Presidential Quotes (7 of 16): James Buchanan

Today, we quote James Buchanan (1791-1868), a Democrat who was the 15th president of the United States. He is surprisingly the only person from Pennsylvania, one of America's most populous states, to be elected to the presidency though ultra-conservative former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania tried to win the Republican nomination, that went to Mitt Romney, in the last election cycle.

Buchanan was also the only life-long bachelor to occupy the White House. He actually won a three-way race for the president over former prez Millard Fillmore and John C. Fremont, who was the first U.S. Senator from California.

Of course, the president after Buchanan was Abraham Lincoln.........but, here is the quote from Buchanan:

"The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men."

Presidential Quotes (5 of 16): Millard Fillmore...........not the duck

Greetings to our blog-readers in Dubai, France and Norway, where the English soccer team Tottenham Hotspur traveled all the way to Tromso, a city inside the Arctic Circle, in which the visitors prevailed 2-0.

Though he may not be a household name in France or even here in les etas unis, President Millard Fillmore was the fourth and final Whig Party member and the 13th man to rise to the presidency. In Fillmore's case, it was not an election but the death of President Zachary Taylor which allowed him the presidency. Fillmore was later on a 1938 postage stamp, and his time in office lasted from 1850-53. He was also a political conservative.

This brings us to Mallard Fillmore, a right-wing cartoon duck whom we must admit is quite amusing even though we prefer the progressive politics of comic strips like "Doonesbury" and "Knight Life" (by the ever-kewl Keith Knight), which is the brainchild of Bruce Tinsley.

"Mallard Fillmore" first became syndicated in 1994, and Tinsley got his start as a political cartoonist for "The Daily Progress" newspaper in Charlottesville, Va., which is ironically the most progressive zip code in Virginia.

Stephen Colbert made fun of Mallard Fillmore in 2006 saying that the duck was to right-wing media as Garfield was to lasagna.

Here is Pres. Millard Fillmore's quote: "It is not strange to mistake change for progress."


http://www.millercenter.org/president/fillmore

http://www.millardfillmore.org

http://www.mallardfillmore.com

Presidential Quotes (4 of 12): Zachary Taylor

Greetings to those of you in Poland, Mexico and Japan.

Our quote today is from Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), the 12th president of the United States who was one of four American presidents from the Whig Party and one of four American presidents to have the dubious distinction of dying in office from natural causes.

Taylor was born near Charlottesville, Va., and he apparently had little formal education. He was replaced by his veep Millard Fillmore.

Here is Taylor's quote:

"It would be judicious to act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe."

Yeah, one does not hear the word magnanimity much today!

http://www.millercenter.org/president/taylor

Blogging in Very Busy Times

Since we are very pressed for time these days, we thought we'd save time by emulating "Sesame Street."

So, today's entry is brought to you by the letter "m," which is also the title of a classic early German film. M is the 13th letter of the English alphabet. It would be interesting to see Cong. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who is very conservative, and Cong. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a progressive leader, engage in a spelling bee.

We are also brought  to you by the 6, which is the first prime number that is neither a square number nor a prime number.

We are also adding Millard Fillmore, from the Whig Party, who was the 13th president of the United States from 1850-1853.

And, our city of the day is Bursa, Turkey, the fourth largest city in Turkey which has a population of 1.7 million; it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1326 to 1365.

http://www.bursa.bel.tr

http://www.sesamestreet.org

http://www.millardfillmore.org

http://www.sesamestreet.org