Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life

O Canada!

This is the sixth post in a series whose topics were picked by my readers and pals.  If you are just tuning in and want to watch me make a fool of myself by posting about whatever is on your mind, drop me an email sometime and I'll see what I can do.  

My new pal, Vicar Mick, asked me to talk about my views and opinions of Canada, his home and native land.  With a glowing heart I will try to explain my feelings about our neighbors from the true north, strong and free.

I have had an interesting personal relationship with Canada and some very special Canadians for the past ten year.... long before I started blogging, I was surfing the 'net when I found an interesting website called "Canadian World Domination".  Through my interaction with the fine folks on that forum, I learned a great dela about Canada.  I learned about the Avro Arrow... I learned about Poutine (a boy from New Jersey would have no reason to know about it otherwise), I learned some things about Canadian history, I learned a bit about Canadian politics, which means I had to learn a bit about a chap named Stockwell Day and most importantly, I learned a bit about Canadian attitudes about things, particularly about Americans.

Anyway, I have been to Canada, and have had the opportunity to, briefly, have a look at the country.

I liked what I saw.

Here are some of my observations of Canada:

*Generally speaking, the people are pretty nice... which doens't mean that there aren't some real pricks there, too... but in the main, pretty nice.

*Canadian cities like Vancouver and Montreal are cleaner that cities in America The United States (I also learned that Canadians can be prickly about the use of the word America).

*Canada is governed by a bi-cameral Parliamentary system, whose head of government is a Prime Minister (Stephen Harper at the moment... and no, I didn't have to look that up).

*Canada has more interesting looking money than the United States... and it has one and two dollar coins with cool names like the Loonie and the Toonie (Mrs GF and I were in Vancouver when the Toonie was first issued).  They get big points on style for that.

*Canada is the home country of great entertainers, like William Shatner, Neve Campbell, the late Phill Hartman, Michael J. Fox, The Barenakedladies, Monty Hall & Alex Trebek, Dan Ackroyd, Mike Meyers and many, many others.  Canadian Athletes include Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieu, and all but five players in the National Hockey League.  All of which would be fine... if Canada wasn't also responsible for Pamela Anderson (ewww), Jim Carrey, and freakin' Celine Dion (super ewww with noogies on top).

*Canada is a place of great natural beauty... with huge amounts of wide open space.

*Canada is larger, geographically, than The United States, with a much smaller population.

*Vancouver, British Columbia is a city that I could be happy living in.

OK, those are some very general things about Canada... let me tell you a few personal observations.  As much as Canadians have to be proud of (and I don't mean burning the White House), they sometimes seem awfully smug when talking to Americans.  This baffles me at times, because despite protestations to the contrary, Canadians and Americans, in the main, aren't very different, one from another.  Those differfences mean less and less when you start getting regional.  Someone from Maine has more in common with someone from Quebec than they might with somone from, say... Alabama.  The same applies to somone from Manitoba and an American from Minnesota or North Dakota having more in common than they might with someone from west Texas.

We listen to the same music (mostly), we speak the same language (mostly), we eat the same foods (but I'm not eating poutine, and none of my Canadian friends have an affinity for grits), and we watch the same things on television (but I miss Canadian shows like Street Legal).

In my view, Americans and Canadians share so much of their national histories, and so much of our wider cultures, it is difficult, for me, to see all of us as different people.  I never consider Canadians to be foreigners.  I suppose our similarites shouldn't be surprising when you consider that an estimated 80 persent of the Canadain population lives within 200 miles of the U.S. border.

Hmm... have I left anything out?  Oh, Canada also has another great thing going for it... a journalist named Peter Mansbridge, the great news anchor.

Lastly, and not to suck up to anyone... some of my favorite Bloggers are Canadian, that has to count for something,  doesn't it?

I happen to like Canada, and more importantly, Canadians quite a bit, but I still think that Brownies are better than Nanaimo bars.

GF

Great Gunfighter Giveaway: The Lightning Round

Go over to the great gunfighter giveaway, and see what's next.  You only have until 8 P.M. tomorrow to get in with the goods!

GF

Hymns I Hate

• This is the fifth post in a series of posts whose topics were picked by my readers and pals.  If you are just tuning in and want to watch me make a fool of myself by posting about whatever is on your mind, drop me an email sometime and I'll see what I can do.   Today's post was suggested by Mr. Richard Faeder, of Fort Lee, New Jersey...
  

Are you a church-going person?  Have you ever been a church-going person?  Do you like to sing in church?  Well, I was raised in the church, and I loved to sing in church.  I still do.  When I was a little boy, there were lots of hymns that I really loved... and some... well, not so much.   The older (and more crotchety) I get, I am less and less thrilled with some of them.  Mrs Gunfighter suggested today's topic, and since it is Sunday, I thought I would post it for her.

I am going to try and refrain from getting ugly about some of these songs, but, alas, I fear I may not be able to throttle back.

Here Goes:

Let Us Go Now To The Banquet:  I. hate. this. song.  Mainly because it is kind of song-songy, and it probably sounds a heck of a lot better in Spanish, which is the language in which it was written.  Maybe it works better in the American southwest because of the greater influence of Latino culture and shared music (Tejano & Country Western). Hey, I don't have a problem with changing the lyrics because of language issues, but if you are going to do it, you should do it right.  Here is an example of when it works right:  A Mighty Fortress is Our God.  You see, this song works just as well in English as it does in the original German.

What makes matters worse, we usually sing this hymn in a key that is so high pitched, that I can practically hear all of the neighborhood dogs clawing to get into the church when we sing it.

The lake shore song:  You know... I'm not even sure of the real name of this hymn... which doesn't change the way I feel about it.  I will say that the one thing that this song has going for it, over some songs that I can't stand, is that we sing it in a key that most people can sing in... not that it matters, enough of the congregation hates the song enough to not bother singing it when it is being played.  Having said that, I still keep it in the "Hate it" category because it is tedious.

This Little Light of mine:  Now, I really don't hate this song.  Not at all.  I grew up singing it, as much as probably many of you have.  No... the problem with this song is that I go to church with a fairly diverse crowd... which is to say, most of the congregation is white.  Which doesn't mean that white people can't sing.  What I mean is that it is a congregation of Lutherans.  There.  I said it.  Lutherans.

God Bless 'em... I love Lutherans... they are a great deal of fun to go to church with... but they aren't really the most demonstrative people on earth... and the concept of clapping along with a hymn is alien... downright frightening to many of them. 

You know this song, right?  Easy to sing.  Easy for everyone (even the men) to sing. Easy lyrics, up-tempo, makes you feel good.  Good things, right?  Something to make a rockin' finish to the service, right?  Well, not so much.  Some days I wish that we could import a gospel choir to sing this song just once, and show these folks how to do it right... because I gotta tell you, if I have to hear the pastor remind the congregation that "OK, folks, this is an AFRICAN-AMERICAN hymn... you can clap... really"  one more time, I think I'll scream.

There are other hymns that I am not terribly fond of, but those are the ones that I can think of by name... fortunately for me, There are many hymns that I really love, so I have plenty of balance.

Adendum:  At church, this morning, we sang some of my favorite hymns, and my MOST favorite communion hymn:  "One Bread, One Body"

The War of 1812 - Causes, Results

War.

 

Sometimes we call them Conflicts, or police actions; popular liberation movements; insurgencies; or even armed resistance... but they are all just different terms for war.

From time immemorial there have been wars and rumors of wars, and no doubt this trend will continue, if the current levels of blood-letting around the world are any indicator.  It has ever been thus. 

My country was born of a war (well actually at least three wars), and has been at war, off and on, with other nations for the last two hundred and thirty three years.

Today, I want to talk about one war in particular.  As you have cleverly deduced from the title of this post, and the map there to your left, I want to talk about the War of 1812.  The War of 1812... at least that is what most Americans call it.  Some have the cheek to call it the second American war for independence, which I reject completely.

Janet, this is for you, my friend.

Look, the war of 1812 had many causes, and the impressment of American sailors by the British navy was among them... but that was really just an excuse,  Especially since most of those sailors were British deserters.  No, the war really wasn't about sailors.  The war of 1812 was mostly about Napoleon Bonaparte.  Yeah... him.

You realize, of course that the war of 1812 was fought during some of the fiercest fighting if the Napoleonic wars, right?  Well, this was just sort of an expansion.

The American "war Hawks" figured we could just use a few excuses : The Leopard incident, British garrisons in Canada, trade disputes, and the stopping of American ships on the high seas, and we could have a lovely little war to kick the British out of North America once and for all.

See, some of our stupider leaders, and unfortunately I count Mr. Jefferson among them, thought that oppressed Canadians would rise up against the British and join the invading, crusading, marauding, um... liberating Americans as some sort of saviors, especially those in Catholic Quebec.  Jefferson even said that the reduction of Canada would be a matter of "some marching"

Ahem.

Naturally it didn't work like that.  You see, it all went bad from the beginning since many of the state militias that were mobilized to fight in Canada, refused to do so.  Those parts of our unprepared army that did fight, weren't particularly well equipped or particularly well led.

The United States and the British, as well as Canadian militias fought back and forth, trading the destruction of York (now Toronto), for the burning of Washington, DC.

Neither side gained a clear upper hand and the Americans were reminded of exactly how tough the Redcoats were.  The Redcoats were reminded of how vast America was... and as a result, REALLY difficult to conquer.

Eventually, cooler heads prevailed and the Treaty of Ghent was signed (before Andy Jackson whipped the British at New Orleans).

The problem is: The United States didn't get to annex Canada, and the British couldn't conquer the upstart Americans.

People like to debate, from time to time about who really won the war of 1812... some of my Canadian friends like to proudly (or smugly) thump their chests about how they burned Washington (despite the fact that there were very very few Canadian troops involved in that operation)... they seem to think that THEY won the war.  Some British people think that since they didn't lose any territory to the Americans, that THEY won the war.  Many Americans think that since the British were decisively beaten at New Orleans, that WE won the war.

So... who did win the war of 1812?

Canada:  Our northern neighbors, who weren't militarily significant for most of the war (apart from the Isaac Brock fellow... who was an Irishman), got a sense of self-identification that they didn't have before then.

The United States:  Because we proved strong enough to maintain our own security... and trade status.

I guess you could say that the British "lost" the war, but that wouldn't really be true either.  You see, all of the borders that existed before the war were in place after the war.  Further, the British handily beat the best that the U.S. could throw at them militarily.

There you have it, Janet, The War of 1812.

Oh, that part about Napoleon?  It's true.  Who do you think REALLY could have benefitted from a war like that.  Napoleon was just trying to take some pressure off of his armies.  It didn't work, because Napoleon was defeated during our war with the British, leading to the arrival of several tough, veteran regiments, some of which were responsible for burning Washington.

***NOTE*** This is the fourth post in a series of posts whose topics were picked by my readers and pals.  If you are just tuning in and want to watch me make a fool of myself by posting about whatever is on your mind, drop me an email sometime and I'll see what I can do.

Book Review: Russian Amerika

The premise of this book begins with the fact that Czar Nicholas, of Russia, survived and beat back the Russian revolution in 1917.  This means that at the time of the story, 1987-88, the Czars are still ruling Russia.  In this world, North America is made up of The United States, The Confederate States, The First People's Nation, New France (Quebec), British Canada, The Republic of California, Deseret, The Republic of Texas, New Spain (Mexico), and Russian Amerika (Alaska).

The story opens with a charter boat Captain who runs afoul of the Czar's intelligence apparatus, and ends up in an Alaskan gulag, before the Russians can work him to death, he and other prisoners are rescued by a heretofore unknown liberation group made up largely by Den Indians (what we might refer to today as Athabaskans).

It turns out that the Den aren't too happy about life under the Czar and his brutal Cossacks, and they have decided to do something about it.  Their armed resistance was a growing nuisance to the Russians until they discovered that the charter boat Captain that they had rescued was a former officer in the Czar's "Troika Guard" (think Foreign Legion).  Major Grigoiy Pietrovich Grigiyevich was a godsend who eventually became the commander of the Den army, who, after some help from the Republic of California, and The United States led the Den army to victory and independence.

OK, not a bad book, not a great book, not a particularly well-written book, but not to shabby either.  It was fun enough to read... although the author's (Stoney Compton) grasp of the use of Russian patronymics could be a little sharper.  The premise was a bit different than many of the alternate histories that we often see, so the gets points for that.  Compton loses points for making the book overly romantic in that all of the good guys are sterling characters and all of the Russians are moral degenerates.

As I said, it was fun enough to read, especially if you enjoy the genre.

GF

A Favorite Poem

"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw.  Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;...

...this is the way the world ends:

Not with a bang, but with a whimper."

 

        T.S. Eliot  "The Hollow Men"

Shhh! I'm Reading.

               

 

            Day To Read

 

 

Tommorrow is the Day To Read

I won't be reading any blogs tomorrow.  I won't be doing anything online that isn't work related except emailing.  I'll be reading.

 

Yeah, all of my blogging and so forth will be skipped tomorrow because of something pretty cool that a pal of mine is doing.  Some of you may already know one of my first bloggy pals, Soccer Mom in Denial, if you don't know her, go and read her blog for a while... it'll be worth your time, I promise.

Anyway, SMID (as she is known by those who love her), had the idea, last year, to turn off the PC for a while and reconnect with books.  I couldn't be more supportive.

As you know, I love to read. So tomorrow, I plan to finish two of the books that I am currently reading.

I'll be back on Friday to tell you about them.

Here they are, they are both very different, but really good:

 

"How To Be A Monastic Without Leaving Your Day Job"  A great book about the Oblates of the Order of St. Benedict.

 

"Russian Amerika" by Stoney Compton.  An original tale of alternate history in whic Alaska is Imperial Russian territory... in 1987

The Dallas Cowboys: What's Their Problem?

***NOTE*** This is the third post in a series of posts whose topics were picked by my readers and pals.  If you are just tuning in and want to watch me make a fool of myself by posting about whatever is on your mind, drop me an email sometime and I'll see what I can do.

I have been asked to talk about a few things that concern the Dallas Cowboys.  You know... the football team.

Now, you know that I'm not a real fan of any sport except for southern hemisphere rugby, so talking about the NFL isn't something that I can do with a lot of depth or authority... but, here we go.

As near as I can tell, the problems with the Cowboys have nothing to do with their inabiltiy to make the important plays or the fact that their quarterback has the poor taste to date Jessica Simpson, or anything detailed like that.

As near as I can tell, the biggest problem with the Dallas Cowboys is this:  They are from Texas... and we all know that Texas is... well... just a little er... "different".

Happy Epiphany!

Today (with just a minute to spare), let me wish you a very happy close to the Christmas season, as we clebrate the arrival of Melchior, Balthazar, and Caspar, also known as the three wise men, or Magi, whose visit began the revelation of the divine nature of Jesus of Nazareth, who would later become the Christ.

Epiphany is celebrated for a number of reasons/events through the Christian world, and eastern and western Christians have different focal points on the event.  Generally, western Christians are focused on the event of the arrival of the Magi for the Baptism of Jesus... but all of the miricals of Christ's youth, including the miracle at Cana are celebrated.

God bless you.