Ronald Wilson Reagan
1911-2004
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8_G-mlKxTY
Bredesen to HHS? Governor Ramsey? Senator Mumpower?
Time Magazine’s Mark Helperin reports “Tennessee Governor Bredesen in line to run HHS after talks with White House officials.”
h/t to AC Kleinheider, who is still skeptical.
Thinking ahead to the next moves on the chess board, this would make Ron Ramsey the new Governor of Tennessee.
The Tennessee Senate would then have to elect a new Lieutenant Governor.
There would also need to be a special election to fill Ramsey’s Senate seat.
Would Jason Mumpower run for the Tennessee Senate?
If he won, the Tennessee House would need to elect a new Majority leader.
AND… there would then have to be a special election to fill Mumpower’s House seat.
But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself….
Thanks, but no thanks – refusing the bailout?
Ken Marrero of Tennessee’s own BlueCollarMuse raises an intriguing idea. Should those who are opposed to the bailout refuse to take the funds?
According to Ken, “Haley Barbour is considering it for Mississippi. So is Mark Sanford in South Carolina.” Jason Mumpower, Republican Majority Leader in the Tennessee House says there are those in the legislature who are sympathetic to the idea.
Head on over to Ken’s post and read his full discussion.
Life in the Country
We got yer carbon debits right here!
Wood – it really does warm you twice.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGPARuodXgs
Has Al Gore been in Massachusetts?
Across region, localities stagger under burden of coping with snow
Before today’s storm, Boston had already been hit with 44.7 inches of snow since the start of December, more than twice the amount that usually has fallen by this time of the season, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. As a result, the city has spent $12.2 million of its $12.9 million snow removal budget, and it looked likely to exceed the budget with today’s storm, city officials said.
You want macho sauce with that?
Alfonzo Rachel of MachoSauceProductions.com has a new video out. He’s not all that impressed with Aston Kutcher and his “pledge.”
Rachel is one of the many new stars who are contributors to the new site BigHollywood – worth visiting, reading, and adding to your RSS feed.
here’s the vid:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h61kZ2Oyljs
Pippo the Fool – Brunelleschi’s Dome for Children
Just published!
Pippo is the nickname of Filippo Brunelleschi. He was a goldsmith in Florence with a knack for design. When a contest is announced to design a dome for the cathedral, Pippo decides he will compete. His rivals (older, wealthier, more accomplished) scorn him and laugh at his ideas. But Pippo is the only contestant who has worked out all the practical details of how to build a dome that will be 300 feet tall!
Fern and Estrada have created a delightful story for children about this important event from the history of the Renaissance in Florence. Brunelleschi won the competition and spent sixteen years supervising the construction of the dome. In order to make it work, he had to invent new kinds of bricks, new patterns for fitting them together and quick-drying mortar to hold them in place.
When the Dome was finished, Pippo the Fool is recognized as Pippo the Genius
The text in this delightful story is written for children 8 through 12, but the story will hold the attention of even older students.
Pippo the Fool is a hardback, 48 pages and sells for $15.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.
Air Force One pilot will retire after taking Bush home
After flying Mr. Bush to every state in the country but Vermont, and on 49 foreign trips to 75 countries, many of them more than once, Colonel Mark Tillman will be ending his 30-year career in the Air Force.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/17/politics/main4731488.shtml
Those who have villified President Bush would be well-advised to pause and consider why he continues to inspire loyalty among those who serve and protect him.
New Bumper Sticker
British Mythbusters – Recreating the Gunpowder Plot
In November of 2005, Richard Hammond of Britain’s iTV set about to find out if Guy Fawkes really could have killed King James in 1605 – in a plot that was discovered 400 years ago.
The test was constructed on a truly massive scale. iTV budgeted enough to allow a reconstruction of the original House of Parliament as it existed in 1605 (the current buildings are a Victorian creation) . . . and then blow it up. The co-operation of the British army was requested and received. Over the course of several months, a large medieval building was reconstructed, with seven foot thick walls for the undercroft and a wooden beam floor with stone walls on a weapons testing site of the British army.
One of the more interesting challenges was the task of securing 36 barrels of gunpowder (about one ton). The producers finally had to make arrangements with a Spanish factory, and for security reasons the transport of the gunpowder barrels was shrouded in secrecy.
You can avoid the 50 minute setup and just watch the following video if you want to see what would have happened to the Houses of Parliament in 1605 if Guy Fawkes had succeeded in setting off those 36 barrels of gunpowder.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFytcsA9mU8
Explosion comes 1:45 into the video…
The instruments the Mythbusters placed in the building were completely destroyed. Everyone in the building would certainly have been killed. The mannequins used as stand-ins for the King, Bishops, Lords, & MPs were blown apart and carried hundreds of feet in all directions by the force of the blast. The force of the explosion surprised even the explosives experts who had been hired as consultants.
It would have been the worst mass assassination in history if it had succeeded.
And it very nearly did.
The night before Parliament was to convene, Guy Fawkes was arrested in the cellar under the house of Parliament, waiting by the 36 barrels of gunpowder. A watch, slow matches, and touchpaper were found in his possession.
A sobering thought.
There’s an article about the TV re-creation from the TimesOnline here.
I stumbled on all this today while doing research on James I for the book I am drafting on Famous Men of the 16th & 17th Century.