What is the significance of the name "Blackwater"?

mitchum

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Wed Oct-03-07 12:37 PM
Original message

What is the significance of the name "Blackwater"?

Why did war profiteer Erik Prince choose this particular name for his private army?
Does it have historical significance? Fundie chritofascist significance?
Was it chosen for its "sinister" connotations?

I have been curious about this.

thanks,
mitchum

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Captain Hilts

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Wed Oct-03-07 12:38 PM
Response to Original message

1. Reference to the water in the Dismal Swamp. They're not far from there. nt

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Squatch

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Wed Oct-03-07 03:22 PM
Response to Reply #1

20. And the Blackwater River which flows from Petersburg, VA to Albermarle Sound, NC

Which is where the Blackwater academy is.

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WilliamPitt

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Wed Oct-03-07 12:43 PM
Response to Original message

2. Maybe he's a Doobie Bros. fan...

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Drifter

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Wed Oct-03-07 12:54 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. Or Frank Zappa ...

He has a song called "Let's make the water turn black".

Not sure exactly what it means, but I will find out.

Cheers
Drifter

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JackintheGreen

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Wed Oct-03-07 12:57 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. Prince is a right-wing lunatic

Not exactly the type to listen to FZ.

cheers

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Drifter

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:21 PM
Response to Reply #5

12. Huh ??

what are you talking about, and what does Prince have to do with anything ?

Cheers
Drifter

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JackintheGreen

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:30 PM
Response to Reply #12

13. Eric Prince...

you know? The guy who gave $10,000 to republicans by the time he was 19 and started Blackwater with moneys from his father's estate.

Did you honestly think I meant "the artist formerly known as..."?

Now, *that* guy is a right-wing lunatic!

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Drifter

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:54 PM
Response to Reply #13

14. Sorry ...

I read that as Prince "The person formerly known as "the person formerly know as Prince"", and not the CEO of Blackwater. My bad.

Either way, left or right has little to do with musical taste. For example, Zappa is about as conservative as they come. I think he would have been considered a Libertarian Conservative. I consider him a "Real" conservative. In fact I have actually used the term "Zappa Conservative" to describe the type of Conservative that I am.

Cheers
Drifter

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JackintheGreen

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Wed Oct-03-07 02:20 PM
Response to Reply #14

16. I completely agree with you on FZ's politics

But his is not the image that typically attracts conservatives - especially when they are wholly unwilling/unable to differentiate between hippies (which he was not) and freaks (which he was).

I have argued myself that he was actually a constitutional originalist and <*gasp*> a real "patriot" at several conferences and in an article I published a couple of years ago in a book called _Rock 'n' Roll and Nationalism_. I haven't thought about this in years, and I've actually drastically changed my academic focus, but I recall some very interesting conversations (mostly with Eastern Europeans).

cheers, and sorry for the snark

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BurtWorm

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Wed Oct-03-07 02:54 PM
Response to Reply #12

18. He means the Prince formerly known as Navy Seal.

:spray:

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lateo

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:17 PM
Response to Reply #2

10. Maybe he and Jeff Baxter are friends.

http://www.potomacinstitute.org/media/mediaclips/2005/Jeff%20Baxter%20Today%20Show.htm

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ret5hd

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Wed Oct-03-07 12:49 PM
Response to Original message

3. i was wondering the exact same thing earlier today...

Also, my mind made a connection between the CEO's name "Prince" and Blackwater...

The Prince of dark water...the prince of darkness.

Hey, I'm an atheist. Don't ask me.

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Xithras

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Wed Oct-03-07 12:58 PM
Response to Original message

6. What Mookie said.

Their HQ is right on the edge of the Dismal Swamp, which is fed by the Blackwater Swamp (River) among others. Blackwater is also a reference to a type of swamp water with high acidity and tannins, common to southern swamps (the Dismal Swamp is a blackwater swamp).

As far as I'm aware, there is no other significance.

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xxqqqzme

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:03 PM
Response to Original message

7. supposedly Nostradamus used 'black water' for his

prophecies. (The inside of a large bowl is painted black, filled w/ water and the seer is then supposed to 'see' beyond the depth of the vessel.)

Take that bit of trivia and do w/ it, what you can.

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H2O Man

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:04 PM
Response to Original message

8. The swamp

and oil.

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Andy Canuck

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:14 PM
Response to Original message

9. I think it has

has to do with the X-Files. Black Oil etc.. (The Truth Is Out There)

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Dukkha

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:19 PM
Response to Original message

11. oil?

the mercenaries of the precious juice and will take it by any means necessary.

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Javaman

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Wed Oct-03-07 01:56 PM
Response to Original message

15. From what I understand it was taken from this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ocean_Society

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Cheap_Trick

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Wed Oct-03-07 02:52 PM
Response to Original message

17. blackwater is what happens when i have the runs n/t

:evilgrin:

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librechik

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Wed Oct-03-07 03:20 PM
Response to Original message

19. It's about the navy tradition--bluewater is surface ocean , brownwater is river expeditions,

blackwater is the SEALS. (Prince was a Navy Seal)

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