Rudy Ray Moore, the lost bridge between blue comedy and gangsta rap, is dead. Darius James called one of his movies "ghetto surrealism"; I'll call his films the most wonderfully weird products of the blaxploitation era. Rest in peace, you Avenging Disco Godfather. We will not see your likes again.
Warning: That video is NSFW. But would that have stopped Dolemite from watching it? Hell, no.
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Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
ev|10.21.08 @ 12:38PM|#
dolemite is the sweetest shit ever.
i defy anyone to get drunk and watch that movie and not want to kill yourself. compared to dolemite, your life is meaningless. more so.
SIV|10.21.08 @ 12:38PM|#
The greatest stand up comedian ever, and the only funny one.I'm going to listen to his version of the Stagger Lee folktale in mourning.
Mr Moore will be missed.
|10.21.08 @ 12:46PM|#
Being somewhat of a film buff, I watched one of his movies. So awful it was...awful. But still hilarious. Just the missed cues were wackily silly -
Dolemite "I'm gonna kick your ass"
...pause
...pause
...pause
Rogue honky cop 'O yeah!!!'
made me wonder how many missed lines there were.
Neu Mejican|10.21.08 @ 12:53PM|#
More at
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/10/rudy-ray-moore.html
Paul|10.21.08 @ 12:56PM|#
Ain't no thang...
SIV|10.21.08 @ 1:04PM|#
Interestingly there are no google hits for:
"I fuck bitches that pay my rent,I don't owe a livin' soul a motherfuckin' cent !"
I've always aspired to that.
|10.21.08 @ 1:06PM|#
Man move over and let me pass, 'fore they have be to pullin' these Hush Puppies out your muthafuckin' ass!
RIP, Rudy Ray.
Kyle|10.21.08 @ 1:06PM|#
Yes stewardess, I speak jive.
SIV|10.21.08 @ 1:11PM|#
Here it is, I got the words slightly wrong.
Stack-A-Lee
The night was clear and the moon was yellow,
And the leaves came tumblin' down.
I could hear my bulldog for five miles or more as he barked
At the two notorious muthafuckas gamblin' in the dark.
It was Stack-a-Lee and Billy, two men who gambled late.
Stack-a-Lee threw seven. Billy swore he threw eight.
Billy said, "Stack, you takin' my money, so get on yo knees and pray.
With yo life, you gonna hafta pay."
Stack said, "Lame! Are you for real?"
Said, "I want you to listen and listen well.
I'm the bad muthafucka that drove the devil out of hell.
I walked from New York to the deepest South
Just to punch and son-of-a-bitch in his muthafuckin' mouth!
Mules has kicked me and didn't bruise my hide!
Rattlesnakes has bit me and crawled off and died.
I can walk the desert sand and never leave a track,
Fuck the hump out of a camel's back!
I caught the devil's wife shovelin' coal,
And broke my big looooong black off in her hot asshole.
I got great big hands and great big feet.
I'd rather do a muthafucka in that sit down and eat.
I fucked bitches and paid my rent,
I don't owe a livin ass a muthafuckin' cent.
So muthafucka, can't you see?
I pity the son-of-a-btich that fucks with me!"
Billy said, "Well man, you standin' up herre rapping from 'bout 1 to 3.
Why don't you cool down a little bit and listen to my life's pedigree.
As a kid, pistols, knives and blackjacks was my only toys.
To fuck up bad muthafuckas like you was my pride and joy.
When I was born I knew how to talk,
At three days old I could run and walk.
I started to school at the age of one,
And made ice cubes out the hot, boiling sun.
I'm the one that made the elephants roost in trees,
And had the muthafuckin' ants wearin' BVDs.
I swim the Pacific and never got wet.
Walked through Hell and didn't even sweat.
Pulled all of the hairs off of a dog named Speedy,
Stood back 25 feet and pissed through the eyes of a needle.
I slapped sawdust out of pine.
I'm a bad muthafucka and I don't mind dyin'."
'Bout that time Billy made a fancy pass.
Stack-a-Lee shot him dead in his ass.
Fucked up his face, knocked out his teeth.
And said, "Now muthafucka have you still got a beef?"
Someon said, "Call the law!"
Stack said, "I ain't never been afraid of the law!
I can look in a mirrow and beat my own self to the draw."
Here comes Billy's wife, runnin' and screamin', "Oh is he dead?"
Stack said, "Biiiitch! Is he dead?
Can't you see he got three bullets in his muthafuckin' head?"
She said, "Who committed this crime, may I ask please?"
He said, "Me biiitch! And my name is Stack-A-Lee."
She said, "I heard of you Stack,
But you betta not be here when the police get back."
I said, "Biiitch! I'll be here when the world go past,
And you can tell the police to kiss my muthafuckin' ass!"
About that time, the sargeant told the police
To go and get your gun and come go with me.
'Cause I got a warrant to arrest this bad nigga they call Stack-A-Lee.
The police said, "You muthafuckas must be sick.
Sargeant, tell the lieutenant to tell the captain to tell the chief to Yardy and have Yardy to call Regan 'cause I'm layin' my gun back on the shelf.
If y'all want this nigga called Stack-a-Lee, you'll go and get him by yo muthafuckin' self."
And if anybody asks you who told you this toast,
Tell em it was Dolemite, the bad muthafucka known from coast to coast!
|10.21.08 @ 1:11PM|#
The Signified Monkey by RRM
ed|10.21.08 @ 1:14PM|#
That's funnier than BET Network on a Sunday morning. Praise Jaysus!
|10.21.08 @ 1:17PM|#
MADTV did a number of Dolemite skits, parodying the terrible acting, editing, lines, etc. Pretty funny.
Chrispy|10.21.08 @ 1:26PM|#
I'm honestly not trying to be an ass, but can somebody explain why this was posted on reason.com?
SIV|10.21.08 @ 1:30PM|#
I think the Stack-A-Lee transcription is flawed.
"Yardy" refers to LA Mayor Sam Yorty
"Regan" to then Governor Reagan.
There are numerous other small discrepancies.
I would recommend listening to it.
Alice Bowie|10.21.08 @ 1:30PM|#
Keep Dolemite Alive !!!
ed|10.21.08 @ 1:48PM|#
can somebody explain why this was posted on reason.com?
I can! Free minds and free markets and pop culture. It's what the kids want these days.
Now get off my lawn.
ed|10.21.08 @ 1:51PM|#
I think the Stack-A-Lee transcription is flawed
Relax. The Iliad it ain't.
Q. Vash|10.21.08 @ 2:01PM|#
Here's "Shine and the Great Titanic."
http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=135&mode=comments
RIP, RRM.
|10.21.08 @ 2:08PM|#
Sorry folks ... not impressed. Dimwitted and not as dynamic as it appears.
|10.21.08 @ 2:15PM|#
Sorry folks ... not impressed. Dimwitted and not as dynamic as it appears.
Says the person who was quoting Ben Folds Five in another thread.
|10.21.08 @ 2:19PM|#
Ouch.
|10.21.08 @ 2:33PM|#
Ben Folds Five is poetry compared to this pondwater. Smack yourself smacky . . .
|10.21.08 @ 2:40PM|#
jk . . . could you not detect the friggin sarcasm!
|10.21.08 @ 2:42PM|#
????
daveednyc|10.21.08 @ 2:55PM|#
Meh. Proof that gangsta rap an its antecedents are just so much silly, puerile crap.
Barack|10.21.08 @ 2:57PM|#
Not that we should not take the negroes seriously.
Professor Farnsworth|10.21.08 @ 3:21PM|#
That's Dolemite, baby! It won't cop out when the heat's about!
|10.21.08 @ 3:30PM|#
"Meh. Proof that gangsta rap an its antecedents are just so much silly, puerile crap."
Dude! Ever heard of "comedy"? The market seems to dig it!
Naga Sadow|10.21.08 @ 4:07PM|#
I have a new hero to look up to!
Dr. Obvious|10.21.08 @ 4:20PM|#
The violent nihilism of "black culture" is a direct consequence of the Great Society, the nanny state, and years of political correctness. Why is it that contemptable blacks can celebrate their race, while whites are only allowed to mock themselves?
Read Jim Goad's brilliant Redneck Manifesto for an incisive conservative view.
Jesse Walker|10.21.08 @ 4:38PM|#
I suspect that Jim Goad is a Dolemite fan. He is, at any rate, pals with Darius James, the Rudy Ray Moore aficionado who I quoted in my post. James even appears in the acknowledgements of The Redneck Manifesto.
As for the roots of the "violent nihilism" you apparently see in Moore's work: Moore was updating folkloric traditions that go back way before the Great Society or political correctness ever existed. Did you think "Staggerlee" and "The Signifying Monkey" were created after 1965? (And do you see no self-mockery in that Dolemite clip? Those movies were parodies of blaxploitation as much as anything else.)
Windypundit|10.21.08 @ 5:51PM|#
Somewhere in Rudy Ray Moore's oeuvre is the background material for a really fun video game. It would piss people off too, which is always a plus in the game market.
|10.21.08 @ 8:02PM|#
Meh. Proof that gangsta rap an its antecedents are just so much silly, puerile crap.
One man's silly puerile crap is another man's treasure. I do think it's absurd how critics of gangsta rap almost always manage to overlook the fact that the songs are supposed to be funny and entertaining.
Gun Guy|10.21.08 @ 9:57PM|#
Jim Goad is almost certainly a Dolemite fan - he's too funny and angry not to find something in there. The Redneck Manifesto is a book about class, not a "racial realist" treatise (although that perception has kept a lot of people away from it). More recently, he has fixated on race and IQ, but he rejects the easy conclusions drawn by a lot of his casual fans. He is bored by conservatism and utterly hateful toward liberals. Sounds like a straight-up libertarian to me.
Gun Guy|10.21.08 @ 9:58PM|#
But keep going. I'm sure Dolemite would be pleased that he's irritating the guardians of white purity from beyond the grave.
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|10.22.08 @ 12:18AM|#
Did you think "Staggerlee" and "The Signifying Monkey" were created after 1965?
Likely yes. People have very little appreciation for roots.
|10.22.08 @ 11:11PM|#
This guy gets a full RIP and Norman Whitfield nary a mention at the Reason shop. O tempora, o mores!
sathi2000|1.28.11 @ 12:11PM|#
People who claim containment was a viable strategy are ignoring the fact that al Qaeda used containment policies as a justification for killing Americans. Iraq was always a catch-22, damned if you do, damned if you don't, damned if you run away.
http://www.mirei.com
|7.26.11 @ 2:59PM|#
Print|Email
Leave Martha Alone!
Mike Riggs | June 20, 2008
Britain's Home Office has denied a visa to one of America's most notorious white collar criminals: Martha Stewart.
"We continue to oppose the entry to the UK of individuals where we believe their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good or where they have been found guilty of serious criminal offenses abroad," he said.
Theodore Dalrymple's essay from the winter 2001 issue of City Journal offers some context for understanding the Home Office's decision:
The British attitude to immigration and immigrants has always been grudging, a mixture of xenophobia and socialist zero-sum economics. Britons have traditionally regarded the desire of foreigners to come to their shores as more of a threat than a compliment...
Despite the xenophobic, socialist snub, Martha responded as she always does to these little inconveniences—in good form:
"She has engagements with English companies and business leaders and hopes this can be resolved so that she will be able to visit soon," Charles Koppelman, chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said in a statement.
If standard efforts at negotiations fail, she should send the Home Office some treats.
To read about how other government entities have tried to hurt sweet Martha, check out reason's "Why Martha Stewart should go to heaven and the SEC should go to hell."
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← Quite Possibly the Worst Editorial Cartoon… | Main | The Friday Political Thread: Special Kilted… →
See all 48 comments | Leave a comment
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
tim|6.20.08 @ 5:07PM|#
Hold it. She is American right? Americans visiting the UK for work or pleasure do not need visa's so why was she even applying for one? Was she planning on spending the next year there? This story seems fishy.
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Pro Libertate|6.20.08 @ 5:17PM|#
I hope the United Kingdom realizes that Martha "The Shiv" Stewart is capable of buying their quaint little nation state. I wouldn't mess with her myself. She's an ex-con, like James Rockford.
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Art-P.O.G.|6.20.08 @ 5:25PM|#
The title is a Chris Crocker reference, right?
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Syd|6.20.08 @ 5:32PM|#
I hope the United Kingdom realizes that Martha "The Shiv" Stewart is capable of buying their quaint little nation state.
J. K. Rowlings can buy her any day of the week.
The British are afraid Martha will redecorate them.
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Episiarch|6.20.08 @ 5:34PM|#
She's an ex-con, like James Rockford
"Everybody should spend a little time in the can."
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WalterBoswell|6.20.08 @ 5:41PM|#
Serious criminal offense - it's a bad thing.
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isildur|6.20.08 @ 5:50PM|#
Hating the successful is fun for everyone!
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Micha Ghertner|6.20.08 @ 5:56PM|#
The British are afraid Martha will redecorate them.
Or teach them how to cook.
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Dagny T.|6.20.08 @ 5:57PM|#
The title is a Chris Crocker reference, right?
The androgynous & weepy kid whose YouTube defense of Britney went viral? Ah. I was wondering why my brain was reading that headline in an obnoxiously whiny tone. Stupid brain.
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Pro Libertate|6.20.08 @ 6:00PM|#
J. K. Rowlings ain't an ex-con.
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WalterBoswell|6.20.08 @ 6:01PM|#
Sebastian Horsley has a big posse.
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Dagny T.|6.20.08 @ 6:03PM|#
...their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good...
Blech. Easy, stomach.
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Martha Stewart|6.20.08 @ 6:06PM|#
Liz, you bitch, I'll cut your ass if you don't let me in. Here, gimme that fuckin' crown. Yeah, Queen Martha. Shut the fuck up.
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SuperMike|6.20.08 @ 6:06PM|#
Maybe they're worried that her unveiled head and pork recipes are going to upset people.
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TallDave|6.20.08 @ 6:15PM|#
Uh, I think you guys missed the obvious reason: Martha promotes the use of kitchen knives, which are a deadly weapon that must be banned.
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Mr Cranky|6.20.08 @ 6:16PM|#
tim: No, and "visas" doesn't need an apostrophe.
reply to this
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 6:16PM|#
I can't resist excerpting:
A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.
They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.
The research is published in the British Medical Journal.
The researchers said there was no reason for long pointed knives to be publicly available at all.
reply to this
Brian Courts|6.20.08 @ 6:18PM|#
Americans visiting the UK for work or pleasure do not need visa's
The NY Times article just says she was denied entry, not denied a visa. I don't know whether that means she made it as far as Heathrow or if, knowing what might happen, she decided to check with the UK consulate first.
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SuperMike|6.20.08 @ 6:32PM|#
TallDave wins! Hilarious. She's an international arms dealer by British standards. Some of the pots in her cooking line are heavy enough to be used as clubs, too.
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Brandybuck|6.20.08 @ 6:42PM|#
Serious criminal offense? WTF? Granted I'm a nitwit because I still don't quite understand the crime to which she served time, but "serious criminal offense"? The UK lets violent Imams threatening imminent jihad onto their shores, so what's the problem with Martha?
Is this another one of those things that will never make sense if you know how to spell "libertarian"?
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ed|6.20.08 @ 7:00PM|#
Martha is still hot, in a saggy, maternal sort of way.
Did I say that out loud?
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Douglas Fletcher|6.20.08 @ 7:07PM|#
I christen the Martha Stewart rule: don't talk to the feds without a lawyer present. Ever.
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Reason\'s Hit\'n\'Run Blog: S|6.20.08 @ 7:08PM|#
I worship people with money.
reply to this
SugarFree|6.20.08 @ 7:09PM|#
Did I say that out loud?
No. You typed it.
We can't actually hear your voice on the board.
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Paul|6.20.08 @ 7:11PM|#
The British attitude to immigration and immigrants has always been grudging, a mixture of xenophobia and socialist zero-sum economics.
Funny, one need only mention zero-sum economics. Because once you hold that belief, xenophobia and all the other odious beliefs are soon to follow.
reply to this
Brittanicus|6.20.08 @ 8:31PM|#
My dear sister lives in England, and much of the raw facts about the conflicts there are suppressed by the press here. England since the influx of legal and illegal foreign nationals, has torn the British heritage and identity apart.
The globalist open border free market, has dictated to the British people under the guise of the so-called European Union. When I was a child there, women could walk the darkest corners of the Albert Embankment and stay safe. Constables could also keep law and order. Not any more. My sister who lives near Crystal Palace on the edge of London, locks her doors during the day. My sister was raped and still bares the scars.
Cops walk their beat generally in two's. Since the immigrant rush to drive the London buses, London England has become a dangerous place. Prior to Decimal coinage England was a great place to live. Now British/English people live in fear of being mugged or worse. Like our own politicians pandering to special interest groups the British people are being ignored, while foreign immigrants get priority council housing, money from the government and drive expensive cars.
Like American citizens the English are seething with anger and frustration and I see turmoil and revolution on the streets. Poor Englishman and women are joining the once British National Front, renamed The British National party, because at one time it was a Neo-Nazi organization. Only twice have foreigners invaded British soil. Once by Julius Caesar and lastly William the Conqueror. Trouble is brewing because once the British Empire was a proud land along with its protectorates.
Today like England and Europe the country is run by a shadow government in Brussels, Belgium.
America is getting dangerously close to a silent, free trade marriage called the North American Union. It is slowly eroding our sovereignty and the proud word citizenship, as we are overrun with 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants. We had better fight for our sovereignty or will end up in a mess like Europe and lose our identity.
reply to this
Rhywun|6.20.08 @ 8:32PM|#
The British attitude to immigration and immigrants has always been grudging, a mixture of xenophobia and socialist zero-sum economics. Britons have traditionally regarded the desire of foreigners to come to their shores as more of a threat than a compliment...
I think this attitude adequately describes virtually every country on Earth, including the USA of late.
reply to this
John C Jackson|6.20.08 @ 9:56PM|#
All the immigrant bashing can't explain and is no excuse for the millions of wankers among the NATIVE English.
reply to this
Brinny Spears Guy|6.20.08 @ 10:10PM|#
Leave Martha Alone!
You owe me a royalty payment.
reply to this
John C Jackson|6.20.08 @ 10:10PM|#
I'm sorry. I would say our image of the British douchebagery is just a result of our biased media. Well, except that I consume a lot of British media. Blame them as well.
reply to this
Mad Max|6.20.08 @ 10:12PM|#
The quote from the Dalrymple article doesn't do justice to all the nuances - Dalrymple was arguing that the British immigration system was too harsh on hard-working, productive immigrants, but that if you want to file a fake asylum claim, you can hang around and be on the dole, on condition you not work. In other words, the British system has it exactly backwards - discouraging the right kind of immigrants and encouraging the wrong kind.
Fortunately, no other country has this problem.
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keshmeshi|6.20.08 @ 10:39PM|#
Since the immigrant rush to drive the London buses, London England has become a dangerous place.
Are foreigners really that bad at driving?
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Harpua|6.21.08 @ 12:22AM|#
Time for retaliation. Send David Beckham back! But his wife can stay here. She's still kinda hot.
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LarryA|6.21.08 @ 12:41AM|#
They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.
Why don't they just regulate alcohol and drugs?
Oh, wait...
Like American citizens the English are seething with anger and frustration and I see turmoil and revolution on the streets.
Sorry. The "turmoil and revolution" folks left England when Parliament banned guns. They're all living in firearm-friendly states in the U.S.
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WalterBoswell|6.21.08 @ 7:51AM|#
keshmeshi - Are foreigners really that bad at driving?
Only when they're being stabbed with unregistered kitchen tools. Otherwise they're so so.
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Art-P.O.G.|6.21.08 @ 9:02AM|#
You owe me a royalty payment.
Look upthread.
Martha is still hot, in a saggy, maternal sort of way.
True.
reply to this
Jim Dean|6.21.08 @ 9:05AM|#
LOL, Like the UK doesnt have enough of its own criminals. Gimme a break. What a joke.
JT
http://www.FireMe.to/udi
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Pirate Guy|6.21.08 @ 11:22AM|#
Read the doctor's "A Confusion of Tongues" - "I feel vastly more at ease with cultivated foreigners than with many of the natives of the land of my birth." He lives behind the protective wall of the privileged, and associates with the upper echelon immigrants who are seemingly always "forced" from their third world homelands, yet he trashes the commoners who must contend with the lower echelon types on a daily basis. Sound familiar? Get out in the street doc - see what it's really like. And, as for Martha - we should all protest! Queenie - PLEASE take her!
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Mo|6.21.08 @ 1:47PM|#
I bet you it's merely a tit for tat response to American policies. In fact, we're more obnoxious about keeping out people who have committed crimes, any crimes, than the Brits.
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BG|6.21.08 @ 4:03PM|#
Martha should make a disguise and a fake British ID out of things she finds around the house.
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Ken Shultz|6.21.08 @ 8:43PM|#
I'd be surprised if they'd buy into Martha over there...
...She sells herself as the Queen of Taste to barely middle brow America. They have a real, live queen over there who already does that.
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Werner Patels|6.22.08 @ 3:26AM|#
Wholeheartedly agree with Brittanicus. Couldn't have said it better myself.
As for Americans not requiring any work visas (comment #1), that's not true at all. Unless you're a British citizen or, alas, an EU citizen, you'll have to apply for a work permit like everyone else. Besides, if anyone should have an automatic right to work in the UK, it's Canadians, and they don't enjoy such a privilege either.
Martha has always been as arrogant as hell (her East-European roots were showing), and when she was sent away, I rejoiced, for she's had finally got her comeuppance. The Brits are fully within their rights to deny entry to any ex-con. That's the law, and it can be enforced. Nothing wrong with that.
reply to this
J Golden Rockwell|6.22.08 @ 2:13PM|#
Brinny Spears Guy wrote: "You owe me a royalty payment."
So, are you telling me to put up my Dukes . . ?
reply to this
J Golden Rockwell|6.22.08 @ 2:14PM|#
Ken Shultz wrote:
"...She sells herself as the Queen of Taste to barely middle brow America. They have a real, live queen over there who already does that."
Elton John . . ?
reply to this
Amy Alkon|6.23.08 @ 1:42AM|#
You never know when the woman's going to whip out the hot glue gun and adhere rickrack to something.
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Anonymouse|6.23.08 @ 1:07PM|#
"Funny, one need only mention zero-sum economics. Because once you hold that belief, xenophobia and all the other odious beliefs are soon to follow."
Jonah Goldberg? Is that you?
"The "turmoil and revolution" folks left England when Parliament banned guns"
yeah, this didn't happen.
Just found these comments hilarious. I wonder where the guy who wrote the WSJ editorial was when Cat Stevens was on the no fly list.
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sathi2000|1.28.11 @ 12:13PM|#
Now, being hassled by Martha is a little weird. Although trivial, it is irritating. Martha sends me a couple of messages each week, and I would like her to stop.
Actually, the messages arent for me; they are for Shelley who glories in the email address shell gibbs.com. In truth, she might glory if only she could get the messages because shes not a user in my domain.
Austin Roofing Company