Day742 Sunday 09/09/12

ran 2.1 miles

Today ends week 106 of running against Obama. I ran 20.2 miles this week, averaging 2.89 miles per day.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 244.2 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day377. 

Here is what happened two years ago on Day11.

Day741 Saturday 09/08/12

ran 1.8 miles

Here are 11 facts that will make you scratch your head in confusion. As of today, President Obama is leading Mitt Romney 49 to 45 percent according to Gallup. That, compounded by these facts, is enough to also drop your jaw if you feel the need.  

1.  When you include the underutilized labor figure with the eight million Americans who have lost hope altogether and stopped looking for a job, real unemployment now stands at just under 19 percent.

2.  If the labor force were the same as when President Obama took office in January 2009, the unemployment rate reported on Friday would be 11.2 percent. 

3.  A record 88,921,000 Americans are no longer in the labor force. To be included in that figure, an individual must be over 16 years of age, a civilian, not in a mental hospital or nursing home, and have stopped hunting for a job for at least four weeks.

4.  The average American lost 40 percent of their wealth from 2007 to 2010. 

5.  Every fifth man in America is out of work.

6.  One out of two Americans are now low-income or below the poverty line.  

7.  Over the past four years, 400,000 food stamp recipients a month have been added to the welfare dole. 

8.  In 2006-2007, 90 percent of college graduates landed jobs. Under Obama, just 56 percent find work after college.

9.  A gallon of gasoline cost $1.84 when Obama entered office. Today, a gallon of gas costs $3.77. 

10.  Every fourth home mortgage in America is underwater. 

11.  Under Obama, healthcare costs have skyrocketed 18.9 percent. 

Wynton Hall, Breitbart.com

Another article from Breitbart.com by John Nolte:

Obamanomics: 173k new food stamp recipients, 96k new jobs

Yesterday's jobs report came out and while unemployment went from 8.3% to 8.1%, what they didn't tell you was that the number dropped primarily because of the amount of Americans who simply quit looking for work. After four weeks of not looking for work one ceases to be a statistic in the unemployment formula.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 242.1

Here is what happened one year ago on Day376. 

Here is what happened two years ago on Day10.

Day740 Friday 09/07/12

ran 3.4 miles

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 240.3

Here is what happened one year ago on Day375. 

Here is what happened two years ago on Day9.

Day739 Thursday 09/06/12

ran 3.2 miles

I recommend watching this video after hearing Barack Obama speak tonight at the DNC. Many people I spoke with today said they refuse to watch President Obama speak tonight because there is nothing he can say to defend his first term and hearing him speak is too infuriating. I agree, but I am intrigued to see what this guy has to say tonight. 

This is a big speech for him. It's too bad the weather is so clear in Charlotte and that Democrats have no scapegoat for moving the president's speech from the 74,000 seat stadium to the 20,000 seat venue he will be speaking at instead. Those 54,000 people who traveled from all over the country to see him must be really disappointed.

The video above highlights our president's failed promises for transparency, which he failed to deliver. But, this change of venue is probably the most transparent message that this administration has ever sent.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 236.9

Here is what happened one year ago on Day374.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day8.

Day738 Wednesday 09/05/12

ran 3.3 miles

These Democrats are a mess. Here we are in the middle of the Democratic National Convention and they are scrambling around last minute to change their platform to make mention of "God" and to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. They, and by "they" I mean our current president and the team of space cadets he has running his campaign and advising him, have opted last minute to all of a sudden change their stance on these two extremely important topics.

Ridiculous.

If this president can't even decide until the middle of his Democratic National Convention whether to allow the utterance of "God" or to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel then why should anyone believe he has the capacity to mean anything he says or the ability to confidently make decisions?

Chaos ensued as the delegates found out these two issues were being put up to a vote for inclusion on the platform. This is what we are up against. 

As I type these words I am anxiously waiting to hear what Bill Clinton has to say tonight. By the time many of you read this he will have spoken and more than likely tried his best to help Barack Obama's chance for reelection. However, there is always the chance that he might get up there and say how he really feels about Barack Obama. As you watch him speak, just remember he is being forced to sing praise for the man who defeated his wife for the presidency. I doubt anything negative will come from his speech, but what if? It's amusing to consider.

Oh, and Barack Obama's "rain or shine" venue for his acceptance speech in a stadium that seats 74,000 people, which he said would be filled...it's been moved to a 20,000 seat venue (the same place everyone else is speaking). And I have a feeling there are not 74,000 disappointed individuals who made the trip to hear him speak.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 233.7

Here is what happened one year ago on Day373.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day7.

Day737 Tuesday 09/04/12

ran 3.2 miles

Great ad. It's like pulling a string from the back of a doll's head that has a collection of random and meaningless prerecorded promises.

And one other thing---here are 689 economic reasons "National Review Online" feels Barack Obama should not be reelected. I only need two or three but NRO apparently felt it was necessary to squeeze every last drop of his abysmal failures.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 230.4

Here is what happened one year ago on Day372.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day6.

  

Day736 Monday 09/03/12

ran 3.2 miles

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 227.2

Here is what happened one year ago on Day371.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day5.

Day735 Sunday 09/02/12

ran 2.0 miles

Today ends week 105 of running against Obama. I ran 24.5 miles this week, averaging 3.50 miles per day.

I think this is supposed to be a sand sculpture of Barack Obama in front of the Democratic National Convention. The sculpture was ominously rained on a few days ago, making the case stronger that perhaps this was a bad idea to begin with. What comes to mind when you look at it? Shovel-ready jobs? Head in the sand?

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 224.0

Here is what happened one year ago on Day370.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day4.

Day734 Saturday 09/01/12

ran 3.4 miles

2,300 MILES!!!

Stats and polls from Rasmussen Reports:

• Romney 47%, Obama 44

• Barack Obama’s presidential index rating shows that 25% of American voters strongly approve of his performance while 41% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential index rating of -16.

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

• Only 28% say U.S. heading in right direction.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 222.0

Here is what happened one year ago on Day369.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day3.

Day733 Friday 08/31/12

ran 3.6 miles

(Check out interactive painting here)

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 218.6 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day368.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day2.

Day732 Thursday 08/30/12

2 YEARS!!!

ran 3.7 miles

It was on August 30, 2010, that I ran my first mile against Barack Obama. Today marks two years of achieving something I never expected to be capable of doing. I've run 2,295 miles against this man, averaging 3.14 miles per day, and every single step has been a demonstration and a protest against what he and his administration have done to undermine what I believe to be the defining characteristics of America, as it was intended to be.

Here is a look back at Day1 and the first mile run against President Obama:

"I just made my first run in my hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana. As you read further you will begin to understand that this is the first of many important runs I will have coming my way until November 6, 2012. This day will be a Tuesday and more importantly it will be Election Day for the next president of the United States of America. It will either be Barack Obama or someone else. To get right to the point of what this blog is about I am determined to help someone else win by personally running against Barack Obama for the next two years. I am going to run every single day regardless of what state or city I am in or what street I am running on. Weather will not stop me and illness will not deter me in any way from accomplishing this goal that I have.

I am running against Barack Obama because I am not a politician. I am running against him because I have an average job and no money to campaign with. I am running against him because this is the only thing I can think of to do to try to strengthen the point that there are millions upon millions of other people in this country that feel the way I do and that our united voice is constantly ignored on extremely important issues that our government keeps locked away in a suggestion box our leaders and representatives refuse to open.

Running and blogging are the tools I am going to use for this campaign and my platform is to get Obama out. I will attend no caucuses and my pundits will be few. Mudslinging will be self-inflicted from the heels of my shoes. The only primary I will participate in will be running myself into exhaustion everyday for the next two years and blogging about it.

It is out of belief and admiration in this country and all of the brave history I have read about it since its conception that I feel drawn to do this. It is from two years of talking with family and friends, eavesdropping on others at coffee shops and malls, listening to their discontentment in American politics, and generally feeling that so many others simply must feel the way I do…that so many things just seem wrong. Yet, what can you do to really make a difference? It is a helpless and desolate feeling, especially at this point in time with so much at stake. That is why I am doing this. If only a handful of people ever trip over this blog then I will be happy. I am tired of saying the same things over and over, hearing other people complain about the same stuff over and over, and nothing being done. There is one simple fact that our government cares as little about as the masses of people in this country fail to consider. We have numbers. We have an astronomical amount of numbers compared to what any government can successfully deceive or manipulate. But, like ants in a kicked over anthill, we all seem to run outside and make a fuss only to scurry right back into our homes and forget. This trait is one of our weakest contemporary shortcomings. We have grown to accept that politics are politics and that things are what they are. That is not how this country was founded and it is certainly not why you are so happy to be a citizen of it. We are different here compared to the rest of the world and things are not what they are.

Each day from this day forward I am going to run whatever formidable amount of mileage I can endure, regardless of weather or illness, until I reach or break my goal of 2,080 miles. I chose that number because it is the distance from my home in Lafayette, Louisiana to Washington, DC and back. Just to give you an idea of my daily quota for running, it will be a rough average of 2.62 miles a day everyday for over two years. And everyday that I run I am going to post on this blog. My reward is good health and a creative outlet in exchange for the frustrating and senseless governing our government has shut its people up with over the past two years. And as time will tell, it is not only Obama, or either of the two parties as a whole, that consume the political arena of senselessness. The emergence of tea parties across the American landscape was a huge message not only to our current president but also to the American Government in general. And this was a long inevitable process over the last few decades in American history, seeing what the American peoples’ breaking point was. Barack Obama just happens to be the proverbial straw that could possibly break America’s back. His ideas and motives are so radically life-changing in America for me as I interpret his direction, that another term would give him the opportunity to do what he really wants to do, without the consequence of having to earn another term by being only mildly as extreme as he is now.

It is our constitutional right to weigh our government on a scale and to write that weight down. And it is our government’s obligation to eat more, trim some fat or to continue its diet based on that number.

I ran 1.3 miles today. It was hot, humid and awesome to get this blog started. The idea of doing this occurred to me in July of 2010. Just as I was about to start stomping the pavement some unexpected travel came up with my job. Then my wife, Lindsey, and I took a small vacation when I got back. After a brief postponement of getting this thing started, the idea was ready to be taken out of the back of my mind and polished up. I discussed it with my wife and she agreed that someone else would indeed be the better candidate and that I should do this. After all, in order for someone else to win he or she will have to contradict most of the ideals that Obama believes in, so for the short term that has to be the indisputable option, at least for now."

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 215.0

Here is what happened one year ago on Day367.

Here is what happened two years ago on Day1.

Day731 Wednesday 08/29/12

ran 3.3 miles

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Some of you may know, the last time I spoke at a convention, it turned out I was in the wrong place. So, Tampa, my fellow Republicans, thank you for welcoming me where I belong.”

Former Representative Artur Davis (D-AL) gave a nomination speech for President Obama at the DNC back in 2008. He is now a Republican living in Virginia who changed parties based on the direction Barack Obama is leading our nation.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 211.3

Here is what happened one year ago on Day366.

Day730 Tuesday 08/28/12

ran 3.6 miles

Short post tonight. Preparing for this hurricane. I'm in Lafayette, LA, which is about 2 and 1/2 hours northwest of New Orleans. Not expecting it to be too bad but always best to prepare for the worst. I'm not expecting many trees to fall over but any other objects that lack roots will be in a different spot by tomorrow morning if not moved tonight.

This is a video that caught my eye from the Republican National Convention. Mia Love. She is the current mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, and she is running for a spot in the House of Representatives in 2012. She is also aiming to earn the title of first black GOP congresswoman. Here is what she had to say.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 208.0

Here is what happened one year ago on Day365.

Day729 Monday 08/27/12

ran 4.9 miles

Feds: "Too few Americans turn to government for assistance."---our government took a poll and concluded that only 15% of Americans were turning to the federal government for help in tough times. This is another example of our government calling us stupid. Look around. If our government can get away with making such a foolish statement then what do they truly think of our intelligence?  The number of people who receive federal aid in some form is more like one in every four people you know.

“Given that only 15 percent of you turn to government assistance in tough times, we want to make sure you know about benefits that could help you."

USA.gov

Our government created a website to inform its voters of how unbelievably easy it is to get unearned tax dollars and to suck on that teat for as long as possible. Thank you, federal government. I hope that bodes well for you on November 6. 

These were their findings:

The question posed was, "What helps you the most during tough times?"

• Savings: 44%

• Family: 21%

• Credit cards/loans: 20%

• Government assistance: 15%

It's laughable, yet this is a page with "gov" at the end of its web address. So, by all means, peruse this site and find yourself a way to feel like a victim. Pick it up off the wireless shelf and plug it into the spot left vacant by every dream and ambition you once had.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 204.4

Here is what happened one year ago on Day364.