A fun article at Atlantic that takes a look back at Presidential pet scandals.

“Oh, Muslims, know that our Empire is at war with the mortal enemies of Islam . . . the governments of Moscow, Britain and France. The Commander of the faithful summons you to the Jihad” Is the above a quote from Al Qaeda ? Iran ? Syria ? Nope…. it’s a quote from the Sultan of the Ottaman Empire…… in 1914…. at the start of WW1 Boy things sure have changed since then…… or have they ?

In Utah this week the GOP nominated the daughter of Haitian immigrants for Congress Here is how National Review covered it. Here is how they took it at Daily Kos Now I would hardly expect DK to say much positive about any Republican, or indeed anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders, but some of the comments certainly seem over the line, especially given that they respond to most critiques of President Obama with the racism card. What a shock… double standards in politics…..

Just a little cheery news for your Sunday morning. Of course just because they made a physical copy of the drone does not mean that they have actually reverse engineered the technology, but the fact they might have is not cheery news.

A few months back I was listening to the radio and the topic was the tax cuts and the general attitudes towards wealth/success/etc. The various callers debated whether success was the result of work or opportunity or both. One caller though caught my attention. He was the father of 5, the youngest in her 5th year of college, so you figure he’s around 60ish. He grew up as one of 12 children in a working class family, not abject poverty but very tight money wise. As teens he and his siblings were...

An interesting look at some facts about elections, things to consider the next time somebody uses the word “never” in connection with the election this year.

Word just breaking today that Dick Clark has died of a heart attack at the age of 82. Clark was an institution in the music and television industries, hosting American Bandstand for 30 years (the day the show debuted nationally his guest was Elvis Presley). He also hosted numerous game shows, including a several versions of the pyramid. For many years Dick Clark was a must do for New Years Eve celebrations. He had slowed down in recent years after several strokes but continued to do what he could...

Although I do not agree with much of what he stood for politically, I do find Thomas “Tip” O’Neill to be one of the best sources for good political stories and analogies. He is of course famous for adopting the mantra ‘all politics is local’ but for me a story he used to tell about his first campaign is telling to all candidates in 2012. When he first ran for the local town council (while still in college if I recall correctly) he and his friends worked the area trying to get votes. The...

I was just watching the end of an old Andy Griffith episode. The episode deals with a husband and wife relationship where the wife constantly nagged the husband and he drank as a result. This led him to leave her and rather than admit she’d be dumped, she pretended he’d died. After a time the husband returned to town and he and his wife had to figure out how to deal with the situation. At the end of the episode the husband, named Tom, told Andy that he and his wife and been out to ‘his...

While probably every day marks several historic occassions I am always struck by how certain times of year seem to mark a confluence of events. Consider the middle part of April April 12th marks the start of the Civil war, the death of FDR and the first man in space April 14th-15th marks both the Titanic and the Lincoln assassination April 18th marks the 1906 San Francisco earthquake Mid April also marks Apollo 13 mission, the Oklahoma city bombing and the battles of Lexington and Concord. If you...

As we move further in to a political campaign it is only a matter of time before the ad makers go to the same slime infested well they use every two years. Attack ads are of course part of any political campaign and on some level they probably do serve a purpose in bringing an issue before the voters. But these ads inevitably go too far and we start to see the comparisons to Hitler, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh and so on creep to the surface. Every year we see Democratic candidates airing ads which link...

I’ll have a more detailed post on Sunday but I thought I’d toss out a tidbit for those watching various Titanic programs tonight. There were 112 children aboard the Titanic on the fatal night. Of those children, 56 survived. If you were a child in 1st or 2nd class, you had a 100% chance of survival. If you were a child in 3rd class, you had a 33% chance. Imagine what that must have meant for 3rd class families. Parents forced to choose which child lived and which ones died. An orphan...

Today was planned to be a fun day for me. Relatives were visiting from out of town and we were driving to my sister’s house to visit with her and her family. As we were driving southbound we saw dozens of law enforcement vehicles heading in the other directions with sirens going. I knew it could not be good, but I had no idea just how bad it was. An obituary has been added Quoting from the Modesto Bee A sheriff’s deputy and another man trying to serve an eviction notice at an apartment complex...

With nothing but respect for my non Christian friends, today I must share my own joy On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground,...

To my Christian friends, let us celebrate for HE IS RISEN ! For my Jewish (and Christian) friends, I hope our Passover is blessed and joyful. For all of my friends, regardless of personal faith, let us all enjoy the spirit of love and family that joins these two celebrations.

Hadn’t posted one yet today and assuming somebody out there finds the stories interesting, here goes. This story revolves around a last minute crew change on the Titanic. Wanting to make sure the maiden voyage went well the powers that be decided to transfer the Chief Officer (aka 2nd in command) from the Titanic’s sister ship Olympic to the Titanic for the first sailing. This meant that the Titanic’s chief officer became 1st officer and the 1st officer became 2nd officer. The 2nd...

Forty four years ago today the Reverend Martin Luther King was murdered in Memphis by a man of hate. His dream however has endured to a day where a man who looks much more like King than his killer is the President of the United States. Take some time to remember one of his greatest speeches.

Time for your daily (or semi-daily) dose of Titanic history, the story of Isidor and Ida Straus. The Straus’ were in many ways a perfect symbol of the American dream. Born in Bavaria they emigrated to the United States in the 1850′s. Starting out with a small general store they (along with Isidor’s brother Nathan) eventually went to work at Macy’s department store, running the glassware department. In time they became partners in the store and eventually bought control from...

President Obama has tonight officially won the Democratic nomination for President according to media reports. Not a surprise of course but interesting tidbit.

Mitt Romney has swept all 3 GOP primaries tonight with huge wins in DC and Maryland plus a closer win in Wisconsin. Ensign Ricky has said he will remain in the race.