The Little Finger Is Heading to Iraq

Some time ago, I wrote a couple posts about my male offspring (aka The Little Finger) shipping out to Fort Jackson for Basic Training. After 3 months of BT and 6 months of AIT, he finally returned home in October 2008 to settle in with his Minnesota Army National Guard unit. In November, he got the word that his unit, the 34th "Red Bull" Infantry Division, was being activated and would be heading for Iraq. Well, that time is upon us. He will be flying to Fort Lewis in Washington state in a couple days. After a several weeks of pre-deployment training, he and his fellow Red Bulls will head for Kuwait and then Iraq.

This is, obviously, a time of mixed emotions. I am very proud of my son, not only for his military service, but for the man he has become and will be. As a father, I am also concerned for his safety, even though I know things are better in Iraq that two years ago. I am also going to miss having him around. Other than my mother, he's my favorite person with which to spend time. For the next year or so, we'll have to settle for letters, email and the occasional conversation on Skype.

Here are a couple pics of this fine young man:

My McCain VP Prediction

I have made this prediction in conversations, but have not committed it to paper...I mean, electrons. Since it has been reported that McCain has finally decided on his running mate, I thought the time was right to put myself out on a limb. (As a side note, I predicted Obama would pick Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, which turned out to be oh, so wrong when he announced "Slow Joe" Biden at three o'clock in the morning. Thus far, I'm not doing very well in the area of prophetic utterances - subcategory: VP selections.)

There have been essentially three prominent names bouncing around the last week or so:  Mitt Romney, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Joe Lieberman, the erstwhile running mate of Al "Carbon Credit" Gore.

Although Lieberman and McCain may be good friends, I would be shocked if he got the nod. The obvious negative for Lieberman is that, aside from being a national defense hawk, he is a Liberal. That's with a capital "L". McCain cannot afford to alienate the Conservatives any more than he already has. Perhaps the less obvious problem with Lieberman is that any voters he might draw would already be inclined to support McCain.

Romney, has a lot of positives. He has been a governor in a very Liberal state, successfully salvaged the Los Angeles Olympics, has lots of his own money and, as far as we know, is scandal-free. However, given the recent so-called gaffe regarding the number of homes McCain and (primarily) his wife own, having another wealthy guy on the ticket could play right into the Dems "class envy" strategy for demonizing Republicans.

Tim Pawlenty would be a good choice for several reasons. He is young, but not too young. He is a two-term governor with plenty of political and leadership experience. (This is a nice contrast with Obama's youth and inexperience.) He has a blue-collar background, is smart and articulate, is very charming and personable (all in contrast to Joe Biden). Pawlenty is fiscally conservative, pro-Second Amendment and pro-Life. Pawlenty is a bit thin when it comes to foreign policy. Minnesota governors do a lot of foreign travel to promote trade between Minnesota and other countries, which is the main reason I used the word "thin" instead of "non-existent". In my view, this isn't a major problem since McCain has plenty of foreign policy experience. 

An area that really bothers me about Pawlenty, may actually work in his favor as VP.  A long time ago, in an Iowa far, far away John McCain very famously spoke out very firmly against farm subsidies for ethanol production. McCain has continued to repeat his opposition to ethanol subsidies as recently as this month. Pawlenty, on the other hand, has been a big advocate for ethanol fuel. Although this is what drives me nuts about Pawlenty, it might help McCain in Iowa, Minnesota and other corn producing states to have him on the ticket.

Well, on Friday John McCain will announce his running mate and I'll find out if my powers of prediction are as good as a coin toss.

Thompson Exits Stage Right

Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson has given up his run for the White House. I still have not settled on a candidate yet, but Fred was high on my list. None of the Republican candidates are perfect. However, Thompson's positions seemed to be closest to my own. I did not catch many of the debates, but from what I did see, Thompson impressed me the most. With his departure, he will likely end up on the short list of possible running mates along with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

As for the other candidates, I will comment on them when I am not so busy at the office.

Shipping Out - UPDATE

The Little Finger called me from the airport earlier today to inform me that he will be going to Fort Jackson, SC instead of Fort Benning. Everything else will go as scheduled.

By the way, we went to The Water Horse, which was pretty good. As for dinner, well, the "carnage" was fabulous.

Shipping Out

Well, the day has finally arrived. No, I am not talking about the Iowa caucuses. My male offspring (aka the Little Finger) will be shipping out to Fort Benning, Georgia for Basic Training. He joined the Minnesota Army National Guard last June. (Due to a scheduled family event, he was able to get his Basic Training delayed.) He will be at Fort Benning until March 2008 and then will move to Fort Gordon, Georgia to begin is 6+ month Advanced Individual Training. If you haven't done the math, that means that he will be gone for about 9 months. He's looking forward to the experience. I suspect he doesn't quite realize what he's going to experience. Well, I was about 3 years younger than he is when I went to Basic. If I was able to make it through, he should be fine. Well, we've got about 9 hours before I must entrust his care and feeding to the U. S. Army. We've got a movie to see and a steak dinner to eat.

Needless to say, I am a very proud father.

If You Think You Had a Lousy Christmas...

... it could have been worse.  According to this AP story, an Iowa man spent more than an hour stuck head-first in the opening of his septic tank on Christmas Eve.

This story helps me put my own Christmas Eve in perspective.  My 21 year old son and I made the annual Christmas pilgrimage to my mother's home in west-central Minnesota this past weekend. Since Christmas fell on a Tuesday, we celebrated the holiday a little early this year. As we were returning home on Christmas Eve, the alternator of my vehicle failed about a mile from the nearest town. I ended up having it towed to a closed automobile repair shop which would not open until the following Wednesday (today).  The rest of my Christmas Eve was spent in a hotel room. Fortunately, my good friend Mondo was willing and able (barely) to make the one hour drive on Christmas Morning and bring us back the the Twin Cities. As of this writing, it appears that I will once again be fully mobile by this time tomorrow.

While my Christmas Eve was inconvenient and rather expensive, I can honestly say that it was better than spending an hour head-first in a septic tank.

When in Doubt, Swipe a Meme.

The following meme is courtesy of Muzzy.

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?

Well, I suppose the most interesting one is also the smallest and is getting harder to see as the years pass. When I was in elementary school, my father was a Christian Education Director at a Lutheran church in Bismarck, North Dakota. My parents were chaperoning a high school youth event in the basement of the church. One of the activities was darts. I was standing safely off to the side when my younger sister, who was probably 4-5 years old, insisted on giving it a try. Her release point was a little off and the dart hit me square in the right shoulder. It didn't bleed much when I pulled it out, but it hurt like the dickens.

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?

Several Official Lord of the Rings replica swords. Sure, folks may laugh at my mighty swords, but a guy's gotta have a hobby.

3. WHAT DOES YOUR CELL PHONE LOOK LIKE?

Interestingly enough, it looks just like a cell phone. Imagine that.

4. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO?

I'm not real particular, but I prefer music with intelligent lyrics. That eliminates most pop, rap, hip hop, heavy metal, hard rock, and surf music.

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?

No, but I'm reasonably sure it was between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM give or take a couple minutes.

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?

To be able to go back in time and change some of the decisions I made, say some things I should have said and not say some things I did say. The most depressing thing about getting older is that you can look back and see what an fool you were when you were young.

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS AT TIMES?

My first inclination was to say, "My father", but I miss him all the time. He went to be with the Lord almost 10 years ago. What I miss at times is having a normal family life. I'll just leave it at that.

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION?

My father's bible.

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL?

Baking bread. It smells like home.

The World Revolves Around Meme

I really hate those emails that get passed around in which the recipient is admonished to forward the email to at least ten others or risk angering the Furies. If that were true I should have been a crispy critter a long time ago. I don't have quite that much disdain for the meme phenomena, which is why I decided to take my tagging like a man. So here goes:


Name a song...

... that was big part of your childhood.
The Banana Splits Theme

... that makes you cry.
I'm Not In Love by 10cc (Big boys don't cry).

... that reminds you of a former love.
Someone Saved My Life Tonight by Elton John.

... that reminds you of a friend.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears For Fears. (This one's for you, Max)

... that is stuck in your head right now.
Black Horse & The Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall.

... that makes you laugh.
Political Science by Randy Newman.

... that reminds you of a bad time in your life.
A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum

... that you would dedicate to a friend.
Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me by Buck Owens & Roy Clark. (You know who you are.)

... that makes you smile.
The Poopsmith Song by Over the Rhine

... that you never want to hear again.
Anything by Rod Stewart.

... that you would like to have played at your wedding
Pledge My Head to Heaven by Keith Green.

... that reminds you of your teenage years.
Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees.

... that you would love to hear upon awakening.
I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash.

... that reminds you of your first major crush.
Hot For Teacher by Van Halen. (Okay, it was Kindergarten but a crush is a crush.)

... that you loved from your parents' record collection.
Car-Car and Jesus Met the Woman from the album "Peter, Paul & Mary In Concert".

... that you think the video was better than the song.
Thriller by Michael Jackson.

... that reminds you of your current s.o. or spouse.
Unfortunately, I don't even have an insignificant other.

... that you think was better as a remake than the original.
Joe Cocker's remake of Randy Newman's You Can Leave Your Hat On.

... that you're embarrassed for liking.
Hand In My Pocket by Alanis Morissette.

... that makes you think of sex.
I try not to think about it.

... that you could have written.
Abracadabra by Steve Miller.

... that makes you sad.
The Path of Thorns (Terms) by Sarah McLachlan.

... that fires you up.
If I Had a Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn.

... that makes you want to dance.
Mysterious Ways by U2.

... that you listened to most recently.
Suitcase by Over the Rhine.

... that sums up your way of looking at life.
Alive by P.O.D.


I now pass the meme baton to Mr. Cognito.

The Prodigal Blogger Returns...

...for now. I have been known to take a blogging hiatus from time to time, but this last one was shockingly long (even by my standards!). It started out with blog fatigue and ended up taking on a life of it's own. Newton's Law of Inertia appears to hold true in the blogosphere as well! The obvious follow-up question is to ask what outside force caused my trajectory back into 'blog orbit'. Well, it was not my recent YouTube posts. They were just easy to do and served to break the ice. The outside force will be the subject of a future post.

One change I have made recently was to change the name of this blog from The Impudent Finger to The Impudent One. Why, you may ask, would I do that? In a word, compassion. I kept imagining all the disappointed faces of those whose Google searches directed them here -- a modest blog that lacks the content which they were immodestly seeking. I'd wish them good luck, but I don't believe in luck and nothing they are seeking is good.

On that low note, I'll be signing off. Good night and good...er...never mind.

~~ The Impudent One ~~