Mom is Having a Major Downsizing Sale

For those of you who watch "Antiques Roadshow" and live in or near Roanoke, Va., my mother, a veteran antiques dealer who also sells items at Duke's Antique Mall in Lexington, Va., is having a major downsizing estate sale in Salem, Va., which is next to Roanoke.

The correct times for the event are as follows: Fri., Nov. 2 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sat., Nov. 3 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sun., Nov. 4 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The estate sale will take place at 2265 Mt. Regis Drive Salem, Va. 24153 http://www.mapquest.com

Among the antiques collector items available at the downsizing sale are: Guns, gun cabinet, Christmas outdoor displays, two wicker chairs, sofa marble top table, Elizabeth Arden pottery (North Carolina), chicken on nest collection, Barbie dolls, baskets, glassware (crystal), clocks and lamps. Plenty of items are for sale at reasonable prices.

Entry numbers will be handed out at 6:30 a.m. on Friday. For further information, feel free to call me on my cell phone at (540) 293-9284.

http://www.visitsalemva.com

http://www.pbs.org/roadshow/

http://www.blueridgepbs.org

http://www.lexingtonvirginia.com

Tweets of the Day_ Politics, Weather and Halloween Zaniness

Trick or Tweet! We are surprised that our other blog "The Daily Vampire," which turns four years old today, is popular in Israel and Algeria at the moment?!

36 years on this date, I dressed up as Underdog for Halloween back home in Salem, Va.; it should be pointed out that I was six years old in 1976.

Here are today's tweets:

1) @washingtonpost ("The Washington Post"): Skeleton from Colonial times found when #sandy uproots historic tree (the tree is in New Haven, Conn.).

2) @severeplains (Jayson Prentice, a Kansas City meteorologist): "Fact: In the 12 hours before & after landfall, there were nearly 2.7 mentions of #Sandy on Twitter (including retweets)."

3) @NadiaNeopytou (she is a South African journalist living in New York): "Limited subway service in New York to resume on Thursday."

4) @motherjones ("Mother Jones" is a liberal magazine): "Supreme Court Catch 22: Can the government violate your rights as long as it does so in secret?" (Yes, that is the reason why we have an image of Justice Clarence Thomas, the most arch conservative member of the Supreme Court).

5) @davidfrum (David Frum is a center-right pundit who used to be George W. Bush's speech writer): "How much of the white vote will show up on Nov. 6?"

6) @HuffingtonPost (Huffington Post): "Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on climate change: I don't think the federal govt. has done enough. A group of people in Wash. right now deny the truth."

7) @capitalweather (Capital Weather Gang, a Washington, DC-based weather outlet): "Due to #sandy, our winter outlook release- scheduled for Nov. 1_ delayed until after the election. Who is disappointed?"

8) @UWGymnastics (University of Washington gymnastics, former Huskies' gymnast Haley Bogart is pictured above): "Happy Halloween! Show us your costumes? Anyone a gymnast for Halloween! Go Dawgs!"

For Republic's Day, a Quote from Nazim Hikmet

Since today is Republic's Day in Turkey, which honors the founding of the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Oct. 29th, 1923, we thought we's quote Turkey's most famous poet Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963).

Here in America, the Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival in held in Cary (Raleigh), North Carolina every year, usually in April.

Here is the quote from Hikmet:

"And, don't forget a prisoner's wife must always think good thoughts."

http://www.nazimhikmetpoetryfestival.org

PSA_ October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month

From the Muslim Eid Mubarak holiday to Halloween, from the presidential elections to Hurricane Sandy, the month of October, which is also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is a busy one indeed. The tenth month is also National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and it is with this in mind that we are posting an image of Yorkshire Terrier puppy.

Here is a list with links of animal shelters in North Carolina, which is our state of residency; these include shelters from Yanceyville, a rural town near Danville, Va., as well Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte.

http://www.americanhumanesociety.org

http://www.aspcacaswell.org

http://www.spcawake.org

http://www.adoptshelterpets.org

http://www.humanesocietyofcharlotte.org

Tweet of the Day- Lena Dunham

Our tweet of the day comes from comic actress Lena Dunham, 26, who has made a name for herself with the indy film "Tiny Furniture" and more recently with her hit HBO series "Girls."

Today, she was lambasted by the far right knucklehead Rush Limbaugh who has been on a rampage against women in recent weeks. Limbaugh said that Dunham's ad for President Barack Obama in which she jokingly compares voting for Obama to losing her virginity. Which prompted Limbaugh to say she was promoting women as 'monolithic sex machines?" Limbaugh then strangely suggested that feminist leader Gloria Steinem should join him in dumping on Dunham.

This lead Dunham to post this tweet:

"It tickles me to no end that while my twitter feed was blowing up with conservative hate, I was literally hanging out in a pile of bisexuals."

Sports Desk- ACC Volleyball, Tarheel Named Freshman of the Week

Though we have an image of Rameses, we are focusing on University of North Carolina women's college volleyball player Page Neunfeldt a freshman from Birmingham, Mich., was named ACC Freshman of the Year.

Neunfeldt helped UNC earn home wins over the University of Maryland 3-1 (27-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-17) on Friday night and against Boston College 3-0 (25-19, 25-10, 25-17). The Tarheel freshman had a combined total of 27 kills and 11 blocks over the weekend.

Here is a list of scores from Fri., Oct, 19 when all 12 ACC were playing; for the results of the Saturday and Sunday games go to our sister blog: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

Fri, Oct. 19:

*-denotes home team

Miami 3 *Clemson 2

Duke 3 *Virginia 1

*NC State 3 Boston College 0

*Virginia Tech Wake Forest 1

Florida State 3 *Georgia Tech 2

*UNC 3 Maryland 1

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.cvu.com

12 of the 24 Countries Mentioned Last Night: Let's Go to Poland

According to the BBC, Poland along with (surprisingly) Pakistan are two of the very few countries where citizens prefer that Mitt Romney take the throne (we are making fun of a highway billboard near Burlington, NC, which says: 'We must dethrone Obama') over President Barack Obama.

Poland was one of the 24 countries mentioned in the 'last debate' from Boca Raton, Fla., last night.

In case you are wondering, the flags above are of: 1) Poland (Donald Tusk, prime minister), 2) Egypt (Heshan Qandil, prime minister), and 3) Russia (Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister).

Here is a list of 12 of those countries:

China, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Syria, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Venezuela (the only South American country mentioned, which was disappointing to those who watched the debate in Colombia according to the BBC).

Well, actually, that's 13 countries.........oh well!

For a list of the other countries, visit our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

Monday Night Post-Debate Tweets: Let's Play Battleship

Before we get to the 8 tweets that we will post here, we should point out the reasons for these images: 1) Cenk Uygur, a Turkish-American liberal tv show who was born in March of 1970, essentially he is the same person as Tilly Gokbudak (that is me) the editor of this blog, except the later does not have a tv show on Current TV or anywhere else 2) Battleship: Yes, President Barack Obama made the night's pop cultural reference tonight, and surely the popular '70s board game will sell out by the end of the weekend and 3) Golda Meir, the legendary late first prime minister of Israel.

Let's get started:

1) @EWErickson (Erik Erickson, conservative editor of redstate.com): "The lefties in my timeline are exceedingly angry. A good sign for Romney."

2) @JenGranholm (Jenifer Granholm is a former Democratic governor of Michigan who now has a tv show on Current TV): "RT @CBS News: Breaking: CBS News Instant Poll on who won the #debate? Obama
53 %, Romney 23 %, tie 24 %"

3) @CenkUygur (Cenk Uygur): "Romney people saying he has grown as a candidate. Pretty much devastating admission he got killed."

4) @JonEasley (Jonathan Easley, a reporter for "The Hill"): "Chris Wallace: A marine tweeted us to say the Marines still use bayonets, so it may not be clear who really knows." (Obama made reference to bayonets during the debate).

5) @NRO ("National Review," a conservative magazine): "Chris Matthews slams Obama for #pandering on Israel #debates." (It's ironic to see a conservative journal quipping a center-left pundit. Yes, this tweet is why we are using an image of Golda Meir).

6) @TheOnion ("The Onion" is a faux news outlet): "Obama takes out Romney with a Mid-Debate drone attack."

7) @DavidCornDC (David Corn is a reporter for "Mother Jones," a liberal magazine): "Romney wins the #deabte_ if you're measuring by production of presperation."

8) @politico ("Politico" is an objective political journal): "Obama to Romney: This is not a game of Battleship."

Monday Night Pre-Debate Tweets- Alex Trebek the 'High Rollers' Days

We are apparently popular in Jordan! And, even more so than in Turkey, which is my late father's home country and a nation I have visited 15 times?! Perhaps, I now know how Al Gore felt when he was not able to win his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 election, which would have made him president instead of George W. Bush.

So, we are posting an image of King Abdullah II, who is the leader of Jordan as one of our three images. The two figures above him are "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek when he was hosting "High Rollers" in the late 1970s and Big Bird, who has become very popular since Mitt Romney alluded to the fact that might try to fire this famous fowl  by cutting funds for public television during the first debate in Denver, Colo.

Tonight, in Boca Raton, Fla., the candidates will have won one last night debate on foreign policy, if this doesn't settle they may to fight in a boxing in Las Vegas, which would be appropriate since Nevada is also a swing state.

Here are our tweets:

1) @michaelianblack (Michael Ian Black, a comic actor): "They should get Alex Trebek to host the foregin policy debate because he always sounds so authentic when he says foreign stuff."

2) @interviewnews (Interview Magazine): "Even Clark Kent knows there's no future in print journalism."

3) @denverpolitics (Denver Politics News): "Ad blaming Romney for Colorado wind-industry job losses in gray area."

4) @SunDC (The Sun in DC): "Sunset 6:20 p.m., Sunset Tommorow 6:18 p.m."

5) @thehilltweets ("The Hill" is a daily journal which covers Congress): "Obama, Romney promote voting apps on Facebook."

6) @marketplaceatm ("Marketplace" is a daily radio show airing on most NPR stations): "For those of you talking politics at work: yes, it can get you fired." (Wow!)

7) @ForecasterEnten  (Harry Enten covers American politics for "The Guardian UK"): "Put another way even if Obama still has ads on the air in North Carolina any neutral observer knows he may have a high floor, but a low ceiling" (This is reference to the Tarheel State, our state of residency, which speculators now see going to Romney, but then again no one thought Duke would beat UNC in football over the weekend).

8) @NRO ("National Review," a conservative magazine, yes, we don't quote their tweets very often): "Exchange of the day: Soledad flips on Rudy "I'm a journalist!" Isn't that proof that you're a bad one?" (Soledad O'Brien is a reporter for CNN. Ironically, it seems that the NRO has one thing in common with us: Neither of us will be watching the debate on CNN. Presumably, they will watch it on Fox News, whereas we will watch it on PBS!).

http://www.pbs.org

http://www.nationalreview.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.visitjordan.com

Sunday Night Tweets- Malaysia Airlines Wishes You a Happy Monday

As most of you know by now George McGovern, the long-time U.S. Senator from South Dakota died in his home state early this morning at age 90; we will have a tribute to him later in the week. One of his campaign buttons from his race for the White House against Richard Nixon in 1972 is pictured above. We also have an image of Liberace because it was the best thing we could think of of for gay marriage. And, we were not able to find an image of a flight attendant from Malaysia Airlines so we are going with this image of Christina Ricci from the 2011 tv series "Pan Am," which never quite got off the ground....pardon the pun.

Here are tonight's tweets from the 8:00-9:00 p.m. hour on Sunday night, New York time:

1) @ABC11_WVTD (ABC11 WVTD, a tv station in Raleigh, NC): "Vice president's son Beau Biden makes stop in the Triangle."

2) @Markknoller (Mark Knoller is the CBS News White House correspondent): "Earlier today, Pres. Obama issued statement on passing of George McGovern calling him a 'generous, kind, honorable man. He will be missed."

3) @davidcnsswanson (David Swanson, an author from Charlottesville, Va.): "What Senator George McGovern Got Right_ Let's Try Democracy."

4) @PeterBeinart (Peter Beinart is a columnist for "The Daily Beast"): "I will never forget reading McGovern's 1970 speech where he says 'this chamber reeks of blood' during Vietnam, would any pol say that today?"

5) @LunarAnticsZeno (Zeno is from what we can tell some sort of comic book character; and yes he apparently tweets as do family cats and dead celebrities): "The difference between stupidity and genius has its limits, Albert Einestein."

6) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, actually a liberal blogger who rakes Republicans over the coals): "Romney changed his position on gay marriage, but since he was changing back to a previously abandoned position, it's not a big deal."

7) @MAS (Malaysia Airlines, and yes it is Malaysia Airlines as opposed to Malaysian Airlines we checked with our correspondent in Kuala Lampur to be sure): "Hopefully your Monday will be much better. Have a great Monday, and an incredible week ahead."

http://www.malaysiaairline.com

Saturday Morning Tweets_ Not a Good Week for Manners

Before we post a tweet from Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt of Chapel Hill, NC, home of the University of North Carolina, which won a home game in women's volleyball over the University of Maryland last night, we should pause for a words from our sponsors: the Turkish toothpaste Ipana and the Roseanne Barr for President campaign (yes, the comedian/actress is running against Obama and Romney for a fringe third party). Ok, now that we've covered that, let's go to our tweets:

1) @Indyweek (Indy Week is an alt weekly based in Durham, NC: "Voting lessons from #Raleigh resident Pota Vallas, 104, who has been voting since FDR was elected in 1932" (Yes, that is the reason why we have an image of the Franklin D. Roosevelt dime, bottom).

2) @TheFix (The Fix is a daily column from "The Washington Post" political reporter Chris Cillizza): "Manners had the Worst Week in Washington.' Congrats or something." (This is in reference to the recent presidential debate).

3) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, a satirical liberal tweeter): "That awkward moment when a Salt Lake City paper in Mormon country endorses the other guy." (A reference to the Obama endorsement from "The Salt Lake Tribune," published yesterday).

4) @MayorMarkK (Mark Kleinschmidt, pictured top): "Very energizing Orange Co Democratic legislative breakfast."

5) @WAMU885News (WAMU-FM is an NPR station serving Washington, DC): "NFL fines Redskins $20,000 for violating league procedures on reporting injuries. (Hence the reason for the 'Skins helmet, center)

6)@ErinAndrews (Erin Andrews, the sexy female ESPN reporter): "Happy Birthday to my little sister @KendraAndrews1...even thou I wanted to give her back when she was a baby. Love u Ken."

7) @TerpsGymnastics (Brett Nelligan, the coach of the University of Maryland women's gymnastics team): "HOMECOMING is finally here! Can't wait to see everyone." (The Terps' homecoming game against North Carolina State is just underway as of this writing).

8) @LailaLalami (Laila Lalami is a liberal journalist who contributes to "The Nation"): "Oh, God. Rupert Murdoch is looking to buy the L.A. Times."


http://www.chapelhill.org

http://www.washingtonpost.com/fastfix

http://www.indyweek.com

http://www.lailalami.com

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.umterps.com

Friday Night Tweets_ Marijuana and Unemployment

A few weeks back, we were going to start a series on interesting U.S. Congressional races, and our first one was to be the race between Cong. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), perhaps the most conservative Democrat in Washington, DC, against Mia Love (R), the black Mormon mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah. The Beehive State is about three percent African-American, and Mitt Romney, who is also a Mormon, is expected to win Utah by a wide margin. But, surprise, today "The Salt Lake Tribune" endorsed President Barack Obama! This was according to a tweet from Democratic strategist Dana Vickers Shelley.

Here we go:

1) @TheOnion ("The Onion" is a faux news publication): "WARS FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: "Romney's Terrifying Google Search History Leaked."

2) @SFWeekly ("San Francisco Weekly"): "City's first Union Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens_ Finally!"

3) @current (Current-TV): "Pot & politics: @GovGaryJohnson joins @TYTCurrent in 10 min to talk marijuana laws #Election2012" (Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, has switched parties and he is now the Libertarian Party nominee for president)

4) @WSOC_TV (WSOC TV, the ABC affiliate in Charlotte, NC): "Unemployment rates drop in both North Carolina and South Carolina."

5) @dcweatheralerts (Weather Gang Alerts, for Washington, DC-metro area): "Tornado warnings for Baltimore County until 7:30 p.m."

6) @nprscottsimon (Scott Simon of NPR): "I like GQ's defense of debate moderators: 'You sit there and try to rein in two egomaniacs....' "

Cuneyt Arkin vs. Chuck Norris (6 of 6)_ Kara Murat

We conclude our series regarding which actors actually won Best Actor Oscars during the career of Turkish matinee star Cuneyt Arkin and American kick-butt film icon Chuck Norris, with a look at which actor won the Best Actor Oscar when Arkin made "Kara Murat" in 1976, a year that saw Arkin make 11 films!

Kara Murat was also the name of a real-life Ottoman Empire; Kara Murat also inspired a comic book by Abdullah Turam; is the answer:

A) Peter Finch

B) William Holden

C) Sylvester Stallone

D) Jack Nicholson

E) Al Pacino

The answer to yesterday's question was B) Henry Fonda.

UPDATE: The answer is Peter Finch

Chuck Norris vs. Cuneyt Arkin (5 of 6)_ An Eye for an Eye

We continue our series of comparisons between Turkish movie star Cuneyt Arkin and American kung fu actor Chuck Norris with a look at which actor won Best Actor Oscars during the years that they made films which were light on plot but heavy on kicks and punches.

Today, we go with the Norris vehicle "An Eye for an Eye" (1981), who actually won the Best Actor for that year; was it?

A) Peter O'Toole

B) Henry Fonda

C) Robert DeNiro

D) Burt Lancaster

E) Tom Conti


The answer to last week's question was A) Robert Duvall.

http://www.cuneytarkin.com.tr

http://www.chucknorris.com

Tweets of the Night_ Politics, Sports and Religion

For those of you who are are yak herders in Mongolia or Buddhist monks in Bhutan, the first image is of Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) who is Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's arch conservative running mate. The other two images are of a college volleyball player (there was lots of college volleyball action tonight) from the University of South Florida and a Serbian priest, who to our knowledge has not endorsed either Romney or President Barack Obama, that is not the case with certain reality tv show 'stars.'

Let's jump in the pool:

1) @uncgsports (UNC-Greensboro Athletics): Women's soccer takes down Davidson on Senior Night 1-0.

2) @GatorZoneVB (University of Florida Gators Women's Volleyball): "No.11 #Gators Earn Ninth Sweep of 2012 with 3-0 Victory over Ole Miss."

3) @uncvolleyball (University of North Carolina Women's Volleyball): "Carolina Holds off Virginia 3-2 as the Tar Heels improve to 14-4, 5-3 (in ACC play) on the season," (the game was played in Charlottesville, Va.)

4) @AlexSemin (Carolina Hurricanes hockey player Alex Semin, a Russian national formerly with the Washington Capitals): "He may only be a teenager, but until Bryce Harper goes to Russia to play hockey for his grandmother, his accomplishments are miniscule." (Semin is referring to one of the star players for the Washington Nationals, a team that lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the playoffs by a 9-7 score tonight).

5) @TerryMoran (Terry Moran of ABC News): "Some idiot fired shots into Obama's field office in Denver.  Let's all try to calm down and respect each other."

6) @LOLGOP (LOL GOP): "If the math behind Mitt Romney's tax plan worked, George W. Bush would have spoken at the Republican Convention."

7) @theOnion ("The Onion," a faux news publication): "Joe Biden: I'm a flawed man, but there's love in my heart."

8) @VT_Volleyball (Virginia Tech Women's Volleyball): "Hokies drop 3-1 decision to NC State: Kathryn Caine knocked down 13 kills."

9) @MLBJesus (Major League Baseball Jesus): "Some of my best friends are Cardinals," this satiric statement made in reference to the St. Louis Cardinals.

10) @SecretCabDriver (Secret Cab Driver): "GOP: Vote for us because we have guns. And, remember we're not afraid to use them." (this tweet was meant to be satiric in nature)

11) @HuffPostPol ("Huffington Post Politics"): "Democratic Brad Sherman regrets grabbing Howard Berman during debate." (This is a tweet regarding the Congressional battle which actually pits two Democratic Congressional reps from the Los Angeles-area against each other; we have a special interest in this because the Armenian-American lobby sponsored one of the debates and Turkey was mentioned throughout the forum. Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations in spite of being neighboring countries due to a very ugly and controversial historical dispute).

12) @davidfrum (David Frum, a conservative pundit who has been critical of the current state of the Republican Party; he was actually profiled in an excellent article in "The Nation," a liberal magazine): "Message of the debate poll: Twitter loves politics, is bored with government."

10 People Who Will Decide Election (10 of 10)_ Wisconsin

It is now 7:00 a.m. in Stockholm, Sweden, 9:00 a.m. in Dubai, and high noon in Shanghai, wherever you are, you're with the greatest blog in the universe....well, we don't take ourselves that seriously. And, we are ripping off that slogan from the BBC World Service.

Today, we finally conclude our long-drawn out series on the American Presidential Election, which is now a mere 26 days away. Our focus will be on Wisconsin, the home state of Republican nominee Mitt Romney's veep choice Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) who has so far motivated partisan Republicans and far right Tea Partiers while alienating center-left Democrats and possibly independents with his potentially radical views on small government.

And, here is a look at our last fictional voter:

Name: Alexia Demopolous

Ethnicity: Greek-American

Residency: Racine, Wisc.

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Occupation: Pizza delivery

Voting status: Undecided

According to the latest "Politico" swing state map, which we are watching as closely as Jimmy Stewart watched Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," President Barack Obama is winning Wisconsin by a 51-46 % margin.

The local newspaper in Racine "The Journal-Times" is reporting that the Racine Tea Party will hold a 'Victory 2012' rally on Oct. 27th in which U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson (R) will be schmoozing with the most extreme elements of the conservative movement. Thompson is being opposed for the open seat by Cong. Tammy Duckworth (D-Wisc).

Wisconsin is, much like Minnesota and Iowa, a hard state to pinpoint in terms of the state's political swings. Wisconsin was served by Sen. Russ Feingold (D), one of the more progressive members in the U.S. Senate, but after three successful terms, Feingold was surprisingly ousted by Tea Party favorite Ron Johnson who now holds Feingold's seat.

Racine itself seems a bit hard to forecast as Racine County voted for Obama by a 54-46 % margin in 2008, but the county turned around and supported Johnson just two years laters.

Ryan represents Racine as Racine County is in his first district. Tomorrow (or later today) in Danville, Kentucky, Ryan will face Vice President Joe Biden in the only vice presidential debate.

http://www.derangosdelivers.com (a pizza delivery place in Racine, Wisc.)

http://www.journaltimes.com

http://www.politico.com

10 People Who will Decide Election_Pennsylvania

Today, we continue our series with a look at Pennsylvania as we also feature this 1996 presidential campaign button featuring Bob Dole and the late Jack Kemp.

Here is a look at our fictional voter of the day:

Name: Rev. Paul Frederickson

Occupation: Baptist Minister

Residency: Scranton, Pa.

Will Likely Vote for: Mitt Romney

"Politico" reported at last check that Barack Obama is winning Pennsylvania 48.3 % to 42.3 %, but an alarming new story from "USA Today" shows that Romney is closing the gap there as well as in Michigan (hey if Fox News can be biased and pretend to be objective, why can't we?).

Though Pennsylvania is primarily a Catholic state, there are a fair number of Baptists and Jews in the demographic mix. Most evangelicals are supporting Romney even though many of them have negative views of Romney's Mormon faith. This was made evident when Romney was invited to give the commencement at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., which has become a mecca for college students from very religious families.

But, Bill Maher made a controversial comment when he said Liberty University was not really a real college because it is not fully accredited; the school also has negative views on Charles Darwin and evolution, from what we gather.


http://www.scrantonrevivalbaptistchurch.com (the web site for an actual Baptist church in Scranton, Pa.; the minister's name is not Paul Frederickson. Yeah, we checked!

10 People Who Will Decide Election (8 0f 10)_ Minnesota

Name: Olga Bentzen (fictional person)

Age: 86

Occupation: Retired bank clerk

Residency: Hamel, Minnesota (suburb of Minneapolis)

Political Affiliation: Independent leaning Democrat

Will Likely Vote for: Barack Obama

Today, we continue our series with a look at Minnesota, which is arguably the most unpredictable state in the union. Minnesota is represented by both Cong. Keith Ellison (D), the first Muslim elected to Congress, and Cong. Michele Bachmann (R), who is about as far right as they come. Minnesota is also represented by Sen. Al Franken (D), a former comedian and "Saturday Night Live" writer/performer, who is one of the most progress U.S. Senators.

Minnesota has a rich political tradition as Walter Mondale (pictured above) is from the state; Mondale was only able to win his home state and Washington, DC, against Ronald Reagan, but then again he did tell the truth about the need to raise taxes (and, people wonder why politicians lie or fudge facts).

Currently, Obama is winning Minnesota 50-4, according to "Politico." The bigger concern for the Obama campaign as it tries to win key midwestern swing states from Mitt Romney is Wisconsin since Romney's tag team partner Cong. Paul Ryan is from there. In our view, Ryan is just slightly more progressive than Bachmann and it will be interesting to see how having someone who is arguably as far right as both Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin on the ticket will play out for the Romney campaign.

10 People Who Will Decide Election (7 of 10) A Comedian in Portland, Oregon

Well, since WGSR-TV (Star News, Reidsville, NC) seems to think showing objectivity is so yesterday, we hear at "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" are definitely worried about whose feathers we might ruffle (forgive the reference from Big Bird's comments on "Saturday Night Live"), but then again, we have never pretended to be an objective news source. And, if we owned a tv-station we can assure you that we would never air a show hosted by the very radical Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va.

So, as it turns out, 'Politico' has shown a tilt towards (yikes, yikes, no, no, no!) Mitt Romney. The last objective news source outside of Fox News and Radio Havana, Cuba, shows Romney slightly winning Florida, which has 29 electoral votes over President Barack Obama. Similarly, Romney, who once proclaimed to be even more pro-gay rights than the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, is winning in North Carolina by a 48-4-47.6%, which means Star News thinks that Romney will get 79-percent of the vote in the Tarheel State.

Today, we are focusing on Oregon, which we thought might be a swing state, but now only Star News would predict that Romney has a chance over Obama as 'Politico' is indicating that the president is winning 50-42 percent there.

So, we are focusing on a fictional stand-up comedian in Portland, Ore., who happens to look a lot like Robin Williams. We will call him Mort Schultz, and we will say he is 31 years old and will vote for Obama.

For those looking for actual stand-up comedy in Portland, Ore., we understand that Helium Comedy is quite the place to go!

And, for those who support Big Bird and PBS, which apparently Romney sees as some kind of heavy burden on American tax-payers, who want information that is actually impartial, the public tv-station serving all of North Carolina is WUNC-TV. We have no idea when "Sesame Street" airs on the channel as we don't have kids!


http://www.wgsr47.com

http://www.sesamestreet.org

http://www.unctv.org

http://www.heliumcomedy.com

http://www.politco.com

Chuck Norris vs. Cuneyt Arkin (4 of 6)_ The Biggest Punch

Good morning to folks in Dubai, and good afternoon to those of you in Hong Kong.

We continue our series of trivia questions relating to the films of Turkish '70s superstar Cuneyt Arkin, 75, and American '80s action film icon Chuck Norris, with a look at "En Buyuk Yumruk/The Biggest Punch" (1983), which somehow has a 6.6 on the Internet Movie Databse.

The film was made one year after Arkin teamed with awful director extraordinaire Cetin Inanc on "Durnyayi Kurtaran Adami/The Man Who Saved the World," also known as "The Turkish Star Wars" since it ripped off "Star Wars."

So, which actor won Best Actor when Arkin made this film 29 years ago; is the answer?:

A) Robert Duvall

B) Robert DeNiro

C) F. Murray Abrham

D) Steve Martin

E) Michael Caine


The answer to the last segment in this series is C) Richard Dreyfuss, who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1977.

SIDEBAR: The answers to our "Dexter" quiz are as follows: 1) D 2) A 3) C 4) B

Dexter Trivia (4 of 4) Where is Jennifer Carpenter from?

We conclude out series of "Dexter" trivia questions, but asking where Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Dexter's sister on the show, is from. Carpenter was actually married to the show's star Michael C. Hall for a brief while; we gather they met on the set.

So, which state is Carpenter from?

A) West Virginia

B) Kentucky

C) Tennessee

D) Alabama

Dexter Trivia (3 of 4)_ Which John Lithgow Movie Were They Watching?

For today's "Dexter" trivia question, we go back to the show's fourth season when John Lithgow guest-starred as Arthur Mitchell also known as 'the Trinity Killer' (pictured above). Lithgow won an Emmy for the part.

As an in-joke, according to the Internet Movie Database, there is a scene in one of that season's episodes when a Lithgow film from the 1980s was being shown on a tv set in a living room.

Was that movie:

A) Footloose (original version)

B) The World According to Garp

C) Terms of Endearment

D) Harry and the Hendersons

Dexter Trivia (2 of 4)_ Who Composes the Theme?

Notice: This image is of scrambled eggs and TURKEY bacon, so we would not offend blog-readers in Dubai, Tel Aviv or Karachi (Pakistan).

Here is tonight's question, which has been delayed for a multitude of reasons:

Who is the composer of the theme for "Dexter," which features Michael C. Hall's title character's daily morning rituals, including making a lavish breakfast (Dr. Mehmet Oz actually recommends that breakfast should be your biggest meal of the day), brushing of the teeth and shaving with a very sharp razor.

The theme has many parodies of Youtube, including a hilarious video which shows Dexter as a Hassidic Jew.

So, we are asking who composes the ever-catchy title tune, is the answer?

A) Daniel Licht

B) Danny Elfman

C) David Carbanara

D) Michael Giacchino

Good luck!