From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Giant Throbbing 2012 Presidents' Day Fun Quiz*
*No fair Googling!
1. Which president ended the standard practice of setting aside time every weekday to let ordinary citizens, via appointment, discuss their concerns face-to-face with him?
A) Lincoln B) Hoover C) McKinley D) Cleveland
2. Which president opened a Tiffany's account to refurbish the White House?
A) Van Buren B) Arthur C) Taft D) Gingrich
3. Who liked to blame his farts on his Secret Service detail?
A) Ford B) L. Johnson C) Taylor D) Hayes
4. "I can't remember what I did" is what this president said about his time in the Alabama National Guard (and no one else can remember anything about his service there, either).
A) Clinton B) Nixon C) George W. Bush D) Washington
5. Name the only president to earn a Ph.D.
A) FDR B) Buchanan C) John Quincy Adams D) Wilson
6. Which president-to-be lost his first election, claiming that his rival only won because he was the tallest man in the room?
A) Pierce B) Reagan C) John Adams D) Cleveland
7. Which president ordered his plane, called "Sacred Cow," to buzz the White House, which caused a bit of a panic?
A) George H.W. Bush B) Truman C) Harding D) Clinton
8. Who used an "alarm-clock wristwatch" to get out of meetings?
A) Lyndon Johnson B) Benjamin Harrison C) Tyler D) Jefferson
9. Who was simultaneously able to write in Latin with one hand and Greek with the other?
A) Madison B) Teddy Roosevelt C) Polk D) Garfield
10. Which president fought in a war and carried a bullet in his shoulder for the rest of his life?
A) Grant B) W.H. Harrison C) Monroe D) Eisenhower
Answers: B, B, A, C, D, C, B, A, D, C
I never forget that, though they may have lots of power and influence, the presidents have all put their pants on the same way I do: backwards first and then both feet in one pant leg and then the suspenders get tangled up in my knees which causes the aspirin to fall and roll under the refrigerator and then I have to ring for the butler and... It's complicated.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, February 20, 2012
Note: Kudos to three excellent books for providing the fodder for today's POTUS quiz: To the Best of My Ability edited by James McPherson, Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents by Cormac O'Brien, and Oval Office Oddities by Bill Fawcett.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Mardi Gras: 1
Days 'til the Zilker Park Kite Festival in Austin: 13
Percent of Social Security and Medicare recipients, respectively, who say they "have not used a government program": 44%, 40%
(Source: Cornell University survey via WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson)
Percent of Americans who believe the U.S. population exceeds 1 billion: 28%
(Source: Harper's Index)
Actual U.S. population: 313 million
Percent drop in unemployment applications over the last four months: 11%
(Source: AP)
Year in which Mars, Inc. will stop making candy bars that exceed of 250 calories: 2013
(Source: USA Today)
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NEW! Revvin' Up for Rhode Island!
Brought to you by the 2012 Netroots Nation Convention in Providence, June 7-10. Okay---I am a lighthouse fuh-na-tick. Rhode Island has more than 30 lighthouses, including one of our favorites, Castle Hill in Newport. It was built right into the rock face in 1890---click to see it up close and personal. Lighthouses are like liberals: providing illumination to keep the U.S.S. U.S.A. from destroying itself on the rocks of conservatism. Extra bonus: most of 'em now use solar power.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Oh yeah…you blend.
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CHEERS to pullin' out the big guns. Good news: our troops are gone from Iraq! Bad news: our troops are still fighting a nasty war in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. Good news: Netroots for the Troops is ramping up its 2012 campaign this week with appearances in the diaries by Senator John Kerry, future Senator Elizabeth Warren, and netroots titan Howard Dean:
Yes, they are ALL stopping by. A plethora of riches indeed. Why? They are helping kick off our annual Netroots for the Troops, or NFTT, fundraiser with a blogathon. Remember our [DK] subscription drive? The energy? The caring and delight? This year it is crucial that we do the same for NFTT. This year for the first time, care packages will not only be going to our sons and daughters serving overseas. We will also be delivering care packages to our Veterans in VA hospitals.
This summer in Providence our wonderful NFTT volunteers will be hand delivering care packages to local and regional VA hospitals, like Providence VA Medical Center. … This is where once again, we can show how progressives walk the talk when it comes to caring for our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, who serve.
So keep your eyes peeled and rec those diaries up. Oh, and in other news, former GOP candidate Rick Perry's bake sale to fund a re-invasion of Iraq has been canceled on account of he's fucking crazy.
CHEERS to a pleasant commute. Fifty(!!!) years ago today, on February 20, 1962, astronaut (and future Democratic senator) John Glenn took a little trip, which The Atlantic recreates here:
Five minutes and four seconds into the flight of the Friendship 7, as John Glenn prepared to become the first American to orbit Earth, he radioed to NASA, his capsule turned and brought the Earth into sight. "Oh, that view is tremendous," he said. […] Shortly after reaching orbit, his gave his first description of an earthly phenomenon from orbit. "This is Friendship Seven," he said, "Can see clear back; a big cloud pattern way back across towards the Cape. Beautiful sight."
Glenn orbited the world three times aboard
Friendship 7 in just under five hours. A little weed and I can do that aboard
LaZBoy 1 in just under 30 seconds.
P.S. On a sadder note, condolences to the family of astronaut Janice Voss, who died this month at 55. Effing cancer. She went up in the Space Shuttle five times, racking up 19 million frequent gravity-defier miles. I get dizzy on a stepstool.
JEERS to the Apostrolypse. To help solve the mystery of how, exactly, one spells today's holiday, I consulted the ads from inside a few recent editions of The Portland (Maine) Press Herald:
Macy's: Presidents' Day
Rowe Auto: President's Day
State Street Discount: President's Day
Namco Pool & Patio: President's Week
Macy's: Presidents' Day (last year it was "Presidents Day")
Sports Authority: Presidents' Day (last year it was "Presidents Day")
Lee Auto Mall: Presidents' Day (last year it was "President's Day")
Frank Galos Chevrolet: Presidents Day and Presidents' Day
Kohl's: President's Day
Prime Nissan: Presidents Day
Embers Stoves & Fireplaces: Presidents' Day
DirectTV: President's Day
America's Mattress & Furniture: Presidential Sale
A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts: President's Day
Hub Furniture: Presidents' Day
Michael's Crafts: Presidents Day
Appliance Warehouse: Presidents' Day
Charlie's Car Dealerships: Presidential Sale-A-Bration
Yankee Ford: Presidents' Day
We trust this clears up any confusion.
CHEERS closure. Maine's Very Weird GOP Caucus finally ended with voting (postponed from the previous week due to a snowflake) in Washington County. In the end, the John & Sarah Connors in the Ron Paul camp couldn’t eliminate the terminators in the Mitt Romney camp. The final margin for the entire state was 158 votes out of 276,000 registered Republicans. But even though it's ended, it hasn’t ended well:
Linda Schaitberger came down from Cathance Township with her 17-year-old granddaughter, Alexandria Snetsinger, after hearing about all the hoopla last week. … Schaitberger found herself listening dumbfounded while party officials explained that no one from Cathance Township had formally called a caucus.
Translation: Neither Schaitberger nor her granddaughter could participate in Saturday’s proceedings. “I’m going to call this party the Republicannibals---because that’s what they’re doing to their own people,” Schaitberger muttered. “I’ve been a Republican for 50 years and I will never vote Republican again---in Maine, at least.”
Meanwhile, our Maine Democratic caucus is next Sunday,
the 26th. It will go smoothly, everyone will be energized, and democracy will smile down from its perch on the pantheon steps of freedom. What can we say? It's just the way we roll.
P.S. Senator Olympia Snowe's Republican primary challengers seem to think that Ron Paul's strong showing up here has given them the upper hand. Uh huh. Your lips to futility's ears, guys.
CHEERS to progress in the sticks. On this date in 1872, Silas Noble and J.P. Cooley patented the toothpick-making machine. And thus ended our brief national experiment of assimilating beavers into the American workforce.
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Five years ago in C&J: February 20, 2007
CHEERS to brave reporting. Reading the Washington Post stories about the grim conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital underscores the hypocrisy of the Republican "support the troops" fervor (part 1 is here and part 2 is here):
"We've done our duty. We fought the war. We came home wounded. Fine. But whoever the people are back here who are supposed to give us the easy transition should be doing it," said Marine Sgt. Ryan Groves, 26, an amputee who lived at Walter Reed for 16 months. "We don't know what to do. The people who are supposed to know don't have the answers. It's a nonstop process of stalling." [...] The conflict in Iraq has hatched a virtual town of desperation and dysfunction, clinging to the pilings of Walter Reed. The wounded are socked away for months and years in random buildings and barracks in and around this military post.
Memo to Dana Priest and Anne Hull: make room in your office for a Pulitzer.
[2/20/12 Update: I hope they listened to me.]
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And just one more…
CHEERS to freedom feasting. Saturday afternoon two dozen Kossacks gathered like vultures at Margarita's Mexican Restaurant to, as we do from time to time, collectively peck the eyes out of the carcass of tyranny...and drink. Our New England meetup included Moody & Mrs. Loner, Fennster, PoliSigh, 42 & Mr. 42, Virgomusic, Brillig & Mik, Commonmass, Mayim, DtheO, nhox42, Nauticalknots & Mrs. Nauticalknots, Ed Tracey, LaureleiHI, Simple, Vacationland, Common Sense Mainer, BiPM, and three chitlins to chaperone us. Hot topics of discussion: the Elizabeth Warren for Senate campaign, the depth to which the GOP candidates have driven themselves, the creative yet doomed Operation Hilarity dustup, and our plan to support the building of the Keystone XL pipeline as a huge water slide. Then we helped ourselves to the duckie cookies baked by Simple and Vacationland, gave the secret handshake to screen for imposters, and scattered to our undisclosed liberal lairs. Thanks to everyone who came out! By the way, if you or someone you know is planning a Kossack meetup in your neck of the woods, please let me know so I can give it a shoutout. Together we can take over the world…one platter of fajitas at a time.
Have a nice Monday. No mail today, so no bills today. Thank yuh. Presidents! Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
A genius figures out how to get a gorilla's attention and get great video. Enjoy.
Update: I am an idiot. Of course that's Bill in Portland Maine.
---Tricia McKinney, The Maddow Blog
2/17/12
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