Freethinker ~ Freerunner

I ran this morning with Kevin and Mike.  It rained on us for about the first hour and ten minutes and then it let up.  We started at 5:30 so Mike could join us.  It felt like 4:30 with the time change.  I was so worried I was going to oversleep that I set multiple alarms.  I ended up waking up at 4:30 on my own without alarm assistance.  I believe I have been gradually conditioning myself to become an early riser.  It has been a goal of mine for the past year or two to become an early riser.  I believe early rising is a characteristic of more organized and productive people.  

We talked a little bit about the GOP primary and it was determined that each of us voted for different candidates and none of those candidates were Romney.  Kevin voted for Gingrich, Mike for Santorum, and I for Paul.  I believe this pretty well represents Romney's problem all across the country. He is leading in the polls and winning most states, but not by large margins because he has been unable to close the deal with the various factions within the Republican party.  A liberal politician named Elliot Spitzer observed this morning on This Week that the Republican party is split into three segments; the religious, the mainstream corporate, and the libertarians.  His analysis was that Romney has thus far been unable to pull all three of those together because the three segments don't get along so well.  He may be right about that, but I still think that the three more than likely will unite against this President's failed economic policies and vote for the nominee (Romney) in November.  With the independent voters who will hold Obama responsible for high gas prices and an economy that is not recovering fast enough, he will more than likely lose the election.  I will admit I'm less sure about this prediction today than I was six months ago, but I'm not changing my mind just yet.   

We also discussed the casino that is in the midst of construction near our running trail.  I said that I sort of feel sorry for the tribe who got the appropriate permissions to build, but has since been stonewalled by an opposition group of citizens.  Mike was less sympathetic to the tribe stating that he believed the casinos were connected to the Chicago mafia.  I should have said that I oppose on principle Indian tribes special rights to build and operate businesses which other citizens can not.  I usually try to keep running conversation light so maybe that is why I did not speak my mind, but after I got home and thought about it I decided that was my default position and I should have just said so.  I read a great letter to the editor in today's Broken Arrow Ledger making this very case.  The letter said something to the effect that if you are for certain races or ethnic groups having special rights which other groups do not have you are for racial discrimination.  I concur.