a MIXED report: Ben JONES (Dukes of Hazzard) just handed O'LOOFAH his ass, BUT

[UTUSN]

This dude is a former Dem congressman, of whom I did not keep track, and I clicked in process and missed the beginning.

But I LIKED how well spoken this JONES dude was and how he SHUT O'LOOFAH up, saying, "PLEASE let me finish..." two or three times. And O'LOOFAH *did* shut-the-cheenee-UP!!1

Anyway, what it was apparently about was the RACIST confederate flag. Apparently the former stars of Dukes, WOPAT/SCHNEIDER got banned in performing somewhere because of the flag in their former show.

JONES said that he himself is a lifelong member of the NAACP and (marched in Civil Rights demonstrations?), but that he didn't think this was fair, that he didn't approve of that flag as symbol for the Southern GOVERNMENT but that HE belives that (many?) Southerners TODAY display it as "a benign symbol of THEIR HERITAGE" and that he profoundly disagrees with whatever happened to WOPAT/SCHNEIDER.

For the record, MY view is that that flag is FOREVER a no-no under ALL circumstances, SAME as the swastika. I am AWARE that the flip-sided swastika has an ancient East Asian dimension. But I have had heard and disagreed with the SAME argument JONES is making over the flag that bikers have said over their swastika pins.

But this JONES dude did not give ANY QUARTER to O'LOOFAH--not that O'LOOFAH was arguing against the ban on the flag (which is what WE-or-I would need from somebody).


Minutemen/Nazi/slave flags:

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Well, go Cooter.

[UTUSN]

2. Uh, he was DEFENDING the flag as "cultural heritage". Or are you cheering

his performance against O'LOOFAH on debating points (in which case I'm WITH you)?

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Oh, I am for anyone who can hand O'Loofah his arse. I realllly hate that guy.

[GainesT1958]

3. Interesting in one of these shots...

We see the Stars and Bars and the Nazi flag (which, I DON"T equate, BTW, for the same reasons Cooter gave; though the Stars and Bars was NOT the original Confederate States flag--and should NOT be flown over Southern Capitol buildings) with the California state flag. Funny, but when did California join the Confederacy?

I'd say something about "Kahliforhnia" and the Nazi flag, but I'd probably get in trouble!:eyes:

B-)

[TlalocW]

4. I didn't know Cooter was a dem

He came off pretty conservative on the Daily Show when Stephen Colbert interviewed him regarding the new Dukes of Hazzard movie... of course, he may have been slightly annoyed at the various other euphemisms for vagina that Stephen kept calling him.

TlalocW

[Eric J in MN]

5. related article

From
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/cooter%20says%20fellow%20hazzard%20castmates%20victims%20of%20pc%20vigilantes_1025201


"COOTER" SAYS FELLOW HAZZARD CASTMATES VICTIMS OF P.C. "VIGILANTES"


A performance by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra featuring John Schneider and Tom Wopat, who appeared in the 1979-85 series The Dukes of Hazzard was canceled after complaints that the series had "racist overtones," according to Ben Jones, who played Cooter on the show and later served two terms as a Georgia Congressman. "What could these politically correct vigilantes possibly be thinking?" Jones said in a statement, in which he called the cancellation "a dangerous affront to the rights of performing artists and their audiences." Jones particularly criticized the NAACP for endorsing the cancellation. "I'm a life member of the NAACP and proud of it," he said. "Denying an artist an opportunity to entertain an audience because of somebody's wrongheaded political viewpoint is just plain un-American. I have fought for equal rights all of my life, and that is why I am speaking out on this." Schneider and Wopat were to have headlined a PBS special by the Cincinnati Pops on July 14 titled "Patriotic Broadway."