Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life

Dear President Obama

Dear President Obama,

 

This isn’t the first time I have written to a sitting President via my blog, and I suspect that it won’t be the last, but since it is my first time writing to you, I think that I should tell you a few things.

 

First, I would like to tell you that not quite a year into your tenure, I think that you are doing a good job leading the country at a very precarious time, considering the financial crisis, which seems to be in the early stages of recovery.  I also think that you deserve the Nobel Peace Prize that you have been awarded if for no other reason than the fact that you have toned down the bellicose rhetoric that has come from the White House since you became President.  Frankly, I think that the world can’t afford a rogue elephant in the White House, and your elevation to the Presidency has certainly eliminated a rogue from the world stage.

 

The main reason that I am writing to you today, Mr. President is to urge you to not send an additional 40,000 American soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan.  My reasoning is as follows:  Islamic radicals in Pakistan are the author of our troubles in Afghanistan.  The Pakistani government is either unable or unwilling to control them, despite the billions of dollars that we annually spend to assist them militarily.  The sad truth is that the Pakistani police, armed forces, and intelligence services are rife with fundamentalist radicals, or their sympathizers.  This situation makes any efforts in Afghanistan, beyond humanitarian help, a complete waste of resources.

 

We cannot democratize Afghanistan, sir.  We cannot even assist in the democratization of  ANY nation without a thriving, educated, middle class or one with such societal divisions as Afghanistan has.  Since we cannot democratize Afghanistan, the best we can hope to do is to pacify that nation… pacification is the BEST we can hope for, and frankly, sir, pacification is something that A) won’t happen even with an addition 40,000 troops, and B) won’t happen without conducting a war in Pakistan, which I am certain that we won’t/shouldn’t do.

 

Where does this leave us?  Well, from where I sit (currently about 10 miles from the White House), it leaves us in an exceptionally bad place on nearly every level.

 

 Militarily, we will continue to waste the lives of our Soldiers and Marines.  Further, continued combat usage of our equipment will have far reaching consequences, considering that nearly every rifle, machine gun, tank, helicopter, and truck that we use in that country (as well as Iraq) will have to either be completely replaced or have depot-level maintenance to remain in service.  

 

Economically, we can’t keep this up forever.  Wars must be paid for sir… you don’t need ME to tell you that.  Additionally, the current strains on our Veterans care apparatus are staggering, and have generational ramifications. 

 

Lastly, Mr. President, there are other, more important threats that the threats posed by the Taliban/Al Qaeda.  Damage that can be done to our nation by terrorists is minimal as long as we are vigilant, but trying to use conventional military force to fight small terror cells is like trying to swat a butterfly with an ax… we’ll cause lot’s of damage, and at the end of the day, the butterfly will continue on it’s way.

 

I know that you were handed a mess when you came into power Mr. President, but it’s your show, now.  You have to be the adult and say when enough is enough, just like I do with my children.  Fortunately, I can sit here and advise you without the myriad other things that you have going on, hanging over my head, and I am sure that there are a great many things going on that demand your time and attention, but I have confidence in you, Mr. President… you are a good man, and I am counting on you to do what’s right.  We need to make an exit from Afghanistan.  We need to do it right now.

 

Respectfully,

 

Gunfighter

A Letter to Kanye West

Dear Mr. West,

For the sake of full disclosure, I feel that it is important to say that I have never been a fan of your music.  I have never been able to discern the "genius" that some people are, or at least were, attaching to your name.  That said, I would like to get straight to the point of this little missive.

You, sir, are a boor.  You have no class.  You are arrogant, rude, and clearly incapable of good and decent behavior.

In past years when you misbehaved as a result of perceived snubs at award shows, I put your behavior down to the general silliness of the entertainment business... I figured it was just another way of gaining publicity.  I was wrong.  You weren't doing publicity stunts, were you?  You were just being the ridiculous little prick that you apparently always have been. 

How sad.

As pathetic as your clowning has been in the past, your behavior last night at the MTV video awards was a new low, even for a little fellow like yourself.  In what mental plane do you exist in that you think that it is forgivable to treat a fellow artist with such incredible disregard?  In what world do you think that it is alright to get on stage and spew your opinions when someone else had the floor?

I have to tell you, Mr. West, your behavior was inexcusable.  I would like to call it childish, but I am certain that neither of my children would put on such a shockingly uncouth display.

I know that you lost your father at a young age, but was there no one to teach you how to act like a man?  Did no one ever tell you that you just shouldn't act this way?  Did no one ever tell you that treating anyone, especially a lady like that was wrong? 

Taylor Swift didn't deserve that.  She didn't do anything to you, or to Beyonce Knowles that could possibly have earned the treatment that you gave her. 

Personally, West, I don't think your are much of a man.  I think that you are a short, spoiled punk.  A horse's ass, a clown, a minstrel.  I used to look at you and shrug, now I will always look at you with scorn.

If you had treated my daughter, who is around Swift's age, with such disrespect, I would already have called you out to give you the beating... no, the spanking that you deserve.

Thoughts On Health Care Reform

Can we talk? 

Comedienne Joan Rivers used to use that line in her stand-up act... and probably still does... I can't be sure since I haven't heard one of her routines in years.  Anyway, once upon a time, I used to think that Rivers was quite funny.  I wish I could laugh now.

We need to talk, you and I.  We need to talk, particularly if you are an American who is steadfast against the current Health Care Reform bill.  I'm not going to rant, and I am not going to use (too much) hyperbole, but I have to ask you a few questions:

What is going through your minds and the minds of your fellows, turning up at town hall meetings with guns? 

What is going on when people keep screaming about socialism? 

What is going on with your soul when you would be dead-set against a bill that will help provide health insurance to the millions of Americans that can't afford it?

How can you possibly so misinformed about the contents of this bill that you actually take people seriously when they start shrieking about "Death Panels"  I mean, really... you can't believe that, can you?  Really?

Look, I have to tell you something... you folks have been misled.  You've been hoodwinked; bamboozled; flim-flammed.  You have been heinously punk'd.

Now, I know that you'll get mad about what I am going to say, but it doesn't matter, because you people have been madder than hell because America rejected the neo-con (know-nothing) agenda by the popular election of Barack Obama.  I think that you folks have nothing to offer anyone other than anger... but, I'm going to try to help you.

Let me apprise you of a few facts: 

1)  The health care reform (HCR) bill doesn't require all Americans to have some sort of government coverage.

2)  HCR doesn't have a provision that prevents people from choosing their own doctors.

3)  HCR doesn't have a "Death Panel" provision, and isn't going to require the extermination of disabled children or the elderly.  There is nothing in it that has ANYthing to do with Rationed care.

4)  HCR isn't socialist.  If you think that it is, you should follow this link and read the definition of the word.

5)  The President isn't a Nazi... and he sure as heck isn't a Fascist.  Popular election... remember that?  As a matter of fact, his popular election was an electoral blowout.

I realize that this is all ramping up for you folks because the whole "birther" thing has been shown to be stupid, and nonsensical.  I realize that your party (the GOP) is morally bankrupt, and I am sure that it is galling for any of you with a shred of sense that your primary cheerleaders are Sarah Palin (and you actually voted for her!), Rush "The Druggie" Limbaugh, Orly Taitz, and that creepy Michell Bachmann, but you really need to see sense in this matter.

So, please... spare me the rhetoric.  Spare me the "It's not Constitutional".  Spare me the whining.  Grow up.

This country can wage war in two seperate places at once, and be involved in military operations all over the world, and most of you would never bat an eye over it, but the people that fuel the engines of capitalism that makes it possible should, at a minimum, be able to take their children to a doctor... not an emergency room, if they get sick.

Not caring about the health of the poor is not only inhumane, it's un-Christian.  To some of you, that might not mean anything, but for many of you who profess to follow Christ, you should be searching yourselves for answers.  How can you actively work to prevent medical care for the poor?  How can you?

Yes, I know that you are going to start talking about charity versus government intervention, but I wonder why you only make that complaint when the government tries to help the poor?  I'll venture an answer:  You people don't believe that the poor are worthy of your help.  Many of you actually believe that poor people are only poor because they are lazy... some of you believe that poor people actually deserve to be poor.

I wonder how many of you are going to your local members of Congress and begging them to vote against any further farm subsidies.

What's that?  Crickets?

Color me unsurprised.

Orly Taitz, Birthers, Ideologues, Xenophobes.

You know, I have given a bit of thought to this whole "birther" thing that the right-wing crackpots have been shrieking whining wearing tinfoil hats talking about lately.  Mind you, I haven't given it too much of my time, because the whole "scandal" is complete rubbish and without merit.  Anyway, I have done some small bit of thinking about it, and I would like to tell you how it washes out for me.

To me, this whole bit of nonsense is about three particular themes.  First, there are the xenophobes.  The ones who have a difficult time dealing with otherness.... otherness being defined here as people that don't look the way the xenophobe does, or comes from a different place, or is smarter, or may have a different religion.

The xenophobes (I'll call them "xenos" from now on) are afraid of Barack Obama because they aren't terribly bright and really believe that his parents conspired to get him elected to the Presidency, some 48 years ago, and so they hid the fact that he is a Kenyan all those years ago, despite his automatic American citizenship based on his mother's citizenship, no matter where he was born.  The xenos believe he is some sort of "sleeper" agent and closet muslim.  All of this is made worse by the fact that Barack Obama is an African American.  You see, xenos tend to be virulent racists (no matter what color they are).  The xenos will tell you that their support of this birther nonsense isn't about The President's ethnicity, because in their hearts, they know that their racism is evil, they just can't help themselves.

The xenophobes truly can't accept that a black man could have been elected President by the American people, to them, that defies logic.  Therefore there has to be some conspiracy to explain it.  Never mind the fact that, as smart as I believe President Obama to be, Mickey Mouse could have beaten the Republicans after eight disastrous years of George W. Bush.

So much for the xenophobes.  They are the hardcore haters.

Next we have the right-wing ideologues, those who believe that the way to push their morally bankrupt agenda forward, is to destroy the messenger of a better agenda.  The ideologues have nothing.  They are out of ideas.  They have nothing to offer except bleating about taxes, spending, and security... as if they hadn't spent the past 8 years in an orgy of excess, with their snouts deep in the trough of taxpayer money.  Hey, for my part, I'll have a little more taxpayer money spent on the people instead of on corporate greed, thankyouverymuch. 

Anyway, the leaders of the ideologues can be found on FOX news, readily telling the xenophobes their viewers that health care reform is needed, but shouldn't go so fast.  Well, I don't need to be Keith Olbermann to tell you there reasoning for that... I am sure that you can figure it our for yourself.  The thing to remember about the ideologues is that they have to be confronted with this very important question:  If your party believes that health care reform is even slightly important, why have they done nothing about it when they controlled bot the executive and legislative branches of government for so long?

The bottom line on the ideologues is that they don't want every American to have health insurance.  More importantly, they don't want any government regulation on the health care industry.  How does that make you feel?  I hope it doesn't make you feel all tingly and good because the GOP is trying to protect you from "Big Government", because that is just so much crap... remember, those are the same people that kept "Big Government" from regulating the banking industry.  We saw how that turned out, didn't we?

Then there is the last group of "birthers", these are what I call the "Israeli Stooges", and they are led, indeed the whole group seems to be led, by a Moldovan-born (some have said Russian-born), dual U.S.-Israeli citizen named Orly Taitz.  Ms. Taitz, who is a Dentist and a "lawyer" (with some online JD), has filed motions in California courts (the only place she is allowed to practice law), to prove that Barack Obama is constitutionally disqualified from being President.

Does it strike anyone as odd that the person making the most noise about this "birther"nonsense is a foreigner?  A foreigner with citizenship in a country that is already known to be wary of President Obama because he won't mouth their propaganda in knee-jerk response whenever their Prime Minister
(and lobby) says he should?

Of course, I am talking about Israel... our staunch middle eastern "ally".

Many Americans will justify any Israeli activity, no matter how extreme, because of our "Judeo-Christian" heritage.  While that may be fine for many people, and it may be authentic, and it may be right most of the time, it doesn't mean that our President, as so many Presidents have been in the past, should be the stooge of whomever is calling the shots in Tel Aviv.  This is a problem.  This is where the Xenos, Ideologues, and Stooges all come together (I would say nyuk, nyuk, nyuk... but this isn't funny).

All three of these groups are led by a foreign agitator.  All three of these groups are dancing to the tune of a person who has become that Zsa Zsa Gabor of the right wing.  All three of these groups are under the sway of a person who may or may not be an agent of the Israeli government, bent on undermining the leadership of a person who may, or may not be, the malleable puppet most American leaders are.

The "birthers", laid bare, are a tool of foreign leadership. 

For shame.

Addendum:  My comments about Israel should not imply any antipathy towards Jews.  So please, don't give me the anit-semitic crap, ok?

The Problem with "Equality"

In democratic societies an awful lot of time gets spent talking about equality.  For some reason we seem to think that the concept of equality is important.  It's that whole "leveler" mentality... and you know what?  I hate it.

You read that right.  Good ol' Gunfighter isn't so much for the equality thing.  Oh, sure, I believe that people should expect (and receive) equal treatment under the law, but that is where my thoughts on equality pretty much fizzle out.

You see, I believe that the notion of strict equality is damaging to our country.  The notion that everyone's opinion is as good as another person's is absolute crap, and is responsible for so much turmoil in the United States today.  If you don't believe me, I give you this fine group of people as an example:

The "birthers"

What a bunch of effing morons!  Morons, I say.  Why is anyone paying any attention to them?  Why is anyone giving them air time?  Why is anyone paying attention to them in courts of law?  I'll tell you why! It's because we cling to the absurd notion that "my opinion is just as good as yours!", and that my friends, is an entire railroad car full of steaming bullshit.

Look, people have opinions based on their previous knowledge of a subject, event, or person, or their education in related areas.  People also have visceral reactions to certain stimuli.. the reliable "gut feeling", that people frequently talk about.  Opinions, in order to have any sort of validity have to be based on something real, otherwise it's just a notion.

Here is an example.  It is my belief that George W. Bush was a failure as a President for a number of reasons, allow me to cite some of them:  Our country is involved in two wars that we didn't have to fight;  Our economy is in a shambles because Mr. Bush's administration wouldn't hear of regulating the banking industry; and because his administration violated the Constitution on a number of occasions for vague reasons pertaining to "National Security"

Now, you may not agree with those positions, and that's ok, but my opinion in this sense is valid because it is based on tangible things that may be seen different ways by different people.

Here is an example of a non-valid opinion: "George Bush was a GREAT President and will be remembered as such by history.  I have nothing to base this on.  It's just how I feel."

The whole "birther" movement, and other whackjob movements tend to gain steam amongst the benighted and those who feel themselves to be on the fringes.  Much like the old, stupid meme about the American government shipped guns by the carload in L.A. so the Crips and Bloods would go around killing each other, and other black people.  Valid?  No.  Stupid?  Yes.  Given credence by a bunch of f***ing dummies?, oh, hell yeah.

It is time, my friends, to stop pretending that the opinions of the stupid, are as good as those who... well, aren't stupid.  You know you agree with me.

As I said before, I believe that people should be treated the same under the law, without regard to their gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, or what their first language was.  Neither do I think that the law should disfavor the stupid (any more than it already does, anyway), but holy moley, do we have to pretend that stupid, invalid opinions aren't exactly that?

President Obama, Professor Gates, & James Crowley

By now we have all heard, ad nauseum about the recent arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates.  We have heard, also ad nauseum, about President Obama's thoughts on the arrest, in response to a question asked of him at a Press conference... and God knows how sick and tired I am of Sgt. Crowley, the arresting officer, and a host of other cops, Union Bosses, and Right-wing/birther/crackpots on television all bleeding day, today.

It's time to stop, now, folks.  Really.

Let me first state that I know as much about the case as anyone who wasn't there... which means just about everyone except for Gates, Crowley, and maybe a few others.

The right wing fruitcakes are all like "The Commander-in-Chief was disrespectful of all police officers!  Waaaaah!"

The lefties are all like "Racial profiling is keeping the black man down!  Waaaaaaaah!"

The television news scandal pimps are all like "Will Sgt. Crowley apologize?, Will The President apologize?, are there any apologies to make?  Watch Black in America2, with Soledad O'Brien!"   Ka-ching!

Hey.  HEY!  Are you listening?  Anyone who is paying even a little attention should know this by now, but in case you weren't let me hip you to the closest thing to the truth you are going to get on this stupid distraction piece:

The cops showed up because they were called.  This wasn't "profiling", they simply responded to a call for service (that' what we call it in the biz).  The cops encountered Gates, Identification flew, words flew, and house-sized, professorial egos flared (A celebrity Harvard professor no-less), house-sized police  egos flew and an arrest was made. 

OK.  The local DA or Commonwealth's Attorney, or whatever they have in Cambridge decided not to charge Gates... which was smart of them... there wasn't much of a case to make.  Sergeant Crowley, by all accounts a decent bloke, keeps his dignity by not being punked by an asshole professor, Gates gets some serious air time... which all celebrities love.

Still with me?

Good.

Then during a Press conference, a reporter asks President his opinon on the arrest, and the President gives his opinion that the officers acted stupidly.  Then all of this nonsense well and truly goes into orbit!

Last night, I had a facebook exchange with a Republican echo chamber member who was all nuts about this issue... and today, reading the Huffington post, all of the lefties were huffing, puffing, and snorting righteous outrage about cops being "bullies" and "power mad" and claims that "cops control the country" etcetera.

What a load of nonsense.

Let me explain a few things.  Academics have egos... huge ones.  Don't believe me?  ask Mrs Gunfighter, she is an academic who works among academics (in her world, the undereducated have Masters degrees), in her office there are approx. 65 people, and all but about 5 have Ph.D's... she'll tell you.  Let me explain further, Cops have huge egos.  I know this, having been a lawman, myself for the past twelve years.  In my world, you have to be prepared to back your own play, and anyone not strong enough to do that isn't worth the money that he or she is being paid.

This whole incident has become about race. 

It isn't about race.

It's about class and ego.

Harvard professors aren't used to being challenged.  In their world, there is them, and the people that are deferential to them... which is to say, everyone else.  Gates wasn't going to be pushed around by some asshole cop, especially in his own home... who can blame him?  Cops don't like being challenged.  In our world, there are the good guys, the bad guys, and the people who call us for help.  The Sergeant, a blue collar man, and no doubt proud of his chosen profession, wasn't about to be pushed around by anybody, asshole professor from Harvard or not.

Gates should have kept his cool.  He didn't.

Crowley should have kept his cool.  He didn't.

A legitimate, but unnecessary arrest was made.

We see the result.

The President?  Well, he gave his opinion when he was asked a question.  Was he wrong for saying the police acted stupidly in this case?  Not really, because if they hadn't acted stupidly, we wouldn't still be talking about this bullshit story a week or more later.

There is nothing to see here, folks.

Disperse.  Go home. 

Don't be distracted from the real issue of the day, which is getting health care reform enacted.  Don't be put off by stupid "birther" stories.  Don't be put off by the echo chamber and spin machine.

Go in peace.

United States Armed Forces Sex Blog

There, that title ought to tickle the search engines.

Today, I'm writing about SEX.  That's right.  SEX.  Close your eyes if you aren't over 18.

Specifically, I want to talk about sex in the United States Armed forces. 

While nearly everyone in America is nearly killing themselves to be the loudest in extolling the virtues of the men and women of United States Armed forces, we haven't been paying attention to a serious issue that has been true of armies since time immemorial, and remains true today, even in the nearly-perfectly-virtuous US armed forces.  That issue is the quasi-sponsorship of prostitution and human trafficking that is funded and fueled by American servicemen stationed in various parts of the world.

Ask any man that has spent time in the armed forces... especially any man that has spent time stationed in Okinawa, Japan; South Korea; Thailand; or Vietnam.  Let's not forget Germany; Britain; Holland; Italy; Greece; Portugal, and many other countries.  Go ahead and ask.  If you do, you'll find out that our service men (with their naturally high libidos) have been boinking with the best of them, creating a flourishing sex trade, wherever they put down stakes.

For many years this behavior was not only tolerated but winked at by high-ranking officers as well as senior Non-commissioned officers.  During my time in the service (1981-1989), it was common to hear things like "what happens in Okinawa stays in Okinawa".

It is common for people to respond to this situation by saying: "Oh, its just young, fit, horny men acting the way young men do... what's the problem?"  Well, for starters, the problem is the fact that prostitution, in most of the places that I mentioned, is illegal.  Another problem is  that incredible increase in human trafficking (for the sex trade) from eastern europe.  Another problem is the exploitation of desperately poor women.  Another problem is the spread of disease.  Another problem is the toll taken on marriages & families.  I could go on, but you get my drift, right?

Well, guess what?  Your Generals and Admirals don't care.  Your national leaders don't care.  The American people, in large part, don't care.

What do they care about?  Gay people serving in the military.

Yes... prostitution is ok.  The moral turpitude of our soldiers in ok.  Male and female service members swapping partners more than they change their skivvies is ok.  The rampant swinging or "wife swapping" that happens in married quarters on base is ok (not making that up, I know, first hand)... but for the love of God, if a soldier is gay, that is going to wreck the morale of the armed forces and damage good order and discipline to the point of making our Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, unable to wage war.

As comrade Shakespeare would have said:  "That would be scanned"

There are reports that say that the number of women that contract venereal diseases in the United States Marine Corps is something near 40 percent higher than the national average... Using the logic of the homophobes, I guess that Marines infecting one another is alright, as long as these ladies aren't infecting each other.

All of this leads me, rather erratically, I know, to a discussion of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that has been failing since it's inception. I won't parse the policy here, because you probably already know what it is... if you don't, follow the link and find out. 

I think that this is a stupid and discriminatory policy that not only prevents patriotic people of different sexual orientation from serving openly in the armed forces, but hurts the readiness of the American armed forces in general by removing a significant segment of the young, available pool of warfighters.

Unfortunately, as wrong as this policy is, it is still policy, which brings me to the case of Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach, late of the United States Air Force, and Lt. Dan Choi, late of the United States Army.  These two officers recently came out (and in Fehrenbach's case, was outed) and have become the poster people for the gay community's efforts against "Don't Ask", Don't Tell".

The gay community is in an uproar, as they should be, about this policy, but have taken to attacking President Obama for not getting this policy overturned quickly enough.  I'm sure that if I were gay, I would want this done immediately.  Having said that, I understand that things like DADT are best handled later in an administration rather that the very beginning.

Sure, you can say that my attitude towards all of this is poor, or that I am unsympathetic because I'm not gay, and I suppose, depending on your own personal perspective, you might be right, but hear me out on this.  Politics isn't about ruling by decree.  It's about trying your best to do what you CANdo, as best you can.  Most Americans want President Obama to succeed.  Most want him to do the best that he can do to lead this country, and I think that with a fairly thin majority in the Senate, the President has to be careful that he doesn't spend all of his political capital repealing DADT.

Since the repeal of DADT would give the GOP a hefty stick to beat him with in the 2012 election, you can expect that there won't be a huge amount of movement on the issue until he wins re-election.

Which brings us back to Lt. Colonel Fehrenbach and Lieutenant Choi.

These worthy gentlemen, whom I believe to be Patriots, and good officers who are both committed to service, should have known what they were getting into.  In Choi's case, he had to have known, smart guy that he is, that coming out would be his military undoing.  There is no way that he didn't know that he wasn't going to get the boot, and that going public with his dismissal wasn't going to save his army  career.  Bad policy or not, the policy is current and firmly in place for the time being. 

It isn't the place of a junior officer to try to change policy by grandstanding.  Good luck in the civilian Mr. Choi, I wish you all the best in your future, which, no doubt, will be bright.

In the case of Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, things change a bit.  From what I understand, he was outed by someone.  That's a shame.  A shame because Fehrenbach was compliant with the policy, and his career, which has been stellar, from what I understand, has been destroyed two years short of his eligibility to retire.

For all of the trauma to gays in the armed forces that the examples of these men typify we cannot... or at least certainly should not be shocked that the DADT policy was not the first thing on the President's agenda.

This doesn't make Barack Obama a back-stabber.  It doesn't mean that he has no intention to deal with this issue, but timing, as is frequently said, is everything.

So there you have it friends... our soldiers are cavorting with prostitutes, giving each other the clap, screwing each other's spouses, and even prostituting themselves on our ships and in the barracks... but as long as these liasons are hetero (and still technically illegal), nobody cares... as long as they aren't gay.

 

 

O Canada!

It's July first, my firends... and you know what that means, right?:  It's Canada Day!

That day, just three days before my own national holiday (and wedding anniversary) when our friends to the north celebrate their own national day!

Canada Day has a special place in my own gunfighting heart, not because of People like Celine Dion or Jim CCarey (both of whom I plan to execute when I am King), but because of my Canadian Friends.  People like Lloyd, Kathleen, Claudia, Kenny, Joey, The Old Cranky Bastard, Katie, Catherine, Tanis, Cori, Mick, Zanne, Cheryl, and so many unnamed others, have been on-line pals of mine, in some cases, for as many as 10 years.

I have other reasons to be celebratory on Canada Day, you know.  I love Canada for it's grace, it's natural beauty, and great people like William Shatner, Neve Campbell, and Sarah MacLachlan (hey, don't hate!).  I love Canada because of Slancha M'hath and "Congress".  I love Canada because of their colourful money.  I love Canada because... well, because Canada is cool, and I'm not just talking about the temperature.

I love Canada because of Vancouver, BC.  I love Canada, despite that evil cow, Prunelle, in Montreal.  I love Canada, for many reasons, but this one most of all:  I can sing their national anthem without straining my not-very-gifted-in-range voice.

Happy Canada Day, my friends!

 

A Memorial Day Reminder

Today is Memorial Day in the United States.  Today is a day that we commemorate, above all others, the sacrificed lives of our dead Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines.

For a great many people, today is a day off from work, and a day spent with the activities associated with the beginning of summer... and that's fine, just don't forget that hundreds of thousands of American fighting men (and women) have died in the service of their country, fighting on behalf of their government.  Their government, which is by, of, and for the people (that means US).

As we honor our war dead, let us remember that we, by electing smart, well-informed, and sane leaders, are directly responsible for sending these brave souls into battle.

Let us remember that, before we make decisions that may cost the lives of these brave men and women.  Let us remember that their lives aren't to be thrown away, or spent in a cavalier manner.  Let us remember that their dedication to our country shouldn't be misused for unscrupulous political reasons.

We owe those things to the memory of those we have lost, and especially to those we have yet to lose.

Breaking News: Texas Secedes From The Union!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I'm Dodger Simsby, here now... the news!

Today, In a surprise move, Texas Governor Rick Perry, late of the Republican party, has asked for and received from the Texas legislature, a Bill of Secession.  The Texas Governor, with the collusion of a slim majority of the legislature and Senate, who approved the Bill, have made a joint statement and declared the birth of the "Republic of Texas" (ROT).

White House officials appeared to be caught completely unawares that this was happening.  An unnamed White House staffer said that the only thing that she had heard about this was an article in the on-line news outlet, The Huffington Post.

When asked about President Obama's response to this action, Senior White House officials were tight-lipped, saying only that the President was "gravely concerned"

All across America, patriotic people have taken to the streets decrying the action taken by Texas.  Even in states that are reliably "red" in local, state, and national election cycles, people are wondering "what in the name of God is going on in down there?"as so eloquently put by Mrs. Cheryl Crane, of Topeka, Kansas.  In Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish, Antoine Thibideaux, a self-proclaimed "lifelong-bible-believing-NRA-member-antiabortion-Republican" thinks that Perry and Texas lawmakers have gone too far.  "I have always loved Texas and Texans... but this... this is just too doggone much!"

Political leaders across America have been lining up to be interviewed by as many media outlets as possible to let it be known that they want no part of Perry's or Texas' sedition.  The only political leader who has voiced even tepid support for Texas' secession has been Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, who immediately resigned from the Republican Party and declared herself a member of the Alaska Independence party.

Overnight, here in Washington, DC the lights have been on quite late in Congressional offices, the White House, and ominously, at the Pentagon.  It has been confirmed by anonymous sources, that The President has gathered the Congressional leadership, the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Treasury behind closed doors in the situation room.

The atmosphere is described as "tense".

More later, after a word from these ABC sponsors.