The Presidents of the United States

Tonight is the State of the Union, where the President of the United States addresses Congress and the nation about where the county's at, and where it's going. Sometimes I watch, sometimes not. Regardless, I've been fascinated by the office of president for over thirty years.

In kindergarten, I had slim volume titled The Book of the Presidents, and it featured lush, color paintings and photographs -- along with bios -- of every president up through Reagan (then the current office holder). I read it for days.

In honor of that book, of my long-time interest in the presidency, and of the State of the Union, here are my rankings of the Top 10 presidents of the United States, presented without comment.

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt

3. Thomas Jefferson

4. James Madison

5. Dwight D. Eisenhower

6. Barack Obama

7. George Washington

8. Theodore Roosevelt

9. John F. Kennedy

10. John Adams

I almost included LBJ instead of Adams, but these lists are all a bit haphazard, so six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Comments

Yesterday's Restaurants

The local newspaper has a feature from one of Champaign-Urbana's most legendary restaurateur's, John Katsinas, on what his favorite area restaurants were that have now since closed (or will soon be closing). It's a nice little read, and has made me stop and think about the restaurants that have come and gone that have left an indelible (and edible) impression on me throughout the years. Here we go....

Watching The Hours

A Twitter friend named Paula has asked for folks to submit ideas for a blog-a-thon about what we think will be the classic films of the future. In other words, what relatively recent movies (namely, from the 21st century), do we think will be considered classics in the decades to come, possibly airing on such venerable stations as Turner Classic Movies ? While a number of films come to mind for such a category, one in particular stood out from the rest, and thus is my entry for Paula's blog-a-thon.

To the beat of his own Drum

Tonight I learned that Kevin Drum has died. He passed away on Friday, March 7th, from Multiple Myeloma (the same illness that took my uncle Paul several years ago). Drum's diagnosis came in 2014, and he talked about it openly on his blog , up to and including just a few days before his death. I knew of Kevin Drum through his blogging. During the early aughts, when I started to become more politically aware and involved, I began reading certain online musings by folks -- Andrew Sullivan and, on a local level, IlliniPundit, to name a couple. Drum's blog at that time was Calpundit . Eventually, he began blogging at Mother Jones . When they parted ways, he started what would be his final online venture. So, yeah, I've been reading Kevin's musings for over twenty years.

Left to my own devices

Search This Blog