I always heard of FDR’s fireside chats but until yesterday I never really understood how he used it as a tool. Before radio, all leaders had to orate or yell because there was no microphone, but radio provided the ability to talk to the people in a conversational tone. He was also the first president to use the press as an ally instead of a foe.
George Will stated only three presidents were bigger than the office they inherited = Washington, Lincoln, and FDR.
I was surprised that there was still an inaugural parade for FDR as it was at the start of the Depression. He appeared to stand for the entire parade, but it was just an illusion as he was sitting on a very tall chair.
My old high school football stadium was built because of an FDR project.
The Secret Service allowed Eleanor go on a long road trip without any protection other than a revolver they put in the glove compartment with no ammunition, she was hardly recognized by anyone at the time.
It was incredible that FDR couldn’t and wouldn’t try to get an anti-lynching bill passed. It’s crazy such a bill even had to be thought up.
I’m amazed that Ken Burns was able to track down some of his former employees of the health resort FDR bought for interviews.
When Obama came into office there was much talk about how he was studying the Lincoln presidency, especially the book Team of Rivals. After viewing this documentary and seeing a lot of similarities with the Great Recession and other social programs, Obama would have been better off studying FDR, in particular, how he reacted to calls of socialism and communism thrown at his administration.
Man, those two sides of the Roosevelt family really didn’t get along.
I had no idea Hitler openly mocked FDR in a speech.
I’m going to a high school football game tonight, it will be my first in maybe 15 years. If it wasn’t for a friend inviting me, I probably wouldn’t be going.
My very first friend, who now lives in Stephenville, sent me a text saying ESPN2 would be broadcasting the Stephenville football game and I should check out their quarterback as he’s the number one dual threat quarterback in the nation. The kid played well and had already made a verbal commitment to Texas Tech. The camera panned to Kliff Kingsbury a few times, he was all bro’d up watching the future prospect.
I was surprise that high school game didn’t start until 8:00 PM. That seems kind of late for a school night. Stephenville hosted a team from Lubbock. The game was scheduled to end around 11:00 PM, and it’s about a four hour drive between the two cities. There’s no way those kids are going to morning classes in Lubbock. Ah, Texas educational priorities at its best.
One of my best defensive games (albeit JV) was at Stephenville. Art Briles was the head varsity coach checking out his JV squad roaming the sidelines and he tried to intimidate me a few times by yelling my number and throwing a few insults at me. I can’t remember what he said specifically, but he basically said I wasn’t man enough to be on the field and after a tackle he yelled that I must think I’m big boy now. It seemed strange for an opposing coach to be doing such a thing at the high school level. And you wonder why I can’t stand the man. But hey, that competitiveness got him to where he is today.
Last Friday we took the kids to the local roller skating rink. I was surprised to see a training device made out of PVC for the kiddos. It was one of those things where you ask yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” A roller derby girl made a very impressive appearance working out and practicing some roller derby moves which kept me away from lacing up any skates.
I wonder how many Texans know there’s a debate gubernatorial debate tonight, and I wonder how many actually care.
Clinton was on Stewart last night. The former prez has some really huge hands. I expect conservatives to attack him today for saying that we proved we couldn’t win a land war in Iraq.
In this audio interview, Bono stated that 500 million people got the new U2 album, but only 38 million (at least partially) have actually listened to it. He goes on to acknowledge and joke how many people hate it, even saying he’s surprised Sharon Osbourne didn’t take the high road, but just glad to be in the conversation.
Report: Apple and U2 to Debut New Music File Format – Bono also hints that the next album is 18 months away. The article also goes on that a new file format is basically a bad idea as everything is moving toward streaming.
There was an estate sale down the street over the summer in which we bought a rug and bedside table. Yesterday we found out the person that lived in the house was an athletic senior who lived alone, had a stroke, died in the house, and wasn’t discovered for several days. Now it feels weird looking at the rug and bedside table.
Yesterday I found out that my next door neighbor in Mineral Wells became an author and has written books about some interesting topics, like Waco’s red light district. His latest book is about murder, white slavery, prostitution and mysterious deaths in Mineral Wells, and somewhere in the book it’s noted that George S. Patton once lived in the town.
One reason I love NASA is that a lot of advancements in everyday technology is a by product of their research and experiments. You know, like UV coating for sunglasses and the use of GPS. Here’s a website that provides you with an accomplishment and you get to judge if it’s cool or not.
The NFL wanted to jam Thursday night football down our throats by giving CBS a package of competitive conference games. So far the first two matchup have been nothing but blowouts. I shouldn’t say the NFL gave those games to CBS, per one reporter on Twitter – CBS pays $39.2 million for each Thursday Night Football game.
Speaking of blowouts and one reason I can’t stand college football – Texas A&M plays SMU tomorrow.
– I think DARPA had a lot more to do with the invention of GPS.
– I've always hated Art Briles since voted the Longhorns #5 in the final 2008 coaches poll in order to keep them out of the national championship game.
" Obama would have been better off studying FDR,…" I thought the same thing but then realized that FDR owned huge majorities in both houses of congress and the country was so desperate that they would have accepted any action to no action at all.
I listened to an author talking about his book on "the Supreme Court packing"episode. He noted that there is nothing in the constitution [and there is no rule] regarding a specific number of justices on the Supreme Court. There can be any number of judges and the numbers have increased and decreased during various times in the country's history. I think they started with only three [and they also rode the circuit]. Roosevelt was close to winning the packing issue when one of the conservative judges on the court decided to flip and go with Roosevelt's agenda. After that a number of conservative judges retired and Roosevelt appointed their replacements. Roosevelt never followed up on the packing plan after that.
It was called The Depression for a reason. After last night's episode I went to bed feeling depressed from watching all those clips of broken and starving families. They also made the point that Roosevelt's government spending plan did start to take the country out of the deprsession by 1937 but that fears over a "looming debt crisis" caused Roosevelt to cut spending, which put America back into a secondary depression.
The Roosevelts has been wonderful. Although Burns is being very kid gloves-y about Eleanor and her companions while giving you FDR and his affairs straight with no chaser. Just say she was lesbian and move on.
I am with you on NASA. The Space Race created a lot of today's everyday things. Just think about tomorrow.
Texas Gothic sounds interesting. You know there are some tales to tell about Mineral Wells.
Art Briles is an a-hole. I can't wait for Baylor to get busted by the NCAA.
Here's another sentence that wouldn't have made sense 10 years ago: "Obama ate at Chipotle."
– I think DARPA had a lot more to do with the invention of GPS.
– I've always hated Art Briles since voted the Longhorns #5 in the final 2008 coaches poll in order to keep them out of the national championship game.
" Obama would have been better off studying FDR,…" I thought the same thing but then realized that FDR owned huge majorities in both houses of congress and the country was so desperate that they would have accepted any action to no action at all.
I listened to an author talking about his book on "the Supreme Court packing"episode. He noted that there is nothing in the constitution [and there is no rule] regarding a specific number of justices on the Supreme Court. There can be any number of judges and the numbers have increased and decreased during various times in the country's history. I think they started with only three [and they also rode the circuit]. Roosevelt was close to winning the packing issue when one of the conservative judges on the court decided to flip and go with Roosevelt's agenda. After that a number of conservative judges retired and Roosevelt appointed their replacements. Roosevelt never followed up on the packing plan after that.
It was called The Depression for a reason. After last night's episode I went to bed feeling depressed from watching all those clips of broken and starving families. They also made the point that Roosevelt's government spending plan did start to take the country out of the deprsession by 1937 but that fears over a "looming debt crisis" caused Roosevelt to cut spending, which put America back into a secondary depression.
The Roosevelts has been wonderful. Although Burns is being very kid gloves-y about Eleanor and her companions while giving you FDR and his affairs straight with no chaser. Just say she was lesbian and move on.
I am with you on NASA. The Space Race created a lot of today's everyday things. Just think about tomorrow.
Texas Gothic sounds interesting. You know there are some tales to tell about Mineral Wells.
Hey, there – the SMU-A&M game hasn't even been played yet. You could have waited at least until the end of the first quarter… 😉