Tag: presidents

President Who? Quiz- guessing closed

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We just celebrated President’s Day so I thought I’d see if you could identify these presidents.  Tell me the president for 6 points and the name of the movie OR actor for another 4 points.

You have until noon Saturday to submit your answers as a comment.  Comment will be hidden until I post the answers.  No Googling!

This round lasts til the end of March and the person with the most points will win a B&N gift card (total $ based on # of total participants, so please play) and a randomly selected participant will win a fun prize from me.

Have fun and Good Luck!

1. Teddy Roosevelt. Night at the Museum. Robin Williams.

2. George Washington. The Crossing. Jeff Daniels.

3. George W. Bush. W. Josh Brolin.

4. Richard Nixon. Frost?Nixon. Frank Langella.

5. John F Kennedy. JFK. Bruce Greenwood.

6. John Quincy Adams. Amistad. Anthony Hopkins.

7. Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson in Paris. Nick Nolte.

8. Franklin D Roosevelt. Pearl Harbor. Jon Voight.

9. Abraham Lincoln. Young Mr. Lincoln. Henry Fonda.

10. Ulysses S Grant. Wild Wild West. Kevin Kline.

Last week’s Agatha Christie Quiz here.  Leaderboard and rules here.

Presidential Quiz- guessing closed

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I am fascinated by politics but really can’t stand how early people start campaigning for President.  But, hey, we only have another whole year of the craziness.  See if you can match these US Presidents with the books that they wrote.  10 points each.  You have until noon Saturday.

Please play along with us.  For everyone who plays an extra $ goes to the winner and the everyone is entered for a special prize.  Just leave a comment with your guesses and don’t google the answers.

Rules & Leaderboard here. Last week’s Scariest Character results here and scoring here.

1. An American Life                                    J. Ronald Reagan

2. Letters on Freemasonry                      E. John Quincy Adams

3. Profiles in Courage                                 D. John F. Kennedy

4. The Audacity of Hope                              I. Barack Obama

5. Beyond Peace                                           B. Richard Nixon

6. My Life                                                      A. Bill Clinton

7. Crusade in Europe                                  G. Dwight D. Eisenhower

8. The Rough Riders                                   C. Theodore Roosevelt

9. An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood      F. Jimmy Carter

10. Decision Points                                       H. George W. Bush

Presidential Censorship Quiz

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Last week’s Patrick Swayze quiz answers here.

It’s Banned Book Week and I decided to challenge you on censorship AND US Presidents.  These 10 quotes on censorship are all attributed to a US President.  Leave me the quote # and the President you think said it.  No Googling!  That’s cheating and no fun.  Go ahead and get to guessing. 

To help you out I’ve included pics of the ones who are still left to be quoted…

George H. W. Bush-JTM-039571.jpgClick to show "Thomas Jefferson" result 1Click to show "Dwight Eisenhower" result 4Click to show "Harry S Truman" result 2

1. “We all know that books burn, yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire.  People die, but books never die.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt – ‘Nise

2. “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” – Abraham Lincoln – Eva

3. “When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical freedom to Americans, it was assumed that the Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly…[However, now] there’s a lot of irresponsibility.  And so a lot of people say there’s too much freedom.  When personal freedom’s being abused, you have to move to limit it.” – Bill Clinton

4. “Don’t join the book burners…Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.” – Dwight Eisenhower

5. “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.  For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid that is afraid of its people.” – John F. Kennedy – Eva

6. “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of the opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” Harry Truman

7. “Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.” – Lyndon B. Johnson – Wendy

8. “Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” – Thomas Jefferson

9. “The notion of political correctness declares certain topics, certain expressions, even certain gestures, off-limits.  What began as a crusade for civility has soured into a cause of conflict and even censorship.” – George H Bush

10. “The internet today is an open platform… You’ve got barriers to entry that are low and equal for all comers.  And it’s because the internet is a neutral platform that I can put on this podcast and trasmit it over the internet without having to go through some corporate media middleman.  I can say what I want without censorship.” – Barack Obama – Debbie

BONUS QUESTION (sorry, but I could not quotes the Presidents and not include this gem)

“One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.” – George W. Bush – Debbie

Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House, Edited by James Taranto and Leonard Leo

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Cover ImageFinished 4-10-09. rating 3/5, political/history, pub. 2004

I was never one that really enjoyed reading about history, but after 9-11 I did become more interested in the government and politics.  I picked up this book at a used book sale last year because I thought I would like the short articles on each President and  love the lists and rankings.   

Best ranked Presidents according to this survey- 1. George Washington  2. Abraham Lincoln  3. Franklin Roosevelt  4. Thomas Jefferson  5. Theodore Roosevelt

There is an essay on each President, some written by such notables as John McCain (Teddy Roosevelt), Christopher  Buckley (James Buchanan), and Lynne Cheney (James Madison).  I thought the essays were interesting and informative.  I found the book extremely readable.

The two editors for this book are James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society.  I say this so that you understand the editors and the conductors of the survey are from a strictly conservative viewpoint.  This was not as much of an issue the first half of the book as the Presidents had all been dead a number of years.  Once in the 20th century the reviews of each President became decidedly pointed.  Many could not resist unflattering comments about Bill Clinton even while writing about another President.  It was distracting and diminished my belief that the writers could put petty party politics aside and write without bitterness.  And many spent a paragraph or more editorializing about their own views.  Not everyone did this, but enough to notice and irritate me.

Which leads to my next big problem with the  book.  There was absolutely no consistancy in these write ups.  Some wrote in great detail about how a President died in office and another wouldn’t even mention the assassination at all.  And Peggy Noonan’s piece on John F Kennedy was just strange and did not fit in with book at all.

I found some of the articles a bit more political than I was hoping for, but that being said I did learn a lot about each President.  My quiz tomorrow will include some of the fun facts from the book.

Who’s that Prez Quiz?

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CONGRATS MARK!  Have you been studying?

In honor of the the new President  this week’s quiz is full of quotes from past Presidents (of the United States!) and one from our new President.

Here’s how to play…Identify the President and leave a comment with the # and the name and I’ll cross it off the list. No Googling, that’s cheating and no fun! 

Possible Presidents left-Wilson, Eisenhower,  Truman, Washington, Nixon, Clinton, CArter,  Kennedy

1.” A man is not finished when he is defeated.  He is finished when he quits.”–RICHARD NIXON

2.” We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.”–JIMMY CARTER

3. “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”  RONALD REAGAN, Mark

4. “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.”  ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Mark

5. “You can’t know too much, but you can say too much.”  CALVIN COOLIDGE,  Janet

6. “Do not pray for easy lives.  Pray to be stronger men.”–JOHN F KENNEDY

7. “Success is not the measure of a man but a triumph over those who choose to hold him back.”–BILL CLINTON

8. “I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.”–WOODROW WILSON

9. “I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center.” —DWIGHT D EISENHOWER

10. “Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’  liberty’s teeth.”–GEORGE WASHINGTON

11. “Every nation in every region now has a decision to make.  Either you are with us, or are you with the terrorists.”  GEORGE W BUSH, Elena

12. “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”     FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT, Jason

13. “I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances…This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.”  GERALD FORD, Kathy

14. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”–HARRY S TRUMAN

15. Americans…still believe in America where anything’s possible-they just don’t think their leaders do.”  BARACK OBAMA, Mark