By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago
 

BOSTON - This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.
 
Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.

Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother's side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.

Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.

"It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn't necessarily expect," Child said.

Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

"His kinships are across the political spectrum," Child said.

Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates' genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, "Ancestors of American Presidents."

Clinton's distant cousins include beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, wife of Prince Charles of England.

McCain's ancestry was more difficult to trace because records on his relatives were not as complete as records for the families of Obama and Clinton, Child said.

Obama and President Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.

Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769.

Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and largest nonprofit genealogical organization in the country.

Click on the link to check out stupid Megan!

http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1583782&vid=217570

Thanks f_ _ _ing GAWD that she is gone from the show!!! Personally, I can’t really say she was the dumbest girl in the house...or was she? Wait! Big John’s right!

My opinion is this, she may have now been the stupist girl in the house, but she was also the devious little b _ tch. She didn’t care about anyone but herself, and if she wasn’t picked for something, she acted as if she was completely suprised. She has probably gotten through in life on her looks alone.

She didn’t care about anyone in the house and when it didn’t go in her favor, she was willing to back stab the ones she was closest to in the house! Ugh enough about that dumb b_tch!

Let’s get to one of the coolest girls that was in the house that got eliminated. Peyton Turner. That girl rocks hard core! You should check her out at http://www.myspace.com/peytonturnermusic

The song on her profile called "We Rocked For Love" should seriously be a theme song somewhere if he has a Rock Of Love 3!

She doesn’t need many words to describe her because she just plain out rocks!

Forgot to mention that yesterday, my fiancee said "For now, I think I should have you keep track of all the money in this house."

This poses as a good thing since I like to know where it all went all the time. I am not a tight wad or anything (well maybe a little), and I don't write it down in a notebook or anything. In fact, If we need the money for something, then that is where it goes. However, if you don't tell me that you took money out, I get a get irritated. My fiancee found that out last week.

You see, we share the money in this house. No one owes anyone anything. We figure that it is all going to the same place (bills, food, cloths, etc.), that it doesn't really matter...but last week some time, he took out $30 of my wallet (even though we had plenty of cash to work with) and didn't tell me. I had stated that I was missing some money and couldn't figure out where it went. He tells me he took it out for food, etc. Once I knew where it went, I told him that I didn't care that he took it out, but I would like him to at least tell me that he is going to take it out. That way I can keep track where it is all going.

Let's say that he needed an item for the car, or he wanted new speakers, or something of that nature....even if he has to call me at work, at least let me know so I am not wonder (or we are not wondering) why we are down to a certain amount, when we should be at "X amount of dollars".

He agreed with me completely and this is where we are at right now with me being in charge of knowing where it all went. This also goes for his money as well. The bills get paid first, then he lets me hold onto the money (or put it somewhere...bank, etc.), and then he tells me if he is going to take any of it out for something. This keeps us on track at all times.

Plus, I am good with money. I usually don't spend too much on anything. If I do, it is usually not for me, it's for us. Hell, he sometimes has to tell me that I should buy something for myself. But I figure if it's not a NEED and only a WANT item, then why should I bother?

However, since we have had the extra cash lately, I figured I could get something for myself (hence the computer gadgets and the television). If you want to get completely technical... technically, the only things that I own in this house, are the car stereo, the television, my computer (the corner desk he bought), the cell phone, the landline telephones, my cloths, and if you want to consider my son as being owned, then yes, I own him too (because my fiancee is not the biological father...sounds bad doesn't it. lol). Even though I paid for the car, it is his...since I don't drive.

===============

Anyways, Easter was pretty good for the most part, but my son had a bit of fit once, that lasted for about an hour. My fiancee cooked the meal this year, so by that time, my son was back to being polite and nice. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, sweet corn, and for dessert it was neopolitan ice cream. My son was very polite during that time. He finished everything on his plate (even the turkey which he is not too fond of), thanked dad for the good meal, put his plate and glass in the sink and left the table to go play.

However, we all decided that we would take my fiancee's mother home (instead of him taking her back home by himself). He got her home and it started to snow again getting to the house. We dropped her off and not too far away, the belt came off on the motor...but at first we thought that it was hailing because that is what it sounded like. So he pulled over, and my son and I stayed in the car. Since there wasn't any place open on Easter, he had to strip the belt down a bit and put it back on. We started driving again for a bit, and it came off once more. He asked me if we should take the bus home. I said to try to fix it once again. If it came off this time, then we would take the bus back.

We got lucky. It stayed on the entire trip home, but we left the car stereo off, and I literately prayed the entire way to the house lol! I don't know who I was praying to (since I am not a religious person), but whatever the case, we made it home in one piece.

That trip to his mom's place, took us almost 2 hours...so by then, it was time for my son to go to sleep. We hung out and watched some tv and then headed to bed.

You know, out of all the bad things that seemed to of happen to us this year so far, we always seemed to have the good things even us out. So we are not at total loss. Someone or something is testing us to see how much we can put up with before we pull our hair out, I swear! lol!