Bag of Randomness

  • For you fellow presidential history buffs, here’s an interesting chart that details events of the first 100 days of a presidents term starting with FDR.
  • So you like charts, but don’t like presidential history.  How about an interactive cereal chart?
  • Goodwill is waiting for Sarah Palin’s clothing donation.  Link
  • Speaking of which, she is sorting through her clothes.
  • This article states the following about evangelicals that caught my attention:
    • Evangelicals represent just one out of every six born again adults.
    • 7% of the national population of adults are evangelicals
    • Two-thirds of evangelicals are aligned with the GOP
    • 1 out of 5 are Democrats
    • And then there was this nugget: Most remarkably, however, was the overwhelming support registered among evangelicals for Republican candidate John McCain. In total, 88% voted for Sen. McCain, compared to just 11% for Sen. Obama. The 88% is statistically identical to the 85% of evangelicals who backed George W. Bush in 2004.
  • Spam gets 1 response per 12,500,000 emails  Link
  • I will never eat at Masa [Wikipedia] on my own dime.  Link I’m just not much of a sushi eater.
  • The concept of HugeURL cracks me up.
  • I think some of my friends don’t know me very well since some of them send me a lot of negative stuff about Democrats.  I can deal with that, and they probably just don’t know here I stand politically.  But I would think some of them would know me well enough to know I would not appreciate Obama jokes that include a black man knocking on a door and presidential assassination references.  Just tasteless.
  • I had to get some of my medical records yesterday and saw that my doctor posted something in his waiting room that listed the dangers of Obama.
  • Locally, and not just stuff that is reported on the news, I hear of a lot of fear of the Obama presidency.  Such is life in a red state I guess.  A lot of what I hear is coming from children, and I’m pretty sure I know where they are getting their information.
  • If there is a lot of fear here in North Texas over Obama, I wonder what the mood is like in the Deep South.
  • I finally finished that Newsweek article Secrets of the 2008 Campaign.  Absolutely fascinating.  You’ll learn a lot of inside stuff.  It’s like a little book.  There are seven chapters, and the chapters range from five to eight pages.
  • It turns out that the Little Shop of Horrors has five alternate endings, I can’t remember the original one.
  • Microsoft is already working on the next version of Windows, here are 10 things to look forward to.
  • Hot dog!
  • And even more hot dogs.  Link
  • Tennessee WIlliams died by bottle cap?  Link
Posted in Personal | 6 Comments

The first meeting of Bush and Obama includes hand sanitizer, advice, and Allen Keys

An excerpt from The Audacity of Hope, where Obama tells of his first meeting with President George W. Bush.

“Obama!” he said, shaking my hand. “Come here and meet Laura. Laura, you remember Obama. We saw him on TV during election night. Beautiful family. And that wife of yours – that’s one impressive lady.”

“We both got better than we deserve, Mr. President,” I said, shaking the First Lady’s hand and hoping that I’d wiped any crumbs off my face.

The president turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president’s hand.

“Want some?” the president asked. “Good stuff. Keeps you from getting colds.” Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt.

“Come over here for a second,” he said, leading me off to one side of the room.

“You know,” he said quietly, “I hope you don’t mind me giving you a piece of advice.”

“Not at all, Mr. President.” He nodded. “You’ve got a bright future,” he said. “Very bright. But I’ve been in this town a while and, let me tell you, it can be tough. When you get a lot of attention like you’ve been getting, people start gunnin’ for ya. And it won’t necessarily just be coming from my side, you understand. From yours, too. Everybody’ll be waiting for you to slip. Know what I mean? So watch yourself.”

“Thanks for the advice, Mr. President.”

“All right. I gotta get going. You know, me and you got something in common.”

“What’s that?” “We both had to debate Alan Keyes. That guy’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”

I laughed, and as we walked to the door I told him a few stories from the campaign.

PoliticalWire.com

Posted in Interesting, Political | 2 Comments

First-family-to-be gets code names

The Secret Service traditionally has given pithy, private names to those whose lives they protect. The monikers are a throwback to a time when electronic communications were not encrypted, and they no longer serve a security function. Still, they give an occasional peek at the players’ personalities, in addition to serving as great trivia questions.

President-elect Barack Obama: Renegade
Michelle Obama: Renaissance
Malia Obama: Radiance
Sasha Obama: Rosebud

And then this article provides additional code names:

Vice President-elect Joe Biden: Celtic

Jill Biden: Capri

President George W. Bush: Tumbler

First Lady Laura Bush: Tempo

Bill Clinton: Eagle

Hillary Clinton: Evergreen

Chelsea Clinton: Energy

George Bush: Timberwolf

Barbara Bush: Tranquility

Jimmy Carter: Deacon

Rosalynn Carter: Dancer

Posted in Interesting, Political | 1 Comment