Friday, June 27, 2014

President Obama wants $500 million for rebel training in Syria

Seriously?  President Barack Obama is prepared to go to Congress and ask for $500 million to train rebels fighting in Syria.  That is nuts!  Do we not have enough problems here in our own country?  Have we not watched over the past six years as Obama has added more to our national debt than every single President before him combined?  Do we not have almost $20 trillion in national debt?

Now he wants to waste half a billion dollars on Syria.  All that money being sent to a worthless black hole.  Just look at Iraq right now.  Those Muslim ISIS fighters are running around with US military weapons that we left with Iraqi soldiers that we supposedly trained.

All good.  Let's go train some crazy Syrian rebels.  Arm them with American weapons and turn them loose.  I see good results from this idea.  Don't You?

I remember Obama's quote about Iraq in a National Address: "We are leaving behind a solid, sovereign and self-reliant Iraq."  We see how that has all turned out.  So let's just throw $500 million at another pool of waste in Syria.  Just sit back and watch them kill each other.  Who cares if they are that stupid and certainly stop wasting our money over there!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

David Beckham Into the Unknown - Fascinating!

So I just finished watching the Showtime special David Beckham Into the Unknown. I must admit I was thoroughly entertained.  In it, Beckham and friends bike, hike and boat through the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil.

Trials, tribulations, breakdowns and soul searching.  Being the traveler that I am, I loved it.  I have been on searching trips to Panama, Peru, the Amazon, England and France the last few years so I get the Beckham "get out and do it" attitude.

Read about my adventures at TexanTreks

I'll shoot straight.  I have never been a huge fan of David Beckham.  I always respected his game.  Thought his set pieces were magic, but never took to him even when he came to the States to play for the LA Galaxy.

Being the larger than life superstar that David Beckham is, we never really got to see the real Beckham.  Into the Unknown gives us that glimpse and I have to admit a newfound respect for the man.  It was supremely interesting to see his experiences in the Amazon and note just he similar his thoughts and experiences were to my very own.  Maybe we are not s mic different.  Who knows, in another life we would have probably been good buddies.

My favorite part of the show was when the party hiked on foot through the jungle and had to camp for the night.  And I mean it was a primitive camp!  Clear a small area.  Hang some hammocks and hope for the best.  Weird noises.  Build a fire.  An intimate conversation with the local guide.  A poisonous snake slithering through camp. Real stuff.

The interactions with the Yanomami tribe was also fascinating.  I loved Beckham's interaction with the Yanomami man painted all black. Especially when the man asked what Beckham did for his profession and David tried to explain the game of soccer to him.  Great stuff!

So in the end I formed a newfound respect for David Beckham.  He is a man not too much different than myself in truth.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Americans Raising the Weakest Generation

It seems every generation gets a nickname.  Gen X, Gen Y, The Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers etc etc.  I think the latest group of 10-25 year olds will be known as the "Weakest Generation" for me.  Now, get this straight boys and girls.  I am not going to throw much blame your way boys and girls.  This is clearly a parenting problem.  We have a major one in this country currently. The quality of parenting has eroded significantly.

Coaching competitive youth soccer over the past 16 years I have witnessed it first hand.  I take kids from the age of 10 all the way through high school and see them off to their college soccer experiences.  I have coached a few hundred high level student athletes in the last decade and a half so I have good experience on the quality of young man being produced.  Expectations have fallen so very far.