Fighting the Nazis again

I cannot in good conscience after a recent post let the actions of the "Republic" of Turkey go by without comment.  What actions, you say?  Well, it seems that Turkey is having a constitutional referendum on April 16th.  And the government of Turkey wants to get the cause out to its expats in Europe.  That includes low-ball estimates of 3 and a half million in Germany, almost a million in France, over half a million in the Low Countries and in the UK, and 100,000 + in Scandinavia.  So yeah, that's a lot of votes- especially when you ain't home watching what's going on.

The basic controversy in the referendum revolves around one thing- the concentration of power in the hands of the President.  It basically eliminates the counterweight of having a Prime Minister; it expands Parliament by 9%, giving small opposition parties less of a chance; it removes- yes, REMOVES- the power of said parliament to scrutinize ministers and hold the government (AKA the President) accountable.  Now admittedly it ain't all bad; a lot of clauses help to de-fang the military as a political force, and that MIGHT be construed as a good thing, and it lowers the voting age, and makes a Parliament veto more workable.  But, I'm not here to talk their politics.


Here's the deal- several European countries are exercising their rights as sovereign nations to not allow government campaigners on their territory.  They have seen the propensity of their immigrant populations to political violence, and want none of that.  More importantly, they want to uphold the rights of THEIR countries as sovereign nations and not just campaign ground for people who, either by working or welfare-ing, are sucking the national teat.

The stakes have been steadily rising.  Angela Merkel tried at first to pass it off as a community-choice thing, and not necessarily a policy of the German government.  Her reward for that was Turk President  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to claim in a rally in his own country, "Germany, you have no relation whatsoever to democracy and you should know that your current actions are no different to those of the Nazi period."


Then, in rapid succession, the Dutch escorted a minor Turkish official out of the country after denying her access to the Turkish embassy where she was going to give a campaign speech, followed by refusing to let the Turkish Foreign Minister's plane to land for the same reason.  And what happened next?  First, local Turks proved their point.  From the NY Times:

A protest outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam turned to rioting, and the police in Rotterdam arrested 12 people. A police spokeswoman, Patricia Wessels, told The A.P. that protesters pelted officers with bottles and rocks, and law enforcement officials responded with dogs, baton charges and a water cannon. Ms. Wessels said seven people were injured, including a police officer who broke his hand.

And then... the Foreign Minister replied:

“This is a totally repressive system,” he told the Hürriyet newspaper. “All practices resemble those of the Nazi era.”



Now I'm sure that the extreme anti-Trumpers prolly agree with the thought process that says a nation shouldn't have the power to prevent officials from ANOTHER nation coming into said nation to campaign for an election IN THEIR NATION.  After all, we should be above borders, etec, etc.  But if we lob out said nutjobs and speak to reasonable human beings, we can ask:

1- Is not a nation allowed to keep its own sovereignty and NOT allow the basic operations of another government on their lands?
2- With the political climate and the growing battle between nationals and immigrants in Merkel's Europe, and given the reaction in Rotterdam and other cities, is not the point of not wanting the violence a valid one?
3- What is the "repressive", "Nazi" part of all this?  No nation is not allowing their OWN people to act- only agents of a foreign government are affected.

So then Merkel finally grows a pair and stands up to them, and a slight dribble runs down the Foreign Minister's leg.  From The Independent:

“We will not allow the victims of the Nazis to be trivialised – these comparisons of Germany with Nazism must stop,” the Chancellor added.

“They are unworthy of the close ties between Germany and Turkey and of our peoples.”

Turkey’s foreign minister effectively repeated the comparison within hours, saying that he was not calling current German ministers Nazis, but that their actions were reminiscent of that era.

“We have not called anyone a Nazi,” Mr Cavusoglu said. “Our President made a comparison in reference to certain practices. The trend in Europe at the moment reminds us of pre-World War Two Europe.” 


So you can hold the picture of Hitler over someone's head, then take it down and say, "Sorry, just kidding", and the image goes away?  I think not.  So, in a bit of tit-for-tat, I have two things to bring up to President Erdoğan that I hope stick with HIM.

First, what about the suppression of opposition to the referendum in your OWN country?  From the wiki article:

The AKP government and the General Directorate of Security (police) have both been criticised for employing tactics designed to limit the campaigning abilities of 'No' supporters, through arrests and political suppression. On 23 January 2017, university students campaigning for a 'No' vote on a commuter ferry in İstanbul were implicated by security officers for 'insulting the president', with their arrests being stopped by onboard passengers.[151] On 31 January, Republican People's Party council member Sera Kadıgil was arrested and later freed on charges of 'insulting religious values and inciting hatred' for campaigning for a 'No' vote on social media.[152] In Bursa, a voter who revealed that he was voting 'No' was reported to the police and later arrested.[153]
Municipalities held by pro-'Yes' parties have also sought to limit the campaign events of 'No' voters by denying them rights to hold rallies in public spaces of community halls. Meral Akşener, a leading nationalist politician and one of the most prominent campaigners for a 'No' vote, was stopped from holding speeches when her campaign venues in Yalova and Edirne were abruptly shut down shortly before her events, with posters advertising her events in Eskişehir being ripped down.[154][155] On 11 February while she was making a speech at a hotel hall in Çanakkale, the venue suffered a power cut and was perceived by the pro-opposition media to be a symbol of the oppressive tactics against the 'No' campaign. After initially being obstructed by riot police, attendees at the conference used their iPhone lights to allow the event to continue.[156][157][158]

If you like, you can go to the article and chase down the annotation yourselves.  I won't bother to point out what government THAT resembles.

And number two, anytime President Erdoğan wants to play the Nazi card, I have two words for him.

Smyrna.  1922.

Sunday message: Self Esteem as a bad thing

This week, my listening to pastors while at work netted me a lot of interesting things I hadn't considered before.  But one was a real jaw-dropper.  Sorry, I don't drop microphones.

David Jeremiah was going through the "love is not" section of I Corinthians 13 and had landed on pride.  Now, I know pride is the original sin (nice work, Lucifer) and almost everything bad that has happened on this planet can be laid at its feet.  But sometimes I just want to scream at God, "Why can't a person even just have a little pride, in anything?"  Usually this occurs after a great catch or wonderful deed on my part that makes me feel good, glad to be alive for a change, and followed within moments by my screwing something up.

I get that we are to be humble.  I get what Jesus said in Luke 17:10:

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do.’”


 But I still feel like there should be something called self-esteem.  Without it, why bother doing anything?  How do we help the depressed, the suicidal?  And yes, I get that we should base our worth on what God was willing to do to redeem us.  Still, everyone wants to feel like a "good and faithful servant" every now and again.

So as Dr Jeremiah went on about the evils of pride, I kept telling him in my mind, "Don't forget the part where you teach the difference between pride and self-esteem."  He had other ideas.  In fact, he laid part of the blame for an increasingly prideful society ON the teaching of our children the necessity for self-esteem.

This is a concept I am struggling with.  Can it be that our society has made us so hungry for self-worth that we have put it on a pedestal, cleaned it up and declared it noble, when it's just a facet of that original sin?  It makes a wonderful sense that Satan's minions come up with the idea of "competed" trophies, non-judgmental school grades, "you tried, that's what counts" learning, to get us so used to the overboard that we don't notice the problem inherent in "legitimate" self-esteem?

I guess Peter would know what I'm talking about.  He had the biggest "good thing followed by mistake" in history, going from the Rock on which the Church would be built to "Get thee behind me, Satan" in 0.5.  And as such, we look at that incident, and remember what Jesus actually said at the start of that?

Matt. 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven..."

Even when he got it right, Peter got a reminder that it was God who clued him into it.  And the more we are willing to give Him the credit, the better WE do.  That is the self-esteem God intended for us.  Stripped of the self-interest and self-glorification, a self-esteem that comes from obeying God and being rewarded with success in His name.  And this I also get.  Somehow, though, we let this self-centered version of self-esteem invade our psyches.

And it makes us miss the blessing that Peter got.  He was called blessed by Jesus, not because he was smart or gave the right answer, but because God had showed him something of value.  God, who made the universe from smallest to greatest, had given HIM something of His.  And what better way to feel good about yourself is there?

Time Machine co-ordinates VXI4193965

Well, hopefully things will go better now that I have the Musical Tardis up instead of the MWN logo.  Today we head to March 11th of 1965, and among the many (for a change) things I found was a bill passed in France that was called "a virtual emancipation of the wife".  The women that "showed us" during the "day without women" should have had to survive in France.  The bill gave for the FIRST time, women the following rights:

-Her property brought into the marriage was no longer considered "joint property"; nor were any inheritances.  Anything she earned still was, though.

- She could now get a job without the hubby's permission- and conduct business without him, too.

- And, in what was a REALLY big deal, she could now open a bank account without his permission.

And this was just a beginning of rolling back the "Lord of the Manor" laws that had been put in by Napoleon.  Being able to use contraception was still 2 years away;  being able to have a say in decisions about the children was 5 years away; abortion was 10 years away; and being able to have a say in the children's property was 20 years off...

Welcome to this week's' Time Machine, and this week, we have: the signature song the artist didn't like; a ten year old squeaks out the start of our 6D; and a twisty turny M10 that includes the 6th song to top 65 points, the most surprising debut ever, not one but two songs that move up five spots or more... and a new number one!  Go check with your husband, and see if it's okay to climb aboard!


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Debut #1- not the surprising one- is the second single from POWERS to enter the Hallowed Halls.  It lands at #10... (BTW, this isn't so much a video as something to look at as the song plays, so don't get yer hopes up...)





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63 stations played along this week to find a successor for our reigning POTM, Billy Joel (who'll be along later).  And they nominated 14 songs, including:

First up, we have a song that snuck in early (one of three...), as it won't peak at 34 until June.  That would be BJ Thomas and Billy And Sue.

Jewel Akins was at #3 with The Birds And The Bees.

Herman's Hermits make the list twice- once with Can't You Hear My Heartbeat (#12 on Cashbox) and again with Silhouettes (another early sneak which will peak in May).

Uh-oh... the Beatles with Eight Days A Week, currently #1 nationally.

Gerry and the Pacemakers were at #7 with Ferry Cross The Mersey.

The Stones were at #55 and hiding with Heart Of Stone.

The final May early bird is the Seekers with I'll Never Find Another You.

The Kingsmen were at #9 with The Jolly Green Giant.

The Temps were at #2 with their classic My Girl.

Next we have Wayne Newton...

ALLRIGHT!!! I'm back again!

...with Red Roses For A Blue Lady.  The problem here being that Cashbox combined it with the more popular version by Vic Dana at #27.  On Billboard this week, Dana was at #23 while Wayne was at #50.

Junior Walker and the All-Stars have Shotgun at #16.

The Supremes have to Stop In The Name Of Love, and they did so at #8.

And finally, Gary Lewis and the Playboys with This Diamond Ring at #5.

Hey, Mr President, come on in and give the fans the clues!  Ladies and gents, Billy Joel!

Hey, Thanks for havin' me, y'know?  For my first number, I want to...

Hey, Bill, you're just doing the clue.  And how did you get that piano in your coat pocket?

You have ta ask me that, Mr. "Bigger on the inside"?

That's what SHE said...

Huh huh, that was pretty good!  Okay, anyhow, here's the ones you can wipe offa yer ballot.  Silhouettes, Heart Of Stone, Shotgun, Ferry, that weird guy in the white tux, and BJ Thomas.  An' you may as well lob off the Playboys and the Kingsmen, since they only got two votes.  And you might as well take out the Temptations and the Seekers, since they got three each.  So that leaves you Jewel Akins, the Supremes, the OTHER Herman's Hermits song, and the Beatles, who you KNOW are gonna w- 

BILLY, STOP!  Don't give it away!

Well, okay, but you KNOW...

Bill, if you give away the winner, I'll have to elect #2- and look at the votes...

Huh huh.  Second place tie, eh?  This could get messy...


ANNNNND thank you, Billy Joel!  Let's move right along...

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Sandie Shaw grabbed our #65 at '65 with a tune called Girl Don't Come.  A #3 in the UK, #2 in South Africa and Canada, it was her biggest hit in the US- which meant it got only to #42.  With a tempo taken straight from Always Something There To Remind Me  (which she had already taken to the top of the UK charts), she at first refused to do it.  Finally talked into it, it was put on the flip of a single called I'd Be Far Better Off Without You.  But when both were played in front of a live TV audience, they liked Girl Don't Come better, and it wound up being Sandie's signature song.  I bet she likes it better now...

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And the surprise debut at #8... from the lp ...Sings Big Hits By Burt Bacharach- Hal David -Bob Dylan, from the year of our trip, 1965... I give you... the Four Seasons...





Look out above, a strong wind from New Jersey is blowing up the chart...


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One of Laurie's favorite sixties tunes is the Cowsills with Hair.  And I'll bet she didn't know that the line, "...and spaghetti'ed..." was sung by the youngest of the family, 10-year-old (at the time) Susan Cowsill.  Speaking of Susan, she was married twice, the first time from the early 1990's till 2001 to one Peter Holsapple.  Among other things, Peter was in a 1970 short lived band called Rittenhouse Square, along with producer Mike Easter, who was REM's producer right from the start, including one of my favorites of theirs, So. Central Rain.  On the flip side of this single was a drunken version of a classic- so bad that guitarist Peter Buck said of it, "If there was any justice in the world, Roger Miller should be able to sue for what we did to this song."

And that song?  Our 6D victim with no votes despite sitting at #4 nationally- Roger Miller's King Of The Road.

I will, sue, I will pursue, an' I- aw, the hell with it.  I've sang it that bad drunk too, I suppose...

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Just before we get to the tops of the pops, over in the UK- I'll Never Find Another You was #1;  the highest in the US also charting there was Ferry Cross The Mersey, #7 here and 36 there; and the highest there that was charting here was the Animals with Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, #5 there and #31 here at the time.

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And now, the rest of the M10.

Sweet falls to #9 this week with the Peppermint Twist, putting them in some pretty big company- only five songs have garnered more points than they have.

Colony House is once again on the way down with You And I, this time falling to #7.

John Mayer up a pair to #6 with Helpless.

Tom Jones batters his way up five notches to #5 with his 1967 power ballad I Know.

The Shins climb another three spots to #4 with Name For You.

The big mover at #3, up 6, is the neo-psychedelic Crystallized by Melody's Echo Chamber.

And Chicano Batman is not necessarily dead, but slips a spot to #2 with Friendship (Is A Small Boat In A Storm).


And the number ones?

M10 says...

Chrissie Hynde DBA The Pretenders, with Neil Tennant, with Let's Get Lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And just to let you know, the winnah of the Panel vote got 33%, the second place duo of the Supremes with Stop In The Name Of Love and Herman's Hermits' Can't You Hear My Heartbeat got 15.9 each, and the winner... c'mon, you know...

...the Beatles and Eight days A Week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next week, is a closely guarded secret, as I am considering breaking the most sacred tenet of TM and breaking out of the Martin Era... or we may boink off the wall and go back to 1972, I haven't decided yet...

Pictures in the wind...

So windy hereabouts that the power at work went out-  8 minutes before quitting time.  Thanks, Obama!  So we took a nice relaxing walk- one in which I actually had a foot blown off track in mid step!  Thankfully, I still had my Stick, my doggie, and my trusty camera...

So windy it gave me a better hairstyle

Most of those trees usually stand straight

Big dead tree comes down, breaks smaller formerly live tree

Scrappy takes us wandering through the woods, over the "dry" stream, around and about.  Decided to recross dry bed on reaching a fallen tree too big to jump.  Doesn't realize that A) dry bed is about 2 feet deep here, and B) is totally full of leaves blown into one spot.  He briefly disappeared.

Lots of minor damage...

The leaning trunk leans a little farther...

But here's the only other big knock-down.  I think it happened when we entered the woods, because we heard a big BANG shortly thereafter.

Roots are substantial, but flat to the ground

Hey, nice catch

Moments ago, there was a heard of deer in the ravine.  I had the camera on and thought it was off.  Thus, a desperation snap only caught a bemused Scrappy.

We believe a skunk has moved into the barn.

Some signs that work was indeed progressing on the power tower project- until today, that is

Another brand new base, covered up

And at the Plex, two empty Powerade cases racing down the walk.  the leader was around the corner.  Now it's not that the Plex is sloppy- but a solid day of 50 MPH winds blowing straight at their dumpster flipped both lids open.

Worth a thousand words

Boy have I got some pictures to share with you today!  The first one involves beautiful fellow blogger Mich over at The Bastard Henry.  Several weeks back, she asked if anybody wanted a portrait done as she was resuming her painting passion.  Now I am a relative newbie in her neighborhood, and while I was familiar with her ability to change her crappy day into a hilarious Windows Paint masterpiece, I wasn't so familiar with what a fantastic artist she is.  So when I commented, "I wouldn't mind a portrait of Scrappy", I had little idea of what was headed my way.  It arrived Monday:

She named this "Dandelion Field With Scrappy", and the picture doesn't do justice to how it pops out at you.  If you want an indication of how much I love this, it is my new phone wallpaper.  And will be coming soon to a frame near you!



My second picture is a little more routine- to everyone but me.  At work, I decided for some stupid reason to keep count of every panel I cut this year.  I established a firm groundwork for what constitutes a panel (which would be relatively meaningless to y'all) and have kept studious track- even used my counts at one point to prove to my boss how bad my machine was acting up during our recent "reset hell".  Anyway, all of that led to this:

There I am at just before 8:40 AM this morning (Tuesday) with my 10,000th panel of the year!

Next up, on our walk today, we actually saw two groundhogs!  When you consider the "Great Groundhog Famine" last year- we prolly didn't see ten all year if we hadn't ad stumbled onto the four babies poking their heads out of a hole in late summer- this is quite an event.  But as for the pictures...

Here's Scrappy checking out the hole the first one dove into...

...and here he is checking out the second one.

Again with the Martin World News

And now, the stories I decided not to horn in yesterday...

ITEM: Hey, keep the change...

23-year-old Jupiter, FL resident Joshua James ran into a bit of trouble with his mode of payment at a neighborhood Wendy's...

Officials with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told WPTV that James pulled up for his order, and after a server handed a drink and turned around, James tossed the 3 1/2-foot gator into the drive-through window.

That's right, he tossed a live alligator through the window.  Facing now 3 charges, and never got his sandwich.


ITEM:  She's about half serious about this...

Meet 26-year old Judith M Armstrong, of the great state of Georgia...

Judith had a bit of a traffic incident... smashing into a chicken delivery truck- on purpose:

After originally telling police it was an accident, she admitted to hitting the truck on purpose. She claimed she did it because she was a vegan. The driver of the truck says she hit the truck once from the side and then rammed it again after he slammed the breaks, causing his truck to spin out. The driver called 911 to report the color of the car, but Armstrong had already fled the scene.

Armstrong claimed to be sober when the incident occurred but admitted to taking “a couple of shots” when she got home. Police tested her blood-alcohol level at the jail and she blew a .089, which is higher than the legal limit.

Armstrong is now facing charges of hit-and-run, aggressive driving, driving under the influence and obstruction.


Well, that's better than the Hindus burning meat delivery trucks in India, I guess...

ITEM:  Insert one extra-wide Polish loafer into mouth...


Introducing Polish independent EU parliamentarian Janusz Korwin-Mikke.  His crime, from the BBC...

A Polish nationalist member of the European Parliament may be punished after he said women "must earn less than men because they are weaker, smaller and less intelligent".

"Except of course for the 278 female fellow MPs closing in on me with knifes rocks, and purses..."

MP Korwin-Mikke is just 17 months removed from a 10-day suspension for using a Nazi salute.  I'm guessing a sudden retirement might be in the offing.  Korwin-Mikke is the founder of his own Polish political party, the  Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic - Liberty and Hope- which, in Polish gives the acronym KORWiN (not surprisingly, the founder's name).  While they can't manage to get anyone elected in Poland, they do have himself and another nutcase gentleman in the EU Parliament.  And you thought Congress was bad...


ITEM: Here we go again, "people that should know better" edition


(Turkish strongman) Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out after German authorities cancelled rallies designed to woo ethnic Turkish voters in Germany ahead of a key referendum.
"Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past," Mr Erdogan said.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the comments were "abstruse, malicious and absurd".

So Hitler was fond of not having rallies for SOME OTHER NATION'S election in HIS country because the voters from that other country MIGHT stage violent rallies.  Because that IS what's happening here- so many Turkish expats freeloading living in Germany that the candidates feel the need to campaign there.

Maybe Merkel should hire some of Soros' "A-holes R Us" rent-a-protesters to prove the point.  However she's too busy saying, "It's not me, it's the local municipalities".


ITEM: And now, the latest fad in crime


Some 120 diners celebrating a baptism at a restaurant in a north-western Spanish town all fled the restaurant at once without paying, the owner said.
The diners, who had paid a deposit of 900 euros ($950; £770), left the El Carmen restaurant in Bembibre as dessert was due to be served, Antonio Rodriguez said.
"It happened in the space of a minute," he said. "It was something they had planned and they left in a stampede."
They owe 2,000 euros more, he added.

The article goes on to explain that they believe the "gang" was not Spanish.  And a further article on BBC today not only linked them to the same thing done in another town six days before:

The group told her they were celebrating a wedding, she said, and ordered a fairly basic menu. They paid €1,000 as a deposit, but consumed €10,000 ($10,600; £8,600) worth of food and drink.
"There were 160 of them and they all disappeared. Suddenly. Within five minutes," Laura told the BBC. "That was the unusual thing..."

However, photos have linked the two as the same group, and Monday it was announced that two ringleaders have been identified:

"I admit it, I did it to protest Trump!  Rosie and I will turn ourselves in tomorrow..."

Four last short item-lettes:

1- China has run into an "eminent domain" hang-up.  It seems that, in the interests of easing the blow of forced relocation to build an new high-tech complex, residents are being paid in a brand new 220 sq meter home.  But, if you were in the middle of a divorce, the government  will also spring for an extra $19,000 and an extra 70 sq meter property.  Needless to say, a local law firm is raking in big bucks charging $2,000 a head to get  these "victims" quick divorces.


2- You think you have a problem with Jehovah's Witnesses breaking up your day to sell you a subscription to the Watchtower?  In Russia, a new anti-terrorism law is being used to shut them down entirely.  It seems Russia considers them extremists.


3- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was asked repeatedly about the results of his golf game with Donald Trump.  His answer:  “Which side won is a national secret. "  The report doesn't say if he added, "If I told you, I would have to kill you."

4- Finally, what goes around comes around:  British telecom giant Talk Talk outsourced some of their call-center action to an Indian outfit called Wipro in 2011.  Last year, three Wipro employees were convicted of selling Talk Talk info to gangsters.  These gangsters have now set up a multi-shift, 60-employee assembly line of scammers who call Talk Talk customers, claim to be with Talk Talk, and weedle their banking info from them.  You get what you pay for, people.

Martin World News

Today I was going to insert along between the stories the breakdown of the latest study (by C-Span) on who the best president was of all time.  But I think this is worth a post all its own upon reflection.  I figure with a bunch of eggheads doing it, it might be good for a few laughs.

CATEGORY 1:  Public persuasion

Top Five: FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, Reagan.  I can live with this list.

Bottom five (worst first): Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Pierce, Fillmore, Tyler.
That bottom list includes two Presidents that were finishing the terms of dead predecessors; both guys on either side of Lincoln , who didn't have much of a chance even had they been competent; and Franklin Pierce, the man without a chin.  Note that none of them had the advantage of mass media.

CATEGORY 2:  Crisis leadership

Top five: Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Truman, Teddy Roosevelt.  I agree with the top 4, but what crisis came up during the TR administration?  The worst things that happened were the assassination of McKinley that put him in office, and his picking of Taft to succeed him.

Bottom five: Hoover, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Pierce, and Van Buren.  While I think Hoover got kind of a bad rap, nonetheless the Great Depression was on his plate.  I think we understand by now Buchanan might be the biggest loser of the bunch; got to admit Van Buren is a head scratcher, though.  He just wasn't the fighter needed to hold ground against the enemies of Jackson before him.  And he got stuck with a depression too.  They called it a Panic back then.


CATEGORY 3: Economic Management

Top five: Washington, Lincoln, Clinton, TR, and FDR.  Clinton, all I'll say is you really love him or you really hate him.  The rest of the list, I'm beginning to wonder if these guys are just saying, "This ain't my area of expertise, let me vote for the big names."  FDR might be able to fit this category, but also should get votes for "economically screwing the future."

Bottom five: Hoover, Buchanan, Pierce, Van Buren, Tyler.  That expertise comment also applies to the Low Three of Buchanan, Pierce and Tyler.


CATEGORY 4: Moral authority (this oughtta be good...)

Top five: Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Eisenhower, TR.  FDR says, "Never you mind about that Lucy Mercer thing."

Bottom five:  Buchanan, Nixon, Andrew Johnson, Harding, and Pierce.

Oh, sure, the Democrat can have an affair, but let the REPUBLICAN screw around...

CATEGORY 5:  International relations

Top five: FDR, Washington, Lincoln, TR, and Truman.  Two of them too busy to have international relations, two of them who were busy beating the hell from their enemies.  And TR, who spoke softly and whupped with a big stick.  And Nixon, who broke the cold war with China, gets 10th.  #SMH.

Bottom five:  Buchanan (because, Buchanan), William Henry Harrison (he was in office for  a MONTH, for pity's sake), George W Bush, and a tie between Andrew Johnson and Pierce.  On the bright side, at least they didn't have Obama in the top ten (24th).

CATEGORY 6: Administrative skill

Top five: Lincoln, Washington, FDR, TR, and Ike.  No real problem here.

Bottom five: Andrew Johnson, Harding, Buchanan, WH Harrison, and Pierce.  I see Mr Short Term is the new whipping boy, replacing Tyler.  IMHO Harding and Buchanan should have been 1-2.


CATEGORY 7: Relations with Congress (NOTE:  If Andrew Johnson and Nixon aren't 1-2 on the bottom, the survey's credibility is officially shot.)

Top five: LBJ, Washington, FDR, TR, Jefferson.  I can see this one.  LBJ put most of the players in Congress in their places himself.

Bottom five:  Andrew Johnson, Buchanan, Tyler, Pierce, and BARACK OBAMA.  'Bout did a spit take on that one.  Nixon was 37th, behind the top five and WH Harrison.  Really? Harrison?  31 days, dude.  He prolly never MET Congress.


CATEGORY 8:  Vision/setting an agenda

Top five:  The usual suspects- Lincoln, Washington, FDR, TR, Jefferson.

Bottom five: Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Pierce, Harding, and Fillmore.  What, no WH Harrison?

CATEGORY 9:  Pursued equal justice for all

Top five:  Lincoln, LBJ, Obama, Truman, Carter.  Jack Kennedy tried to get the civil rights legislation that LBJ put through;  Obama had a chance to unite the nation with Ferguson/Baltimore, but played the spin.  Not saying carter didn't do something, but what did he do?

Bottom five:  Buchanan, Pierce, Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Fillmore.  Andrew Johnson was a failed President mainly because he tried to keep the Radical Republicans from exacting revenge on the South, and he's on here.  Andrew Jackson nearly annihilated the southern indian tribes and he isn't.  Instead of voting the big four all the time, how about using a little thought, guys?


CATEGORY 10:  Performance within the context of the times (perhaps the one I can snark the least about)

Top five:  Washington, Lincoln, FDR, TR, and Truman.

Bottom five: Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Pierce, Harding, Hoover.


And, the final score?

Top ten: Lincoln, Washington, FDR, TR, Ike, Truman, Jefferson, JFK, Reagan, LBJ.

Bottom ten:  Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Pierce, Harding, Tyler, WH Harrison, Fillmore, Hoover, Chester Arthur (new blood!) and Van Buren.  Hope you enjoyed!