Quote of the day: Shovelin' the ____?

After the ceremony at which Obama announced his proposed expansion of Americorps ...

Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton doffed their coats and ties to travel together to Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens to plant trees in a muddy riverside marsh. The two presidents seemed in good spirits and teased each other about their tree-planting ability.

“I think the president has pretty good shoveling skills,” Mr. Obama said after watching Mr. Clinton demonstrate the proper technique.

Benjamin Franklin on Jesus

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble...."


(from a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University, about one month before Dr. Franklin's death)