Abraham Lincoln Died 150 Years Ago Today

Image from source, Mother Jones

The fact that Abraham Lincoln's death by assassination happened 150 years ago today is a little stunning when you think about it. In the scheme of things, that really isn't that long ago. I'll be 50 next year, and it's hard for me to believe that just three of my life-spans separate the here and now from Civil War America.

It's also roughly the same amount of time that it took to go from basically no modern conveniences to the world of today. There were some important inventions in use at the time of course, from photography to locomotives to telegraphs, but if you plunked a Millennial kid into 1865, he'd pretty much find it to be a dystopian nightmare. Similarly, if you plucked Lincoln out of Ford's Theater, and into 2015, he'd be mortified by the modern Republican Party.

In many of the discussions about civil rights (spurred by either a gay rights issue or Ferguson and the other racially charged controversies with police), I've seen countless conservative Republicans go on about how it's the Republican Party that blazed the civil rights trail. They'll start with Lincoln, and go all the way up to the Civil Rights Era. They'll point to George Wallace and other Democrats as proof. They're not wrong. . .but they're not right either. They disregard the massive shift both parties went through over the issue, and the fact that the "Dixiecrats" jumped ship and effectively overtook the Republican Party.

Look at a map sometime of the red and blue states, particularly in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Look at a map of the progression of same-sex marriage states. They echo closely the map of Confederate States vs. United States of Lincoln's time. I don't think that's a coincidence.

[Excerpt]

Lincoln Died 150 Years Ago Today and If He Were Still Alive He Wouldn’t Have Been a Republican

On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. Lincoln died the following morning, just six days after General Robert E. Lee had surrendered and the Civil War, which lasted four years and killed an estimated 750,000 soldiers, officially ended. . .

Read more at: Mother Jones

Right Wing World: President Obama, Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address and "God"

I've been hoping that there would be some issue to talk about beyond ObamaCare (enough, give it a couple of months, see what shakes out, I'm sick of hearing about it). And there have been other things in the news cycle. But they all seem to be weird or just stupid. And stupid is the faux controversy about President Obama and the Gettysburg Address.

The President was asked to read one of the drafts of the address for documentary film maker Ken Burns. The version he read from did not contain the phrase "under God." This particular draft never has. But without doing a lick of research--or just a simple Google search--Right Wing World went off half cocked, per usual. They lit the blogosphere, talk radio and undoubtedly FOX "News" afire, alleging that Obama took God out Lincoln's famous speech.



Image of the "Hay Copy" of the Gettysburg Address
from Wikipedia

I rolled my eyes hard enough to hear an audible thunk. What is it like to live in a perpetual state of outrage? And to be so freakin' touchy about this allegedly "all powerful" deity. If he's who they claim him to be, I think he can take it.

[Excerpt]

White House explains why Obama didn't say "under God" in Gettysburg Address

President Obama irked some conservatives with his recitation of the Gettysburg Address, which he read aloud as part of a project celebrating the 150th anniversary of famous Lincoln speech. For the project, spearheaded by documentarian Ken Burns, a number of politicians and other high-profile people recorded themselves reading the Gettysburg Address. Some conservatives took offense to the president's reading. . .

Read more at: CBS News

Rachel Maddow's Sarah Palin Commercial

I don't know how I missed this particular bit, being a regular watcher of The Rachel Maddow Show. But it's good stuff, explaining the GOP's big Lincoln Day events, as well as Sarah Palin's strange demands, which the GOP gave in to. But the real jewel is toward the end with a mock commercial of Sarah Palin looking up stuff on Google. Hilarious.

200th Birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin

Picture from source, FamousBirthdays

February 12, 1809 was a pretty amazing day. On that day, two men were born whose legacies will likely effect mankind for the rest of its existence. Abraham Lincoln has always been thought of as one of our greatest Presidents, and that opinion is unlikely to change. Without him, the country as we know it would be a very different place. And Charles Darwin's advancement of the Theory of Evolution continues to be a point of contention, at least in the United States.

I thought I'd try to dig up some other luminaries also born this day, but none I could find are anywhere on that scale. Christina Ricci, Arsenio Hall, Judy Blume, Joe Garagiola, Lorne Greene, and Joanna Kearns have all made names for themselves, but history changing? I guess not.

There is a person in my life whose birthday is February 12. Todd, my brother-in-law, may not change the course of human history, but he's made a place in our family's history. And he had a little to do with growing the family too, with the birth two years ago of my nephew, Lux. So happy birthday, Todd! It's not too late. You could become President, or discover some new theory, right? Get crackin'! Heh.

Source for birthdays: Famous Birthdays

Four score and seven years ago...

By Steve Breen - San Diego Union Tribune

Have You Seen the New $5 Bill Yet?

Image from source, AFP

I recently got my first look at the new $5 bill. It's easily the best looking of the new tamper-resistant bills. The purple is a nice touch. The new $10 by contrast looks like someone spilled coffee on it, or dropped it in a toilet or something. Sorry, eww.

I was surprised that the new fives are stamped "series 2006." What's that about? If they'd been out for two years, we'd have surely seen them here in Las Vegas. This story says they were just released, so were they sitting around in a drawer somewhere? Were these the missing billions in Iraq, and someone just slipped them in to circulation? Dunno.

But they're pretty cool looking, this "specimen" picture notwithstanding.

[Excerpt]

US: security features of new five-dollar bill are on the money

"The redesigned five-dollar bill's enhanced security features help ensure we stay ahead of counterfeiters and protect your hard-earned money," Federal Reserve Board official Michael Lambert said at a ceremony to launch the new bill.

Lambert spent the first new bill, which like the old features a portrait of president Abraham Lincoln, at the gift shop at the site of the 34-room house on a hilltop in Washington, called Lincoln's Cottage, in which Lincoln and his family lived for six months of the year during the Civil War. . .

Read more at: AFP

What REALLY Went on in the Lincoln Bedroom?

Image from source, EDGE Boston

I don't know about the veracity of this story, but I know one thing. This story will drive some people to frothing and foaming and spitting. And those are just the people who need a poke in the eye. Most other people will read it, believe it or disbelieve it, and not care either way.

It is common these days to speculate about celebrity sexuality. Perez Hilton wouldn't exist without it. But mostly it is either the hot guys or "moral majority" types that get the brunt of the speculation and "outings." I doubt that anyone is harboring fantasies about Abraham Lincoln, gay or straight. He would merely be labeled "first gay President in history," if the story were true. So unlike Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, who could each lay claim to a "first" if elected, President Neil Patrick Harris may have to settle for second. . .

[Excerpt]

Outing Abe—BC professor questions Lincoln’s sexuality

. . .According to Charles E. Morris III, associate professor of Communications at Boston College, we may have already seen the first gay president. "There is strong evidence that Abraham Lincoln had very strong relationships with men," says Morris, "and tantalizing but circumstantial evidence that he may have had sexual relationships with some of them.". .

Read more at: EDGE Boston