Day712 Friday 08/10/12

ran 3.6 miles

In 2008, Goldman Sachs financial services companies gave three-fourths of their campaign donations to Democratic candidates, committees, and Barack Obama's campaign---$6.1 million to be precise. 

Then Barack Obama got elected and here we are four years later. Employees of the New York-based Goldman are now giving 70% of their donations to Republicans. So far, Goldman employees have given $4.9 million to Republican candidates, committees, and Mitt Romney's campaign. An unprecedented reversal among the 25 companies whose employees have given the most to candidates and parties of interest since 1989 is unfolding in this 2012 presidential election. 

Some of the more recognizable companies include Goldman, Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & Co. (four of the top five financial institutions), Citigroup Inc., and UBS AG (UBSN).

(SOURCE)

That's a big statement. No doubt this will be fodder for Obama's ruthless campaign team to push the OWS agenda, but he sure wasn't complaining in 2008 when he was receiving the money and it was yet to be determined how much of a failure he would become.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 144.1

Here is what happened one year ago on Day347.

Day711 Thursday 08/09/12

ran 3.0 miles

Over 110,000,000 Americans are currently receiving some form of government welfare. This is not even including Social Security and Medicare. That is more than a third of our entire population. Under President Obama welfare programs have exploded and are projected to grow exponentially ($800 billion on food stamps alone in the next decade).

The numbers in the chart above represent not only American citizens but non-citizens, as well. In case you didn't know, America has partnered with Mexico to boost food stamp enrollment among non-citizens, migrant workers, and foreign nationals.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), or the food stamp program, has expanded from providing for 17 million in 2000 to 45 million in 2011.

(SOURCE)

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 140.5

Here is what happened one year ago on Day346.

  

Day710 Wednesday 08/08/12

ran 3.5 miles

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 137.5

Here is what happened one year ago on Day345.

Day709 Tuesday 08/07/12

ran 3.7 miles 

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 134.0

Here is what happened one year ago on Day344.

Day708 Monday 08/06/12

ran 3.5 miles

Here are 70 facts about America's economy that President Obama will definitely not be campaigning on. It is frightening how far we as a collective nation have let America slip. This list puts into perspective how petty most of the news that is gathered for us and distributed in mass quantities is. 

Why are we talking about things like Chick-fil-A and Mitt Romney's tax returns? Chicken, gay rights, personal beliefs, and the obvious fact that Mitt Romney is filthy rich can't hold a candle to the more important issue of what we are going to do with our economy and how we are going to take on this national debt.

Here are a few examples from the list:

• The price of gas – When Obama took office, a gallon of gas cost you $1.85. Today, it's up to $3.59 per gallon.

• 71% of small business owners believe we’re still in a recession — Despite government claims that the recession actually ended years ago.

• You have to work 107 days each year just to pay Federal, State, & Local taxes – That means you don't earn a penny until April 18.

• More than 30% of unemployed Americans have been out of work for more than a year–In 2007, that number was 10%.

Many more disappointing statistics here.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 130.3

Here is what happened one year ago on Day343.

Day707 Sunday 08/05/12

ran 3.2 miles

Today ends week 101 of running against Obama. I ran 22.6 miles this week, averaging 3.23 miles per day.

Special treat for you today. The following is a cartoon from over fifty years ago warning Americans of that time, and future generations, of the exact dangers that have befallen us presently. Apparently, not enough of us saw this prophetic cartoon in time. Highly recommend checking it out! Our modern state of affairs have made a fortuneteller of this cartoon. 

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 126.8

Here is what happened one year ago on Day342.

Day706 Saturday 08/04/12

2,200 miles!!!

ran 3.7 miles

The RNC sent the Democratic National Committee a birthday cake for President Barack Hussein Obama today. The DNC must not have appreciated the gesture because they sent it back to the sender. 

“Since President Obama’s birthday is tomorrow, we actually wish him a happy 50.99726 years with this ‘you didn’t bake this’ cake.” (mocking the fact that yesterday the White House actually clarified that unemployment had not risen to 8.3%, but 8.254%, as though that is some sort of consolation prize worth mentioning)

RNC spokesman Tim Miller

Here are some birthday cards for President Obama the RNC took the liberty of designing:

On to more serious matters, Gallup has just released a state by state job approval poll for Barack Obama spanning the first half of 2012. In 37 states his job approval is below 50%. Here is how it breaks down:

• Top 10 states (Washington D.C., 83%):

Hawaii, 63%

Rhode Island, 58%

Vermont, 56%

New York, 55%

Massachusetts, 55%

Maryland, 55%

New Jersey, 53%

Connecticut, 53%

California, 52%

Washington, 51%

• States just above 50%:

Illinois, 51%

Delaware, 51%

Minnesota, 50%

• Ten states with lowest approval:

Utah, 26%

Wyoming, 28%

Alaska, 29%

West Virginia, 31%

Idaho, 31%

Montana, 34%

Oklahoma, 35%

Alabama, 36%

Tennessee, 37%

North Dakota, 37%

• States just below 50%:

Michigan, 49%

Wisconsin, 49%

Maine, 47%

Oregon, 47%

Iowa, 46%

Florida, 46%

Virginia, 46%

Pennsylvania, 46%

“Presidents with approval ratings below 50% have more uncertain re-election prospects. Historically, two presidents below 50% in their final approval rating before the election — George W. Bush and Harry Truman — won, and three, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush, lost.”

Gallup

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 123.6

Here is what happened one year ago on Day341.

Day705 Friday 08/03/12

ran 4.2 miles

The lunatics are taking over the asylum. This video perfectly illustrates how ridiculous maneuvers in the political arena can be and, consequently, how uninformed and challenged by immense lapses of attention span an overflowing handful of American voters are. Harry Reid and his counterparts want Mitt Romney to release more of his tax information than he has already divulged. Well, why does Mitt Romney not bully back and demand that Barack Obama release his college transcripts? Why does he not elaborate on how miserable, and unsuccessful of a first term Barack Obama has had (the numbers are there to prove it---this guy is breaking records). Why not itemize those failures and take inventory of them day in and day out from failed green projects funded by tax dollars to the refusal of the Keystone pipeline---from unprecedented debt building to unemployment numbers that refuse to budge?

It is because our agenda-bent media is delivering to us the greatest disservice possible at the most critical time possible. They misinform and they might as well wear "Obama/Biden 2012" buttons on their lapels and blouses. If your immediate thought is that Fox News takes the same slant for the opposite side, then fine, but they stand alone fighting the other networks. Are they biased? Yes. They are somewhat subtle about it, but how else can they fight the gang of networks they are up against, which, coincidentally, they absolutely smash in the ratings department. 

Unemployment has been above 8% for 41 straight months. As of today it is up 8.3% from last month's 8.2%. Running out of ideas today for damage control, the White House took the measure of clarifying that unemployment was actually only up to 8.254% from 8.214%.

If that is the best they can do to find a silver lining in their failures then things are obviously pretty bad. Once again, the lunatics are taking over the asylum.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 119.9

Here is what happened one year ago on Day340.

 

Day704 Thursday 08/02/12

ran 4.0 miles 
Trickle down tax cut fairy dust?

I thought fairy dust was one of the tools in Barack Obama's own presidential utility belt along with unicorn horn shavings, phoenix ashes, and griffin talons.

It is as simple as this---trickle down economics is highly effective, far more effective than the Keynesian approach our president applied early in his term by stimulating the economy and far more useful than the idea of wealth redistribution he is currently advocating, but when our nation has a president that does everything in his power to convince the people in this nation that the government will take care of them and that they have no need to do things for themselves---when he makes them feel like they are victims and that they are treated unfairly, well, as we can see, many people unfortunately believe him. And, in this belief and this false justification to find a source of blame for their circumstances, they are robbed of everything that makes being an American special and something to be proud of. 

The thing about the trickle down theory is that its results are based on an unleashed private sector and a government that gets the hell out of the way. Our current president has little interest in either of these two variables of the American equation. 

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 115.7 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day339.

Day703 Wednesday 08/01/12

ran 0.9 miles

Yesterday would have been the 100th birthday of Nobel Prize-winning conservative economist Milton Friedman, were he still with us ("Nobel Prize-winning" doesn't seem to carry the same weight it once did since Barack Obama won the award for doing absolutely nothing). Here are a few of his most memorable quotes:

"Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it."

"Governments never learn. Only people learn."

"Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government."

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand."

"I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it is possible."

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 111.7

Here is what happened one year ago on Day338.

Day702 Tuesday 07/31/12

ran 3.2 miles

Here's what's in play on November 6 (from the Rothenberg Political Report):

President

With 270 electoral votes needed to win, Obama is currently projecting 237 to Romney's 206. Toss-up states hold 95 unprojected electoral votes. Those states are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.

House

Republicans currently have a 242-193 majority. There are 26 blue seats and 41 red seats in play. A single digit gain for Democrats is most likely, but anyhting from +1 Republican to +6 Democrat is possible. Democrats need a net gain of 25 seats for a majority.  

Senate

Democrats currently have a 53-47 majority. There are 23 blue seats and 10 red seats in play. A gain of 2-4 Republican seats is likely at this point. Republicans need only 4 seats for a majority if President Obama wins re-election.

Governor

Republicans currently control 29 governorships to Democrats' 20 and 1 Independent. There are 8 blue seats and 3 red seats in play. At this point, Republicans are likely to gain. 

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 110.8 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day337.

Day701 Monday 07/30/12

23 months of running against Obama!!!

ran 3.4 miles

Standard & Poor's has awarded America with a AAA credit rating since 1941. Last August, our credit rating was lowered for the first time in American history. In that time, the United States of America has survived every other president, war, tragedy, epidemic, and economic season, but after two years of undeserving Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama as our president we were penalized with a credit rating downgrade to AA by S&P.

Just thought I would remind you of one of his many accomplishments you might have forgotten about. And, another reminder, remember November, 2010...when Obama was "shellacked" (the word he chose to describe the outcome of the midterm elections)? Voters took as many Democrats out of office as they could as a result of everything Barack Obama did in his first two years. What has changed? What has gotten better? I would expect no less of an outcome for this election cycle, yet Obama and Romney are neck and neck---and Congressional ballots are polling closely across the country. I don't know what has changed to allow Democrats the redemption that is reflected in the polls, but that is the thing about politics---they thrive on our short-term memories and promises for the future that candidates make but feel little necessity to uphold.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 107.6 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day336. 

Day700 Sunday 07/29/12

100 weeks of running against Obama!!!

ran 3.0 miles
Today ends 700 days and week 100 of running against Obama. I ran 22.5 miles this week, averaging 3.21 miles per day.

100 days left until the election. As we take inventory of the last four years under President Obama it is clear that America is not better off. Anything that might appear to be "better off" only seems that way because it was financed through loans from other countries or it was paid for by printing Monopoly dollars off the funny-money presses, which serve no long-term purpose other than to put America's youth and unborn children into debt they did nothing to incur.

The latest argument in Washington concerns the undecided fate of the Bush era tax cuts. They are set to expire on January 1, 2013, and both Republicans and Democrats are staring one another down waiting for the other to blink.

It appears to me that Republicans generally feel there is not a revenue problem in collecting enough tax dollars, but a spending problem in how those tax dollars are used. Conversely, I get the impression that Democrats will never be satisfied with any number of tax hikes and that they will continue to wastefully spend whatever sum of money it is they have on programs that put jobs and our economy behind less important issues.

Everyone seems to agree that if the Bush tax cuts expire it will make the figurative expression "jumping off the fiscal cliff" a reality. Our president wants to extend the tax cuts to all households making less than $250,000 per year, but he wants the cuts to expire on all earning above that figure. Republicans, obviously, want the tax cuts extended for all Americans.

Just as a note, if you refer to Day678, Rick Santelli explains that even if our president were to take one million dollars from each of the top 1% earners in America, it would barely be enough money to pay for one day of our federal government to simply function. As much money as that is, it is not even enough to scratch the tip of our national debt. All of this debate about raising taxes and extending tax cuts pales in comparison to the fact that our government has a full-blown spending problem and addiction and it needs an intervention followed by at least four years of rehabilitation.

Obama has often said in the past that this is no time to raise taxes. If it was "no time" then it certainly isn't time to raise taxes now. Our president's desire to raise taxes on top earners follows the narrative of his speech in Virginia, the infamous "you didn't build that" speech. It is class warfare he is waging and he is successfully dividing America in two. 

Two Americas cannot coexist in the same time and space and on November 6, 2012, one of the two emerging Americas is going to disappear for a very long time. 

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 104.2

Here is what happened one year ago on Day335.

Day699 Saturday 07/28/12

ran 3.2 miles 

Nice little propaganda piece for the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics in London. While they have the world's greatest athletes in town to compete with one another, why not go ahead and promote nationalized health care? I don't see what one has to do with the other, but the English are apparently quite proud of their government-run health care. 

Good for them. 

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 101.2 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day334.