presidant ford

thomas40 · Post by **thomas40** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:26 pm

tonight th elocial networks will brodcast formal presidant ford procession and funeral on tue.

Post by **spot** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 4:14 pm

I'm never quite sure why so much pomp goes into these razzmatazz obsequies. We rarely if ever bury our Prime Ministers with lying in state or public processions. Our finest post-war Prime Minister was laid to rest at the same age in far more typical fashion: Harold Macmillan, the Conservative Party giant of British politics who served as prime minister from 1957 to 1963, was eulogized as a gentleman of wit and vision and buried next to his wife in a village churchyard in the shadow of the Sussex hills.

The local butcher and other tradesmen stood in shop doorways and doffed their hats as Macmillan's funeral cortege moved through Horsted Keynes on Monday and passed The Crown, the stone pub where Macmillan once took President Kennedy for a drink.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and two former Conservative Party prime ministers, Lord Alec Douglas-Home and Edward Heath, joined about 60 members of of the Macmillan family and scores of country neighbors for the private funeral at St. Giles Church.

Macmillan worshiped there most Sundays and often read the lesson. He was buried beside his wife, Lady Dorothy, who died 17 years ago, and the graves of his parents and son, Maurice.

Macmillan died last Monday at Birch Grove, the family mansion in the village at the foot of the Sussex Downs, some 40 miles south of London. He was 92.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:05 pm

I have been watching the motorcade on TV, they just stopped at the WW II memorial................

Post by **spot** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:09 pm

chonsigirl;500911 wrote: I have been watching the motorcade on TV, they just stopped at the WW II memorial................

It's astonishing, really.

Here's the nearest we came last year with the death of another of our Prime Ministers, Jim Callahan: Hundreds of mourners shared their memories of former Prime Minister Jim Callaghan in a book of remembrance. It was opened yesterday lunchtime at Cardiff's City Hall in memory of the former Labour leader and Cardiff MP. Lord Callaghan's death came on the eve of his 93rd birthday on Saturday, just 11 days after the death of his wife of 67 years, Audrey.

Cardiff council leader, Rodney Berman, who addressed his entry in the book 'to an elder statesman and community representative', said the publication would be kept open until after Lord Callaghan's funeral.

He added: 'We will gauge by the amount of people turning up as to whether we keep it open after that.I've checked, and there isn't a single newspaper report of his funeral at all in any of the British newspapers. Not a one.

Post by **spot** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:19 pm

I found the only account in the UK press of Harold Wilson's funeral, too. The Daily Mirror covered it.They came in their hundreds, the great and the humble. And they packed the greystone church in this far-flung corner of the British Isles to honour one of the outstanding politicians of the century. Under blue skies, on the tiny island of St Mary's, they paid their last respects to the Northern grammar school lad who, as Lord Tonypandy said in his eulogy, "burnt himself out for Britain".

Harold Wilson went out as he lived - simply, without pomp, circumstance or fuss, surrounded by the people who cared for him. There were the women - wife Mary and former secretary Lady Falkender, both dressed in black suits with white blouses and gloves, the pillars beneath this man's remarkable life. Barbara Castle, the flame-haired dynamo he pencilled into all his four Cabinets, and one-time acting leader Margaret Beckett. The men: his successor Lord Callaghan, former Speaker Lord Tonypandy, Lords Graham, Armstrong and Butler, Gerald Kaufman, Tom Sawyer and Tony Blair - who aspires to do what Wilson did four times. Win power. There was his family, including sons Giles, 47, and Dr Robin, 53. And there were his people - hundreds of Scilly Islanders who'd taken the Wilsons to their hearts ever since the couple started to visit this island over 40 years ago.

Lord Tonypandy spoke of Wilson's principles: "He had fierce beliefs that the ordinary working people were entitled to live in a just and compassionate society. "There were no important people for him. He looked at people and saw them in terms of their possibilities if only they were given a chance in life."

Then six lifeboatmen raised the coffin and took Lord Wilson's body into the harsh sunlight to be buried in the beachside graveyard. Harold Wilson may have been despised by the establishment. But their image of him as an over-ambitious schemer never washed with the ordinary people. And on yesterday's evidence, the people of the Scilly Isles shared Wilson's vision.

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:34 pm

spot;500842 wrote: I'm never quite sure why so much pomp goes into these razzmatazz obsequies. We rarely if ever bury our Prime Ministers with lying in state or public processions. Our finest post-war Prime Minister was laid to rest at the same age in far more typical fashion:

Just wondering from ALL your post pointing out how your country buries their former leaders with no pomp, and how we pay our respects to ours. Why is it so annoying to you.

What is your beef and I don't need to see how you uppity ups do it across the pond, as in all your previous post.............

Really.....Just WHAT is your beef how we Americans pay respect to a former leader???

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:43 pm

There is a difference between a Prime Minister and a President.

nvalleyvee · Post by **nvalleyvee** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:46 pm

Excuse me Spot........what about the British Royal funerals.............HUH!!!!

What's up with giving royalty more importance than heads of state?????

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:51 pm

nvalleyvee;501075 wrote: Excuse me Spot........what about the British Royal funerals.............HUH!!!!

What's up with giving royalty more importance than heads of state?????

Good point NV........

How many were at Lady Di's funeral spot.......... and mourned the world over.......

Sheesh wonder how many will attend Queen Elizabeth's non pompus affair??????????

Post by **spot** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:22 am

nvalleyvee;501075 wrote: Excuse me Spot........what about the British Royal funerals.............HUH!!!!

What's up with giving royalty more importance than heads of state?????
How many regard their Presidents, past or present, as royalty? The role played by the US President is functionally equivalent to that of the UK's Prime Minister:In parliamentary systems like the United Kingdom's Westminster system, the prime minister is the presiding and actual head of the government and head of the executive branch. In such systems, the head of state (the King, Queen, President, or Governor-General [de facto]), although officially the head of the executive branch, is a ceremonial position.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_minister

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:09 am

We are all created equal. That includes "royalty."

As leader of a sovereign nation, a President is of equal stature as a queen or king.

Post by **spot** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:37 am

chonsigirl;501209 wrote: We are all created equal. That includes "royalty."

As leader of a sovereign nation, a President is of equal stature as a queen or king.

I think it's relevant that we don't change our Head of State every four or eight years, that introduces a qualitative difference.