Archive for February, 2009
Is Strawberry Shortcake just Rahm Emanuel in drag?
This is Rahm Emanuel’s Smurf-blue and strawberry pink house in the Lakeview area of Chicago, in Illinois’ 5th Congressional District.
And this is Strawberry Shortcake’s strawberry pink and Smurf-blue Cupcake Cottage, in the Berry Falls area of Strawberry Land’s Porcupine Peak district.
This is Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, a foul-mouthed grown man living in a fabulous Smurf-blue and strawberry pink dream house.
This is Strawberry Shortcake, adventuress of Strawberry Land, a sassy grown woman living in a fabulous strawberry pink and Smurf-blue dream house.
Separated at the berry patch?
Who would have thought that foul, vile potty-mouth was hiding so much strawberry scented sweetness.
“Pass the creme anglaise and a rusty fork, Motherf***ers! Momma’s schooling you down to the strawberry patch, and you’re gonna like it berry, berry much”.
Secretary of State of the Day: Edward Everett (20th Secretary of State)
Term in Office: November 6th, 1852 – March 3rd, 1853
Succeeded by: William L. Marcy
- Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, April 11, 1794;
- Graduated from Harvard University in 1811;
- Pursued theological studies and received M.A. degree in 1814;
- Became pastor of the Brattle Street Unitarian Church, Boston, in 1814;
- Studied and traveled in Europe 1815-1819 receiving a Ph.D. degree at Gottingen in 1817;
- Occupied the chair of Greek literature at Harvard University, 1819-1825;
- Edited the North American Reviert 1820-1824;
- Married Charlotte Gray Brooks in 1822; was a Representative from Massachusetts, 1825-1835;
- Governor of Massachusetts, 1836-1839;
- Served as Minister to Great Britain 1841-1845;
- President of Harvard 1846-1849;
- Was commissioned Secretary of State in President Fillmore’s Cabinet November 6, 1852, entered upon his duties the same day, and served until March 3, 1853;
- As Secretary of State, declined a proposal of France and Great Britain that the United States enter into a convention with them guaranteeing to Spain the possession of Cuba;
- Senator from Massachusetts 18531854; became known as one of the greatest orators of his day;
- Unsuccessful candidate for the Vice Presidency on the Constitutional-union ticket in 1860;
- Presidential elector in 1864;
- Died in Boston January 15, 1865.
Today in History: February 27th (Year One, Day 39 in The Golden Age of Obama)
Happy 29th birthday, Chelsea Victoria Clinton!
1980 – Bill and Hillary Clinton’s greatest accomplishment, born this day in Little Rock, Arkansas
1560 – Treaty of Berwick expels French from Scotland
1594 – Henry IV crowned King of France
1617 – Treaty of Stolbovo between Sweden and Russia ends Ingrian War, shutting Russia out of Baltic Sea
1700 – New Britain discovered
1797 – Bank of England issues first one and two pound notes
1801 – Washington, DC placed under jurisdiction of Congress (District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801)
1844 – Dominican Republic independent of Haiti
1860 – Abraham Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech
1900 – British Labour party formed
1922 – SCOTUS rebuffs challenge to women’s right to vote in Leser v. Garnett
1933 – Reichstag fire
1939 – Sit-down strikes ruled illegal by SCOTUS
1945 – Lebanon declares independence
1951 – 22nd Amendment to Constitution, limiting presidents to two terms, is ratified
1964 – Italy asks for help to keep Leaning Tower of Pisa from falling
1967 – Dominica independent of Great Britain
1974 – People Magazine published for first time
1986 – US Senate allows its debates to be televised
1991 – President George H.W. Bush announces liberation of Kuwait
1999 – Olusegon Obasanjo becomes Nigeria’s first democratically elected President since the 1980s
2007 – Chinese correction: Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, largest drop in 10 years
More bad news for Chicago: Borders closing on Michigan Avenue
The Borders on Michigan Avenue is the largest Borders in the world — and it’s being closed in 2010, as it appears Borders itself is in deep long-term trouble (and, frankly, does not seem long for this world).
This particular Borders is enormous — an anchor on Michigan Avenue, right across from Water Tower Place, and just diagnol from the Hancock building.
Retail along Michigan Avenue is in serious trouble: most of the vertical malls, some 14 stories or more tall, are ghost towns. A few were being prepped for conversion into condo towers, but those plans fell apart when the real estate market tanked. Who knows what will happen to them now.
The high end shops were already suffering, but when things like book stores fall too, it appears consumers are really cutting back on everything that’s not absolutely necessary. As much as we love books, for the last 3-4 years we’ve bought them used from Amazon, or from ABE Books online. What Borders charged $25 for, we’ve found for $5 or so via Amazon’s used book service. As for magazines, we let all of our subscriptions lapse, and have been reading those at the library on Sundays. A lot of people are rediscovering the joys of the library these days.
Borders closing on Michigan Avenue is just another piece in the bigger picture, of what appears to be a fundamental and permanent transformation of Americans’ spending habits. It reminds us of a machine that’s not run out of gas so much as it’s become obsolete in some dramatic way: pumping more money into it isn’t going to make it run again. The problem is more complicated than that, and much, much more serious than temporarily running out of gas. All the little cogs and gears inside are warped and expired. It’s a wonder the machine ran for as long as it did.
Rahm Emanuel has a Sara Feigenholtz sign up in his yard
We know the story in this is that Rahm Emanuel basically endorsed Sara Feigenholtz for his old seat by putting this campaign sign for her up at his Chicago house — but we can’t get passed the fact his house is powder blue and strawberry pink.
Not surprised in the least, but, really? It looks like it’s made of those bubblegum cigars handed out when people have a baby.
This pretty much confirms that Feigenholtz will be a place-holder in the 5th Congressional, because Rahm wants someone in his seat who will give it up when he wants to come back to Chicago and be a Congressman again. If he’s backing Feigenholtz, that means she’s on the same page with that.
The same powder blue and strawberry pink welcome to fabulous page.
The other thing that makes us laugh about this is how much it reminds us of Teresa Heinz Kerry and the 2004 campaign. Back in Fox Chapel, near Pittsburgh, Teresa got tired of reporters staking out her family’s mansion, so to throw them off their game, one night she had her staff put up all kinds of Bush/Cheney signs all over her front yard. The next morning, the news crews vanished, since they believed they had the wrong house — and they couldn’t figure out why what they thought was the Heinz mansion had Bush/Cheney signs all over it.
Kerry would have been a terrible president, but man alive, Teresa would have been the most lively and interesting First Spouse since Frances Cleveland.
What's Hillary Clinton Doing Today? February 26th
8:30 a.m. Delicious breakfast with House Foreign Affairs Committee Members.
11:00 a.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Fatmir Sejdiu, President of the Republic of Kosovo, and with His Excellency Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo.
12:45 p.m. Joint Announcement with Special Representative for North Korea Policy Ambassador Stephen Bosworth.
1:15 p.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
3:45 p.m. Meeting with President Obama and Vice President Biden.
Joe Biden tells people he will be a pain in the neck
Joe Biden says he is going to travel around the country and be a pain in the neck to people.
That’s a good use of Air Force Two if ever there was one.
If we could fly around the country doing that, we totally would as well (though, honestly, we’d probably dedicate most of our time to driving Bill Richardson, Claire McCaskill, and the Kennedys crazy, because you know how much we love the lot of them).
In relation to the Trillion Dollars in Spending Obama’s pushed through Congress, with close to another half billion approved yesterday, Biden needs to especially keep an eye on Dr. Steven Chu at Energy, Ray LaHood at Transportation, and whomever finally is installed at Health and Human Services, because these three departments have the potential to waste and squander the most of the spending billions.
If Biden is really going to be an effective Spending Cop, then LaHood, most of all, needs to be watched like a HAWK.
Is Biden up to the challenge? Time will tell. But, it sure will be interesting to watch.
