Albany, NY -- Presidential Last Words
While reading all of the bios of the American Presidents on Wikipedia, I noted that some of the Presidents had interesting, or comical, last words. Seeing that Wikipedia has last words for only one President after 1865 (I pulled some of the later ones from other sites), I'm led to believe that many of them are apocryphal, but what the heck?
George Washington: 'Tis well.
John Adams: Thomas Jefferson still survives.
Thomas Jefferson: Is it the Fourth? I resign my spirit to God, my daughter, and my country.
James Madison: I always talk better lying down.
John Quincy Adams: This is the last of earth. I am content.
Andrew Jackson: Both white and black... Oh, do not cry. Be good children, and we shall all meet in heaven.
Martin van Buren: There is but one reliance.
William Henry Harrison: Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.
John Tyler: Perhaps it is best.
James K. Polk: I love you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you.
Zachary Taylor: I should not be surprised if this were to result in my death.
Millard Fillmore: This nourishment is palatable.
James Buchanan: History will vindicate my memory.
Abraham Lincoln: HAHAHAHAH!!! BWAHAHAHAHAAHAH!!!! HAHA...OW?
Ulysses S. Grant: Water.
Rutherford B. Hayes: I know that I am going where Lucy is.
James Garfield: Swaim, can't you stop this? Oh, Swaim...
Grover Cleveland: I have tried so hard to do right.
Benjamin Harrison: Are the doctors here? Doctor... my lungs...
William McKinley: It's God's way. His will, not ours, be done.
Theodore Roosevelt: Please put out the light.
Woodrow Wilson: I am a broken piece of machinery. When the machinery is broken... I am ready.
Warren G. Harding: That's good. Go on. Read some more.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: I have a terrific headache.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: I've always loved my wife. I've always loved my children. I've always loved my grandchildren. And I have always loved my country.
East Elmhurst, NY -- PARKING!!!
My life is now complete... the superintendent for my new building just called me up to tell me that he has a parking spot for me on my block.
I think I just disturbed several people in the hotel with my screams of "YES! YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!"
East Elmhurst, NY -- So It's Come To This
A friend and longtime co-poster on Silicon Investor sent me and a few others the following private message last night:
I think I'm done posting on political threads. The bill passed by congress this past week gives unlimited power to the executive branch, and I think we all understand that this executive branch is very dangerous to its "enemies". The danger might not be immediate, but I think it is a short time down the road. A USSC review of these powers is certain to happen, but it's entirely possible they will side with the President rather than the constitution and the rule of law that has been in effect for civilized nations since the Magna Carta; 800 years.
[From the NYTimes:] "Bruce Ackerman, a critic of the administration and a professor of law and political science at Yale University, sharply criticized the bill but agreed that it strengthened the White House position. 'The president walked away with a lot more than most people thought,' Mr. Ackerman said. He said the bill 'further entrenches presidential power' and allows the administration to declare even an American citizen an unlawful combatant subject to indefinite detention."
This, in essence, negates freedom of speech, or any freedom the US has enjoyed since its founding.
I sensed we were at a turning point after 9/11, but never suspected we could move so far, so fast. Which leads me to believe we could move ever farther in the near future. What would be the reaction, from the right, to the first detention of a US citizen for strongly opposing political view wrt terrorism? You know the answer. From there it is a slippery slope with no hope.
Good luck guys... if we have a change for the positive, if the USSC steps up to defend the constitution, I will be back. In the meantime, keep fighting the good fight.To understand what's going on, see
Ze Frank's eulogy for "Mr. Habeas Corpus."
It's all so creepy. Why aren't we standing up for ourselves and the loss of our rights? Oh right... It's just "politics."
East Elmhurst, NY -- FDR on Capitalism and the Depression
From
Wikipedia, FDR's explanation of the cause of the Great Depression:
Primarily this is because rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men. True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish. The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
