I just posted a comment on someone's blog today who was upset that some 911 footage was shown at the RNC. This just shocked me that people think seeing a plane go into the WTC is now offensive. THAT is offensive to me - and to all the families who lost innocent loved ones.

It has been 7 years now and we've not had another attack. Who would have thought that would happen on September 12th? For sure, not me. Things changed that day. We realized that we're not as safe as we thought we were. Shows like "24", though really great to watch, kind of turn terrorism into entertainment and maybe that's making us numb to terrorism. Since we haven't had an attack again (although I'm sure dozens and dozens have been thwarted by own own military forces and special ops) maybe that's also making us feel too safe again - to the point where we've forgotten about 911.

I haven't forgotten 911. I even remember growing up in the 1980s as a kid where 2 world powers seemed to constantly have their fingers on the buttons to launch nuclear arms at one another. That was scary. When there'd be a special report on TV, my heart would just always sink in fear. Yeah, it was pretty scary to me as a kid. Thank God the Cold War is over but now having an enemy that plays by different rules is even worse.

If Obama would get elected, I just wonder that when he shows up for day 1 and gets briefed on what's really happening, he'd be told how things really are and what we possibly can and cannot really do. Anyway, that's just a thought I've had - oops, wait... Obama did just get a bit of this information and without a background check (what?).

Get to the point, Tone.

Ok.

So President Jackson (who appears on the $20 bill) was one tough dude. He was nicknamed "Old Hickory" because he carried around a hickory cane and would pick fights with and beat up random people. Seriously. Can you imagine anyone getting away with that nowadays? It makes some candidates out there look a little like wusses, too.

Here's an except from a website I found (http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/bio/public/jackson.htm) that gives a good, brief history of President Andrew Jackson. I invite you to read it and even do more reading about "Old Hickory."

Andrew Jackson may have been our seventh president, but he was first in many ways. He was the first populist president who did not come from the aristocracy, he was the first to have his vice-president resign (John C. Calhoun), he was the first to marry a divorcee, he was the first to be nominated at a national convention (his second term), the first to use an informal "Kitchen Cabinet" of advisers, and the first president to use the "pocket veto" to kill a congressional bill (legislation fails to become law if Congress adjourns and the president has not signed the bill in question).

Jackson believed in a strong presidency and he vetoed a dozen pieces of legislation, more than the first six presidents put together. Jackson also believed in a strong Union and this belief brought him into open opposition with Southern legislators, especially those from South Carolina. South Carolina thought the 1832 tariff signed by President Jackson was much too high. In retaliation, the South Carolina legislature passed an Ordinance of Nullification, which rejected the tariff and declared the tariff invalid in South Carolina. Jackson , always a strong Unionist, issued a presidential proclamation against South Carolina. On the whole Congress supported Jackson's position on the issue and a compromise tariff was passed in 1833. The immediate crisis passed, but the incident was a precursor of the positions that would lead almost thirty years later to the War Between the States.

Another major issue during Jackson's presidency was his refusal to sanction the recharter of the Bank of the United States. Jackson thought Congress had not had the authority to create the Bank in the first place, but he also viewed the Bank as operating for the primary benefit of the upper classes at the expense of working people. Jackson used one of his dozen vetoes, and the Bank's congressional supporters did not have enough votes to override him. The Bank ceased to exist when its charter expired in 1836, but even before that date the president had weakened it considerably by withdrawing millions of dollars of federal funds.

Jackson's record regarding Native Americans was not good. He led troops against them in both the Creek War and the First Seminole War and during his first administration the Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830. The act offered the Indians land west of the Mississippi in return for evacuation of their tribal homes in the east. About 100 million acres of traditional Indian lands were cleared under this law.

Two years later Jackson did nothing to make Georgia abide by the Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester vs. Georgia in which the Court found that the State of Georgia did not have any jurisdiction over the Cherokees. Georgia ignored the Court's decision and so did Andrew Jackson. In 1838-1839 Georgia evicted the Cherokees and forced them to march west. About twenty-five percent of the Indians were dead before they reached their new lands in Oklahoma. The Indians refer to this march as the "Trail of Tears" and even though it took place after Jackson's presidency, the roots of the march can be found in Jackson's failure to uphold the legal rights of Native Americans during his administration.

During Jackson's presidential years two states were admitted to the Union (Arkansas in 1836 and Michigan in 1837) and the rulings of Roger Taney, one of his Supreme Court appointments, had an impact on American life long after Jackson's retirement. In 1836 Taney succeeded John Marshall as chief justice. One of Taney's early rulings gave permission for states to restrict immigration, while another destroyed a transportation monopoly in Massachusetts, establishing for the first time the principle in U.S. law that the public good is superior to private rights. But Taney is best known for his pro-slavery position in the Dred Scott case in 1857. Chief Justice Taney authored the majority opinion which refused to recognize that Congress had the authority to ban slavery in territory areas. In addition he said Blacks were "inferior" beings who had "no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

And here's some more interesting information about President Jackson (from http://www.intothewoods.us/HikerMama/Patriots/PresidentAndrewJackson.html):

• Andrew Jackson was the only President to pay off the national debt. He was the first President to be born in a log cabin, and the first to ride a train.
• Jackson is the only President to serve in two wars, as well as the only President to have been held a prisoner of war.
• On January 30, 1835, a mentally disturbed man named Richard Lawrence fired two different guns at Jackson from point-blank range. Both weapons failed to fire. The odds of this happening were put at 1:125,000. Jackson then chased after Lawrence and beat him with his cane.
• In the books that I researched they said that he swore, he gambled, he owned fighting cocks and raced horses, yet he built a church for his wife and he deeply revered God. He won every battle he ever led. He hanged 2 men as spies, ordered 6 soldiers shot for mutiny, killed one man who insulted his wife’s honor, a Mr. Charles Dickinson. It was a gun duel. Dickinson fired first, hitting Jackson a mere 2 inches from his heart. Jackson didn’t flinch, he just aimed, shot, and it was over. Of course, he carried the bullet with him throughout his life, as it was inoperable in those days.
• As a young boy, he defended the smaller boys and showed them how to shoot, fish, race, run and wrestle – a passion of his youth, this wrestling.
• Anyone could come to Andrew Jackson's public parties at the White House, and just about everyone did! At his last one, a wheel of cheese weighing 1,400 lbs. was eaten in two hours. The books said that the White House wreaked of cheese for weeks!!

So I'm not saying everything he did was great or anything. Times were different and I think the country wouldn't have done well with a weak President in charge.

-T

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