CNN/Reuters: 'Mr. England' (Jack Straw) bemuses Alabama locals

[DeepModem Mom]

'Mr. England' bemuses Alabama locals
British foreign secretary visits American counterpart's home state
Sunday, October 23, 2005


(AP Photo)
Condoleezza Rice, left, and Jack Straw attend a football game at the University of Alabama.


PELHAM, Alabama (Reuters) -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw joined Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a weekend tour of her home state to promote understanding of the Anglo-American alliance, but Alabamans struggled to name him.

"You're the English guy," Joyce Delahoussaye said as she shook hands with the foreign minister of America's closest ally...."He's Mr. England," she said, introducing Straw to her son, Randy, as the two diplomats met displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina in Pelham....Speakers variously called the visitor Mr. Shaw and Mr. Snow.

They also mangled his title, appointing him secretary of state to the commonwealth of the United Kingdom....(L)ocal newspaper The Tuscaloosa News questioned whether Straw was just on a junket to help shore up the Bush administration image....

***

Straw called American football "rugby with commercials" and tried to explain to a group of elementary schoolchildren the popular British sport of cricket.

Rice said, "When he told them that it took five days, there was just stunned silence."


http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/23/rice.straw.reut/index.html

[...of J.Temperance]

1. WHAT sort of wave is THAT that Straw's doing?

Jack Straw's a WEIRDO anyhow and his brother William Straw is in prison for sexually molesting underage boys.

NOT TOO SURPRISING then that the Repukes would REALLY like Jack.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. Yes, indeed. All of us who live in the South are Repukes...

Good thing you clarified that...all this time, I thought I was a Democrat for the last 33 years.

It's not too surprising that my fellow DUers seize every opportunity to insult and denigrate Southern DUers, is it?

[...of J.Temperance]

4. Huh? Two-thirds of my ENTIRE family are from Louisiana and my

Mother's sister has lived in Huntsville, Alabama for the past 26 years, and her husband is from Alabama. Louisiana and Alabama are in the South as well. I've frequently DEFENDED the South, considering it's my flesh and blood.

My original comment was in reference to the Republican PARTY liking Jack Straw. It wasn't a reference to SOUTHERNERS in GENERAL.

I hope that clears this misunderstanding up?

On edit: I should further clarify. The Repuke Party is FULL of freaks and hundreds of them have been busted for sexually molesting children...there's a website out there that lists EVERY bust. So Straw with his freak brother is a shoo-in to be Mr. Popularity with these vampires.

On edit Part Deux: You need to check your PM, Media_Lies_Daily, because it's bothered me that this has bothered you.

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. Was there a special rule there that day?

All scoring must be kicking - no touchdowns?

[melody]

5. This is a knock piece - Alabama has a cricket league

Somebody BS'd that for the international audience.

I hate it when they hillbilly homeboy the south... figures a Republican suck piece would do it.

[struggle4progress]

6. Rice visits Ala. camp for Katrina refugees

<snip> Rice said she had met one woman who had wandered aimlessly for nine weeks before arriving at the camp on Saturday. <snip>

Earlier, in a television interview, Straw said critics of the U.S. government's response to Katrina should take into account the size of the affected area - greater than that of his country. <snip>

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/12980115.htm

[quaoar]

7. I saw Rice and Straw on Friday night

They spoke at a reception in Birmingham for Katrina volunteers that I attended. Straw was actually pretty funny, told a few Tennessee jokes that the Alabama crowd lapped up.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

8. No one cared about him - it was Bama vs. UT & Fulmer. Roll Tide. nm

Good game to attend to get a flavor of SEC football, anyway.

[burrowowl]

9. Straw is an ass

in Rugby the ball cannot be passed forward. He is right about the commercials or how an hour game can last 4 to beyond.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. But American Football was derived from rugby

and there are still enough similarities for his rugby remark to be perfectly reasonable. He obviously wasn't trying to claim the rules were identical.

He is an ass, but for entirely different reasons.

[No Exit]

11. Pelham is a lily-white suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Condi, you're

such a woman of the people...

[Brooklyn Michael]

12. Trying to explain cricket to Alabamans...

.....I can't even think of a punchline for that...

Maybe "Mission Impossible?"