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in 1843, john quincy adams, the sixth president of the united states and son of second president john adams, became the first commander in chief to have his likeness immortalized in a daguerreotype image:



the process of developing a daguerreotype involved the use of silver, iodine and mercury vapor. crush depth would wager an old school dime that period photographers who spent their days in a mercury cloud were disproportionately prone to a host of horrendous illnesses in an era where jerking off to a hot copy of "juggs" in order to relieve pain would have been decidedly frowned upon by those in attendance.

although adams wasnt photographed until fourteen years after his presidency concluded he nonetheless holds the undisputed, world, continental, intercontinental, universal title as the first skipper to endure the trials and tribulations of agonizingly tortoiselike primordial photography.

but enough about triple h.

james buchanan, undoubtedly everyone's all-time favorite prez, was the first to bust the photography cherry while wielding the white house reins.



the first authenticated photograph taken of anything was none other than "view from the window at la gras" by joseph nicéphore niépce in 1826.



thats an actual, 181 year old image.

i find few things in life more concomitantly haunting and captivating than early 19th century photographs.

eighty-six year old supreme court justice john paul stevens, or, as i like to call him, god, assumed his position on december 19, 1975 after being nominated by president gerald rudolph ford and confirmed 98-0 by the senate.



in addition to being america's coolest octogenarian stud, justice stevens crafted the most scathing dissent in the court's 5-4 decision that effectively terminated manual vote recounts in florida during the mercurial 2000 presidential campaign.

stevens refused to mince nary a word by writing "we may never know with complete certainty who won this election, but the identity of the loser is perfectly clear, it is the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law."

go stevens. go stevens. go stevens.

harry s truman, the man who authorized deployment of the two largest bombs ever used against other human beings, was the only president to serve after 1870 sans college diploma. although he briefly studied jurisprudence at the university of missouri-kansas city school of law he never earned the right to adorn the west wing with academic sheepskin.



one can only wonder why truman didnt return to his studies when he was defeated by dewey in the 1948 election.



thats a $100,000 bill. thats woodrow wilson. thats the largest denomination the united states ever printed. that would get you one hell of a booth from the maître d'.

any questions?

now.

the twenty-second amendment of the united states' constitution declares that "no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice, and no person who has held the office of president, or acted as president, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president shall be elected to the office of the president more than once." (emphasis added.)

the language is crystal clear, folks.

a president may serve for two and one-half terms for a total administrative assignment not to exceed ten years; thus, the statement "the 22nd amendment limits a president to serving two terms" is false.

crush depth senses some groans.

might i remind those of you who find the half-term exception persnickety that a president's actions, initiatives and appointments during the first 100 days in office have an especially significant tonal and effectual impact on the remainder of their administration; 730 extra executive days represents a potentially enormous vantage.

nice work, eric, jada and anonymous.


the line:

jada: four
verbald: three
brandon: three
anonymous: four
brad: one
eric: three
mindy: one
david in dc: one