Lincoln and Kennedy

Just south of Louisville is the site where Abraham Lincoln was born. And about 10 miles from there is where they moved when Abe was just a small boy. Both are interesting, but you wouldn't spend a long time at either one. Neither has the original buildings, but they're still in a wooded area and I'm sure the area looks very much like what they did back at that time.

Some of the buildings to honor Lincoln are just a little much, though. This one at his birthplace just looks out of place. The one at his grave is enormous. The Lincoln Memorial doesn't seem out of place I guess because there are a lot of those types of building in Washington already, but the others could have been scaled down a bit. Lincoln was great. We get it.

Speaking of presidents, this is the anniversary of the JFK assassination. There have been at least 10 hours of specials about it. I've DVR'd them all. The History Channel interrupted its usually Pawn Stars marathon to have shows on that actually have something to do with history.

Kennedy is the first president I have any recollection of. I remember our teacher announcing the fact of the assassination to us. That Friday was a tough day at the school because a lot of things had gone wrong. Kids had gotten ill and had to go home early, etc. At the end of the day the teacher had us talk about some of the things that happened that day. A couple of students mentioned things. Then I raised my hand, and reminded them that the president was shot. I can remember saying it in kind of a condescending way. I was like, "Come on classmates. How is that not the big story of the day?" I know that Timmy wetting his pants during recess would usually be the lead story at school, but not today.

By the way, even though the majority of people don't seem to accept this, there was no conspiracy. It was just Oswald, period. "Case Closed" by Gerald Posner is by far the best book about the assassination. You should read that if you still have doubts. It would settle it for you. Oswald was just a lone nut. Case closed.