Washingtonton's Greatest speech...

Many feel Washington's greatest speech, was George Washington's resignation as commander in chief, delivered in 1783 at the State House in Annapolis, which established civilian control of military power. If you are a history buff like I am, the article will be of great interest to you, as well as viewing an image of the actual speech.

My favorite part of the Washington Post article, in which I try to imagine what it would be like to have been there and to have lived in our country during that time period:

Then, at noon Dec. 23, 1783, the doors of Congress were thrown open, and in walked Washington. A throng had crowded the avenues. The Senate chamber was packed with delegates and spectators. Ladies filled the gallery.

Washington had carefully prepared his speech that day, according to the revisions in the newly acquired manuscript. It appears that he wanted to stress the importance of Congress and his subservience to it. He crossed out, for example, the word "deliver" and said instead, "I here offer my commission," leaving his resignation up to the will of Congress.

When he read it aloud, "the spectators all wept, and there was hardly a member of Congress who did not drop tears," McHenry writes in his account. "His voice faultered and sunk, and the whole house felt his agitations."

Washington paused to recover from the emotion.

From there, the draft originally ended: "bidding an affectionate, a final farewell to this August body . . . I here today deliver my Commission, and take my ultimate leave of all the employments of public life."

What is notable in the manuscript, however, is that Washington crossed out the words "final" and "ultimate," as though saying to Congress after years of wearying war and service he would be willing to serve again, if needed.

Five years later, he would indeed be called back into service -- this time, as the first president of the United States of America.

On questioning the President...

The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct,his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.
- Theodore Roosevelt, in the Kansas City Star, 149 May 7, 1918

Obama tries to kick the habit...

I don't know how I missed this Washington Post article, but better late than never because I know that for many of you the idea of electing a man who *gasp* smokes is a problem:

CHICAGO, Feb. 11 -- Michelle Obama says she agreed to help her husband run for president on one condition: That he finally quit smoking. For good.

"I hate it," she said on CBS' 60 Minutes, according to a transcript released Sunday. "That's why he doesn't do it anymore. I'm proud to say. I outed him -- I'm the one who outed him on the smoking. That was one of my prerequisites for, you know, entering this race, is that, you know, he couldn't be a smoking president."

Obama has struggled to quit smoking for years, but friends have said he finally stopped several weeks ago. At the end of a press conference on Sunday, the Illinois senator returned to the podium when a reporter shouted out asking whether he was still smoking.

"No," he said. "I've been chewing Nicorette all day long."

Keep your eye on him people, his wife wants you to tattle on him if you catch him smoking. Yes it is the new "Catch Obama Smoking" contest coming to a blog near

Favorite Libertarian Quotes...

Here are a few of my favorites...

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams (1814)

The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates. – Tacitus

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. – James Bovard (1994)

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. – Thomas Jefferson (1781)

[Political] offices are as acceptable here as elsewhere, and whenever a man cast a longing eye on them, a rottenness begins in his conduct. – Thomas Jefferson (1799)

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A good place to start is Idea Logo where they have nice shirts, hats, sayings and all kinds of things that will make the Libertarian in your life a happy one. Even coffee mugs...