A Letter to Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson we love you when you play the sober, less-then- wordy characters of wisdom on television and in the movies. We love your down home folksy drawl and your homespun wisdom on a variety of issues. We love your Southern pace to politics and the way you view the world and in particular this country. But something is missing.
When you first floated the idea that you were considering a run at the presidency conservative's hearts began to race, their hopes were peaked, and the fear of the Republican Party moving further to the left then most conservatives were comfortable with began to ebb. We all knew we had a contender in the conservative corner. We had a chance to keep the White House in the hands of the Republican Party and best of all in the hands of a conservative who could right the ship.
The liberals were worried as well. Shortly after your announcement on Fox News the stories of your sexual preferences began to show up all over the internet. Liberals fearing you began to use manipulated photos of you in dresses and other compromising situations. Then the liberal's research improved and they realized you were now married. The stories went from the closet gay Republican slant to a man that ran off from his wife of many years with a new "trophy wife".
Once the spin on your "closet trophy wife" seemed not to deter those on the right from booking advance tickets for your inauguration ball, claims that you were a lazy country bumpkin of a legislature and you had made sure your sons of your first marriage had made lots of money from your connections began to make the rounds. These stories still did not deter those of us that were now looking into motel rooms in Minneapolis, so we could attend the convention. The claims that you were an effective lobbyist made us feel even surer you would be the conservative we are seeking.
Maybe the build up gave us too much hope? Maybe we were expecting a lot more then you even intended to provide? Maybe we thought your picture on your blog was prettier then you turned out to be? I am not sure what it was but something has to be rewritten in the script or this blockbuster is going to be tossed into the ash heap alongside Ishtar and Heaven's Gate.
Since I am only a conservative voter and not a "Political Strategist", you can take these suggestions and do with them what ever you would like.
When asked why you want to be President. It is not enough to refer to your children's future and vaguely say that you think there are things that need to be done, and in order to do them you need to be the President. You need to be less ambiguous and with fervor, you need to hit on several salient bullet points why you should be the President.
For example:
I will assure the American people that our military will stay strong, readily prepared, well equipped and competently administered.
As President I will remain vigilant in the mission of preventing the Islamic fascists and any nation that subsidies their weapon of hate from inflicting any more harm on our nation abroad and on our soil.
I will tighten up the borders, the shipping yards and any other ports of entry to assure that those who come into our nation are welcomed and not here to create problems.
I will keep the economy strong and the revenues coming in by sustaining the soon to sunset tax cuts of President Bush's and implementing additional tax cuts to sustain growth and encourage capital investment.
I will correct the upcoming issues that will bankrupt the Social Security system in the next decade and hold the feet of the opposition to that correction, to the fire. This is a third wire that needs corrected or it will not be there in the next couple of decades. And as a nation we will have broken a promise.
I will pursue means to assure that health care is accessible to all Americans through with as little government intervention as possible, protecting those who "truly" require a safety net and keeping excessive government spending to a minimum.
Any salient bullet points of this nature would work and it will allow those who want you to be president to comfortably rattle them off in their sleep.
Some additional things you may want to think about. When you have others go onto shows to carry out your message, utilize those who can articulate your message and can inspire those who are listening. There are many spokespeople in this country that can do a better job then Mary Matalin in conveying your message. She is an excellent surveyor of the political horizon but her zeal is lacking. Recently, in an interview with Laura Ingraham, Mary struggled with conveying even one idea of why you should be President. Even with guidance from Laura, Mary could not clearly articulate one bullet point. The reasons have to be down pat and readily conveyed by your spokesperson. Or the interest of looking toward you as a leader will wane.
And not to belittle this point, because I say this in all honesty, leave the kids with a sitter when you are doing interviews. At least until we get to know you and your wife better. The interview with Sean Hannity with your lovely little daughter on your lap made people feel uncomfortable. It is obvious you are a strong man that has a gentle side and possess bundles of love for your family, but we are looking for a President that is focused and can keep this country on the right road. When your child is sitting on your lap when we first meet you it is akin to having a job interview with someone and their cell phone keeps ringing. No matter how much we like you our attention begins to wander.
As we get to know you better and we are comfortable with your message, the photo ops with kids will endear the country toward you. But let us get to know you better first.
In this trying time with so many dangers ahead for our country we need a leader that has the ability to be a true bi-partisan. Not a bi-partisan in the mold of being over compromising but one that can clearly explain to the opposition where we need to go and the nation will line up behind you. Reagan was a master at this. He was able to take his position to the people and explain why something had to be pursued. Even if the opposition persists the people will be comfortable with your direction. You have also proven that you can be above this partisanship with your early experiences in Washington during the Watergate hearings. You were able to overlook the shared party with the standing President and ask tough questions that eventually made it impossible for a corrupt President to continue. So use that aspect of your character and make it clear you want to be America's President and not a Republican President.
Good luck.

Politico

I recently found a new playground. A place where one of my loves, politics can be discussed, argued and at times thrown right into your face. Essentially, Politico is a blog where a gaggle of average reporters that keep an eye (half open I might add) on the political scene. The writers or reporters post several stories per day, then open the venue to comments.

The comments is where the fun exists. An array of folks assume a moniker and hide behind an icon of their choosing and then chime in. If you are a smart ass like the Pirate, sandboxes like Politico are excellent places to play. You can do all kinds of things in the sandbox. You can build castles, dig tunnels, or which seems to be some people's favorite throw sand in each other's face. I have tried several of these depending on the subject, my mood or the mood of those participating that day.

Politico is also a great place to meet some real intelligent folks from both sides of an argument but you should be warned if you visit there are many that will tear your heart out. If you are not thick skinned it might be a good place to participate as a reader only and not wade in with your opinion.

Politico tends to use a few magnet characters to generate long threads of debate, discussion or mud slinging. Obviously Hillary and Obama tend to generate a lot of debate as does newly retiring Karl Rove. Interestingly Fred Thompson seems to generate long threads where Rudy and Mitt's tend to be less interesting. I have no idea if this means anything or not.

I think Fred Thompson's stories attract so many comments because the Republicans are in search of someone that can hand Hillary her head this next year and the Democrats are worried that might be the case.

If you are ever in the Politico sandbox feel welcome to badmouth or chime in with support for that guy "Right-minded Frank". He seems to know his stuff if the Pirate has to say so himself.

If you do find Politico to be the place to stop by on occassion let me know so I can add you to my friends or don't let me know and pick a fight with me and see if I can figure out who you are.

I better get some work done today or Mrs. Pirate is going to make me go shopping with her. I hate shopping unless I am gettging a new toy.

By the way Can O' Corn gave me a new Jolly Roger's flag that proudly flies over my desk. Arrrghhh.

How does one defend Vick?

Last night I was watching the Fair and Balanced network's version of point/counterpoint and they had a Professor Jeffrey Standen of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon discuss his defense of Michael Vick's dog fighting. So I immediately went to his blog at thesportslawprofessor.blogspot.com to see what it takes to be invited on the Hannity and Combs show to discuss such innane topics as Vick and his homies conducting dog fights.

To my amazement Professor Standen wrote the post prior to Vick pleading guilty, so much of the post is irrelevent today, but Standen "really" did not defend Vick for his actions. He just demoted the action of dog fighting to a "Boys will be boys" fiasco.

Professor Standen actually tried to equate dog fighting with cock-fighting, bullfighting and bird hunting as well as cage fighting. He contended that when the facts came out, the truth will be all about nothing. That what Vick did was not illegal and his cohorts (homies) were bribed by the prosecutors to turn on their money man, Vick. Vick was simply involved in nothing more then seedy behavoir. He's just a bad boy, nothing more.

Why should Vick lose his career over the rest of us being so prudish? He also nodded toward Kobe Bryant for his climb back to icon status after the accussations of rape. You know as soon as the legal system and the applied pressure is done with the story it always comes out that there was really nothing to it.

Professor Standen appeared to be a nice enough sort and since many of my attorney friends here in Salem attended college at Willamette it might turn out that Standen and I have mutual friends. But his interview on Hannity and Combs botherd me on several levels aside from Combs not letting him speak or clarify himself, he also seem to think there should be some tolerance in these types of perdicaments the athletes find themselves in.

First and foremost does such a terrible behavior, as dog fighting, have to be illegal before you are disgusted with it? To think a man that has many young children looking up at him and fantasizing of being Michael Vick on the gridiron, would involve himself of such barbaric behavoir. To think he could keep a smug smile on his face as he walked past a horde of cameras knowing darn good and well it was all true. To think he was never outwardly bothered about his actions, amazes me of what type of human being Vick must really be. What kind of man could be like this? A sick one if you ask me.

Secondly, if Vick is involved in an illegal gambling circuit, that is all that is needed to remove him from professional sports. The gambling alone puts Vick in a position to taint the game of professional football where its paying customers deserve much better. We football fans that spend "our" dollars on the entertainment, have a right to be disgusted, when we find out one of those we are filling the pockets with millions of dollars is a sick, ill-adjusted excuse of a human being. We also have the right to express our disgust to the NFL and demand they either put up with our discontent for keeping the guy around or get rid of him.

I am not saying he participated in gambling on football but to put himself in the arena of betting on dog fighting only seperates him from being influenced by outside interests by a micro-thin veneer of false-intigrity.

So Professor, what Vick did might equate to bullfighting or cage fighting in many peoples minds but it is more disgusting then eating your neighbor's cat. Of which I am sure may not be illegal either but might get your butt ran out of the neighborhood.

Lastly, how does a blog that only gets maybe 5 hits per week get the author on Hannity and Combs?

New house is not like the old house

The Pirate family has been trying to sale our house for the last two months and no one seems to like it as much as we do. It has four bedrooms of which two are still possessed by teenagers.

There are two bathrooms that both are usually possessed by teenagers early every morning before school and mid-day on weekends and summer months.

There is a double car garage that has been doubling as a storage unit from the day we moved in.

There is a large in-ground pool in the back that is fully fenced in and will take any money you want to throw at it.

There is a nice large covered deck in the back where our lab calls home. It is great for coffee drinking, blogging, bar-be-quing and a shooting range for BBs where you can shoot cans off the fence. I'll throw in the lab, she actually retrieves the cans for some dumb reason.

I will also throw in the two cats, they do absolutely nothing. They won't retrieve anything and they look at the Pirate family as staff or domestics.
There is a large family room that is also my den, my office, my napping place and my football watching venue. A good many posts have been written there.

There are other anemities as well. Two fire places, one in the living room where the Pirate wife makes me take off my shoes if I want to enter. When she is at work I walk across the living room in my boots just to get back at her. The other fireplace is in the napping place.

There is a shed out back that at one time was my smoke shed. A lot of stewing and Marlboros have been consumed out there as well as cold beers. Now we store yard tools there, which is where all yard tools should be. Stored away.

Now we have our new house all built and awaiting our arrival.

Three months in the slammer?

I wish it had been as easy. As you all know the pirate has had a rash of bad luck with diabetes and several loved ones passing away. Right after my last post my father's prostate cancer had came back and as of August 6, 2007 he is no longer with us.

In the very short time one of my best friends and the man that set me on my path of life has died and went to a better place.

A couple of days after my last post i was sitting in my dad's living room and he told me he was feeling awfully sick. He was so sick he took himself to the emergency room the night before. If you knew my dad that was all I needed to know that this man was hurting and sick.

My dad was the kind of guy that never complained about pain or discomfort. You would never know he had an arrow in his back until he turned around and walked away.

Shortly after that day he had an appointment with his doctor and it was determined from their tests that he had cancerous tumors throughout his organs and spine. As of this last Monday he no longer as to quietly have to suffer of his pain.

I will miss his calling me every Sunday and asking me how my "Famn Damily" was doing. He would always get the update on the family and then end the talk with a "Give em all a whuppin for me".

I will miss him calling me on my birthday no matter where I am on that day or where he is.

I will miss his tight wad Christmas gifts of a pair of socks and $5.

I will miss his keen sense of humor and his ever lasting love.

Shortly after I was notified of his plight to come, I was driving from a project when the song, "Night Moves" came on the radio. My dad was always a country western fan but loved that song because he thought it said "Nice Boobs". I have never since that day in early 1970s been able to hear anything n that song other then "Nice Boobs".

Now you know what I have been up to.

Love you dad.

I'm still here

I have not ran off and joined the circus. Yet. I have not given up blogging. Never. I have just been really busy with the business and starting up a new business. The last two weeks I have been putting in nearly 80 hour weeks and trying to get the house ready to sell.

Yes you read it right I have started another business which I will share in detail after it is up an running. And yes the Pirate family has decided to move. We have lived in the present abode for nearly 13 years and have found a new area to build our new headquarters. With all this going on I have literally been too busy to write anything.

I have also will be writing at a new venue. I was invited to write at Helium and have been scoutin out a place for me to dump the stories of Sir Van Asswipe and his lovely and gracious wife, Peach. Or the travels and tribulation of Willie Van. I also have to find a new place to write about the troubles Phil and Frankie got into during their early school years. So give me a week.

Got to run to go watch the lil sister run at districts in the 1500m and the 800m today. She is really excited since this is her first year in high school track and she is the only freshman running in both of those races for the team and one of a very few in the whole meet.

Peace...

Some Days

You know me I really don't like to play victim. I refuse to buy into the victimhood mantality. I have little patience with whining. I have stated many times that life is fair because its crappy for everyone and its what we do with that crap that measures us. I have never accepted long periods of "woe is me" trips, in myself. But for the last three weeks I have not been the happy go lucky Pirate.

It could be the weather. Its been raining damn near every day here in western Oregon. Typical spring for this area and the time of the year. nothing to get all Algored up about.

I know I am not mensing because I have been told Pirates don't do that. That's more a damsel type of thing.

All my limbs and organs are working and the family clan claim that they appreciate me. The dog still comes to me and cat's still ignore me. Everything appears normal there.

I have all Mrs. Pirate's birthday list bought and paid for with three days to spare. The in-laws are on their way but that is three days away.

But I just don't want to play. I am having a hard time finding the color in anything.

There was a rash of people near and dear to me passing away last month. Then last week I pried out of my dad that he has several spots to contend with on his liver and he has to start kemo for the third time in as many years for prostate cancer. He still acts like its no big deal. I do not see any fear in his eyes or hear it in his voice. I sometimes wonder if he really has any feelings about much.

I'm helping a family member with finances due to their health status and the inability to find work due to their condition and that has become a real ride. He now has legal problems and Clint Eastwood's security is all pissed off at him and I am his conduit when it comes to reality. So that has been a real pain in the arse.

My aunt has been in and out of the hospital with heart bypasses and has kept it secret from the rest of us until the last couple of weeks.

Then a project with a client went to heck and probably will end a long term professional relationship and create a big bunch of crap. Nothing I could have done about it but the chips will fall on my lap.

I am informed last week we need to have a new roof put on the house. The bids are all $6,000 and up. Crap.

The refrigerator is making a lot of whistling noises and now the jen-air is howling. When I am in the kitchen batching up the Pirate clan's mess it sounds like I am standing in the middle of cat fight. Or one of the worst choirs to ever be assembled. If the dishwasher even starts to make a noise the shot gun is coming out.

All this and the newly diagnosed diabetics thing have gotten me in a not so good mood. I know there are several more things to whine about but it might start to piss me off.

Maybe tomorrow will better. I apologize for dumping all of this but I have no idea where to put it all.


Peace...