Nixon W. Bush

Who is the worst President in the history of the United States?

OK, obviously. Let me revise the question: Who is the worst President in the history of the United States (active Presidents excluded)?

There are a few names you might be tossing around in your head. Hoover. Buchanan. Harding. But, chances are that there is one especially demonic, psychotic, megalomaniacal gargoyle that immediately leaped forward and started doing somersaults as soon as you finished reading the question.

NIXON

For years, I feel like our generation has lived in Nixon’s shadow. He was always the nadir of American politics. No one ever had anything nice to say about the former President, and he was the constant subject of ridicule for comedians and cartoonists. His physical appearance was ghastly-the demented eyes, the sagging jowls, the profuse sweating, the constant fidgeting, as if he were trying to slip out of his suit without unbuttoning anything. He spoke in a horrible guttural growl that made him sound like a gorgon with laryngitis.

What’s so Civil about War Anyway?

I’ve recently been watching Ken Burn’s epic documentary on the Civil War. As I’m nearing the end, I consider the following two impressions to be the biggest lessons that I have learned so far:

1. The Union’s leaders were not the visionary geniuses we sometimes consider them to have been. Lincoln was a great president, but at the time he was mired in a constant state of doubt and insecurity. The public received his Gettysburg Address with confusion and disinterest, and he was convinced that it had been a failed speech. The Emancipation Proclamation nearly backfired on him as well, when thousands of northern civilians rioted in response. He was unpopular towards the end of his first term, and he did not expect to return for a second. Union generals such as Ambrose Burnside and George McClellan made innumerable tactical blunders and provided despairingly poor leadership. Their cowardice and inept battle plans often resulted in thousands of deaths with no gain and no explanation save misjudgment. The Union’s eventual victory is quite astounding, and in some ways seems almost accidental. The people who lived through the conflict certainly did not anticipate or even expect the eventual outcome.

2. Aside from the whole “we-believe-black-people-are-property” component of their ethos, it’s pretty difficult not to fall in love with the Confederate cause. There is something incredibly romantic and compelling about the way in which secessionists spoke about their culture and their land. In a way, they sound almost like a band of Robin Hoods defending their Sherwood Forest against President Nottingham Lincoln. Colorful characters like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Nathan Bedford Forrest seem almost as if they had sprung from the pages of an ancient Homeric epic poem. The common rebel soldier possessed a roguish wisecracking demeanor that made him considerably more likeable than his stoic but bland Union counterpart. Confederates also had an extensive spy network, which included Southern Belles who would ferry arms under their hoop skirts. There was even one woman, a debutante living in D.C., who regularly extracted secrets from the Union’s secretary of war via seductive methods!

Reverend Wright…

Here is a 10 minute sermon… I have to admit that everything I have seen of this man (even the things the media are saying are “controversial”) I’ve agreed with… This video was made to show how some of the media (read: FOXNEWS and others) take statements out of context to up the controversy…

I love this little leprechaun…

A new video I found after the jump…

Iraq Strategy…

From the two Australian (one is actually from New Zealand, but I digress) comedians who did the “The Front Fell Off” sketch that Drac posted previously elsewhere… This video is from late in 2006 …

Jacky-boy…

I’m sure some of you have seen this Jack Nicholson ad…

But here is a response I stumbled upon, which made me laugh…

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “The Legal Rights of Guantanamo Detainees”…

Lindsay Graham has some views I don’t agree with, but I was incredibly relieved to see this video, for all the good it’s going to do in the long run… the Bush Administration doesn’t care what any legal expert they don’t hand pick says about torture…

Oh Tommy tommy tom….

Quietly slips under radar…

This totally slipped under my radar at least, but the iPod Touch is now available in a 32 Gig version for $499. The iPhone’s lowest model is now the 8Gig for $399 (no change there) and they’ve added a 16Gig model for $499… I do have to say I’m content with the 8Gig iPhone I have, and by the time I need to replace it there will be the iPhone2 or something like that. Just keeping everybody up to date… Wiggly icons are pretty sweet (but even sweeter with the wiggly Installer.app icon (yes I am a 1337 haxx0r dood (or I just followed instructions (but whatever))))…