Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life

The Things I get In My Email - 3

Because of the fact that I work in gun world, I frequently get odd email from some of my colleaegues who have... what I like to call "an unhealthy relationship with firearms".   I have shared some of the email that gets passed around with you before... I thought that I would share another one with you today.

______________________________________________

The Top Ten Reasons Men Prefer Guns Over Women:

#10. You can trade an old 44 for a new 22.

#9. You can keep one gun at home and have another for when you're on the road.

#8. If you admire a friend's gun and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times.

#7. Your primary gun doesn't mind if you keep another gun for a backup.

#6. Your gun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo.

#5. A gun doesn't take up a lot of closet space.

#4. Guns function normally every day of the month.

#3. A gun doesn't ask , "Do these new grips make me look fat?"

#2. A gun doesn't mind if you go to sleep after you use it.

And the number one reason a gun is favored over a   woman....

#1. YOU CAN BUY A SILENCER FOR A GUN.

Soup Is Still Good Food!

So... my second time working with the immersion blender was for Lee & Potato soup.

Behold!

The soup was really good (and c'mon, have you ever had awful Leek & Potato soup?  I haven't).  

In my version of L&P soup, I try to control the richness by using only 1/4 of heavy cream. 

I'd talk more about preparation etc... but my shooters are on a break and I have to get back to the range.

Talk amongst yourselves.

CD Review: Tom Jones - 24 Hours

Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Tom Jones!

I'm cutting to the chase:  Tom Jones has a lot to teach the current generation of pop stars.  He sings with range that today's singers can't hope to match.  He sings with control, he sings with emotion, he sings with joy.

This CD isn't just good, it's great.  Jones hits the ground running and doesn't slow down.  Right out of the gate, Tom lays it down in grand, powerful style.  At age 68, Jones sings like a man half his age.  There are a couple of songs on this CD that I'm not thrilled with, but to tell you the truth, the whole is certainly much, much, better than it's parts.

Here is the thing about Tom Jones that has endured through a career that has spanned four decades.  Tom Jones sings like a man.  Not just a man, though.  Tom Jones sings like an alpha male.  His style is sexually confident, and he is unapologetic about it.  Tom Jones' musical style is strong and his powers are completely undiminished.

If you are a fan of powerful, masculine, vocal tracks, delivered with a retro feel that is, at the same time, very much "today", you'll love this CD.

In today's world of girly-man singers, it's nice to know that at least Tom Jones still refuses to compromise.

Soup Is Good Food!

Because we all like to eat, don't we?

I haven't blogged about food for a while, so I though I would post some pictures of some of the more interesting things that I have made, latell.

Mrs Gunfighter knew how much I wanted an immersion blender, and good soul (ahem... hungry soul) that she is, decided that it was time for me to have one.  So, here is my first turn out of the gate using it:  Split pea with ham & carrots soup.

We didn't eat the soup the night that I made it... I gave it plenty of time to simmer and to get to the moment of perfection.  We ate it the following night, and it was so good!

Well, to be completely truthful, the soup was really great... the biscuits... not so much.   I think that I have mentioned that as much as I like to cook, I am not the world's best baker.

The biscuits that you see here are basically an abortive attempt at ham & cheddar biscuits.  It should be easy enough, right?  make biscuits and then add a little cheddar cheese and ham, right?  Well, not so much.  They were tasteless... just horrible.

Mrs Gunfighter put on a game face and pretended tried to like them, and SoccerGirl actually did like them.  I thought that they were awful.

Anyroad, the soup was very VERY good...  I'll show what I did next, tomorrow.

Bon Appetit!

Paterson Appoints A Senator

With the appointment of Representative Kirsten Gillibrand, it looks like New York Governor David Paterson has seen the good sense in not appointing Kathleen Caroline Kennedy to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It seems that the Governor has found a candidate who, by what I have read of her, not only has good sense, but seems to be a viable candidate to retain that seat in the Democratic column in her own right in the next election cycle.

Rep. Gillibrand, seems to be a political centrist, and considering where she is from, that makes sense.  The eastern edge of Mrs. Gillibrand's district borders Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.  Along with New York, these are blue states, but not the bluest parts of them.  To be sure, Gillibrand's voting record includes some true challenges to the Democratic party line, but she is a solid Democrat, with a record of voting with her party 93% of the time.

Not surprisingly, Gov. Paterson is already taking some heat for his choice.  More liberal New Yorker's... mostly politicians, are practically pissing in their pants and starting to complain that Gillibrand isn't liberal enough for them, mainly because of her high approval ratings from the National Rifle Association.  I suppose we shouldn't be shocked.  When will Democrats learn?  When will they... WE, as a group, understand that running for office as the enemy of gun owners is that path to political destruction in most of this country?

Anyway, it appears to me that Gillibrand enjoys not only the support of the Governor, but also that of Charles Schumer, New York's senior Senator.

I suppose we will hear all of the beefing from Kennedy supporters, and supporters of Andrew Cuomo, as well as supporters of various other potential Senators, but at the end of the day, Gillibrand will be seated, and will very likely hold that seat through the next election cycle, as she seems to be a very smart and capable woman.

Good Luck, Senator Gillibrand!

Where Were You When Everything Changed?

Where were you when everything changed? Where were you when Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th Preseidnt of the United States? Where were you when our nation actually lived up to it's founding documents? Where were you when our nation lived up to it's rhetoric? Where were you when the old American adage that says that any child can grow up to be President of The United States, actually became truth instead of myth?

Over six months ago, I wrote about Barack Obama being the Strategic African American, that all important pin that will hold things together when times look grim. Well, on this past Tuesday, he became not only the Strategic African American, but the Strategic American.

Everything is different now... and I couldn't be prouder of our country. As you know, I have two kids... both girls. Both of them at once biracial and African American. My oldest child called me from her college campus this afternoon to tell me where she was when The President took his oath (between classes, crowded around a TV with her sorority chums), and how it made her feel.

My youngest daughter watched and wondered why mommy was crying.

Me? well, it doesn't matter where I was, but I'll never forget it.

President Obama has called us all to service. He has called on us to not sit idly by... called us to be a part of what we want this country to become. I plan to continue to do my part, and I hope that you will join me.

This is the year that future generations will define as the year that everything changed... and despite the straits that our country has been left in by past leadership, this time, this age that we are entering will be remembered as the beginning of the best of times in America.

The Bush Administration: A Review

A great day for America.   Barack Hussein Obama is the 44th President of the United States. 

 

If you don't mind, I'll quote President Gerald Ford and say that "our long national nightmare is over".

 

I will try to refrain from over-sentimentalizing, but I am certain that it won't shock you to know that I am excited.  Excited for our future.  Excited about the possibilities that this day means.  Excited for my daughters, excited for my Grandmother, and excited for my parents.  I'm Excited for my ancestors... all of my ancestors, black and white.  I am excited for America.

 

I have no illusions that with the inauguration of President Obama, everything that is wrong in this country will be put right by next week.  I have no illusions that with the ascension of Barack Obama that everything wrong in this country will change... even in the long term.  I remain excited, nonetheless, because in electing Obama, this country has showed, enthusiastically, that it has reached a tipping point.  We, the people, have had enough bad leadership from our government.

We have, by electing this man to be our leader, taken a positive step in restoring sane, responsible government.  This isn't a matter of Right v. Left, nor of Democrats v. Republicans, as much as it is about making wrong things right.

 

Over the past eight years, a particular faction of anti-democratic reactionaries have run roughshod over the government of the United States.  The government of, by, and for the people has been mightily abused and as a result, the American people have been mightily abused.

These reactionaries spent the past eight years making our national treasury the playground of largesse for any corporation or conglomerate seeking to make money... taxpayer's money, in the name of "privatization".  These evil men and women engaged in the political sleight of hand of deceit and deception, and fooled the people, at least for a while, into believing that the "party of fiscal responsibility" could fight two wars, improve schools and infrastructure, create something close to a balanced budget, and cut taxes all at the same time, and maintain solvency.

While these governmental pirates had their snouts deep in the trough of Midas and were busy bribingdistracting the ever-shrinking middle class with "stimulus" checks, they were busy molesting our Constitution in ever more vile ways.   These people treated our laws with no less brutality than that of a dark-alley rapist, with secret prisons, torture, warrantless searches, indefinite detention without trials or even charges.  This sort of thing is wrong in any circumstances, but it is thrice-damned when you consider that these things were also done to American citizens.

The Bush administration, at the direction of their leader, and with the collusion of their party affiliates, instigated and initiated a war of aggression against a sovereign nation that wasn't a threat to this country, our way of life, or our economy.  This war destroyed a nation, made it less safe and opened that country to internecine religious strife, which, until our intervention, it had never seen on this scale in modern times.  Without the slightest compunction, our country, being led by the criminal clique of George W. Bush, and his lick-spittle sycophants, began a bloodletting unequaled in modern western military history.  A bloodletting that didn't have to happen, that was based on distortions, lies, and outright crimes.  A war that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, thousands of American and allied military deaths, and untold thousands of wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines.

Anyone who is reading this knows that Bush and his quasi-fascist gang of Constitutional thugs were unpopular, that fact became abundantly clear early in their time of national control, but they didn't care.  We don't like the law? Don't even bother to change it... let's get our pet lawyers to write something that says it doesn't pertain to the Executive Branch.  Don't like the fact that the Attorney General is being investigated for crimes in office?  Have him refuse to answer questions put forth by Senate committees.  Don't like the treaties that we are signatory to? Ignore them?

George W. Bush wasn't content to flout the laws of this nation, no indeed, his domestic policies regarding education, in the form of the "No Child Left Behind" act, took measures that could potentially cripple already struggling public school systems.  Mr. Bush's one-size-fits-all view of education started and ended with teaching students to pass standardized tests, which is fine on it's face, but fails to take into account that if all you are doing is teaching to a testing standard, you are failing to educate the whole child.  Further, the "No Child Left Behind" initiative was basically a cover for attacking public schools in general and public school teachers and their Unions in particular.  The idea here is that the more blame and scorn we can heap on public schools, the more money the government could take away from public education in order to fund private schools, which does nothing for the education of children in either public or private school. 

All of this was done in the name of "school choice" which is just another name for segregation.

The list of crimes and nefarious activities of the Bush administration is long.  Certainly too long to be properly enumerated here, but I have to tell you that, Mr Bush and his people were out of control from start to finish.  Their leadership was a a nightmarish exercise in failure. 

Failure.

Failure of leadership.  Failure of good citizenship.  Failure in every single aspect of governance.  Mostly, the Bush administration was a textbook example of the failure of character.

Welcome, Mr. Bush, to the ash-heap of history.

Barack Obama & The End of "Acting White"

"Who do you think you are?"

"You talk like a white boy!"

"Bookworm!"

"Professor!"

"Honky-lover!"

"You think you're better than us!"

"OREO!"

I am 45 years old.  It's been at least 28 years since the things that I wrote above were last said to me... to my face, anyway.  It still smarts when I bother to think about it, which I seldom do... but it's been there, all these years, a very personal source of pain.  A lifetime of barbs and insults, all because of the way I talk.

For generations, it has always been desirable in the black community, as it has all over America, to get all the education that you can.  Education has always been seen as the way to improve not only your economic condition, but your social position as well.  Since emancipation, this had been seen as a great thing in the black community.  The thought had always been, that if your children got an education and learned to speak English correctly, perhaps they could enter a trade or one of the professions.  It was certainly so for my mother's parent's (a professor and a Nurse)... it was so for my parents.

Then something changed.

In the 1960's, it became popular for black people to remind each other to "stay black"... to not "sell out" to the white man.  Apparently, not talking like you are from the ghetto counts as selling out.  In my opinion, this thinking has done massive, lasting damage to the black community. 

It has now become fashionable in the black middle class to ape urban behaviors as a means of "staying black".  Children of families that live in 800,000 dollar homes, who go to schools that aren't struggling, walking around in super-baggy prison clothes, and despite their middle-American accents, trying as hard as they can to sound like they are refugees from a Snoop Dogg cd.

I was born into a military family, at Hamilton Air Force Base, California, where we lived until my parents were divorced, and we moved to New Jersey to be near my maternal Grandmother.  The neighborhood that we moved into was mostly black (this was 1969, the height of "white flight"), even the first generation Portuguese immigrants were moving as fast as they could.   The place I grew up in was solidly working class.  Most of the people were second or third generation children of the post-emancipation diaspora.  Most spoke with a common accent: southern share-cropper... what has morphed into, and has become accepted as "Black English", "Ebonics", "Ghetto English" and what have you. 

The problem is that I didn't speak the local language.  Oh, sure, I could mimic it, if I wanted to, but, why should I?  I don't do things just to fit in, I never have, and don't plan on starting now.

This is all old news to many of you who know me.  I've covered this ground before, but there is something different about it today.  You see, tomorrow, Barack Hussein Obama is going to be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States... and he talks like me.

I had planned to give a long discussion about who the "black community" will or won't embrace for different reasons.. I had planned to talk about how, when Obama's campaign first started, many black "leaders" were concerned that Obama wasn't black enough.  I had planned to vent about all sorts of things associated with the accusation of "acting white".  But, as I sit here, taking a break from getting ready for tomorrow's event, I find that I no longer have the energy to put into it.

I simply want to say that Barack Obama's accomplishment in winning the Presidency  has highlighted the fact that  no matter what community you were raised in, or live in, achievement speaks for itself.  Reading, learning, being well-spoken, scholarship, and integrity, are the paths to success... no matter what color your skin is.

I'll close by giving a special shout-out to those family members, fellow students, colleagues, black pundits and civil rights leaders, journalists, and others who have ever tormented or criticized any black person about speaking standard English.  You need to hear this, from me, to you.

Go **** yourselves. 

We aren't "acting white", we are acting like Americans who have as much a stake in this country as anyone else does.  We are acting like Americans who have an inherent right to the blessings that accrue from our citizenship.  We are acting like this is our country... because it is. 

This is OUR time.

Ambition and What You'll Do to Achieve "Success"

You can say a lot of things about me.  Some of them pretty good.  Some of them neutral, and some of them bad.  That's OK, because that's just the way people are.  It is my hope that people think more good things about me than bad, but there you are.

One thing that I can honestly say that no one will ever be able to say about me is that anything that I have achieved in my life, was achieved by being a boot-licking butt kisser.

Yesterday, while conducting training for Tuesday's big event, I had the unhappy experience of seeing a guy who, once upon a time, had been part of my tight circle of friends, following the bosses around like some sort of dog waiting for a pat on the head from his master. 

It breaks my heart to see it. 

 

Mustang Sally

You know that song, right?  The one made famous by Wilson Pickett in 1967?  Well, this post isn't about that song.  Nor is it about a woman named Sally.  It is about a woman, though... and a Ford Mustang.

It's about my Mother-In-Law.

Yes, my mother-in-law.

My mother in law has a new car, and it's a 2008 Ford Mustang.  At this point you may be laughing, and that's a good thing.  Laughter is healthy, but hear me on this:  Mrs GF and I don't think it's particularly funny. 

You know, what I think is really cool is that my in-laws, nice folks that they are, are in an enviable position.  My father in law is a retired railroad worker, and as such has the most awesome pension package around.  He also retired from the Army Reserve as a Sergeant Major, again, not a shabby pension.  My mother in law is entitled to a pension in her own right from the railroad for being married to a retired railroad worker... I'm not sure how that works, but good on her is what I say.  My point is that they don't really want for much.  They own their home.  When they want a new car, they pick it out and write a check.  Like I said, an enviable position for any old person (or young person), right?

Well, the in laws like to have a nice car, as anyone would, and so recently, it was time for MIL to retire her car and get a new one.  My in laws, being good Americans, decided to go with a Ford, which is common for them.

So they bought her... SoccerGirls grandmother... a woman in her 80's, a Mustang.

A Mustang!  What were they thinking?  A mustang... WTF?  Now, I get that it's a nice looking car... I have always said that if I had the wherewithal to buy a sports car, it would be a Mustang... but c'mon.

I suppose that in bizzaro-world, where my MIL lives, it's a nice sized car that looks nice, so what's the beef, right?  Well, that only goes so far when you stop to consider that my MIL is Bat Shit C-R-A-Z-Y!  This is a woman that never drives on the highway, doesn't drive at night, and can go for a week without driving 20 miles.  A Mustang.

You've got to be kidding me.  She is going to destroy that high-performance engine by driving that car, at little old lady speed, to go to church once a week.  I guess the best thing that can be said about it is that whoever owns that car next is going to get him/herself a nice ride that hasn't been worked too hard.

 

WTF were they thinking?