Hope & Change: 987 Days Later

Believe it or not, but we are 987 days removed from the election of Barack Hussein Obama II as the 44th President of these United States. His election marked a major milestone in American political history. Not only is President Obama the first black President, but he is also the first President born in Hawaii.

At first glance, President Obama has a rather impressive résumé, academically speaking. Occidental University, a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard. In 1996 he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. Then in 2004 he was elected to the United States Senate. After less than one term in the Senate, he ran for, and successfully won, the Presidency.

His successful campaign through 2008 was run with soon-to-be Vice President Joe Biden at his side. His youthful exuberance and eloquence carried him over Republican challenger John McCain and relative newcomer Sarah Palin. Both campaigns played on catchphrases and the reports from focus groups. The Obama Campaign settled on two phrases: "Hope and Change" and "Yes we can."

And now, 987 days later, we can examine the outcome of those phrases.

I'll admit that I was a little peeved at his near instantaneous use of the "The Office of the President-Elect." Yes, it's a real office, but it's not really ever been flaunted in the way that Obama flaunted it. He even had a podium made with the title of the Office and the American seal.

His campaign promises were many, including things like closing down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Regardless of your belief on the detention center or the allegations of torture (founded or unfounded), the center remains open in 2011.

Then there was the economic stimuli, a process started under previous President George Bush. President Obama took office when unemployment was 6.7%. Statements came from the Administration that, with the economic stimulus, unemployment would not go above 10%. By October 2009, unemployment sat at 10.2%.

On the racial front, we were told by some pundits that the election of Obama meant that the racial divides were healing. In fact, some said that Obama was the first post-racial President. But in July of 2009, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, a black professor at Harvard was arrested breaking into his own house. He had locked himself out and was noisily trying to break in when a neighbor called the police. Sgt. James Crowley arrived and arrested Gates for disorderly conduct. From an outsider's perspective, it is easy to see a failure to communicate here. But President Obama took to the microphones and stated that the Harvard Police had acted "stupidly" in arresting Gates. Some discussion lead to the now infamous "Beer Summit."

Now, I'm not going to act like the President isn't an adult and capable of making his own choices, but what example does it set for the youth of the nation when the President has to have alcohol to confront his problems?

And there is the health care reform law. This is the Bill that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told us that they had to pass so we could "find out what was in it." (Of course, this is the same Nancy Pelosi who once told us that 500 million Americans lost their jobs.) A rather large percentage of the American people were unhappy with the legislation, it was still hammered through Congress. Harry Reid told us that Reconciliation would not be used to pass the bill, and then told us that Reconciliation was still on the table.

And now, in 2011, were dealing with a deficit and budget crisis. Some pundits are blaming Republicans for not passing a budget in the six months or so that they've controlled the House. Nevermind that for a while the left held a near super-majority in the Congress and just didn't pass a budget, they're now screaming that it is the fault of the GOP. Of course, it's the GOP's fault. I mean, right now everything is still George W. Bush's fault.

So I challenge you to look at your situation. Look at your town; your county; your state; your nation. Tell me, how's that "Hope and Change" working out for you?

The Next Three Circuits

The next three circuits on the Formula 1 tour offer some distinct differences for the boys with the fast cars.

The track coming up on July 24 is the Nurburgring. No, not the old Nordschleife, also known as The Green Hell, or as Robert and I refer to it, the only track with 186,000 turns. This is a purpose built track, because the Green Hell was too dangerous. The "new" track does feature some interesting areas, like the Schumacher Esses, but all in all, it's not my favorite track.

The second track on this leg of the tour is the Hungaroring. Lately, this track has been plagued with near disasters. In 2009, Felipe Massa was very nearly killed in one of the scariest accidents I've ever seen, as a 5-pound spring came off the Brawn GP car of Rubens Barrichello and bounced down the back straight, striking Massa in the helmet and knocking him out. I always get chills when I see the gas and brake both applied at full strength. The Hungaroring has a tendency to produce some rather boring races, but if you get the chance to race it on any of the Codemasters F1 games, the track is a surprisingly fun drive.

Lastly, after the summer break, is the greatest racing circuit of them all, Spa-Francorchamps. I started watching F1 in the summer of 2008, while Fox was broadcasting the German Grand Prix from the Hockenheimring. It wasn't long after that race that I saw my first race at Spa-Francorchamp. I was amazed that a track could be so long, and basically built on the side of a small mountain. It was beautiful, and it hooked me in completely. When it comes to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, I don't even care who wins (even though I'm a tried-and-true McLaren fan), but so long as I get to see a good race that the stewards don't screw with, I'm happy.

Atlanta Thrashers...er...Winnipeg Jets

The Atlanta Thrashers were sold to True North Entertainment and they moved to Winnipeg. At the NHL Draft, it was announced that the team would be called the Jets, in recognition of the old WHA/NHL team that was once in Winnipeg and is now in Phoenix. Seriously, hockey somehow didn't make it in Atlanta, but the NHL, and Gary Bettman, strove to keep hockey in Phoenix.

Anyway, since there is now a Winnipeg Jets franchise once more, I decided to play with some jersey ideas.

Jersey #1 (seen to right) is just the road jersey. Based off the early 1980s models, the color scheme changes from red-white-and-blue to white-gold-brown with black trim. For some reason, I'm feeling the need for a brown/khaki hockey jersey at the moment, as you'll see in the next brown-tinted images. Note that this jersey maintains the old Jets logo, just colored to match the prevailing hues of the jersey ensemble.

Jersey #2 (left) is based off the same old jersey style, but with an updated color scheme. The white and brown stays in place on the road jersey, but instead of gold, we use khaki/tan. Also, the same logo from jersey #1 is still in play. The pants for the road jersey are khaki with black trim and brown highlights.

The home version of jersey #2 is predominantly khaki with brown and white striping down the sleeves. On both jerseys the number is brown with black trim, and the logo on both jerseys is white lettering on a brown background with black trim.

The pants for the home jersey a brown with khaki highlights and black trim.

Jersey #3 (to the right) differs greatly from the first two versions. The road jersey is white with brown and khaki piping on the sleeves. The logo is a fan-created design that I had absolutely nothing to do with. My play on the logo on the road jersey is brown lettering and a brown jet with khaki highlights.

The pants for both jerseys admittedly, need some work. I showed this to a fellow hockey fan at work, and his thought was "The khaki codpiece just doesn't work." I agree, but if that is the least of the changes required here, then I'll be happy.

The home jersey here is again predominantly khaki with white and brown highlights and trim. On this jersey, the logo is solid brown and the nameplate is solid brown with white letters, in homage to the Philadelphia Flyers jerseys.

Jersey #4, seen to the left, might be my personal favorite, after the jersey designs on #3. The road jersey is white with blue and khaki trim. The logo, once again the fan-created design, is blue lettering and khaki highlights. The piping on the sleeves is blue and khaki as well. The pants are mostly blue with khaki highlights.

The home jersey is blue with a khaki nameplate and blue lettering. The number on the back is white. On the front, the logo is solid khaki and the piping on the sleeves is white with two smaller khaki stripes.

I would love to hear any feedback from anyone about what your thoughts are, or if you have your own designs.

Sports Post

F1 Stuff

It is two weeks until the German Grand Prix. It was about this time, three years ago, that I was swept up into the Formula 1 fever. That hot summer day the fast cars were at the Hockenheimring. Two weeks from now they'll be at the Nurburgring...no, not the famous track in Germany, but the F1-specific purpose-built track at the famous track. How about that? My F1 fandom is a toddler.

In today's Grand Prix at Silverstone, Fernando Alonso won by a margin of over 16 seconds. In the NASCAR race at Kentucky last night, Kyle Busch won by 0.179 seconds. More often than not, you'll see the NASCAR boys crossing the line in very tight packs, and more often than not you'll see F1 displaying a pretty vast (relatively) margin of victory. The trick to accomplishing this? NASCAR creates their own drama by throwing cautions late in races to keep the cars bunched up. In F1, if you get a big lead, chances are you'll get a big win.

A Far Too Early College Football Preview

It looks like college football is being swept up in a wave of corruption, lies, and fraud. Oregon is under the microscope at the moment. Ohio State has already "fired" Jim Tressel, vacated last year's victories (including the Sugar Bowl win), and is hoping that the NCAA doesn't come down any harder.

UGA has also had its share of troubles. RB Caleb King has been ruled academically ineligible. RB Washaun Ealey has transferred.

Georgia starts the season against Boise State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic.

So to keep with the theme of Way-Too-Earliness, let's predict some big college bowl games...

BCS National Championship Game: Alabama vs Oklahoma

Alabama will enter this game after beating Georgia for the SEC Championship. Oklahoma will win the somewhat depleted and completely misnamed Big XII.

Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Nebraska

*Assuming that Oregon is not stripped of the right to go to a bowl game by the NCAA

Fiesta Bowl: Stanford vs. Oklahoma State

Stanford's last run with Andrew Luck should be fun to watch. How many NFL teams will tank part of their season to get a chance at Luck. OK State has one of the best WRs in the country.

Sugar Bowl: LSU vs. Notre Dame

LSU won't play the SEC Title, but they'll be a dangerous team. Notre Dame finally returns to the spotlight.

Orange Bowl: West Virginia vs. Florida State

FSU looks to rise back to the top of the ACC. WVU should win the Big East pretty easily.

Capital One Bowl: Georgia vs. Penn State

Georgia loses the SEC Title to Alabama, and as a reward gets to face Penn State in the CapOne Bowl. I don't recall the Dawgs and the Nittany Lions playing in my lifetime.

Cotton Bowl: South Carolina vs. Texas A&M

South Carolina takes on a team that was once predicted as a potential newcomer to the SEC.

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Florida vs. Virginia Tech

Florida and Virginia Tech would be a really good game. The SEC plays pretty good football on both sides of the ball. The Hokies play fantastic D and Special Teams.

Hockey

That Atlanta Thrashers are now the Winnipeg Jets. I'll be posting some ideas that I had for what the Jets jerseys could look like. I may even email them to the Jets front office. Who knows...

Is this a glimpse into the political mind?

If you have paid any attention to the news lately, you'll know that our country is in an interesting place. Our government, going back over the last...oh, every President of my lifetime, has spent too much money. And yeah, I know people will tell you that Clinton had a massive surplus, but that statement is based on Congressional Budget Office estimates and forecasts. Personally, I don't give the CBO much credit. Yeah, they're a pretty smart group, but part of the modus operandi is that they never account for changes in consumer behavior. They are bound to a static view of economics wherein a consumer will not change their economic behavior no matter what their taxes are.

Of course, under George Bush, our country was attacked by Al Qaida. In the aftermath of the attack, the Dow plummeted, gas prices went up, and the housing market collapsed. Of course, the housing market collapse is more a result of the Clinton Administration's desire to put people in houses, even if they could not afford the mortgages.

Since the economy stayed in a downturn for so long, in the last couple of years of the Bush Administration and the first two and a half years of the Obama Administration, we've seen government stimulus packages. According to members of the Obama Admin, if we passed the stimulus then unemployment would not go above 8%, but right now the unemployment rate is hovering around 9% or so.

The current national debt is $14.2 trillion. In other words, we are way too far in debt. And yet, for all that, Joe Biden says we need to spend more. This is Keynesian economics, which in an extremely over-generalized view says that if you have no money, you should spend money and more money will magically appear.

The Republicans have pushed for some budget cuts. Some Democrats have joined them. Remember, this is a Democratic Party that has controlled at least one if not both houses of our government for the last four years, and has not passed a budget for the last 22 months. One of the funniest things I've heard lately is my liberal friends complaining about the GOP not passing a budget in the last six months, but they won't put the same scrutiny on their own party.

But to get back to the title of this blog post, I was amused to hear from John Conyers (D-MI). Conyers is a long time Democratic Representative out of Michigan. He's supplied us some wonderful comments lately, especially concerning the health care law. He was asked what portion of the US Constitution allows Congress to force individuals to purchase health insurance. His response: "The Good and Welfare Clause." There is no Good and Welfare Clause in the Constitution.

Now, Conyers has delivered some insight into the political mindset, I think. Speaking of those in Congress who are seeking to cut billions of dollars from the budget, Conyers delivered this statement:

“This is the first time that I can remember being confronted by members of the Congress, my colleagues, who say, ‘I don’t care if I get reelected or not, I want to cut the budget by $100 billion or whatever.' I’ve never seen that kind of a member before. … It’s a dangerous point of view from my perspective.”

If I'm understanding this comment correctly, Conyers is saying that congressmen who seek to serve their constituency without worrying about getting reelected are dangerous. Really? I thought that, as a public servant, you were supposed to serve your constituents. If you served them well, they would reward you with reelection. According to Conyers, your job as a congressman is to get reelected. If you follow your heart, regardless of your election status, your are a danger.

Personally I think Conyers's point of view is dangerous. We need more politicians who don't care about their reelection.