Indefensible Comments From Obama are Being Defended.

Astounding that the comments made in the above video are being spun and defended by bias, entrenched liberal warriors who don’t want their champion to fall. The problem is the words used in this video are completely indefensible. There is no explaining away the fact that our President Barack Obama believes government comes before private industry, private industry wouldn’t succeed without government, and entrepreneurs owe all their succes to government. As a private business owner I can say without equivocation government has posed more of a hinderance to my company’s growth than it has an asset.

Defenders of this speech last Friday in Roanoke, Virginia have repeatedly pointed to the text of the speech as evidence that the President was taken out of context. For the life of me I can’t imagine why we need the text when we have the full video showing the entire statement in full throated socialist roar. But to placate those deaf, and blind who seem intent on calling that which is up, down, and calling that which is dark, light…we post here the full text of what Obama said:

“If you were successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think ‘Well it must be because I am just so smart’. There are a lot of smart people out there. ‘It must be because I worked harder than anyone else.’ Let me tell you something. There are a whole bunch of hard working people out there. If you were successful somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’

The opening lines of the statement is said in mockery of business owners. Our President is belittling the very people who are the engine AND the wheels of this economy.

To make the argument that the President is right; every entrepreneur got help along the way from teachers, road builders, etc is an inane and silly argument. All of the American people receive the benefits of road building and public education. Every American has the opportunity to strike-out on their own and create commerce and create jobs by building a business. Very few do. Very few put their own money into a business and risk losing it all. Very few work mornings, afternoons, evening, and weekends when the going for their business gets tough. Few are interested in reading the books, watching the videos, attending the classes and the seminars needed to learn how to start and grow a business. Almost none are faced with using and abusing their credit cards when necessary purchases have to be made and cash flow isn’t there.

When payment of the world’s highest federal corporate tax rates come due it isn’t the employees the IRS comes after. Hard working company employees and government employees are not held legally liable when something goes wrong with a business. No. It’s the business owners who face the repercussions; legal and otherwise. And when a business fails the employees lose their jobs, but the business owner loses their job, their dreams, their way of life, often their house and much much more.  

I want to give credit to a friend, Bradley Kelley, who wrote the following:

“All of the discussion on the role of government sounds great as to all the benefits to society in general as long as you acknowledge one critical point; government was formed to do these functions by people already engaged in trade with each other and employing others, who were willing to give to public coffers to fund these functions. Get the story straight, that government was formed and survives at the behest of the governed. It does not exist without the benevolence of the governed and those that fund it. Everyone may use roads, attend public schools and enjoy police protection. Not everyone risks everything they have and their family’s future to start a business. When you get hired for a job some one owns that business and provided the capital to fund it (before there was any revenue). The same is true in the public sector. Our property, business, B & O, sales, income, gas taxes etc. fund those jobs. The horse is the private sector. Carts don’t pull horse and you better make sure you have enough horses and they are well fed or the carts don’t move.”

The President believes that people and businesses don’t succeed without government. He doesn’t understand that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed…”. It’s not the other way around, Mr. President.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Hillary’s End Run on Gun Control! Dick Morris TV: Lunch ALERT! – YouTube

Hillary’s End Run on Gun Control! Dick Morris TV: Lunch ALERT! – YouTube.

Who Is Mitt Romney’s Running Mate Going To Be « Election 2012 Coverage

Condelezza Rice

Condelezza Rice

I am really in the corner for Condelezza Rice. I think she’s brilliant, and comes from a perspective that everyone can respect. She would be ready to take over the White House if ever needed to do so. And she helps with the electorate bringing over some black voters, women and independent moderates.

Who Is Mitt Romney’s Running Mate Going To Be « Election 2012 Coverage.

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My Weight Loss Frustration turns to Success

See my progress before the 24 Day Challenge was complete.

The fact that I’ve written about my efforts to lose weight twice in this calendar year is not something I would have ever expected of myself. It was just not a subject I cared too much about. That all changed in May 2011 when I got on my bathroom scale and it barked back at me 245.3 pounds. It was the heaviest I’d ever been. That combined with the fact that I didn’t feel particularly good, things had to change. Little things like bending and stooping became difficult. And recent photographs of me were quite un-flattering. Like this Easter pic from 2011:

Me and My 2 Oldest- Easter 2011

Me and My 2 Oldest- Easter 2011

Notice the round belly, and the double chin? Not my best moment.

So I took steps to lose weight which I wrote about last January in a blog I called, My Weight Loss Frustration. The writing of it was prompted by a holiday season of mostly regular indulgence resulting in no weight gain, followed by the first week of the new year filled with exercise, light-healthy eating and a gain of five pounds. Grrrrrr.

In the six months since that writing my weight has remained fairly steady…though gaining slightly. I may have started the year at 233 lbs. But by June I was again approaching my heaviest, about 240 lbs. And while I never would have thought so prior to my weight/size awakening in May 2011 I can REALLY feel those extra pounds. And it’s not a good feeling.

I think perspective is important when discussing an individuals weight. In my case even at my worst I’ve never considered myself obese. Just heavy. Since the weight of an average man is 160-195 pounds, according to Wikipedia, it might be easy to think I’m way over weight. Here’s my history in pictures since my full height of 6′ 1″ and High School.

15 years old, 6’1″, maybe 165lbs.

In this pic I don’t remember how much I weighed. But I would guess around 165 lbs. It was July 1979. I was 15. I know I was already my full height of 6’1″.

August 1981 - 17 Years old, 181 lbs.

My High School Senior Portrait was shot in August 1981, when I was 17 years old, 6-foot 1-inch, 181 lbs. I have a clear memory of my weight at that time because I was trying desperately to gain weight for the upcoming football season. I still harbored hopes of playing in college. But try as I might, I couldn’t put any meat on a pretty skinny frame.

21 years old, 6’1″, 195-200 lbs.

In May 1985 I was 21 years of age and through natural maturation and some weight training I was a fit 195-200 lbs. And since attaining legal drinking age I had begun drinking alcohol, BEER, pretty regularly.

This pic below came as a result of a funny story. I was fishing off this dock you see me standing on with my buddy Rob McBride, and my daughter Arica, who must have been 6-7 years old at the time.

So that would make me 30 years old in this picture, and based on appearance and memory I was about 220 pounds. I’m soaking wet because my daughter had dropped her brand-new fishing pole into the water and was crying. Not wanting her to be sad or have a bad memory from fishing, which is something I LOVE, I decided to dive into the water, where I retrieved the lost pole. Feeling quite proud of his friend, Rob rewarded me with a Budweiser.

Approx. 1993. 29 yrs old, approx. 220 lbs.

46 years old, 240 lbs.

Never posted this pic anywhere at any time for any reason until now; for obvious reasons. It’s not very flattering, and shows me at close to my worst. This shot was at Steamboat Rock State Park in July 2010 at the age of 46 when I weighed about 240 lbs.

June 18, 2012. 48 years old 240 lbs.

Really wasn’t looking forward to posting THIS one…ever since the pic was taken. Obviously I don’t look very good. I weigh 240 lbs. I don’t feel particularly good. I’ve gained back the 8-9 lbs I lost the previous year. This picture was shot the day I began the Advocare 24  Day Challenge, June 18, 2012.

At my worst I’m just 35 pounds heavier than the 210 lbs. I weighed when I married my wife at age 23 in 1987 and was in pretty good physical condition. No pot belly. Not even any love handles. Pretty firm, regularly playing basketball, and doing other physical activities. A 35 pound weight gain on a 6-foot 1 inch frame is not good. But the story of my weight loss frustration isn’t my weight or how much I’ve gained since any point in my life. The real story is how I felt, how I looked, what physical limitations I was encountering, and what health time bombs I was planting in my body. My Dad, Grandpa, and his brother, my Uncle, all died in their early 60s due to health reason that were largely preventable. They were all over weight. And they were all over weight for a considerable part of their adult life. The thought of dying young (60s) like them scared scares the hell out of me. I have too many things to do.

So, the Advocare 24 Day Challenge seemed logical to me. The ONLY time I’d lost weight in the 13-14 months since it became important for me to do so was in July of last year when I took a couple of friends advice and did the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse program. At that time I lost about 6-7 pounds, and felt great.

What might surprise many of you is how avid an exerciser I am. Underneath this round belly and chunky figure is a rock solid body waiting to get out. I stretch, lift weights, run treadmill, and do some bicycling and other cardio five days per week. I’ve done so pretty religiously for 8-9 years. 14 months ago I began eating all my meals on salad plates, rather than dinner plates so that I would be eating less. Still the weight wouldn’t come off. Not until Advocare.

Being Silly- Feeling Great

Its great to get back to a body that has some muscle definition.

A real frustration for me was 230 lbs, which I bumped into several times in the past year but could never break through into the 220s. I finally cracked 230 lbs. 6 days into the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Because of the muscle gain I’ve achieved with weight-training and natural aging I’m not sure I can get down to 210 lbs. again, and I know the final 15 pounds will be the hardest. But I know with Advocare I can do it. I’m down 15 lbs. to 225-pounds at the conclusion of the 24 Day Challenge and feeling much better about my health, my appearance, and my future. It’s the only thing I’ve tried that has worked.

My lovely wife of 25 years has been on the 24 Day Challenge with me and has also lost 15 pounds and says she now weighs less than she has since before the birth of our 13-year-old daughter.

Sonja lost 17lbs on Advocare. Call us for info.

In the course of a lifetime I hope to have last 80+ years, 24 Days is just a tiny blip on the radar screen, and the minor sacrifices I had to make in this short time frame were infinitesimal compared to the tremendous benefit I have gained.

Contact me about Advocare. I’d be happy to give you the whole scoop.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Mariners Breaking My Heart

Safeco Field

Safeco Field 

 

We’ve reached the Major League baseball All-Star break and I’m overwhelmed with one recurring thought regarding my beloved Seattle Mariners…when does Seahawks Training Camp begin. This season’s Mariners season might be the most disappointing for me to date.

As I wrote in this blog before Spring Training, Really Looking Forward to Mariner Season, I wasn’t expecting a playoff team. I was expecting a team that would show considerable improvement over the debacles of the previous two seasons. So far, what improvement there has been, if any, has been so slight it doesn’t merit booking playoff dreams in 2013, 2014 or any time in the foreseeable future. And the future is never foreseeable.

 

Seattle enters this four day break with the worst record in the American League, fifth worst in baseball. Their team batting average is .230. For a whole season that would be the 2nd worst in franchise history, topped, or bottomed, only by last year’s .224 average. The lone bright spots are outfielder Michael Saunders and 3rd baseman Kyle Seager.  But after 3 years of failing to make a good impression at the Major League level and his teammates ineptitude Saunder’s .257 batting average and mere 25 RBI is inflated in the eyes of media and fans. Should we really be THAT excited about an outfielder that at best projects to a 50 rbi-guy in his 4th year of MBL service? And Seager wasn’t expected to make the team in Spring Training, did well, opened the season strong but has fallen off to a .243 average. His HRs and RBIs, 10 and 52, still project well. But it remains to be seen if he can pull himself out of his current long slump. And like Saunders, we’re all way to excited about a guy with a .243 average only because it exceeds what was expected and looks so favorable compared to teammates.

Dustin Ackley and Justin Smoak remain the biggest disappoints, given the franchise’s future high expectations were largely built on the 1st and 2nd basemen. Ackley can be sent down to AAA Tacoma for some more schooling. But other than Smoak there is no other full-time first-baseman on either the Mariner’s roster or Tacoma’s. So sending down Smoak isn’t an easy answer. Who’s going to replace him?

The Mariner’s offensive ineptitude is particularly acute at home, at Safeco Field, where they collectively bat .197 for the season, and mustered only 1 run per game during their recent 10-game homestand. Talk of bringing in the fences continues to be thrown out for discussion by restless beat writers. But a simple and available partial solution continues to be ignored by the Mariners management. Closing the Safeco Field roof more frequently is an advantage to the home team offensive that mysteriously gets no discussion. Miller Park in Milwaukee and Toronto’s Roger’s Centre (formerly Skydome) regularly keep their roofs closed, even on clear-sky days. Doing so warms the air and allows the baseball’s to fly better off the hitter’s bats. But Seattle fans continue to shiver during 40 and 50 degree nights while watching the most offensively inept team in MLB since the advent of the Designated hitter.

Seattle’s refusal to make tough decisions on veterans infects this franchise like no other I’ve ever seen. Ichiro is clearly not the spectacular hitter he once was. He hit .271 all last season and is hitting only .261 this season with an on-base percentage of less than .300, worst in the league. And as mediocre as those numbers are for most major-leaguers they’re made absolutely pedestrian by the total lack of power from the Japanese future-Hall-of-Famer. Manager Eric Wedgefinally moved Ichiro from the lead-off spot he is no longer suited to hold, and batted him #2 for the last two games against Oakland before the break. It remains to be seen if this is a permanent move. Ichiro should be allowed to finish his season here in Seattle. Then let him drift away back to Japan for an honorable retirement. His weak bat an 39 year old age make him no asset to a Mariner team seemingly more interested in nostalgia than winning.

English: Ken Griffey in June 2009.

Ken Griffey Jr

Ken Griffey Junior being the most recent previous example of this franchise holding too tightly to a star’s past glory long since vanished.

Chone Figgins

Chone Figgins 

And Seattle’s unwillingness to cut Chone Figgins is understandable, given his contract, but unforgivable given the team’s poor play and the fact that other younger more capable players are being deprived learning experiences every time Wedge marches Figgins out onto the field with his pathetic .186 average. Seattle needs to eat the remaining 1 1/2 years on Figgins contract and call it what it is, a failed free-agent signing. Then move on with the younger guys. I’m fairly confident Tacoma’s AAA outfielders Trayvon Robinson, Carlos Peguero, or Mike Wilson could manage a .186 average while having more HR pop than the diminutive Figgins. And being career minor leaguers thier MLB minimum salaries shouldn’t be a money concern like Figgins’ contract.

And speaking of Tacoma, Seattle’s highest level minor league affiliate is currently 38-51 on the season, last in their division and 4th worst in the entire Pacific Coast League. So much for building the franchise through the minor-league system.

English: Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik a...

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik at Mariners FanFest 2011. 

So a couple of things are clear for the remainder of the Mariner season. One-hitting coach Chris Chambliss has to go. I’m not saying the poor offense is his fault. But given such limited options for fixing the problem, and given 2 seasons of the worst offense any where at any time some new ideas wouldn’t hurt. Second- General Manager Jack Zduriencik may need to start polishing up his resume. He’s had nearly four years to make the team better. It isn’t working. My patience is through. I’m really disappointed. And I can’t wait to see Matt Flynn throw the football.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.