November 22, 2004
NEWS BRIEFLETS
• Israel has been hit by a plague of ... delicious sky prawns!
• Arthur Chrenkoff presents another fine batch of good news from Iraq.
• No Thappy John, which aspires (!) to be Australia's MoveOn.org, has posted only eight items since the Australian election. Two of those are poems.
• The Klan is apparently active in non-Jesusland: "Awakened by a loud bang and the ring of their doorbell, an interracial couple peered out the front window of their Long Island home at 3 a.m. yesterday and saw a cross burning on the front lawn."
• Scott Campbell notes some conspirational thoughts coursing through the mind of The Manchurian Candidate director Jonathan Demme: "Halliburton was, you know, we researched Halliburton, we researched Bechtel, we researched the Carlyle Group. They're out there, this appalling idea that there are companies that profit — not just profit but profit enormously — through war." Can't wait until Demme figures out how much Michael Moore has earned.
• The Wogblogger, still on the road, encounters her double-word town of the day: Boonaa Boonaa!
Posted by Tim Blair at November 22, 2004 11:05 PMthe klan? ha! it only exists in the fevered imagination of the msm. i'm sure it was a couple of drunk teenagers. that in no way excuses the act, but does sadly deprive if of some oliver-stonesque excitement.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at November 22, 2004 at 11:08 PMwho's the "thappy john" fellow? can he get help for that lithp?
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at November 22, 2004 at 11:39 PMEight items on No Thappy John, one of which is a poem by someone who could write (and thus immediately discarded from the list), suggests that it is aspiring to be NoMove.org...
Posted by: Mr Ed at November 22, 2004 at 11:41 PMC'mon Bingley, I've seen all the white sheets themthar city-folk own.......
(From deep in the heart of Jesusland. Heck we even have a Billy Graham Parkway here in Charlotte!)
(From deep in the heart of Jesusland. Heck we even have a Billy Graham Parkway here in Charlotte!)
yes, but y'all actually worship on Dale Earnhardt Blvd!
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at November 22, 2004 at 11:50 PMI vote for drunk teenagers also. We had an incident exactly like this several years ago in our neighborhood (here in bluer-than-blue Chicago) and it proved to be five underage boys with too much booze in the bloodstream and a juvenile idea of playing a practical joke. In the end they were fined, made to apologize and do community service, clean up the mess they had made - and that was the end of it.
There was some huffing and puffing in the newspapers about how they should have been charged with a felony, and that THE KLAN WAS RETURNING! and all that - but it was all garbage; in the end the young idiots saw the errors of their ways and there were no repeat incidents. This may have disappointed the reporters and the self-appointed community activists, but the rest of us got along fine.
Posted by: Annalucia at November 22, 2004 at 11:59 PM"that in no way excuses the act, but does sadly deprive one of some oliver-stonesque excitement."
that's what i meant to type...dangnab fingers
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at November 23, 2004 at 12:06 AMI grew up in the Deep South and have lived all over the world. I can tell you the ugly face of racism is everywhere. I can also tell you the South is mild compared to what I've seen in Britain and the North East US.
No excuse, but this incident sounds like a disgusting prank, rather than a threat.
Could sky prawns be the Biblical manna from Heaven? :-D
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 23, 2004 at 12:29 AM'Sky Prawns', 'Rocky Mountain Oysters'.... same thing...
Posted by: Joe N. at November 23, 2004 at 12:32 AM"Halliburton was, you know, we researched Halliburton, we researched Bechtel, we researched the Carlyle Group. They're out there, this appalling idea that there are companies that profit — not just profit but profit enormously — through war."
Halliburton lost $820 million in 2003, and lost another $998 million in 2002. I know this is tough for these Hollywood types to comprehend, but losses do NOT equal profits.
I swear, if you had a horse this dumb, you'd shoot it.
Posted by: Percy Dovetonsils at November 23, 2004 at 01:12 AMIf you mean "same thing" as in "I'd have to be really hungry to eat it", I agree, Joe.
Anatomically, no. They are most certainly not the same thing. ;-)
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 23, 2004 at 01:12 AMThe bizarre thing is that many corporations profit through war. That's the nature of the beast known as Capitalism. It's called "war profiteering".
The difference is if a corporation is actively prolonging the war (or supporting both sides), or just supporting one nation. I mean, who complains about producing the weapons produced for our soldiers?
The thing about the Manchurian Candidate remake is the change of "The Enemy" from Communism to Corporations. It's pretty obvious that Jonathon Demme doesn't understand Capitalism -- I have to wonder if that if that wasn't the The Real Enemy (in the world according to Demme).
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 23, 2004 at 01:26 AM
Boonaa Boonaa . . .just down the road from Walla Walla and not too far from Goomba Goom!
When I read comments like Demme's, I am reminded of Paulette Goddard's comment on her husband Charlie Chaplin, "Charlie sometimes thinks he thinks."
Posted by: Mike G at November 23, 2004 at 01:57 AMLOL, DWC! I missed the similarities....and I live in Walla Walla!
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 23, 2004 at 02:15 AMBoonaa Boonaa is where you end up if you miss your left turn at Goomba Goom.
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek at November 23, 2004 at 02:54 AMRe: Jonathan Demme -- there it is again, the smug, self-centered notion that war is waged just to ruin the sensitive, nuanced peoples' day. And they're the first to cry for help when the murderers and thugs attack them. What was it Florence King said once? "I'd like to get these people in a corner and pull the caps off their teeth." Something like that.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 23, 2004 at 03:13 AMBravo, Percy. By comparison, the New York Times earnings for the first half of this year was north of US$130 million.
Talk about 'war profiteering' and 'actively prolonging the war,' eh, TRJeffS?
The New York Times: War Profiteers.
Posted by: Cosmo at November 23, 2004 at 03:14 AMBTW how do you pronounce ``Boonaa Boonaa''? Would you say ``Boona Boona,'' or does the double A change the pronunciation of the second syllable?
Posted by: Annalucia at November 23, 2004 at 03:23 AMNice point, Cosmos! The New York Times can be considered a war profiteer.
Yo, Jonathon Demmes, when is your next Evil Corporation (TM) movie?
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 23, 2004 at 03:34 AMThe Carlyle Group isn't really a corporation, either.
Posted by: Quentin George at November 23, 2004 at 05:20 AMActually, JeffS, I've eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters, and they were quite tasty. However, I'll draw the line at "sky prawns." I mean, we all have our limits.
Posted by: utron at November 23, 2004 at 06:57 AMSo popping a big, juicy locust in your mouth is only a step away.
My soldier was forced to do this in a Middle Eastern country when his convoy headlights attracted a swarm and the native troops went crazy over the bugs. A senior local officer popped off the legs of a really big one and offered it to the honored Yank who was trapped by etiquette to choke down the live insect. Eating their sheep brains and eyeballs were no problem after that.
I've always thought that Arafat had locust eyes and a swarm's appetite of biblical proportions.
Posted by: Coalitionist at November 23, 2004 at 08:13 AMutron, I have heard that Rocky Mountain Oysters are tasty from many people. But it's the sort of thing that I won't pay to do, like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. :-)
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 23, 2004 at 08:48 AMPeople who profit from a war seems almost as bad as people making money off hunger and disease. You know- farmers and doctors.
Posted by: David Jackson at November 23, 2004 at 08:54 AMI'm happy to share some of my mouth oysters with Jonathan Demme.
Posted by: Fluent Idiot at November 23, 2004 at 09:43 AMAbout three years back when I was at the Salvation Army employment office in Raymond Terrace I noticed that some dickhead had stuck up an advertisement for the Klan in the window.
Disgusting. You run into these jerkoffs wherever you go.
Posted by: TimT at November 23, 2004 at 09:50 AM1. What are Rocky Mountain Oysters?
2. Which bit of the locust are you supposed to eat and do you peel them first?
3. My father once went to a banquet in China where cicadas were on the menu. I asked him how they were and he said, "Crunchy".
4. Ew.
Janice, I can only answer Question #1.
Remember, you did ask. ;-P
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 23, 2004 at 10:00 AMRemember, you did ask. ;-P
Thank goodness that's all they are. I was afraid they might be gollies. </female point of view> :-D
Posted by: Janice at November 23, 2004 at 10:28 AMEr, small problem with using this marketing technique in Israel: prawns aren't kosher. Locusts, on the other hand, are. More at NeoWarMonger (and while you're visiting, look around a while).
Posted by: Zev Sero at November 23, 2004 at 11:02 AMIf Not Happy John changed its' name to Abject Depression John, then it could be excused for such piss poor out put.
Posted by: Razor at November 23, 2004 at 11:43 AMRemember that the synonym for US corporations making money from supplying war is: The Arsenal of Democracy.
Posted by: Michael Lonie at November 23, 2004 at 03:12 PMRe: double word towns. I've just posted this piece here about street names in Newcastle - some double word names in there, along with various palindromes, etc.
Posted by: TimT at November 23, 2004 at 08:09 PM