"Who'll Stop the Rain?"

"...and I wonder, still I wonder......"  When was the last time I didn't run three days in a week?  I can't remember.  I built in a planned rest day on Tue, when the weather was fine.  But I had a good, almost 70-mile week last week, and have had a string of 60+ weeks going.  A day off was good.  But then the rains came.  I won't run in lightning, which we had one AM.  I think that was day we lost power for 30 or 40 mins.  And, I headed out on Thur, not getting very far before turning around.  It was a monsoon, literally (as Ashley would say, although she doesn't know what "literally" means.).  The skies opened and the wind drove the rain horizontally.  I came home, drenched, in just a few mins.  With classes, there was no time to run afterward.  Now, with a run with my blind buddy scheduled for tomorrow AM, what about rain?  He won't run in the rain.

I was interested to read the responses to the Det News' endorsement of Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for President.  One reader wrote, "...both candidates (Shrillary and Don) are unacceptable," while another sent in, "...neither major party candidate is ideal."  Boy, talk about an understatement!  One said, "I admit the Democratic candidate has her flaws......"  That one is also laughable, "flaws!" In the same letter, Johnson's lack of foreign policy awareness was called "embarrassing."  Clinton hasn't done anything "embarrassing?"  I can only laugh to keep from crying at some of these people.  Yet a fourth called Johnson "a reasonable alternative" to the two Bozos.

I continue to be upset at those who think turning to a third party candidate is "abdicating your duty" or even "throwing away your vote."  One on the radio yesterday suggested "A vote for Johnson is a vote for Clinton."  No No No!  A vote for Johnson is a vote for Johnson, not for Clinton.  I, nor anyone else, is obligated to vote for a Democrat or a Republican.  I refuse to continue to vote for Bozos!  I have a conscience and voting for someone other than Clinton or Trump or even Johnson is not "abdicating" anything.  That only Trump or Clinton has a chance to win does not mean I must vote for one or the other, esp not if I find both of them extremely repulsive, not at all qualified to be President of the US.  I, perhaps more than the bobble heads who blindly vote for whoever has a "D" or an "R" after his/her name, value my right to vote.  I will not "throw it away," "waste it" by voting for Trump or Clinton.  I cannot play the major parties' games.  Ron Reagan said, years ago, something like, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party; it left me."  I haven't left the Dems or the Reps; they have left me.

Related, I continue to see very few, if any Clinton signs and just a handful of bumper stickers.  In fact, the only two yard signs for her I have seen referred to the fact that she should be in prison in '16, not the White House.  (I know, I know...2017.)  But the Trump signs seem to be multiplying--in yards, on the sides of roads, and on bumpers.  I still think, despite how much I despise both of the candidates, the vote will be close and wouldn't be astonished if Trump wins.  There are a lot of closet Trump voters out there, leery of voicing their choice because of the backlash.  As if supporting Clinton is less deserving of scorn!

Crime statistics released the other day show crime, esp violent crime, is up in the US, while down a bit in Detroit.  I'm not disputing the statistics; they might well be true.  I just don't believe them.  And that's what comes from a government (on all levels) that lies and lies and lies.  Why in the world would I believe that crime is down in Detroit when every day--daily!--it seems there's another shooting death?  Are they playing fast and loose with the numbers?  Is the falling population affecting the percentages?  And that in itself is a crime, that anything released by the government is immediately suspect and presumed to be manipulated.