright crazy”Allen West:

“We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain’t on the table. Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.”

494.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day154.

Day518 Sunday 01/29/12

ran 1.8 miles
Today ends week seventy-four of running against Obama. I ran 21.7 miles this week, averaging 3.10 miles per day.

The “RIAA” shown over and over again in the video above stands for Recording Industry Association of America. Last year President Obama appointed former RIAA lawyer Donald Verrilli, Jr. to the position of America’s solicitor general. This is the position that was left vacant by Elena Kagan when she ascended to the Supreme Court. Verrilli is one of five former RIAA lawyers appointed to Barack Obama’s administration.

Is it any surprise that legislation like SOPA. PIPA, and ACTA are such hot topics right now?

American tax dollars bail out the banks after their actions victimize and jeopardize the entire American economy and Barack Obama and his lawyers make sweeping legislation on copyright infringement a top priority.

498.5 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day153.

Day517 Saturday 01/28/12

ran 3.1 miles
Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912-November 16, 2006) was an American economist who ranked next to John Maynard Keynes. But, he was the antithesis of Keynes who, coincidentally, is the man who theorized the model Barack Obama’s early economic team followed when they stimulated our economy. Friedman thought otherwise, as the video above depicts.

Here are some quotes from Milton Friedman:

“Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.”

“Governments never learn. Only people learn.”

“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.”

“Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.”

“The greatest advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science and literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.”

“The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”

“The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.”



500.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day152.

Day516 Friday 01/27/12

image

ran 4.6 miles

Another Obama-backed green company stimulated by our tax dollars back in 2009 has gone belly-up. Ener1, a company that manufactures electric car batteries, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday after failing to repay stacking debt.

This list will get bigger but here is what we are looking at so far. Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer out of California devoured $535 million of our money and filed for bankruptcy. Beacon Power, an energy storage firm out of Massachusetts filed for bankruptcy compromising $43 million of our money. And the latest entry, Ener1, ate $118 million of the dollars that you and I work hard for every day.

It is understandable that things like this happen far too often and it is not my intention to exploit these few incidents to completely characterize the performance of our president. Three green companies that Barack Obama endorsed with our tax dollars going bankrupt is only a thread from the fabric of reasons why he does not deserve a second term, but these companies going bankrupt while he passes up opportunities like not signing the Keystone pipeline, which would have created tens of thousands of jobs, tax revenue, and furthered energy independence---that is a slap in the face.

503.4 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day151.

Day515 Thursday 01/26/12

ran 1.3 miles
Informative Alex Jones video above and here are some stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 25% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 38% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of –13.

That is Obama’s best presidential index rating in a month and the number of those who agree the country is moving in the right direction has reached its highest level in the past seven months at 26%.

• Overall, 46% of voters at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance while 52% at least somewhat disapprove.

• In a potential 2012 match-up: Obama 46%, Romney 43% and Obama 48%, Gingrich 41%

• Florida GOP Primary: Romney 39%, Gingrich 31%, Santorum 12%, Paul 9%

• Among American voters, 59% say creating new jobs is more important than protecting environment.

• A large percent (71%) see government censorship of internet as bigger threat than illegal downloading.

508.0 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day150.

Day514 Wednesday 01/25/12

ran 3.3 miles
A picture is worth a thousand words? This one is worth 15.2 trillion.

This is how Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona greeted President Obama today as he stepped off Air Force One. There are many valuable experiences I would almost trade from my own life in exchange for the opportunity to wave me finger in front of Barack Obama's face to tell him what is on my mind. Jan Brewer was given that opportunity and she seized it.

The envelope President Obama is holding in his left hand is a hand-written letter from Governor Brewer imploring the president to sit down with her to discuss what she describes as the "Arizona Comeback". This led into a bitter exchange of words regarding Brewer's book "Scorpion's for Breakfast", in which Obama felt he was not treated "cordially". And within moments an argument broke out.

Apparently, Governor Brewer has been requesting President Obama to visit the Arizona border with her to review the progress her state has made and he has refused. That may have something to do with the finger pointed at his face in the picture above.

This story is from the DrudgeReport and it is still developing so it is unclear what exactly is behind the emotion exhibited in the picture, but this is known: Barack Obama walked away from Brewer while she was mid-sentence.

I saw a ten-year-old do the same thing a couple days ago in a grocery store when his mom got in his face and told him to behave.

Just look at that picture! What caption would you put on that?

509.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day149.

Day513 Tuesday 01/24/12

ran 3.7 miles
President Obama’s first three State of the Union Addresses were enough for me. He has been deemed. He had three years and based on his performance there is nothing he can say or do to remove the dye he has cast in that time.

Our president and his Democrat-led Senate have not passed a budget in over 1,000 days. There is a great amount of necessity for individual Americans to have budgets. There is even more necessity for households to have budgets. But a government representing 300-something million people has not had need for a budget in over 1,000 days?

We have over $15 trillion in debt. Our government spends over $7 million dollars per minute. That is more than $420 million per hour and over $10 billion per day.

What about that Mr. President?

What significance does any other word that comes out of his mouth have if we keep spending the way we do---without a budget! It is pure irresponsibility. Our president has a lot of expensive ideas but mentions little about entitlement reform are slashing spending. He paves a path that inspires millions of people but costs trillions of dollars to unborn Americans who will be born owing a debt they had nothing to do with. Our president only seems to see what is right before him and not the perils his actions place on the horizon beyond his sight.

512.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day148.

Day512 Monday 01/23/12

ran 3.9 miles
According to a December 2008 internal memo from Lawrence Summers, at that time an incoming senior economic adviser to president-elect Obama, he and other advisers rejected the idea of a giant stimulus package.

The 2009 stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which totaled $787 billion, was passed regardless of Summers’ warning that “it would be hard to spend more than $300 billion on government investment and anything above that would have to come from transfers to the states and tax cuts”. He also said that a giant stimulus of more than $1 trillion aimed at rapidly reducing the unemployment rate “would likely not accomplish the goal because of the impact it would have on markets”.

The memo lays out four different stimulus approaches ranging from $550 billion to $890 billion. In an article from FinancialTimes, written by Robin Harding, Harding points out that Obama’s advisers “made a serious political misjudgment, believing that if they asked for too small of a stimulus, it would be easy to go back to Congress and ask for more”.

That was obviously not the case after looking back at how furious Americans were when they voted out so many House and Senate democrats during the mid-term elections of 2010.

516.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day147.