Election 2012

What happens now? Where do we go from here? Nationally not much has changed. A few seats in congress changed hands, but the Republicans still control the House and Democrats still control the Senate. President Obama must still try to get the two houses of Congress to agree (fat chance). The Republicans will not allow taxes to be levied against anyone, Democrats will  not allow the top 2% of wage earners to get away without being taxed more. Republicans will quote the bible and condemn gay marriage and abortions, while Democrats will rant about the environment and equality. Well let me tell you equality is a fantasy and Congress is filled with old, senile morons who have no grip on reality or current events. Most want to live in a fantasy world of begone times. Those lucky few who have some kind of reality check are junior members with little or no power. I believe the newer members have dreams and goals but the senior members soon destroy those ambitions and the junior members become disheartened and browbeaten into submission. It's a sad turn of events when the citizens of this country blame the P.O.T.U.S., expecting him to snap his fingers and make everything perfect. I believe President Obama would like to have that kind of power, good or bad, just to be able to make Congress agree. I am no fan of President Obama, but I am a fan of democracy and the United States of America. I also am not a fan of Republicans or Democrats (I think the party system is just a way of dividing the country, playing smoke and mirrors). People rarely agree on specifics, but nearly all agree politics in America is broken. Congress is corrupt and disillusioned. The purpose of Congress is to do the bidding of their constituents. Good luck with that idea! Members of Congress only worry about getting re-elected for his/her next term. Our senators and representatives tell us, the citizens, they are working hard for us when in reality they are making backroom deals, getting rich, and destroying the country a little piece at a time. Special interest groups and lobbyists own Congress, not the American people. Lobbyists on the payroll of huge corporations and unions. A truly sad turn of events. I bet this wasn't what the founding fathers were planning.

Arizona state politics have become a circus of clowns in most instances. Arizona politicians work as well as Ford's Edsel did, a failure! We have one politician working to be a celebrity instead of working for the people of the state. Another is too busy being a politician to listen to the people of its (I say its because this person doesn't deserve human acknowledgement) district. Others are lazy or stupid, while a small portion work themselves crazy to do the job we elected them to do. Our state government spends too much time on any other number of issues that have no baring on jobs, the economy, education, or fiscal policy. Arizona is at the bottom of the barrel in education and economic reform. The state is basically broke, schools are failing the student body (don't get me started on the faculty's "hands" on approach to education in this state), and Governor Brewer is more intent on fighting with President Obama (and making a fool of herself in the process) than she is fixing our state.

Politics in America continues to amaze me. I know I'm not smart enough to fix the problem, but I am dumb enough to know when I'm being fed a BS sandwich and being told it's prime rib. Term limits for Congress members would eliminate the crusty, mummified remains we fondly know as our reps and senators. The P.O.T.U.S. has a limit, why not Congress? Well I guess a guy can dream...

Chris

Self quote

I can't tell you what success looks like, but I can tell you it tastes sweeter than the finest honey and smells better than the finest perfume.

Chris

Pushing the limits

When you're required to fight for a belief and/or principle and the outcome isn't what you imagined, do you continue to fight for a different ending? By pushing the limits of what's expected of you, often you're faced with the daunting task of going on the attack versus defending your position. Not always do you have the luxury of be barricaded behind a wall of solitude but you must now venture into the realm of the 'winner' to regain your footing.

Life can be a killer.

            I found a quote that struck my heart in a way I felt the need to write, “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was and the present worse than it is”. Strangely I have no idea who wrote it and not that it is SO prolific or wise in any way (this has been said many times), I just felt I finally understand what it means. I live my life looking behind me or looking ahead of me, never looking around me. I never concentrate on the here and now. I need to concentrate on changing what I can change, moving past the things I cannot, releasing the past, and letting the future come as it may. My past was wonderful and horrible, but nothing I do will change it. I must learn from it and chock it up to experience. The future is uncertain at best and can change in a moment’s breath. I can control my present and plan for the future. Putting things into perspective and adjusting my sails as the wind changes is my best hope of navigating through the unknown. Surrounding myself with people and things I enjoy and pursuing my dreams will push me through the muck and mire I have long been wading through.

“Life will give you nothing and take everything” is a quote I heard many years ago that at this moment has become clear. Nothing is free; you have to work for it. Success, wealth, love, life, etc. no one will hold your hand. Some people will help you up when you fall, others will push you down, and still others will walk right past you. Those that help you up are the ones you want in your life. Forget the rest of them, they mean nothing to you. When people realize you are strong and could not care less about them if they are not there to share a mutual friendship with you then they will eventually fade in the distance to annoy someone else. Being happy is not about having everything, some of the richest people are miserable. I dream of being rich, but then who do you trust? If you have friends when you are poor you know they are your friends because they like you for YOU, your friendship is all you have to give. Rich people have to worry about those with selfish and evil intentions. Hard work will win out over luck every time.

Love is a part of life, just like pain, laughter, and dreams. No one can predict love, it just happens. It can be a look, a laugh, a touch but when it happens there is no greater thing. It will outshine the Sun, it will be deeper than the ocean, and it will take you higher than a rocket ship. The opposite is true when that love is gone, you will feel the most crippling pain, be trapped in the deepest darkest hole, and suffer the worst loss you can imagine. If you do not feel this tremendous high and excruciating low then you are not truly in love. Love is the greatest, and worst, emotion in the world. It can put you on top of the highest mountain, and it can crush you under the deepest ocean. It is strange how such a strong emotion can be so fleeting, here one moment and gone the next. Inevitably love leaves a path of destruction in its wake, the carnage of lives ruined and the ashes of hearts consumed lay littered along the path of our lives like autumn leaves on the ground after a strong wind. Only a lucky few can say they found their true love. Only those who have lost that love can understand the debilitating anguish left behind.

Change is hard, no one likes it. Change is stressful. Even good change is hard on the psyche. Everyone has advice, some good, some bad, you must decide if it is right for you. Eventually you have to make a decision, let it destroy you or learn from it and move on. Live by your own rules, love truly, regret nothing, be a friend, and share your smile. GOD bless and keep you! - Chris

When the inevitable happens

Time and again friends give you advise about what you should think and feel. Too many times the advise is to let go and forget. How do you forget? It isn't like you lost a pair of sunglasses. How do you pick up the pieces when the shattered remenants lay about your feet like dust? Do you sweep them into a pile and hide them under a rug? Knowing this from experience I can say the tears will fall, depression will gain a foothold, and life WILL go on no matter how much you think it wont. I found comfort in the knowledge that I was going to live. Each time I took a breath I knew it would not be my last. Each step I took would take me into the vast known, alone. Each sunrise brought with it the hopes and challenges of a new day. Getting up each day became easier, eating didn't seem like a chore, and the pain faded.As the song goes. "the wound heals, but the scar remains". The scar of love is never seen, only felt. No two scars are the same, just as no two people are the same. A wound of love can become infected if not treated quickly. The infection can be depression, anger, hate, and sorrow. These "infections" will poison the body, and destroy the soul. Left to fester the infection will become psychosis and delerium. Patterns happen, solitude becomes the norm, avoidance the protection, and withdrawal the new mate. Friends see this and try to help, but don't know how. Eventually, the "help" does more harm or the friends give up because the drain on them is too much. These infections thrive on despair. Moving on is hard, but necessary for the health of everyone.

What is the Obama Administration doing?

When did the United States become the playground monitor? For the last 60 years the USA has stuck its nose in every other countries business. I am concerned we are biting off more than we can chew with Syria. Iraq we had the "belief" that WMD's were being hid only to find out it was a lie. Afghanistan was where Bin Laden was "hiding", he was in Pakistan. Now we are stepping in a critizing Syria for killing its own people. Assad's tyranny is horrible and ruthless, but Syria is a nuclear power and has made it perfectly clear it will defend itself with ALL means at its disposal. Obama decides to puff up his chest and "demand" Assad to allow democracy or step down. Or what? He will send in the military? Sanctions? Take away Assad's library card? Does Obama really think he has any control or authority to impose his will on Syria? He'd had a better chance getting Biden inducted into Mensa International's Hall of Fame. Now let us take a look at some of the "playground monitoring" the US has done and our track record. Korean Conflict, we fight North Korea and the Chinese. So now we have a psycho leader, Kim Jong II, with nuclear capability and an itchy trigger finger. Vietnam, we fight the North Vietnamese and get our asses handed to us to save South Vietnam from the communists. Well the Socialist Republic of Vietnam still stands today. Now we move to Nicaragua, the US "supports" the contra guerillas against the communist regime running the country. Now we have a bright light. The US sponsored contra win and democracy is brought to the country. It still stands today and Nicaragua is a prosperous land. After that there are smaller "police actions" like Somalia (still a hell hole), Serbia, (great job there), Sarajevo (joke), Kuwait/Iraq (the first time), now for ten+ years Iraq/Afghanistan. Can't this government getting it through their thick skulls, stay the hell out of other country's business. Our economy is in the toilet, unemployment/underemployment is astronomical, and Congress can't make a common decision to turn on the lights without a fight. Our government is running this country into the ground and it's the laughing stock of the planet. We're in debt to everyone, our budget is bouncing checks like the Globe Trotters working over a high school gym class, and China is done helping out. We're on the brink of something big in this country, and from the smell in the air its not good. We need to grab our Congressmen and women by the shirt collar and seat of the pants and see how far we can toss them down the steps of the Capitol building. This election year vote NO INCUMBENTS! Send these morons packing and get some new people in there to straighten this country out.

Wake up, America!

I am so tired of reading the Republicans and Democrats blaming each other for not reaching a budget deal and the debt ceiling problem. It's both of the parties' fault for getting us in this mess in the first place. Each one voted in and/or ratified laws and budgets that were stupid. The stimulus packages (both Bush and Obama) were jokes. Did it help? NO! Raising the debt ceiling has done nothing but allow other countries to own us. The Government has screwed the governed big time!! We continue to go to work, come home, and live our lives like everything will work itself out. Sorry folks, it wont. We do what we can to provide for our families and the Government continues to pilfer from the governed making it harder each and every day to make ends meet. All the while cutting GOD out of everything this country was built on. Marriage has become a punchline, GOD and prayer have become nuisances, and our government is a basket of corrupt idiots. But Americans continue to turn a blind eye to it because we are worried about our families and jobs. If you owned a business and your employees were running the company the way Obama, Biden, Boehner, McCain, Pelosi, and Reid are running this country, what would you do? I can tell what would happen to the business, the same thing that happened to Tyco, Worldcom, Lehman Brothers, and Enron. The company would be shutdown and the leaders put in jail. These leaders are no better than Bernie Madoff, stealing from Peter to pay Paul. This government is one big Ponzi scheme, but no one seems to be watching. Wake up America, we are nearing our end very quickly.

If you think you are safe, think again. Your freedoms are be slowly and methodically taken away. Homeland Security, Transportation Safety Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, and your local law enforcement. What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? It seems we are merely in one big concentration camp called the USA. The news media is just as complacent and playing into the hands of the corruptors. News companies only publish and televise what they are allowed to show and what sells newspapers, magazines, or advertisements. Americans want to see their favorite celebrity naked or falling on their face or in some other kind of drama. What about the injustices we face everyday at the airport, or from law enforcement? When did it become OK to make a handicapped grandmother face the indignity of having her adult diaper removed because it is suspiciously wet? Wet, really? Isn't that what a diaper does? Or the six year old girl who has to be patted down and touched by a stranger in places we tell our kids no adult should touch them, because she might be a terrorist carrying an underwear bomb? Thank you TSA for keeping me safe from the dangerous pre-school bomber! IDIOTS! We, Americans, are looked at as potential homegrown terrorists, anarchists, and/or conspiracy theorists. The government has made us afraid of our own shadows and suspicious of our neighbors. Most Americans do not want to believe the Government is corrupt. I am here to tell you folks, your government officials DO NOT have your best interests in their heads. Don't get me wrong, some federal and state Congress members are decent, hard-working people, but they eventually succumb to the pressure and the power. Junior Congress members have no power and the only way to get power is to play the game and bend to the will of the senior members. Those that have been in the halls of the Capitol building for fifteen or more years have all the power and they do what they want, when they want, and answer to no one. You think the sex scandals and minor criminal offenses like Weiner's sexting and Blagojevich's corruption conviction are the worst things in Washington D.C.? Jokes on you! Backroom deals and under the table pay offs are not limited to third world countries. It happens right here in America.

Corporate America has their hands in so many pockets in Washington it is disgusting. Why do we have $3.50/gallon gasoline? You think the Arabs control it? Exxon Mobil reported 69% increases in profits for the first quarter of 2011. That translates to $10.7 billion. OK, wait let's write that out, $10,700,000,000 in profits. This is up from $6.3 billion. Do you still think $3.50/gallon gasoline is fair? Why doesn't the government limit this gouging like they limit the amount of mouth wash you can bring on a plane? Or whether the fingernail clippers hanging on your key chain enables you to hijack a jetliner? A Toyota truck key could do more damage. A person could slit your throat with one. This time last year gasoline was $2.70/gallon. Has exploration or shipping costs increased so much that an $.80/gallon increase is required to cover the added expense? Oh wait, $10.7 billion in profits, a 69% increase. They had to charge more so they could make more. That's the capitalist way. I'm all for making money but when it begins to cripple the rest of the business world something has to be done. Trucking companies have to charge more, retailers have to charge more, and consumers pay the price, literally. A 60% increase in fuel cost to get to work, a 35% increase to feed your family, and a 55% increase to run your home. Did you get a 150% increase in your paycheck to cover your costs like the oil companies did? I know you did not! Now not to pick on just the oil companies, let's take a look at the utility companies. PepcoPepco reported a $64 million profit in 2011 versus a $36 million profit in 2010. So did the customers get a rebate or lower prices for the summer months because of this huge increase? Nope, Pepco increased rates 42% for the summer. Whoa, wait a tick! Where is the government protecting the public from these rip-off artists? Oh wait I know, the government was bickering over the President's birth certificate, or Don't Ask, Don't Tell, or maybe it was how to raise the debt ceiling, AGAIN. What is really happening in Washington D.C.?

The reason these companies are doing whatever they want is because they have bought and paid for our politicians. Then the government plays smoke 'n mirrors games for the public to take the focus off what is really happening. Americans are distracted by Weiner's wiener and the terrorist threats by Al Qaeda. You know there have been terrorist threats everyday for the last 50 years, right? Queen Napolitano would have you believe these terrorist have only started these threats in the last 10 or so years. She would have you believe she is the only thing standing between America and the terrorists. She has no clue what is going on. Janet couldn't run the state of Arizona and Obama puts her in charge of Homeland Security? I wouldn't let her guard a school crosswalk. Then Jan Brewer takes over as Governor of Arizona and that's like putting Howdy Doody in charge of the FBI, and the voters put her back in for a full term. What were you thinking Arizona?

In the end Americans can no longer live in the fantasy world that the government is doing everything it can to bring an end to the economic crisis and restore the United States as the world leader. The Obama Administration is playing a game and Harry Reid is riding on his coat tails. John Boehner is doing everything he can to throw his weight around and make it difficult for the Democrats without regard to what it is doing to the country. Term limits for Congress would eliminate many of the problems of corruption in Congress. The President is limited to two terms, the Senate should have the same limits, and the House of Representatives should be 4 terms. Eight years and you're done. This would limit any politician to 24 years total; 8 in each congressional house and 8 as President. I hope this opens many eyes to the real problem in Washington and facing this country. The United States of America is the greatest country in the world but our government is increasingly making the country unbearable to live in and be proud of.

GOD bless America and our brave men and women of the military! Please get involved in our country. Just as our forefathers fought against the tyranny of England 245 years ago, we must stand united against the tyrannical leaders of today who have defaced and corrupted the USA.

Thank you and GOD bless you all!

Christopher Ballow