The View From Here

Where I Have Been (with addendum)

2011-05-24T16:50:00.000-04:00

So... I haven't been around for a while. Let me tell you why.

The first five months have been painful for me. Not physically, although there has been some of that, but not enough for me to bother writing about, as physical pain and I are old comrades. No, I am talking about emotional pain.

My mother died on February 5th.

Remember when I told you, last year that my mother had been declared cancer-free, for the second time? Maybe I didn't tell you... honestly, I don't really remember. Anyway, after beating cancer last year, she had the bad fortune to take a nasty fall in the kitchen of her home. Of course, being a pretty tough old bird, she didn't bother to tell anyone for a couple of weeks... so when she went to the hospital with her friend who was later to be diagnosed with stomach cancer, she passed out. She was checked out and MRI'ed and X-rayed and massive bleeding on the brain was found. You know the drill from here, right? She had surgery, there was lots of clotting, she started having strokes and seizures. She was in a lot of pain. After nearly three weeks, the Doctors induced a coma, hoping it would allow her to stabilize with less of the pain she was obviously in. She died less than 12 hours later.

I went to the funeral, of course, though I didn't want to... it was horrible. Oh, there were mourners... neighbors and old faces from my childhood that I haven't seen in 30 years. There were also siblings that I really had no interest in seeing. I drove to New Jersey that morning, and then went back to Virginia that afternoon. I got back in time to go to my Confirmation class. The other teachers had it covered for me, so I went home with the Joe's Special that I had gotten from the best pizza place on the planet.

I lived within a 5 minute walk from Joe's from age five, until I enlisted at age 17. This place still has the pizza most beloved by almighty God. No, I'm not exagerrating. Have a Joe's special and you will know what I mean.

Anyway, a month (to the day) after my mother died, my father in law died. We went to his memorial service (a month after he died) in Milwaukee, Wisc., in April... and wouldn't you know it... it snowed. No, really. It freakin' snowed!

So, we get back from Wisconsin, and a week later I am in Princeton, New Jersey to spend most of a week at the Princeton Theological Seminary. Why?, you ask?, because I have enrolled in the Certificate Program for Youth & Theology. We had a three day forum on youth ministry and then our cohort for the certification program met or the first time.

It was incredible. Trust me. I'll talk more about it some other time, when I have the words. I wouldn't really have brought it up in the first place, except that my presence there bears on the subject of this post. The day before the retreat ended, I found out that a colleague of mine, a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war... a man who had been treated for PTSD, killed himself... on his father's birthday... two days before his sister's wedding... using the gun I trained him with and issued to him.

Nice, right?

I suppose I have to see the divine in this as best I can. I was in a place where I was in a tightly-knit group of people who were called to gether for God's purposes... they were able to help me get through it. I received a great amount of prayer and support from my new friends, and some really great advice from a new partner in ministry and pal that has allowed me to process all of this (thanks Rebecca!).

The first several months of this year haven't been kind to me... or maybe they have... I don't know. There is a lot going on in my head right now. I suppose I'l have to get back to you.

Oh, and I'm not sleeping well, which is why I am posting this at nearly one A.M. on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

OK, enough crying in my beer... I have to go to sleep. I have to teach a class on response to the active shooter tomorrow, when all I really want to do is cover my head with a pillow and take a long nap.

Oh... lastly, my mother's friend... the one she went to the hospital with? he died, too, a few days after my father in law's funeral.

Peace,

GF

Addendum: Wait. Sorry... I read this after I posted it, and it sounded rather morose. Let me end on a high note by adding that lots of good things have happened since the beginning of the year.

I already told you about my time at Princeton, which was an amazing and unexpected blessing.... let me tell you that I also lead a youth group from my church to a weekend-long event in Maryland; we celebrated the Baptism of several babies, the most recent of which was just this past week. I have been named Confirmation Coordinator at my church; I have read many new books; I have touched, and been touched by others. I remain well-loved despite the fact that I'm probably not worthy... and I have cooked some really fantastic food.

Peace be with you.

Happy 235th Birthday, Marines!

2010-11-10T11:54:00.001-05:00

On November 10th, 1775, in Philadelphia... the city of Brotherly Love, Captain Samuel Nicholas was commissioned to recruit and organize America's first Marines. Little did Captain Nicholas know that his name would live as long as American Marines continued to draw breath, from one age into another.

Captain Nicholas certainly couldn't know that 235 years later, his creation would be known as one of the most fearsome fighting force the the world has ever known.

How could he have guessed that these rough and ready soldiers of the sea would be the stuff of fame and legendary exploits like the assault on Chapuletec castle, or the storming of Peleleiu, or of the invasion of Inchon?

Nicholas surely, in his whole life, couldn't have imagined Marine tanks smashing the Iraqi Republican Guard at Kuwait International airport, or laying the smackdown on Taliban forces in Al-Anbar Province in Afghanistsn.

Since the inception of his Corps... Our Corps, United States Marines have been putting the boot to the asses of our enemies, but good. We have done it in the tropics of the Pacific, the sands of the Middle East, the frozen moutains of the asian mainland, and in the equatorial heat of Africa... truly, in "every clime and place" like we sing in our hymn.

I am as proud of my service in the Corps today, as I was when I graduated from basic training, in 1981.

Happy Birthday Marines.

“Resolved, That two battalions of Marines be raised consisting of one colonel, two lieutenant-colonels, two majors, and other officers, as usual in other regiments; that they consist of an equal number of privates with other battalions; that particular care be taken that no persons be appointed to office, or enlisted into said battaions but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve with advantage by sea when required; that they be enlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present War with Great Britain and the colonies, unless dismissed by order of Congress; that they be distinguished by names of First and Second Battalions of American Marines, and that they be considered as part of the number which the Continental Army before Boston is ordered to consist of.”

Happy Reformation Sunday!

2010-10-31T11:57:00.001-04:00

Today is Reformation Sunday, and unless you are adherent to the church of Rome (or aren't a Christian of any sort), that should mean something to you…. even if you didn't really know it. Reformation Day is the day that we Lutherans, and those in some other faith traditions, celebrate the beginning of the movement that changed the face of the earthly church forever.

This is the day that we celebrate the act of a radical German monk, named Martin Luther. Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk, scholar, and Doctor of The Church who believed that the church had strayed from the path because of certain practices, and for the sake of this post, I won't enumerate them, let's just say that it was more than Luther could stand. So he made a stand of his own.

Putting the church on public notice about his rebellion, Luther made himself an outlaw and a leader at the same time. His bold stand changed the world.

Martin Luther contended that the word of God should be preached in the language of the people hearing it. He preached that the Bible should also be printed in the common language so that the people could read scripture on their own. He preached that the celibacy of the clergy had nothing to do with being able to proclaim the good news of Christ. Most importantly, Luther believed in the concept of the "Priesthood of all believers", which means that no person needs the intercession of a priest to commune with God.

Luther's bold stand didn't only change the church, it also changed the political map of Europe, because as varying Kingdoms, Dukedoms, Principalities & Free Cities either sided with Luther and his followers, or sided with the Pope, nations went to war. The Reformation Wars had begun.

Take a look at a map of Europe today, and you will clearly see the effects of those wars. Northern Europe is nearly* all Protestant (mostly Lutheran), with southern Europe being nearly all Roman Catholic, with the majority of Eastern Europe still largely Orthodox Christian... all or mostly all, the result of the Reformation Wars (and the last battles of the Crusades, but that is another matter entirely).

Pretty heavy stuff for a 16th century monk, eh?

Martin Luther, and what he started when he nailed his 95 theses to the church door, almost 500 years ago, is still one of the most important acts ever taken by one man in order to do what he believed was right.

Did you enjoy your lesson?

Good.

OK, enough lecturing from me for today. Soon, we will be heading out for church (where we will belt out "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"), and then lunch, and then off to the National Cathedral for the big doings up there.

See you tomorrow,

Aloha

* With the notable exception of Poland which remains staunchly Catholic to this day.

Gunfighter: On Military Spending

2010-10-04T11:36:00.002-04:00

So... here is the thing. As I was driving home from church today, I saw another Tea Party-Don't-Tread-On-Me-bottom-feeding Republican with the usual run of stickers on her car. The stickers accused the President of being a socialist; being a muslim; and seeking to weaken the United States by destroying the military. Oh, and one of the stickers on the car identified her (or whomever the owner of the car is) as a commissioned officer in the armed forces of the United States.

Can we say dangerous?

It sickens me to think that not only are some of our military people this bloody stupid, but that this is an officer. A leader. A commander. A commissioned officer that thinks that this kind of rhetoric is productive, useful, or patriotic. Personally, I think that the officer to whom that car belongs should be cashiered immediately. Oh, and spare me the usual crap about "she has the right to voice his own opinon" because if you know anything about the military, you know that this is not true.

It is time the military esptablishment in this country gets put back on it's leash and understands that the armed forces aren't special. The members of the armed forces of the United States aren't any better than the society they serve, simply by having decided to wear the uniform. Members and veterans of the armed forces aren't any more or less patriotic than the general run of Americans. All of these things are true... and they also apply to those who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

One of the things that I am getting tired of hearing about is the "fact" that President Obama is somehow "destroying" the armed forces. How can this be possible? I suppose it is because the President has supported legislation that would ensure that working Americans, many of whom make less money, and have fewer entitlements than members of the armed forces, are able to receive some modicum of decent, affordable healthcare. Have some military people never stopped to think that if it weren't for wearing a uniform and putting on airs, they would be in the same economic group as those in the ranks of the uninsured?

So... the right-wing crackpot machine thinks that the military is being "destroyed". Maybe they believe that because the President had the courage to actually put the costs of the wars on the books. You know... actually putting the costs into the budget, instead of pretending the costs were going to be paid out of some magic bag of money... or a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You did realize that this where the bulk of the "runaway spending" that the GOP complains about comes from, didn't you? Good, I am glad that I could help clear that up for you.

Could it be that the right-wingers are mostly worried that the President is actually doing something that other Presidents didn't have the courage to try? Could it be that they are afraid that if if gay men and women have the opportunity to serve openly in the armed forces, that the sttraight men and women would somehow be diminished if their homosexual fellow citizens were able to serve their country, too? Hmm.

Personally, I don't see whatever it is that they think that they see. I happen to see a world that holds no military threat that could possibly be poised to strike the United States in such a way that would cripple or destroy us. There are no two nations that even if they were to combine forces that could actually threaten the United States outside of a nuclear attack, and in this I include Russia and China.

The truth of military spending is that this country could freeze military spendin at it's current levels for the next ten years, and our nearest rival/threat couldn't hope to gain any meaningful advantage over us. So why the hue and cry?

I dunno... maybe my perspective is poor. Maybe I just don't get it. Or, maybe... just maybe, I'm right. Maybe we could quit wasting time, lives, and money in Iraq and Afghanistan and start rebuilding the parts of our forces that have been broken since 2003. Maybe we could use that money to replace worn out helicopter engines, and destroyed humvees, and rifles and machineguns that have passed their peacetime shelf-lives ten years early. Maybe we can replace the destroyed vehicles, worn out tanks and all of the other equipment that our armed forces need.

I am proud of my own service to my country, and I honor my fellow veterans, including my father, father-in-law, brother, friends, neighbors and colleagues who have served their country... especially those who went on to fully-integrated, productive civillian lives as family members and taxpayers who pay for the entitlements of those still serving. Because we shouldn't forget, my friends, that no group in America, not even the mythological "welfare queens" or even our seniors, is more entitled and receives more monetary support when weighed against their rate of taxation than those serving in the active armed forces. N0body likes to hear it, but it is true.

When I am King, our armed forces will be largely conscripted, effectively eliminating the largest part of the entitled military class.

I've Moved!

2008-02-07T12:14:00.002-05:00

Come see me at my new blog, Gunfighter: A Modern Warriors Life

I'm all moved in and starting to arrange the furniture.

The same stuff, from the same Gunfighter

GF

Obama For President!

2008-01-28T14:11:00.000-05:00

With the departure of Dennis Kucinich from the Presidential race, Gunfighter must find a new candidate to back. Knowing, as you do, how I feel about Republicans in general, it won't surprise you to know that effective immediately, I am throwing my whole-hearted support to Senator Barack Obama for the nomination of my party, and for the Presidency of the United States.

My reasons for supporting Obama are many and varied, but to tell you the truth I think that the most desirable trait that Senator Obama has, that perhaps only one other Democratic candidate possesses, and that is his ability to inspire people.

I suppose there are many that believe that a President has to have experience to lead the nation, but I submit that no one has that kind of experience. No one. I don't care how long you were a Senator, or a Governor, or a Member of The House of Representatives... I don't care that you built a business empire from the ground up. None of those things can truly prepare someone for the kind of power wielded by the President of The United States. That said, let's look at what a President needs:

The President of The United States should be someone prepared to follow the law. S/he must know what our Constitution says and DOESN'T say, and understand that the Constitution is a living, breathing document. It is meant to be interpreted.

The President must be a leader. A sitting President isn't the chairperson of some giant committee that decides policy. The President must lead... and must lead ALL of the people, not just those of his own party or political stripe.

The President must be strong, but not so strong as to think that all that need be done to solve a problem is to either ignore it, or bomb it into oblivion.

The President must know that s/he is a servant of the people. In a representative Democracy such as ours, dictatorial autocrats have no place.

The President needs to know the workings of government, and how to get things done in an ethical and legal manner.

The President should never lead this nation into the instigation of unnecessary wars.

The President must be reasonable. Reasonable people, of any political bent can always find some degree of middle ground... and really, at the end of the day, isn't finding middle ground what Americans are supposed to want? Something that we all can live with? A President has to know that there is no room for Shiite-like intransigence when it comes to leading our Republic.

As I said, I believe that a President has to be able to inspire people. Inspire them with goals, and with optimism, and with vision. Yes, vision. A vision of the things that this country should be, and can be again if we only have the courage and the will to move forward.

I believe that the Democratic candidate who embodies these things is Barack Obama.

I believe that Barack Obama has the leadership skills.

I believe that Barack Obama has the ability to build coalitions to get things done.

I believe that Barack Obama is a reasonable man.

I believe that Barack Obama is an optimist

I believe that Barack Obama is an inspiring leader, a man of vision and courage, and a man of character.

I believe that Barack Obama should be the next President of The United States.

Join me in joining him, won't you?

SHAME!!!

2008-01-08T16:25:00.000-05:00

Has Senator Clinton lost her bloody mind?

Yesterday, while campaigning in New Hampshire, Senator Clinton did something that I thought only despicable and cynical Republicans did. She suggested that this country would be somehow more likely to be attacked by Islamic terrorists if Barrack Obama were elected President.

Senator Clinton, after having a weepy moment at an earlier campaign stop, took a stab at Senator Obama, who is the apparent front-runner, by suggesting that "I don't think it was an accident that Al Qaeda decided to test the new Prime Minister, immediately. They watch our elections... you are hiring a President to be there when the chips are down"

Pretty sad, Senator. It's only the second state and you are down to this. I'm not sure if you will win in New Hampshire or not, but I'll tell you this: You have given me another reason not to vote for you. I won't vote for you because you can't take pressure. There are 301 days left until the Presidential election, and you are cracking up already?

Great. I'm sure that you will be the scourge of evildoers everywhere. I am equally sure that they will all take you seriously as you issue dire threats with a quavering voice, wringing your hands.

I thought you said that you would be "ready on day one"... I'm not seeing it.

On the upside, your attack must really feel good for Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, whose playbook you must have stolen this attack from.

Shame on you. It isn't bad enough that you voted for the war. It isn't bad enough that you thought the "Patriot" Act was a good thing. You actually have the nerve to invoke the fear card.

You are despicable, ma'am. .. and you don't deserve ANY votes, let alone the nomination.

As I have said before, I have been and continue to be active in Democratic politics where I live, but I wouldn't vote for your for any reason. We already have had enough of Republicans.

Guilty Pleasures II

2008-01-07T13:21:00.000-05:00

Do any of you remember that irritating song from about fifteen years ago, "Shiny Happy People"?

You do?

Well I do, too. I love that song.

I have no idea what it is about, I really don't, and I don't even know all of the words, but I love it.

If you don't remember it, look to your right and click the player at mt the top of the sidebar.

It's infectious, I'm telling you.

Oh, and am I the only person on the planet that thinks that Michael Stipe looks like John Malkovich?

I made soup last night... I'll post about it later once I get my pictures loaded.

GF

Last Night In Iowa

2008-01-04T06:09:00.000-05:00

Late night, the people of Iowa did an amazing thing. They began the first step in the peaceful, democratic, transition of power from one chief executive to the next.

In case you haven't already heard about it, the Iowa caucuses were held last night, and Senator Barack Obama, of Illinois, was the clear winner for the Democrats.

I won't go into the specifics of the demographic percentages of who voted for whom and why, other than to say that, interestingly enough, in Iowa, Barack Obama gave Senator Clinton a bit of a thumping, even when it came to the votes coming from women. Apparently Obama garnered 5 percentage points of votes from women than Senator Clinton did.

Anyone who pays attention to Presidential politics are aware that winning... even decisively winning the Iowa caucus doesn't give a candidate a lock on the nomination of their party, but it sure gives the winner a big boost going into the New Hampshire primaries, which will be held next Tuesday, January eighth... with Michigan following on the fifteenth.

Together, Senator Obama and the people of Iowa have done another amazing thing in this caucus. They have shown America that at least from the Democratic perspective that this election will be about change, and they have shown that, not only by voting for a man that has said that he wants to be an agent of change in Washington (and God knows that we need it in this town!), but by signaling a dramatic change in the way young Americans think about race. Picture it... can any of you that are over 50 have ever imagined, when you were twenty five, that a Midwestern state, with a 94 percent white population, would have given a presidential primary victory to a black candidate?

Last night was one for the record books, friends.

This is a big country folks, and some states will be holding primaries as late as June, but I believe that this nominating process, at least for the Democrats will be locked up much earlier than that. I am certain that we will know who the party's nominee will be much sooner that. Who that nominee will be is still anyone's guess.

Another result of the Iowa caucuses is the ending of the campaigns of Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and Mike Gravell. The herd must be thinned.

Stay tuned.

What Do You Mean "Undecided"?

2008-01-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

Shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve, Mrs Gunfighter and I happened upon a speech being given by Michelle Obama, Esq. to a group of Iowans, regarding the upcoming Iowa caucuses. The content of the speech isn't important here, but the aftermath of the speech goes right to the heart of this post.

After the speech, Mrs. Obama spent some time pressing the flesh, which she was quite good at, by the way, and like a good politician she made eye contact with the people and asked if they were planning to caucus for the Obama campaign. Many of the people that she spoke to said that they would, and then there were these people: The people that actually said that they still hadn't made up their minds.

Now, I live and work in the Washington, DC area, and politics is a constant part of my life... I just don't understand how anyone in the state of Iowa hasn't figured out whom they wish to support.

I don't get it. I really don't. The Republican and Democratic candidates have been pounding through that state like nobody's business, and they can't make up their minds? Or is it just a privacy thing. That I get, but to tell you the truth, if Mike Huckabee, just for instance, asked me if I could count on his vote, I would tell him no, and I'd tell him why not... and then I would politely thank him for taking the time to talk to me anyway.

Are any of you really not sure of whom you plan to support in the coming election?

How can you not know?

GF

Advent

2007-12-05T08:33:00.001-05:00

It's Advent, folks!

Well, Advent started a few days ago, but you knew that, right?

What's that? You are unfamiliar with the Advent season? Been a awhile since Sunday School for some of you, perhaps?. Well, good ol' Mr. Gunfighter is here with a wee reminder.

The Advent season marks the preparation for the celebration of the birth of Christ. Coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidentally, it happens at the same time of what most people refer to as the Christmas season.

In different faith traditions, the season of Advent begins on varying dates, but in the Lutheran tradition, Advent starts on the first of December... just a scant few days before my birthday... not that I am hinting at any of you.

I'd never do that.

Right... Advent.

From Wikipedia (which explains this so much better than me):

Christians believe that the season of Advent serves a dual reminder of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting that Christians today endure as they await the second coming of Christ.

This is a particularly important time in the church year, and during Sunday services in many churches (and certainly in Lutheran churches) a favorite Advent hynm is sung... that's the one you can hear now, if your volume is up and I embedded properly.

It is called "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!"

It's a big favorite of mine.

The Don Imus Thing (pt. 2)

2007-12-04T06:15:00.001-05:00

So, Don Imus has returned to the airwaves.

I have to tell you this, his return leaves me cold.

I know, I know, he said bad things. I know. I know he is an ass. I know that I would never invite him to my home for dinner because I think he is a boor.

I get it. You already know how I feel about the subject of his comments if you read part one.

Listening to the callers on C-Span's Washington Journal, yesterday, I get the feeling that a lot of people understand WHY Imus is back on the air.

If you are one of them (and I am sure you are not... all of you are much smarter than me), I am going to explain it in very simple terms. Are you ready?

Here it is:

It's because he makes lots, and LOTS of these for his employers.

It really is a matter of simple math. The majority of the people who would call themselves fans of that assclown are people that wouldn't stop listening to his program because of those stupid comments vis a vis the Rutgers women's basketball team. Advertisers? They like controversial people... as long as their controversies don't reflect negatively on them.

So... what, then?

Imus makes money for those who would pimp him out. Isn't that the American way? Imus is popular, and some people want to listen to him spew... so what? Let them listen.

Let's not get too worked up over it, ok?

Starship Troopers

2007-12-01T19:13:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid of thirteen, I read a book that had a great, and lasting, impact on me. It was a book called "Starship Troopers" by the late Robert A. Heinlein.

You might be familir with that title as the reult of the REALLY awful movie of the same title that came out several years ago.

Well, this book was initially written as a serial for a science fiction magazine, and was otiginally published in 1959. The novel, set in the not-so-far-off future was about a war between earth and an alien species called the Arachnids... or "Bugs".

In this future, in which there was a planet-wide government, only veterans could vote. The rest of the citizenry enjoyed all o f the blessings of a free society, but the franchise was only extended to those who had actually laid their asses on the line to defend the planet.

An important thing to note in this novel was that while only veterans could vote, active duty soldiers could NOT vote.

The book was really a treatise on the realtionship between government and the goverened, as well a a moral philosphy play.

You can read a much more detailed description of the book and the politics behind it, here.

In any event, as a boy, the book had a large impact on me.

When I was growing up, I was already predisposed to military service because my dad was a career military man, and my brother joined the Air force when I was 13, but this book went deeper than just some sort of literary recruiting pitch formilitary service.

In chapter ten (I think it's ten), a drill instructor gave the young soldiers in his charge a class on tactics when a recruit asked him why they were being trained in tactics of a bygone era, when they (and the enemy) had all sorts of more dangerous weapons. The sergeant replied:

"you've got it all wrong, son. There ARE no dangerous weapons. Only dangerous people. That's what we are trying to teach you here, to be dangerous... to the enemy. So dangerous that if you only have one foot left, you'll still be able to kill the enemy if he gets too close" (I may have some of those words wrong, but that is the gist)

This passage and others, set me on my way. They were the beginnings of my indoctrination in the warrior culture.

I first read that book in 1976.

I have had three copies of that book in my life, all regularly re-read.

It's still important to me.

Book Review: George Washington - A Military Biography

2007-11-30T19:04:00.000-05:00

If you are an American, and learned American history the way it was taught to me, you might be inclined to believe that George Washington chopped down some cherry tree, and then told his father "I Cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree." (which was made up by Washington's first biographer, Parson Weems, who lived only two miles from our home)

Depending on when you went to school, you might have been taught that Washington was a great man or a horrible man for having been a slave owner. Again, depending on when or where you went to school, you might believe that George Washington was an incredible blunderer or a strategic and tactical genius, who was as brilliant as Napoleon and George Patton all at once.

No matter what you learned, it is likely that whatever you learned was a bunch of crap.

For centuries, different people, for different reasons, have portrayed Washington as an unstained demigod, while others have reported him to be either a dummy or a nefarious character who is just shy of Satan. It's a real shame, because the real Washington, the man, is a very interesting character WITHOUT all of the embellishment.

In his book, General George Washington - A Military Life, author Edward Lengel strips away the history as reported by people with agendas. He brings the facts of Washington's life, as they pertain to his military experiences.

Here, we see Washington as a teenager, who longs for a life in the uniformed service of the British Crown. He first tries to emulate his older half-brother, who secures him a place as a Midshipman on a British man of war. He was thwarted in this by his very formidable mother, but his dream of serving the crown in uniform went un-extinguished.

After the Death of his half-brother and his wife, nine years later, Washington inherited Mount Vernon, which became his home for the rest of his life, and embarked on the rest of his military career.

At the age of 21, Washington was appointed adjutant, with the rank of Major, in the Virginia militia, and only a few years later, was appointed to the Colonelcy of the 1st Virginia regiment, as they were raised for service against the French, who were encroaching upon British claims to the Ohio Valley in the area that later became Pittsburgh.

We see Washington at his very best and at his worst throughout the French & Indian wars, and the long period between those years and the period immediately preceding the American Revolution. We see the Washington as the only American born militia officer with enough military experience and combat experience, selected by the Continental Congress to lead the as yet unformed American army against the experienced troops of the British Army.

(Washington, seen here as Colonel of the Virginia militia, circa 1772)

During the book, Lengel isn't afraid to discuss Washington's successes nor is he afraid to skewer sacred cows when he talks about Washington's failings as a General.

After reading this very frank, but very fair assessment of Washington's military career, one can only come to the conclusion that General George Washington, taken warts and all, was indeed the person that James Thomas Flexner deemed as "The Indispensable Man"

Washington was neither genius, nor blunderer. He was a man, a soldier, and a politician. He was a good field commander, a real fighter, and brave in the face of the enemy. He never lost his nerve on the battlefield.

The history of the military art screams that Washington's strategy in general was, unbeknownst to him, absolutely correct in that he didn't often try to do things that were beoynd his resources against a better trained, better armed, and better provisioned army.

He might not have been 12 feet tall, but he was the man of the moment, and was equal to the challencge.

Kudos to Lengel for a great book on such an important figure in our history.

This is the way Na BloPoMo ends...

This is the way Na BloPoMo ends...

This is the way Na BloPoMo ends...

Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

(with apologies to Eliot and his devotees)

An Interview

2007-11-28T13:35:00.001-05:00

Hello all.

My new blog-pal, Anno has sent me some interview guestions to answer for her... here are my answers:

1. I just read your Thanksgiving post, and despite the fact that I've already had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast with a delicious wild mushroom bread pudding, I'm salivating over your corn bread stuffing. You cook. You coach soccer. You have a demanding job, and you are a dedicated husband and father. Not to mention the fact that you write thoughtful and interesting posts that happen to be fun to read. What don't you do?

I don't yodel, nor do I play the guitar. One of those things would make me very happy. I'll let you take a guess at which one.

Oh, I don't gamble, either.

2. And with all that you do, what motivated you to begin blogging?

Becuase I am a narcissist? I blog because I like to write... and I want to be heard! (and all the cool kids are blogging, too!)

3. What are five things you hope to see happen in 2008?

1. All American troops leaving Iraq

2. George W. Bush & Dick Cheney impeached, and then indicted and tried for crimes against humanity. (Surely, illegally, and immorally causing the deaths of nearly half a million people has to be worse crime than lying about a blowjob. I mean, REALLY!)

3. Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Al Gore, or John Edwards, elected President of The United States.

4. The Price of gasoline to come down to something close to $2 per gallon.

5. Get my next tattoo (I want to do this by June).

4. Al Capone once famously said, "You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone." What's your take on the role of guns and diplomacy?

I believe that guns CAN be a part of diplomacy. Sometimes diplomacy includes talking tough. You can't talk tough if you can't fight... it's seldom effective. Having said all of that, I certainly don't think that diplomacy should go anything like this: "Do what we say, or we are invading your country"

5. Any plans for the further adventures of Hamish MacDonald and Abigail Carter?

Funny you should mention them, because I was back at it last night, while I was waiting for SoccerGirl's Brownie Meeting to end. Mac and Abbie will be back, rest assured!

The Fall Soccer Tournament

2007-11-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

I have started this post five separate times since Monday, in vain attempts to strike some sort of chord. On this, my sixth attempt, I am going to do what I should have done in the first place… tell you about our weekend soccer tournament, focusing not on the odd cultural event that these things can be, but on what this one meant to Soccer Girl, and to the family as a whole.

Our Soccer Club only had one All-Star team in our division, despite the fact that various folks in the club office wanted to have at least two… tough shit, folks… Yours Truly is the League Director this season, and I don’t want two or three all-star teams drawn from nine teams… I want the best team that we can field, drawn from the nine teams… not some primadona show, where some, more exalted coaches get to take their teams as a whole to the tournament. I know some clubs do that… but sue me for being something of an egalitarian. Our All Star team was drawn by picking two of the best players from each team… except for the two coaches that refused to participate if it wasn’t going to be their way.

Well, f*** ’em! (the coaches… not the kids)

This was a large tournament, with 433 teams competing in varying age groups, both boys and girls. The tournament was so large that the fields were spread out over three counties!

Our story starts on a cool, crisp, Saturday morning. I was decently rested, since I had the good sense to leave our happy hour gathering before the REAL fun started… We gathered all of our things, including the folding chairs, Insta-Bench, mittens, jackets, fleecey blankets, books, etc… and loaded them all into the trunk.

We were a little behind schedule, so we had to step on it, in order to get to the field on time. We arrived in time to find a last remaining parking spot… OK, so it was a handicapped spot… Don’t call the SWAT team… I moved the car shortly thereafter.

Anyway, we found our team, and Coach Patty took over. The girls had their warm-up while the parents scouted out the fields, which were pretty cool. It’s rare that the U-9 kids get to play on the artificial turf! I mean, these fields were BE_YOU_TEE_FULL!

Soccer Girl and her chums played a good game of Soccer, but tied the first game. They tied their second game as well. After the second game, we had a few hours before the third game (they were playing 4, 25 minute, mini-games), so we went to lunch.

It really was a beautiful day. This late in November, we could have expected cooler temperatures and some amount of precipitation, but instead, it was cool, crisp, and sunny for the whole day.

At the end of the day, Soccer Girl’s team ended the day with three ties and a win. The teams were evenly matched for the most part, and the girls played hard and tough, without whining (except in the case of one or two). At the end of the day, we were in 5th place out of twelve teams, which was respectable, considering the short amount of time the girls had to practice together.

We went home with a happy but tired eight year old (who was really stinky after her day of athleticism). After SG was fed and watered (and thankfully bathed) she went off to sleep, while Mrs. GF and I talked about our day. Since we are still in the midst of NaBloPoMo, I got online, and began my post for the day, during which I apparently fell asleep at the computer for nearly two hours… finally posting something, and then going straight to bed.

Sunday morning broke bright and clear, and we were better organized for our day. Out first game was at 8:45, so we had to be at the field by 8:15... Which meant we had to be Johnny-on-he-spot getting up and out. You know what this means, don’t you? It means that Gunfighter had to get up at 6:45.

6:45.

On.

Sunday.

Morning.

I wasn’t amused.

We got to the field in plenty of time (ok, right on time), and got right down to business. This round of play was all do or die. We had the potential to play 3 games, but any losses meant elimination.

We handily won our first game, and the girls were on fire.

The second game was…. Different.

In the second game, we played the team that was the top seed of the whole tournament. To make a long story short, we got our asses handed to us. Badly. We got mauled. It was 5-0 at halftime. Coach Patty was organizing for the second half, while coach Gunfighter pumped up the girls on the bench. Some of the other dads were coaches, too, so we were able to stiffen the girls spine for the second half.

The second half was different from the first, in that our girls were physically and mentally tougher that they were at the start. Despite being tired, our girls battled back, and made the other team take notice. To be sure, we were outclassed, but at least we held them to two goals in the second half. When the final whistle blew, the girls were able to run off the field with their heads up, knowing that they gave it their all.

I was so proud of them. I was also proud of soccer girl. She was tough, strong, determined and brave.

The tournament ended for us, with our team finishing fourth out of twelve. As it turns out, the only team to beat us on the whole weekend was the team that won the tournament.

Not too shabby.

We had a fun weekend together. It was the thing that we like… concentrated family time.

Of course, the laundry is all piled up, ready for me to do on Wednesday (today), because we didn’t do it over the weekend.

Big fun.

Bloggers Night Out.

2007-11-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

To make along story short, we had a fine time last night.

We gathered at popular Capitol Hill watering hole, the Hawk 'n Dove, which was a favorite place of mine when I was a much younger man, living on The Hill back in the late 80's and early '90s.

It is always a great time when you get to meet such nice, like-minded, fellow bloggers.

Here are the great folks I got to meet last night... some for the very first time:

Mamalikey
Kim
Devra Renner
Unquiet Heart (and cool dude, Chris!)
Mamma Loves
Flower Child
Madame Meow

I would go on at great length, but I spent all day at a soccer tournament, and I am friggin' beat.

Must sleep.

Cheers,

GF

Happy Hour 3.0

2007-11-16T07:41:00.000-05:00

Hey! Do you know what today is?

Of course you do.

Today is Friday!

Fridays are special to us, aren’t they? Special because it signals the beginning of the weekend… that blessed time where we get to sleep late, relax, and do whatever we want to do, right?

Ha.

No, the weekends tend to be about getting things done around the house, working in the yard, doing laundry, and soccer, soccer, SOCCER! (how many of you just read that in your Jan Brady voice?).

Well, this post isn’t a complaint piece… not this time. This post is a reminder that this Friday, some of us in the Washington, DC area are meeting for libations at Happy Hour!

That’s right. Happy Hour(s).

If you are reading this and didn’t get the emails that have been going out, and you live in the DC area, or are willing to travel to DC to join us, please get in touch with me and I will tell you where we will be gathering.

So far, there are 9 or ten of your fellow bloggers that have indicated that they plan to attend. So if you can, or if you are willing, come on down!

Good times... good times.

Something Important...

2007-11-15T20:50:00.000-05:00

...happened to me today.

I'd like to share it with you, if you'll take a moment to listen.

Unless you are a very new reader, you'll know that my hobby is making rosaries. I make rosaries of all sorts, but mostly of the Episcopal/Anglican variety. I have always found it to be a very personal piece of ministry... so that I could be of some assistance in the prayer life of someone else who might benefit. I have been making these things for a few years now, and for the most part, I just give them away to those in need.

As a result of having posted pictures of my work here on my blog, Many of you have been kind enough to tell me that you think that I should sell them, and recoup some of my costs... well, I have thought about that and at long last, I came to a decision a few months ago.

A few months ago, when the Virginia weather was still blazing hot, I made a trip to the Washington National Cathedral. While in the gift shop, which I and my family REALLY love, I saw some Episcopal rosaries for sale... and thought that I could do better. I got the name of the shop's buyer whom I contacted the next day. The buyer told me that the shop already had some Episcopal rosaries, and that she doubted that they could use anymore... she told me that she would meet with me in .... November.

Well, today was the day of our meeting, and even though she kept me waiting, the buyer greeted me warmly, and we got right down to it. I showed he nearly twenty samples of my work... and she bought seven of them!

You friend Gunfighter is now a paid artisan!

My work will be sold through the National Cathedral, here in Washington, DC.

I can't tell you how pleased I am.

I am over the moon.

I am giddy.

I called my grandmother, and she wept with joy.

I have never had a prouder moment.

Geeky. Yes, I know... but I am still exceptionally excited.

For my entire adult life, I have been valued for my ability to kill and destroy. Being able to be lauded for my ability to create is almost more than I can take.

Please enjoy this moment with me.

GF

Career Day, 2007

2007-11-14T21:52:00.001-05:00

So.... Friday was career day at SoccerGirl's school. I was a happy participant, and enjoyed doing this for the third year running.

I arrived at the school in plenty of time, so I just dawdled in the office for a few minutes while the teachers prepared the students for the day.

I was presenting to grades 3 through 5, and since this was my third year doing this, I already knew a great many of the kids that I was going to be seeing.

When it was time for me to go to my assigned classroom, I headed in the right direction, being stopped by calls of "Hi, Mr. Gunfighter!, or "Aren't you Soccergirl's Father?" One girl, who had been soccergirl's classmate i the first grade came up and gave me a hug... it was all very cute.

I may have talked about this before, but I think that it is important to revisit here: A single man could do quite well in an elementary school. As I walked down the hall of the school, I got no small amount of attention from the teachers... all of whom were women.

Elementary school is so not man's world.

Anyway, the teachers were all giving me the sunbeam smile, and I was feeling rather good about myself until I realized something: It wasn't me that was um, exciting them. It was my stuff. My stuff. You see, to keep the kids engaged, I was wearing my tactical body armor, big-ass-expandable-baton, pepper spray, handcuffs... that whole shootin' match. They kind of like it.

So I meet my first group of kids, and I talked to them in very general terms about what I do, they enjoyed the presentation, which lasted about 30 minutes, and as usual, there was a segment for questions at the end.

This is where it gets... er, interesting:

"Do you shoot people every day?"

"That stick is to beat people, isn't it?"

"Are you married?"

"Are you really soccergirl's father?"

"Can you pick me up with one hand?"

"How far does a bullet go?"

"Bullets are so small... How do they kill people?"

"Can I shoot your gun?"

"Why doesn't your jacket have any sleeves?"

"Are you allowed to drive as fast as you want to in a police car?"

It was a long day, but it was a LOT of fun!

I can't wait until next year.

A Murder In Washington, DC

2007-11-12T22:56:00.001-05:00

The following is a short story based on information traded with a random partner via email.

The assisting minister said “Go in peace, serve the Lord” To which the congregation replied “Thanks Be To God!”.

Hamish MacDonald bolted into the parking lot via the back door, and headed to his car. His pager had alerted him to an incoming call from the dispatch center, which was always a bad sign… especially on a Sunday. Bad sign or not, he wasn’t going to take the call in the middle of the service… Lutherans don’t do that. Especially since today was Reformation Sunday. After the last chorus of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, the service ended and MacDonald could call back to the bosses and see what they wanted… even though he already knew what the problem was.

You see, MacDonald is a cop. A homicide detective. There had been a murder.

The details were few, because the crime had taken place in a sensitive location, but what MacDonald already knew was enough to give him some things to think about while he made the 25 mile drive from Woodbridge, Virginia into DC. The traffic was mercifully light as it is only on Sunday morning in this area… and since it was nearly noon, and the Redskins had 1 O’clock kickoff time, most people had already gone wherever it is they were going to watch the game from.

MacDonald took the 12th street exit off I-395, and as he drove toward the National Mall, he decided that he wouldn’t stop at first district headquarters… what would be the point? He already knew that there was a body at the National Air & Space museum… he already knew that the crime had taken place, and there were no witnesses… well, at least no witnesses that had spoken up, yet.

When he got to the museum, he spoke with the uniformed officers securing the crime scene, who told him that no one had entered the area since they had arrived on scene, and that the museum employee who found the body, Caren Cramer. Was waiting to speak to him in a nearby office. He could talk to Cramer later… he had a crime scene to process.

“Well, no sense wasting any time” he thought… “time to go look at the stiff… er, the departed“.
The Smithsonian security officers, along with a uniformed DC police officer, took MacDonald to the second floor maintenance area located just behind the interior mock-up of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), in the Apollo exhibit. The body was laying face down, in pool of blood, that looked like it came from a massive head injury. MacDonald gave a brief, silent prayer for the soul of the deceased, and got right to work. The deceased was a white male, in his middle to late thirties, with brown hair, and he was wearing a suit.

There were crime scene technicians and a team from the coroner’s office waiting to finish their work, so MacDonald let them finish doing all of the things that they needed to do, from checking for fingerprints on doors and walls, fingerprinting the victim, to taking copious photographs of the scene from various angles.

Once all of that was done, MacDonald and his newly-arrived partner, Abigail “Abbie” Carter, searched the body. The search turned up most of the usual stuff, twenty four dollars and sixty one cents in cash, a partially used farecard for the Washington, DC subway system, best known as “The Metro”, an inexpensive-looking cellular telephone, and a key chain with the keys to a Ford. There was also a wallet with the usual credit cards, auto insurance, health insurance, and a drivers license, all in the name of one Julian Krasnovski.

Once all of the items carried by the victim were catalogued and bagged for evidence, it was time to remove the body. The coroner’s office took care of the removal in short order, pausing only for the police photographers to take a picture of the body’s face… Nothing conclusive there, though MacDonald, since the face was covered with dreid blood.

Considering the degree of rigormortis, the body had been there for at least a few hours before it was discovered. The coroner’s people placing the time of death at approximately 7 A.M. “Well,” said MacDonald to Carter, “that’s a start. At least we know when Mr Kasnovski got whacked… now all we need to do is figure out who did it and why” Carter rolled her eyes and said “Great, Mac… this shouldn’t take any more than an hour, maybe two to figure out, right?” MacDonald laughed and scolded his partner with mock severity and said “That’s about right, Abigail (she always bristled when he did that… apparently her dad always called her that), but don’t interrupt your elders while they are solving crimes. Now, let’s go talk to our witness.”

Caren Cramer was twenty six years old, white, with red (almost orange) hair and bright green eyes… a real stunner. When MacDonald and Carter came in to talk to her, she gave them both a very frank look of appraisal, that you seldom see from most people so young. “Maneater” MacDonald thought, but fortunately for him, and perhaps not so fortunately for Cramer, MacDonald wasn’t susceptible to that kind of thing… he had been married for nearly 14 years, to a smart, sexy woman, and he got all that he needed at home.

“Miss Cramer?, I’m Detective MacDonald and this is Detective Carter of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department” he said while both Detectives proffered their police identification. “We’d like to talk to you about what you found this morning” Cramer immediately replied: “Well, I’ll tell you what I told the other guys already, I am the floor supervisor for the early shift at the museum. It’s my job to make sure that all of the exhibits are clean and presentable before we open for the day. I arrived just after 6 this morning, and after I clocked in, I took a look at the schedule to see what, if any, special events were taking place today. There weren’t any, so I started my walk-through to make sure everything was ready I started at the far end of the hall, across for the Skylab exhibit, and checked for clean carpets, the restrooms, and the exhibit spaces themselves. Everything was normal… until I got to the Apollo area. When I walked in, all of the recordings and auto play animation was already running. I saw that the maintenance area door was slightly ajar… which is unusual, because all maintenance doors are supposed to remain shut at all times… that’s why I walked into the space, when I stepped in I saw… well, I found the body.” Carter immediately asked what Cramer had done next… had she touched the body?, how did she conclude that the victim was indeed dead? Who did she call?, did she leave the scene to get help? Cramer answered all of her questions, but by the time she was done, her tone had gone from cooperative to wary.

MacDonald noted the change in tone, and he and Carter shared an exchange of arched eyebrows when Cramer abruptly asked why she was being interviewed a second time. MacDonald told her that the uniformed officer’s initial questions were just used to establish a few facts and that the homicide detectives always started from the beginning in order to get all of the information first-hand. Cramer insisted that she understood all of that… and practically sniffed at the Detectives that she wasn’t an idiot (she was a Georgetown graduate, after all). What she meant, she said with the tone that is usually reserved for the particularly stupid, is why MacDonald hadn’t gotten all of this information from the Federal investigators that arrived even before the uniformed city cops showed up?

“Oh shit,” thought Hamish, “not again”

Miss Cramer…” he began, “actually, I prefer Ms.” she interrupted. “Of course,” he relented, “Ms. Cramer” can you tell me the name of the agency that the investigators were from? Did they show you any identification?" “Of course", she replied, “I’m not some twit who just believes that someone is a cop just because he says so… I was raised in Detroit, and in Detroit, you don’t believe anything anyone tells you just because he says so… not even the parish priest.” Carter said “Oh, you must have been a real pain in the ass in Confirmation, with that attitude” Cramer actually smiled for the first time since they had arrived, and then actually laughed! The loud, braying sound was incongruous coming from that delicate face, and she then proceeded to launch into a tale of her exploits with the nuns in the convent school she had attended. MacDonald actually had to cut her off in order to get back to the discussion of these Federal investigators that she had mentioned.

“Oh... them,” Cramer said “their identification said that they were from the FBI, but I’ll tell you, they didn’t really look like those clean-cut guys you usually associated with J. Edgar Hoover’s boys. MacDonald asked what she meant by this, and Cramer told him that both of the men that she talked to were white, of average height, nondescript suits, and had longish hair. One of them actually had a goatee. One thing she could tell about them, though, was that they were both in excellent physical condition. Carter asked how she could tell what kind of shape they were in, and Cramer asked her how hard would it be to NOT know “after all,” she said, “we’re young single women… we notice these things in men, don’t we?” noting Carter’s blank stare, she went on: “Oh… batting on that side of the plate, are you? Well… whatever.”

“Ms Cramer, I think that’s enough for now, but I am certain that we will want to talk to you again soon, so please make yourself available… we have already taken the liberty of speaking to your supervisors so that we won’t have to visit you at your home. Here is my card, and that of Detective Carter as well. If you think of any details that you might have forgotten about discovering the body, or the FBI agents you mentioned, or anything else, please give us a call”

MacDonald and Carter left the museum and stood near the Independence avenue exit, and pooled their facts while the tourists lined up patiently to go through security. Mac just shook his head, remembering when he first came to Washington, DC as a young Marine in 1986. When he first came to town, the public could just walk into the building. All of that went out the window after 9/11. Security was one thing, he thought, but the problem is that most of the security measures put into place since 9/11 were only useful in deterring the odd crackpot. Anyone who knew anything about security knew that the person determined to wreak havoc, didn’t try to bring a small explosive or gun through the proper doors. Vehicle-borne explosives were the real danger, and short of banning vehicle traffic, there wasn’t a single bloody thing you could to to protect yourself from it… not in an urban environment, anyway.

Setting that tangent aside, Mac and Carter knew that something bad was happening to their investigation, even before it got started… but that didn’t mean they weren’t going to see this thing through. Both MacDonald and Carter were veterans of the United States Marine Corps… and Marines don‘t know the meaning of the word “quit“.… the first thing that they needed to do was to talk to their Captain.

“Feds? What the f*** were they doing there? Who the f*** called them?” Captain Roy Martin thundered, “that’s all I need, the Feds getting in the way. You two be careful, but I want you to continue to investigate this like no one said anything about Federal involvement in this case.”

“OK, Abbie…" Mac said when they were done with the Captain, "how do you want to do this? You want to work together? Or do you want to start running these things down separately?” “Let’s do this together, Mac, there are always a few things that a young detective can learn from an old dude like you” quipped Carter. “Old dude, my ass” was the immediate rejoinder “First, I am only seven years older than you… and I happen to know that the reason that you wanted to work with me in the first place is because of my Yoda-like status in the first district… that and you have the hots for me.” Carter heaved a huge sigh and rolled her eyes in feigned annoyance… she had asked to be assigned to MacDonald, not because she had the hots for him (she already had a special someone in her life) but because MacDonald was as smart guy, a good cop, and even though he was serious about his faith, he was never judgemental about her sexuality. Mac was one of the good guys, no two ways about it.

“Alright, let’s start with the deader, Mr Julian Krasnovski: There is no indication that he is married or living with someone, and the administrative folks are trying to track down next of kin, so why don’t we see what we come up with at his residence. His driver’s licence and some of the other crap in his wallet give his address as 618 A street, southeast, Apartment 325. Let’s get over there and get started, but first, let’s go over to Burrito Brothers and get something to eat… I’m starving…”

Three days later, MacDonald and Carter had found out lot’s of things: First, Krasnovski had turned out to be a an accomplished violinist, who played for the National Symphony Orchestra. He had been some sort of prodigy as a youth, and big things were expected of him. He had gone to Juliard on scholarship, and was noted as a young man on the rise. He came to the NSO as a fairly young man… and that’s when the bottom dropped out for him. It seems that the young Krasnovski likes to gamble. A lot.

They also found out some things… some disturbing things about Caren Cramer… a cursory background investigation revealed some inconsistencies that caused MacDonald and Carter to want to interview her again. When they attempted to do so, they met a blank wall. The personnel office at the Air & Space museum claimed that they had no employee by the name of Caren Cramer. When they attempted to contact Cramer at the address she had provided, there was no one by that name at that address.

With a gnawing sense of dread, MacDonald went to his Captain to ask his advice, the Captain looked him in the eye and asked him what he was talking about. After going over the case and everything that they had discovered, the Captain took MacDonald and Carter to the office of the Deputy Chief of Police, who introduced them to a certain Mr. Johnson, from the United States Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Johnson told them that what they encountered at the Smithsonian had been declared a National Security Incident, and as such, was under the perview of the Dept. of Homeland Security. They were told that their investigation was being terminated at the direction of the United States government, under the Authority of the USA Patriot act. All notes, evidence, and reports concerning the investigation have been deemed classified at the Top Secret level, and all such materials are to be turned over to DHS personnel immediately, and all personnel involved in the investigation were hereby enjoined from discussing the investigation with anyone.

Please note that this story is a work of fiction. All of the characters are fictitious, and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

Also note that stuff like this happens… and if you think it shouldn’t be happening in this country, it is your moral duty to oust all Republicans from elected office, at any level, throughout the United States.

It isn’t too late... yet.

The source material for this story was given to me by Jen, who can be found here.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

2007-11-10T09:12:00.000-05:00

Today is the anniversary of the birth of my Corps!

For 232 years, United States Marines have been kicking ass at the behest of our government, and nobody, I mean nobody does it better!

Whether is is taking artillery from the British garrison, at New Providence, In the Bahamas, or duking it out with the Chinese communists in Korea. From Belleu Wood, France, to the storming of Koh Tang Island. Yes, indeed, from the Halls of Montezuma (in Mexico) to the Shores of Tripoli (modern Libya), your United States Marines have stood ready to fight, any time and in ANY place, because we're that good!

On this day above all others, I am guilty of the sin of pride. Totally guilty and without shame, because being part of the Corps is so much a part of me that the two cannot be separated.

I will live forever. Not because I have a secret potion or special genes, but because I am connected to every Marine that ever lived, or will ever live.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

Semper Fi!

GF

Electoral Success (Crank That!)

2007-11-07T05:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Virginia voters continued a strengthening trend: The "Blueing" of a Red State.

Democrats now have a majority in the Virginia State Senate, and have eaten away much of the Republican majority in the House of Delegates.

Republicans in Virginia had better watch out, because Virginia is poised to fill the U.S. Senate seat of retiring John Warner in 2008... and it is looking ripe for the former Democratic Governor Mark Warner.

As happy as I am about this, I really need to talk about something else, today.

I am willing to bet that some of you have heard of the song called "Crank That (Souljah Boy)". As a matter of fact, some of you are probably already laughing to yourself, because you know what kind of popularity that this song has achieved. You probably already know (and have at least tried) the "Souljah Boy" dance.

I have to make a confession about my total ignorance about this phenomonon until just this past Monday. A reader of mine encouraged me to go to You Tube and do a search for "soldier boy dance". I did, and was greeted with no less than 33 pages of video clips of people doing this dance.

According to Wikipedia, this song was released in April of this year and reached number one on two separate charts.

Now, if you want to spend some time having a full belly-laugh, watch some of those videos! You will see black children doing this dance, white teenagers doing this dance, the University of Maryland Water Polo team, student councils, cheerleaders, Drum Majors, moms, GRANDmoms.... you name it, people are doing it. Just about everybody is doing this dance.

Everyone except me... and Mrs Gunfighter, too (I asked).

You know, I always liked to think that I was rather savvy about the trends in this country... popular culture holds a great deal of interest for me... but I completely missed this. WTF?

If you would like to learn now to "Crank" the Soldier Boy dance, see the instructional video here.

Oh, and I have no intention of "Cranking the Souljah Boy" at Happy Hour next week, so you can forget that!

Read This Blog!

2007-11-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Many of you, who have been reading my blog for a while know this person's blog. You know it because you have seen her many thoughtful, cogent comments about the foolishness that I often post about,

For those of you that haven't visited her yet, be sure to do so. If you are anything like me, you like smart. This lady is smart.

Her name, well, her nom de internet is Soccer Mom in Denial, but since that takes a long to type (for a poor typist like me), many of her readers reduce that lengthy moniker to SMID.

Good blog-pal SMID is a humble woman who has true social conscience. She cares about the less fortunate, and although she is a physically gentle person, is a true and tough warrior for social justice. I admire her for her passion and dedication to the cause.

SMID is also dedicated to her rugby-playing husband, whom she calls "Amazing Guy" and her three children, all of whom she is raising to be sensitive, culturally aware, questioning, thinking people.

She also takes a great interest in photography, something she shares with us (along with a fellow blogger, about whom I'll talk about later in the month via second blog) at Looking Into.

Thanks for sharing so much with us, SMID, you're a bit of alright.

GF

Hey! Why are you still here?

Go to her blog. Now!

What To Do About Iran?

2007-10-29T09:14:00.000-04:00

Have you had enough saber-rattling yet?

I have.

With all of the talk flying left and right, you would have to conclude that either Iran is the most dire threat to world peace, and the security of the United States, or that an American invasion of Iran is in the works, and isn't far off.

Both of those assertions are wrong.

Those on the right... you know, the clods that get their news from FOX, believe that Iran poses a grave threat to the United States and we need to decisively "do something" about it. The leaders of this particular lunatic fringe are none other that idiot-in-chief, George W. "Mission Accomplished" Bush...

... and Dick "I'll shoot you in the f***ing face" Cheney. Many of the people that come down on the "Iran is a major threat" side argue that military might is the way to go to keep Iran it it's place.

On the other side of the argument, you have peaceniks who believe that talking out your problems will ease and soothe all parties, and if we talk long enough, everything will be fine, and everyone can burn patchouli incense and drink girly coffee drinks together in peace. This fringe element gets their news from the Whole Earth Catalogue, and from the crystals around their necks... they don't have a leader, because herd animals seldom have a central figure.

At the center of all of this, is this drivel-spouting dope, Iran's pain-in-the-ass-figurehead-of-a-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

President Ahmadinejad has said that it wants to develop nuclear power for peaceful means. Uh-huh. You know? I might be crazy for saying this, but I just don't believe it. Why don't I?, because we say the same thing here in the U.S., and when you get right down to it, having the ability to make nuclear weapons means that you'll make them.

So where does all of this lead us? It leads to this: As much as we'd like to do about keeping Iran from going nuclear, there isn't really much we CAN do about it.

Militarily, we can't invade Iran. Our Army is busted and needs to be rested, the Marine Corps is ready to fight (of course), but is too small to make it happen with success. In short, my friends, as with all strategy, it's about the math. The numbers can't be crunched to come up with a successful plan for an invasion, so that's out.

The only viable military action is an air campaign to destroy the suspected locations of Iranian nuclear sites. Would those strikes be successful? Given our aviation capabilities, I am certain that it would.

So "what's the problem?"

The problem is the issue of unintended consequences and a potential disaster for the United States. Iran is a big country, and isn't really all that weak, when compared to it's neighbors. Do you really think that an aggrieved and belligerent Iran will be good for the region?, especially at a time when we would have difficulty challenging a major thrust at one of their neighbors?

Well, since the nuclear genie is one that is likely to find it's way into Iranian hands, the United States needs to be thinking smarter. We are going to need to guarantee the security of Iran. Promise to not invade their country and not to seek "regime change", blah blah blah.

In return, the Iranians get this: "If you even think about getting stupid outside of your borders, we'll incinerate you."
I really don't see what else there is to do.

I don't believe that a theocratic nation like Iran will sit down and talk in good faith. We can't believe their protestations about peace etc... so we either drop bombs on their heads with some potentially worse-than-Iran-with-nuclear-weapons scenario developing into a regional war, or we flat out threaten them into good behavior.

None of the answers are good, but that's where we are.

A Thought (for which I cannot take credit)

2007-10-25T15:48:00.000-04:00

The Only difference between tattooed people and non-tattooed people, is that people with tattoos don't really care that you don't have any.

Food: Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

2007-10-24T09:50:00.000-04:00

A little over a year ago, while strolling around World Showcase Lagoon, at Disney World's EPCOT, a friend of mine told me about his method of stuffing a tenderloin. If you like to cook, you probably know that stuffing a pork tenderloin is sort of demanding, especially if your skills with cutlery aren't what they should be. My friend gave me an idea that until recently, I hadn't put into practice... I decided that it was time to make it happen.

Pre-heat the oven to 375.

The first thing I did was to put on some music, because you know that Chef Gunfighter likes to get his groove on when he cooks. Yes, what you see is correct, I bought that 70's R&B collection from Target. Don't laugh, the play list is very cool. It starts with that all-time favorite song, made for rubbing bellybuttons, the Marvin Gaye classic: "Let's Get it On".

Anyway, I was going to use a mushroom stuffing for this tenderloin, and got started by chopping a bunch of chives and setting them aside.

Next, I chopped a small onion, and a package of fresh, white button mushroom. I sauteed the onions until they were clear, then added the chives and mushrooms.

Continue to saute together until the mushrooms release their liquids, and reduce by about 80%, add a dash of minced garlic here (if you like garlic), and a half teaspoon of ground caraway seeds. Salt & pepper to taste.

Once finished add a tablespoon if bacon bits (use real bacon). Stir, drain well, and set aside in a mixing bowl. Add a tablespoon (or two) of high quality mustard, (I used the full-grain brown mustard).

I have a small family, so using a large tenderloin is seriously wasteful, so instead, I used a rather small (and therefore inexpensive), pre-trimmed, tenderloin from the supermarket for this dish.

OK, knives out! Lay the tenderloin on the cutting board, and using your free hand press down at the end of the tenderloin where you are going to begin your cut. Holding your knife flat, cut a flap in the tenderloin like you see here.

Next, make another cut, similar to the first, which will leave you with two flaps that open from the center like wings.

Spread the stuffing on the center portion.....

...and then close the flap.

Repeat until you are finished.

Pause here to wash your hands, which will be a real mess by now. Pour yourself a glass of red wine. You know, the kind that I like, cheap... usually from a bottle with a screw top. Hey, I'm a Philistine... sue me.

OK, take a minute or two to do some dancing. If you have a partner, great! If you don't have anyone to dance with, dance alone!. Remember what I said about getting down with your bad self, it's important!

OK, calm down, have a last sip of your wine, and put your tenderloin in the oven... bake at 375 for until finished... you'll need a meat thermometer to determine doneness, because different sized cuts of meat require different cooking times.

When you are finished, it'll look something like this:

Put on some good music (I recommend Andrea Boccelli), and serve with pasta & veg.... and more wine.

GF

Youth Sports & Idiot Parents

2007-10-22T05:21:00.000-04:00

As you know, my youngest daughter, who is eight, plays soccer in our local league. She enjoys the game and is fairly good at it, which is why I refer to as soccergirl here at my blog. You also know that I coach her team.

As much as I know that soccergirl has fun playing soccer, I confess that I get a lot out of it, too... and I don't even really like soccer. Sadly, Dr. Einstein was every bit as correct socialogical world as he was in the realm of physics, and for all of the fun that I derive from our soccer league, it is, in equal parts, a pain in the ass.

This Saturday, Soccergirl's team, The Dynamite, played a joyful game of soccer. They played with determination and toughness, they played with a new found maturity. I swear that you could almost hear the mental "click". You know what I'm talking about, right? the mental click that anyone who has ever taught a group of students knows about. You know? The moment that you see the light come on and you know that you have made a breakthrough. Well, while the team was having that moment on the field, I was having a rapturous time on the sideline... and so were the girls' families.

So, you're asking yourself what this has to do with idiot parents?

Read on.

Before our game started, the youthful referee (who was probably 13) came to me and said "Coach, could you please talk to your team's parents before the game? We had some problems during the last game, and I don't want any parents getting out of hand." Sadly, I already knew what he was talking about. One of the teams that played immediately before us, was the culprit, and I'm not surprised. This team is comprised of some of the most obnoxious sports parents that I have ever encountered. They shout inappropriate comments to opposing players (remember, these are 8-9 year old children we are talking about here), and they try to intimidate the referees, who are just kids themselves.

I was really pissed off, but I kept my cool, and talked to "my parents" before the game started. We were playing a team coached by a guy that has a similar phliosophy to mine, in that we know it is about fun, fitness and learning for the kids.... not about winning at all costs.

My team won the game... mostly due to great playing by all of my girls, but especially soccergirl, D, and E, and a couple of others.

The girls played with patience, maturity and smarts. They were tough. They didn't quit when they were tired. It was all I could do not to explode with pride, all over the field when that last whistle blew and my warriors ran off the field to high-five with me and their parents.

Why would anyone... especially a parent, want to wreck that by acting like an ass?

In Memoriam

2007-10-21T08:58:00.000-04:00

On November 10th last year, I wrote about the Marine Corps Birthday, and the October '06 combat death of several young Marines from the 1st battalion, 6th Marine regiment. One of the Marines that I listed in that post was Corporal Nicholas Manoukian, age 22.

A couple of weeks later, I was contacted by a woman named Mary, who had read the post. As it turns out, Mary was Corporal Manoukian's mother. Mary and I have emailed back and forth several times over the last year, and in her emails, she told me about her son... her only child. In our most recent correspondence, I told her that, with her permission, I was going to write about her son again, on the anniversary of his death. She graciously said yes, and provided me with some facts about her son's life and some pictures.

When Mary emailed me the first time, I promised her that I would never forget her son, and that I would keep him, and Mary, too, in my prayers, and I have. So, if you will permit me, I am going to tell you a little bit about who Nicholas Manoukian was. It is my hope that in some small way, I can help keep Nicholas' memory alive.

Mary told me the details of her son's enlistment, and of some apparent deception by Nicholas' recruiter who promised that her son wouldn't have to serve in combat. I can't speak to that issue, but it hurts me more than I can tell you that my Corps now has to resort to subterfuge to gain new members. In my day, the Corps turned away more than half of the people who tried to enlist.

Please read on, I want to tell you a little bit about this good young man.

Nick was born on August 31st, 1984, and was adopted at one year of age by Mary and Isaac Manoukian, of Lathrup Village, Michigan. Nick was the light of his parent's eyes. The Manoukians were a close family, and Nick and Mary drew closer still when Isaac died when Nick was 12 years old.

When Nick was 14 and in Junior High School he met a girl named Danielle. By the time Nick was 15, he and Danielle were an item. Although they would drift apart, later, their meeting would be very important to them later in life.

Nick was interested in many things, including playing the drums, writing poetry, hockey, snowboarding, art and cooking. Nick was also, by all reports, a great hugger! When Nick would see his mother, he would give her big, rib-crushing hugs.

Nick Graduated from Royal Oak Kimball High School, in 2003, and spent some time in college studying art before he joined the Marine Corps in 2004, sometime in this period, he and Danielle rekindled their relationship.

Corporal Manoukian deployed to Iraq the first time in March of 2005, and was involved in the second Battle of Fallujah.

Nick survived this deployment, but his unit, the first battalion, 6th Marine regiment was slated to deploy to Iraq again in September of 2006.

Before going back to Iraq, Nicholas had some things to do, so in July of 2006, he went back to Michigan on leave and married Danielle! After a too-short period, Nicholas was back with his unit, which deployed to Anbar province in September of 2006.

Manoukian had only been back in Iraq for a month when he was killed. His Humvee was stuck by a roadside bomb, while his unit was conducting combat operations.

Nicholas left behind a loving family: His mother, Mary Manoukian Calhoun, stepfather Gary Calhoun, his wife, Danielle Manoukin and stepson Nico Mullen.

Today, it has been a year since Nicholas' death, and his family still grieves. I won't talk about noble sacrifice and patriotism here, today... just about one man and his family... a family misses their son, husband, and father.

Take a moment to grieve with them.

GF

Some Thoughts on Politics

2007-10-19T13:13:00.000-04:00

A few thoughts on the world of politics from where I sit. Please note that it is Friday, and I am still semi-sick, so forgive me if I am less than artful in my presentation.

Item: Larry Craig refuses to resign from the Senate, citing his appeal to a judge to have his conviction, based on admission of guilt rescinded. Senator Craig does not allege that he was beaten, coerced, or enforced, or otherwise "made" to confess to a crime... he just wants to "clear his name" . Well, a Minnesota judge said that since Craig wasn't alleging that there was any misconduct on the part of the airport cops, that there was no reason to grant the appeal.

Craig is appealing again.

Ahem.

Note to Senator Craig: You are guilty, sir. Face it. You concealed your arrest and admission of guilt from the Senate, in contravention of Senate rules. You know that you won't withstand the ethics investigation, so step up, be a man, and resign!

Item: What the fuck is wrong with the Democratic party? Do we smell so much blood in the water for the next election cycle that we are bent on nominating one of the sodding idiots that gave George Bush permission to invade Iraq?

Not with my help, pal.

Item: The Prince William County (Va.) Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of enacting a resolution to use County employees to deny use of County facilities to those persons who cannot produce documentation of their legal residential status in the United States. Further, the County police will begin a program of checking the immigration status of any individual who is suspected of any crime, including traffic violations.

Alright. I want everyone that is reading this, to dig into your pockets and show me your documents that give you the right to reside or work in the United States.

I'll wait.

Nobody? That's what I thought. This piece of legislation is racist. In addition to being racist, it won't stand a legal challenge. Further, the county doesn't have the money to really enforce the new ordinance. "So... why do it?" you ask? Because our next election is just over two weeks away, and what better way to cement the electorate than with a good ol' "us against THEM", fear-mongering campaign? It's f***ing disgusting.

Item: The newly installed chief of Air Force acquisitions was recently found dead in his home, of an apparent suicide. The appointment of the retired Air Force officer was under investigation for ethics violations due to the fact that he had been awarded a contract by a firm with deep ties to the Air Force. The purpose of the contract was to give him some working cash in the time between his retirement and the start of his appointment... a period of approx. 4 months. The problem is that the gentleman in question was paid a considerable sum of money... but did no work for the company.

Nice.

Item: Happy Hour plans are underway, here in DC. If you didn't get the memo, let me know. (Hey, in DC EVERYTHING is political!)

Item: George W. Bush vetoed the expansion of S-Chip. If you aren't outraged by this administration, you aren't really paying attention.

Have a good weekend!

GF

Some Days You Just Have To....

2007-10-15T14:30:00.000-04:00

...back away.

No, I don't mean from blogging... I'm addicted, but what I meant was that from time to time I have to stop talking about Domestic Violence, Pictures, dog rescue, Larry Craig, George Bush, and the myriad things that I talk about here.

Sometimes you have to stop talking about soccer, ~~rugby, sex~~, racial and sexual bigotry in the church... and outside of it. Sometimes I ~~want~~ need do do what I am doing right now: Sometimes you just need to take a minute to get down with your (seriously) bad self!

(and believe it, I am a bad MoFo!, just like Shaft!)

So! You know this song, get out of your chair, and shake your tail feather a little bit.

You'll be glad you did.

That goes for you, too!

Yeah, you... the repressed lady in the Midwest!

Sing it! "Uh! It's gettin' hot in here!"

Lighten up, Francis! I'll bet even the ordained clergy reading this are dancing!

C'mon... You people in Australia... do it upside down! You New Zealanders, you friggin' blew the Rugby World Cup (and got beaten by FRANCE????) you blokes NEED to dance... do the Haka or something. Crikey!

"Uh!"

You, too, Canucks... you know I love you, and there is probably 14 feet of snow in Saskatoon, but dance anyway! Do it like Jean Chretien (because you KNOW Stephen Harper can't dance!)

"I like when you uh!-uh! With a little bit of uh-uh!"

See you tomorrow!

GF

Book Review: The Religion

2007-10-09T07:17:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I finished what is probably the best book that I have read all year... maybe in the last few years. The book was: The Religion, by Tom Willocks.

This book takes place in 1565, when "The Grand Turk" , also known as Suleiman The Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, had decided that to ensure the spread of Islam, the Knights of St. John, also known as The Knights Hospitaller, must be dislodged from the Mediterranean Island of Malta.

As this historically true event played out, the fictitious Captain Mattias Tannhauser, a European-born former Janissary soldier in the army of the Sultan, is convinced to bring a high-born Maltese Contessa, Lady Carla, to the island, despite the siege, to find her 12 year old bastard son... a son sired by one Brother Luvodico, a highly-placed Priest of the Inquisition.

What Tannhauser doesn't realize is that his reputation as a military commander has proceeded him, and he has been duped into going to the island so that he can give good military advice to the Grandmaster of the Knights of St. John, Jean De La Valette, to help them withstand the siege.

Predictably, Tannhauser is able to spirit Lady Carla, and her son, Orlandu, off of Malta, but not before falling in love with Carla, and killing Luvodico.

The plot of the book isn't exceptionally intricate, which is appropriate, since this book is and adventure, not a mystery. There are several factors here that make this book and exceptionally good one: The first (for me) is that the subject matter, the religious-military orders of the era, between the 12th and 17th centuries, is an area of particular interest to me. The second is that the author has really done his homework here, in that he not only was able to place this important battle in the right time and place, but he was able to describe that motives and actions of the characters in proper cultural terms. The third important thing for me was the description of 16th century combat and siege warfare. Willocks doesn't gloss over the unholy brutality of personal combat, and the gruesome wounds caused by the weapons of the day.

If you have an interest in history, you will enjoy this book. If you have an interest in grand adventure, you will enjoy this book. If you have an interest in some of the skulduggery of the 16th century Church you'll really like this book.

This book has it all: Violence, history, intrigue, and sex... and it's well-written!

What's not to like?

If you read it, please tell me what you think.

GF

Pictures

2007-10-08T23:46:00.000-04:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I suppose it depends on what the picture is, who took the picture and why, and the person who sees the picture... but I digress.

I want to try a bit of a writing exercise, so I'd like you, my fabulous readers, to send me a picture or ten, without any comments, and I'll pick some and write about them... let's see if I can come up with a thousand words.

Fun!

GF

Warrior

2007-10-08T11:45:00.000-04:00

"For every one hundred men you send us,
Ten should not even be here.
Eighty are nothing but targets.
Nine of them are real fighters;
We are lucky to have them, they the battle make.
Ah, but the one. One of them is a warrior.
And he will bring the others back."

Heraclitus

These days, the term "warrior" is bandied about with ease. Too bad so few really know what it means.

How Far Would You go For Your Kids?

2007-10-05T11:30:00.000-04:00

By the time you have read this far, those of you who are parents have already answered that question, haven't you? You'd do pretty much anything for your kids, wouldn't you? I can't think of any way to get more seriously hurt than get between a parent and their child... especially if that child is threatened with harm.

As a parent... particularly, as a father, I take the safety and protection of my children as a most solemn obligation... just the suggestion that someone might ever consider harming my child will put a murderous look on my face.

How far would I go for my kids?

I'll tell you how far: Simply put, there is no place on the planet that could keep you safe if you ever harmed or even attempted or planned to harm one of my children. I'd ~~kill~~ hurt, gruesomely, any person who tried to hurt my girls.

I think you know that this isn't hyperbole when it's coming from me.

Having said all of that, there is a wider question being asked here, isn't there? When we are asked, "How Far Would You go For Your Kids?", that could mean many things besides protecting our children from harm. Let's have a chat about parental ethics, shall we?

We all want our children to succeed, don't we? We all want them to achieve material success in life, don't we? We want them to be well educated, we want them to be secure in themselves, we want them to excel at sports and academics, and in everything, don't we?

Of course we do! We're parents!

But how do we do this? Do we help them achieve excellence, or do we do it for them?

Let's start here: How many of you, in order to maximize the kind of recognition your daughter will get at Girl Scouts, will haul boxes and boxes of cookies to your office/church/playgroup/pilates class/poker night and push those evil things on your friends? You'd do that, wouldn't you? No harm done, right?... I mean EVERYbody loves Thin Mints and those friggin' Do-Si-Does, right?

How many of you know people that spend endless hours online getting information for their high school-aged child, so he or she will get a good grade on their book report?, or worse, do the report for them?

Those of you with younger children might know moms or dads who practically demand that their bright child be labelled as "gifted" when they are in the 2nd grade (As if that is going to get this kid into freakin' Harvard)

I am the coach of my daughter's soccer team, and in our recreational league, the teams are restricted to only one practice per week. I happen to know that at least one of the coaches is holding extra practices on the side... is "winning" that important? Is that what we want to teach our kids? that winning is so important that it is better to cheat and win than it is to work hard, and do your best, and take pride in your results, within the rules?

Have you ever been in the mall or a store and seen some poorly behaved child knock over a stack of books or something, and the parent doesn't bat an eyelash until they see your glare, and then says, anemically, "oh, pick that up, honey?

How about the crackpots that actually get in fights with other parents at school sporting events, or at little league?

I actually know parents who, not bothering to make a child actually READ the @#*%&%$$#% book, actually bought the child the cliff notes instead so the kid could do the report on time.

One woman I know actually called her son at college every morning to make sure he went to class.

I could go on and on. It's so sad.

So haw far would you go for your kids? In my little corner of the world, I have seen some really ugly things regarding parental crazies who even help their kids avoid the consequences of breaking the law.

I work for a federal law enforcement agency, and I know all of the local cops and State Troopers in our area (especially since our community is full to the brim with cops from numerous agencies), I am almost certain that if my child were speeding and got a ticket, she could invoke my name, and probably get out of it... but that would be a big mistake. I don't roll like that. You speed, you take your chances. You get a ticket?, I guess you'll slow down next time, won't you?

Look, I'm all about protecting my kids, but there have to be limits don't there? Do I really want to protect them when they do something wrong at school? What will that teach them? I don't want them to win so badly that I'll teach them that cheating at sports is OK as long as they don't get caught. I don't want them to excel at school, to the point that I will do their schoolwork for them in order to protect their GPA?

Would you?

Do you know what that kind of crap does to kids? It produces adults to whom the rules mean nothing. It produces adults that believe cheating on their taxes is a victimless crime. It produces people that like Michael Vick and Alberto Gonzales, and Larry Craig, that believe that their place in life affords them protection from breaking the law.

I'll give an example of how bad it can be: We know of a family in which a 17 year old son was involved in the theft of several handguns from the home of a deceased FBI agent. After the theft, this kid and his friends spent a lot of time playing playing tough guy with these guns. Now these kids weren't planning any violent crimes, they weren't robbing or shooting anyone, they were "nice" kids from the suburbs. One day, the group was playing the "I'll shoot you" game, not having checked to see if the guns were loaded. See where I am going here?

One kid shoots the other kid in the face and kills him.

I'll leave out all of the drama, but the killer, for that is what he is, intentional or not, never spent a day behind bars. His parents, who had the cash to do it, hired an expensive attorney, made sure the kid could cop a plea, do some community service, and walk away as if it never happened.

As appalled as some of the parents in the area were, I heard at least one of the neighborhood dads say: "He just made a mistake"

A mistake.

A 17 year old shoots and 18 year old in the face, and kills him, and it's a mistake.

Where I come from, it's called a crime.

The parents immediately enrolled the ~~kid~~ killer in the local "alternative" high school program, but immediately started complaining, because she didn't want HER son in that class with THOSE bad kids who listened to "all of "that rap music"

Ahem.

This was about 5 years ago... since then, that NICE kid who just "made a mistake" has committed several other crimes, and is now incarcerated.... which he should have been in the first place... perhaps if his parents hadn't coddled him, and let him pay the price for his actions, he would have learned something and done better, and stayed out of jail later on.

How far would I go for my kids? Not that far.

I'll confess to the Girl Scout cookie thing. I asked some of the guys if they wanted any, but that's about as far as it goes.

Sure, I'll protect my kids, but there is a difference between protecting them to keep them safe, and sheltering them from their own misdeeds.

GF

This post was part of a Blog Blast sponsored by the Parent Blogger Network, and in conjunction with the new Harper Collins Books release, "Dangerous Admissions", which deals with the issue of how far parents will go to help their kids get what they want.

CD Review: Sara Bareilles - Little Voice

2007-10-04T08:59:00.000-04:00

Have any of you ever heard of this young woman?

I confess that I never had until a few weeks ago, when Mrs Gunfighter brought home this CD that she bought on a whim. The song that you are listening to now, is the first song on her recently released cd, titled Little Voice.

Sara Barielles (pronounced Ba-rell-is) is from Humboldt County, Californina and attended UCLA. Her music has been compared to that of Fiona Apple, Nora Jones and other female songstresses. Some of hose may be fair comparisons... but that in no way diminishes the talent of this young singer-songwriter.

I could go on and on about Bareilles' raw talent and driving piano-playing, but I don't have to, you can hear it for yourself.

If you are of a mind to trust me, trust me when I tell you that if you buy this cd you will be really glad you did.

GF

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

2007-10-03T11:40:00.000-04:00

In the United States, October is recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. All across America, worthy organizations and movements like the Clothes Line Project and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence are speaking out against domestic violence and violence against women. This is a praise-worthy thing... but the world is changing my friends, and it isn't just organizations that are speaking out, Bloggers are speaking too, and this is where I come in.

A couple of days ago, I was contacted by Gina from What About Our Daughters?, A blog dedicated to combating the destructive portrayals of black women in popular culture. Gina asked me to help her out by posting something about Domestic Violence, and I agreed.

While mulling it over, I first thought I would talk a little bit about domestic violence (DV) from a statistical standpoint, and mention that fact that although black people make up thirteen percent of the U.S. population, black women make up twenty-eight percent of the reported victims of DV.

I thought about it, alright, but I decided to take another route.

Instead of raw numbers, I am going to talk about DV from a personal viewpoint. You see, I know a wee bit about the subject. I witnessed it as a child.

My dad was a wife-beater.

An early memory for five year old Gunfighter was my father coming home after working the late shift at Hamilton Air Force Base, California, and getting into an argument with my mother. I have no idea what it was all about, but I remember the shouting turning into screams. Screams coming from my mother, punctuated by the fist-on-flesh thwacking sound that no child should hear coming from his own mother's body.

After scooping my older sister from her bed, my mother ran into the bedroom that I shared with my brother, herded us into our car and drove off into the night. We drove around for a few hours, finally parking on the side of the road, somewhere in Marin County. I am certain that sometime that night, I must have slept, but I remember being awake, as the new day was dawning, and seeing my mother just staring blankly out the window.

It was 1968, my mother was 29 years old... and she had nowhere to go.

I'll bet you know what we did next.

If you guessed "you-waited-until-your-dad-went-to-work-and-then-you-went-back-home", you get a cookie.

My life changed that night. That night put me on the road that I travel today... the road that leads to responsible fatherhood. The road that leads to marital respect, the road that leads to being a true man.

That beating wasn't the only one my mother ever got from my father... but it was the worst, and the last. By 1969, my mother had divorced my father, and we moved to New Jersey to live with my Grandmother.

The following years were good for my father. He got some help, he remarried, had another child with his second wife (who died in a car crash in 1981), and became a better man than he had been in his dark days. All of this is covered here, so I'll press on.

Like I said... I know a little bit about DV.

I'm fortunate... I didn't repeat the cycle. I don't smack my wife around. I have never hit either of my children (I have two daughters). I would rather stick my hand in a food processor than do those things.

Scientists and Sociologists have opined deeply about the causes of DV, and I suppose that they may be right... but to me I have to say that I believe that spousal abuse is a learned behavior. A behavior passed on from person to person, sometimes father to son.... sometimes passed on by pop culture images or even hero-worship.

I could take this particular moment to go on about the damage done by many of the images in the hip-hop sub-culture, but that horse is dead, and has been beaten by myself and others thousands of times in the past few months. No, I'm not going to blame the rappers specifically (not that they don't share some blame), because there was DV a looong time before the first violent rap lyrics ever showed up.

When dad beats mom, he teaches his son that it is ok to beat women. When dad beats mom, and mom stays silent, she teaches her son that it is ok to beat women, and teaches her daughter that quiet acceptance is alright. When popular athletes, entertainers, members of Congress, or pastors beat their wives, and their supporters close ranks around them and protect them, society teaches boys that violence against women is alright, and teaches girls that even if they speak out, they will be ridiculed, scorned, devalued, and even BLAMED for the violence visited upon them.

Domestic Violence is a social disease and your friend Gunfighter is going to lay down the cure, right here, right now.

There is a cure for Domestic Violence. Here it is: The Man of Character

The Man of Character, is a pillar of strength for his family. They KNOW they can always depend on him to do the right thing.

The Man of Character is a pillar of his community.

The Man of Character isn't a social sponge, sucking up all his community has to offer while giving nothing of himself.

THe family of a Man of Character is never afraid for their safety in his presence.

It is the responsibility of men of character to end this cycle of violence. Men of character must lead by example. Men of character must be sterling role-models to their sons. Men of character must be the kind of man that his daughters will use as their ideal when the time comes for them to think about life-partners. Men of character vote in all elections, men of characters are men of personal values.

When a man loves his wife and children in such a manner, all things are possible, and violence has no place. In that sort of environment, a family is doing the best thing that they can do to break the links in the chains of domestic violence.

Men: Don't do it.... ever.

Women: Don't put up with it... not even once. Rescue your children and run!

DV is a learned behavior, 'tis true, but one good thing you can say about learned behavior, is that it can't be learned when it isn't seen or heard of.

To some, my answers may sound trite... do you have any better ideas?

The Family Vacation

2007-09-28T06:31:00.000-04:00

The Family Vacation... What memories! What togetherness! What fun?

Even now, I can see your eyes going out of focus as you look into the mists of your own memories. Memories of vacations past, where you were tortured beyond belief by long boring rides in your parent's car, or by your own children's predilection for projectile vomiting.

OK, that's enough remembering.

The family vacation is something that I didn't have as a kid, so all of my memories of the family road-trip have been created by the adult me (and Mrs Gunfighter, of course).

It has been our great good fortune to have had incredibly fun family vacations, and today, I am going to share our secret for vacation success.

For us, going on vacation means alot. Going on vacation means changing our location... going some place that we enjoy, and spending some concentrated family time. Some time away from our jobs, our work in the church, Scouting, coaching and attending soccer games, commuting, occasional travel for work, local politics, volunteering on County committees, and on and on. We are a busy family, but we love to be together, and while we enjoy our time together as a family unit, that can be in short supply at times.

Clan Gunfighter is made up of creatures of habit. On vacation, we like to do most of the things we do at home... eating home-cooked meals, watching our usual television shows, and spending time together. Whether we do this in Williamsburg, Virginia, where we spend spring breaks, or in Orlando, Florida, where we go in the summer, we enjoy the "home away from home" experience. Because we like to do "home away from home", we became owners in the Hilton Grand Vacation Club a few years ago, so when we go on vacation, we are in a beautiful, large apartment unit, with all of the amenities, as well as a full kitchen and laundry machines.

So: The secret. I suppose I should make that plural, because our secret has multiple parts... the first part being this: The journey is part of the vacation, too. For us, the drive is every bit as much a part of the fun as going to Disney World. Because we tend to take a lot of things with us, like Soccergirl's stuffed "friends", we normally will rent a minivan for the trip. Oh go ahead, scoff if you like.

Decorating the Minivan the night before departure has become a ritual. We use window chalk that we get in the automotive section at the local Wal-Mart.

Everyone in the family is listed (and has their picture drawn on the window)

(The creature that you see there is one of my own renditions of our late, lamented greyhounds: Duncan and Zoom.

Once we have the van decorated and packed, and all of the sundry electronics (phone chargers, XM radio, iPod, DVD player, etc... ) installed. It's time to go!

We head out listening to our traditional music: 500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be), by the Proclaimers. During the ride, Mrs GF and I get lots of time to talk while Soccergirl watches a movie or reads, which is quite nice.

We always make good mileage, but we are never in such a hurry that it is a problem if someone needs to make a restroom stop, before the next "scheduled" stop.

When we arrive at our destination, we unload the van and set up our "new home" and proceed to enjoy each other's company. One central theme of our vacations is that, more often than not, I will cook our evening meals. We do this, not as a money saver, but because we want to enjoy a meal in a home-like environment.

Having arrived, it is time to tell you the next part of our secret, and here it is: Only do what you WANT to do on vacation. I know that Disney World is an expensive vacation... it is the main focus of all of my overtime efforts, but we resist the need to "do everything" while we are there. I can't tell you how many times that we have seen families in complete misery because mom or dad is so determined to do it all, that no one in the family is having any fun. So, we get up late, we swim, we take our time about getting to the theme parks, and we R-E-L-A-X. So what if we planned on going to the Magic Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the evening, and only made it the Magic Kingdom? Who cares? Don't want to ride the big rollercoater everyone is talking about? Don't! Vacations are supposed to be fun, so we never worry about what we are "supposed" to be doing... we just do what we want. In our normal lives, we spend so much time regulated by the clock, we really have a good time when we only have make sure that we get a certain little girl into bed at a reasonable hour.

The next part of the secret is the most important part, and that is: Have a high threshold for failure. While you are on vacation, don't make any one thing so central to your success, that if idoesn't happen the way you want it, your whole trip is ruined. We have seen people who, while on vacation, must do everything... and not just do everything, but do it in a certain order, and get a certain feeling from having done it, and scheduled every last thing that they are going to do, down to the minute, that if it doesn't happen perfectly, their vacation is ruined. God knows that living within boundaries like that is difficult enough in our day to day lives, imagine trying that while factoring in the vagaries of the weather in Central Florida!

Here is an example of doing it right:

In 2001, the 9/11 attacks took place on our last workday before our vacation. My boss released me from duty early that day, because the chief was about to cancel all leave... Mrs GF and I determined that we should still go on vacation as sort of a metaphorical middle finger to those who think that they can keep Americans down.

We drove to Orlando, and arrived there the same day that tropical storm Danielle made HER appearance. No big deal right? It's only water. Well, we did our best and continued our fun in the (almost) completely deserted parks, enjoying the fact that Soccergirl could ride the Winnie The Pooh ride, Dumbo, and The Carousel as many times as she wanted, with no waiting in line.

We were having a good time until a few days into the vacation. One day, we were in Gooding's grocery store and Soccergirl abruptly puked all over the floor. The staff, knowing how vacationing tummies can be (especially since they were directly across the street from Disney property,), took it in stride. We didn't think much of it until later when she puked again. Hm. The next day, she rallied and we thought we were out of the woods, when we were about to get on The Pooh ride, and she erupted, like Mount Vesuvius all over the front of Mrs GF's shirt. Soccergirl started to cry, Mrs GF was COVERED in vomit, and I was starting to freak out. We all went to the child care center, where Mrs GF change SG's clothes, while I went to one of the shops and bought my poor wife a new Minnie Mouse t-shirt (which she has to this day)

My poor child was sick. We went to the emergency room of a local hospital, and were seen by the nice nurses and doctors, who administered some medication and gave SG some Popsicles (a fun way to re-hydrate). We missed a few days in the parks, but no real harm was done. Once SG was back on her feet, we continued with out family fun, none to worse for the wear. We even stayed an extra day.

We still count that vacation as our benchmark. If you can go through a major terrorist attack, shrug off the forces of nature, and deal with a sick child all in the same vacation, and still have fun, that's when you know that you're doing it right. Any one of those things could have ruined our trip, but we refused to let it.

There you have it... Clan Gunfighter's secrets for the perfect vacation.

NOTE: A couple of years later, we were there for Hurricane Charlie... I'll tell you about that one at a later date.

GF

Today's post for the Parent Blogger Network Family Vacation blogblast, was sponsored by the fine folks at PickPackGo.

45 Minutes At Border's

2007-09-26T12:57:00.000-04:00

Last night was Soccergirl’s Brownie Scout meeting. Nothing unusual in that, other that a slight change of routine. After her dinner of leftover Spaghetti, we headed to the designated meeting place, where the ever efficient troop leader said hello, and “check your email. I sent you something this afternoon”. With that, I was dismissed from the world of women and girls. I would have ninety whole minutes to myself!

Bliss.

I decided to go over to the café at our local Border's book store and read... and people watch. I toke notes, of course, because, hey!... I'm a blogger, and I’m weird like that.

Upon arrival at Border’s, I took a quick spin through the Science Fiction section to see if there was anything new on the shelves since Saturday. There wasn’t, so I proceeded straight to the café with my book. I made camp at one of the tables in the recently renovated seating area, and took stock of the people sitting in my immediate area: There were two guys playing chess, who were taking it awfully seriously (they had a clock and everything). These guys didn’t look like they date much, but what do I know? There was a guy in his mid-thirties who was with a young girl of about 4; they were looking at a children’s magazine together. There were a couple of uncouth young men who didn’t have the decency to take off their hats indoors (which really bugs me), one of who was reading a sports magazine, while the other was reading PC Utilities magazine. There was a man in his 40’s who was reading a fishing magazine… and taking copious notes from it. There was a woman in her mid-thirties who was copying recipes from several cookbooks.

NOTE: Does anyone else think that this is a poor practice? It irritates me when people treat bookstores like libraries, taking books from the shelves, using them for homework, or research, with absolutely no intention of buying anything. Worse, these thrice-damned clods don’t even have the grace to put the books back on the shelves.

Anyway, there is a young woman, of about 21 years, sitting at the table directly in front of me, who is eating a huge burrito. The burrito is so large, the young woman is sort of planting it on the table, holding it with both hands, and instead of picking it up, she is bringing her face to burrito-level to take bites from it. She also has a tattoo in the small of her back, which her ill-fitting shirt doesn’t cover. She pulled her shirt down at least six times in the last 15 minutes. Take note, sweetheart: If you don’t want to bare your midriff, wear clothes that fit!

There are two people sitting behind me who have met here in order for the man to talk to the woman about her resume. He is some sort of resume wizard and she is an educated woman whose English isn’t as good as it might be, and he is helping her with her job search and CV.

Other patrons of the café include a couple of people hunched over their laptops and talking earnestly into their cell phones.

An aside, I realize that the purpose of the chairs here in the café is the comfort of the patrons, but I really don’t think that the people who came up with the whole comfort scheme meant that the earnest young fellow reading the computer magazine should have his bare feet tucked under him in the chair.

OK, the young woman with the burrito called it quits after eating only half of it. A good thing, too, because her boyfriend/study partner has arrived and gotten his lap top all set up for something. Not that this matters, because since his arrival, the young woman has received a steady stream of visitors, including one woman who I think was her mother… all while the guy sat there, ignored.

One thing is certain; the Border’s café is a fun place to watch people… even if it is a bit too noisy for my tastes.

At the appointed time, I took my book and headed for the exit. I had 15 minutes to get back and pick up Soccergirl. It was a beautiful night, and I drove with the windows down, listening to the radio. I got to the school just as the meeting ended.

Soccergirl said that she had a great time. I'm glad she did. I did, too.

A Rant, If I may

2007-09-24T13:31:00.000-04:00

I'm going to say something unpopular today, and as much as I am loathe to give offense, some of what I say may offend some of you. Hold on tight.

Here is the thing: I'm getting a little tired of all the, what I call "veteran worship" going on these days. Although I think that our veterans are worthy of respect simply because in a society where fewer and fewer people are willing to serve their country in uniform, credit belongs to those "in the arena".

Our veterans are (mostly) good people who have given our country the benefit of their service, usually deriving no small benefit of their own from their military/naval experience. Indeed, where I work, you'll find that 80 percent of the men are veterans.

Our veterans have served their country in war, peace, "police actions", counter insurgencies, and wars that have no names. Our veterans have done things most Americans will never have to do... or even imagine having to do.

I come from a family of military men. My dad was a career soldier, as was my brother. My father-in-law is a navy veteran of combat in the pacific during World war Two.

I am proud to be a veteran, and proud of my fellow veterans.

What I am NOT proud of is listening to a bunch of @*#&%$* politicians simpering out how American soldiers are serving in Iraq to protect our freedoms, etc...

Our military men and women are being done a disservice by our country. While they are serving our country and fighting a war at the command of our government, this should not be misconstrued as fighting to protect my freedom... or yours. They have been ill-used by rascals and scoundrels of both major parties, for political reasons, and I am disgusted by it.

Most of my male friends are veterans. Soccergirl's Godparents are vetereans. I have friends that have served in Beirut, Lebanon, the first Gulf War, the Invasion of Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and fought Philippine rebels in the jungles (didn't hear about that one, did you?... well, none of them were to wear the Purple Heart medal for their combat wounds). Some of those friends are terribly embittered. Not because our country didn't fall over itself, kissing their asses when they got home, but because they realize that their efforts were frequently for nothing.... because they were ill-used by their government.

Oh sure... the rhetoric can be downright heart-breaking, with bumper stickers like: "If you value freedom, thank a vet" which is nice, but unless you are thanking a veteran of world war two, you are probably wasting your time. Our soldiers haven't fought to physically defend America since then.

Anyway... our veterans deserve better. Our active duty servicemen and women deserve better. They deserve better than being the wounded, maimed, fucked-up, political ponies that our politicians are making out of them.

It Was The Best of Times...

2007-09-23T14:54:00.000-04:00

...It was the worst of times.

It was a time of joy, it was a time of sorrow. It was a time of sheer magnificence, it was a time of lazy indifference. It was a time of pride, and a time of disappointment.

It was a weekend of youth soccer in Suburbia.

On Saturday, soccergirls team (which I coach), The Dynamite, played a beautiful, and joyful hour of soccer, in which they defeated their opponents in a decisive 8 to 3 victory. Soccergirl had 3 goals, and she, as well as all of her teammates played with skill and verve and determination. They worked hard, and pulled together. They played as a team, they talked to each other, they passed the ball around, the took hard driving shots at the goal.

They were fearless. They were fierce.

As a coach, I was proud of their hard work, and quite pleased with the results. As a parent, I was near bursting with pride, watching my child play so well.

Saturday was a good day for the family.

Today, I was reminded of the 18th verse of the 16th chapter of Proverbs that says: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." What I mean by that scriptural reference is that I felt so good about how well we did yesterday, that I was unprepared for the ass-whooping we took today. We lost 3-0. Sure, the other team had to work for it, but to say that my girls played like CRAP wouldn't be an understatement.

They were bloody awful.

They were contact averse, they were taking their time on the field, they were kicking the ball in the WRONG DIRECTION. In short, they did everything the opposite of the way they did it the day before.

It was truly painful to watch. My goalies did a fine job. They worked hard and stopped lots of shots... unfortunately, there were just too many shots on goal allowed by the rest of the girls.

They ain't gonna be happy at practice Thursday, believe me.

Coach Gunfighter ain't havin' ANY of this crap next week!

USMC Silent Drill Platoon

2007-09-20T21:51:00.000-04:00

Reader Soccer Mom In Denial asked me who these guys were... so I thought I would share.

The Silent Drill platoon is an infantry platoon that is part of the battalion that makes up the bulk of the Marines at Marine Barracks, Washington, DC. For the most part, all of the troops are ceremonial. There are two companies of infantry that comprise the "marching battalion", as well as The Drum & Bugle Corps, The Marine Band, Headquarters & Service Company, etc...

During the spring and summer, the battalion puts on two parades per week, in addition to any other ceremonies (eg, White House stuff or funerals at Arlington National Cemetery). These parades are the Sunset parade, held on Tuesday evenings at the Marine Memorial in Arlington and the Evening Parade, held Friday evenings on the quadrangle of the main barracks area.

The video below, is from a performance during a summertime Evening Parade.

Enjoy!

Oh, the area where the Marines are marching is only about 20 yards from the sign you saw on the earlier post, that says "Marine Barracks".

Remembrance of Things Past

2007-09-20T09:05:00.000-04:00

I had planned to start this series a few weeks ago, but life had other plans. So here we are.

This series of posts will be about places that have either meant a lot to me, or I have at least found interesting enough to tell a story about during my now-twenty one years in the Washington, DC area.

I have been here since May of 1986, when I was assigned to the Marine Barracks located at 8th & I streets, Southeast, in Washington, DC. The Day I arrived in DC was an important one, as it has shaped the rest of my life.

After being assigned to DC and learning to love the place, I put down roots here and decided to stay here after my second enlistment was up (I had plan to make a career of the Marine Corps, but coming to DC spoiled me).

After the end of my first marriage, I lived in a few different places until I ended up here, on A street, southeast. I lived in a rather small apartment in this building, but my memories of this time are very happy, on the whole. While I lived here... I call it my time in the wilderness, I learned a little more about the grown-up me... I also learned to find joy in a spartan environment (no lie, my kitchen was smaller than the closet in our current walk-in closet.

Seen from the rear of the building, in this picture, my apartment was on the top floor on the corner. Yeah... pretty small, but since the building was under rent-control, I was only paying $600 a month! It was in a great neighborhood, that had an incredible amount of police protection (there were lots of members of Congress in the neighborhood).

You know what one of the other great things was about that apartment? It had really, really hot water, and incredible water pressure! Now, as a suburbanite who lives in an area where homes are being built, I have become used to less than thrilling water pressure, but after showering in my old apartment, your skin would actually tingle!

The other great thing about is something that I already mentioned. The neighborhood. The neighborhood was only 4 blocks from the main Library of Congress building, 5 blocks from the great Capitol Hill pubs that I used to haunt, like the Hawk n Dove, or Tunnicliff's Tavern and just 2 blocks from venerable, old Eastern Market.

Although I lived in this neighborhood during what could have been a real low point in my life, sorting through the train-wreck of my post-divorce life, I wasn't miserable. While living there my love for Washington, DC deepened. My love for urban living blossomed. I started to grow.

My apartment was a short walk from the Eastern Market Metro (subway) station, which I rode to and from work (and the gym, which was my main entertainment, since I was pretty much broke... but in great shape).

Eventually, things started to turn for me. I was promoted twice, and having a little more money allowed me to I start taking a bit more joy from my surroundings. Fastpitch and I would make day trips every other weekend, to the National Zoo, or the ride the carousel on the National Mall, or ride the metro out to Pentagon City mall.

The best thing that happened to me during this period, though, was that I met and successfully wooed, the person who would become Mrs Gunfighter.

I left that neighborhood when we got married, in 1994, and headed for the Virginia suburbs. In the intervening years, I went to work for a different agency and work in the Virginia 'burbs, I still have to go into the city from time to time, and when I do, I always drive through the old neighborhood.

It makes me happy.

My Surgical Diary (III)

2007-09-19T10:24:00.000-04:00

I've seen the surgeon, this morning, and he has given me a clean bill of health! He removed my stitches, and is pleased with my recovery.

The part that you just read, took about 5-10 minutes of my appointment... we spent the next twenty minutes talking about rguby. Turns out that he is as rabid about it as I am.

Even better, as I was driving up to our house, the refrigerator delivery people were parking in front!

So, it is now 10:30, and the rest of my day is clear. I could go back to work... but I'm not!

Emmy Recap

2007-09-17T10:21:00.000-04:00

Did you watch the Emmy Awards, Sunday night? No? Well, I did, so you didn't have to.

If you have been reading for awhile, you know that TV-wise, I love nothing so much as an award show... unless it is watching some skull-busting, hard-hitting rugby. So, last night, I got prepared, and settled in to watch the prime-time Emmy awards.

I'd like to state for the record that as much as I dislike Ryan Secrest, I give him credit for doing not only his radio show and American Idol, but this guy actually worked the Red Carpet for the pre-Emmy show. He might be an irritationg girly-man, but he gets full credit for the work ethic.

So Secrest starts the show right in time with some really stupid animated bit from some show I never watch... a little kid that talks like a sophisticated adult, and a talking dog. It was wasted on me.

The show is being presented in the round... it seems a little strange to me, but what the hell, right? It's television...

Secrest launches right into girly-man territory by talking fashion with Eva Longoria & Terry Hatcher... she of the phony relationship, and made-for-papparazzi kiss. They gush about designers in a weird way, before Secrest gets William Shatner in on the act. Mildly amusing, but let's move on.

Ryan introduces Ray Romano only four minutes into the show, as a presenter, but then Romano launches into some weird stand-up routine... 10 seconds of which is blanked out... dead air. It turns out he used the word "screw" while he was talking about his former costar, Patty Heaton's new show... geez.

So... stand-up routine finished they get to the first award at 8:11, with the award for Supporting actor in a comedy, which is won by Jeremy Piven, for Entourage. Good for him, but, to tell you the truth, I don't watch his show, nor do I watch the shows of the other nominees... so, whoopee!

Next, America Ferrera and Vanessa Williams present Best Supporting Actor in a drama. I care a bit more about this category, as William Shatner is nominated for his role of Denny Crane in Boston Legal... which is odd, because I never thought of that show as a drama... I mean, how could you? Anyway, Terry O'Quinn, from Lost gets the award. While O'Quinn gave his speech, the cameras cut to his wife at least three times... which worked well for me, because, while Terry O'Quinn might be a fine actor (and I wouldn't know since I have never seen Lost, his wife had spectacular rackage. Really! I need to throw in another aside here: America Ferrera looked great. I don't mean that in a "Oh-I-Loved-Her-Dress" kind of way. No, no. America was HOT!

Next up were Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Tina Fey presented Jamie Pressly with the Best Supporting Actress in a comedy for My Name Is Earl (Nope, I haven't seen that one, either... um, are you noticing a trend?)

By this time, things are moving quite well, it was 8:25, and things are moving right along. Kyle Chandler (whoever the hell he is) and Kathrine Heigl, presented the Best Supporting Actor in a movie or minisereis award to Thomas Hayden Church for Broken Trail... a western, which was apparently, really good. Nothing much to say here, except for the fact that the announcer mispronounced Heigl's name as "Hey-jel". Kathrine corrected the announcer ("actually, it's high-gull"), as soon as she got to the microphone.

Next was a commercial for Audi. Some crap trying to convince me that buying an Audi is smart because they are safe. NEWSFLASH: THERE ARE NO SAFE CARS. NONE.

INTERLUDE: TIME TO FOLD LAUNDRY (don't you love TiVo?)

Next, Ellen DeGeneres (whom I love) introduced a montage of political one-liners. Funny enough, but let's move on, shall we?

It's time for the Best Supporting Actress in a drama. Presenting the award to Kathrine Heigl (the chastened announcer pronounced it right, this time) are Eva Longoria and the cast of Entourage.

Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jon Cryer present the Best Writing for a comedy to the Conan O'Brien Show, before Christina Aguilera and Tony Bennett do an unlikely duet, singing "Steppin' Out" Now, you know me, folks: I'm not afraid to say something hurtful when I need to, and this is one of those times. You see, as much as I enjoy Tony Bennet's music, and I truly do, it is time for Mr Bennett to go away gracefully. He is 80 years old, and, God Bless him, he can't sing like he used to. No, I don't expect him to, since he is 80 years old... but some of last night's notes made it a little difficult for me to feel good about the performance. Take a bow, Tony, and bow out!

In a not very subtle segue, Tony Bennett, An American Classic won the next award (it was a big night for him). Alec Baldwin, wearing a white Dinner Jacket, presented the award for Best Director for a music or variety, to the assembled directors of Bennett's music special. Bennett's son made a speech, and when Tony started to ramble like a consufsed old man, they started the music and off they went.

Next up were Kiefer Sutherland and Ali Larter (who, like Debra Messing, is spectactularly flat-chested), with the award for Best Lead Actor in a miniseries or movie, which went to Robert Duvall, for Broken Trail. Duvall is one of my favorite actors, going all the way back to his great role as Colonel Kilgore, in Apocalypse Now, in 1979. Unfortunately, Mr. Duvall got a little long-winded while he talked about westerns and he got themusic, too. Bye Robert!

By now it is 10 minutes after 9, and I have to take another pause to fold laundry, while Ryan Secrest makes a Vanessa Hudgens joke.

Next, Queen Latifah introduces several members of the cast of the miniseries Roots, which is celebrating it's 30th anniversary this year. The cast will be presenting the award for Best Miniseries, but before they do, the cast members each speak briefly about what the show meant to them, or others... with the original music from the miniseries playing in the background. Louis Gossett, Jr. said that the whole experience of the miniseries was still moving for him. I have to report that seeing those film clips from Roots, along with the music was moving for me, too. Not as much for the subject matter but for the memories they evoked of a certain thirteen year old boy in Union, New Jersey, and how the miniseries made him feel, then.

I was in jr high school at the time, and for that entire week, all of the black kids in school were practically numb. I don't think I can adequately explain it right now. Someone remind me to revisit this soon, ok?

OK, so the cast of Roots presented the Best Miniseries award to Broken Trail... and Duvall got the music again.

After this, it was time for Neil Patrick Harris and Hayden Panitierre to give and award for something... I don't really remember what it was, to tell you the truth, my notes are handwritten, and a little less than neat. Anyway, the young Ms Panitierre is a beautiful child... but if you think I am going to use words like sexy or hot, in connection with her name, you are wrong. Why? because she is the same age as my oldest child. Your pal Gunfighter may be a little odd to some, but I don't perv like that!

Where was I?

Oh. Allen Taylor and David Chase won the awards for Best Director for a drama and Best Writing for a drama, respectively, for The Sopranos

Steve Carrel was next, presenting the award to The Daily Show, for best musical or variety show. Can I just take a moment to tell you that I don't theink he is funny? Thank you.

Ghostly pale Marcia Cross and Mark Harmon presented the Best Supporting Actress in a movie or miniseries award to Judy Davis for The Starter Wife.

I took another break to fold laundry, here... because some creep was on, talking about how television helps the world.

Glen Close, Mary Louise Parker and Kyra Sedgewick, presented another award to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Great. Didn't see THAT either

Ok, it got a little interesting for a few minutes here, as Joe Mantegna introduced The Jersey Boys... a tribute group to Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (who I have always enjoyed), as a prelude to the Emmy Award triubute to The Sopranos. I enjoyed the music... I would go see this show if it ever came through DC.

OK, then we get the cast of The Sopranos for great big audience blowjob that they are supposed to get for being so good... personally, I never saw the appeal. Bye, Tony... don't let the doorknob hit you in the ass.

Now we get to Best Actress in a movie or miniseries, presented by Sally "The Flying Nun" Field and Patrick Dempsey.

Ahem. So, the lovely Helen Mirren wins the award. I love Helen Mirren, I do. I bet she would be a shag and a half.... but I digress. Ms. Mirren said that she was going to talk until they plaed the music on her, and proceeded to go on at length at her admiration for Americans (thank you, Helen, we love you Brits, too). She continued to talk, but the music didn't play. I suppose that just goes to show you, iconic American performers like Robert Duvall and Tony Bennett get played off, and as soon as the flag-waving mutual admiration society starts a metaphorical USA-USA chant, they won't make her shut up. Hmm. No matter, I still love you, Helen... I just wonder about some things.

It's 10 P.M. now, and Masi Oka, from Heroes introduces a new category: Creative Achievement in Interactive Televison. Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, of Current TV, accept the award.

Does anyone here know who Brad Garrett is? I have never heard of him, which is no great surprise... but he was the guy who came out next with Joely Fisher's breasts... er, with Joely Fisher. Ms Fisher, resplendent (isn't that a great word?) in a yellow cleavage baring dress, proceeded to make nipple jokes and a Senator Craig joke, before she and her co-presenter gave the Best Individual Performance in a variety or musical award to .... Tony "I wonder if they'll play the music on me again" Bennett (they did).

This is getting long... so I am skipping some dull bits and moving on to Ryan Secrest, who then came out in some weird Henry The VIII costume, and made a joke about how gay it looked. The joke fell flat, Ryan.

O Lord! Please make this end! As much as I love award shoews, they tend to get really dull in the last hour... this one was no different. I think I'll have a drink, now. I was gratified that James Gandolfini didn't get an award for his work as Tony Soprano. Not that I have anything against Gandolfini, but I'm a little tired of the hooplah surrounding this show. Having said that, I am particularly pleased that James Spader did get the award for Best Actor in a drama, for his work as quirky, kinda pervy, but brilliant lawyer, Alan Shore on Boston Legal (Yay! A show I watch!). Spader accepted the award from Kate Walsh, who looked quite splendid in her slinky red dress.

In a stunning upset, 30 Rock won the award for Best Comedy Series! Let's hear it for the little guy!

Next, Sally Field recieved the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, from Hugh Laurie and Felicity Huffman. During her acceptance, she uttered these words, which were bleeped by FOX: "Let’s face it: If the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place."

EDITORIAL NOTE: You know something? We're grownups. If we can casusally talk about people being murdered here at home, or killed in an immoral war, every night on the night on the fucking news..., hearing to ocassional vulgar word that slips out on an award show shouldn't really scorch anyone's ears. I can't tell you how glad I will be when this current crop of dirtbags leaves Washington. Censorship has become the only real function of the FCC.

Helen Mirren presented the final award for Best Drama Series to The Sopranos, in a complete anit-climax. OK, Sopranos people, get your asses up on stage, get your award and get out of my badda-bing sight!

So there it is, folks... my Emmy recap.

I wish this show was as much fun as award shows can sometimes be, but it was fairly dull. I suppose that is my own fault. I might have found the show to be a little less tedious if I had any attachment to more than one of these shows, but there you have it.

Cheers,

GF

Gunfighter Dreams (Follow-Up)

2007-09-17T06:33:00.001-04:00

So.... Saturday night, what did I dream about?

Going to a different church.

This particular church is located near where I work... it is a Lutheran Church, and in my dream, I was passing by when I heard the most moving Gospel music. I knew something was strange, because, well, we Lutherans aren't always the most... er... moving of religious musical stylists. Anyway, I went inside, and I was clearly a stranger there, and all the nice Lutherans (we CAN be a friendly bunch) were waving to me to sit with them.

There wasn't much more to it than that, really.

Sunday night... I was too exhausted from watching the Emmy awards to dream.

I guess I have been off of the Vicodin long enough to be free of it, eh?

Gunfighter Dreams

2007-09-15T08:11:00.001-04:00

I'm not posting about anything other than this today:

My blog is becoming unhealthy.

I didn't sleep well last night. I'm not sure if it was because I was concerned about today's (cancelled because of the weather) soccer game, or something else.

I tossed and turned and woke up nearly every hour... and I had weird dreams.

Weird dreams about blogging.

There is a Barnes and Noble bookstore in downtown Washington, DC at the corner of 12th and E street, that I go to sometimes... it has two floors, and at the top of the escalator is the information desk. Well, in my dream, the info desk was a coffee bar instead.

For some strange reason, I was talking about my blog with the two baristas, one, a young black man, the other, a young white woman. They asked questions about my blog while they got my coffee for me... and before I left, they asked me for my blog address. I tried to write it down, but I was having difficulty. I tried six or seven times, but couldn't do it. The guy thought it was funny, but the girl too the pen and said that I should repeat the address to her and she would write it down. I was relieved... but found I could no longer speak.

It was a weird dream.

I had another dream this morning.... maybe it was part of the same dream, but I can't remember much about that, other than there was a roller coaster involved.

Hmmm. Best not to dwell on this, perhaps.

I'm going to go make soccergirl's breakfast.

GF

My Surgical Diary (II)

2007-09-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

Fast forward a couple of days...

I am nearly done with the crutches, sports fans! I used them to hobble around most of the day, yesterday, then ran Soccergirl's practice for an hour (ably assisted by the 16 year old sister of one of her teammates, thank you, Jessica!).

Additionally, I have been off of my pain medication (special shoutout to the producers of Vicodin)for almost 48 hours! Woo hoo!

Today, Mrs GF went out and picked out a new refrigerator, went to the mall, Lowe's, and the supermarket together... I even drove.

As I am sure that you have figured out, my point in telling you all of this, is that your faithful correspondent is truly on the mend.

Once again, thanks for the prayers and well-wishes... clearly, they worked!

Big hugs, high fives, kisses, and slaps on the ass to all, as appropriate (you get to pick which one you get!)

GF

My Surgical Diary

2007-09-12T09:48:00.001-04:00

First things first, my friends: Many heartfelt thanks to for your prayers/well-wishes. It meant/means a lot to me.

Shall I bore you about my surgery now?

I was fortunate enough to be the first patient on the roster at the local surgical center... which is only about three miles from our house, by the way. Being first meant that I had to be there no later than 6 a.m., which is no big deal as I am usually at work by 5:30, right? The difference on this fine morning was that Mrs GF and Soccergirl were with me so they could drop me off. The plan was that Mrs GF would go back home with Soccergirl, get her ready, and take her to school and then return to the surgical center.

Once I got in the doors, the receptionist checked me in moments... and noted that I had my crutches with me. We had a brief conversation about the weather, and what it was like to live on St. Simons Island, Georgia... as it turns out, she and her husband lived very near where my family stays when we visit the island.

A very few minutes later, Rachel, my nurse, collected me from the lobby and took me to the pre-op room, where I got my laces-in-the-back surgical gown. Once I did that, she collected my clothes and left me, with the TV news on. All the news was about 9/11, and truthfully, I wasn't interested in depressing news when I was about to go into surgery.

Since I anticipated some waiting, I took out the novel that I had broguht with me. The book is titled "The Religion", by Tom Willocks. The story is about the invasion of Malta, by Suleiman The Magnificent, in order to rid the island of the Knights of St. John, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, or the Knights of Malta. One hundred and eighty pages into it, I am enjoying it.

So, I take out my book and start reading... ten minutes later, and ancient chap comes into the room to prepare me for anesthesia. His name was Dr. Thomas. He set up my IV port while talking incessantly. Nurse Ratched, er... Rachel came back in to ask me more of the same questions that she had asked earlier and then gave me a pill "to relax you" for the anesthetist. I asked her what the pill was... it turned out to be Oxycontin... that stuff you hear about so much in the news.

Once Rachel and Dr. Thomas were done, in comes Dr. Andriotti, a very handsome woman of about 50. She is the anesthetist, and she and Nurse Rachel are going to wheel me into the operating room... but before we get there, she says: I hear that you are a police officer, is that right?" I said that it was. She then asked if it bothered me that I was being wheeled around and being told what to do by women. I said that it wasn't a problem. She laughed and told me that cops tend to make bad patients because they don't like being told what to do. I told her that speaking just for me, I didn't have a problem bowing to her knowledge in her field... "just don't try to tell me anything about my guns, deal?" We had a brief laugh, before they stuck the mask over my face.

Oblivion.

"Hey! How did I get back in here?", I thought when I woke up in the post-op room. There was Rachel, my newest and bestest pal, who told me that I was all done.

It was ten minutes past eight.

"Is your wife here?" Rachael asked. I told her that I had been sleeping so I didn't know. I then told her that she should be here shortly, as Soccergirl couldn't go into the school until 8:20. Moments later, Mrs GF arrived and we were headed home by 9.

My dear ladies took good care of me yesterday, and I was feeling fine. Of course, I had completely forgotten that I still had the anesthesia in me... which caused me to vomit powerfully after I ate my lunch. That was fun.

The rest of the day was spent just bumping around the house and napping.

I was aided by my youngest nurse, nurse soccergirl, by having several of her favorite stuffed friends tucked into bed with me.

I tried eating dinner around 6 p.m. a spoon full of rice and peas... which made me puke again.

Damn.

It was a long night... especially after all of the drugs wore off.

Today, the pain is real... but no matter, I will be better for this. In a few weeks, I can start working out again, and shed some of this poundage.

GF

Check out the surgical, anti-blood clot stockings! Sexy, right?

Oddities In Health Care

2007-09-10T16:19:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, I am having surgery tomorrow. Just a wee bit of orthoscopic slice and dice on my knee... nothing to worry about... I plan to shoot an expert score with my pistol and shotgun before the next seven days are up, but I digresss. I am having surgery tomorrow and when I scheduled the procedure, I was given a detailed set of instructions of things that I needed to do... or not do before the operation.

The instructions told me not to eat after midnight on the night before I report to the hospital (I have to be there at 0600), I am also to refrain from using cologne etc... before the surgery. I am allowed to brush my teeth in the morning, as long as I spit out all of the water (as if I'd swallow that stuff). I have all sorts of instructions, and as a matter of fact, because of my employment by the federal government, I have some seriously boss heaelth insurance.

One of the odd things about my particular plan is this: My surgery is only going to set me back a hundred dollars. Hooray! My prescriptions, for the Vicadin I have now, and the percoset I'll be getting tomorrow, only costs $10 dollars. Not too shabby, eh? Here is the kicker: I have to buy my own crutches.

Crutches.

I can't be released from the hospital without them, but I'll likely only need them for part of a day after the surgery.

Go figure... Am I the only person that finds this strange?

Insurgency

2007-09-10T06:53:00.000-04:00

Look, can there really be any doubt about what nation is the most militarily powerful on earth?

It isn't the Russians, it isn't the Chinese, it isn't any possible combination of European or African nations, and it isn't close to being any nation in South America.

The most powerful military force on earth belongs to The United States of America, and anyone that doesn't believe that, is delusional.

OK. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let's get to a few other facts.

Fact: Many Americans want The United States to achieve a military victory in Iraq.

Fact: Any conceivable combination of Iraqi militias/foreign fighters/insurgent groups couldn't hope to defeat an American infantry unit in combat... it just. isn't. possible.

Fact: American soldiers, and their officers are aware of their abilities to fight and win against just about anyone they come in contact with. This knowledge leads to confidence.

Fact: Confidence, poorly placed, can lead to rash military decision making.

Fact: The American armed forces are much smaller than they were during the second world war.

Fact: The American armed forces are not large enough to sustain large-scale combat operations indefinitely.

Fact: History can be a more terrible foe than an enemy army.

Fact: The evidence of history tells us that a military victory against the Iraqi insurgency is exceptionally unlikely, regardless of the combat power arrayed against it.

Whats my point?

My point is this: Two very capable military men from my Commonwealth of Virginia wrote the books on both winning and losing in an insurgency centuries ago. Sure, many people believe that Vo Nguyen Giap, or Ernesto "Che" Guevara, or even Mao Zedong were the masters of insurgency, but it isn't really so.

No, these two Virginians were George Washington and Robert E. Lee.

You heard me.

You see, George Washington wasn't the most able battlefield commander, but he was a really smart guy. He used the ragtag army that he was able to cobble together to defeat one of the most powerful armies on earth.

How was he able to do this?

Well in his case, as it is in the case of all militarily weaker armies, the key to victory was simply not to lose. Now, you are probably saying to yourself, "Sure, GF. Don't lose. What army wins by "not losing"?

By keeping his armies relatively intact, Washington was able to keep the British chasing him about the countryside. The British would occasionally force a battle, and when that happened, the American armies usually lost, but Washington was always able to keep the army in the field as a viable force. With Washington not defeated, General Sir Henry Clinton and other commanders, such as Major General Lord Cornwallis, were obliged to keep going after him, taking casualties and incurring great expense.

Eventually, the British Parliament and the British people, got tired of war, and after the disastrous ending of the southern campaign, in which Cornwallis was obliged to surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, the American Revolution came to a political conclusion.

Please note, that even after Cornwallis lost the battle of Yorktown, the combined French and American forces were still too weak to dislodge the British armies. So please, dispel all of your notions of angry American farmers throwing the British out. It didn't happen like that.

Washington's strategy proved to be totally effective.

Now, let's look at what happened to that other capable Virginian, Robert E. Lee.

Robert E. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War... or "The War of Northern Aggression" for you unreconstructed rebels.

Lee's Army of Northern Virginia (which is the best part of the state, I might add) was probably the best army in the entire Confederate States Army, and was vital to the military viability of the so-called "Confederacy". The problem is that R.E. Lee, despite his ability as a battlefield commander, made two strategic blunders that doomed the Confederate rebellion. The first mistake was to invade the north the first time, leading to the bloody disaster at the Battle of Antietam. The second, and ultimately fatal mistake, was to invade the north a second time, leading to the even greater disaster at Gettysburg.

Despite the fact that Lee was able to escape the debacle at Gettysburg, his Army of Northern Virginia couldn't recover from it's losses, and the fate of the Confederacy was sealed.

These are two great examples of insurgent warfare... if you need more, you don't need to look too far... I give you the Chinese Communists, or the Viet Minh/Cong.

The United States armed forces don't have the time, and the American people don't have the inclination, to remain in Iraq forever.

Leave now or leave later, the results will be the same... except that more Americans will win up dying for little result that will benefit the people of the United States.

We, no doubt, will hear testimony from Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus later today that will suggest the we are making "progress" in Iraq, and that "the surge" is working. In my heart, I believe Petraeus to be an honorable officer, as a commander, I think he is top-notch. He has faith in the ability of his soldiers, as he should. Having said that, I believe that I believe that he is still a soldier, and as such, bound to be loyal to his political maters.

So the surge is working... uh huh. I'm sure that it is... to a certain extent, but ultimately, I think it is throwing good money (and lives) after bad.

Personally, I can't see the wrecking of our armed forces in Iraq, chasing car bombers, when we face other external threats.

Happy Hour

2007-09-09T20:28:00.000-04:00

Hello all! Your pal Gunfighter here, to talk about Happy Hour. Not just some random Happy Hour, mind you. No, no.... I'm talking about a specific Happy Hour. As a matter of fact it was a Happy Hour that lasted for several happy hours.

Last Friday evening, several readers of this particular blog, gathered in Rosslyn, Virginia at a cool bar called "The Continental" for drinks and general mirth-making. It was a lovely group of people, and much mirth was made. In addition to the general merriment that comes from meeting people whom you only knew previously from words or a few pictures on a screen, adult beverages of varying sorts were consumed, as were a few orders of fried pickles.

You heard me.

Fried pickles.

Oh, gag if you like, but they were gooood!

While we were consuming the aforementioned beverages, and fried pickles, the conversation(s) flowed across many subjects, while really good music flowed from the speakers, which were connected to a really good jukebox.

I won't "out" any of the attendees... they can identify themselves in the comments section, if they wish, but I'll tell all of you that read this, that we had a really good time, and yours truly was honored to be in their company.

I had fun, y'all! Let's start planning the next event!

(...and next time, I'll wear a kilt)

Oh... by the way... do any of you know what this is?

No? I'll tell you: It's a Dirty Martini. That's right. A Dirty Martini. Only one was consumed on Friday night, much to the disappointment of all of the rest of us.

GF

PS: I mentioned that it was several happy hours, didn't I? Well, let's just say that I didn't get home until after 1 a.m. ... I haven't been out that late in many years.

Rugby World Cup 2007!

2007-09-07T06:09:00.000-04:00

The day has finally come!

Today is the first day of the 2007 Rugby World Cup!

At 2 P.M. (in the eastern United States) the Rugby World Cup (RWC) will begin with the opening match between France and Argentina, at Le Stade De France

In the 2003 RWC, England were crowned champions, defeating Australia due to a last minute drop-goal by the hero of the hour, Jonny Wilkinson.

Unfortunately, England has suffered through a rough patch over the past couple of years, and aren't expected to make it to the finals. They have lost the leadership of then-Captain Martin Johnson (pictured with the William Webb Ellis cup), and Jonny Wilkinson's kicking ability.

For the opener, France appears to be the favorite, but appearances can be deceiving. This will be a very physical match, and may contain some surprises. Look for veteran Number Eight, Sebastien Chabal, to come off of the bench as an impact player in the second half to smash the opposition, should fortunes turn against the French.

Sebastien Chabal is an incredibly physical player, and is dangerous not only in defense, but has the ability to create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates. He has the ability to change the outcome of a game. Watch for his bruising running ability and his crushing tackles.

Addtionally don't discount the contributions of the French Captain Raphael Ibanez, and returning French Great Fabien Pelous. The French have depth, and they won't be afraid to use it against Argentina this afternoon.

For their part, the Pumas are no sluches. Although France will likely win this match, there are no gurantees. A strong Argentine showing coud very well conclude with a win.

It won't surprise anyone who is a rugby fan to hear that New Zealand are favored to win the championship, but, expectaions dont always end up coming true. Australia, South Africa, France, and Ireland all have the depth of high-level players to emerge victorius. Having said that, I am still supporting New Zealand in their efforts.

Look for Dan Carter to score an unholy number of points with his ability to score drop-goals and penalty goals from long distance at nearly any point on the field. Carter is also a dangerous runner. fast and agile, he is one of the leading point scorers in international rugby, and was recently hailed as the International Rugby Board's Player of the year.

New Zealand has a deep team full of fast, strong, and tough players, who all play in the world's best professional tournaments, the Super-14, the Air New Zealand Cup, and the southern hemisphere Tri-Nations.

They will be tough to beat.

Australia has had some depletions over the past couple of years, but that doesn't mean that the Wallabies are out of the running. Expect Veteran George Gregan to have an impact. Gregan, the former Captain of the Wallabies, is one of the most experienced players in the worild in terms of international rugby. This will be Gregan's last Rugby World Cup, as he will be playing in Europe next year.

Expect to see the Aussies advance at least to the quarter finals.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention South Africa... and if I mention South Africa, I would be shamefully remiss if I didn't include this young man: Bryan Habana. The south Africans are in good form this year, and will be real players in this years RWC. Look for hard-playing Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, and Percy Montgomery, among others to be a major playmakers.

Habana is a whole other story. He is widely believed to be the fastest winger in international rugby. If Habana gets his hands on the ball, and has a reasonably clear path to the try-line, stopping him will be nearly impossible

OK, enough about the RWC... your eyes are already glazing over... but I am here to tell you, my friends, that the next week or so are going to be big fun for yours truly.

Wait. What's that? What about the United States team review? Well, ok, here you go: Our boys don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the RWC. Which doesn't mean that I won't be cheering for them mightily when they play their first pool match against England on Sunday. Look for leadership from CaptainMike Hercus, who, incidentally, is a local boy... of sorts. He was born about 10 miles from here, in Falls Church, Virginia, before moving back to his parent's native Australia, where he was schooled.

Definitions

2007-09-06T06:20:00.001-04:00

Chickenhawk - Someone who is now too old to serve in the armed forces, who supported the war in Vietnam, or currently supports the war in Iraq, or who chose not to serve in the military when he was younger (and eligible to serve). Think Vice President Cheney, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, almost every man over 41 years of age on President Bush's staff, and all of the men in President Bush's immediate family, with the exception of his father.

Yellow Elephant - Someone who is eligible for military service and supports a war as long as someone else fights it. Yellow Elephants can still change their minds. Think Michelle Malkin, and other young Hawks of her ilk.

Be A REAL American, Enlist now!!!

The First Day of School

2007-09-04T06:30:00.000-04:00

Here in my part of Virginia, today is the first day of school.

Soccergirl is poised to begin third grade and is excited about it. She will be seeing her friends and classmates from last year, as well as beloved teachers and school staff... these things make her happy.

Mrs Gunfighter and I are excited about it, too... sort of. You see, sending SG off to the third grade means that next year she will be in fourth grade. The year after that she will be graduating and going off to college and getting married and... Well, you get the idea.

I can't afford to get all sappy and sentimental, because today, I have to re-teach two poor shooters what they learned in the academy. I also have to attend a senior staff meeting. I can't do that kind of stuff while I am all choked up about school.

Having said all of that, if you think that I won't be leaving my office in an hour to go her school to be there when she walks in the door, you're out of your cotton pickin' minds!

ADDENDUM: So... I drove to the school ~~breaking every speed law on the Virginia books~~ in a brisk manner, in order to get there on time. When I got there, Mrs GF and SG were already inside. Damn! So, I got a visitor's pass from the secretaries, and went to her classroom, where I found her chatting away with her friends. I had about a minute for hugs and kisses, and away she went, happy to go back to her classmates.

I'm still glad I went.

GF

Dear Mr. President

2007-09-03T18:51:00.001-04:00

Dear Mr President,

I would think that one of the toughest things about being President of the United States, is being the leader of your party. It isn't like you don't have enough to do running the country... you also have to ride heard on a bunch of elected officials, Cabinet members, and other office-seekers who try to use you or your office to help them get elected.

In normal times this would be difficult, but considering what is going in in this country these days, it really must be awful!

It's been a rough couple of weeks for you, hasn't it?

I mean, first, your main political advisor, Karl Rove...

...~~is forced from office~~ resigned under a cloud for his roles in the exposure of an active CIA operative, and for his involvement in the questionable firing of eight U.S. Attorneys for political reasons. Next, ~~you had to fire~~ your Attorney General...

...resigns because every time he opens his mouth, he lies to the United States Senate... and got caught doing it.

Then the most recent National Intelligence Estimate tells us that, despite your claims of success for the troop surge in Iraq, that country's government will become more precarious, not less, over the next six months.

Next on the hit-parade is a soprano-singing, staunch conservative GOP Senator...

...who gets caught trying to do the nasty with an undercover cop in an airport men's room, tries to use his position as a U.S. Senator to interfere in the investigation, pleads guilty to a lesser charge... then conceals whole arrest/guilty plea from the Senate ethics committee. The incident forcing him to announce his resignation (nice mug shot, Senator).

As if all of these things weren't bad enough, John Warner, a well-respected moderate GOP Senator (from my own Commonwealth of Virginia) has decided not to seek re-election, severely jeopardizing the chances of your party holding on to that Senate seat next year.

I'll bet you are sure glad that August is over.

Now for the good news: The General Accounting office will be putting out it's estimate of the situation in Iraq soon. Rumor has it that the picture that they paint will be none too rosie. Rumor has it that portions of the report have been leaked so that your purple kool-aid swilling minions have the chance to doctor it.

THEN you embark on a secret trip to Iraq, Seemingly to ~~give General Petraeus a copy of hie report that YOUR PEOPLE wrote~~ confer with General Petraeus on "the way forward in Iraq".

I'll bet months like this one make you look forward to getting out of the White House.

I'll tell you one thing, the folks here at Casa Gunfighter are really looking forward to that happy day a great deal.

Sincerely,

Your pal,

Gunfighter

I hope you enjoyed the trip!

Thoughts On A Saturday Night

2007-09-01T22:55:00.000-04:00

** Goodbye, and thank you, Senator Craig. I guess you couldn't bullshit your way out of this one, eh? You are a criminal. A stain on society. An additional stain on an already dirty GOP (and Senate). Oh, and good riddance, too.

** Michael Vick, I don't care how sorry you are. I don't care that you now acknowledge your "immaturity. Get thee hence, you miserable wretch, to a federal penitentiary and repay your debpt to society. You just can't go araound killing
"Man's Best Friend" and get away with it, once you had been discovered.

** To the lady pushing the wheel chair at Epcot a few days ago, that crashed the wheel chair into the back of soccergirls legs: If you weren't old and a woman, I would have punched you right in the f***ing face.

** To the parents who let your no-older-than-ten year old daughter wear a bare midriff T-shirt that read: "Hot Lover": I wish it wasn't unlawful to punch parents in the face for doing stupid shit like this. What were you thinking? Why? In what kind of world is this sort of thing, OK?

** To the ladies wearing four-inch heels at Disney World... what kind of chemicals have you been indulging in?

Friends,

I will be on my way home tomorrow morning. I suppose it'll take us about 12 hours to get home, unless we decide to stop for the night.

We have had a great vacation. Between Disney World, Sea World, and other fun places, we have had a good time together, which is what our vacations are all about.

Nextweek, I will send you my vacation report. ... and get back to blogging on a few more serious issues.

In the meantime, DC area readers, prepare for happy hour next friday... if you are still available.

GF

Product Review: Ryka MC-2 Walking Shoes

2007-08-31T08:19:00.000-04:00

First things first, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have to tell all of you that I didn't wear these shoes. No, not because I didn't have time or because I was slacking in my product review work-rate. No, I didn't wear these shoes because I am a man.

These shoes are for the ladies. Especially for the ladies.

I suppose I could try to BS about them, but, really, what would be the point? That's not how I roll.

Having said all of that, I will say that my lovely wife, known in the blogosphere as Mrs Gunfighter (or as she SHOULD be known, Dr. Mrs. Gunfighter) DID wear them. Not only did she wear them during a period of day to day activities, she wore them while were were on vacation... at Disney World. Uh huh!

According to Mrs GF, the most immediately remarkable thing about these shoes is that they were comfortable instantly, they needed no real break-in period.

The shoes never gave her a blister nor did they cause any pain, even after two weeks of walking through the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, Disney's MGM Studio, and all of the other places, including SeaWorld, that we went during the trial period.

Another notable thing about these shoes is that they aren't ugly. These shoes look like any other high-end athletic shoe that is made for serious athletes (and walkers ARE serious athletes, OK?). I am sure you all have gone to sporting goods stores and seen what are passed off as "walking" shoes, when in reality the shoes look more like they were made for the nice old folks at the Shady Tree rest home.

All in all, these shoes performed flawlessly over the two-week test period.

Mrs Gunfighter gives full marks!

Ryka products and their descriptions can be found at their website: www.ryka.com

This product Review is brought to you by the Parent Blogging Network.

Please note that my next product review will be located at: The Review From Here, my newly minted blog where I keep all of my product and book reviews together.

High School Musical

2007-08-30T09:32:00.000-04:00

There have been so many great things to write about over the past few days that I can barely crank them out.

I have been resorting to late-night blogging for the past few days because we aren't putting any of our fun plans on hold while I sit at the computer attempting to be interesting or pithy.

I started this post last week, but was overcome by events, what with the Attorney General finally being sent away in disgrace, the guilty plea and subsequent "apology" of Michael Vick, and the reports of the extracurricular activities of a certain perverted U.S. Senator.

Guess what? I don't want to talk about any of those freaks today. No, today, I want to talk about something more important: The incredible star-power of Disney's recently released "High School Musical 2"

Sure, some of you will tell me that you haven't seen it. Some of you will tell me you don't understand why it is so popular, but unless you live in a very far corner of the world, it isn't likely that you haven't heard of this second of two films that have turned the entertainment world on it's ear.

I didn't pay any attention to the first movie... not until I began hearing the music all of the time. You see, Soccer girl is right there in the middle of the target demographic. She loved the movie and the music. Mrs GF was already familiar with the whole swirling mass of movie, books, concert DVD, singalong CD, and soundtrack, but I was a latecomer.

I finally got to see the movie in one of the two trillion and twelve repeats on the Disney Channel, and to tell you the truth, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a great deal. I could see why it was so popular with so many people. The producers/directors were VERY smart about this film... They used the tried-and-true musical movie formula of a light plot, good visuals, hyper enthusiasm and catchy tunes that, while not being world-changing, were happy, upbeat, and eminently singable. Couple these things with an attractive cast, and you have a winner.

This past April, clan Gunfighter went to our local high-school to see a stage production of the first movie, while the buzz was building for the second movie. We loved it and I was gratified to see that I wasn't the only dad who knew the words to some of the songs.

Fast forward to last week, when we took a pause in our vacation to ensure that we would be settled in and fed and comfortable when it was time to watch "High School Musical 2" I suppose it won't surprise you to hear me say that the Gunfighter household is full of fans of this teen movie sensation! It was really great. It was nicely filmed, not too heavy on teen angst, well directed, scored, and choreographed. It's a winner.

Disney has had such a success a with these movies that there is now a "High School Musical Pep Rally" held several times a day at MGM studios.

The really cool thing about the "Pep Rally" is watching the other parents while the kids are watching it. While I took these pictures...

...you could see a lot of the parents singing along with their tweens!

The second time we saw the rally, I stood well back of the crowd to get some crowd photos and saw this grandmother/granddaughter duo dancing along. It was really great.

So, to summarize, see this movie... if you miss it's run on the Disney Channel, go to your local DVD source and get the first one on DVD, and wait for the second movie to arrive on DVD in November.

Remember, Wildcats, we're all in this together!

Gunfighter Needs Your Advice

2007-08-29T17:40:00.000-04:00

How do I go about copyrighting the materials on my blog?

Regards,

GF

Dear Senator Graig

2007-08-29T00:20:00.000-04:00

Dear Senator Craig,

I am not a constituent of yours, but I am a patriotic American who cares deeply about our nation, it's institutions, and our form of government.

Let me get right to the core of the apple, Senator. I don't really care about your sexual orientation. Your homosexuality is wht it is, and that is completely your own
affair.

My problems, sir, stem from the fact that according to the police report, you attempted to engage in a lewd act in a public restroom, and that you attempted to use your position as a United States Senator to influence or interfere with a police investigation. I can tell you sir, that as a law enforcement officer, I am saddened, offended, and disgusted.

As a Senator who claims to care about Conservative values, and claims to care about supporting the law, your activities to the contrary are considerably demoralizing to me, and to many of my colleagues.

What is it with you people, anyway? Do you live in some sort of bizzaro world where it only counts if you get CAUGHT doing something wrong?

Gay or not, Senator, trying to score a piece of ass in an airport public restroom, is disgusting. What the fuck is wrong with you? How is anyone supposed to trust you now?

You are a criminal. A convicted criminal. Worse, you are a pervert. You are unfit to serve this country, and your state in the Senate.

Do the right thing, Senator Craig: Resign.

Resign. Save your dignity, repair whatever relationships that were damaged by this shabby and unsavory incident, and get on with your life. Leave your office to someone who can actually earn the respect of people of Idaho and the united States.

Resign, before your activities and subsequent lies cause further damage to the public trust.

Britney Spears Barbarians At The Gate (2)

2007-08-28T08:49:00.000-04:00

Last January, I mentioned my love affair with tabloid magazines. I admitted to loving them because the lives of celebrities are so far removed from my own that reading about their antics is sort of like watching animals in a zoo.

Well, yesterday, the Gunfighter family got just a little too close to the reality of certain celebrity-style bad behavior.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Orlando. The sky was clear and the weather was warm... ok, it was hot, work with me here, people! We had made plans to go to SeaWorld for the day, and see the attractions there. We were all looking forward to it... Mrs Gunfighter hadn't been to SeaWorld since she was a child, and SoccerGirl and I, despite our many, many trips to Orlando had never been there at all.

We arrived early and got a really great parking place. Our entry into the park could have been a bit faster, but we had no real worries, as we had gotten our tickets ahead of time.

SeaWorld was fun. We saw Seals, Penguins, Puffins, Dolphins, Killer Whales (the Shamu show was very cool)... we even got to see Polar Bears.

We spent a fine time at the park, and were about to leave when Mrs GF had to go to the ladies room. SG was playing with some other kids on a Polar Bear-styled playground apparatus, while I stood there watching pretty girls walk by vigilantly standing by in case of emergency, when I saw something that I had heretofore only seen in a tabloid magazine.

I witnessed a woman walking towards the ladies room scant seconds after Mrs GF went in. The fact that another woman was entering the ladies room meant nothing, but that's when the celebrity behavior began.

This lady wasn't just going into the ladies room, she was going into the public restroom WITH. BARE. FEET.

You heard me. Barefoot.

I hope that what I just heard was a collective gasp of disgust.

I thought this kind of activity that Britney Spears and her sort engaged in. Well, I was wrong. Deciding on the spot that this is something that I should blog about (I'm so sad, aren't I?), I grabbed my camera and laid in wait for her retrun.

So, here she is, in all of her trashy glory, an unidentified Englishwoman who used a public restroom while barefoot.

If you ever meet this woman, be very skeptical of eating in her home, or letting your children play in her house!

GF

I'll be back this evening to talk about Senator Craig... you KNOW I'm not letting that one go by!

The Department of Revisionist History (2)

2007-08-27T19:32:00.000-04:00

A bad day for the administration and it's few Stepford-like adherents, but a good day for the citizens of the United States of America... and believe me when I say that those two entities aren't the same.

Alberto Gonzalez, President Bush's poster boy for truth, justice, and the American way, has resigned.

Well... at least they say "resigned", but you now what? This is Washington, DC that we are talking about here... and how it is reported isn't always the way it is. I'll ask you to trust me on this, friends, I could tell you shit that would keep you from sleeping. "Gonzo" (as the President calls him) resigned, alright. Resigned because he was told that it was time to go. Not even this whack-job President could keep this guy.

Anyway, The Attorney General has "resigned".

Good.

I know that some of the purple kool-aid crowd will try to defend him, but really, don't bother. Defending a liar just because you'd rather believe the lies because the truth is uncomfortable, is the height of foolishness.

During his tenure in this administration, Mr Gonzalez was directly involved in the most egregious abuses of the U.S. Constitution in modern history (see the Patriot Act). Additionally, he was responsible for drafting the Presidential finding that said that torturing prisoners of war is OK, as long as you call them "detainees instead of "prisoner of war". Hello? "Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war" anyone?

Mr Gonzalez was a tumor... no, a chancre on the body of American jurisprudence. He was no respecter of the law that simple members of the thin blue line or the Bar were required to follow.

Alberto Gonzalez was the blacksmith who shod the philosophical horse upon which the Bush administration has trampled our Constitution into the mud.

You are a liar sir.

You are beneath contempt, and I can speak for quite a few rank and file law enforcement officers and members of the bar that think that you are scum, too.

You cannot be trusted. You have no integrity. You are not worthy of being a traffic officer, let alone the Chief Law Enforcement officer in the land.

Anyway... if you have been reading my blog for more than just a few weeks, you probably know what I am not a big fan of this administration or it's crimes against the American people, out Constitution, and humanity. I said that this post was about revisionist history, so let's do that, shall we?

Let's talk for a minute about President Bush's reaction to all of this.

President Bush said that this was a sad day, because AG Gonzalez' "Good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons"

Er... Come again, Mr President? Did you say "Good Name"?

BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH! (sorry, I've been drinking).

Alberto Gonzalez is a liar, and a cheat. An incompetent bungler who never saw a Constitutional protection for the American people that he couldn't or wouldn't dissemble his way around. The only thing he was ever good at was blowing sunshine up the President's backside.

Good riddance, Alberto.

Don't let the doorknob hit you in the ass!

Sincerely,

Your pal,

Gunfighter, who actually believes that what a lawman says should be taken for truth, because the people have a RIGHT to expect truth to come from the people that they have entrusted and empowered to serve and protect them.

The Department of Revisionist history (I)

2007-08-24T21:41:00.000-04:00

So... eminent historian George W. Bush now believes that the United States should never have left Vietnam?

Am I the only person left open-mouthed at the brass of that historically ignorant, dumb sonofabitch?

Recently, the current occupant of the White House had this to say about the American withdrawal from Vietnam:

"then, as now, people argued that the real problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end..."

"Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left,"

"Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,"

So... is there really a legitimate debate on how the United States became embroiled in Vietnam?

Was there really a wide-spread belief that if U.S. forces left Vietnam, that there would be no more killing? Or was the prevailing belief that if our forces remained in Vietnam, more Americans would die for nothing, militarily propping up a corrupt government, with a corrupt, weak, dispirited, ineffectual military?

Am I alone in thinking that it is rather crappy of the President to make these remarks considering his questionable military service and his refusal to serve in Vietnam?

President dumb ass is the same guy that actually had the nerve to compare the successful occupation of Japan to the failing occupation of Iraq. This guy must be getting his advice from a psychic that he found on the back of a matchbook cover.

Idiot.

GF

Entertainment

2007-08-24T10:53:00.000-04:00

There have been so many great things to write about over the past few days that I can barely crank them out.

I have been resorting to late-night blogging for the past few days because we aren't putting any of our fun plans on hold while I sit at the computer attempting to be interesting or pithy.

I started this post last week, but was overcome by events, what with the Attorney General finally being sent away in disgrace, the guilty plea and subsequent "apology" of Michael Vick, and the reports of the extracurricular activities of a certain perverted U.S. Senator.

Guess what? I don't want to talk about any of those freaks today. No, today, I want to talk about something more important: The incredible star-power of Disney's recently released "High School Musical 2"

Sure, some of you will tell me that you haven't seen it. Some of you will tell me you don't understand why it is so popular, but unless you live in a very far corner of the world, it isn't likely that you haven't heard of this second of two films that have turned the entertainment world on it's ear.

I didn't pay any attention to the first movie... not until I bagan hearing the music all of the time. You see, Soccer girl is right there in the middle of the target demographic. She loved the movie and the music. Mrs GF was already familiar with the whole swirlinig mass of movie, books, concert DVD, singalong CD, and soundtrack, but I was a latecomer.

I finally got to see the movie in one of the two trillion and twelve repeats on the Disney Channel, and to tell you the truth, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a great deal. I could see why it was so popular with so many people. The producers/directors were VERY smart about this film... They used the tried-and-true musical movie formula of a light plot, good visuals, hyper enthusiasm and catchy tunes that, while not being world-changing, were happy, upbeat, and eminently singable. Couple these things with an attractive cast, and you have a winner.

This past April, clan Gunfighter went to our local high-school to see a stage production of the first movie, while the uzz was building for the second movie. We loved it and I was gratified to see that I wasn't the only dad who knew the words to some of the songs.

Fast forward to last week, when we took a pause in our vacation to ensure that we would be settled in and fed and comfortable when it was time to watch "High School Musical 2" I suppose it won't surprise you te hear me say that the Gunfighter household is full of fans of this teen movie sensation! It was really great. It was nicely filmed, not too heavy on teen angst, well directed, scored, and choreographed. It's a winner.

Disney has had such a success a with these movies that there is now a "High School Musical Pep Rally" held several times a day at MGM studios

A Vacation Thought

2007-08-23T09:55:00.000-04:00

Let's get something out in the open, friends, Gunfighter is all man, and as such, feels no problem with stating the obvious. Like the sign says: I heart (and I really mean heart) the boobies.

OK, now that I have said this, I have some words of wisdom, or maybe just an overstated observation, to share with you.

Yesterday, we spent the day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. While we were there, we went on the Winnie The Pooh Ride, The Magic Teacups, the irritating but addictive (and blessedly cool) Small World ride and many others. The park wasn't crowded and the lines weren't long... we had a great time. Something came to my notice, while we were there. Something that I have noticed before, but really hadn't spent too much time thinking about.

You guessed it: Boobies.

Now, these weren't carnal thoughts about boobs. As many as were on display, I happen to be rather fond of Mrs GF's plentitude. No, these thoughts were on how they were displayed.

It seems to me, in the days of female empowerment, that it is counterintuitive to be a rather splendidly bosomed woman and go about in public wearing a too-tight T-Shrt that says "JUICY!", stretched out across her chest,

Now, I don't really have a problem, here. On one level I thought to myself when I saw this woman "Yeah, they look great, alright", but I also thought, "I hope she doesn't catch me (or the other ten guys that were getting an eyeful) looking".

I guess what I am getting at is: Make up your minds! I try to be a progressive man, and not stare at the boobage, after all, staring is rude. However, if you don't want the notice, don't put it out there like that.

Did I just make a sexist statement? Have I betrayed my finely tuned inner Alan Alda & Phil Donahue? I hope not.

I understand that it is OK to want to be attractive. I understand that wanting to be attractive, even sexy. I understand that being attractive or sexy isn't an invitation to be leered at, or an invitation to rude suggestions or worse. Having said all of that, dear ladies, when the boobies get put out like that, don't expect me, the soul of restraint (uh huh), or most men, not to take note.

Serious note.

The Family That Plays Together...

2007-08-23T09:13:00.000-04:00

...stays together.

You hear this alot in my circles, and I happen to believe that it is true. I believe that spending recreation time together creates families that are tighter units. The only problem is that in our busy, over-scheduled lives, between work; school; scouting; swimming; soccer; church activities; civic responsibilities; household duties; yardwork; blogging, and everything else that comes with life in North America, we seem to have less and less time to spend together, just having fun.

We have so little time to just sit around and have fun, we are really protective of our time toether, especially when it comes to vacations. During Soccergirl's Spring Break, we go to Colonial Williamsburg (Va.), and haunt all of the historical sites in that area. We also go to the coastal Georgia beach/Disney World (where we are now) for two weeks each summer, because if we don't leave home, we stay right in our busy rut.

Since we live so close to Washington, DC, we love to schedule day trips to local historical sites, like the Smithsonian museums, the National Cathedral, and other places like that.

The most important part of our family fun is simply this: We spend a lot of time laughing together. We try to make things fun while we are together. No matter the activity, is is an opportunity to laugh, sing, and dance together... in public or at home.

Straight From Cheney's Mouth

2007-08-21T18:46:00.000-04:00

Sure, you've probably already seen this or head about it, but see it again.

Bush-the-elder did it right, Dick... what excuse do you have for his underachieving son?

Surgery

2007-08-21T09:40:00.000-04:00

So... my surgery has been scheduled. I go under the knife (is that term still relevant in the days of Orthoscopy?) on September eleventh. I suppose it's a good thing I don't believe in omens, or that date might scare me.

One good thing about that particular date is that it won't have a negative impact on Happy Hour, which is scheduled for September 7th.

Enjoy your day!

GF

The Thing About Vacations

2007-08-20T09:54:00.000-04:00

You know what is so great about vacations? It's this: When you are on vacation, every night is Friday night, and every day is Saturday.

I'm on my way to EPCOT, kids.... see you later!

GF

The Middle Meme

2007-08-18T21:50:00.001-04:00

Some of you hate memes... some of you don't. Generally they don't bother me, and they are usually fun, especially because I usually get to talk about one of my favorite subjects: Me.

So... this meme is about middle names. Please see the rules below.

Here are the meme rules. I didn't write the rules, someone else did... so don't shoot the messenger, OK? (besides, he might shoot back)

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.

4. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Are you ready?

My middle name is Vincent, which is from the Latin (or something like that), for Conqueror. You know... my name is so me, it isn't even close to being funny.

Here we go:

V - Vacation. Which is where I am now. We have had some lovely days on the Georgia beach. Swimming, seeing some old friends, eating good coastal Georgia cuisine. Ahhh!

I - Interesting. At least, I think I am interesting. Hey! Wake up!

N - Nice. Sure, it might be trite, but it's true.

C - Cook. I can really bang them pots and pans. It's why Mrs. GF married me.

E - Evangelical. I proclaim the saving gospel of Christ.

N - Non-Judgemental. Hey, do your own thing, and don't hurt anyone else while you do it.

T - Tactical. Adjective: Of or relating to combat tactics.

Now, I get to tag seven people. I choose:

The First Seven People That Read This. Honor system, people!

GF, now with deeper tan lines

Shoot 'em Up Friday

2007-08-17T17:37:00.000-04:00

You didn't really think that I would let you all down just because I spent most of this afternoon on the flat, nice, warm, cozy beach?

It's is still Shoot 'em Up Friday, kids, and I filmed this last week, just for you return readers.

In 10 minutes, we are going out to dinner, but I want you to enjoy this.

Love, and seawater flavored kisses!

GF

Race In The Blogosphere

2007-08-15T22:22:00.001-04:00

Traitor!

2007-08-14T14:23:00.000-04:00

We'll be watching you... and others just like you.

Your Uncle,

Sam

Gn Cntrol: Addendum

2007-08-13T07:20:00.001-04:00

Some readers brought up some excellent points in my recent post about g*n contr*l. I'd like to discuss some of them for a moment, if I may.

Lawyer Mama raises some excellent points about firearms security and what kind of training I would require if it were up to me.

Well, LM, left up to me, as I said before, in a world where everything was that way I wanted it, people could carry weapons, concealed or openly but would have to be licensed. I know that many people foam at the mouth over the word license, but in Gunfighter-world, I would issue a blanket "tough shit" and tell such people to quit their crying, get a license or not carry a gun. That should cut out quite a few people right there.

A) Take an IQ test, and score at least 110. NO GUNS FOR DUMMIES!

B) Complete a preliminary firearms safety course. Such a course would cover the laws, safe handling, and security of firearms.

C) Complete a demonstration of proficiency with they same type of firearm s/he would want to carry. Proficiency means demonstrating the ability to safely load and unload the weapon; laws regarding the use of deadly force - particularly "Graham v. Connor". The owner would also have to complete a course on civilian applications of force, and what s/he can legally do with said firearm. Most importantly, the owner would have to successfully complete an approved qualification course of fire, that would demonstrate the fact that said owner could be reasonably expected to operate the weapon. Said qualification would have to be conducted quarterly.

D) It would be a class 1 felony to carry, operate, or manipulate a firearm while under the influence of alcohol or any narcotic. It would also be a felony if poor security of a firearm led to the accidental or intentional death or injury of someone else.

E) Pay a substantial annual fee. This is going to cost a lot of money to administer. the people who really feel the need to do this are going to have to foot the bill.

Regarding the stupid people that do stupid things with guns... (must resist snarky comment about thinning the herd) See section A.

As for vigilantism, see section C. DO it wrong and go to prison... forever.

I agree with Fourier Analyst when she says that the genie gun is out of the bottle... it isn't going back in, so since guns are here to stay, I would do my best to make sure that they were carried legally, by people who could show that they had the smarts and responsibility to do it right.

There are no guarantees on responsibility, but then again, we kill more people every year with out cars than we do with guns, eh?

Traitor!

2007-08-10T06:37:00.000-04:00

We'll be watching you... and others just like you.

Your Uncle,

Sam

Shoot 'Em Up Fluffy Friday!

2007-08-10T06:31:00.000-04:00

Today's installment of Shoot 'Em Up ~~Fluffy~~ Friday is dedicated to WhiskeyMarie. Marie was kind enough to send me some really neat recipe ideas, which really went over like gangbusters!

Thanks, Marie!

I hope you enjoyed.

Disclaimer: Please note that no actual canine companions were killed, injured, threatened with violence, or forced to play a lame-ass game like soccer, in the production of this blog post. Nor did I have any real conversations with the EffBeeEye, becuase, really, who wants to talk to THEM?

GF

Kidnapping Update!

2007-08-09T13:14:00.000-04:00

The EffBeeEye thought that I should make an appeal to Fluffy's kidnappers. So here goes:

Dear Evildoers,

Please don't kill my dog. She's a good girl, with an infectious, cheerful little bark!

See how happy she is at home?

She loves to play in the flowers...

It probably wasn't necessary to threaten her with violence!

So... please don't kill her... even if I can't come up with that kind of cash.

Gunfighter

Terrorism Hits Home

2007-08-08T21:04:00.000-04:00

I need your help, friends!

When I returned home from work, yesterday, I found the front door to my home standing wide open. Of course, I drew my pistol and made entry, fully prepared to kick ass and take names. What I found was shocking!

I found this picture...

...and a note demanding a ransom for the release of my dog, Fluffy.

I've contacted the FBI, and they I am supposed to be hearing from them later on today... I'll keep you posted.

GF

You Pick The Topic: Gun Control

2007-08-08T10:38:00.000-04:00

Fourier Analyst chose the issue of gun control for a topic, and since I already had material prepared, you can have this right now. This was the first post for my blog. I posted it on April 18th, 2006. It has been slightly amended. How is this for instant gratification???

"Gun Control" is one of the most loaded (pardon the pun) terms in American English. Say “gun control” to some people, and you’ll start hearing that they aren't worried so much about control, as they are worried about gun confiscation.

When we talk about gun control in America, it conjures up all sorts of strange images. Depending on where you stand on the issue, the images could be something like this:

Black-clad federal agents (guys like me) kicking in the doors of the homes of law-abiding, peaceful citizens in order to confiscate their guns at the behest of the United Nations and, destroying American sovereignty, which, as we all know, is guaranteed by suburbanite soccer dads/moms with huntin’ rifles.

If you are on the other side of the fence, politically, the image that may be conjured up is of the government banning all firearms including hunting and target weapons, thereby ending violent crime, after which, all of us will be happy, and safe while we sing Kumbayah, and burn patchouli incense.

Take either one of those scenarios and it will probably have you running for the hills… or to the nearest telephone to call your member of Congress to tell him/her how you think s/he should vote.

The thing is, friends, is that “gun control” isn’t all that scary… at least it shouldn’t be, and I’ll tell you why.

I’m a professional firearms instructor, you know that. I teach other officers and agents how to fight with pistols, rifles, shotguns and submachine guns for a federal law enforcement agency headquartered in Washington, DC. I love my job (most days). I really do. I get to shoot a lot, I get to teach on a subject that I am very passionate about, and I think I make a real and lasting impact on people’s lives.

One of the best things about what I do is the interaction that I get with a group of people that much of the public finds scary or intimidating: The Federal Law Enforcement Officer. Yeah, that’s right, The Feds! The scary people you see in movies that spend all of their time violating your civil rights and making a mockery of The Constitution. Those people that are alternatively imprisoning people for no reason, searching for extraterrestrials, framing O.J. Simpson, planning to take away your guns, and wearing windbreakers and Oakley sunglasses while they do it.

I have news for you, friends: Most of those people spend most of their time, trying to make cases and arrest bad guys. Bad guys like bank robbers; people that would sell our national security to the highest bidder; drug traffickers that poison our youth; inside traders; child molesters; environmental polluters and spies. These things, among others, are what your federal law enforcement people spend their time doing… and believe me, it takes a lot of time, which is both the blessing and curse of our legal system.

Now, I don’t want to make this a diatribe about how great cops are. I am trying to make a point about how silly it is to get ratcheted up about gun confiscation. Whether you are a liberal that longs for the day “when the guns go away”, or a conservative that will give up his gun “when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers”, is really moot, because gun confiscation will never happen here.

Let me repeat that for the slow folks: Gun confiscation will never happen in America.

Here is the thing… most of the people on my side of the badge feel like you do. They have opinions on “gun control” and confiscations, and those opinions come down on both sides of the issue (not everybody with a badge is a gun queer) At the end of the day they realize, and so should you, that there isn’t any agency or group of people that would actually try and make it happen. Oh sure, an assault weapons ban here, a ban on fully automatic weapons there… but at the end of the day, no one is going to do it. Many of my brethren would actually refuse to participate if so ordered. Who does that leave? The Army? Fat chance! Our soldiers (and more importantly, their officers) come from too wide a cross section of society to participate in that kind of activity.

You want my personal view of "gun control"? Here it is: There is absolutely no valid reason for the public at large to own automatic weapons. Left up to me, any adult citizen would be allowed to own and carry concealed handguns... but you'd have to have a license, and you would have to demonstrate proficiency on an annual basis... some bullshit, NRA safety course isn't sufficient.

So, in the end, what does that leave us with? A tempest in a teapot, much ado about nothing, all smoke no fire, etc…

The arguments about gun control mean nothing. The Gun control issue is nothing more than noise... a wedge issue to distract voters from important things and mobilize hard-core political activists on either side during an election cycle.

GF

Swirling Thoughts

2007-08-08T06:46:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of stuff swirling around in my head this morning... pardon me while I spew for a moment.

* Michael Buble` is coming to the DC area, and I tried to win tickets from a radio station (97.1, Wash FM) while driving up I-95, in my squad car. I didn't win. The bastards.

* My car...

...is in the shop it's getting nearly a thousand dollars worth of repairs. Just before vacation. F***!

* We have a PT Cruiser as a rental while my car is being repaired. I have to say that I like it much more than I thought I would... It has lots of leg room, which makes it for me, right there.

* I heard a cover of Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman" just as I was crossing the Beltway this morning (DC readers know what I mean). The singer was pretty good, but in several parts of the song, I thought she sounded like Dolly Parton (Now one of you will tell me that it WAS Dolly Parton, right?)

* I am reading a book about the history of the Knights Templar right now, and I am digging it.

* I am getting an MRI in about an hour.

* I filmed NEXT week's "Shoot 'em up Friday", yesterday. I'll do this week's tomorrow.

* I just finished reading a really crappy book by a guy named Douglas McKinnon, called The Last Days of America. This guy should sell insurance, instead. Thriller my ass!

* The Rugby World Cup starts in just under a month. I am so geeked up for it, it isn't funny... not that the United States has a snowball's chance in hell of getting out of it's first pool match against England.

* Tomorrow, I will post the Old Church Lady rant.

* An incompetent medical office staff member recently made me want to commit an act of extreme violence... and y'all know that Gunfighter is a professional practitioner of the art, right?

* I went to get a bottle of water on my way to work, a few hours ago... and realized that I had no cash in my pocket!

* It is hot in the DC area. No, I mean REALLY hot.... and exceptionally muggy.
I'm hot AND bothered!

* I'm announcing another round of "You Pick The Topic"so if any of you want to hear me spew on anything in particular, let me hear from you. Email is fine if you don't want to ask publicly.

Alberto Gonzales

2007-08-06T09:35:00.000-04:00

I posted this on April 23rd of this year, but I would like to post it again, slightly amended for any who may have missed it. There is an addendum at the end... this is for you SMID

By now, most of you will have heard about the recent terminations of many (8) U.S. Attorney's by the Attorney General of The United States, Alberto Gonzales. No doubt you have heard about all of the controversy that has been generated.

As a result of the irregularities surrounding the dismissals, the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted the persons involved, including Karl Rove...

Harriet Miers...

and Attorney General Gonzales...

to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The White House fought tooth and nail, citing executive privilege, to keep White House staff members from having to testify under oath. Hmm. Am I the only person that has a problem with this?

Let's look at it this way: How well do you think it would go over when I make an arrest and then tell the judge, "Your honor, I'm happy to testify in this case, but I won't do it under oath, and I won't do it with a court reporter present, and only if you agree not to tell the public"? How do you think it would go from there? Not well, I can assure you... but this is what the White House wants. The President doesn't want his staff compelled to tell the truth.

Something is wrong with that, my friends.

We shouldn't be surprised, though. The President is a bloody liar, himself, and has surrounded himself with like-minded people.

Eventually the testimony conditions (after some compromising) were agreed to by all parties, and AG Gonzales was compelled to testify, under oath, with a court reporter, and on television. Before his testimony, however, Mr. Gonzales had several weeks of rehearsal and preparation time for his hearing, even cancelling his scheduled vacation around Easter, in order to have more time to prepare.

**News Flash** YOU DON'T NEED TWO WEEKS OF PREPARATION TO TELL THE BLOODY TRUTH!

On the day of his testimony AG Gonzales used the term "I don't recall" or words to that effect at least 45 times.

45 times.

This man is the Attorney General of the United States, as such he is the chief law enforcement officer in the United States. He is supposed to be the guy in charge of enforcing our laws. This is a man who was once the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court... he should know a bit about the law, and about testimony. Saying "I don't recall" so many times while on the witness stand must make anyone hearing this question this man's integrity or fitness to testify.

According to documents that surfaced through this investigation, AG Gonzales has attended meetings (which he earlier claimed he didn't attend), and detailed briefings (which he claims not to remember) on terminating the employment of 8 U.S. Attorneys. He doesn't remember any of it? He doesn't remember signing documents? His staff is making these decisions for him and he isn't even consulted? Is the Attorney General suffering from Alzheimer's?

I'm sorry, Mr. Gonzales, or "Gonzo" as President Bush calls you, but this isn't good enough.

Either you fired those people for political reasons in some sort of partisan shaking of the law enforcement tree, in which case you should resign, or the Department of Justice is completely out of control because of your incompetence, in which case you should be fired. In either case, you should leave office.

Regular rank and file cops can lose their jobs even at the hint of impropriety. This is because you can't hold a position of public trust if you are a liar, a thief, or someone who when under oath, is prone to dissemble.

You, sir, are a sleazeball. I wouldn't trust you, or any of your lickspittle coterie of thugs, liars, wingnuts, and Regent University graduates, to guard the most rancid whorehouse in Olongapo (in the Philippines).

You disgust me.... but this is what we get from people that think torture is alright, as long as you don't call it torture, and the Geneva convention on the treatment of Prisoners of War is irrelevant as long as you call them "detainees", not prisoners of war.

Addendum:

When I was sworn in as a law enforcement officer, I took an oath. The most important part of that oath is that I swore to "support and defend the Constitution of the United Sates, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same..." I took that oath very solemnly. I wasn't just mouthing the words. I meant it then, and I still mean it.

When Mr. Gonzales was sworn in as AG, he took this oath:

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Seems to me he got lost somewhere in all of this.

Part of what is required of me, in order to remain a credentialed officer is that I am truthful. That when I am asked a question, whether it is under oath giving testimony in a case, or during an investigation, I can be trusted to tell the truth.

If, at any time, it can be shown that I am untrustworthy, even in an internal, administrative matter, my ability to to give testimony is damaged or destroyed. When it can be shown that I am untruthful, my testimony can be impeached. After all, do you REALLY want someone who is empowered to impartially enforce the law, when it can be shown that said person is a liar? Do we really want a person with the power of life and death over the citizenry to be untrustworthy?

Of Course not.

We require honesty and truthfulness from our rank and file cops. We require truthfulness from our criminal investigatotrs, lawyers and judges. We require truthfulness from all who serve in positions of public trust.

My friends, I have a badge in my pocket. With it, I carry credentials that discuss my permission to conduct searches, make arrests, give testimony, and use deadly force in the name of the United States government. I take these responsibilities very seriously. I wish that our President and Attorney General did the same.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has, in the intervening months since the original post, shown us time and time again that he cannot be trusted to give truthful, unvarnished testimony. The President has shown us that he cares more about protecting his loyalists than he cares about criminal acts carried out by members of his cabinet.

Attorney General Gonzales has spent an incredible amount of time, lately, testifying before Congress regarding his activities, and the activities of his senior staff concerning the firing of the aforementioned U.S. Attorney's. During his testimony, Mr. Gonzales has shown that whatever legal acumen that he might possess, his real talent lies in distortion and obfuscation. Coupled with his flat out refusal to answer questions that might paint himself or The President in a bad light, this talent for distortion can only assure us of one thing.

The Attorney General of The United States can't be trusted to tell the truth.

Now some of you are probably snorting to yourselves, thinking, "well, what's new about a liar in the Bush administration?" I might tend to agree with that, but I find it chilling when the Attorney General gets in on the act. No... I'm not talking about being political... and I'm not talking about being partisan. I'm talking about lying.

The Chief law enforcement officer of the United States is a liar.

His only boss, the President, thinks that the lying Attorney General "can still be effective" and has retained him in office.

What does that tell you about the President?

This administration spent a lot of time, in it's early days, talking about morality,and truth. Not so much anymore.

Take a Moment For Something Beautiful

2007-08-05T16:15:00.000-04:00

You'll be glad you did.

Look at something beautiful... clear your head. Be stimulated without interaction. Find a a quiet place.

Breathe. Sometimes nature will surprise you with the gift of tranquility.

Look at what we have been given stewardship over, and know that we have the responsibility to preserve it. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

If I could give you a gift today, it would be the gift of peace.

If I can't give you that, at least I can give you a flower. We ought to start somewhere, eh?

Peace Be With You, always.

MySpace

2007-08-04T10:43:00.000-04:00

My oldest daughter, fastpitch, has a MySpace account. She uses it, like so many other teenagers do, to communicate with her friends from school, church, and the local 4H, to which she belongs.

When I found out that she had a MySpace page, we talked about it and she was very excited about the fact that I was so "cool" about it, and electronic social activity in general. I didn't bother to tell her about my blog, but I assured her that I was just fine with things like MySpace and Facebook, when used responsibly.

The funny thing is that she and I now communicate via MySpace nearly every day. It is usually only a note to say hello or something... but she thinks that it is pretty cool that her dad visits her page and has one of his own (as lame as my page is!).

She is a good kid.... and today is her eighteenth birthday! I can't believe it. More on that at my Real Dads blog, later.

I'm glad that she is glad that I visit her MySpace area... and that she didn't feel the need to keep it secret from me.

GF

Shoot 'Em Up Friday, The Video Event!

2007-08-03T07:12:00.001-04:00

Without preamble, I give you "Shoot 'Em Up Friday", The video event!

Well, that was fun!

My first time at bat doing any sort of online video... I am moderately satisfied with the results. Clearly, I have a lot to learn about editing and about how to edit, upload, and post what is, essentially, five minutes of video without having to use four or five different YouTube uploads... If any of you techno-types have any insight to share, I'm all ears.

I hope you liked it.

The Secret

2007-08-02T10:12:00.001-04:00

My friends, you all know what I do for a living, right? OK, for those of you joining the program late, here it is: I am a tactical firearms instructor for a government agency in Washington, DC (but I work in the Virginia suburbs). I teach people how to fight with guns. More on that, here.

Today, I am going to tell you one of the fundamental secrets of the dark art of marksmanship. I will entrust to you what so many people should know, but can't figure out for themselves.

You see, shooting is, at it's core, a very simple thing to do. You needn't hold an advanced degree to be a proficient marksman; you don't need to be a techie; and you don't need to be a jock. Good marksmanship is irrespective of race, sexual orientation, gender, politics, religious creed or lack thereof.

Shooting is simple. Sure, all you have to do is make sure the particular weapon is properly loaded, and then point and shoot. Simple, right? You bet it's simple. As a matter of fact, there are only two physical acts involved in basic shooting, and they are: pressing the trigger, and seeing your sights properly.

That's it.

That's the secret.

Some of you are probably thinking: "There has to be more to it than that!" Some of you might think that I am intentionally oversimplifying. I assure you, I am not.

The thing about marksmanship, and I tell all of my students this, is that as an act, it is ninety percent mental. Properly manipulating the trigger and sights of a weapon in concert with one another, arriving at the zen-like nanosecond where all is perfectly aligned to produce the desired effect, which, in this case, is a bullet being fired from a gun, and hitting exactly what you were shooting at.

Like I said: Simple.

Where it becomes problematic is that many people cannot grasp that simplicity and cloud their minds with so much crap, it becomes nearly impossible for them to shoot well. When this happens, the poor shooter often has to come to see me. Often, the problem shooter thinks that if he or she could just throw some more bullets down range, they will eventually improve. The truth is that the only thing that this method will improve, is the financial bottom line of the ammunition manufacturer.

The key to being able to properly use the sights on a rifle or pistol is, to align your sights on the target, then throughout the manipulation of your trigger, you watch your sights, exclusively, so that they remain aligned until your shot is fired. If you disturb you sights by jerking the trigger, that bullet will not go where you wanted it to go... and folks, you can't afford that in a gunfight.

There is another key to successful marksmanship... one that might seem counter intuitive (how's that for a five dollar word?), and here it is: DON'T LOOK AT YOUR TARGET! You see, if you are looking at your target, you aren't watching your sights (see above)... you can't focus on two separate things at the same time.

So, you've learned the secret: Watch your sights, press the trigger smoothly so that your sights are not disturbed, and DON'T LOOK AT YOUR TARGET!

You'll hit what you are shooting at. Trust me, it's what I do.

Feel better?

GF

Not-So-Happy-Hour

2007-08-01T06:23:00.001-04:00

Hey kids, it looks like this Friday is bad for a lot of you, so we are going to postpone our little Happy Hour gathering for a few Weeks while everyone gets vacations and so forth out of the way.

From what I am hearing from many of you, sometime soon after Labor Day might work best. I'll be in touch.

In the meantime, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that barring any unforeseen technical issues, this week's edition of "Shoot 'Em Up Friday" will be done in video!

Watch this space!

GF

Notes

2007-07-31T17:42:00.000-04:00

* To the lady in the supermarket parking lot this afternoon: If you can haul your big ass into and out of the cab of that F-350 truck, you don't need that friggin' handicapped sticker.

* To The Attorney General of The United States: You are a liar, sir. Resign. Have you no shame? Do you not have a shred of decency or integrity?

* To Bob Novak: What ever happened to the days when reporters REPORTED the news, instead of making it (or making it up)?

* To The County Board of Supervisors for Prince William County Virginia: What made you think that the recent ordinances you passed concerning illegal aliens, WOULDN'T be seen as racist? Are you people high? You disgust me.

* To the old church lady: The times are changing. Get used to it. This isn't 1950, and you don't live in pin-prick, Michigan anymore... you old bitch!

* To The Virginia State police: The idea of a highway patrol is to ensure safe roads, and to keep traffic flowing freely. If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

* To Deputy Chief Asshole: You had better hope that I ever catch you alone. I will beat you until you need hospitalization, you uncouth, drunken, unprofessional, womanizing piece of shit... and don't think for a second that I couldn't do it.

* To Barry Bonds: You don't impress me.

* To Michael Vick: I hope you do hard time.

* To The employees at the Stone brewery: Stone Imperial Stout is the best thing to ever happen to beer.

* To my kilt maker: Get off of your asses, and get the right leather for my new kilt!

* To my readers that went to BlogHer: I am glad that you all had fun. Now, spill the beans... c'mon, it's me, Gunfighter, you know you can trust ME with your secrets.... don't you?

You may now return to your regularly scheduled blogging.

GF

Happy Hour?

2007-07-30T18:43:00.000-04:00

OK, Northern Virginia/DC area bloggers.... Are we on for Happy Hour Friday night?

There are three people who have expressed interest, but I would like to have a better read on this. If this weekend is no good, should we plan for a few weeks down the line?

From what I can tell of most of you folks, Old Town Alexandria is our likely spot, and I have a couple of tentative places to gather.

What say you?

Email me with your thoughts.

Roadside Assistance 2.0

2007-07-29T18:10:00.000-04:00

So... there I was, leaving the Chinese restaurant, next to Trader Joe's. I was in civilian clothes, and I wasn't driving a police car (I had taken Mrs GF and Soccergirl to the airport that morning), when I hear this pleasant female voice with a pronounced Scottish burr saying to me,: "Excuse me,..." I turned to see a thirty-ish woman and an older gent, looking at me with worried eyes. "... Do you you have a set of jumper leads (cables) for me wee car?" Their battery was dead.

Turns out, this young woman, who has lived in the U.S. for ten years, had just recently had her second baby, and her father-in-law was visiting to help out.

We had a pleasant conversation about kilts and rugby while we got the car started, and when we were finished, away they went.

I felt good about being able to help them... things like that always reaffirms my belief about what I am here for. My purpose.

I'm a helper.

I really think it is my "calling", for want of a better term. I'm the guy that people always ask for directions; will help you jump start your car; will help you dig a very long and thick root out of your garden; will change your tire, or anything like that.

I have examined that trait in myself for years, and wondered if I am a helper, or a softy that is easily taken advantage of. I am rather certain that it is the former, not the latter.

I could be worse things, I guess.

My name is Gunfighter, How may I help you?

They Are Home!

2007-07-29T16:50:00.000-04:00

My girls are home, from Milwaukee.

I am glad.

Oh, and guess who got a portable light box?

Thanks to all that gave advice... I was going to make one, and went to Wal-Mart to get the stuff last night, when I happened upon this thing.

I am almost certain that it will be adequate. I'll give it a wee test and if it doesn't do it for me, I'll take it back and make one!

Film at eleven.

Dream Bathroom

2007-07-28T12:18:00.000-04:00

If I ever have the occasion to design a home for myself, I have several stipulations:

** All of the bathrooms must be constructed of stainless steel.

** The floors and shower stalls will all slope to drains that have garbage disposal type units.

** There will be spigots on the walls that I can attach hoses to.

** Said hoses will greatly aid in cleaning.

** The bathrooms will be large enough so that I don't have to contort all of my 285 pounds to clean the toilet or shower stall.

** There will be at least two of these large bathrooms, so that I don't have to share mine with 697 bottles of hair care products.

** The toilets will be made for people who aren't 4 feet tall.

Can you tell what kind of morning I had?

Shoot 'Em Up Friday!

2007-07-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

Last month, The Gunfighter family received an invitation to dinner from blog-buddy Janet K. I mentioned, here, what a fine time we had. Not only was the company great, and the food fantastic (yes, tacos can be fantastic... you just don't know), but friend Janet and her housemate, Brenda, gave me a gift as soon as we arrived!

Truthfully, I wasn't expecting a gift... Surely, I thought, the gift of food and good company was enough of a token of friendship. After all, I hadn't done anything to be deserving of anything more. None of my immediate thoughts lasted for more than a heartbeat, because the gift turned out to be the first reader-donated item for Shoot 'Em Up Friday!

As you can see here, the gift turned out to be a DVD player. Janet proceeded to read off a short, but heinous, list of crimes perpetrated by the DVD player. Not only was this particular household item guilty of not working, it was also guilty of not spitting out a DVD belonging to Brenda... it was still lodged inside. The Dog! These nice ladies asked me to put this appliance out of their misery, and I am only too happy to comply.

Why? Because I'm a giver!, yeah.

So, in keeping with out tradition of taking advantage of the opportunity of teaching pints while playing, I present to you, our results:

Today, we are going to shoot this DVD player with an assortment of weapons, using various types of ammunition.

The first weapon we used was the FN-P90, which fires the 5.7x28mm bullet.

Here is what kind of hole the 5.7x28mm (hollow point) makes in a DVD casing. The hole shown here won't mean much to you without a comparison, so stay tuned. There is more... oh yes, more indeed!

The next thing we did was to shoot the DVD player (hereafter known as the "evildoer"), with an M-4 rifle, which fires a 5.56 bullet, which is only slightly larger than the first bullet that I mentioned, but has a much greater muzzle velocity, and thereby delivers significantly increased kinetic energy, which some people commonly call "knock-down power"

Anyway, here is 5.56mm bullet hole, next to the previously mentioned 5.7x28mm. Despite the similarity in bullet hole size, the 5.56 did considerably more damage to the unit than the slightly smaller, but much lighter 5.7x28mm bullet did.

Next we used the venerable Sig P-229 semiautomatic pistol, using .357 hollow points. Here you can see a major difference in the size of the bullet hole.

I will pause here for questions.

Yes? "Professor Gunfighter, haven't you already shot-up a DVD player?" As a matter of fact, I have, however, we didn't make a comparison of relative bullet size, which is the point of today's demonstration.

Any other questions? You, young lady... "Professor G, what do the letters BTHP and JHP that are printed under some of the bullet holes mean?" Excellent question! JHP stands for Jacketed Hollow Point. Which means a copper-jacketed bullet with a hollow point. Most bullets made be reputable manufacturers today are covered in a copper sheathing. The purpose of the jacket is to increase bullet strength and to prevent fouling the barrel with lead stripped from the bullet. BTHP means "boat-tailed hollow point", which is a match-grade bullet design that uses the concept of a teardrop like shape to give it a lower drag coefficient and make it produce less turbulence in its wake. Only the base of the bullet has a boat tail-like shape. The idea of the concept means that the bullet will be more accurate.

If there are no other questions, we will continue.

After punching a few holes in our evildoer, I decided that I hadn't spent all of this time setting up this shoot, dragging out the weapons and ammunition just to put three holes in it. That wouldn't be a prudent use of labor, so I decided that I would take advantage of one last teaching opportunity: To show you fine folks what an evildoer looks like after you really shoot the crap out of one of these things!

Simply put, I emptied all of the weapons that I had loaded for our demonstration into the evildoer just to see what would happen.

Behold!

Nice, eh?

But we aren't done

This is what the backside of the unit looked like. Please note that almost all of the bullets went all the way through it.

This is a photo of the electronic whoziewhatsis that came out of the unit.

***Consumer's take note: DVD players don't have a lot inside of them... sort of makes you wonder why they make these things so damned large.***

I'm afraid that our time together is at an end, my friends... but, not to worry, I'm sure that somewhere out there in the blogosphere, someone will have a question that can only be answered by sending me something to shoot up. Until then, keep your powder dry, always count your rounds, wear your body armor, and ALWAYS shoot first, shoot fast, and put your adversary down!

Oh, and Brenda? Look what I got out, just for you, dear!

A Few Thoughts

2007-07-26T11:33:00.000-04:00

* Lots and lots of my readers are off to the BlogHer Conference, starting tomorrow. I am sure they will have a great time.

* Is it just me, or is the overuse of the term "Homeland" starting to irritate others as well? The way the term is used in context puts me in mind of the use of the term "Fatherland"... Nothing good can come of this.

* Americans do horrible things to themselves, just so they can be skinny. NEWSFLASH: Skinny isn't attractive... those models you seek to emulate look like crap.

* Exactly what ARE the cockles of your heart? The term isn't mentioned in any anatomy book that I have ever seen.

* Why do people find Cameron Diaz attractive? I think she rather looks like a frog.

* Shot placement is everything... so instead of buying the latest, greatest new "gee whiz" new gun, buy something that you are sure that you can use correctly and hit your target every time... a more expensive gun won't help with that at all.

* How many of you have gone from using your blog to post the things that are on your mind, to writing for you audience?

GF Is A Bachelor For The Rest Of The Week

2007-07-25T21:35:00.001-04:00

So... Mrs GF and Soccergirl have gone to Milwaukee, to vist the parents/maternal grandparents...

I dropped them at National Airport this morning, in plenty of time for their 0645 flight. I dropped them off so early, that I drove back to Alexandria, had a 30 minute power-walk, and was finished stretching by their designated take-off time.

I had to work late tonight, so I didn't get home until after 8:30... and then depression set it.

Well, not really. As much as I miss them, it isn't like I don't have enough to do... I started a new rosary last night, and I think it will be seriously boss. On top of that, I have no end of ironing to do. Now the really exciting part is when I get to do a major cleaning in the upstairs bathrooms. I am saving that for saturday, as I don't want to have any idle time.

I am such a get-out-there-and-drink-with-the-boys guy, it isn't funny.

Is it sunday yet?

The End of Blackness, A Review Revisited

2007-07-25T07:42:00.000-04:00

In her comments on yesterday's post, my dear Comrade-In-The-Struggle, SMID, asks some hard questions. Thanks for asking them, my friend. Here are my thoughts:

The effects of persistent racism cannot be ignored. They are real. They are present in most facets of life in America if you aren't white. They aren't going away soon. Having said that, there are effects of persistent racism that can be ameliorated by taking the bull by the horns and wrestling him to the ground.

The first thing to do, in minority communities, is to turn away from the cult of low expectations. One thing that I consistently hear from people, particularly black Americans is "it doesn't matter what you do, the white man (also known as "the man", or "whitey" isn't going to let you get ahead, so why try?" I get angry when I hear it, and routinely respond: "Yeah, well one thing is for sure, whitey doesn't have to worry about keeping YOU down... you are already doing it to yourself, and your family, for him". Look, as I said at the start of this post, I realize that racism is real, and it is tangible... but so what? When we tell our children that speaking clear, standard English is "talking white", we doom another generation to low income, underemployment, and subsistence wages. When we tell a child that reading, studying, and getting good grades is "acting white", we doom another generation to being laborers (not that there is anything WRONG with labor, mind you), or worse, criminals/convicts.

Low expectations are a societal killer.

The next thing to do is to embrace all of the bountiful educational possibilities in our communities. Even the crappiest of public schools beats learning to read surreptitiously, because it is illegal... Yes, schools in predominantly minority areas continue to lag, but I refuse to lay all of the blame at the feet of "whitey". Educational achievement is driven by parental participation and interest. If a kid's parent gives them the old line about "Whitey" the kid allows himself not to be bothered... after all, he hasn't got a chance anyway.

Further... the biggest reason that some schools get the best resources is because of low voter turnout... politicians don't really have to pay attention to people that don't vote, because those people won't turn them out of office. So VOTE. In. Every. Election.

The next thing to do is read. Yes, simply that. Read. Read everything. Read all of the time. Whatever you might not be getting in your crappy school, you can get in books. Go to your library. It's free. Whitey can't keep you from getting a library card.

***Special shout out to Mrs Jefferson, the librarian in the kids section of the Vauxhall Public Library, on Hilton Avenue!***

The next thing to do is to keep sports and entertainment in their proper places in your priorities. The NBA and the NFL are fine goals, but then again, so is becoming an astronaut... and your chances for the latter are just as good or bad as the former. We have to stop idolizing athletes and entertainers for the evil deeds that SOME of them commit.

Sure, be proud of the accomplished athlete, but understand that athletic prowess isn't a stand-in for having to obey the law. Criminal behavior is nothing to emulate.... even when that criminal is the President of The United States, the Vice President, or some lying sonofabitch from Texas who happens to be the Attorney General... but I digress.

The next thing is to show a little respect for your own body. KEEP YOUR DICK IN YOUR PANTS!/KEEP YOUR PANTIES ON! Having sex won't make you an adult. You can wait... so can she. Statistics abound on the poor high school graduation rates in minority communities for unwed mothers, and their subsequent effects. It's enough to make you cry... and whitey, again, can't be held responsible for it.

The most important thing to do in minority communities is to foster the belief in the two-parent household. No... a two-parent household doesn't guarantee success, but it sure as hell increases the odds for success. Whitey isn't controlling that, either.

No... "the man" is problematic, but we can't, or shouldn't do his work for him.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago at brother DJ Black Adam's blog, no rescue is coming, we are going to have to get off of the island on our own.

Book Review: The End of Blackness

2007-07-24T10:52:00.000-04:00

In this book, the author, Debra Dickerson tells some home truths... truths that may be hard to hear for some people... some of the tough things that we, as black Americans, should have been saying for many many years.

Ms Dickerson deserves full marks for having the courage to skewer many of the sacred cows that we have been praying to for so many years. Further, she doesn't shrink from taking stab at today's almost-useless civil rights leaders.

It is time, and past time for us to be proud of who we are for what we are and what we have done in this country. Not because white people will acknowledge it... some will, some won't, but so what? The acknowledgement of others shouldn't be the goal of ethnic pride. That said, it should also be said that ethnic pride shouldn't be a bar to the pride that comes from being an American.

It is time, and past time for us to stop seeing ourselves only in comparison to how we are treated by white people... or any other people, including other black people. Black Americans have done remarkable things. We are inseparably woven into the fabric of American history and society.

It is time, and past time for us to stop pretending that we exist outside of American society. We don't. This is our country! We are full citizens, but must begin to act like it. We should walk tall, be proud, look others in the eye with dignity and self-respect.

As Americans, we should be sure of ourselves and of our pivotal role in the building, and the success of this great country. We don't need to wait for the approval of other people to feel good about ourselves. This is childish behavior.

This book could have been written better, Ms. Dickerson's writing is disjointed in some places, but that doesn't detract from the message.

While I don't share every conclusion that the author comes to, she deserves full marks for having the courage to say things that needed to be said in an open forum.

Dickerson is right... the mind truly is the last plantation. The gate is open, and all we need do is walk through it, opt in, and be a participant in creating our own destinies.

GF

8 More Random Things

2007-07-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

I have been tagged, by Paige, To do the "Eight Random Things" meme. You may remember that I have done this before... but what the hell.... I can think up eight more things about myself, can't I?

So here goes:

1. I tore a hole in my uniform trousers this morning. No, I didn't do it intentionally.

2. I haven't eaten anything in about 15 hours... as soon as I finish this, I will rectify that situation... probably with food that I shouldn't eat.

3. On Saturday, we had dinner at the new Chinese restaurant near our house. It was really good!

4. I have every intention of going to see the Transformer movie while Mrs. GF and Soccergirl are in Wisconsin later in the week.

5. I'm going to teach Sunday school starting in September (quit that laughing, there!)

6. Despite being around firing ranges since I was 17 years old (I'm 43 now) I have exceptionally good hearing.

7. I resemble a milk chocolate colored Jabba The Hut.

8. I'm roasting a chicken for dinner tonight.

I'm not tagging any of you, as I already did that a week or so ago.

Aren't you glad you did this, Paige? No, the OTHER Paige... and how cool is it that I have two readers named Paige? I always thought that was a great name

New-This Weekend

2007-07-23T11:27:00.001-04:00

This was my entertainment for Saturday night... it kept my hands busy while I was watching New Zealand beat Australia for the Tri-Nations (NZ, Australia, and South Africa) Championship and the Bledisloe Cup!

What did you do?

GF

Happenings

2007-07-21T20:42:00.000-04:00

First things first, I have to give mad props to Anali and SMID for getting the reference to the Prince Spaghetti Day commercial from the late 60's/early 70's! I suppose I shouldn't be shocked, as both of these lovely ladies live in the Boston area, but you get full credit. I'm just glad someone remembered.

I don't know if they showed those commercials nationwide (I suspect it might have only been in the Northeast), but that commercial is a major childhood memory for me. You can see the whole commercial here

Item: I am so glad so many of you enjoyed Shoot 'Em Up Friday, and the destruction of the Crocs. I do have a few things to say about the results... first, I accept your offer Paige. I will email you with mailing instructions. Secondly, In the spirit of full-disclosure, I have to confess that a week before I shot up those Crocs, we bought replacements for them. Yeah, yeah, don't look at me like that... children, gardeners, and people with orthopedic problems get a pass!

Item: Next week, I'll be shooting up something that was donated by another regular reader... and taco maker. Stay tuned.

Item: Folks, after next week, I'll run out of donated items to blast... if you don't want SEUF to go on hiatus again... you gotta help me out and pony up.

Item: In the near future, I will be doing a series of photo essays called "Remembering Things Past" The focus will be on taking current photos of things from my past, and matching them with some personal history... an electronic trip down (my) memory lane, so to speak. I think you'll enjoy it (or at least won't be bored by it).

Item: DC/Northern Virginia readers... the time has come for so many of us who gather here and call each other friend, to meet! Friday, August third, there will be a happy-hour get together for my readers and any other folk you want to bring with you. Yes, come and meet your creepy Internet pals (in a public place. Safety first, eh?). Have a glass and a few laughs, and actually get the chance to talk to each other face to face for a change. Email me if you are interested.

Item: Recently, I was recognized by the aforementioned SMID for a Schmoozer award, as well as a Rockin' Girl Blogger award. Thank you, SMID! What a pal! Before you cry "foul" at the Rockin' Girl blogger award, many of you know from reading SMID's blog, that she is soemthing of a rule-breaker. She decided that I rock... and that my gender shouldn't be a bar to recognition... once again, SMID, thank you... You rock too, hard! So much for the other glass ceiling. Egalitarians rejoice!

Item: Soccergirl came home tonight after spending the past week with her Grandfather (my dad) and her older sister Fastpitch. My daughters got to spend an entire week together, with no parents around, and bond as sisters. Spending the day together with them, today, was a great treat for all of us.

Now, tell the truth... aren't they gorgeous?

Peace be with you,

GF

The View From Here

Where I Have Been (with addendum)

Happy 235th Birthday, Marines!

Happy Reformation Sunday!

Gunfighter: On Military Spending

I've Moved!

Obama For President!

SHAME!!!

Guilty Pleasures II

Last Night In Iowa

What Do You Mean "Undecided"?

Advent

The Don Imus Thing (pt. 2)

Starship Troopers

Book Review: George Washington - A Military Biography

An Interview

The Fall Soccer Tournament

Bloggers Night Out.

Happy Hour 3.0

Something Important...

Career Day, 2007

A Murder In Washington, DC

Happy Birthday, Marines!

Electoral Success (Crank That!)

Read This Blog!

What To Do About Iran?

A Thought (for which I cannot take credit)

Food: Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Youth Sports & Idiot Parents

In Memoriam

Some Thoughts on Politics

Some Days You Just Have To....

Book Review: The Religion

Pictures

Warrior

How Far Would You go For Your Kids?

CD Review: Sara Bareilles - Little Voice

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

The Family Vacation

45 Minutes At Border's

A Rant, If I may

It Was The Best of Times...

USMC Silent Drill Platoon

Remembrance of Things Past

My Surgical Diary (III)

Emmy Recap

Gunfighter Dreams (Follow-Up)

Gunfighter Dreams

My Surgical Diary (II)

My Surgical Diary

Oddities In Health Care

Insurgency

Happy Hour

Rugby World Cup 2007!

Definitions

The First Day of School

Dear Mr. President

Thoughts On A Saturday Night

Product Review: Ryka MC-2 Walking Shoes

High School Musical

Gunfighter Needs Your Advice

Dear Senator Graig

Britney Spears Barbarians At The Gate (2)

The Department of Revisionist History (2)

The Department of Revisionist history (I)

Entertainment

A Vacation Thought

The Family That Plays Together...

Straight From Cheney's Mouth

Surgery

The Thing About Vacations

The Middle Meme

Shoot 'em Up Friday

Race In The Blogosphere

Traitor!

G*n C*ntrol: Addendum

Traitor!

Shoot 'Em Up Fluffy Friday!

Kidnapping Update!

Terrorism Hits Home

Gn Cntrol: Addendum