but this is a hilarious column for us. You betcha!

...when I heard David Axelrod say that Barack Obama, "from Hawaii" (via Chicago) likes the temperature in the Oval Office so warm "you could grow orchids in there."

And another story, for which I unfortunately can't find a reference, that Mr. and Mrs. Biden have cranked up the temperature at the Naval Observatory/Vice Presidential manse.

Seems that the "former occupants," so called, were all (along with Don Rumsfeld in his Pentagon office) somewhat notorious for preferring cooler temperatures.

It seems so, well, so Minnesotan to me. These men -- unspoiled, quiet, unassuming, never wanting to be global warming scolds -- were happiest in cool temperatures like the real people Garrison describes. And so unlike the global warmist hysterions who grandly and dramatically tell the country to dial back a few degreees and then proceed to crank up the temps at their government-stocked homes and offices.

that "undisclosed location" was a coffin with native soil from Wyoming...

Bush and Cheney "unspoiled, quiet, unassuming."

ROTFLMAO. Too bad you seem not to be joking.

try growing up in alberta in the 50s when it would go to 40 below every now and then. and riding your three speed to school. (nobody ever told us we were allowed to move south)

We had to drive to school with only AM radio. In the snow, up hill, both ways.

I lived in Minnesota for 40 years, having migrated there at age 10 with my parents from balmy Iowa. Yes, they were certifiable. Crazy. Renegade teachers who thought better pay was a reason to move. Two years ago my husband, a government lawyer, came home from work and asked if I wanted to move to Cape Girardeau, MO. He'd been offered a job there. I didn't ask about the pay. I didn't mutter something unprintable about it being Rush Limbaugh's hometown. "What's the weather like there?" I inquired. He Googled it. "The average daily low in January is 42," he informed me. The low? "That sounds like the tropics to me," I replied. "Let's go." So we did.

Chuckle .... We were greatly 'warmed' by the speech your President made last evening .... It had a "Rooseveltian" (sic) ring to it that warmed the cockles of our hearts and what with Garrison's pale reminder of yester-years suffering by those of us raised in the frost belt .... why we suddenly came to realize that like President Obama's optimism during this 'Winter of American Hardship' that spring cannot be far away.

Those of us from the the north country really do get it Mr. K .... Thanks for the chuckle .... and we are also thankful for that other hardy soul from Hawaii/Chicago who also gets it!

I spent my first 36 years in Minnesota and I'm counting the days until I can return for good. We live in Northern Virginia for now (the spouse works for the federal government), but we're planning to retire to Duluth as soon as we can.

Yes. Duluth.

Minnesota.

I swear to you, it's the Riviera of the North -- only without the fat German businessmen in speedos throwing around their Eurodollars.

So, anyway... growing up in Minnesota, I have spent a fair amount of time trudging around in the woods when it was so cold that the tears literally freeze in your eyes within seconds of stepping outside. It's an interesting sensation. Your eyelashes freeze together at the corners so you have to walk around squinting. Also, the snot freezes in your nose. I'll spare you further descriptions of that, though.

The best part of being out in the cold is, as GK has alluded, coming back inside after you've been out trudging through the woods. You take off your ice-encrusted mittens and socks and put your feet up in front of the fireplace to thaw them out a bit and, if you're lucky, someone brings you a mug of hot chocolate to help you warm up. There's Andy Williams on the stereo singing "Moon River" and life couldn't possibly be any better than it is right at that instant.

Here in the "heart of central Wisconsin", just north of NEPCO Lake (NEPCO being an old Indian word for Nekoosa Edwards Paper Co.) we know about cold. Us boys were warned to be cautious when taking a leak 'cause it could freeze so fast you would be tipped over backwards! We learned to pinch it a few times, cutting off the stream and turning a couple of degrees to prevent ice columns from forming.

Also, the "Great Depression" was in full swing and we were dirt poor. On real cold days my mom would boil a kettle of water and before leaving on a 3 mile hike to school we'd each have a big bowl of steam. You had to eat fast.

In later years, in classic understatement, my dad would say: "Times was tough!", with a certain amount of pride in having teamed up with FDR's WPA to shepherd us through it.

I won't even bring up the subject of outside toilets except to say that they discouraged dilly-dallying...

With the assessment of Duluth. Although I'd hate to live there--a LOT of small-minded people in that part of the state.

Nevertheless, one of my favorite New Year's Eve celebrations was spent in Duluth. It was just my then-boyfriend, now husband and me, spending the night at the Hampton Inn in Canal Park before driving up the next morning for a day of skiing at Lutsen. There was a storm that night. We stood, 50 feet from the shore of Lake Superior and laughed aloud as the lake threw water at us that turned to ice as it flew.

A quiet dinner for two at Grandma's, culminating with a complimentary champagne toast at midnight, and off to bed to be ready for a lovely ski day. What could be better?

The "former occupants" may have liked it cold because they never took off their jackets, buttoned up their button-up shirts to the top, and wore ties (and probably undershirts, too). Anything over 68° and they would have melted.

As far as this is "energy saving", I imagine the same temperature applied throughout the long DC summers, too.