Jack Straw journeys to Alabama. Poor bastard.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw joined Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a weekend tour of her home state to promote understanding of the Anglo-American alliance, but Alabamans struggled to name him.

"You're the English guy," Joyce Delahoussaye said as she shook hands with the foreign minister of America's closest ally. "I've seen you on TV, and they said you were from England."

"He's Mr. England," she said, introducing Straw to her son, Randy, as the two diplomats met displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina in Pelham.

At a ceremony to unveil statues in Birmingham, speakers variously called the visitor Mr. Shaw and Mr. Snow.