Opportunity Knocks, Founders Style

The recession may be over!  Openings available in Philadelphia for Founding Father impersonators!  (Thanks to fellow blogger at Northwest History, for highlighting this howler): Founding Father Performers, Historic Philadelphia, PA December 10th, 2010 Historic Philadelphia, Inc. seeks historical interpreters to portray Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson: mid-late 20s/early 30s; at least 5’10”; Virginia accent; red hair…

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Rejecting The "Gretna Defense"

I usually root for the defense, especially in an impeachment case, since I lost one of those 21 years ago.  (I represented Judge Walter L. Nixon, Jr. of Mississippi.)  But there’s no criticizing the Senate’s conviction yesterday of District Judge G. Thomas Porteous of New Orleans.  The case, as detailed in a Senate committee report, presented a…

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Aaron Burr Leaves the Senate

The Washington Post ran a piece on Saturday about how current senators ignore the deeply-felt farewell addresses of their departing colleagues.  Having just completed my manuscript about Aaron Burr’s Western expedition, which will be published next fall — American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America — I was reminded of Burr’s emotional departure from the Senate in…

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Conan Doyle and the Tax Man

I’m thoroughly enjoying a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, by Dan Stashower:  Teller of Tales.  Stashower reveals the source of Holmes’ uncanny ability to deduce a person’s biography in the first meeting him or her, solely by close observation of appearance:  Conan Doyle had a professor in medical school at the University of Edinburgh who had that…

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Washington Independent Review of Books

On Saturday morning, December 4, you can join an effort to help preserve and extend the culture of books and reading.  We will hold an organizational meeting at 9:30 a.m. for the Washington Independent Review of Books, an online publication scheduled to launch in late January.  We will meet at the office of American Independent…

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