ADDED: This book is aimed (according to the publisher) at children in grades 2 to 5. I did a screen shot of a bit about James Madison to give you an idea of the style and attitude. (Click to enlarge.)
I picked Madison not because I'm a conlawprof or because I live in Madison but because — I see here — Madison was the "first president to wear long pants."
AND: In case you think Madison's owning a parrot was special, here's a website called "Presidential Parrots & Birds - A Brief History." Today I learned that Ulysses S. Grant had a parrot, Teddy Roosevelt had a parrot, Andrew Jackson had a parrot that he taught to swear, William McKinley had a parrot named "Washington Post," and George Washington had a parrot that he disliked.
Posts
24 comments:
It was more like the nation invented them.
But they did have the good sense to shed what did not apply to this country, and work with what remained to nail together a workable Constitution.
Age range 5-8.
Ok, I can handle that.
I got the Rush Limbaugh children's books for my grandkids. I have heard they are very good.
My lefty son would never use them but his kids are too small to read.
Even more amazing is the fact that those horse-riding, slave-owning, whisky-distilling, constitution-writing Founders established a federal right to gay marriage, even though none of them ever heard the word "gay" used as a synonym for "homosexual," and buggery was a crime in every one of their respective states.
I did not know he was such a tiny man.
Further evidence that I was right when I said that Blitt had put Obama in one of the back rows of the New Yorker cover, leading from behind. Nobody else in the comment thread picked up on it, so maybe I was seeing things. But I do not think so. Blitt is a dangerous man.
Regarding Madison's pants, in the late 18th and earl 19th centuries knee britches and a well-turned calf was supposed to be a turn-on for the ladies. Not that they ever publicly expressed the notion that the found a particular man sexy (and the phrased "turned on" was centuries in the future).
Parrots are very long lived. Did Teddy inherit Mckinley's after he was shot?
The pants. Ah, the pants. Gentlemen in pants.
..., Chess-Playin' Gentlemen - Among their other remarkable qualities, they were master strategists. Whether it was friendly, even sympathetic, Indians or Europeans, the Founding Fathers were diplomats. I see that it's listed as a hobby.
Whenever Rush has a child calling about his book, I turn the audio off.
I assume most people do.
In Patrick O'Brian's series of 20 (and a half) historical novels about English Navy Captain Jack Aubrey and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin — novels set during the Napoleonic Wars, and sometimes featuring sea battles between the British & American Navies (something left out of the 2003 Hollywood adaptation, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World) — parrots appear frequently. They're described as temporary shipboard pets taken, and then carried to England or America, by merchant sailors plying tropical waters, and they were probably more common pets then than now.
And Bill Clinton was the first President to NOT wear pants in the Oval Office.
"Whenever Rush has a child calling about his book, I turn the audio off."
I don't listen to him much but do not recall many child callers. About anything. Are you making some sort of statement ?
5'4" and 100 pounds? For a full-grown man?
I call BS, at least on the weight.
@MisplacedPants,
this site claims Madison was the shortest President at 5'4".
It has his weight at 122 pounds. Which is still thin for a man of that height, but more believable than 100 pounds.
Were they also G-droppin'?
I wonder what Daesh think about parrots? Or people who keep them? Tried for a few seconds to make some jesting connection between US presidents keeping birds and Daesh not approving of birds but it's beyond me. Which US presidents kept pigeons?
I believe Madison was our shortest President. Tom Cruise has commissioned an action biopic based on his life. The movie features Madison leading a raid to rescue his wife from the harem of a Barbary pirate. It is suggested by real life events that actually took place during Madison's term of office, although, as in the movie Selma, some liberties have been taken to advance the narrative arc.
Where's Dolly?
Monty Python Episode 20: "The News for Parrots": "No parrots were involved in an accident on the M-1 today..."
http://www.montypython.net/scripts/news.php
California, particularly Southern California, has some rather large flocks of feral parrots.
http://www.californiaparrotproject.org/
And San Francisco has feral parakeets.
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/sfparrots.htm
William McKinley had a parrot named "Washington Post,"
.
I have a sudden new-found love and respect for President McKinley.
Post a Comment