[rescue] Testing

[Peter Corlett]

Carl R. Friend <crfriend at rcn.com> wrote:
[...]
> "'Once ze rockets are up, who kares vhere dey come down.
> It's not my department', says Werner von Braun."
> I love that.

Also, "'In English or German, I know how to count down.
And I'm learning Chinese', says Werner von Braun."

Which also nicely includes the worries about the Chinese having The
Bomb - also covered in /Who's Next/. Remember that 1950s America was
really quite scared about nuclear proliferation. This paraonia
continued to 1979 (and probably still does) when /The Progressive/ had
what in the UK wouuld be a D-Notice, even though such a thing
theoretically doesn't exist in the USA due to the First Amendment.
(And if you believe that the First Amendment really makes a
difference, I've got a bridge for sale.)

(I'm somewhat convinced that the UK is a freer country than the USA
despite the latter having a written constitution. I'm also of the
opinion that with David Blunkett and Michael Howard around, we'll be
joining the race to the bottom.)

> Von Braun was a perfect target given his background. He was also
> viciously satirised in "Dr. Strangelove". "Mein fuhrer! I kan valk!"
> I don't think that Stanley Kubrik got in trouble for that, and
> that's a *lot* nastier than Tom Lehrer's ditty.

Well, yeah, but /Dr. Strangelove/ didn't actually *name* him, merely
created a character that was identifiably him.

>> I've heard people claim that it was what stopped him writing songs,
>> although Tom himself claims that he just couldn't write satirical
>> songs any more because reality was even more unbelievable.
> "There is no room for satire in a world in which Henry Kissinger can
> be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." -- Attributed to Tom Lehrer,
> although I'm sure of the accuracy of that.

/The Remains of Tom Lehrer/ has a nice little book enclosed that has
some fine interviews with him. One of them is an edited version of
what's to be found online, so is presumably accurate. IIRC, that's one
of the quotes within. Unfortunately, my copy has gone walkies so I
cannot verify this.

(We are badly venturing offtopic here though... Is there a more
appropriate list? I have a list server available if anybody needs a
space.)

-- 
You fall out of your mother's womb, you crawl across open country under fire,
and drop into your grave.
								- Quentin Crisp