Thank goodness I am not a determinist. On this Halloween comes the strange, mysterious information that both George W. Bush and John Kerry (who are ninth cousins twice removed) have genealogical links with Vlad II Dracula of Wallachia. Yes, thatTransylvanian Vlad the Impaler who was the model for Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I don't know about you, but I'm taking garlic with me into the Voting Booth on Tuesday.

howard q isgood - 11/7/2004

I know this was posted jokingly, but a lot of people mistakenly do believe in the significance of this sort of thing. Countless conspiracy theories have been woven based on geneological links between important figures, and by people who *aren't* joking.

So, here are some serious discussions on the issue:

http://www.generations.on.ca/genealogy/pedigree.htm
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_083b.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_collapse
http://www.dispatchesfromthevanishingworld.com/pastdispatches/mountain/mountain_1.html
http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/anthropology/sci.anthropology/archive/january-1995/0213.html