Maggie's Farm

Apple Pie,

You've had some anxious times lately so I am glad that NJ sought fit to throw you a bone with some beefcake photo of THE 007.

Just change the filter on your smoke mask and bask in the reverie of Bond, James Bond.

Hope you are well.
H

Fred Thompson and Calvin Calvin Coolidge

Good ole Silent Cal. Use to go trout fishing wearing spats.
Noted for his, to say the least, taciturn manner.

Once in a Cabinet meeting he said nothing. Asked by his Commerce Secretary why he hadn't remarked on anything Cal replied, "I can't learn anything when I'm talking"

Again one night at a dinner at the White House one of the wives bet her fiends she could get him to say more than three words. She walked up the President and said ,"Mr. President, I bet I can get you to say more than three words"
Cal responded, "You lose"

Fred Thompson recognises that the campaigning got under way a tad bit early this Presidential go 'round ..like about a full year. He has name recognition,known positions, and all the other factors the other candidates are trying to define for the public. A public that is already in full campaign fatigue with 16 months to go. Newt's not "in" yet either and no one ever accused him of being ill informed.

It's a bit of rope a dope and what Cal said one time. "If you see ten problems com'n down the road at ya, don't panic, cause nine of them will end up in the gutter before they get to ya, deal with that one"

Thompson knows that he could enter the fray now, argue every position ad naseum and be just another "fatigue factor" He's not gonna try to handle the nine problems that will be forgotten and in the gutter come crunch time..he'll handle the real issues at the right time.

NJ..
Many,many thanks for the article on the Roman Empire/Roman Republic. I will have to read it several times to gain it's fullness but one time through it is enough to pronounce it as time well spent in reading..

Opinions later although I think the waterfront is well covered by this piece.