Nagin Recruiting Hershey to Rebuild New Orleans

[SevenSeasJim]

(2006-01-17) — In a further clarification of yesterday’s remarks that a rebuilt New Orleans would be a “chocolate†city, Mayor Ray Nagin today said he’s planning to recruit Hershey Foods to establish a candy manufacturing plant in the hurricane-ravaged region.

The Democrat mayor’s latest clarification builds on yesterday’s explanation that his remarks are not racist because chocolate is made with dark chocolate and white milk forming “a delicious drink.â€

“We’re in the very, very early stages of discussions with Hershey,†Mr. Nagin said, “It’s still in the pre-meeting, pre-phone call stage. But that’s what this chocolate city concept is all about. It’s literally chocolate, rather than chocolate as a metaphor for something else. It’s edible chocolate. It really is.â€

The mayor said he’s long been intrigued by the possibility of transitioning New Orleans’ economy from one “reliant upon fickle fads in human debauchery†to something more stable, like chocolate.

“Ever since I saw the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I’ve thought, ‘That’s New Orleans’,†Mayor Nagin said. “and I thought, ‘I’m Willy Wonka’. â€

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, who yesterday told a group of African-Americans that Republicans have run the House of Representatives like “a plantationâ€, said she would help Mayor Nagin secure federal funding to turn the Louisiana Gulf coast into “a chocolate version of Silicon Valley.â€

[Del]

[The Chameleon]

This is absolutley brutal. First they leave the residents of New Orleans to die in squalor. Then they don't even give them money to rebulid. Isn't the US the richest counrty in the world? Now they have to get a chocolate manufacture to help rebuild and invest.

I bet if New Oleans had tonnes of Oil, the whole city whould be rebuilt right now.

too bad choclolate only looks like oil when it's hot.

[Calamity Jane]

“Ever since I saw the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I’ve thought, ‘That’s New Orleans’,†Mayor Nagin said. “and I thought, ‘I’m Willy Wonka’. â€

this mayor is 'wonked', man!!!

"....fickle fads in human debaucheryâ€

funny! I thought human debauchery was a constant.

too bad choclolate only looks like oil when it's hot.

ooooh, now I see where this could go.....newest fickle human debauchery fad: nude liquid choclate wrestling bars and karaoke (unfortunately another constant)

[StoneMtn]

I know where Homer Simpson'll be moving in a year or two...

[AD]

I know that a lot of people can't recognise satire...

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[gentlemonkey]

I saw his comments about New Orleans becoming a "Chocolate City" and the mixing Dark Chocolate and White making a 'delicious drink'. WTF?

"Pre-phone call stage??" As if it had anything to do with Hershey... He's covering his ass now because he sounded like a total psycho in those speech clips. Anybody remember the movie 'Bullworth' where the uppity Senator played by Warren Beatty, finds his inner African-American and makes a speech suggesting the world can stop racism by encouraging inter-racial marriages and breaking down the barriers of race by becoming one race. (actually he raps it, and the people watching his speech in the movie really like the idea- and i think he becomes president)

Was anyone else reminded of it with these Naglin comments? yipes.

Having the idea to set up a Chocolate Factory to solve a city's woes, doesnt seem like a platform a sane mayor would present to his people. anyway, wtf?

[gentlemonkey]

I know that a lot of people can't recognise satire...

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yesssssss.

[questcequecest?]

Sean Penn Demands To Know What Asshole Took SeanPenn@ gmail.com

January 17, 2006 | Issue 42•03

LOS ANGELES—In an impassioned 1,900-word open letter published in Monday's Washington Post, actor-director Sean Penn urged the unknown person who registered the e-mail address SeanPenn(@)gmail.com to "come forward immediately, rather than wallowing in the shame and ignominy of fraud."

The paid full-page advertisement, addressed to "a certain inconsiderate asshole," continued: "Every American—indeed, every human being, regardless of nationality—deserves to be rightfully and accurately represented on the World Wide Web—the communication gateway into the next century and beyond—without having to resort to nonsensical aliases with random strings of numbers tacked onto the end. In an era of global wireless technology, our very identities are at stake. It's highly unethical at best, criminal at worst, for others to wantonly abscond with them."

Penn recounted in the letter how he had waited for an invitation to Google's e-mail service for a year and a half before receiving one earlier this month. According to Penn, when he tried to establish an account, he received a message indicating that his desired user name, SeanPenn, had already been registered.

"Sir or madam, if only you could have seen the anger and revulsion that washed over my face as I found that SeanPenn(@)gmail.com, Penn(@)gmail.com, SPenn(@)gmail.com, Penn.Sean(@)gmail.com, and SeanPennRules(@)gmail.com had all been taken," Penn's letter read. "If only you could have felt my heart leap to my throat upon realizing that Seanpenn(@)gmail.com would not work either, as Gmail addresses are not case-senstitive. If only you could have heard my cry of anguish when, in a last, desperate move, I typed in Spicoli(@)gmail.com, only to be rejected once more and finally forced to accept the abomination that is Sean.Penn20061(@)gmail.com."

Continued Penn, "It's a sad, sad day for the individual's right to self-determination and self-expression, let alone for the movie directors, journalists, and diplomats who will not be able to easily remember—or even recognize—my e-mail address."

Penn said he also tried SeanPenn81760(@)gmail.com, ShawnPenn(@)gmail.com, and SeanPennActor(@)gmail.com.

This was not the first time Penn has expressed anger over the difficulty of obtaining a Sean Penn-specific e-mail address. He made headlines last year when he refused to appear on the set of Columbia Pictures' All The King's Men for two days after he learned that SPenn(@)sonypictures.com had been taken by video assist operator Steve Penn.

Penn admitted that the painful experience of not being able to communicate freely through e-mail had its upside.

"Oh, certainly, I identify more strongly with the poor, war-battered youth of the Middle East."

Penn ended his statement by reiterating his demand that the SeanPenn user-name holder reveal his identity, assuring him that he will not retaliate with punitive measures or even ask that the e-mail address be relinquished. Instead, Penn invited the perpetrator to accompany him to Iraq, to "learn a hard, real-life lesson about the devastation wreaked by false pretense, gross injustice, and misapplication of power."

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Anybody remember the movie 'Bullworth' where the uppity Senator played by Warren Beatty, finds his inner African-American and makes a speech suggesting the world can stop racism by encouraging inter-racial marriages and breaking down the barriers of race by becoming one race. (actually he raps it, and the people watching his speech in the movie really like the idea- and i think he becomes president)

Thanks for making me think about that movie again, GM - one of my favourite comments on electoral politics (Bob Roberts also comes to mind). That little bit is priceless (and there are a lot like that). It stokes my (admittedly hedged) admiration for people that would just come out and say what's on their mind, regardless of consequences, if it's important enough to be said (which is, I guess, the premise of the movie).

I was just about to give away the ending, but shouldn't if there's the slightest chance anyone might be seeing it some time soon . He doesn't quite become President, though.

[Alexis]

SHUT UP

[Calamity Jane]

damn! ya mean I can't simply and honestly rely on you skanks for my daily news?

And here I was trusting y'all to bring to my attention any news of importance, freeing up my mind for other dirty uses.

[Alexis]

if you live near a cookie factory, it smells like cookies, all the time, when you live near molson's...it smells like tomato soup....i wonder if it'd constantly smell like chocolate in new orleans...and what that would do to PMSing women.

[bradm]

IIRC, down at Old Fort York in Toronto, which is the shadow of the Molson's factory, it smells like bread all the time, from the yeast Molson's uses to make their beer. When they make bread at OFY, they use modern, commercial packaged yeast, because the air is so thick with yeast spores from Molson's that it messes up the bread if they try to make it traditionally.

Aloha,

Brad

[Alexis]

crazy....driving by the molson thing at 427 and 401 everyday for 2 or 3 years, i thought it smelled like tomato soup. kinda gross tomato soup tho.

[backbacon]

Drive anyhwere near chatham and it smells like an ethanol plant. Yum!

I think I'm goign to make some homemade chocolate milk this evening in support of brown cows and skim milk and rebuilding a tastier america!

[Thorgnor]

My parents live near Dare cookies... wednesdays were coconut cream... uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... (drool)