Jenna Bush on a mug: Wedding souvenirs

by Jamie Rhein on

As wedding bells are ringing for Jenna Bush, so are some cash registers in Crawford, Texas shops. Jenna, President Bush’s daughter is getting married today in Crawford. Knowing a business opportunity when they see one, some proprietors, in the tradition of commemorating occasions with kitch, are selling mugs with Jenna and hubby’s mug on them. Last month, Pope Benedict XVI made it to gift shop shelves in various forms because of his U.S. visit.

If you have enough mugs, you can also get Jenna and Henry key chains, buttons, refrigerator magnets and trays. I haven’t heard about bobble heads, though.

Sometime this year, I wonder if there will be an influx of Pope Benedict XVI and Jenna Bush memorabilia at stores like Big Lots? Or maybe they’ll be at a flea market sometime this summer. Maybe there will be an incentive at coffee shops like buy a mug and get free coffee refills. What do people do with unsold merchandise like this one? On Christmas morning, or during a birthday party, will someone open a gift and say, “Oh, you shouldn’t have!”?

Actually, if anyone is looking for a funky coffee bar theme, why not buy up unsold memorabilia type mugs and use them? Sort of like those breakfast places that use old Howard Johnson plates.

Icelandic Teen pranks the White House

by Martha Edwards on

How’s this for wacky news: An Icelandic teenager managed to convince several officials that he was the president of Iceland, and even was scheduled for a call with George W. Bush on December 1 until he was found out at the last moment, as this recent article reports. The boy posed as Iceland’s president, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, and called the White House using a number given to him by his friends.

But showing their usual lack of humor, the police did not find it funny, and took the actual president in for questioning around the time that the fake call was meant to happen. Once the clever teen was discovered, he was questioned as well. However, no further action appears to have been taken.

I’d like to know what this teenager said to get through to the president. No doubt, it was more intelligent than the old “Hello, is your refrigerator running …. “ gag.