Martin Luther King Day Open Thread

Obamania can go to far.  And since you asked, yes, I look this good.  But it's not about me - in what I fervently hope will be my last-ever defense of George Bush let me note that a guy who could bench press 185 five times and run three miles at a 6:45 pace probably would look good at the beach.  However, he is heavy enough (5' 11'', 190-ish) that he probably doesn't have Obama's cut.

TO MUCH MORE:  Runner's World has a 2002 photo of Bush in a wet t-shirt and we learn this:

I make time to run or exercise every day. There's never a question in my mind that I'll exercise. Even when I travel, there's always a treadmill in my room. I have a treadmill on Air Force One. On long trips-for example, when I went to Europe recently-I ran for 90 minutes on the flight over there. When I came back from China, I ran on the flight.

Usually I run 6 days a week. When I don't run, I use an elliptical trainer, lift weights, and stretch. But when I run, I run hard. On Sundays, if I'm at Camp David, I'll go for a hard, morning run-these days about 20:30 to 20:45 for 3 miles on a tough course-and then I'll go walk 2 to 4 miles with Laura [the First Lady] afterward.

Comments

[C.R.]

Hit - That is great news about your kids.

JMHanes - Thanks for your typepad updates (and you don't appear to sleep enough).

Jane - I think I'll give it 11 hours.

[bad]

Good morning!! I notice the previous crowd estimate of five million which was reduced to two million is now down to 1.5 million. Who knew?

I hope none of the crowd goes nuts when they realize they're not getting near the actual events.

Or go nuts because they think the rules don't apply when PEBO is president.

[centralcal]

Good morning everyone. So, today is the day "we have been waiting for." Yes, it is true. I have been waiting for this day - to end.

Because, tomorrow is when the real story begins. Obama will have his first real job. One that he can't be late for. One he can't dodge and only vote present for. The weight of being President is about to descend upon his shoulders and there will be no place to run to, no place to hide.

So, yeah, I have been waiting for this day.

[Ralph L]

The History Channel is now running a show on JFK's warts. Shocking.

[bad]

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Cheney was helping to move into his new home outside Washington in McLean, Va., when he injured his back. His doctor recommended that he needed a wheelchair for the next couple of days. Perino said that Cheney is OK otherwise.

Cheny rocks!!!

[bad]

So does Cheney....

[C.R.]

I'll take any laughs I can get today.
From The Corner:

Kilt complex [Mark Steyn]

The BBC reports:

Calls have been made for Barack Obama to mark his inauguration as US president by creating his own tartan.

The move would be the ideal way to celebrate Mr Obama's Scottish ancestry and boost tourism, according to the Scottish Conservative Party.

Mr Obama can be traced to William the Lion, who ruled Scotland from 1165 to 1214, genealogists believe.

You can't hide your Lion thighs. The entire kilt industry depends on it:

The Scottish Conservatives have written to Mr Obama about the tartan, which the party said could boost tartan exports amid the economic downturn.

Real Scotsmen famously wear nothing under their kilts, so, if Obama does decide to play Jock McBailout, he risks decimating the entire American underwear industry.

[narciso]

Morning all, JM, don't scare me like that, at first I thought it was Bgates, he can echo the progressive patter so well some times it's scary, than i thought you had gotten either too close to the brain slugs or the pods of "invasion of the body Snatchers" Glenda, you too, first of all, how's you Sil doing, did she finish the whole Jane Austen ouevre, Sometimes I try too hard to impress despite my Catholic School education, this is the first place I've ever had a chance to show my writing
to a wider audience. I finally told my mom, about all of you, the advice, prayers thoughts, had for me, as an explanation for
the trip that I'm undertaking to D.C.next months. and how I plan to get there; I found the ticket prices to D.C, reasonable, I'll see about the lodging when PayPal comes through. Talked to the people at the Omni Shoreham, looks like they are pretty booked up. By the way did you catch the
Glenn Beck interview of Sarah; I found she did good, Glenn as he says himself "not so much" Some will fault her for being too conciliatory when pressed, but that was her stance two months ago, when she came down here to Miami; where she outclassed the pathetic passel of partisans gathered here, to cry in their beers, instead of riding up for the next good fight. Those who will fault her for focusing too intently on her feelings for Trig; well hit'em with moose antlers it'll heal eventually. It wasn't till this sad episode, when they tried to deny her very motherhood and even status as a woman; don't read Chapters 5 & 7 of "Guilty", if you don't want to be angered by the idiocy of Wendy Doniger for one, and the 'media malpractice' of the press, for another that Mark Steyn's observations on demographics caught on.

[hit and run]

Calls have been made for Barack Obama to mark his inauguration as US president by creating his own tartan.

The move would be the ideal way to celebrate Mr Obama's Scottish ancestry and boost tourism, according to the Scottish Conservative Party.

No. Not the inauguration.

January 25th is more appropriate. http://www.bbc.co.uk/robertburns/burnsnight/running_order.shtml>Burns Night.

We'll be celebrating. In the presence of someone who will be wearing a kilt. Obama is welcome to join us if he wishes.

[bad]

Is the inauguration a distraction from the pressing issues of the day?

[Bill in AZ]

Because, tomorrow is when the real story begins. Obama will have his first real job. One that he can't be late for. One he can't dodge and only vote present for. The weight of being President is about to descend upon his shoulders and there will be no place to run to, no place to hide.

I dunno... I suspect it will be like anything else he has [not] done in his life. His string-pullers will tell him what to do, what to say, every step of the way - and when anything he does goes south, some poor sucker will go under the bus. He will need a galactic scale bus by the end of his term. And, of course, the media will putty, paint, and polish everything he does and he'll come out shinier at the end than he is even now.

[Old Lurker]

Is THIS party central? I vented about Previous/Next on the other thread but Bad talked me off the ledge. I am very cranky today so it does not take much to push by buttons.

Proving my long time lurking credentials, here is some accumulated wisdom.

Rick Ballard, while highly realistic about the players, is reasonably upbeat about our place in the global economy long term and how quickly markets might price themselves back to some level that respects that.

On the other hand, Rick was quick to advise somebody about how his European friends keep wealth in floorsafes and I was entertained as he advised what to store there.

Then Clarice, always the source of sage advice, advised that Rick was storing the wrong kind of diamonds and her family is raised to learn to sew them into their coats.

DoT way back, maybe even when he was OT, lamented that he was old enough and liquid enough (calm down, Hit, the other kind of liquid...) to cover his personal needs himself...but he was very sorry for the next generation. I identify with that completely.

Personally I am very worried (dpressed like that other guy) as we lurch into untried directions in this country. While I know we generally recover from recessions within a year or two, I do note that the markets did not recover from 1929 until the early fifties, did not recover from the late sixties until Reagan, and Japan could have bought the world in the late eighties but today is valued at 20% of its peak. If those other three periods each had "seminal" events that caused the abnormal recoveries, how can a dumbed down voter pool lacking all sense of history lead us around the new socialism cascading upon us? How do I get some of the wealth created with my life's work to my daughters...

Anyway, sorry to ramble on.

[bad]

The San Fran boys and girls choir (performing on the steps of the capitol) must only accept beautiful children. They are gorgeous!!

[bad]

The flowering quince is starting to bloom. I neglected to mention this reliable, low maintainance bloomer in our previous hoticulture thread.

[Caro]

Go have some fun at JMH's 8:02 link. I could not resist.

Thanks for all the laughs this morning, Blackberry keys and the Scottish underwear industry...we will get through it together.

Good luck, Jane.

[JM Hanes]

Posting over on the new inauguration thread!

Old Lurker, welcome to the light! I suspect you won't be the only one taking a ramble today. I know that's what my mind is doing.

[RichatUF]

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