Desert Gardens, Scented Candles and Unusual Histories. (UPDATED with herding cats cartoon)
Nice view, Mr. Speaker. All the photos below are taken from this image, dated last August.
Via: speakerboehner
Illegitimi Non Carborundum Plaque
The latin aphorism means "don't let the bastards grind you down." While the language is ancient, the phrase is not. It originated during World War II.
A Supply of Tissues (One in Use)
For drying the Speaker's often copious tears.
Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King
This is a short history of a beer-making German-American neighborhood in Cincinnati that's just outside Boehner's district (which mostly lies west of Cincinnatti).
It's actually a more controversial reading choice than you might think; as one Amazon reviewer describes the central narrative: "There were nativist forces at work to undermine German society and its beer-soaked culture. Morgan writes, 'Before gay marriage, abortion rights, civil rights or the Vietnam War, beer became the focal point of a much broader social debate.' That was temperance, the social reform movement that gave us Prohibition."
