Day659 Monday 06/18/12

ran 4.1 miles

Socialist leader of France, President Francois Hollande, swiped a parliamentary election power grab yesterday by earning 314 Socialist representatives of the 577-member National Assembly. With this majority Hollande will be in a position to execute exactly what he campaigned on. His intention is to halt numerous tax exemptions, pass tax hikes for large corporations (particularly banks and energy firms), and, finally, here is the zowie---impose a 75% tax rate on those earning over 1 million euros. These are the maneuvers Hollande claims will  bring France's deficit to within the 3% European Union limit by next year. 

(Source)

Gross government debt in the twenty-seven nations belonging to the Euro in 2010 was 80% of GDP. American gross federal debt in 2010 was 94% of GDP. Separately, government debt is growing more slowly in the EU than in America because the majority of nations belonging to it are actually implementing austerity measures. The accumulated government deficit among the European Unions twenty-seven nations was 6.6% of GDP in 2010. America's federal deficit in 2010 was 9% of GDP.

(Source)

America is worse off financially than the EU-27 and it seems our nation's leaders and our media are doing everything they can to not spell that out in the simple and understandable terms we deserve to hear. 

A 75% tax rate. This is insanity. I predict a lot of France's wealth will be packing their bags and selling their homes very soon. We are worse off than Europe and doing less to fix our deficit. If Hollande can take three quarters of what highly successful, hardworking French citizens make than Obama, or future American presidents, can do the same thing in the very near future. There is your proof. It can happen and is happening right across the pond.

33.0 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day294.

Day658 Sunday 06/17/12

ran 3.2 miles

Today ends week ninety-four of running against Obama. I ran 23.6 miles this week, averaging 3.37 miles per day.

In an article by Emily Miller from the Washington Times, "The next time President Obama hits the links, it will be his 100th round of golf since coming to the White House."

In three and one-half years this president has golfed enough to equal four entire months worth of work time.

2009: President Obama promised his stimulus bill would save or create 3.5 million jobs. Unemployment was 8.3% and our national debt was $10.8 trillion. First golf outing was April 26, 2009. Twenty-seven rounds were played in his first year.

2010: Unemployment at 9.7%. President Obama proposed a second stimulus and a health care overhaul. The Democratic Congress passed these bills. Thirty-one rounds of golf were played in his second year.

2011: Unemployment at 9.1%. During the midterm elections President Obama was "shellacked" and lost control of his House. The Senate took losses but narrowly remained Democratic. American voters had sent a message of how little they approved of Barack Obama's leadership and the decisions he had made. National debt was $14 trillion. Thirty-three rounds of golf were played.

2012: By the time President Obama had delivered his State of the Union Address, he was up to ninety-three rounds of golf. Unemployment was at 8.3%, national debt was $15.2 trillion, and America's credit rating was downgraded.

37.1 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day293.

 

Day657 Saturday 06/16/12

ran 3.4 miles

This is President Obama at a 2011 Univision Town Hall describing the limitations he has as president to successfully suspend deportations for anyone because of existing laws that he would break by issuing an executive order on the matter. He describes in concise detail how taking such an action would be a rank violation of the separation of powers. Well put, Mr. President.

This is President Obama contradicting the video above by announcing he is going to stop deporting illegal immigrants who break the law and come into our country at an early age (approximately between the ages of 15-30). With no congressional consent, our president is going to open the floodgates allowing a projected 800,000 illegal immigrants to remain in the country without the fear of deportation and they will even be put in jobs programs...oh, and they will probably be able to and encouraged to vote in the presidential election in November.

The reporter who appears to be heckling Obama in the video was simply asking him why he felt it was more important to give foreigners jobs than Americans. This immigration announcement comes at a time when low-skilled workers, Hispanic, and African-American unemployment is setting records. Unemployment rose in all of these categories in May and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 50% of younger African Americans have full-time jobs. Perfect time to add more workers to the pool.

40.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day292.

Day656 Friday 06/15/12

ran 3.3 miles 

Gerald R. Molen, producer of "Schindler's List", has a new movie hitting theaters this July. "2016: Obama's America" is a film based on the New York Time's bestseller by Dinesh D'Souza. The film examines a potential America at the end of a possible second Obama term. D'Souza has written a lot of books and has earned many accolades for his work. He is not an outlandish, conspiracy theory mongering, brute who holds personal resentment to our current president. He is just really good at examining and exposing all of the mystery behind Barack Hussein Obama and his past that our main stream media failed to do in 2008. Here is the website for "2016: Obama's America" and below is an extended trailer of the movie:  

43.7 miles to go. 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day291.

Day655 Thursday 06/14/12

ran 3.6 miles

President Obama gave a 54 minute speech in Ohio today outlining the same themes and ideas he's been talking about in more brief and concise speeches of the past. This particular one differed only in that it was brutally lengthy and redundant. The main message of his speech was declaring the reality before us in this election that a choice between "two fundamentally different views of which direction America should take" will have to be decided. I could not agree more.

Here are some responses to his Ohio speech from the political press corps who heard it:

"In terms of politics, this speech could have ended about 20 minutes ago. Drive your message, take your ball, go home."

Mike O’Brien, Politico

"Just cheerleading BO doesn't help him. He needs a sharper, more cogent message with some memorable lines. I ain't walking my criticism back...one of the worst speeches I’ve ever heard Barack Obama make."

Jonathan Alter, MSNBC

"This Obama speech is so long-winded it might be the first attempt to filibuster an election."

John Hayward, Human Events

"In America we don't quit till we've spoken for 54 minutes."

Jennifer Epstein, Politico

"There is nothing new in this speech."

Zeke Miller, Buzzfeed

(Source)

47.0 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day290.

Day654 Wednesday 06/13/12

ran 3.3 miles

Here are a few videos of the day. Some rich material down below. First, we have a British politician, Nigel Farage,  shamelessly decrying how absurd the European Union, its debt crisis, and the leaders making the big decisions are. Second, David Axelrod, in a clip from 1994, almost as though he was prophesying his own future and the detestable fate awaiting him and the president he represents in alarming irony, describes the exact flawed tactics Barack Obama is employing here in 2012 to illegitimately strengthen his case for reelection. And the last video, Barack Obama, in what appears to be a standup comedy act, reiterates once again how all others who came before him are responsible for all our economic woes and how he has clearly not done one single thing wrong and does not hold a single fiber of fault.

   50.6 miles to go. 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day289.

Day653 Tuesday 06/12/12

ran 3.3 miles 

"Bring parties together?" 

"Manage through tough fiscal decisions?" 

"Everyone is doing their fair share?" 

Come on, Mr. President. You have a nation divided, a Democratic Senate that hasn't passed a budget since you've been elected, and the last budget you ran through Congress did not earn one single vote in the House or Senate. Bipartisanship? I don't see any. Coming together? It's not happening.

Our national debt is soaring, unemployment is not budging, the private sector, according to you, is doing just fine, and your best idea is to expand government more and more, which will only work to over-regulate and suffocate the success of the private sector just to create more dependence on and power for the federal government, an outcome that this country never intended. 

53.9 miles to go. 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day288.

Day652 Monday 06/11/12

ran 3.5 miles

Just as the House Oversight Committee prepares to schedule a vote on whether Attorney General Eric Holder should be held in contempt for not releasing subpoenaed documents relevant to the "Fast and Furious" case, Eric Holder is in the process of launching an investigation into the recent White House leaks, which many argue was a deliberate release of classified information regarding our national security intended to bolster President Obama's campaign.

That ought to turn out well. An allegation that coincidentally bodes well for Barack Obama's campaign is being investigated by a man who is on the verge of quite possibly losing all credibility as our nation's Attorney General.

This will be only the fourth time in thirty years that Congress takes a contempt action against an executive branch member. The way Eric Holder dances around every question he is asked and refuses to comply and participate with this investigation, his actions demand a vote to hold him in contempt.

57.2 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day287.

Day651 Sunday 06/10/12

ran 3.8 miles

Today ends week ninety-three of running against Obama. I ran 23.8 miles this week, averaging 3.40 miles per day.

I had posted about this commencement speech a couple days ago. Here it is in its entirety. Pretty powerful message delivered by David McCullough, Jr. imploring a class of high school graduates to seize every moment they can, to understand they are not special or entitled to anything they do not work hard to earn, and that they have an obligation to themselves to create their own happiness and success and to not approach the rest of their lives with the assumption that they deserve anything for nothing. It's a well-articulated commencement speech worth checking out and it happens to defy much of what Barack Obama's big government nanny state liberal agenda stands for. The America and the future McCullough describes are abrasively truthful and full of difficult challenges we all face in different forms. But isn't that the point, to rise to challenges on our own and as a united people? Or is it something more like what Barack Obama envisions where everything is fair and equal for all, a nation where hard work is punished and mediocrity is rewarded, idleness doubly rewarded?

60.7 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day286.

Day650 Saturday 06/09/12

ran 3.1 miles

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) had no kind words yesterday for Bureau of Labor Statistics Acting Commissioner Josh Galvin regarding the official definition of a "green job".

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics a green job is defined as any job that “provides goods or services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources.” This broad and nearly meaningless definition is the only reason Barack Obama has any ability to tout his green jobs agenda. The majority of what he claims to be new green jobs are actually just job jobs, for lack of a better term.

Here are some examples of what defines a green job as approved by Galvin:

10. Floor sweeper at a solar panel factory

The official definition allows for any position that will “reduce or eliminate the creation of waste materials” to be considered a green job. 

9. College professor teaching environmental studies

Any employee who is able to “provide education and training related to green technologies and practices” has a green job, according to the Department of Labor’s definition. 

8. Salvation Army Employee

BLS says products and services that “collect, reuse, remanufacture, recycle, or compost waste materials or wastewater” are considered green jobs. As Issa points out, any type of business that sells used goods is a green job, according to BLS. 

7. An antique Dealer

Same rule applies here as in number six. 

6. A clerk at a bicycle repair shop

Bicycle repair shops also reuse and recycle materials and is determined to be a green job.  

5. Any school bus driver

Just as all forms of mass public transportation, school buses reduce carbon emissions by reducing the number of cars on the road and therefore reducing “greenhouse gas emissions through methods other than renewable energy generation and energy efficiency.” 

4. Any employee who puts gas in a school bus

This one is humorous but confirmed by Department of Labor officials to be a green job. 

3. A full-time teenage employee at a used record shop

The recycled goods clause applies here, therefore it is dubbed a green job.

2. Train car manufacturers

Once again, employees whose job functions “reduce or eliminate the creation of waste materials; collect, reuse, remanufacture, recycle, or compost waste materials or wastewater” have themselves a green job. 

1. And the number one most ridiculous job that the Labor Department considers “green” is… Oil lobbyist.

Galvin confirmed that an oil lobbyist is in fact a green job. It‘s not entirely clear where in BLS’s definition the position falls under, however, the job could possibly be considered to “increase public awareness of environmental issues.”

(Source)

64.5 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day285.

Day649 Friday 06/08/12

ran 3.2 miles

This is what we need more of. David McCullough, Jr.'s speech to the graduating class of Wellesley High School is the strong sinew of what America was once composed of. That strong sinew is rapidly being replaced by brittle government subsidized "hope and change" that serves no purpose other than making individuals think they are special and entitled to rewards for challenging tasks they made no attempt to work hard at. Coincidentally, McCullough's speech represents much of what our president and his like-minded cohorts on the left completely disagree with---particularly reality, accountability, and independence. 

Here is an excerpt of McCullough's speech. The first eight words are quite intriguing. Put into the proper context of a high school graduation his words were unexpected but brutally necessary. If only politicians would employ such common sense and embrace with such raw detail the realities our nation face. 

"You are not special. You are not exceptional. 

Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special. 

Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you’ve even had your picture in the Townsman! [Editor's upgrade: Or The Swellesley Report!] And now you’ve conquered high school… and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building… 

But do not get the idea you’re anything special. Because you’re not.[...] 

'But, Dave,' you cry, 'Walt Whitman tells me I’m my own version of perfection! Epictetus tells me I have the spark of Zeus!' And I don’t disagree. So that makes 6.8 billion examples of perfection, 6.8 billion sparks of Zeus. You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another-which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality – we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point – and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole. No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it’s 'So what does this get me?' As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans. It’s an epidemic – and in its way, not even dear old Wellesley High is immune… one of the best of the 37,000 nationwide, Wellesley High School… where good is no longer good enough, where a B is the new C, and the midlevel curriculum is called Advanced College Placement. And I hope you caught me when I said 'one of the best.' I said 'one of the best' so we can feel better about ourselves, so we can bask in a little easy distinction, however vague and unverifiable, and count ourselves among the elite, whoever they might be, and enjoy a perceived leg up on the perceived competition. But the phrase defies logic. By definition there can be only one best. You‘re it or you’re not."

67.6 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day284.

Day648 Thursday 06/07/12

ran 3.5 miles

70.8 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day283.

Day647 Wednesday 06/06/12

ran 3.2 miles

Congratulations Governor Scott Walker and the state of Wisconsin for standing up to the unions and showing them that fiscal responsibility for a state is more important than unrealistic pensions and zealous collective bargaining. 

Why it is that these unions somehow feel they deserve such a break at the expense of taxpayers is something I cannot understand. I pay into my 401k and sacrifice a big chunk of money each paycheck for my health care and I have no collective bargaining rights. I don't want any collective bargaining rights and I certainly don't want to be dead weight for what could be a thriving state economy.

I don't know what percentage of Wisconsin workers are unionized but last night's vote proved once and for all that those who are not members of unions have no interest in paying for the needs of union member's as well as those of their own. Was that really even a question?

What did these unions expect? Wisconsin's budget is in the red, like most other states, tax dollars are being drained by pensions that should never have even been promised, and these unions attempt to recall their governor actually assuming that private sector workers who put into their own 401ks and do not receive pensions will actually vote to continue wasting their state's money on the union's interests and edge ever closer to falling off their statewide financial cliff. 

The unions just got put in their place last night and this message has the potential to reverberate across America all the way into the 2012 presidential election.

74.3 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day282.

Day646 Tuesday 06/05/12

2,000 miles!!!

ran 3.8 miles 

Today is a big milestone for this campaign of running against Obama. Thanks for following or occasionally checking in with this blog over the last 21 months. 

Tomorrow we will be exactly 5 months from the 2012 presidential election and Americans will make an important decision at the crossroads of America's future. The president serving this next term will either further pursue the failed, big government, socialistic ideas that have led to so many of Europe's problems or he will unleash the private sector, cut our stifling regulatory agencies, and get the federal government out of the way so Americans can do what they do best---succeed without the giant obstacle Barack Obama has made of the federal government. 

Thought I'd post this video of Bill Clinton sabotaging one of Barack Obama's biggest criticisms of Mitt Romney, regardless of how untrue and farfetched that criticism is. It is an interesting triangle Bill, Hillary, and Barack have to coexist in. Hillary Clinton is Barack Obama's Secretary of State, so Bill Clinton is sort of obligated to help in any way he can to bolster Barack Obama and his administration, yet it is obvious that Bill Clinton has a poor opinion of the president and, after statements like the one he made in this video, he clearly does not want this president to have a second term. 77.5 miles to go. 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day281.