“If you built a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Don’t you love it when a politician says something and then tries to walk it back? The fact is, words mean things. When these folks go off the teleprompter and use their own words, their true feelings and attitudes are revealed. In England, Governor Romney expressed his opinion that the Brits might not be ready for the Olympics. Guess what? He was right and they have been scrambling from the beginning. But in this politically correct world you must immediately take back or modify your words because somewhere out there your comments will be labeled as a “gaff,” or worse.

Having reached a ripe old age of wisdom (or perhaps senility), I am mostly amused at the twisting and turning these politicians go through trying to get out their “message.” Not much political talk offends me any longer, but here are a couple of notable exceptions:

1. “The government can’t afford to pay for tax breaks.”

When did the government start “paying” any of us? It’s our money whether we are rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle. If you in the government want more money from any of us (and you always do), then start by cutting your spending and stop pissing our money away on foolishness. “How” you ask? Well, the first thing you can do is cut off all foreign aid immediately and start a pay to play policy. You back us and we might help you out with a few bucks. Otherwise, it’s been nice knowing you. That’s just one of many obvious spending cuts.

2. “Pay your fair share.”

Excuse me. Most of us retired-age folks have more than paid our fair share. That’s not to mention things like serving in the military, creating businesses, and paying taxes on top of taxes our entire lives.

Well, this was more of a brief rant, but I feel better. By the way Mr. President, I wrote this blog all by myself.

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Check It Out

Please take a look at the new home page and bio page on our web site:

www.TheBestofOurLives.com

While the changes on the web site are mostly cosmetic, they reflect an exciting change of focus for my wife Trisha and me. Ever since our book came out, The Best of Our Lives: Sharing the Secrets of a Healthy and Happy Retired Life, we were fortunate to have been invited to appear on both television and radio programs, appear at book signings across the country, and speak to various groups and organizations.

Since then, our invitations for speaking engagements have increased, and we now spend much of our time and energy on that activity. We thank all of the people and organizations that first invited us to be speakers, and we now look to the future with our new multi-media presentation: Prime Time: Celebrating Life’s Second Half.

We already have some exciting bookings on the calendar, and I will post them in future blogs.

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Trisha’s Dishes

Trisha Parker

Trisha’s back with some exciting new dishes. Just click on “Trisha’s Dishes” on our web site home page. I can assure you they are fantastic.

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Personal Note

Trisha and I recently returned from Florida. We love the tropics and had a great time with family and friends. We watched the one grandson build sand castles on the beach, another (4 months old) dipped into the ocean for the first time, swam in the pool, visited some good friends, went out on a few dinner dates, and gained a few pounds enjoying the Florida cuisine. I also got to go fishing again on my friend John’s beautiful boat Tangerine, along with good buddy Dave. We caught lots of fish and had even more laughs.