Amish mafia

I heard an advert (commercial) on the radio for a TV programme yesterday that I had no idea existed. It’s is called Amish Mafia. Let me repeat that title: AMISH MAFIA. What is this glorious monstrosity that I have missed? (Also, is it an oxymoron? Kind of…)

Hats and guns in cornfields….

Anyhow, then I had to watch a clip and find out more, because after my visit to Lancaster County, I wasn’t sure there was much need for a mafia, and in my mind the mafia is a Scarface-led, gun-toting, crack cocaine dealing, underground liquor and dog fighting, money laundering protection racket. These are not things that I associate with the Shoo-Fly Pie making, Dutch cap wearing, vege growing folk who claim that they don’t want to use bikes with pedals because they are evil (or something).

The Amish Mafia apparently work outside of the Amish law and the elders look the other way. The main guy is called Lebanon Levi, and he is above the law and everything else, allegedly. So he kind of is Scarface in his own way.

This gives the general idea of the Amish Mafia show:

‘Untrusting of outside law enforcement, some Amish in Lancaster County, PA have for many years regularly turned to a small organized group of men for protection and justice. The series provides a first-ever look at the men who protect and maintain peace and order within the Amish community in Lancaster. The 2006 School shootings in Lancaster County during which five young Amish girls were killed and five more seriously injured by a non-Amish milk truck driver brought to the nation’s attention the vulnerabilities of the Amish community, and their need for continued protection.’

But some people believe it’s not real…..in fact, they think it’s fake…..

Nuts innit? I hope I don’t get addicted to it!

I’m taking my mum up to Lancaster County in October to see Amish-land again. I think she might be more up for seeing the quilts and crops and bakeries rather than spend the day hunting for the Amish Mafia with me…… 😉

Cheers America!

I’ve been re-reading Justin Webb’s Cheers America! book for inspiration. He fell in love with the USA, and he and I are on the same page about many things.

Justin – my new hero!

The interview below is particularly interesting where he outlines more about his relationship with the USA as a Brit, and how special it is. I’m so with him about the sunshine and how different it really is from Britain – ‘we thought it was just like Britain, only much, much bigger….but it was so culturally different…and there is an mis-underestimation on the part of the Brits…and Americans…of the cultural difference between you and us…that extraordinary difference really grabbed me’.

Great lines about how everyone in the UK is drunk/pissed, and the difference between British and American attitudes to drink (which I have alluded to many a time) and lovely innuendo about size that the Americans don’t laugh at! And the fact that Americans meet at church and we meet in the pub! So much brilliant stuff that I am nodding at!

I think Justin Webb and I could natter for hours! We agree on so much about both countries. He’s my new hero 🙂

Gibraltar – solid as a rock

I’ve written an article about Gibraltar for the Baltimore Post Examiner because of the recent situation on the Rock, which makes me feel very sad.

The British Rock of Gibraltar

Check it out...