An important message from John Cleese - Democratic Underground

whistle

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Wed Jul-26-06 08:16 AM
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An important message from John Cleese

Subject: A Message from John Cleese

A Message from John Cleese to the citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and Thus
to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective
immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all
states, commonwealths, and territories (excepting Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor for America
without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you
noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules
are introduced with immediate effect: You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English
Dictionary.

1. Then look up "aluminium," and check the pronunciation guide. You will be
amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as "favour" and
"neighbour." Likewise, you will learn to spell "doughnut" without skipping half the letters, and the suffix
- ize will be replaced by the suffix - ise. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable
levels. (Look up "vocabulary").

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as
"like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no
such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft
spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter "u" and the elimination of - ize. You
will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or
therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult
enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult
enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're certainly not
grown up enough to handle a gun.

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more
dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable
peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your
own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start
driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect
and without the benefit of conversion tables.
Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense
of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been
calling gasoline") - roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries
are not real chips and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps.
Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer
at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of
known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. American brands will be referred to
as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good
guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching
Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience
akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of
proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby
(which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest
every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of Nancies).

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an
event called the World Series for a game, which is not played outside of America. Since only 21% of
you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

16. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's
Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 PM with proper cups, never mugs,
with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

Thank you for your co-operation.

John Cleese.

FYI: John Cleese is a British comedian. We could begin by showing our support on DU and request that our moderator/website leader Skinner, immediately modify the DU spell checler to conform to Cleese's recommendations.