Plain Spoken, Flame Broiled 
Harry Truman’s real estate/memorial empire continues to blossom, despite his death 35 years ago, adding properties he couldn’t possibly remember and some he’d probably just as soon forget.
The House has passed a bill directing the Secretary of the Interior to consider adding the Harry Truman Birthplace 
to the National Park Service. Mr. Feisty spent his formative first eleven months in the home, which has been a state park since 1959 when the United Auto Workers gave it to Missouri. The site closed due to unspecified “hazardous conditions” shortly after the House vote.
The Independence Missouri house Truman lived in before and after his presidency 
was acquired by the Park Service in the 1980s. Since then they have gobbled up two Truman in-law houses around the 
corner, and acquired a neighboring house at 216 North Delaware. 
.
The NPS bought into trouble with these homes and two of them are getting new foundations.
The Park Service does own the Truman farm 
near town where young Harry slaved for his father until World War I saved him, but the “boyhood home” at 909 West Waldo in Independence 
remains in private hands.
The Truman Historic Site sits in an historic district named for him, and in theory there’s nothing to stop the Park Service from buying them everything in sight.
Pyongyang Penpal
North Korean Strongman Kim Jong Il has responded to President Bush’s personal letter.
Sadly, we have no idea what he said, and little about Bush’s opening letter beyond a demand Kim offer up information on his nukes.
It all sounds like semi-normal diplomacy, but some of us are still nostalgic for the old Gnome of Pyongyang crazy.
Up Your Bolton
Passed, Imperfect? 
The Ronald Reagan Centenary in 2011 looms, and Dixon Illinois is forming a commission to coordinate the celebration.
Where this leaves Tampico, the actual birthplace, is unclear. Reagan spent the bulk of his childhood in the Dixon. The town is bigger than Tampico and holds the Reagan “Boyhood Home.” It’s a house Reagan’s family rented for less than two years, yet the location of mawkish commemorations of the legend.
Brace yourself for a renewed Reagan Naming orgy as the anniversary approaches.
Courting and Counting 
Hanukkah! Festival of Lights! A special time for goy politicians of all persuasions to pause and suck up to the Great Jewish People.
Until recently, Richard Nixon had even been doing it from beyond. Each year the Nixon Library would mark Hanukkah, albeit often folded into it’s “Christmas Around the World” program. [Hanukkah, of course, is how Jews celebrate the birth of Our Lord.]
Not so this year. Did the cumulative evidence of Nixon’s Antisemitism do them in?
2007 provided the climax to date, with the release of Fred Malek‘s memos about counting “the other demographic criteria” [i.e., Jews] at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In 2005 it was all so different:
Hanukkah Celebration
Join family and friends at the Nixon Library on Sunday, December 11 for a special Hanukkah celebration. This free-admission event begins at 5:30 p.m. and features remarks from U.S. Congressman Gary Miller, the Lighting of the Menorah by Rabbi David Eliezrie and traditional music performed by the Temple Beth Tikvah junior choir, the Tarbut V’Torah choir, the Heritage Oak Singers, and Celebration USA.
corner, and acquired a neighboring house at 216 North Delaware. 
.
near town where young Harry slaved for his father until World War I saved him, but the “boyhood home” at 909 West Waldo in Independence 
remains in private hands.
