I have been on pilgrimage to Rome since last Monday, but am back now, and mightily jetlagged. Obviously I kept it quiet because it isn’t wise to advertise that one’s home will be empty for ten days, even with the security system set on a hair trigger. Also, I was totally prepared to never make it out of Denver in the first place. I figured I had 50-50 odds of being on a no-fly list. But, no worries there. I have never been so happy upon being handed a boarding pass in my life.As things are drawing toward some sort of conclusion, I decided that I had better get after whatever “bucket list” I could assemble. I realized that my bucket list had exactly one entry and that was to see Rome and the Vatican. So, I cashed in six years worth of business credit card points, booked the flights I wanted, got into exactly the hotel I wanted and conscripted the best docent in Rome, who also just happens to be a brilliant theologian, one of the best liturgists in the world, and desperately funny and charming, and luxuriated in the whole Roman vita bella for eight days whilst consulting with St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Simon, St. Jude, St. Matthias, St. Phillip, St. James, St. Jerome, St. Agnes and thousands more. If you’re going to bayonet charge Caesar, attach yourself to and implore the assistance of the victorious. Learn from the best.I visited the church of Domine Quo Vadis – the very spot on the Appian Way where St. Peter met Our Lord and turned around and walked back into the city to be crucified by Nero. I prayed before St. Peter’s chains. I prayed at the tomb of St. Peter. And, yes, I experienced a wee bit of a miracle. I got to spend twenty minutes alone in the Sistine Chapel. I stood in front of the altar, looked up at Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and prayed the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar:
Contracts for large purchases of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have been in the news quite a bit this year and while I understand that an argument can be made for large purchases considering the number of employees that train and have to qualify annually, it does begin to raise questions about large purchases in a short amount of time. Consider the latest 
