Gertrude Bell, Imperial Bitch & Pope Surrogate

Hey Folks,

Want to know how Iraq got mysteriously formed in the first place (it’s not unlike how Portuguese came to be spoken in Brazil: i.e. the Pope got out his crayons and drew on a map of the “New World”)?

Tune in to the May 14 version of Harry Shearer’s “Le Show” at: http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?show_code=ls&tmplt_type=Program

(The particular bit starts at 9:08 minutes into the program and ends at 15:21 minutes).

In this case, Gertrude Bell; “a British traveler, writer, and linguist”; got to play “Pope” with Iraq. Harry says, “I told you on this program years ago that all of our modern trouble spots are the result of Brits drawing lines on a map at the end of WW I. This is just one of them.”

Yes, the imperial “upper-crust” feels obliged to “order” things for the less endowed, and are ready to let genteel socialites make that call, but – as Gertie herself points out – it just isn’t appreciated !!

Give a listen!!

- Uke Man

p.s. There’s a dandy Harry Nilsson song at 6:13 minutes into the program (I love Nilsson).