The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners' desk often chosen by presidents of the United States for use in the White House Oval Office. It was a present from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 and was built from the timbers of the British barque-rigged ship Resolute. Every president since Hayes, except Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford, has used the desk. President George H. W. Bush had the desk moved to the Treaty Room in the Executive Residence because he preferred the desk he used when he was vice president; later, President Bill Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office. More on the history of the desk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolute_desk
If you want one like you can buy one online: http://www.historycompany.com/productdetails.php?p=130&PHPSESSID=d912557d74006854318df60704aa84b8
"National Treasure" Oval Office Resolute Desk$6,950.00
History Company was contracted by Jerry Bruckheimer Films to produce an important prop for the sequel to National Treasure, starring Nicholas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, protector of the key to a legendary treasure hidden by Freemasons during the American Revolution. In National Treasure 2, Gates' quest for the Book of Secrets takes him into the White House Oval Office to retrieve clues hidden in the Resolute Desk. Offered is a replica of the original Resolute Desk, custom-crafted with a "secret compartment," as seen in the film.
With that bit of background out of th way: let me get on with this posting. You might have missed this one (could have been on Fox news, maybe). We seem to have problem with the Brits: http://canadafreepress.com/printpage.php
"As the visit of the national leader of our closest ally began, the President informed the Brits that he wouldn’t be attending the joint press conference that was planned to be held once PM Brown’s plane touched down. This threw the visiting delegation into a tizzy leaving them scrambling to explain the sudden change in plans to the folks back home. Still, meetings were had and things smoothed out. Eventually the visit seemed to right itself… then came the Obama’s gift gaffes. "
Visiting diplomatic delegations come bearing gifts and gift giving is returned in like fashion by the host country. The gifts are valuable, representative of the products of the nations involved, or at least symbolic of the history of those nations.
"For his part, PM Brown gave two symbolic gifts and one that expressed national pride. Brown came bearing a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of that which gave the wood to create the famous “Resolute Desk,” the desk that has been in America’s charge since 1880. He also gave Obama the framed commission for that famous ship, the HMS Resolute. His third gift was a seven-volume biography of one of England’s greatest leaders, Winston Churchill.
"So, what did President Obama give the British PM? 25 movies on DVD. Yeah, that’s it. Brown gives a symbolic gift like the pen holder fashioned from a famous British warship and Obama responds by sending a staffer to WalMart to pick up a few quick movies. "
It went from bad to worse...
"Obama was not smart enough to know that DVDs made in America don’t play on European DVD players. American DVDs are created in the “Region One” format while those in Europe play in “Region Two” format. A U.S. DVD just won’t play on a machine made for the English market."
"Not to be out done in tastelessness by her husband, Michelle got into the act, too. Mrs. Brown came bearing two outfits for the Obama girls from Topshop, one of Britain’s trendiest and expensive women’s wear retail outlets. In return, Michelle apparently had a staffer run down to the White House gift shop and grab two toy Marine One helicopter models for Brown’s boys. "
And this seems to come on top of an earlier snub of the Brits, when Obama made one of his first official acts to summarily return to the Brits the generous gift of a bust of Winston Churchill that has sat in the Oval Office since the attacks on 9/11.
If this keeps up. The British Deplomatic Service will fire off tickets for the Obamas to attend the new staging of "Our American Cousin" which was one of Lincoln's favorites.
FD.
http://www.ouramericancousin.com/site/
Where am I going this?
As part of the GM Bail Out, I think GM should provide the president with a special series of these cars for visiting leaders.
Not a "pimp your ride" statement, but more of a dual token of our intention to improve US trade relations and to protect our friends aboard.
The Browns would look good in one of these, and their family be safer in this car as the Irish Troubles return.
Their boys would like for it's "pimp looks." And the Queen, well, that is a different matter.
I am sure that other world leaders would appreciate these presidental gifts of state ... GM could write it off as part of their bailout and testing marking of a replacement car for the Hummer group that Dick Chaney has decided to buy off them.
Rumours fly after Tsvangirai crashBrian Hungwe visits the scene of Friday's car crash near Harare in which Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was injured and his wife Susan killed.
