Looking for memorable Christmas gifts for that special political junkie in your life?

Then you’ll want to explore Extreme Mortman’s annual gift-giving guide, geared for all our fellow political shut-ins.

1)  XM Radio’s POTUS ‘08: Give a free 14-day trial to POTUS ‘08, the first national, 24-hour radio channel devoted to a presidential election.

It’s just like C-SPAN, but without all that distracting yellow highlighting.

2) Lee Annis: Purchase “Howard Baker: Conciliator in an Age of Crisis,” the paperback edition, by Loyal Extreme Mortman reader and contributor Lee Annis.

We love Lee, Tennessee’s finest poly sci professor ever, and we also love any chance to use this joke:  Did ya’ll hear that Lee Annis’ book is in its second printing?  Yeah, the first one got smeared.
3)  C-SPAN: Visit all twelve Presidental Libraries in your own home!  Amazing, right?  Well, read on.

C-SPAN’s special television series, Presidential Libraries: History Uncovered is now available in this complete twelve DVD set for the low, low price of $49.95 (c’mon folks, that’s just half your monthly cable bill, without the NFL package). It includes never or rarely-seen film, video, audio, artifacts, and wet T-shirt contests (oh sorry, that’s the XXX version) from each of the twelve presidential libraries, giving new insights into the actions and decisions that shape the modern presidency.   OK, deep breath.  Expert commentary from presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, and the Presidential Library Directors, and staff who preserve and make available the collections featured in this series.

Consumers can purchase a 12 DVD set of the entire series  at  www.c-spanarchives.org under Products or contact the Span directly at 877-662-7726.  The set is $49.95 plus s/h. Consumers can also purchase the individual episodes for 19.95 plus s/h.  I may buy four copies of Gerald Ford so we can have all four TV sets in the Extreme household going at once.

4)  Extreme Mortman: More specific, the free Extreme Mortman.  Because we read the following sob story in today’s Washington Post:

The Washington Post will raise its newsstand price from 35 cents to 50 cents beginning with editions of Dec. 31, the company said yesterday, responding to the paper’s decline in circulation and advertising revenue.  … Although viewership and advertising have gone up at washingtonpost.com, they have not risen enough to make up for the shortfall at the newspaper.

Meantime, Extreme Mortman remains free.  And we’ll remain free, until we figre out a way to make money off SAT preparation classes.

5)  Our two favorite toys from childhood:

Evel Knievel …

…. and Hot Wheels

… both washed down with a big sugary teeth-rotting tub of Kool-Aid