America’s Debt

There has been a lot of political rhetoric thrown about during the recent debates on raising the debt ceiling. Finally I have found a politician that speaks to me on federal debt:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies . . . Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

Americans deserve better indeed. The thoughtful politician who uttered those words?

Barack H. Obama on March 20, 2006 as he prepared to vote against raising the debt ceiling at the request of the Bush administration.

Goodbye Old Friend

...so God can look down and watch His team play.

It all came tumbling down today. Just like Jerry said it would. I tried hard to be bitter, but the new stadium is just so awesome.

But that doesn’t make watching Texas Stadium reduced to rubble any easier. I avoided watching all day. And even when I thought I had it down and was ready to watch, it took my breath away.

It’s hard to describe why an old sports venue evokes such emotion. Guess it doesn’t have to be old, I felt the same way about Reunion Arena when it returned to dust. But I guess it has to do with decades of recollections.

From high school in the 70′s when the stadium was brand new, going to watch the Cowboys play the Vikings. My friend’s girlfriend was part of the halftime show and we had a double date set up for after. We sat at the very top of the end zone.

To watching my number two son play a little league football game there when he was about 9 or 10. The Princess was just a baby but even she seemed fascinated by the place and watching her Bubba play ball there.

To the many high school playoff games there, Westlake winning a state championship, Plano winning and losing hard fought playoff games. And probably the most famous (locally) high school game of all – 1994′s Tyler John Tyler vs. Plano East. East’s improbable comeback and the even more improbable result.

So many memories. Too many to chronicle.

Farewell Texas Stadium. You’ll live forever in our hearts and on Youtube.

Closer to the Heart – Redux

A few years ago I wrote:

Most of all I thank God for every extra moment He gives me on this earth to spend loving the five gifts He has given me: My wife and my four children. He and I both know I don’t deserve them.

Can’t say it enough, even if I don’t say it out loud near often enough. You know who you are.

I Wanna Be A Big Looser

OK….

So I’ve been off blogging. Searching for something worthwhile to blog about. Feeling all uninteresting and stuff.

One day a few weeks ago an idea hit me as I was watching the finale of  NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” show while scarfing down a chicken fried steak or something equally fattening and brushing the droppings off my “crumb catcher”……I could do that. Or could I?

Like many Americans I am overweight. And not by a little bit. Suffice it to say at this point that I could drop an easy hundred and barely make the healthy range of the BMI charts.

So in the coming weeks and months stay tuned for all the gory details in my quest for Big Looserdom, starting tomorrow with the starting metrics. Esposa’s going to help me measure tonight. I had toyed with the idea of photos, but will spare my readership the mental image. I’ll provide the measurements and you can create your own mental.

Until tomorrow. Tough out.