Moroccans seize Parsley Island and leave a bitter taste in Spanish mouths ( Clinton in Morocco )

The Guardian ^ | Saturday July 13, 2002 | Giles Tremlett in Madrid

[Cannon6]

"Moroccans seize Parsley Island and leave a bitter taste in Spanish mouths ( Clinton in Morocco )"

Is there a pun in there anywhere?

[AnAmericanMother]

Good grief! That girl has no class!

She looks like she's in her nightgown or a decollete slip, and she's using the shawl (that I'll bet was handed to her so she could cover herself decently) simply to flaunt the low neckline. If I thought that she had any cultural leanings at all, I'd say she thought she was in Spain and was trying to look like a Goya portrait (the ones with their clothes on).

Aside from the fact that visitors should (within reason) respect the social mores of their host country, it's tacky to upstage the bride. Everybody else (men AND women, including the bride) is covered up to the neck. And I have no idea of the customs in Morocco, but here anyway you aren't supposed to wear black to a wedding (color of mourning).

[cake_crumb]

"Chelsea, don't dress like one of your Dad's sluts."

Ugly isn't she? Not even a shameless display of cleavage can distract from THAT face.

[Cachelot]

Don't they worry about richeting and flying debris? What kind of backstop is that?

Oh, I've shot a lot at stone backstops. As long as you use unjacketed, there's no problem. And no problem at all if you use some wood that the bullet has to pass through first.

[Cachelot]

there's Chelsea, flaunting her wares.

Oh well, it's not as if she really had that much to flaunt, is it?

[cake_crumb]

"If Morocco is allowed to engage in this kind of military action without punishment or even the merest response from the West, then the Muslims will be further emboldened in their imperialistic adventurism. How long will it be before Morocco decides to press its claims on Ceuta and Melilla and then cross the Straits?"

Not very long. That's why this makes me nervous. I suggest the West simply drop a medium-sized conventional bomb off the shore of the islet and just WASH THE IDIOTS, THEIR PUNY GUNS AND THEIR TENTS OVERBOARD. Errrr...overrock. Whatever. The bath would probably do them good anyhow.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I said on another thread that firing a handgun is the one thing that is as easy as it looks on TV, provided you apply a little common sense. What's the "manual" say about backstops. The scene looks crazy. There might be a piece of plywood behind him.

I remember growing up in Queens, a grocery store security guard discharged his revolver into the ground when some yutes was dissing him. The ricochet hit one of the yutes in the leg, the owner sold the store to a Lebanese family who all packed, and knew how to handle yutes.

[FITZ]

Good grief! That girl has no class!

They're sick. She's never gotten much attention from her cold hearted mother and she only gets attention from her father when she's dressed slutty.

[FITZ]

BC is beginning to look a bit like Teddy K.

More and more I'm wondering if Joe Kennedy made a visit to one of his brothels or saloons in Arkansas and that's how Clinton happened to have money to go to Yale and Catholic parochial school and end up in power.

[Polybius]

It will go down in history as the first military invasion of western European soil since the second world war.

The Falklands War was that long ago?

This island "lies 200 metres off the coast of northern Morocco" by the article's own admission. (Not to imply that my Spanish cousins shouldn't kick the Morrocans' butts off of it as it has been Spanish territory for 400 years.)

[swarthyguy]

I think in certain parts of islam, white is the color of mourning.

[Cachelot]

What's the "manual" say about backstops.

Actuallky, I don't particularly care. It's best to have a dirt wall. But a straight (and hard) rock wall is just dandy, provided you're not using anything hi-speed and preferrably just lead slugs, and shooting straight at it. Shooting .38 at a straight stone wall, I could usually pick up the slugs afterward, flat as dimes, at the base of the wall. What may get you is a part of the wall that is NOT straight :).

Now, if you have a wall of inch-thick wood in front of rock, with, say, a couple of inches air between, nothing will get back out from behind the wood, at least not for pistol shots. Hi-powered rifles may give you a whole other experience.

[AnAmericanMother]

I thought about that, but all the men are wearing white, the bridegroom is wearing white with an off-white stripe, and one lady is also wearing white or cream. (The bride's gown is lovely, but isn't she wearing too much makeup, and a very trying shade of lipstick?)

[AnAmericanMother]

The last thing on the constitucionales's mind at that point was firearms safety, I'll betcha! When I was in Mexico, the way that ordinary folks fooled around with firearms (and fireworks) gave me cold chills. They just didn't give a flip. I hear Pancho Villa carried his revolvers with the hammer down on a live round, guess he figured he wasn't gonna live long anyhow (he was right).

[knighthawk]

Thanks for the ping. I see Morocco has been punished by sending the Clintoons over. That will teach the Moroccans!

[swarthyguy]

Well, in india at least, white is a color for mourning for women. But never mind, there are probably enough exceptions to make any generalised rules moot.

BTW, i've seen enough women in America wearing black dresses to weddings or at least the receptions. Usually skimpy types made for guy's eyes, though;).

[Black Agnes]

One has to wonder who, exactly, Chelsea (isn't she in a relationship just now?) is trying to pick up! Chip off the old block.

[Black Agnes]

Agree with the too much makeup. Maybe she doesn't wear it that often and isn't accustomed to lightly applying it. I didn't think Muslim women were supposed to wear makeup anyways. She's still IMHO pretty. Hopefully the King won't treat her badly. Jordan's queen is pretty too IMHO, too bad she's such a lefty.

[AnAmericanMother]

and what are they doing in skimpy dresses at a wedding . . . trolling for husbands? I guess that's better than cruising a funeral . . . :-D

Unrelieved white is a mourning colour in India (you put a touch of some other color on a white wedding gown). In China white is a very inauspicious color, I think that's also true in Japan (where brides wear red).

While the rules have sort of gone by the boards in the U.S., particularly in the South it's still considered tacky to wear black to a wedding. . . . or any really loud or outrageous attire (it's that upstaging the bride thing again.)

Wedding Attire

[Cachelot]

guess he figured he wasn't gonna live long anyhow (he was right).

That's actually a bit reckless. But not any worse than what you see in a "palestinian" funeral these days, what with them not only shooting off their rifles in every direction, but recently managing to create a minor disaster by firing off a mortar.

And of course, there's my favourite of all time: the Che Guevara lieutenant that used the trigger guard on his Browning HiPower as a bottle opener :).