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.

Day698 Friday 07/27/12

ran 0.7 miles

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 98.0

Here is what happened one year ago on Day333.

Day697 Thursday 07/26/12

ran 4.1 miles 

Just a thought---could it be possible that the pride so many Americans feel for their country and the dignity they live their lives with, abiding by the Constitution that the founders of our nation brilliantly designed, have overlooked the chance that perhaps at some point those who are governed may eventually simply find their way and discover government to be nothing more than an obstacle to the freedom they were guaranteed? And is it possible that the reason our current government is such an obstacle placed in front of everything America stands for a result of its people largely no longer needing them in the capacity they once had? 

Our federal government has grown bitter over the years as Americans have needed it less and less. And, considering that the federal government draws its strength from making people dependent upon it, it has done everything in its power to increase that deceitful sense of dependency. Who, then, is the federal government's greatest domestic enemy? 

Anyone who succeeds. Anyone who achieves their dreams. Anyone who did anything without the help of the federal government is the federal government's enemy. 

Barack Obama has made that abundantly clear. His comment in Virginia about "...you started a business? you didn't build that...someone else did...", or however it was he worded the unclear message---that is our president pitting those who made better use of the roads and bridges he is describing against others who made less use of them. And the advantage he has in pissing off every small business owner in America, as opposed to all others, is that there is one small business owner for every one or two hundred potentially disgruntled voters in America who do not own a business. 

He doesn't care about the red, white, and blue blood, sweat, and tears that went into the businesses that driven individuals established and then made into thriving businesses employing tens, and then hundreds, and then thousands, business by business. They are a small minority on the voting block and so they are disposable. For every business owner he loses a vote from he is going to gain 200 aimlessly, uninformed votes. That is Barack Obama's America. 

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 97.3 

Here is what happened one year ago on Day332.

Day696 Wednesday 07/25/12

ran 3.6 miles 

Clever idea and great video brought to you by the Republican Party Animals at CounterContempt.com. Great site, check it out! Here's one more video from their site:

 
2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 93.2

Here is what happened one year ago on Day331.

Day695 Tuesday 07/24/12

ran 4.5 miles 

Nice ad, Senator Brown. In case you don't recognize the face of the woman in the video it's Elizabeth Warren, who is running against Scott Brown in Massachusetts. She was saying the same cockamamie message last year that President Obama is now saying---the whole "you didn't build that, someone else did" slogan. 

That turned out to be a real winner. Let's see how many other Democrats are going to go out on the front line using that as campaigning material. In closing, here is a video of one of the left's sweetest and most lovable, mild-mannered masters of buffoonery: Howard Dean  

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 89.6

Here is what happened one year ago on Day330.

Day694 Monday 07/23/12

ran 3.4 miles

For a long time I have been asking, "What is the definition of the middle class?"

We always hear our president referring to this faction of Americans with this broad label but you have to wonder who exactly it is he is speaking about. I consider myself middle class but very little of what our president has to say resonates with me. Does that mean I am not part of the middle class? At what point of not earning does a household become poor and at what point of earning does a household ascend into the upper class? I don't think there is an official number on either end of the spectrum because so much fluctuates in our economy and our costs of living. I cannot answer what sum of money propels a household from middle class to upper class, but I did find this information on what defined being poor in 2010.

"In 2010, the poverty level was $22,314 for a family and $11,139 for an individual. It excludes capital gains or accumulated wealth, such as home ownership, as well as non-cash aid such as food stamps and tax credits, which were expanded substantially under President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.

An additional 9 million people in 2010 would have been counted above the poverty line if food stamps and tax credits were taken into account.

The Associated Press reportedly surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks and academics, both nonpartisan and those with known liberal or conservative leanings, and found a broad consensus: The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965."

TheBlaze/AP, Erica Ritz

An estimated 47 million Americans were "poor" last year. That is approximately one out of every six people in America, not even including food stamp and tax credit recipients.

This isn't progress. This is enabling a large portion of our population who take advantage of the safety nets we have set up for families in hard times. The tax dollars financing these safety nets are worth every penny if they are actually necessary but many people take advantage of our system and Barack Obama does nothing to address the abuse but, instead, feeds it with more and more tax dollars earning himself the title of "Food Stamp King". 

Wasteful government spending is setting America's economy on its head and the biggest shame about Barack Obama and his theme of "hope" and "change" is that if he would ever pull back the reigns on any of this spending that he has wasted for the past four years he wouldn't stand a chance of getting reelected. The man is an enabler. Much of this nation has an addiction to the sensation of feeling like a victim when they are nothing of the sort. Our president is their dealer of false hope and the stuff he is dealing (other people's money) is eventually going to run out, sooner rather than later.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 85.1

Here is what happened one year ago on Day329.

Day693 Sunday 07/22/12

ran 3.3 miles

Today ends week ninety-nine of running against Obama. I ran 23.3 miles this week, averaging 3.33 miles per day.

2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C. and back + 81.7

Here is what happened one year ago on Day328.