Best wishes for a speedy recovery to former president Clinton on his hospitalization for heart problems.
Also, there are some terrific photos of the snow-covered White House on the Flickr photostream.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery to former president Clinton on his hospitalization for heart problems.
Also, there are some terrific photos of the snow-covered White House on the Flickr photostream.
Houston Chronicle is reporting that Jenna and Henry will marry at the Crawford Ranch and not at the White House itself. The date is set for May 10, so plans must be well under way.
Becky sent along this photo from oldpicture.com (the source of some good WH photos in the past) with the caption “White House at night, 6/11”. I’m not sure if the bright glare is from fireworks or just from a streetlamp due to the long exposure or what.
UPDATE: Robert Martin sent a better image that he found in the LOC which includes the full date: 6/14/11, prepping for the Tafts’ silver wedding anniversary party on June 19, 1911, which we know was lit up with search lights.
Two score electricians are now at work in the White House grounds, as thousands of electric lights will be placed among the trees and festooned across the lawns and terraces. The White House itself will be outlined completely by electric lights. No cornice, angle, or gable will be overlooked. On the west lawn of the White house an electric flag will wave. This will be a wonderful sight, the red, white, and blue colors flashing into the night.
Times Online is reporting that President of France Nicolas Sarkozy has secretly married supermodel Carla Bruni in the Elysee last week. It’s hard to imagine such a thing happening in the White House (except maybe back in the days of President Hefner), but then there is a little church just across the park from the White House, where such things could be taken care of discreetly. One imagines the Elysee is surrounded by cheese shops and topless beaches.
I have no explanation for this. I just think it’s sort of interesting that Lincoln is the only president you’d see depicted this way.
Update: Except, of course, President Marshall.
ABC chose the statue of Lincoln outside the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL to illustrate the nasty weather in the Midwest. I wonder sometimes if George Washington had weather in mind when he chose the site for DC: a nice mix of four seasons without too much snow in the winter. The heat might have been more than he counted on tho, altho it can’t be much different at Mount Vernon.
UPDATE: my own photo of an icy branch.
The president and first lady lit the tree on the Ellipse the other day, and—despite the cold—the president welcomed Santa Claus without mispronouncing his name.
Also, no Hanukkha photo op this year. We got a picture in the Visitors Foyer before, but maybe that will come later with a menorah lighting.
The White House has posted some Christmas decorations facts and received the tree.
UPDATE: Link to the first lady’s remarks, with video.
WhiteHouse.gov seems to be giving me a 404 – File Not Found error today…. Wait, spoke too soon. I guess I caught them in the middle of a change.
Anyway, the Prime Minister of Japan visited the other day. It’s amazing how they sneak these guys in and out. It’s like you’ve got to watch the news to catch it or something. Maybe I get more of my news from The Daily Show than I’d like to admit.
On a side note, there still is no new WH video for the renovated Press Briefing Room, and we’re two press secretaries behind now. Nor do we have any new pictures of the press secretary’s office, even just during a press gaggle.
The president of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, has arrived at the White House. With all the French furnishings, let’s hope he doesn’t ask for any of the furniture “back.”
I went looking for new things to add to the site or to blog about and got off track looking at a political blog which distracted me with an old speech by Bill Clinton where he uses the phrase “Yore Kippur,” so I went searching for it and found a small number of reliable sources that also used it but no explanation, so I put a note on the talk page of “Yom Kippur” article in Wikipedia.
Sometimes I hate the Internet.
OOPDATE: It’s apparently just a typo, altho why it appeared in a presidential speech in multiple places, I don’t know. You know who’s responsible for this? Some schmendrick, I bet. Possibly a fakakta schmendrick.
I went looking for new things to add to the site or to blog about and got off track looking at a political blog which distracted me with an old speech by Bill Clinton where he uses the phrase “Yore Kippur,” so I went searching for it and found a small number of reliable sources that also used it but no explanation, so I put a note on the talk page of “Yom Kippur” article in Wikipedia.
Sometimes I hate the Internet.
OOPDATE: It’s apparently just a typo, altho why it appeared in a presidential speech in multiple places, I don’t know. You know who’s responsible for this? Some schmendrick, I bet. Possibly a fakakta schmendrick.
Poking around the WH website, I came across a photo of Barney on the south lawn next to what is described as a “drainage ditch.” I recognized this from the HABS collection as almost certainly the Andrew Jackson “milk trough” and felt superior for a moment before realizing that I have no idea what that is either.
I have been watching C-Span’s Presidential Libraries series. Tonight on the segment from President Truman’s library, the moderator and Richard Norton Smith were discussing Mr. Truman’s renovation and it was announced that a new White House program will be released in the Spring.They are supposedly filming in HD at the White House currently, according to the moderator. They also said it would “show the White House like you’ve never seen before.” We’ll see about that I guess.They said to keep watch for future information releases on the video, that it should be sometime after the primaries in the Spring.
Finding myself with some time on my hands and access to a fast car and plenty of Mountain Dew, I’ve decided to take a day trip to Springfield, IL tomorrow to see the Lincoln Museum.
Here is a portrait of Lincoln that I colorized a few weeks ago when I was bored.
Feel free to comment on the history of mantels thruout the White House. (And feel free to spell it “mantle” if you like; I obviously thoroly approve of alternative spellings.)
CNN is reporting that Jenna Bush plans to marry Henry Hagar Hager, heir to the Hagar Slacks fortune.* Chances are that the wedding will take place at the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine or maybe the Crawford ranch (especially if Wonkette is right), but there is the outside chance that we could see another wedding in the White House.
* I may have that wrong. Actually, he was Karl Rove’s aide.
Another dollar coin release day is upon us, and I have only just taken down my garlands and wreaths from the Adams coin release. This one is the Jefferson coin, a stately portrait of the first president to enjoy indoor plumbing. The ones I have all say “In God we trust,” but Jefferson’s really ought to be more noncommittal.
Stumbled across this story by Abe Lincoln called “The Trailor Murder Mystery,” which appeared in The Illinois Whig (the magazine of Whigs, by Whigs, and for Whigs) in 1846. As a murder mystery, it’s no “Telltale Heart,” but as a case-study of the actual Trailor case, for which Lincoln acted as defending attorney, it’s pretty interesting.
Reading between the lines, I find a coerced confession (“They still plied him in every conceivable way…”) and some sloppy police work (the search for the dead man did not include the man’s own home). But I find it very interesting that in the old days town postmasters played an important role in law enforcement.
Busy weekend and training this week. Nothing new from the White House.
Shane pointed out this YouTube clip of the new Press Briefing Room.
Added a few more pics of the briefing room. Now that we’ve seen it, what are your reactions?
Another Hou Chron blog entry from Julie Mason.
Mark Silva’s The Swamp blog entry.
Press Briefing Room and offices are apparently nearly finished. Perhaps Julie Mason will get us some pics!
Or maybe not.
Lady Bird Johnson has been hospitalized. Best wishes to her and her family.
The Bushes have opened up some of the Truman-era architectural details hidden by the Kennedys in the second floor Central Hall. There are also plans for a Green Room redecoration.
Link to a preservation committee article.
Link to the Lincoln Bedroom redecoration article.