Real Thought

When playing the Detroit Red Wings do not turn over the puck almost every time you have possession.  Do not lose most of the face offs.  Pull your starting goalie when the team is down 5-3 and let the backup get some ice time.  Expect the officials to call every penalty they can think of against you and hardly expect the officials to call penalties against the Red Wings.  Expect Dominic Hasek to take a dive and draw a penalty and expect him to whine to the officials every time you score a goal against him.  Expect a bunch of Red Wings Fans wannabes to be at the game acting like morons.  Expect only one out of ten of them to actually be from Detroit or even the state of Michigan and have any idea who the Red Wings players actually are.

That is all.

OK, so I was elected president of the Napa Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West.  Suddenly, my calendar has more crap in it than I need.  Besides three to four Native Sons meetings and events every month, I still have my obligations to work and Scouts.  Don’t get me wrong, I am very flattered that my fellow Parlor members elected me their president, but I am not retired nor am I self-employed and let’s face it, fraternal organizations rely on members with tons of free time on their hands.  Speaking of Scouts, many of you may have heard that a long time San Francisco Bay Area Sea Scout leader was arrested on multiple charges of pedophilia.  The unit which this person ran just happens to be in my local council.  So, guess what?  I know have to go through a weekend of mandatory “Youth Protection” training.  Never mind that all of my Scout training courses are current, never mind that as a credentialed teacher in California I am legally required to report suspected child abuse, never mind that I am probably the only person in my local council to have actually testified in a child abuse case, I still have to sit through the BSA’s training because my council now wants to be “proactive” concerning abuse of children.  I am not opposed to the idea of making sure that everyone has completed Youth Protection training but I believe that those of us who are current ought to be excused.

Next, my aunt and brother are flying out on Thursday from Boston to attend my dippy niece’s wedding next weekend.  She is getting married on a Hornblower Yacht on San Francisco Bay in January.  Did she ask her uncle who has spent most of his life on the Bay on boats if this was a good idea?  No, of course not.  Needless to say, Kentuckygurl and I have to get the house in order by Thursday, so we will be cleaning the house this weekend.

Finally, Kentuckygurl and I have tickets for the San Jose Sharks game versus the Detroit Red Wings tonight.  Given how well the Sharks have played recently, I expect not to be entertained.

What a great show!  Someone actually convinced Fred Thompson that he was running for president!  He came out swinging at Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani.  The former Senator from Tennessee actually looked alive and animated instead of his usual somnolent self.  He attacked Huckabee suggesting that he was nothing more than a Democrat in Republican clothing.  He attacked Ron Paul for being hopelessly naive about the threats to the United States.  He attacked Romney for being so negative in his television spots against his fellow Republicans and he attacked Giuliani for plagiarizing, in effect, Thompson’s own tax plan.  Thompson was the clear winner in the debate as he had all of his rivals on the defensive with the exception of John McCain.

Speaking of McCain, the Senator holds a lead in South Carolina and Michigan as of tonight and just may defeat Romney in his home state.  But Romney and Huckabee are first and second in the overall delegate count as of tonight.  As of now, the race for the Republican nomination is wide open and it may not be until after February 5th that anyone will really know who the nominee might be.

I will have more after the Democratic debate in Las Vegas next Tuesday.  Stay tuned…

The media pundits are beside themselves over Hillary’s “surprise” win in the Granite State. Did anyone really think she would go down without a fight? I personally believe that she will have much more trouble in the South. She may have the Clinton name but she has none of Bill’s “aw shucks” charm. John McCain also won in New Hampshire but he will have a much tougher row to hoe in the South where his ties to Teddy Kennedy are anathema. I expect Obama and Edwards to do better than expected in the South and Huckabee to make an unexpected strong showing. I believe that Romney is in serious trouble and Giuliani and Thompson will have very disappointing finishes. Personally, I would not be at all surprised if by February 5 the Republicans are down to Romney, McCain and Huckabee and the Democrats are down to Clinton, Edwards and Obama. That is my prediction and we will see how it pans out.

John McCain has Lazarus-like risen from the dead.  Mitt Romney has lost in his own back yard. Mike Huckabee did better than everyone believed he could.  Hillary Clinton has a slim lead over Barak Obama and John Edwards is a distant third.  Everyone else should just get out of the race.  All of the networks have yet to declare a winner in the Democratic Primary.  More to follow…

So, I have been remiss in my writing but I have an excuse, I have been immersed in trying to follow the Democratic and Republican races for their respective party’s nominations. Here is my breakdown of the race to the White House so far:

Iowa is a state with a very strange caucus system and as a result, the results are not really an indicator of who is really a viable candidate, nor does it really indicate a clear front runner; but a win in Iowa can give a candidate some “legitimacy” in terms of nomination politics. I was not surprised to see Barak Obama and Mike Huckabee win in Iowa. Both are relative “fresh faces” in terms of presidential politics and both seem to be trying to appeal to certain groups of voters. Barak seems to be appealing to disaffected or first time Democratic voters with his message of “change” and “hope” whereas Mike is appealing to conservatives who feel strongly about the Second Amendment, taxes and certain social issues like abortion, gay marriage and a weakened military. Both seem to be likable, well spoken if somewhat vague in specifics, candidates. It appears that Hillary is what I thought she would be all along, a forced, unlikable candidate who may have some grasp of the magnitude of the Presidency but her “experience” is overwrought if not completely fabricated. John Edwards seems to be a passionate candidate who has a very polished, if not slick, image and when you live in the largest house in your home state, appealing to the “common man” rings hollow. Romney appears patrician and McCain, while appearing solid and statesman like, still has to connect with rock ribbed Republicans.

Guiliani has more in common with moderate Democrats than he has with the Republican base and his insistence on running on his record as mayor of New York City probably will not create a viable candidacy despite his lead in the national polls.

Kucinich and Paul could perhaps from a “cranky fringe” ticket and run together. Thompson seems to not take his candidacy seriously and Richardson and all of the rest should just pack up and go home as Dodd and Biden wisely chose to do.

The New Hampshire primary is tomorrow and I will be back with a reevaluation of the candidates after the votes are in. Keep in mind that New Hampshire is not a typical state either although its primary is more “normal” than the caucuses in Iowa.