Thursday, November 28, 2013

Kid Galahad / It Happened At The Worlds Fair

KID GALAHAD


When he completes his military service Walter Gulick (Elvis) returns to his birthplace, Cream Valley, New York. He was orphaned as an infant and grew up elsewhere but always wanted to return to where he was from. He hopes to be a mechanic but soon after his arrival finds himself working as a sparring partner at a boxing camp. Having lost all of his money in a crap game, Walter is happy to take any kind of work but a devastating right hook sends him down a different path. Willy Grogan (Gig Young) thinks he has a winner in Walter who, after helping a lady out, is dubbed Kid Galahad. Willy (Charles Bronson) is a likable man but gambles too much and may have been a witness to a mobster's conversation that would best be forgotten. As Walter gains more success, and falls in love with Willy's sister Rose, Willy Grogan finds himself coming under pressure from mobsters to make Walter takes a dive at his next big fight.

My Take: I like this one. Sure, it helps that Charles Bronson is in it, but he's not exactly playing a tough guy that he would later get the reputation of being in his "Death Wish" franchise. And yes, Gig Young is in it too.  Still, this is Elvis all the way. It's not half bad and has it moments. While E gets to sing and strut his stuff, it's not as much in your face as in many other of his films. My favorite song in this one is probably "I Got Lucky". 

I give this film an 8 out of ten stars. For an Elvis flick, it's in my top ten. I think you'll enjoy it too, provided of course you could ever imagine Elvis being a heavyweight champion of the world in boxing. LOL I know, it's a stretch, but hey, it's still Elvis. . 







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IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLDS FAIR



Mike (Elvis) and Danny fly a crop duster, but because of Danny's gambling debts, a local sheriff seizes it. Trying to earn money, they hitch-hike to the World's Fair in Seattle, Washington. While Danny tries to earn money playing poker, Mike takes care of a small girl, Sue-Lin, whose Uncle Walter has disappeared. Being a ladies' man, he also finds the time to court a young nurse, Diane.

My Take: This was one of the films by Elvis I never got to see until about a couple years ago when I finally found the DVD. Many of his films I saw on Turner Classic Movies, then got to watch them on DVD. Most of which are easily available. However, I searched and searched for this one for the longest time. Once I finally found it, I couldn't wait to finally watch it. I think I hyped myself up a little too much. While it was good, it just didn't meet my lofty expectations. I still give it a 7 stars.






 
 
 
 
 






Monday, November 25, 2013

Angry Birds Fight

So here it is, my new song called "Angry Birds Fight". 

I hope you enjoy it. 




Be on the lookout for my next song, the slow version of "I Want Your Love". 



Sunday, November 24, 2013

Flag Of Morocco

The flag of Morocco (Arabic: علم المغرب‎; Berber: Acenyal n Umerruk) is made of a red field with a black-bordered green pentagram. Red has considerable historic significance in Morocco, proclaiming the descent of the royal Alaouite family from the Prophet Muhammad via Fatima, the wife of Ali, the fourth Muslim Caliph. Red is also the color that was used by the Sherifs of Mecca and the Imams of Yemen. From the 17th century on, when Morocco was ruled by the Alaouite Dynasty, the flags of the country were plain red. In 1915, during the reign of Mulay Yusuf, the green interlaced pentangle was added to the national flag. While Morocco was under French and Spanish control, the red flag with the seal in the center remained in use, but only inland. Its use at sea was prohibited. When independence was restored in 1956, it once again became the national flag.

The red background on the Moroccan flag represents hardiness, bravery, strength and valour, while the green, five-pointed star represents the Solomon’s seal.


 On May 8, 2010, a Moroccan flag with a size of 60,409.78 meters squared, weighing 20 tonnes, was set in Dakhla, a city in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. It was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest flag ever draped.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Light Years Away: Promo 2

The romance between Zenakis Vinzant with the universe ... and them! continues when a time travel experiment goes awry, crash landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9th, 1965, and Zen's long time childhood friend, Chris Gaines, returns asking for his help on behalf of the "Light" beings. A rescue mission springs into action to try and retrieve one of the occupants of the failed experiment, provided of course, he is still alive. Zen's new best friend, Eaglefeather, of the Navajo nation, assists, but his mission is to find and return an object that was on board which, if it falls into the wrong hands, could spell the end of the Milky Way galaxy.

DUE FOR RELEASE JANUARY OR FEBRUARY 2014








Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Vasey Debut Release - "Be Someone Else"





Ever since May 5th of 2013, when I did an exclusive interview with the band "VASEY" we have been waiting anxiously for their debut CD/album. The wait is over!







You can check out their songs on itunes and keep up with them and their new release, "Be Someone Else" on their VASEY FACEBOOK PAGE and you can also keep coming here if you like for updates. I will post them as soon as I get them. (But I suggest you follow them on Facebook)

Way to go guys, your hard work is paying off. All of us here at the Carroll Bryant blog wish you nothing but the best of success.


Monday, November 18, 2013

Girls, Girls, Girls / Girl Happy DVD Review

GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS


One of Elvis Presley's biggest moneymakers, Girls Girls Girls casts ol' swivel-hips as a tuna-boat fisherman working out of Hawaii. Elvis chases after all the wrong girls, while ignoring the girls who genuinely care for him. Here, as Ross Carpenter, Presley has two main love interests: sexy vocalist Robin (Stella Stevens and heiress Laurel (Laurel Goodwin), who pretends to be poor so as not to wound Ross's pride. When rude 'n' crude Wesley Johnson (Jeremy Slate), who owns Ross's boat, makes a play for Laurel, Ross punches him out. He loses his boat, but it hardly matters since he and Laurel have found true love. Songs crucial to the action are the title tune, "Return to Sender," and "Song of the Shrimp."

This is one that I watch about three times a year. One of my top Elvis movies. It's fun, some really good songs and Elvis at the top of his game.

I give it a good 7 and a half stars. Okay, maybe an 8. 







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GIRL HAPPY


A Chicago mobster hires a rock and roll singer and his band to keep an eye on his daughter during Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It's Elvis on Spring Break. I find this one somewhat comical and very entertaining. However, there are parts in this movie that seem to drag. While I do like this one a lot, just not in my top ten of Elvis flicks.

I still give it a solid 6 stars.






 
 
 



Friday, November 15, 2013

Hangar 18: UFO Files

Hangar 18 is located at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Greene and Montgomery counties in Ohio, near Dayton and Cincinnati. It's claim to fame stems from allegations, mostly by UFO enthusiasts, that wreckage from an alleged UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in July of the year 1947, was sent there to be examined.

It is also rumored that refrigerated corpses of alien beings are being kept there too.


As UFO research enters the twenty-first century, controversy continues to rage over the truth of whether or not Major Jesse Marcel and his men collected pieces of debris from a flying saucer along with the bodies of 2 to 5 extraterrestrial crew members. Many accounts from both civilians and military personnel who claim to have been eyewitnesses to the events at Roswell speak of 5 alien bodies found at the impact site just north of Roswell, New Mexico, and state that four corpses were transported to Hangar 18 at Wright Field, with the fifth going to the USAF mortuary service at Lowry Field. Two years before his death in the late 1990s, pilot Oliver "Pappy" Henderson swore at a reunion of his World War II bomber crew that he had flown the remains of four alien bodies out of Roswell Army Field in a C-54 cargo plane in July of 1947.

There are, however, numerous secondary accounts that maintain that one of the aliens survived the crash and was still alive when Major Marcel and his retrieval unit arrived on the scene. Some UFO researchers believe that as late as 1986 the alien entity was still alive and well treated as a guest of the air force at Wright-Patterson.

Originally called Wilbur Wright Field, the government installation was first opened in 1917 to train military personnel during the first World War. Soon, Fairfield Air Depot was created, adjacent to Wright Field. In 1924, McCook Field test facility was closed, and the Dayton community purchased 4,500 acres which housed the various facilities. This took in the previously leased land of Wright Field, and the Wright and Fairfield facilities were combined into one. The newly created facility was named after the innovators of flight, the Wright Brothers.

The base was well known for reverse engineering of foreign government aircraft during the Cold War. The base expertise in the disassembly and recreation of MIG fighters has only enriched the theories that alien craft have been studied there. The workforce is estimated at 22,000, giving us an idea of the massive amount of work being done at the base.

 Wright-Patterson is most well known for its connection to the Roswell crash, although links can be made to other crash retrievals. Several eyewitness accounts of military personnel and even civilian workers who handled debris from the Roswell crash, and saw bodies of creatures not of our world, give us a very plausible Wright-Patterson connection to the study of alien technology and physiology.

The same day that the famous Roswell headlines ran in newspapers around the world, there was an enormous amount of activity at the Roswell base. Some debris from the crash, and possibly alien bodies were sent to Ft. Worth, Texas. It is now commonly accepted by researchers that before the Ft. Worth flight, another flight to Wright-Patterson had already taken place, carrying debris and alien bodies. This shipment was secretly stored and studied in the infamous Hangar-18.

UFO researchers believe some of the stuff was loaned around, but the main repository was the foreign technology division at Wright-Patterson. Many have heard stories over the years of people who say that they're still trying to figure out what that stuff is, speaking of the debris that was collected from the July 1967 crash of Roswell.

Could this alien material and technology recovered be so advanced, that even after many years of study by our best scientists, they still fall short in understanding the secrets behind it? If scientists could have unlocked even some of the technological advancements of the ship's inner workings and navigational systems, could it not have been the creative impetus behind the Stealth series of aircraft, and the seemingly rapid advancement of our weaponry and technology in the last fifty plus years? I think yes. I'm not the only one either.

Even to this very day, UFO enthusiasts believe that evidence of what happened in Roswell, New Mexico can still be found in Hangar 18. Then there are those who now believe that all evidence from that crash, and many others, are no longer located at Wright-Patterson. That in fact, all the evidence may have been sent to the secret installation known as Area 51, in Nevada. However, that installation is no longer a secret.

Then there are those who say that a secret underground facility was built beneath Hangar 18 over the years and all the evidence, including the alleged bodies, were relocated into that storage area. No evidence has surfaced to support the claim. Still, many say that the underground facility is there.

Regardless of what the truth may be, one thing is certain, according to military logs, a cargo plane did indeed arrive in the early morning hours to Wright - Patterson from New Mexico transporting something just a couple days after the reported Roswell crash. What that cargo plane was transporting is still unknown, and will probably always be subject to debate.





Tuesday, November 12, 2013

William Howard Taft: The Presidents

William Howard Taft was born into the powerful Taft family September 15, 1857, near Cincinnati, Ohio as the son of Louisa Torrey and Alphonso Taft. His paternal grandfather was Peter Rawson Taft, a descendant of Robert Taft I, the first Taft in America, who settled in Colonial Mendon and later Uxbridge Massachusetts. Alphonso Taft went to Cincinnati in 1839 to open a law practice, and was a prominent Republican who served as Secretary of War and Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant.

Young William attended Cincinnati's First Congregational-Unitarian Church with his parents; he joined the congregation at an early age and was an enthusiastic participant. As he rose in the government, he spent little time in Cincinnati. He attended the church much less frequently than he had but worshiped there when he could.

Taft attended Woodward High School in Cincinnati, and laid the cornerstone of the new Woodward High School, now the site of the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA). Like others in his family, he attended Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. At Yale, he was a member of the Linonian Society, a literary and debating society; Skull and Bones, the secret society co-founded by his father in 1832; and the Beta chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. He was given the nickname "Big Lub" because of his size, but his college friends knew him by the nickname "Old Bill". Taft received comments, sometimes humorous, about his weight. Making positive use of his stature, Taft was Yale's intramural heavyweight wrestling champion. In 1878, Taft graduated, ranking second in his class out of 121. After college, he attended Cincinnati Law School, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1880. While in law school, he worked on the area newspaper The Cincinnati Commercial.

After admission to the Ohio bar, Taft was appointed Assistant Prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio, based in Cincinnati. In 1882, he was appointed local Collector of Internal Revenue. Taft married his longtime sweetheart, Helen Herron, in Cincinnati in 1886. In 1887, he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him Solicitor General of the United States; at age 32, he was the youngest-ever Solicitor General. Taft then began serving on the newly created United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1891; he was confirmed by the Senate on March 17, 1892, and received his commission that same day. In about 1893, Taft decided in favor of the processing aluminum patents belonging to the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, now known as Alcoa. Along with his judgeship, between 1896 and 1900 Taft also served as the first dean and a professor of constitutional law at the University of Cincinnati.

In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Taft chairman of a commission to organize a civilian government in the Philippines which had been ceded to the United States by Spain following the Spanish–American War and the 1898 Treaty of Paris. Although Taft had been opposed to the annexation of the islands, and had told McKinley his real ambition was to become a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he reluctantly accepted the appointment.

 From 1901 to 1904, Taft served as the first civilian Governor-General of the Philippines, a position in which he was very popular with both Americans and Filipinos. In 1902, Taft visited Rome to negotiate with Pope Leo XIII for the purchase of Philippine lands owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Taft then persuaded Congress to appropriate more than $7 million to purchase these lands, which he sold to Filipinos on easy terms. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt offered Taft the seat on the Supreme Court to which he had for so long aspired, but he reluctantly declined since he viewed the Filipinos as not yet being capable of governing themselves and because of his popularity among them. This decision was one among many in Taft's career which demonstrated a compulsive dedication to the job at hand, without regard to his self-interest. (Roosevelt actually made the offer of a seat on the Court on several different occasions, being met with a decline every time.) This dedication to the task at hand was the source of much frustration of his political colleagues. According to biographer Anderson, contrary to the belief of Roosevelt and other allies, Taft's role as Governor-General in the Philippines did not serve to equip him with the political skills essential for the White House.

In 1904, Roosevelt appointed Taft as Secretary of War. This appointment allowed Taft to remain involved in the Philippines and Roosevelt also assured Taft he would support his later appointment to the Court, while Taft agreed to support Roosevelt in the Presidential election of 1904. Roosevelt made the basic policy decisions regarding military affairs, using Taft as a well-traveled spokesman who campaigned for Roosevelt's reelection in 1904. Of Taft's appointment, Roosevelt said, "If only there were three of you; I could appoint one of you to the Court, one to the War Department and one to the Philippines."  Taft met with the Emperor of Japan who alerted him of the probability of war with Russia. In 1905, Taft met with Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Tarō. At that meeting, the two signed a secret diplomatic memorandum now called the Taft–Katsura Agreement. Contrary to rumor, the memorandum did not establish any new policies but instead repeated the public positions of both nations.

In 1906, President Roosevelt sent troops to restore order in Cuba during the revolt led by General Enrique Loynaz del Castillo, and Taft temporarily became the Civil Governor of Cuba, personally negotiating with Castillo for a peaceful end to the revolt. Also in that year Roosevelt made his third offer to Taft of a position on the Court which he again declined out of a sense of duty to resolve pending issues in the Philippines. Had it been for the Chief Justice seat, a different result may well have ensued.

Taft indicated to Roosevelt he wanted to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, not President, but there was no vacancy and Roosevelt had other plans – in 1907 he began touting Taft as the best choice for the Presidential nomination by the party. Taft's spouse was determined to gain the White House and pressured him not to accept a court appointment; other family members also strongly favored the Presidency for him. He gave Taft more responsibilities along with the Philippines and the Panama Canal. For a while, Taft was Acting Secretary of State. When Roosevelt was away, Taft was, in effect, the Acting President. While serving as the War Secretary Taft generally concentrated on major developments, including the Philippines and the Panama Canal, to the detriment of departmental housekeeping problems, including factionalism within the Department, of which Roosevelt was aware. In 1907 the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty granted the U.S. construction rights for the Panama Canal, which Roosevelt delegated to the War Department, and Taft thereby supervised the beginning of construction on the Canal. Taft promoted a reduction in the tariffs on sugar and tobacco in the Philippines, a position with which Roosevelt disagreed; Taft offered to resign but this was refused by Roosevelt. Taft also had a disagreement with Roosevelt over the latter's conclusion of an executive agreement with the Dominican Republic, in lieu of what Taft thought should have been a treaty, requiring ratification by the Senate. Roosevelt dismissed the complaint as "trifling", and Taft, in his usual style, let it go.

Theodore Roosevelt became president after William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. After getting elected president in his own right in 1904, on election night on the lawn of the White House, Roosevelt publicly declared he would not run for reelection in 1908, a decision that he immediately regretted. But he felt bound by his word. Taft was the logical successor, but he was initially reluctant to run, as he had been earlier. As a member of Roosevelt's cabinet, he had declared that his future ambition was to serve on the Supreme Court, not the White House. Taft's efforts in stumping for the party in the 1906 mid-term elections made him aware of his deficiencies as an effective campaigner. Mrs. Taft even commented during this time, "never did he cease to regard a Supreme Court appointment as more desirable than the presidency." But,Taft conceded, with his extensive involvement as the most prominent member of the cabinet, that he was the most "available" man; thus he agreed that were he to be nominated for president, he would put his personal convictions aside and run a vigorous campaign.

Taft did not enjoy the easy relationship with the press that Roosevelt had, choosing not to offer himself for interviews or photo opportunities as often as the previous president had done. When a reporter informed him he was no Teddy Roosevelt, Taft replied that his main goal was to "try to accomplish just as much without any noise". Taft even made executive decisions (see below) demonstrating his indifference with the press. Indeed, Taft's administration marked a change in style from the political charisma of Roosevelt to the passion of Taft for the rule of law. Taft, in fashioning his cabinet, showed also that he was not unwilling to depart to some degree from Roosevelt's progressivism; he named an anti-progressive, Philander Chase Knox Secretary of State, who had primary influence over other appointments.

Taft considered himself a progressive, in part from his belief in an expansive use of the rule of law, as the prevailing device that should be actively used by judges and others in authority to solve society's, and even the world's, problems. But his devotion to the law also often made Taft a slave to precedent, and less adroit in politics than Roosevelt; he therefore lacked the flexibility, creativity and personal magnetism of his mentor, not to mention the publicity devices, the dedicated supporters, and the broad base of public support that made Roosevelt so formidable.

When Roosevelt realized that lowering the tariff would divide the Republican Party, he assumed a low profile on that issue. Taft ignored the political effects and kept the tariff rates on his agenda (he had raised expectations of lower rates in the campaign); he passively encouraged congressional reformers to draft bills including lower rates, while broadcasting a willingness to compromise with conservative leaders in the Congress, who wanted to keep tariff rates high. Taft described this approach as his "policy of harmony" with the Congress. The President displayed a more aggressive role early in the drafting of tariff legislation as it regarded the Philippines. He also assumed a similar role in pushing for a corporate income tax. On other matters, he was content to wait until legislation reached its final stage in a joint House - Senate conference committee. Once there, however, he jumped in with both feet, calling each and every member of the committee for a one-on-one meeting at the White House. The resulting tariff rates in the Payne - Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 were too high for the progressives, based in part on Taft's campaign promises; but instead of blaming the act's shortcomings on Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and big business, Taft claimed the responsibility, calling it the best bill to come from the Republican Party. Again, due to his results-oriented style, politically he had managed to alienate all sides. The Bureau of Trade Relations later concluded the act overall was moderately successful in lowering rates. Congress refused however to fund the Tariff Board which the President included in the Payne - Aldrich Bill, which would have removed the setting of rates from direct continual Congressional manipulation.

Taft's administration got a political boost after 25 western railroads announced an intent to raise rates by 20%, and Taft responded, first with a threat to enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act against them; he then negotiated a settlement whereby they agreed to submit delayed rate requests to a new Interstate Commerce Commission having authority over rate requests.

In late 1911, President Taft called for a “central organization in touch with associations and chambers of commerce throughout the country.” Just four months later, on April 22, 1912, Taft created the United States Chamber of Commerce as a counterbalance to the rise of the labor movement at the time.

Taft's obsession with the law over politics created more trouble for him in the well noted dispute between his Interior Secretary, Richard Achilles Ballinger, and the Chief of the Forestry Service, Gifford Pinchot. Ballinger's job was to assure the proper legal form of land withdrawals made from the private sector as part of Roosevelt's conservation policy. Ballinger's review in many instances concluded that the legalities were lacking and lands had to be returned to private owners. Pinchot led the objections to these returns, and even convinced an Interior Department subordinate, Louis Glavis, to bring an accusation against Ballinger for fraud and collusion with corporate timber interests. Taft refused to intervene until the resulting discord in the cabinet forced him to act. The President reviewed the matter, then fired Glavis and Pinchot; Ballinger also tendered his resignation, which would have further served to end the matter were it not for Taft's refusal to accept it. By that time the political damage had been done, with further alienation of the Progressives from the administration.

In the area of federal spending, Taft initiated reforms which would revolutionize the Executive's role in the federal government's budget process. Previously, each executive department presented to the Treasury Dept. its own expense estimates, which were then forwarded to the Congress. Taft ordered each department to begin submitting its requests to the cabinet for review. The first such round of requests and cabinet reviews resulted in a reduction of $92 million, representing the first actual presidential budget in modern history. Taft then requested, and received, approval and funding to create the Commission on Economy and Efficiency to study the budgeting process. The study recommended the President be required early in the Congressional session to present the legislature with a comprehensive budget. This recommendation ultimately became law with passage of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.

Taft's "policy of harmony" with Congress facilitated passage of most of his legislative program. Nevertheless, in the 1910 midterm elections, the Democrats assumed control of the House for the first time in 16 years. At the same time, in the Senate, while the Republicans retained their majority, they lost 8 seats.

To solve an impasse during the 1909 tariff debate, Taft proposed income taxes for corporations and a constitutional amendment to remove the apportionment requirement for taxes on incomes from property (taxes on dividends, interest, and rents), on June 16, 1909. His proposed tax on corporate net income was 1% on net profits over $5,000. It was designated an excise on the privilege of doing business as a corporation whose stockholders enjoyed the privilege of limited liability, and not a tax on incomes as such. In 1911, the Supreme Court, in Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., upheld the tax. Receipts grew from $21 million in the fiscal year 1910 to $34.8 million in 1912.

In July 1909, a proposed amendment to allow the federal government to tax incomes was passed unanimously in the Senate and by a vote of 318 to 14 in the House. It was quickly ratified by the states, and on February 3, 1913, it became a part of the Constitution as the Sixteenth Amendment. 

Taft met with and publicly endorsed Booker T. Washington's program for uplifting the African American race, advising them to stay out of politics at the time and emphasize education and entrepreneurship. A supporter of free immigration, Taft vetoed a law passed by Congress and supported by labor unions that would have restricted unskilled laborers by imposing a literacy test.  

The results of the 1910 elections made it clear to the President that Roosevelt had departed his camp, and that he might even contend for the party nomination in 1912. On his return from Europe, Roosevelt openly broke with Taft in one of the notable political feuds of the 20th century. To the surprise of observers who thought Roosevelt had unstoppable momentum, Taft determined he would not simply step aside for the popular ex-President, despite the diminished support he had in the party. Taft acknowledged this, saying, "the longer I am President, the less of a party man I seem to become." Roosevelt declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination in February 1912; Taft soon decided that he would focus on canvassing for delegates and not attempt at the outset to take on the more able campaigner one on one. As Roosevelt became more radical in his progressivism, Taft was hardened in his resolve to achieve re-nomination, as he was convinced that the Progressives threatened the very foundation of the government. Taft ultimately outmaneuvered Roosevelt and Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. in delegate count, regained control of the GOP convention; and defeated Roosevelt for the nomination.


Upon leaving the White House in 1913, Taft was appointed the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School. While at Yale, Taft was initiated as an honorary member of the Acacia Fraternity. At the same time, Taft was elected president of the American Bar Association. He spent much of his time writing newspaper articles and books, most notably his series on American legal philosophy. He was a vigorous opponent of prohibition in the United States, predicting the undesirable situation that the Eighteenth Amendment would create. He also continued to advocate world peace through international arbitration, urging nations to enter into arbitration treaties with each other and promoting the idea of a League of Nations even before the First World War began. Taft was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1914.

When World War I did break out in Europe in 1914, however, Taft founded the League to Enforce Peace. He was a co-chairman of the powerful National War Labor Board between 1917 and 1918. Although he continually advocated peace, he strongly favored conscription once the United States entered the War, pleading publicly that the United States not fight a "finicky" war. He feared the war would be long, but was for fighting it out to a finish, given what he viewed as "Germany's brutality."

Taft retired as Chief Justice on February 3, 1930, because of ill health. Charles Evans Hughes, whom he had appointed as an Associate Justice while President, succeeded him as Chief Justice.

Five weeks following his retirement, Taft died on March 8, 1930, the same date as Associate Justice Edward Terry Sanford's unexpected death. As it was customary for members of the court to attend the funeral of deceased members, this posed a "logistical nightmare", necessitating cross-country travel. The house at which Taft died is now the diplomatic mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United States.

Three days following his death, on March 11, he became the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. James Earle Fraser sculpted his grave marker out of Stony Creek granite. Taft is one of two presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and is one of four Chief Justices buried there. Taft was the only Chief Justice to have had a state funeral.

Taft is often remembered as being the most obese president. He was 5 feet, 11.5 inches tall; his weight peaked at 335–340 pounds toward the end of his Presidency. The truth of the often-told story of Taft getting stuck in a White House bathtub is unclear.

Evidence from eyewitnesses, and from Taft himself, strongly suggests that during his presidency he had severe obstructive sleep apnea. His chief symptom was somnolence. While President, he fell asleep during conversations, and at the dinner table, and even while standing. He was also strikingly hypertensive, with a systolic blood pressure over 200.

Within a year of leaving the presidency, Taft lost approximately 80 pounds (36 kg). His somnolence problem resolved and, less obviously, his systolic blood pressure dropped 40–50 mmHg (from 210 mmHg). Undoubtedly, this weight loss extended his life.

Soon after his weight loss, he had a revival of interest in the outdoors; this led him to explore Alaska. Beginning in 1920, Taft used a cane; this was a gift from Professor of Geology W. S. Foster, and was made of 250,000-year-old petrified wood.




Source: Wikipedia

This work released through CC 3.0 BY-SA- Creative Commons





Monday, November 11, 2013

Carroll's Journal: FF Update 2013

It's been a great year so far for my fantasy football teams. I wanted to recap the action thus far, after ten weeks.

I'll start with my ESPN teams. First the New Mexico Scorpions. They went 8-0 in the first eight weeks. They took their first loss in week nine and are staring down the barrel of losing their 2nd game in a row. We need Mike James (RB) of Tampa Bay Buccaneers to get at least 20 points tonight against the Dolphins on Monday Night Football, to win. This means he has to get 80 yards from scrimmage (combined rushing, and receiving with no fumbles lost, and score a touchdown. Or - he gets 140 yards from scrimmage with no fumbles and one touchdown. Or - he gets 200 yards from scrimmage with no fumbles and no touchdowns) Even if he comes up short and Scorpions lose, we will still hold a 2 game lead in our division with 3 games to go and a three game lead over the best wild card team for a playoff spot so just one more win in the next 3 games clinches us a spot in the playoffs.

Triple X will win this week as all players from my team and my opponents have all played. They will move to 6-4 and are in 4th place. (Top 4 teams in all leagues gets to play in the playoffs) I figure at worse, we have to win 2 of the next 3 games to have a shot. If we win out all three games, we will be in for sure.

Kingston and Roswell will also win this week, pushing both teams to 7-3 for the year with 3 games left. They will both be in 3rd place for the playoffs. I figure 2 more wins for both of them in the last 3 games and they should clinch playoff berths.

Finally, The Piketon Red Streaks took a loss this week and will drop to 6-4, taking them out of 4th place and dropping them to 5th place. To get in the playoffs in their league, we may have to win out. Maybe going 2-1 in the final 3 games will get us in, I don't know. But last week, all five of my ESPN teams were in prime playoff position. This week, 4 of 5 are in playoff position with Piketon still fighting for a spot. Not bad really, this late into the season.

In my CBS leagues, Columbus Bandits will move to 7-3, and will be first in their division by 3 games with 4 games left in the regular season. Two more wins over the next 4 weeks and we will clinch our division and a playoff spot, or one more win by us and one more loss by the second place team and we will clinch. Anyhow, it looks good for them. Lucky thing that team is in a weak division.

For the Ross County Warriors, they will fall to 6-4 and hold a one game lead in their division. (Another weak division) I think we might have to go 3-1 in the last four games to get our playoff spot. We might be able to sneak in if we go 2-2, but that would be pushing it.

As for the Waverly Thrashers, they are eliminated with a 3-7 record so far. I will merely be trying to get them to be respectable, hopefully at 7-7 if we win out. Maybe next year.

Maybe next year too for two of my Yahoo! teams: Chillicothe Paints who are 2-8 and Ohio Wildcats at 3-7. They too are eliminated.

However, The Santa Fe Eagles will win this week, pushing them to 6-4 and a 4th place spot with 4 games to go while the Quebec Knights dropped this week to 6-4 and will fall from 2nd place to 4th with four games remaining. We will probably have to win 3 of the next 4 games with both of these teams to make it into post season play. We might be able to sneak in if we go 2-2, but again, that would be pushing it.

To recap: 12 teams / leagues, 3 eliminated from playoff chances, 8 teams in playoff position and one team (Piketon) fighting for their playoff lives. So 9 teams are still in good position. This far into the season, that is not bad at all. Last year at this time, I only had six teams still in the mix and the year before that, 7 teams out of the 12. So this year has been a little more exciting despite most of my teams having suffered a ton of injuries.

Wish me luck for the rest of the season! I'll let you know what happens.


    

Saturday, November 9, 2013

King Creole / Wild In The Country DVD Review

KING CREOLE


King Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel, “A Stone For Danny Fisher”. It also stars Walter Matthau and Carolyn Jones.

The story centers around young Danny Fisher and his troubled life in the heart of New Orleans. He gets mixed up with the wrong crowd and a gangsters lady.

One of the better Elvis movies. He was young, about to enter the U.S. Army, he was raw as far as his acting was concerned, but dynamic all the same. It helps that he has a solid cast around him as I may have mentioned before, Elvis always did better when the talent around him pushed him.

As for the song selection in this film, love it! And with that being said, I give it a solid 8 stars. One of my favorites in my collection. I watch it about twice a year. 




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WILD IN THE COUNTRY


 Also starring Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins, and Hope Lange.

Elvis stars as Glenn Talbot, a country boy with a problem temper and a yen for literary greatness in this typical Presley vehicle directed by Philip Dunne. After Glenn is sent packing by his father for mixing it up one too many times with his brother, the court makes him a ward of his uncle. His inner turmoil leads him into therapy with the older and very attractive Irene (Hope Lange), a patient-doctor relationship that is misconstrued by their small town. The two spend a platonic night in the same room in a motel, but no one is believing it was innocent. Glenn's romantic interests include Noreen (Tuesday Weld), with whom he shares a drink or two or more, and a song, and Betty Lee (Millie Perkins). Between the singing and carousing and fist fights, it still looks like a happy resolution looms large on the horizon.

If you were going to try just one Elvis movie, this would be a good one to go with. I give it 8 stars. 








 
 
 
 
 




 

Thursday, November 7, 2013

She's Gone

She's Gone




 

Pictures From Facebook

So these are pictures that were posted by people in my Facebook circle. Thought I would share them with you fine folks. Enjoy.





































Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Zendaya: Teen Idol

Zendaya Coleman (born September 1, 1996), known simply as Zendaya, is an American actress, singer and dancer. As of 2013 she stars on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up as Rocky Blue. She has starred in two films and played one of the lead roles in the film Frenemies as Halley Brandon. She voiced Fern in the Pixie Hollow Games. She appeared in Good Luck Charlie as Rocky Blue and in a Good Luck Charlie and Shake It Up crossover title Charlie Shakes It Up. She appeared on PrankStars as herself in the episode "Walk The Prank" and on A.N.T. Farm as Sequoia Jones in the episode "Creative ConsultANT."

Zendaya is also a musician. She signed a deal with Hollywood Records on August 8, 2012 and started recording songs for her debut album on August 12, 2012. She released a single from an independent label called "Swag It Out" and another single with Bella Thorne called "Watch Me," which is featured on the Break It Down album. On March 20, 2012, Zendaya released the song "Something to Dance For" as promotional single from Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance soundtrack.

Born on September 1, 1996 in Oakland, California to Kazembe Ajamu Coleman and Claire Stoermer, Zendaya grew as a part of the nearby California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda where her mother works as the house manager in addition to training at the theater's student conservatory program. Zendaya has performed in numerous stage productions. Zendaya also helped her mother seat patrons and sell raffle tickets to benefit the theater. While she was attending Oakland School for the Arts she starred as Little Ti Moune in Once on This Island at the Berkeley Playhouse and the breakout role of the male character Joe in Caroline, or Change at Palo Alto's TheaterWorks.

She studied her craft at the CalShakes Conservatory Program and at the American Conservatory Theater. Her other stage credits include Richard III, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It. Zendaya has stated that her name means to give thanks in Shona (A Bantu language native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe). She also spent three years dancing with her former dance group called Future Shock Oakland. They danced such dances as Hip Hop and Hula.

Zendaya began her professional career working as a fashion model for Macy's, Mervyns and Old Navy. She was featured in an iCarly toys ad along with Stefanie Scott. She also appeared as a back-up dancer in a Sears commercial featuring Disney Channel star Selena Gomez. In 2009, she was a featured performer in the Kidz Bop music video for its cover of the song "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry, which was released on Kidz Bop 15. She auditioned in November 2009 for the role of CeCe Jones to join the cast of Dance Dance Chicago (later changed to Shake It Up!). For her audition she performed Michael Jackson's "Leave Me Alone".

In 2011 Zendaya release "Swag It Out", a promotional independente single. The song was composed by Bobby Brackins and produced by Glenn A. Foster. She also starred in the book trailer for "From Bad To Cursed" by Katie Alender. In the same year, she released "Watch Me," featuring Bella Thorne, on June 21. The song peaked at #63 on the Billboard Hot Digital songs, at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #9 on USA Top Heatseekers. The second season of Shake It Up was announced on March 16, 2011 and premiered on September 18, 2011. On June 5, 2011, Shake It Up had a crossover episode with Good Luck Charlie. Zendaya hosted Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off 2011.


Her first movie role was in the 2012 film, Frenemies, a Disney Channel Original Movie. On February 29, 2012, "Something to Dance For" was released as promotioonal single for Live 2 Dance. For the soundtrack Zendaya also recorded three other songs: "Made In Japan," "Same Heart", and "Fashion In Krytonite", released as promotional single. In September 2, 2012 she signed to Hollywood Records. On October Zendaya performed at the Teen Music Festival and at the Operation Smile benefit.

In 2013 Zendaya was nominated and is a contestant on season 16 of Dancing With the Stars. She beat out Shawn Johnson as the youngest contestant to ever be on the show. She had her first dance with Val Chmerkovskiy on March 18, 2013 to Contemporary, and got a score of 24. She scored a 26 on March 25, 2013 with the Jive, totaling her score to 50, the highest, keeping Val and her safe from elimination on March 26, 2013. She also scored a perfect score in the May 20, 2013 episode in every dance but finished in second place in the results show the following night.

Her debut album titled Zendaya was released on September 17, 2013. It will be preceded by the single "Replay", released on July 16, 2013. The song was written by Tiffany Fred and Paul "Phamous" Shelton. In June 2013, Coleman wrapped up filming for the music video. On July 25, the Disney Channel confirmed that Shake It Up will be canceled after the end of the third season.

In September 2012 Zendaya was feature in an Ad for Dr Dre Beats along with Rapper Lil Wayne & NBA Player Lebron James witch feature Scream and Shout by Will.I.Am & Britney Spears.

In August 6, 2013 Zendaya released her debut book, Between U and Me: How to Rock Your Tween Years with Style and Confidence. She told about the book: "I actually signed this book deal over a year ago…I worked on the book all summer and fall".

In 2013 Zendaya started work on a clothing line, inspired on her clothes on Shake It Up, the Shake It Up Dance Clothing Line by Zendaya. The collection features fun clothes for active girls, legwarmers, shorts, jackets, headbands and athletic apparel and accessories.

Zendaya spent three years of dancing in a dance group called Future Shock Oakland. The group did hip hop and hula dances when she was eight. Zendaya currently lives in Los Angeles with her family and dog, a Giant Schnauzer named Midnight. Her interests include singing, dancing and designing clothes.

This is one young star on the way up. The sky is the limit for her. 








Source: Wikipedia 

This work released through CC 3.0 By-SA - Creative Commons 


 






Sunday, November 3, 2013

Theodore Roosevelt: The Presidents

Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was the 26th President of the United States (1901–1909). He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the first incarnation of the short-lived Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party of 1912. Before becoming President, he held offices at the city, state, and federal levels. Roosevelt's achievements as a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier are as much a part of his fame as any office he held as a politician. Roosevelt was 42 years old when sworn in as President of the United States in 1901, making him the youngest president ever. Roosevelt was also the first of only three sitting presidents to have won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Teddy bear is named for him, despite his contempt for being called "Teddy". 

Roosevelt often described his ancestry as "half Irish and half Dutch." His patrilineal Roosevelt family, colonists of Dutch origin, had been in New York since the mid-17th century. Roosevelt was born into considerable wealth, for the family by the 19th century had grown in wealth and influence from the profits of several businesses, including hardware and plate-glass importing. The family was strongly Democratic in its political affiliation until the mid-1850s, and then joined the new Republican Party. Theodore's father, known in the family as "Thee", was a New York philanthropist, merchant, and partner in the family glass-importing firm Roosevelt and Son. "Father," as the children called him, was an ardent patriot and a prominent supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the Union effort during the Civil War. His mother Martha "Mittie" Bulloch was a Southern belle from a slave-owning family in Roswell, Georgia, and she maintained Confederate sympathies. Mittie's brother, Theodore's uncle, James Dunwoody Bulloch, was a United States Navy officer who became a Confederate Navy commander and secret agent in Great Britain who was most responsible for the destruction of the United States merchant fleet and procuring ships and supplies to run through the Union blockade. Another uncle, Irvine Bulloch, was a midshipman on the Confederate raider CSS Alabama; both remained in England after the war.

Roosevelt was a fifth cousin to the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and he was the uncle and guardian of Franklin's wife, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was born on October 27, 1858, in a four-story brownstone at 28 East 20th Street, in the modern-day Gramercy section of New York City, the second of four children and elder son of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (1831–1878) and Martha "Mittie" Bulloch (1835–1884). Roosevelt had an older sister, Anna "Bamie" Roosevelt, and two younger siblings: Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt (the father of First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt) and Corinne Roosevelt.
Sickly and asthmatic as a child, Roosevelt had to sleep propped up in bed or slouching in a chair during much of his early years, and had frequent ailments. Despite his illnesses, he was hyperactive and often mischievous. His lifelong interest in zoology was formed at age seven upon seeing a dead seal at a local market. After obtaining the seal's head, the young Roosevelt and two of his cousins formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". Learning the rudiments of taxidermy, he filled his makeshift museum with animals that he killed or caught, studied, and prepared for display. At age nine, he codified his observation of insects with a paper titled "The Natural History of Insects".

Encouraged by his father, the boy began exercising and boxing to combat his poor physical condition. Two trips abroad had a lasting impact: family tours of Europe in 1869 and 1870, and Egypt 1872 to 1873.

Theodore, Sr. had a tremendous influence on his son, who wrote of him, "My father, Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great unselfishness. He would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness, cowardice, or untruthfulness."

Young "Teedie", as he was nicknamed as a child, was mostly home schooled by tutors and his parents. A leading biographer says: "The most obvious drawback to the home schooling Roosevelt received was uneven coverage of the various areas of human knowledge." He was solid in geography (thanks to his careful observations on all his travels) and well read in history, strong in biology, French, and German, but deficient in mathematics, Latin and Greek.

He entered Harvard College in the fall of 1876. His father's death in 1878 was a tremendous blow, but Roosevelt redoubled his activities. He did well in science, philosophy, and rhetoric courses but fared poorly in Latin and Greek. He studied biology with considerable interest and was already an accomplished naturalist and published ornithologist. He had a photographic memory and developed a lifelong habit of devouring books, memorizing every detail. He was an eloquent conversationalist who, throughout his life, sought out the company of the smartest people. He could multitask in impressive fashion, dictating letters to one secretary and memoranda to another, while browsing through a new book. While at Harvard, Roosevelt was active in rowing, boxing, the Alpha Delta Phi literary society, the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and was a member of the Porcellian Club. He also edited The Harvard Advocate. He was runner-up in the Harvard boxing championship. 

Upon graduating, Roosevelt underwent a physical examination, and his doctor advised him that because of serious heart problems, he should find a desk job and avoid strenuous activity. He chose to embrace strenuous life instead. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa (22nd of 177) from Harvard with an A.B. magna cum laude in 1880. He entered Columbia Law School, where he was a diligent student but showed little interest in a legal career; he spent much of his time writing a book on the War of 1812. When offered a chance to run for the New York Assembly as a Republican in 1881, he dropped out of law school to pursue his new goal: "I intended to be one of the governing class." He was elected and overnight became a prominent player in state politics, and a rising star in the Republican Party (the "GOP")

On his 22nd birthday, he married Alice Hathaway Lee (July 29, 1861—February 14, 1884), daughter of George Cabot Lee and Caroline Watts Haskell. She died young of an undiagnosed case of kidney failure (in those days called Bright's disease) two days after their daughter Alice Lee Roosevelt was born. Her pregnancy had masked the illness. Theodore's mother Mittie died of typhoid fever on the same day, at 3:00 am, some eleven hours earlier, in the same house. After the nearly simultaneous deaths of his mother and wife, he left young Alice in the care of his elder sister Bamie in New York City. He took custody of his daughter when she was three. In his diary, he wrote a large 'X' on the page and then, "The light has gone out of my life."

 For the rest of his life, he rarely spoke of his wife Alice at all and did not write about her in his autobiography. As late as 1919, when Roosevelt was working with Joseph Bucklin Bishop on a biography that included a collection of his letters, Roosevelt did not mention either of his marriages.

As a deputy sheriff, Roosevelt hunted down three outlaws who stole his riverboat and were escaping north with it up the Little Missouri. Capturing them, he decided against hanging them (apparently yielding to established law procedures in place of vigilante justice), and sending his foreman back by boat, he took the thieves back overland for trial in Dickinson, guarding them forty hours without sleep and reading Tolstoy to keep himself awake. When he ran out of his own books, he read a dime store western that one of the thieves was carrying. While searching for a group of relentless horse thieves, Roosevelt met Seth Bullock, the famous sheriff of Deadwood, South Dakota. The two would remain friends for life. 

After the uniquely severe U.S. winter of 1886-1887 wiped out his herd of cattle (together with those of his competitors) and most of his $80,000 investment, Roosevelt returned to the East. In 1885, he had built Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New York on Long Island, which was his home and estate until his death.

In 1886, Roosevelt ran as the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City, portraying himself as "The Cowboy of the Dakotas." Due to information on the in-progress election, Republican insiders warned voters that George was leading and that Roosevelt was likely beat, thus causing a last-minute defection of Republican voters to the Democratic candidate Hewitt. Theodore Roosevelt took third place. The election results showed Hewitt (D) with 90,552 votes, George (United Labor) with 68,110, and Roosevelt (R) with 60,435.

On December 2, 1886, he married his childhood friend, Edith Kermit Carow (August 6, 1861—September 30, 1948), daughter of Charles Carow and Gertrude Elizabeth Tyler. They honeymooned in Europe, and Roosevelt led a group to the summit of Mont Blanc, an achievement that resulted in his induction into the British Royal Society. Edith was also best friends with his younger sister Corinne. They had five children: Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III, Kermit Roosevelt, Ethel Carow Roosevelt, Archibald Bulloch "Archie" Roosevelt, and Quentin Roosevelt.

Roosevelt became president of the board of New York City Police Commissioners in 1895. During his two years in this post, Roosevelt radically reformed the police department. The police force was reputed as one of the most corrupt in America. The NYPD's history division records that Roosevelt was "an iron-willed leader of unimpeachable honesty, (who) brought a reforming zeal to the New York City Police Commission in 1895." Roosevelt and his fellow commissioners established new disciplinary rules, created a bicycle squad to enforce New York's traffic laws, and standardized the use of pistols by officers. He selected the Colt New Police Revolver in .32 Colt Caliber as the first standard issue pistol for the NYPD. Roosevelt implemented regular inspections of firearms and annual physical exams, appointed 1,600 recruits based on their physical and mental qualifications and not on political affiliation, established Meritorious Service Medals, and closed corrupt police hostelries. During his tenure, a Municipal Lodging House was established by the Board of Charities, and Roosevelt required officers to register with the Board. He also had telephones installed in station houses. 

Roosevelt made a habit of walking officers' beats late at night and early in the morning to make sure they were on duty. As Governor of New York State before becoming Vice President in March 1901, Roosevelt signed an act replacing the Police Commissioners with a single Police Commissioner.

On leaving the Army, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York in 1898 as a Republican. He made such an effort to root out corruption and "machine politics" that Republican boss Thomas Collier Platt forced him on McKinley as a running mate in the 1900 election, against the wishes of McKinley's manager, Senator Mark Hanna. Roosevelt was a powerful campaign asset for the Republican ticket, which defeated William Jennings Bryan in a landslide based on restoration of prosperity at home and a successful war and new prestige abroad. Bryan stumped for Free Silver again, but McKinley's promise of prosperity through the gold standard, high tariffs, and the restoration of business confidence enlarged his margin of victory. Bryan had strongly supported the war against Spain, but denounced the annexation of the Philippines as imperialism that would spoil America's innocence. Roosevelt countered with many speeches that argued it was best for the Filipinos to have stability, and the Americans to have a proud place in the world. Roosevelt's six months as Vice President (March to September 1901) were uneventful. On September 2, 1901, at the Minnesota State Fair, Roosevelt first used in a public speech a saying that would later be universally associated with him: "Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far."

On September 6, President McKinley was shot while at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Initial reports in the succeeding days suggested his condition was improving, so Roosevelt embarked on a vacation at Mount Marcy in northeastern New York. He was returning from a climb to the summit on September 13 when a park ranger brought him a telegram informing him that McKinley's condition had deteriorated, and he was near death. 

Roosevelt and his family immediately departed for Buffalo. When they reached the nearest train station at North Creek, at 5:22 AM on September 14, he received another telegram informing him that McKinley had died a few hours earlier. Roosevelt arrived in Buffalo that afternoon, and was sworn in there as President at 3:30 pm by U.S. District Judge John R. Hazel at the Ansley Wilcox House.

Roosevelt kept McKinley's Cabinet and promised to continue McKinley's policies. One of his first notable acts as president was to deliver a 20,000-word address to Congress asking it to curb the power of large corporations (called "trusts"). For his aggressive attacks on trusts over his two terms, he has been called a "trust-buster."

In the 1904 presidential election, Roosevelt won the presidency in his own right in a landslide victory. His vice president was Charles Fairbanks.

Roosevelt also dealt with union workers. In May 1902, United Mine Workers went on strike to get higher pay wages and shorter workdays. He set up a fact-finding commission that stopped the strike, and resulted in the workers getting more pay for fewer hours.

In August 1902, Roosevelt was the first president to be seen riding in an automobile in public. This took place in Hartford, CT. The car was a Columbia Electric Victoria Phaeton, manufactured in Hartford. The police squad rode bicycles alongside the car. (The reference includes a photo of the event.)

In 1905, he issued a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which allows the United States to "exercise international policy power" so they can intervene and keep smaller countries on their feet.

Roosevelt helped the well-being of people by passing laws such as The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and The Pure Food and Drug Act. The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 banned misleading labels and preservatives that contained harmful chemicals. The Pure Food and Drug Act banned food and drugs that are impure or falsely labeled from being made, sold, and shipped. Roosevelt was also served as honorary president of the school health organization American School Hygiene Association from 1907 to 1908, and in 1909 he convened the first White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children.

The Gentlemen's Agreement with Japan came into play in 1907, banning all school segregation of Japanese, yet controlling Japanese immigration in California. That year, Roosevelt signed the proclamation establishing Oklahoma as the 46th state of the Union.

Building on McKinley's effective use of the press, Roosevelt made the White House the center of news every day, providing interviews and photo opportunities. After noticing the White House reporters huddled outside in the rain one day, he gave them their own room inside, effectively inventing the presidential press briefing. The grateful press, with unprecedented access to the White House, rewarded Roosevelt with ample coverage.
He chose not to run for another term in 1908, and supported William Howard Taft for the presidency, instead of Fairbanks. Fairbanks withdrew from the race, and would later support Taft for re-election against Roosevelt in the 1912 election.

Roosevelt appointed a record 75 federal judges. Roosevelt appointed three Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1902), William Rufus Day (1903), William Henry Moody (1906). In addition to these three, Roosevelt appointed 19 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 53 judges to the United States district courts.

While Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 14, 1912, a saloonkeeper named John Flammang Schrank shot him, but the bullet lodged in his chest only after penetrating his steel eyeglass case and passing through a thick (50 pages) single-folded copy of the speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt, as an experienced hunter and anatomist, correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not completely penetrated the chest wall to his lung, and so declined suggestions he go to the hospital immediately. Instead, he delivered his scheduled speech with blood seeping into his shirt. He spoke for 90 minutes. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." Afterwards, probes and x-ray showed that the bullet had traversed three inches (76 mm) of tissue and lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle but did not penetrate the pleura, and it would be more dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet than to leave it in place. Roosevelt carried it with him for the rest of his life.

Because of the bullet wound, Roosevelt was taken off the campaign trail in the final weeks of the race (which ended election day, November 5). Though the other two campaigners stopped their own campaigns in the week Roosevelt was in the hospital, they resumed it once he was released. The bullet lodged in his chest caused his rheumatoid arthritis - which he had suffered from for years  to get worse and it soon prevented him from doing his daily stint of exercises; Roosevelt would soon become obese as well. Roosevelt, for many reasons, failed to move enough Republicans in his direction. He did win 4.1 million votes (27%), compared to Taft's 3.5 million (23%). However, Wilson's 6.3 million votes (42%) were enough to garner 435 electoral votes. Roosevelt had 88 electoral votes to Taft's 8 electoral votes. This meant that Taft became the only incumbent president to place third in a re-election bid. But Pennsylvania was Roosevelt's only eastern state; in the Midwest, he carried Michigan, Minnesota and South Dakota; in the West, California and Washington; he did not win any southern states. 

When World War I began in 1914, Roosevelt strongly supported the Allies and demanded a harsher policy against Germany, especially regarding submarine warfare. Roosevelt angrily denounced the foreign policy of President Wilson, calling it a failure regarding the atrocities in Belgium and the violations of American rights. In 1916, he campaigned energetically for Charles Evans Hughes and repeatedly denounced Irish-Americans and German-Americans who Roosevelt said were unpatriotic because they put the interest of Ireland and Germany ahead of America's by supporting neutrality. He insisted one had to be 100% American, not a "hyphenated American" who juggled multiple loyalties. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Roosevelt sought to raise a volunteer infantry division, but Wilson refused.

Roosevelt's attacks on Wilson helped the Republicans win control of Congress in the off-year elections of 1918. Roosevelt was popular enough to seriously contest the 1920 Republican nomination, but his health was broken by 1918, because of the lingering malaria. His family and supporters threw their support to Roosevelt's old military companion, General Leonard Wood, who was ultimately defeated by Taft supporter Warren G. Harding.

His youngest son Quentin, a daring pilot with the American forces in France, was shot down behind German lines in 1918 at the age of 20. It is said the death of his son distressed him so much that Roosevelt never recovered from his loss.

Despite his rapidly declining health, Roosevelt remained active to the end of his life. He was an enthusiastic proponent of the Scouting movement. The Boy Scouts of America gave him the title of Chief Scout Citizen, the only person to hold such title. One early Scout leader said, "The two things that gave Scouting great impetus and made it very popular were the uniform and Teddy Roosevelt's jingoism."

On January 6, 1919, Roosevelt died in his sleep at Oyster Bay of a coronary thrombosis (heart attack), preceded by a 2½-month illness described as inflammatory rheumatism, and was buried in nearby Youngs Memorial Cemetery. Upon receiving word of his death, his son Archie telegraphed his siblings simply, "The old lion is dead." The U.S. vice president, Thomas R. Marshall, said that "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight." In addition to sisters Corinne and Bamie and his wife Edith, Theodore was survived by five children and eight grandchildren at the time of his death.

Theodore Roosevelt introduced the phrase "Square Deal" to describe his progressive views in a speech delivered after leaving the office of the Presidency in August 1910. In his broad outline, he stressed equality of opportunity for all citizens and emphasized the importance of fair government regulations of corporate 'special interests'.

Roosevelt was one of the first Presidents to make conservation a national issue. In a speech that Roosevelt gave at Osawatomie, Kansas, on August 31, 1910, he outlined his views on conservation of the lands of the United States. He favored using America's natural resources, but opposed wasteful consumption. One of his most lasting legacies was his significant role in the creation of 5 national parks, 18 national monuments, and 150 National Forests, among other works of conservation. Roosevelt was instrumental in conserving about 230 million acres (930,000 km2) of American soil among various parks and other federal projects.

In the Eighth Annual Message to Congress (1908), Roosevelt mentioned the need for federal government to regulate interstate corporations using the Interstate Commerce Clause, also mentioning how these corporations fought federal control by appealing to states' rights.

In an 1894 article on immigration, Roosevelt said, "We must Americanize in every way, in speech, in political ideas and principles, and in their way of looking at relations between church and state. We welcome the German and the Irishman who becomes an American. We have no use for the German or Irishman who remains such..... He must revere only our flag, not only must it come first, but no other flag should even come second."

Roosevelt took an active interest in immigration, and within months of assuming the presidency had launched an extensive reorganization of the federal immigration depot at Ellis Island. Roosevelt himself “straddled the immigration question,” taking the position that “we cannot have too much immigration of the right sort, and we should have none whatever of the wrong sort.” As president, his stated preferences were relatively inclusive, across the then diverse and mostly European sources of immigration.

Roosevelt was a prolific author, writing with passion on subjects ranging from foreign policy to the importance of the national park system. Roosevelt was also an avid reader of poetry. American poet, Robert Frost said of Roosevelt, "He was our kind. He quoted poetry to me. He knew poetry."
As an editor of Outlook magazine, he had weekly access to a large, educated national audience. In all, Roosevelt wrote about 18 books (each in several editions), including his Autobiography, The Rough Riders History of the Naval War of 1812, and others on subjects such as ranching, explorations, and wildlife. His most ambitious book was the four volume narrative The Winning of the West, which connected the origin of a new "race" of Americans (i.e. what he considered the present population of the United States to be) to the frontier conditions their ancestors endured throughout the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries.

In 1907, Roosevelt became embroiled in a widely publicized literary debate known as the nature fakers controversy. A few years earlier, naturalist John Burroughs had published an article entitled "Real and Sham Natural History" in the Atlantic Monthly, attacking popular writers of the day such as Ernest Thompson Seton, Charles G. D. Roberts and William J. Long for their fantastical representations of wildlife. Roosevelt agreed with Burroughs' criticisms, and published several essays of his own denouncing the booming genre of "naturalistic" animal stories as "yellow journalism of the woods". It was the President himself who popularized the negative term "nature faker" to describe writers who depicted their animal characters with excessive anthropomorphism.



Source: Wikipedia

This work released through CC 3.0 BY-SA - Creative Commons