The Peek

This year, I wanted to do something really nice for my wife on Valentine's Day. It's not I don't normally do something nice, but I am usually a schmaltzy-card-and-expensive-chocolate kind of guy. This year I wanted to give my wife a present that would be cool, useful, and completely surprise her.

After a bit of deliberation, I figured out what it would be: a smartphone! smartphones are cool, aren't they?, I know that they can be useful, and I know that it would completely surprise her. So I went and looked at various smartphones. They had touchscreens, email, web-browsers and all the other bells and whistles that I could ask for... they also cost a couple hundred dollars. Well, it isn't like I'm a tightwad or anything, I could afford to buy her one of those things, but while the cost of the gadget being one thing, the service plans were quite another. No thanks.

What to do?

Well, the answer was simplicity in itself. I went to my local Target store and purchased The Peek!

The Peek is an email device that will allow you to receive email from as many as three different personal email addresses. It doesn't browse the web. It doesn't include a GPS beacon, It doesn't remind you to pick up your kids from their horseback lessons. Most importantly, it doesn't try to do all of these things and be a telephone, too.

The Peek is the email device for everyone. It is well designed, simple to operate, incredibly easy to set up, and best of all, there is no service contract and you get unlimited emailing service for $20 per month!

Some of you, by now are sitting at your desk, muttering about your smartphone saying: "Yeah but I can text with my smartphone!" Sure, you can do that, but you can do that with The Peek as well. If you use some online applications, you can even Tweet & blog from your Peek!

The Peek is thin, fits well in your hand, and the screen is large enough to see well, even if your eyes are not as young as they used to be... like mine. The Peek is the device to have if you just want away-from-home access to your email, and you already have a cellular phone. It's the gadget that even non-techie types will love.

Right, so it's functional, comes in cool colors (I have the charcoal, Mrs Gunfighter has the cherry), it's easy to set up, and doesn't cost much to operate. All of those things are good news. Now let me give you one more piece of news: The Peek, which normally sells for $100, is now on sale for $49.95.

That's right, $49.95... Compare that to the popular smartphones or blueberry devices out there.

Go get one of these things, and then get one for your sweetie. You'll be glad you did!

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, your place is well-deserved.

CD Review: Melissa Etheridge - A New Thought For Christmas

As has become my custom, I am reviewing this year's best new buys in Christmas music. Here is the first (and best) of this year:

Melissa Etheridge - A New Thought For Christmas

In this new offering, Etheridge covers some tried and true Christmas standards on this CD, but her aim was to have a CD that focused on the theme of "Peace on Earth" and has included some original songs that I believe will immediately become holiday classics in their own right.

Etheridge's voice is as bluesy and as soulful as ever, and the arrangements are awesome. Guitar solo's by Phillip Sayce are a high point in a recording full of high points.

As much as I enjoyed all of the songs on the CD, the following songs really stand out:

Christmas in America; Glorious; Merry Christmas Baby; and Glorious.

As I said earlier, Etheridge covers some standards on this CD, but don't let that lead you to believe that she does the same old songs, the same old way... she doesn't.

Now, listen to your old friend Gunfighter... give this album a listen and I promise that you won't be disappointed. This recording is THE one not to miss this year.

Merry Christmas!

Gunfighter

Book Review: Extreme Measures

Last year, I reviewed a Vince Flynn novel called Protect & Defend and told you all how much I enjoyed it. Well, author Vince Flynn has released his latest offering, and it doesn't disappoint.

In his newest novel, released October 21st, Flynn once again delves into not only the dirty, vile, morally indefensible world of radical Islamic terrorism, but also gets into the morass of Washington, DC politics.

Flynn's main character, Mitchell Rapp, is a clandestine CIA operator, a counter-terrorist operator who works out in the field, killing or capturing the avowed enemies of the United States, and he is good at what he does. When the novel opens, we find Rapp and another operator interrogating two senior Taliban/Al Qaeda prisoners about a terror operation that is about to take place inside the United States. Not surprisingly, the terrorists believe that they can hang tough and not answer questions due to post-Abu Ghraib political pressures.

They didn't count on meeting Mitch Rapp.

Rapp was having some success getting information from the prisoners, when the base commander, looking to protect his own ass, put a stop to the harsh interrogation, and had the Military Police arrest Rapp and hold him in custody.

The CIA get's Rapp out of jail and whisks him back to Washington, where he and operative Mike Nash have to do major damage control, appearing before Congress, taking heat from chair-warming bureaucrats etc... While all this is happening, the terrorist cell that is plotting an attack arrives in the United States and heads to Washington, DC.

I don't want to give too many spoilers here, so I'll end here... except to say that during the attacks, my favorite Capitol Hill watering hole, the Hawk 'n Dove was destroyed.

Anyway, in Rapp's inimitable fashion he goes about hunting down and killing as many of the perpetrators as possible, along the way, making a very high-powered ally out of a political enemy.

Look, Flynn's novels aren't heavy. They aren't politically correct, either. They are exceptionally violent (although not mindlessly so). The characters swear, they talk about sex, they kill people, and they take their kids to LaCrosse practice. Flynn's novels are not likely to win any fiction prizes, either, as they are fairly formulaic, but what they are mostly is a whole lot of fun.

I highly recommend this book.

Book Review: The Scourge of God

One of my favorite authors, S.M. Stirling is at it again, with his newest publication, The Scourge of God (A novel of The Change).

This new offering takes place in the year 2021, which is also known as CY (change year) 23. In this world that Stirling has crafted, there was a "Change" that took place in 1998, wherein all electricity, mysteriously ceased working. Internal combustion engines stopped firing, gunpowder no longer burned, and Nuclear power plants went dead. In this world, all at once, the lights went out, and a new age began.

In the first three installments of what will eventually be seven (I think) novels, we saw exactly what this loss of technology and power meant to the world in general, and the United States in particular, through several point-of-view characters: Mike Havel, former Marine and pilot who is transporting a wealthy man and his family on a private charter plane when "the lights went out"; Juniper McKenzie, a bard/busker who is a single mother as well as an active member of a group of Wiccans; and Norman Arminger, who is a not-very-nice member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

In these novels, Stirling shows us, in sometimes very stark detail, that despite our claims at "civilization", we are no further removed from what we would call barbarism, than a few missed meals, and a few dark nights. The characters in these novels not only survive, but thrive in a world very different than the one they knew.

In this newest installment, young Rudi McKenzie (the son of Mike Havel and Juniper McKenzie), and a band of young people from the various new nations that were born out of the chaos in the Pacific northwest, have set out on a quest to get to the center of the mystery of "The Change", which lies in the retrieval of a sword, from far-away Nantucket island. The problem is that in order for McKenzie and his friends have to get to Nantucket, they have to traverse most of what used to be the United States, which means crossing the territory of the very hostile United States of Boise, bands of un-friendly "neo-Sioux", and the Army of the Church Universal Triumphant (CUT)

Mind you, this is no sword and sorcery novel (well, maybe it is, I guess that depends on your view of science fiction), but it will certainly appeal to people who enjoy that genre as well as anyone who enjoys "time displacement" stories as well.

I won't give any spoilers, but if I were a science fiction reader who had never had the pleasure of reading anything by Stirling, I would run... run, not walk, to your nearest bookseller and start reading S.M. Stirling's stuff.

You'll be glad you did.

The Mako Group T-Pod

The Mako Group T-Pod expandable bi-pod/vertical M-4 grip, at first blush, seems to be a very useful tool. Right from the beginning, I noticed that in the closed position, this product fit my hand much better than the issued vertical grip, which is manufactured by Knight’s Armament.

The T-Pod was very easy to install, and remained secure throughout my test. When used as a vertical grip, the T-pod suits me well. It is large enough to fit my hands, and didn’t slip at all. In this capacity I give it good marks.

When used as a bi-pod, the T-Pod is a very stable platform, but there, my kudos come to an end. As I said, the T-Pod is useful and stable as a vertical grip and in the open position, but the problems for this item begin when transitioning from one use to the other. The T-Pod is difficult to get into operation because you have two push two buttons to open it and extend the spring-loaded legs. The fact that the two buttons are close together helps some, but even with my big hands, I had to do some manipulating to get them open at the same time.

Once in the open position, the shooter isn’t able to use the grip itself, since it splits down the middle. In this configuration, the shooter must either grip one half of the open bi-pod or the front hand-guard of the rifle.

Another problem with this item occurs when the shooter transitions from the Bi-Pod configuration back to the vertical grip. In order to close the Bi-Pod, the shooter must squeeze the split parts together (being careful not to pinch the palm of the hand), then push both buttons, and press the legs against some sort of hard object to get them to load back into the grip.

If you were using this product for varmint hunting, I think it would serve just fine, but tactically, I don’t particularly care for it.

Book Review: "A" is For Atticus

You know me, don't you?

You know about lots of things in my life, because in my narcissism, I love talking about myself sharing things with you. Not only do you know of my love for my family, you also know that I love some really crappy television shows, and politics. You know that I own several kilts, and that I have a few tattoos. You know what I do for a living, that I teach Sunday School and coach youth soccer.

You also know that I love to read.

I recently had the good fortune to review a new book from the Hachette Group called "A" is for Atticus, by Lorilee Craker.

I have had the pleasure of reviewing lots of books, but this is a new thing for me, because it is the first time because I have ever reviewed a baby name book. Truthfully, I had no real expectations from the book, because I figured that it would be another collection of names with some sort of focus. I was about to be surprised.

As you know, there are a huge number of baby name books out there, and many of them have a particular focus, giving parents an incredible wealth of potential names for their soon-to-be-born children. As you can imagine, all of these books start to look alike in a very short amount of time.

Those of you who have become parents since the dawn of the Internet, also know that there are innumerable resources for baby names online... and that there are computer models that track the popularity of names and identify trends in baby names.

This book is a different because it is all about names from great books. Think about that... how many times have you read a book and thought to yourself "THAT would be a great name for a child"? I have done that more than once, and if we, by some miracle of heaven, ever have a boy child, his name will be Hamish... the Scottish form of James (Bond... James Bond).

Thumbing through this book of names made me smile, alot. Seeing the names of so many familiar characters can't help but remind you of the joy of a lifetime of reading. If you are the reading sort and are planning to have children, you should give this book a try. If you are someone that reads, and you would like to have something of a reminder of your old "friends" from literature, this book is a must.

GF

PS: Can you get better than Atticus Finch?