When we were at the Emerald City Comic Convention, somebody asked me to draw a picture of Franklin Pierce. It happened to be the time that I was thinking about which historical era Marx and Emily were going to land in first, and the more I read about Pierce, the more intrigued I became. Previously, my knowledge of Pierce was more or less "Kansas-Nebraska Act, Ostend Manifesto, Jefferson Davis Was In His Cabinet, Didn't Raise the Flag When Lincoln Died, Routinely Ranked Among the Five Worst Presidents in History."

Then I got my hands on Peter A. Wallner's two volume biography and, yeah, Being Franklin Pierce turned out to be a pretty tragic thing. He lost all of his children at young ages - the last killed ... in front of him... in a train wreck... on the way to his inauguration. His wife hated his political career and micromanaged his life down to when he was and wasn't allowed to keep his hands in his pockets. His commitment to economic honesty and his concept of governmental ethics caused all of his allies to turn on him when he wouldn't look the other way during their various graft schemes (the Minnesota Railroad, the New York Harbor appointments). All of the legislation that he originated was aimed at making a more honest, capable government, from clerking standards to Manypenny's humane Indian policy to the thorough review of the naval officer corps.

But he had one fatal flaw - Franklin Pierce was, to his core of cores, a dedicated party man. He believed with all his soul in the party line inherited from the Jackson Era, relentlessly attacking those in the party who would question it and steadfastly supporting anything that was in accord with it. While most of the Democrats - the Hards and the Softs and the Barnburners - jumped to wherever the power and money could be found, Pierce planted his feet and got crushed. For him, an abolitionist wasn't a man trying to free a soul in immoral servitude, he was a man working against the Democratic Party and the Union it was trying to support, and that led him to support legislation that is unthinkable to our minds - the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. All in all, a very complex fellow who is something rather more than The Guy Before The Guy Before Lincoln.

On another note, Geoff got married on Saturday! I had something of a toast written up, but didn't give it at the time, so I'm giving it here!

I was reading The Tortoise and the Hare the other day and it occurred to me that, for lots of people, that's the choice they have to make - between the Way Awesome but Entirely Not To Be Relied Upon hare, and the steady, dependable, but uninspiring tortoise. You can have one or the other - Mr. Darcy or Wickham, Faith or Buffy, Han Solo or Luke, Foghorn Leghorn or Sam the Sheep Dog - Actually the entire rest of this toast is just going to be me listing pairs of fictional characters, so dig in. Now, to find someone who has the best of both - that is something. And for TWO people to have both in each other is entirely mind boggling, and that's why I get ever so slightly dizzyish when hanging around with Geoff and Evan. A couple that includes Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs, Tom Servo quotations, the creation of frankly hilarious webcomics, thirst for knowledge and faraway places, all based on a constant regard for each other's health and happiness. Just looking at them makes you feel like you're in a big warm blanket and outside, everybody meets their soulmate always. To Geoff and Evan, then - two beautiful people, and a dazzling, utterly ripping future!

- Count Dolby von Luckner