February 8, 2003

TURNABOUT BEING FAIR PLAY:

BLACK DAY AT THE U.N. (Oswald Czolgosz, 7 Feb 2003, Jerusalem Post)
Dear Editor:

The accusatory words of Nelson Mandela - that President Bush is ignoring the U.N. because its Secretary-General is black - kept repeating themselves in my mind, as Colin Powell addressed the Security Council on Wednesday. Who would dare accuse France and Germany of ignoring his speech because Powell is black?

But then, "Old Europe" espouses "the correct" views on Iraq, unlike the house servant of that "racist" - George W. Bush, eh?

Oswald Czolgosz
Vancouver, British Columbia


That's an exquisite bankshot, but it's not even the best part of the letter. Tell us what is and we'll send the first person with the correct answer a copy of the hilarious novel The Mouse That Roared. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 8, 2003 9:34 AM
Comments

Mr Czolgosz, the letter writer, doesn't understand. Secretary Powell may seem "black" to him and me, but he probably isn't "authentically" black to the likes of Mandela. Just ask Harry Bellafonte.

Posted by: George Peery at February 8, 2003 12:58 PM

After the letter writer accused Nelson Mandela of being racist, he refered to Colin Powell as George W Bush's "house servant" . What are these Canadians drinking?

Posted by: Kevin Ditmore at February 8, 2003 5:17 PM

"That's an exquisite bankshot, but it's not even the best part of the letter."



Okay, I'll give it a shot. As in "whatsaname":



Oswald Czolgosz



As in the two assassins:

Lee Harvey Oswald
- Presdeint JFK's assassin

Leon Czolgosz
, President McKinley's assassin



They were resurrected in the play, "Assassin"
, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim for such gems as "The Ballad of Czolgosz."

Posted by: Erik at February 8, 2003 5:21 PM

His name is from Sondheim's Assassins
so he must be "chasing his blues away by killing a President".

Posted by: Jack Sheet at February 8, 2003 6:19 PM

I'm plumping for the "dare to accuse" line being what

Orrin's after. Not that I guess Orrin to be an admirer of Zola. Far from that.

Posted by: Harry at February 8, 2003 7:47 PM

Erik:



Excellent. Send me your address and I'll send you the book. I didn't realize Sondheim had revived Czolgosz. But in Chicago there's an Anton Cermak Hwy and in three years there I never met anyone who realized he's a former mayor killed during an assassination attempt on FDR.

Posted by: oj at February 8, 2003 8:29 PM

AUTHOR: Erik
EMAIL: erikred@yahoo.com
IP:
URL:
DATE: 02/09/2003 01:02:00 AM
AUTHOR: Erik
EMAIL: erikred@yahoo.com
DATE: 2/09/2003 01:02:00 AM

Posted by: Erik at February 9, 2003 1:02 AM

I see, Orrin, you do not buy the version that

Cermak was a mob hit and that FDR was

just a bystander.



It is the only version that makes any sense to me.

Posted by: Harry at February 10, 2003 12:29 AM
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