When Is Enough, Enough?!

I find myself scratching my head in disgust over some of the most insanely inane acts of random stupidity. Or…are these acts calculated, political power moves? If the latter, these moves are even more horrendous in my book of life plays.

I have come to realize politics aren’t meant for the light-hearted or over-sensitive. I’m reminded over and over by political heavy hitters to “get legs” and man-up or rather woman-up.

I vacillate between the idea “hey, it’s just politics…” and “why do politics have to be this way?!” on almost a daily basis. What would it be like if we told the truth and dealt with the consequences as they came and the all mighty dollar or favor weren’t factors?

Can we even imagine what it would be like? Would it be boring…or maybe not? Either way, it’s a scenario that I find interesting to dream about.

Okay, I digress. I’m a relatively tough person having worked all my life, run a business for over 16 years and dealt with the good, bad and ugly clients (for the record: mostly good for any client out there reading this blog!).

I admit I haven’t fought in war or served in the military but I do come from a long line of tough cultural stock in that I am Armenian and one whose grandparents witnessed their immediate families slaughtered right before their eyes, yet survived to immigrate to the United States (legally too I might add!).

Not a pretty story of the past but a part of my life’s fabric and a huge influence on who I am and how I process ideas and events to this day.

Now with that backstory, I take you to my original point in writing this blog post in the first place. When Is Enough, Enough? When is a “thank you” okay instead of a gift? When is paying for a service enough without having to grease the provider with a massive tip (justified or not)? When is a sentiment like a thank you or get well card kept just that, a sentiment and not recast into political folly?

I was watching TV the day Gabby Gifford was shot in Tucson and her staffer was killed. Gabby is an incredible story of survival and comeback, her staffer a sad and tragic story of loss.

However, her astronaut husband Mark Kelly (who BTW left on a mission while she was still fighting for her life) ripped on Boehner for only sending a get well card and not visiting while in Houston. Maybe a biggey to Kelly, but I think this cheapens Kelly’s timely book launch, his name and his character.

Hey, Mark might be a great guy, but using the Team Gifford Kelly book tour to slam a person for not sending a big enough gift or saying “Get Well” loud enough is in my opinion simply ungracious and downright wrong.

What, not enough? 

Today’s Focus: Pursuit of A Good Laugh In the Face of Lunacy

It’s official! Occupy Salt Lake City is over, momentarily anyway. It appears Salt Lake City Chief of Police Burbank finally found the intelligence to move the protestors out of Pioneer Park due to the discovery of a dead protestor in one of the tents. Very sad.

When will the sorely misguided and souls of Occupy Wall Street figure out they should be moving their tents to the White House?!

In the meantime, I just figured I’d continue to search out and share the hilarity in this overtly hypocritical and unsightly movement, which only in America it could occur openly because of the incredible Constitution and the First Amendment, which protect Americans' right to free speech and other inalienable rights.

Have fun with the always funny Steve Crowder take on #OccupyRacism!!!

More Federal Spending Mismanagement on the Backs of US Taxpayers, NO THANK YOU GOP!

This quote pulled directly from a Fox story is frightening:

“And in the middle of a week chock-full of dire warnings about the direction of the committee and the consequences of failure, House Speaker John Boehner conceded that a final deal could include revenue increases, though ‘there clearly is a limit.” Oh, those eyes!

While I understand we are in a mess as a nation and compromise is required in most instances, I am also cognizant that the idea of tax hikes on all Americans when additional spending cuts and the reduction and / or elimination of redundant and corrupt Federal agencies isn’t fully considered by the current administration is absolutely wrong for both parties. And especially wrong for those in the GOP party like Boehner who allegedly adhere to conservative party principles.

U.S. taxpayers have been footing the bill for messed up banks tied to government cronyism since 2008, and I believe most are over it. A great example is Prop 103 in Colorado which went down in flames! Yeah for voters in Colorado!

The over $700 billion in government stimulus that we so desperately needed to keep unemployment from exceeding 8% didn’t work. And, adding more fuel to the fire, Obama is pushing GOP to now pass through another asinine “Jobs Bill” to further expand the public sector.

All Americans should be wary! This is no overarching economic stimulus plan. This is just more government spending and public sector growth dressed up in sheep’s clothing.

According to a USA Today story on the federal pay scale published just two years ago, federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months — and that’s before overtime pay and bonuses were counted. Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector (i.e., where the real stimulus and economic growth comes from). Fast forward two years, and I think the looming recession has now cost us closer to 10 million jobs…ouch!

With so many currently out of work and rank #OWS protestors filling and defiling parks nationwide, it’s time for GOP to get on the offensive and let Americans know what the long-term consequences truly are if Obama is allowed to pass more bogus social justice stimulus legislation.

What most folks don’t get is that the GOP’s blocking of the third jobs bill matters. And, it isn’t about pandering to the 1% as Obama’s BFF SEIU would have you believe. It’s time GOP leadership let Americans know why there is more to this ideological battle than meets the eye and reenergize and set the Republican brand right as Peggy Noonan so eloquently shared in her recent Wall Street Journal column, Happy Days Aren’t Here Again.

Oh and hurry it up GOP (yeah you Establishment GOP and Tea Party conservatives) because I can already see the 2012 light at the end of the tunnel!

Occupy Wall Street: America's Most Ignorant

Watch recent GBTV exposé on Occupy Wall Street protestors while biting your tongue!

U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan Takes No Prisoners During Heritage Foundation Speech

I am not sure exactly which part of Ryan’s speech I liked the best because there were many poignant anecdotes to choose from.

His power-packed speech presented this week at The Heritage Foundation was a breath of fresh air. I hadn’t been hearing much out of Ryan lately and was getting a bit worried. Where had the House Budget Committee Chairman gone? I now know his media absence was not for naught. He’s been working on multiple economic-related bills to jump start the economy. The problem is, they are now sitting on “Dirty Harry” Reid’s desk in the senate apparently in stalemate mode.

Ryan’s speech theme, “Saving the American Idea: Rejecting Fear, Envy and the Politics of Division,” was the type of political sparring that makes you believe something good might just happen in 2012 despite the Hillary Clinton / Joe Biden bait-and-switch scenario toying with the psyche of mainstream media.

Come on folks. Mrs. Clinton is our illustrious Secretary of State! I don’t know about you, but I would have to say that the foreign relations results over the past three years coming out of our State Department figurehead haven’t exactly been world-peace stellar.

Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Arab Spring, you name it. Oh, and we shouldn’t dismiss today’s breaking news about the terrorist shooting in front of the U.S. Embassy in Bosnia.
We are in the middle of pure chaos and it feels almost never ending between coverage of the 99% ranting and pissing in parks nationwide. When does the liberal progressive, politically correct madness end? This is the million dollar question nagging in the minds of most Tea Party Movement, American loving citizens.

My belief and answer to the question, when more like Paul Ryan and others who have the guts to tell the American people like it is are in control of the White House and Congress.

These are dire economic times, don’t be fooled. The campaign trail divisiveness Obama has promoted from East to West is reprehensible, but he continues to create ill will among Americans. I am convinced that 2012 must be the year of the “Veto Proof Congress” or pardon my French we are up Shit’s Creek with no paddle.

I have to believe Ryan and I suspect many of his Congressional colleagues feel much the same; and this belief became clear to me when I heard him say to onlookers:

“The American Idea is not tried in times of prosperity. Instead, it is tested when times are tough: when the pie is shrinking, when businesses are closing, and when workers are losing their jobs.

Those are the times when America’s commitment to equality of opportunity is called into question. That’s when the temptation to exploit fear and envy returns – when many in Washington use the politics of division to evade responsibility for their failures and to advance their own narrow political interests.
And yet, nearly three years into his [Obama’s] presidency, look at where we are now:

•Petty and trivial? Just last week, the President told a crowd in North Carolina that Republicans are in favor of, quote, “dirtier air, dirtier water, and less people with health insurance.” Can you think of a pettier way to describe sincere disagreements between the two parties on regulation and health care?
•Chronic avoidance of tough decisions? The President still has not put forward a credible plan to tackle the threat of ever-rising spending and debt, and it’s been over 900 days since his party passed a budget in the Senate.

•A preference for scoring cheap political points instead of consensus-building? This is the same President who is currently campaigning against a do-nothing Congress, when in fact, the House of Representatives has passed over a dozen bills to help get the economy moving and deal with the debt, only to see the President’s party kill those bills in the do-nothing Senate.”

Nicked from Dicken’s famous novel Tale of Two Cities about French and English class warfare and modified just a tad: these certainly are the best of times and worst of times.