And Happy Birthday Charles Warren Fairbanks, one of a long distinguished line of totally unknown men who were Vice-President of the United States. Unfair, mind you, but inevitable. As Truman's Veep Alben Barkley once said, "A farmer had two sons, one went to sea, another became vice-president, and neither were ever heard from again."

Anyhow, tip a glass today for Fairbanks (for whom Fairbanks, Alaska is named -- did you know that?), an Old Guard conservative senator from Indiana, picked for the 1904 Republican ticket with Teddy Roosevelt to balance off TR's disturbingly progressive tendencies.

Cheers!