Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system. You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can. This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing. Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.
I know I was going to wait until next week to start this journal but something happened this week that has made me want to jump in early. Today's post won't be a journal because I haven't really done anything except plan. Instead, this will be my road map to hell (you know, my best of intentions).
Let me explain what happened first and then explain how I plan on fixing it.
I haven't been exercising much since getting hit in the throat during karate practice. My diet hasn't been terrible for the most part but there have been periods of terrible. As a result, I've been putting the weight back on that P90X took off. I've seen it coming and I've known that I'll need to get back to exercising and thought that the new year would be the appropriate time.
We are going on a cruise in June and I want to be in excellent shape, both so I look good and so I can fully take part in any activities that I choose. My wife and I both had plans to start after the new year in preparation for the cruise.
I'm starting a week early because my gut says that I have to.
Barrack Obama may have surrounded him with some of Clinton's best advisors and Mike Chuckabee might have one of the most powerful forces in the known universe on his side by Hillary doesn't care because she is more powerful than all of them put together all by herself.
I'm not talking about recent comments by Bill Clinton that Hillary is apparently a super-genius and president and founder of Mensa and that Obama needs to be a strong leader that can stand on his own without the help of intelligent people around him.
No, I'm talking about the fact that Hillary, just by the power of her words when she takes office as the president, will lower oil prices. Her inaugural address will be so powerful that the powers of supply and demand will bend to her will. If she is elected president, out of fear, oil producing countries will lower oil prices to $60-$70 a barrel.
I am thinking about changing my vote but someone that powerful doesn't need my vote.
On a day when the best news that could be found for politics was that a candidate flies in a helicopter, a candidate goes to church, and sometimes birds get inside buildings, how did the media let something like this slip their grasp? (Just watch to where they show the lines of people coming down the hill)
It wasn't just in Los Angeles either. These things were going on all over the country. Ron Paul took part in the same kind reenactment himself. This was a huge story and a place like LA should have had helicopters flying over head giving us a sense of how huge this movement is.
Of course, that would ruin the "dozen spammers" and "will these people leave their computers?" stories they have been running from the beginning.
This post isn't about the Old Media black out of Ron Paul because it's way too late now. Old Media lost and the Revolution is real and Ron Paul is going to be the Republican nominee unless the powers that be alter the vote.
The continued media black out will change all future elections though.
First a quick bit of housekeeping for my P90X readers. I am going to start over with P90X after the New Year. Between travel and work (security in a casino over New Year's is nuts), I'm putting my P90X training and reporting on hold. I will start with Week #1 again when my schedule settles into a pattern.
Mike Huckabee has had a "shocking" surge in the polls in Iowa lately. I haven't figured out who was shocked by the surge but they said it on TV so it must be true.
Understand that when I discuss politics and the Old Media, it's with the assumption that they are aiming for a showdown between Rudy and Hillary. I have no scientific backing of this other than that's what most people believe will happen. Where did they get this belief? Well, yeah, from the TV.
If you ask people why they believe it's going to come down to these two people, they don't really have an answer. The one answer you get on the Republican side is that Rudy is "the only one that can beat Hillary." This answer implies that Hillary is going to be the Democratic nominee but again, you have to ask, why do they believe this? What is it about Rudy that makes him able to beat Hillary?
I've already discussed Huckabee's rise to fame and its reason from my viewpoint and said that the Old Media would be working very hard before the Iowa Caucus to destroy the preacher's good name (did he have a good name?).
Here's a nice little piece that has been done on Huckabee in the Christmas spirit:
For thinking people, this story has some problems.
Ron Paul leads the Republicans in terms of supporter activity and campaign donations and yet the obsomedia refuses to acknowledge him. They aren't offering excuses anymore and are just not covering him the way they would any other social phenomenon of this size.
The people who run the TV stations and newspapers are probably pounding their heads against their desk each night. Not the owners of the companies but the people responsible for trying to get viewers. The "Ron Paul Effect" has been well established online. If you want to increase viewers, talk about Ron Paul. Everything in their advertiser-gathering blood is telling them to discuss Ron Paul but they have orders to black out the Congressman as much as possible. You know that blood pressure pill prescriptions have shot up this December.
On December 16th, the Ron Paul campaign broke the all time one day fundraising record when the Revolution donated over $6 million in a 24 hour period. The following day, the Old Media was rather lackluster in their reporting of such a momentous and unheard of event.
I reported my personal experience of the day after the Tea Party HERE and it was very well received by readers. Many of you left comments and I didn't have time to respond on the 17th. I'd like to take some time now to respond to the comments of that day because I appreciate your input so much.
Before I get to the Mailbag, as they say on Old Media as they reach for letters that have been pre-sorted so that all Ron Paul questions have already been placed in the garbage, I'd like to share a video with you. Some time ago, I mentioned that Ron Paul supporters would start showing up where other candidates were doing "meet the people" pieces so that they could wave signs in the background. If the obsomedia won't come to Ron Paul, Ron Paul supporters will come to the media. Here's the funniest example that I have seen so far. Rudy is late in arriving and they are trying to report on it with dozens of Ron Paul people waving signs and yelling in the back. They do find one Rudy supporter to interview. Is it me or does his answer sound like it was recently memorized from a script?
He came into the election process as the front runner, the guy that was going to go head to head with Hillary Clinton and lose. Do you think he's going to just step down or do you think that when he loses the nomination, he'll attempt a third party bid for the White House?
If he does that, will he take votes away from Ron Paul and ruin Paul's chances against Hillary? Will he be a spoiler?
If Rudy wants the Republicans to win the White House, he'd be better off throwing his support behind Ron Paul. He has vowed that he won't do it but he has absolutely no chance of winning if he runs on his own. Third party candidates aren't allowed to win under the current system. What's his other choice? Endorse a Democrat?
I know I'm being a little presumptuous here because there's no guarantee that Hillary is going to win the nomination. Oprahama might be able to get enough people energized and out to vote that Hillary could lose. That would be unfortunate because I think that Ron Paul would have a harder time winning against Obama than he would against Hillary.
Harder but not impossible. Look at both Hillary's and Obama's themes and see how they compare when they go up against Ron Paul.
It doesn't affect my ego that I was wrong. I'm not surprised that I was wrong. I am deeply saddened that I was wrong but everything could work out for the best anyway. Let me explain since I've been gone for a couple of days.
On December 16th, Ron Paul supporters carried out their planned Tea Party fund raiser. It was a huge success. Huge as in, never been done before kind of huge. John Kerry was the previous record holder for fund raising but now it's Ron Paul. He raised a little over $6 million and is now being called the Six Million Dollar Man. I recap all of this because you might not know it.
See, I woke Monday morning and went down to the hotel lobby to grab a newspaper. I flipped to the political section of the USA Today, I believe it was, to check the headline.
"Hillary Clinton starting new campaign to try to convince people that she's actually a warm and caring person instead of a cold and calculating beeyotch." Those weren't the exact words and I can't remember the exact words now but that's what they were saying. I scanned the article and found out that McCain was being endorsed by a newspaper.
Down a bit farther was a small article, a paragraph that Ron Paul had raised over $5 million. Fine, I thought, they had to go to press before the 24 hours were up. I finished a bagel with Trey and went back to the room and turned on the TV.
I watched the Democratic debate today. Since deciding to vote for Ron Paul, I haven't paid too much attention to the Democrats except for what has been rammed down our throats by the obsomedia (Hillary and Oprah). I don't consider myself to be a member of any party although sometimes the rules make it so that you have to at least pretend to be in one of the parties. I registered as a Republican when I was Tinytown because the mayoral election was between 3 Republicans and no one else. Who ever one the nomination won the election. I registered as a Republican this time so that I could vote for Ron Paul in the Nevada caucus. It's the only way to vote in Nevada. I like New Hampshire's law where you don't have to jump through the hoop to be part of the Primary. We talk about the United States of America but we divide it as much as we can and even force the issue during election time. Anyway . . .
The moderator had learned some lessons from the Republican fiasco and the whole debate went much smoother. The candidates were given more time and there were fewer of them because Kucinich and Gravel weren't allowed to participate (ironic for me*). They all got along well and put on their best behavior for the voters of Iowa.
They all answered the questions they were given and gave pretty good answers, I thought. It was a completely different atmosphere from watching the Republican debate. If I wasn't voting for Ron Paul, I'd be voting for one of these guys.
Not that I would but if I had to make my choice from just watching this one debate, I'd be going for Edwards or Richardson.
CNN (Clinton Nomination Nonpareil) is obviously still going for Hillary.
After the debate yesterday which I watched on line, I actually turned on the TV to what the obsomedia had to say about the event. I watched CNN's Situation Room because I like Jack Cafferty. He says what he thinks and seems to have quite a bit of common sense. I make that statement based on the 60 seconds that he gets every 15 minutes. It's not much to go on but it's all I've got until I read his book.
Anyway, the big question of the debate is why is Huckabee racing up the polls in Iowa? Secondary is the question of why he's not going up in other polls. The poor pundits seem stumped and I guess no one has given them my phone number yet.
How does one cute comment about Jesus not getting into politics push Huckabee right to the top in two weeks? How did that one debate translate into better results than Rudy's name recognition and Mitt's multi-million dollar ad campaign.
It doesn't.
There. Quit pretending that this is all so shocking and such a mystery.
I just watched the Republican Debate in Iowa and it was interesting how many of the candidates are now giving lip service to the Constitution. In what they said, they haven't changed their stances to reflect actually obeying the Constitution but it's just interesting to see that they can no longer just dismiss Ron Paul. They understand that they have to say what he says if they want to stop losing ground.
Ron Paul was given more time in this debate and that was nice. A couple of the candidates don't care what the time clock says and will continue to talk well past the time they have been told to stop.
Many of them also don't answer the questions. This is normal but I have to wonder why the people running the debates allow that to be normal.
I would ask a question and point out that they didn't answer it and I would do it bluntly and move to the next candidate.
I liked the idea of lights so that candidates know when time is running out but I would take it a step further. A yellow light that shows that 15 seconds are left then a red light. Once the red light had been on for 15 seconds, the candidates mic would be turned off.
These ideas seem common sense to me. Sure, these are guys that are used to doing what the want and being in control but a couple things happen here. If it's your debate, claim it as your debate. Maintain control over the situation that you created by bringing them to your house. The other thing that's interesting is that a couple of these guys paid absolutely no heed to the rules that were set up. What does that say about them? Especially the ones that all of the sudden are paying lip service to the Constitution. If they can't follow simple rules, can you expect them to follow a "goddamn piece of paper"?
It was interesting to see the new turn. It was frustrating to watch them take 90 seconds to not answer a question they were given 60 seconds to answer. It reminds me why I don't enjoy politics. A couple of them talked about returning trust to the government but most of these guys are the same ole, same ole. Say what you think the right answer is, do whatever the hell you want to do, come back with spin to explain why you lied, and then do it all again.
Sadly, Ron Paul didn't give a clear answer when he was asked about what he would do about a Congress that would most likely hinder him every chance they had. I wanted to hear his answer. He was getting there saying that people would help but it doesn't get at the core. Congress doesn't represent the people. Congress represents corporations. How do you take a country that was created by the people for the people and give it back to the people? If he is elected, how will he get Congress to renege on the high paying deals they have going for them.
We voted in a new Congress to pull us out of the illegal war. They haven't done it. It doesn't look like they are going to do it. The people have spoken. 70% of us want an end to the war. We voted what we wanted. Poll after poll shows that, seriously, bring the troops home. You represent us. We want them home. Grow a set and bring them home. It hasn't happened. Instead, they are on the verge of handing over $70 billion more dollars with no time line. My favorite pundit line recently is that it's unlikely that Santa is going be giving backbones to Congress this year for Christmas.
Did they all lie to get into office? Maybe but I'll bet that a bunch of them went in with great intentions but things happen behind closed doors to change their minds.
If Ron Paul is elected president and he wants to take much of the control away from the government and give it back to the people, how will he do that? I wanted to hear that answer.
He spent to much time telling people that the Revolution wasn't his idea. We know that. The people that don't know it probably don't care. The official slogan is "Hope for America", I think, but that wasn't the question. The question is how do you change a corrupt system and restore the republic?
Despite my disappointment in that answer, at least it was only the one. In my mind, Mitt Romney epitomizes the stereotypical politician. He looks polished, he talks smooth, he doesn't answer the questions, and he smiles the whole time. A couple of the other candidates pointed it out too which was funny.
"Can you repeat the question? I forgot what it was while Mitt was talking but he sure talks nice, doesn't he?" That's not the direct quote but it was something like that.
Thankfully, that's the last debate for a while. Just like the CNN debate, my main complaint isn't with the candidates. They are doing what they do. Politicking. My complaint is that the people running the campaign let these guys run all over them.
I'll make the same offer that I made to CNN. If anyone is going to run a debate and wants someone who will stand up to the candidates and make them answer the question or mock them for evading the question, I have a lot of training in interviews and interrogation (without the use of waterboarding) and would be happy to donate my services.
I will do what the American people expect you to do as a journalist. Get answers.
I had to share this with you. I just watched a news clip from my buddies at that fair and balanced news source. In that story, they called Ron Paul a sleeper candidate. What planet do you have to be living on to in the news world to call Ron Paul a sleeper candidate? There are groups around the world that are organizing to back Ron Paul because of his non-intervention and sound money policies.
The fact that you refuse to cover the biggest grassroots movement of the 2008 presidential election does not make him a sleeper. It makes you a sleeper. Cut down on the narcotics and increase your journalistic efforts.
Compete.com rates traffic to candidates websites and thinks that number of hours spent at different candidates websites is a good indicator of the exposure they are getting. Care to see the chart?
Let's look at the poll results that we have up to this point in the SWB Hay Poll (Hey! What the hell? Everyone else has a poll.).
Remember, we have three categories that we are judging candidates: how we see them, how we hear them, and what we feel about them.
On the Democratic side the results to date are:
Best looking - 1. Edwards. 2. Obama. 3. Kucinich.
Best orator - 1. Obama. 2. Clinton. 3. Kucinich.
Conveys integrity the best - 1. Kucinich. 2. Gravel. 3. Clinton.
For the Republicans, we have:
Best looking - 1. Paul. 2. Romney. 3. Huckabee. (Who let the Ron Paul people vote?)
Best orator - 1. Paul. 2. Huckabee. 3. Guiliani.
Conveys integrity the best - 1. Paul (43 votes). 2. Huckabee (1 vote). 3. No one else got any votes. I suspect that Huckabee has been to my blog. How cool is that?
Disclaimer: This P90X review is just one guy's journey through another 90 days or more to see what happens. Your results will probably be different based on any number of things (diet, intensity, other activities) and you should be healthy enough for hard workouts before you start this program.
Sunday: I started out the day with the Ab Jam program from the Turbo Jam set. It was completely different from P90X but I worked my abs. Who would have thought there were that many different ways to hit your abs?
In the afternoon, I did half of the P90X Legs and Back DVD. My wife came home from work early so I stopped halfway through so we could visit. Usually on Sundays we tag-team on Trey. I walk out the door to work as she walks in the door to work. When she came home early, I finished half the program and then stopped so that we could visit.
I thought that I could finish when I came home from work if I felt up to it. I didn't feel up to it and it was only going to get worse.
On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on. 48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.
There's a saying that cops involved in shootings will be out of law enforcement within 5 years. Some quit, some get fired, and some kill themselves. One way or another, they get out.
That first week, I seriously considered quitting law enforcement but it didn't make much sense. The damage had been done. If I didn't want to be in a shooting, I should have quit the week before. It would be the equivalent of tightening up lending standards so that even good risks had trouble getting a loan after the housing bubble burst. Too late and not the appropriate response. I decided that I would just stick it out and stay a cop.
I have concluded after living through this event that there are three things that cause the 5 year theory.
A San Francisco GOP group canceled its straw poll because there were too many Ron Paul people there. That's fine, because it's the same result either way and canceling actually gains more publicity.
The thing is, if Straw polls don't matter, why schedule them? If they don't matter and it's obvious who's going to win, why not hold them anyway?
The whole thing seems silly. They should stop doing polls and maybe cancel the election for fear that Ron Paul supporters might show up and vote.
A Ron Paul supporter recently was polled by IMC on who he thought would win. Ron Paul wasn't one of the choices but there was an "other" category. There was also a "don't call me anymore" choice. The supporter pushed "other" and received the message that he would be taken off the calling list.
Will the Ron Paul campaign get to the point where this kind of trickery is no longer used or will the Primaries get here soon enough that it will all pay off for Rudy McRomney?
I read an interesting thing on Zogby about the "scientific" polls. Only 6-16% of the people called take the poll. Most people just hang up on the people taking the polls.
Supposedly 51% of Americans have heard of Ron Paul now. That's a good sign but is it enough with only a few weeks left before voting starts. On the other hand, I've heard speculation that this year will be a record year for Primary and Caucus turnout and you know why. I'll be going to a Caucus for the first time in my life and I think it's the same for a lot of people.
Mitt gave his "I'm a Mormon" speech today and said that he wouldn't allow the leaders of the Mormon church to sway his decisions. That's a lie obviously because anyone that wants to be a good member of their church follows the "guidance" of their religious leaders. Another religious politician that lies is not what this post is about. It's the truth that I'm more interested in and Huckabee hit the bullseye when he was asked about Mitt being a Mormon:
"It has nothing to do with what faith a person has — it's whether or not that person's life is consistent with how he lives it," Huckabee said Thursday on NBC's "Today." "If I had actions that were completely opposite of my Christian faith, then I would think people would have reason to doubt if this part of my life, which is supposed to be so important, doesn't influence me."
He says so much in so few words. First, he says what I have already said. If you're going to be a Christian, you have to follow Christian ways no matter what job you're doing. Even if you're the President of the United States of America, you will be expected to follow Christian doctrine if you want to go on claiming to be a good Christian.
Second, Christian belief is founded on loving other people and living in peace. Something that neither Mitt or Huckabee practice and it makes them untrustworthy. If a person believes in something so vital, so important, so dear, as a belief in a supreme being and a life after death for all those people that follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, and they go against those teachings, what does it say about them?
Either they don't actually believe in Jesus Christ and his teachings or they do believe but go against the teachings intentionally and openly.
Either way, it speaks volumes about these two candidates, and any other candidate that preaches about Christ and then promotes war and torture. It almost makes it look like the only reason they are bringing up Christ is to gain the votes of Christians. I don't know if that's in the bible but invoking Christ's name while going against his teachings with the sole purpose of winning an election sounds like a sin to me.
Each week, we spend some time cleaning and sorting in preparation for our eventual move. My wife was going through her cedar chest and came across tons of pictures. I'm posting some here so you can see a few glimpses of my life (and a surprise photo at the end).
Here I am at the police academy after doing a crime scene drill. I was team captain. I was always team captain except the one time that I said that I would be team captain and then I ended up taking charge once the scenario started and oddly enough ended up shooting the bad guy who charged me with a knife.
I didn't really like the academy but I really enjoyed all the other students. We had a great time and we were told that we were one of the rowdier sessions to come through. It was quite the mix of people but we all seemed to get along from the very beginning.
I was going to comment on this after the CNN Corporate Candidate YouTube Ad (known to them as a debate) but have gone on some other tangents and I won't likely be back. I need to write the next August 6th installment which was going to be for today but I'm drastically short on time.
The media and many candidates either haven't figured it out or they believe that people that watch TV don't use the Internet, like you have to be loyal to one or the other. Anything you say on TV can and will be used against you on the Internet.
CNN planted a question at the debate to make Ron Paul look crazy for believing that there are plans for a North American Union and a NAFTA Super-Highway. That ploy only works if you don't look on line or, even more funny, if you don't watch CNN which reports on the progress of the NAU and the Super-Highway.
I don't have time so I'm going to use this clip to demonstrate. The clip has some problems with it and the date for the donations listed is wrong (it's December 16th), but this points out well enough what I'm saying.
Does a smear campaign get anymore obvious or anymore stoopid? Do they really think they have dumbed down Americans that much that we don't go, "but didn't you just say . . ."
The video appears to have been take off of YouTube for some unknown reason. Click the link below the December 16th banner for any updates.
Disclaimer: This P90X review is just one guy's journey through another 90 days or more to see what happens. Your results will probably be different based on any number of things (diet, intensity, other activities) and you should be healthy enough for hard workouts before you start this program.
I had to get back into my exercise routine for a couple of reasons. I can feel my gut creeping back out and I have run out of excuses. I thought about using the "crazy holiday schedule" excuse (it's public domain) but it really is over-used in my book and I didn't want to jump on that wagon. Without coming up with any innovative excuses, I didn't have any choice but to start exercising again.
I'm going to be doing P90X Doubles. What that means is that I will be doing P90X (in my fashion) and doing an extra cardio workout in the day as well. Two workouts every day with the hope of losing fat twice as fast.
Mitt Romney apparently bought a straw poll in Florida. From what I've read, this wasn't against the rules so it's not a big deal. I almost feel bad for the guy. I don't know him personally so all I have is what I read and see and I can't bring myself to feel bad for a guy that wants 2 Git-mos.
It's just got to suck for him. He entered this thing thinking his biggest obstacle was overcoming a guy who is 9/11 to hide his mafia-like brand of government. Mitt's a tall, clean cut, articulate Christian who spent something like $17 million of his own money to get name recognition early in the race. Things look like they might be going well and then, fetch* it all, Ron Paul's message goes viral.
This guy starts winning straw poll after straw poll without spending any money. He's putting all his money in the bank to make a strong statement during the 4th quarter. Then it gets worse. The Ron Paul Revolution gives the campaign more money in 2 months than any of the "top tier" candidates got in the 3 months of the 3rd quarter (yes, they managed to pass Rudy's mark yesterday).
When the opportunity came where it was okay to buy a straw poll, you just can't blame the guy. Some Ron Paul supporters supposedly bought extra tickets for extra votes too and here's where the sting comes back. Supposedly Mitt bought the tickets for his supporters, Ron Paul didn't. Did his parents tie a pork chop around his neck so the dog would play with him or was he more likable when he was a kid?
* For those of you not familiar with the dialect of the peculiar people, "Fetch" is the Mormon equivalent to the f-bomb.
Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system. You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can. This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing. Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.
Recent Comments