**

With a guest named Gustav. What fun.

It was about three years ago that Hurricane Rita roared through our area, forcing my family's relocation from Lake Charles.We lost electricity for 11 days. It was a hell of a ride. This time though is different. For the past week, lines have been long at gas stations, store shelves have been steadily emptied and home improvement stores are running out of stock as people are preparing for the arrival.

That's a good thing. People are taking this one seriously and with good reason. The storm track, as of this writing, takes Gustav in over New Orleans, through central Louisiana (the Alexandria area) to west central Louisiana (Vernon and Beauregard Parishes ... my area) and then into East Texas. It is expected to make landfall as a cat. 3-4, hit our area as a cat. 1 and end up as a tropical storm or less as it moves into Texas.

The missus and I are on standby as mission essential emergency personnel and so the family is fated to ride this one out. I will lose my Labor Day holiday and report to work at 8 a.m. Monday. The mini-Gunns, will hold down the fort at Gunn Central, but we are fully prepared. We have food, water and other drinks to keep us running for a couple of weeks. The only thing I am really worried about is the very large Oak tree in my back yard falling on to my roof.

While I don't expect us to bear the brunt of Gustav like we did with Rita, I know that many parts of the state I love will be devastated again. All I can say is thank GOD for Bobby Jindal. The pre-response team is prepared and ready to swoop in as soon as the hurricane goes through and immediately begin providing help. I attribute this to our new governor's vision, preparedness and leadership. We are as ready as we can be for the emergency to come. THank you Governor Jindal.

Do me a favor. Send up a prayer for our people and if you have a few bucks to spare, throw it to the American Red Cross. I have a feeling they are going to need it.

I hope to have pics and updates throughout, but if not, don't worry. I'll talk to you on the other side.

Former Democratic National Committee National Chair Don Fowler and Democratic Congressman John Spratt of South Carolina discuss the timing and religious implications of Hurricane Gustav as it relates to the start of the Republican Nation Convention that starts Monday:

In case you missed it, here is a transcript:

The hurricane's going to hit New Orleans about the time they start. [Chuckle] The timing is -- at least it appears now that it'll be there Monday. That just demonstrates that God's on our side. [Laughter] ... Everything's cool.

All together now ... CLASSY! I think I need a shower after watching that.

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments are repaired! Feel free to go back over the past week's posts and comment. Thanks for playin!

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Do you remember (the one of you who are still reading me) when I talked about a job I was applying for a couple of years ago? The guy who I wanted to replace was a broadcaster for Camp Swampy and had gotten another job so I decided to apply for it.

The job was the same as the one I was doing as a television news producer/reporter/photographer. For the one of you who have forgotten, I work on the newspaper at Camp Swampy and have always wanted to get back to the broadcast side of the house. I applied, was excited, thought I had a great shot at getting the job and was looking forward to moving upward in my chosen career path.

The guy turned down the new job ... after going through a farewell luncheon and getting a plaque and send off from the office and I was screwed.

Shortly after that, he applied for another job and, again, got that one. He took it and left (without, might I add, another goodbye lunch and plaque.)

After he was gone, I was approached about becoming the Camp Swampy assistant webmaster and accepted. I agreed but have not, as yet, assumed those duties. (There is training involved and we are working to set that up.) I also applied for the job that had come open again. There were some problems with the hiring process, but I am proud to say that after about six months ... I GOT THE JOB!

I learned about it yesterday when I got back to work and noticed my pay statement showing the promotion. So I will be doing radio and T.V. work as a reporter and public relations advocate for the Army as well as doing the lion's share of the webmaster work for the installation.

Things are good in Tommyville and I am a happy man. Thank you for asking.

((I have a ticket open to fix the comments. Hopefully it will be available soon. Cross your fingers.))

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Weird things are happening in Denver. First off there was a Canadian Muslim man found dead in a Denver hotel room. He had been dead for several days and more than a pound of cyanide, enough to kill hundreds, was found in the room with him.

Next, there was a man arrested for taking two rifles into a Denver hotel that Nancy Pelosi, (D) S.F. and Speaker of the House of Representatives, was staying. He obviously wasn't trying to hide them and said he had just picked them up from a repair shop. Pelosi was evaccuated from the hotel while the man was being taken into custody.

Protests are happening in the streets of Denver, possibly including a mini-riot by anti capitalists at the Denver City Center -- with video!.

And the latest, a group of alleged skinheads are foiled in an apparent assassination plot

Don't tell me the coarsening of our political discourse doesn't have anything to do with this. It has come to the point where anyone that doesn't agree with a blog's or commenter's position is an idiot or a troll. Don't believe me? Check out any partisan political blog and read through a few of the comments. They call Sen. John McCain names like McSame, McStain, McSenile. Sen. Barak Obama is Odumbo, Obambi, Hopey McChangerson. Republicans are labeled Rethugs, Repigs and Reichwingers while Democrats earn the moniker of Dumbocrats or Demoncrats. It's really pathetic in my eyes.

The worst thing about it, for me anyway, is that I don't see it getting any better anytime soon. How long will America put up with it? Unfortunately, I think it will take another assassination or some other equally horrific event before both sides of the political aisle take a step back and see what the hatred being spewed has wrought.

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Houston Chronicle reports a sad story today:

Baby son born to New York traffic agent killed by van dies

Associated Press Aug. 22, 2008, 4:14PM
NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the prematurely born son of a pregnant traffic agent who was killed by a runaway van last week has died.
Doctors at a New York hospital performed an emergency Caesarean section to deliver Sean Michael Justin Sanz but were unable to save his mother's life. Donnette Sanz was seven months pregnant.
The infant, born several weeks premature, had been in intensive care since his birth a week ago. He weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces at birth.
Bloomberg said the baby died "despite valiant efforts to save his life."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says Donnette Sanz's "service to the city and department "will never be forgotten."

Read the original story here. The driver had his license suspended 20 times, most recently for unpaid parking tickets. Police said his brakes were so degraded that he should not have been driving. He said he knew the brakes were bad but he had work done on them and was planning on having more work done later.

The good news is that other reports say at least 30 citizens, men and women, ran out and actually LIFTED the bus off her to try to save her. Who says New Yorkers don't get involved?

God bless her, her son and her family and friends.

What is this world coming to?

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I mean ... here's a partial rundown.
1) Gas is still more than $3.50 per gallon in most areas. The price of a barrel of oil went from $113.00 to more than $121.00 in two days after a slow, torturous fall (at least if you were watching day-to-day) from $147 to that lower level.

2) Georgia (the country, not the state) attacked South Ossetia, a province inside Georgian territory. Russia said "Oh, but fuck noes!" and invaded Georgia. Russia has been in Georgia for more than a week and, while repeatedly saying they will pull out and agreeing to treaties to end the hostilities while posturing like the old Soviet Union, seem to be digging in and setting up permanent "checkpoints" inside Georgian territory. At the same time ...

3) The United States has signed an agreement with Poland to put a missile defense system there. The U.S. and Poland say it is meant to prevent an attack from Iran but Russia sees that as an attack on their nation. You see, the missile defense shield is less than 200 miles from the outskirts of Russia. In fact, reports say that Russia could overwhelm the system with an all out attack and that the system would only be effective against a rogue missile or two. More from an Associated Press report via Huffington Post

3) Russia, taking a dim view of the treaty, has promised to address this "problem" using more than diplomatic means, including a nuclear strike. More from the AP via Yahoo News

4) America and Iraq have come to a draft agreement to withdraw American troops from Iraqi population centers by next summer and from the country by 2011. One would think that news would be HUGELY celebrated in the media. I mean, hell! WE'RE GETTING OUT OF IRAQ! Right?

Sooooooo ... what is the major media talking about today? John McCain not remembering how many houses he owns and Barack Obama has picked a running mate but won't say who it is yet.

???
???
???

Can I repeat?

WTF?

Can we get back to the real news sometime soon? Please?

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did I mention I'm on vacation this week? Yeah. Sweet, huh? I am also having a huge problem with my phone, ie: not getting texts until days after they have been sent, calls going straight to voice mail with no notification until I actually physically check them on my own, etc. Michelle, I just got several voice mails and tests from you. I am alive and all is well. I'll try to IM you later. Oh and just in case you are wondering, dad is doing great. He has two more chemo treatments to go and looks like he may beat this damned thing. I am soooooo happy about that. More later, ya'll. **Smooches**
TG

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just updated my publishing platform and had to go in and redo the template. I just got that to show up right (in my browser, anyway) and am looking for bugs. The first one I notice is that I can't access comments on my latest entries ... not that anyone comes here anymore anyway. I'm working on it. I miss you guys and will hopefully be able to talk to you soon. Laters ...

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hope. If this doesn't work, I'll be in the bathtub committing Hari-Kari ... and not the former color commentator for the Chicago Cubs ... just sayin'.

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)