The ex-Presidential Cat, Socks Clinton, has gone onto kitty heaven after a three month battle with cancer. Socks was 20. He may have been Chelsea’s pet during his stay at the Governor’s Mansion and the White House, but it was former Clinton secretary Betty Currie whom cared for the well-known feline.
“Socks brought much happiness to Chelsea and us over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere,” the Clintons said in a statement, released first to PEOPLE.COM. “We’re grateful for those memories, and we especially want to thank our good friend, Betty Currie, for taking such loving care of Socks for so many years.”
The First Lady is already having to defend her daughters in the first week of President Obama taking office. Ty Inc.–the same company worldly known for their Beanie Babies–has released dolls resembling the First Daughters: Malia and Sasha. Michelle Obama’s press secretary released a statement stating, “We feel it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes.”
The dolls are part of the “TyGirlz” collection. Although the dolls are named “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia,” Ty Inc. insists that the dolls are not made to be exact replications of the president’s daughters and are not based on the Obama girls. WHAT? Do they really expect the public to be that stupid? How coincidental would it be to release two dolls, obviously with darker skin and named Malia and Sasha? And I’m sure that if they were to release two young female adult dolls, both Caucasian–one named Jenna with blonde hair and the other Barbara with brown hair–that they would in no way be referring to the Bush twins. YEAH RIGHT…
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The 56th Presidential Inauguration was more open and accessible than any other in history. To help you understand the scale of it all, we’ve broken down the Inauguration by the numbers…
1,120,000: Metro train rides taken on January 20th, setting a new record for one-day ridership.
18,000: Volunteers provided support for the inaugural activities.
Over 13,000: Service events organized in response to President Obama’s call to service.
76: Years since Mickey Rooney, who rode atop the Spirit of the Lincoln Highway fire truck in this year’s parade, participated in his first inaugural parade.
58: Agencies collaborated on the security for the Inauguration.
10: Jumbo screens on the National Mall broad casted inaugural events.
Although our area was closed off before reaching maximum capacity, all one had to do was pan around to the grids behind us to see the sea of color outstretching for another mile and a half. When the ceremony was over, people rushed to the nearest warming stations. We went into the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Immediately people rushed for the warm bathrooms. I really don’t think people utilized the 5,000 port-o-potties as once expected. It was way too cold to pull those 3 layers of pants down! We waited inside for about an hour and half before heading back out to find food and a way to get back to the apartment.
Below is from inside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, approximately 45 minutes after the Inauguration Ceremony had concluded.You should have seen the place by the time we left! Aye carumba. I really felt bad for the staff at the Smithsonian.
Off The Grid 