The Rat is Back: Pearls Before Swine is Our Favorite Sunday Comic Strip in the Roanoke Times

"Pearls Before Swine" focused on a dinosaur named Moneysaurus which featured a surprising cameo with a character from "Dilbert," we assume Stephan Pastis had Scott Adams' ok. "Speed Bump" featured a visit from the Grim Reaper which, of course, always reminds of us Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" (pictured center). "Doonesbury" featured Garry Trudeau making fun of those who deny global warming which makes us assume that Eric Cantor has not read Al Gore's stirring commentary piece in "Rolling Stone" (current issue) about that very topic. But, then again, Cantor seems to have other worries as does Spanish Ambassador Ramon Gil-Casares, who is probably still stunned by how bad Spain played in the 2014 World Cup.

Here are our top ten favorite comic strips from "The Roanoke Times:"

1. Pearls Before Swine

2. Speed Bump

3. Doonesbury

4. Get Fuzzy

5. Funky Winkerbean

6. Garfield

7. Zits

8. Dilbert

9. Agnes

10. Non-Sequitur

http://www.rollingstone.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.doonesbury.com

http://www.gocmics.com/getfuzzy

Happy Graduation, Grads: Here's a List of Commencement Speakers

Congrats to grads, whether you are graduating from the University of Maine or the University of Hawaii. We don't have commencement speakers from those two schools, but here is a list of 15 other speakers who addressed graduates over the last three weekends.


1) Lesli Baskerville (pictured top). North Carolina Central U. Durham, NC

2) Dom Amendum. UNC-Greensboro. Greensboro, NC

3) John Kerry. Yale University. New Haven, Conn.

4) Sheryl Sandberg. Harvard University. Cambridge (Boston), Mass.

5) P. Diddy Combs (pictured middle) Howard University. Washington, DC.

6) Connie Willis. Univ. Northern Colorado. Greeley, Colo.

7) Eric Stough. Animator ("South Park.") Colorado U. Boulder, Colo.

8) Christopher Patten. Notre Dame. South Bend, Ind.

9) Colin Powell (pict. bottom) High Point University. High Point, NC.

10) Cece Stewart. Winthrop University. Rock Hill, SC.

11) Bill and Melinda Gates. Stanford University. Palo Alto, Calif.

12) Marc Bennioff. Univ. of Southern California. Los Angeles, Calif.

13) Al Gore. Princeton University. Princeton, NJ.

14) Adm. William H. McRaven. Univ. of Texas. Austin, Tex.

15) Alex Smith, quarterback of Kansas City Chiefs. Univ. of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Things We Learned on Bing Today- All Things Washington DC

So why are we posting this image of President Barak Obama with Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan; well, if you read below, you will find out in this edition of 'Things We Learned on Bing Today':

1) Namik Tan, 57, is the Turkish ambassador to the United States. Since I'm a Turkish-American, and I follow Ambassador Tan on Twitter, I was aware of this before today. But, I didn't know his age. Additionally, Tan was the ambassador to Israel from 2007-09. The Blue Marmara Flotilla Raid by Israeli forces in 2010, which claimed the life of Furkan Dogan, 18, a Turkish-American from Troy, New York, and seven others on board the ship, strained relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv.

2) Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), 89, a World War Two veteran, is the oldest current U.S. Senator; Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), 79, is the oldest Republican in the Senate. We have heard rumors that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hates him with a passion; we have no idea how well McCain gets along with Senator Frank.

3) Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), 39, is the youngest U.S. Senator; he replaced McCain's buddy Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who was Al Gore's 2000 running mate. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), (born 1971) who is known for his fringe Tea Party politics, is the youngest Republican in the U.S. Senate.

4) Mayor Joshua Cohen, also 39, is the mayor of Annapolis, Maryland, the nearest state capital to Washington, DC. In 2009, Cohen defeated Republican David Cordle 47-41 percent in the election to replace Ellen O. Moyers (D), who is now 77.

5) Coach Paul Hewitt, 50, is the current men's basketball coach at George Mason University in Fairfx, Va., which is some 35 miles south of Washington, DC. Hewitt has been coach of the Patriots since 2011; previously he was coach of Georgia Tech from 2000-11.


http://www.twitter.com/NamikTan

http://www.gomason.com

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

Quote of the Day/Week-Lyndon B. Johnson

Today, we continue our quotes from American vice presidents or veeps, with Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), whom like Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, later went on to become president. Though the circumstances behind Johnson's ascendency to the president were quite tragic as it was in the aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Johnson was re-elected president in 1964 when he walloped Barry Goldwater, winning all but six states, including Goldwater's native Arizona. Among the state that Johnson are several states which have entrenched in red today, including Kansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma and North Dakota.

Johnson was also the last president who had previously been a U.S. Senator (though Gerald Ford was a member of the House of Representatives) before the election of President Barack Obama, though many past and present Senators, including Al Gore, John Kerry and John McCain have attempted to become president in the years in between. Former Sen. Chuck Robb (D-Va.) was Johnson's son-in-law. Johnson, also known as LBJ, was the Senate Majority Leader from 1955-61.

The 36th president/37th veep, died in Johnson City, Tex., outside of Austin, where his presidential library is today.

Here is his quote:

"Every man has a right to a Saturday night bath."http://www.lbjlibrary.org

Quote of the Day/Week_ Al Gore

Today, we continue focusing on politicians who won their party nomination only to lose the general election, with a quote from Al Gore, who actually won the popular vote over George W. Bush in the 2000 general election, which has perhaps made it more awkward for election overseers from America to be trusted in places like Guatemala.

Gore, who turns 64, is also the president of Current TV, which is home to "The Young Turks," hosted by my fellow progressive Turkish-American Cenk Uygur. Gore is also the leading advocate for global warming, and given that it will be 84 degrees in Montgomery, Ala., one has to wonder when those who are vocally against Gore's theories, such as Bill O'Reilly, will concede that the former vice president has some valid points.

But, our aims today are not partisan in nature and to prove that we have a non-partisan quip from Gore:

"Airplane travel has a way of making you look like your passport photo."

SIDEBAR: While the college sports world is focused on the Sweet 16 in men's basketball, post-season women's gymnastics gets underway on Saturday. The University of Michigan, the five-time defending Big 10 championships, head to the University of Iowa to compete with seven other schools, including two highly-ranked teams from Nebraska and Penn State.

On Friday's home meet against the Michigan State Spartans, Michigan won over its rival thanks to junior Katie Zorales (Wheaton, Ill.) and sophomore Joanna Sampson (willow Grove, Pa.).

Sophomore Stephanie Colbert of the home team got a 9.625 on balance beam as the Wolverines won the meet; yes, we checked out her mini-bio on the Wolverines' women's gymnastics home page: Comedian/actor/talk show host Stephen Colbert is not her father.

Quote of the Day/Week- George McGovern

Hmmm...for some reason, we are seemingly popular in Iraq and Slovenia these days.

Today, we start our series on quotes of men who couldn't quite become king as we profile and quip men who lost the presidency of the United States.

On our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," we quoted Bob Dole, 88, the Republican nominee who lost the presidency in 1996 to Bill Clinton.

Here, we quote George McGovern, 89, the Democratic nominee who lost the presidency to Richard Nixon in 1972. McGovern is the oldest man to have either run for or become president. He edges out Dole as well presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, who are both 86.

McGovern is also considered to be the most progressive candidate to have run for president in the modern era, though some may argue that Al Gore, known for his environmental politics, is more liberal. Ironically, McGovern represented South Dakota, a conservative state in the U.S. Senate.

This quote reflects McGovern's strong opposition to the Vietnam War:

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."

CLARIFICATION: Apparently, the Harvard men's basketball team is not on their way to the NCAAs quite yet. Apparently, the Penn Quakers can tie for first place with a win over Princeton tonight and force a one-game playoff. The Ivy League is the one remaining conference in NCAA Division-I basketball without a conference tournament.

Yesterday, Virginia Commonwealth, Loyola (Md.) and Davidson were among the teams to win their respective tourneys.

Special Quote of the Week- Bill Bradley

While the Republicans like Newt Gingrich are having their brewhaha this weekend in New Orleans, we thought we'd quip the NBA legend and former Democratic New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, who was among the first to endorse Barack Obama in his party nomination bid (I actually backed Hillary Clinton!).

While researching this piece, we learned that Bradley has a new book called "The New American Story" and he hosts a Sirius Satellite Radio show called "American Voices." Bradley is also the corporate director of Starbucks; we wonder if he has dropped into the Starbucks in Front Royal, Va., but he is probably a bit too busy for that.

Though he grew up in Missouri, Bradley came to prominence in New Jersey early in life as a member of the Princeton University Tigers. He won a team gold medal for the United States at the 1964 Olympics, and he was named NCAA player of the year in 1965.

Bradley then went on to play for the New York Knicks where he helped win NBA titles in 1970 and 1973, with teammates such as Walt Frazier and Willis Reed. Bradley's number 24 was also retired by the Knicks.

He was a senator for New Jersey from 1979 to 1997, and he unsuccessfully sought the 2000 Democratic nomination which went to Al Gore. Bradley was endorsed by none other than Michael Jordan, who is featured on our other blog "The Daily Vampire" today.

Here is the quote from Bradley who will turn 68 on July 28th:

"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."

This and That- I Forgot About Joe Biden

Since I was in high school, I have been a partisan Democrat, so much so that I wanted to vote for Walter Mondale against Ronald Reagan in 1984 even though I was 14 years old at the time.

But, four years later, my opportunity came, and despite pressure from my Turkish relatives in Istanbul not to 'vote for the Greek,' I did indeed vote for Michael Dukakis over George H.W. Bush, even though Reagan's veep carried Virginia and won the election easily.

The field for the 1988 Democratic nomination seemed rather flat at the time, which lead to them being dubbed 'The Seven Dwarfs,' which Eric Alterman of "The Nation" would say proves that there is really no such thing as a liberal media. Of course, Bill O'Reilly would beg to differ, but we don't really care about what he thinks.

Yesterday, I had a chance to take a quiz for the web site for "Mental Floss" magazine which usually has all sorts of interesting quizzes. I had just talked about "snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" with a friend of mine, so the chance to name the 'seven dwarfs' as in the seven Democratic candidates from 1988 seemed rather nifty to me.

But, much to my suprise, I had a lot of trouble with it. After Dukakis, I remembered that Paul Simon (not the singer) and Bruce Babbitt, both of whom have since died, were candidates. I then remembered Al Gore, who as everyone knows became Bill Clinton's veep, but I had somehow forgotten about our current vice-president Joe Biden who was also in that field! This does beg the question, if I run into him someday at a political rally, do I mention this to him or not?!

I did get a chance to see one of the other 1988 Democratic candidates Richard Gephardt speak during a rally in Georgetown, SC, as he was trying to win the 2004 nomination which went to John Kerry. In fact, I rediscovered photographs I took of that event just a few weeks ago.

Speaking of political campaigns, I was just thinking when Mitt Romney, who we can't wait to make fun of again (we called him The Republican Dukakis during the last go around), that during his kick-off speech in New Hampshire that he did sound like Clark Kent and he was trying to convince Republican voters that he would be Superman when it came to reversing the American economic downfall.

Sure enough, some artists at "The Week" magazine had the same idea as they have Romney front and center under the caption "Waiting for Superman," in reference to an accalimed documentary that came out last year. Interestingly enough, Romney said yesterday that he differs with other Republicans in that he thinks global warming is partially man-made. Ironically, Paul Guggenheim, the director of Al Gore's documentary on global warming "An Inconvenient Truth," also directed "Waiting for Superman," which is a film about education.

Lastly, we had a chance to listen to the Turkish psychedelic compilation "Turkish Freak-Out" on vinyl yesterday afternoon just after listening to a streaming of "The Turkish Music Hour" on WUVT-FM (90.7-Blacksburg, Va.), and the recording from Bouzouki Joe Records is very good.

It includes 18 tracks from the likes of Erkin Koray (who turns 70 this month), Ajda Pekkan and the late Baris Manco. I found it at All Day Records in Carrboro, NC, just outside Chapel Hill.

Also, on yesterday's WUVT broadcast, I heard a song called "Sarhos" ("Drunk") by a singer named Dario Moreno (1921-1968). I had never heard of Moreno, and I presumed he was an Italian man who happened to sing a Turkish song, but he was in fact actually from Turkey!

Sarah Palin's Netflix Que

(The following is satire, but there is some truth to it......but, I still this won't go over well with the Alaska Tea Party)

1. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (film version)
2. Born Yesterday (1950)
3. Slap Shot
4. Juno
5. Born Yesterday (1993)
6. March of the Penguins
7. Dudley Do-Right (film version)
8. The Deer Hunter
9. The Passion of The Christ
10. An Inconvienent Truth*

*-This one got in by mistake..........!

Kudos to Fellow Blogger Chris Knight on Passing One Million Hits

Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, achieved a loyal cult following in 2006 when he ran for Rockingham County School Board because of his radical Star-Wars themed ad which got shown on VH-1, and E! as well as the now defunct "The Jay Leno Show."

Knight now has his own Wikipedia entry, which is more extensive than several Olympic American gold medalists, and a blog (http://www.theknightshift.blogspot.com) which just surpassed the one million hit mark last week.

I must profess that a part of me admires my fellow North Carolina resident for reaching this milestone, but I actually enjoy being 'under the radar.' Especially, since I expected some sort of condemnation for jokes I made about the likes of Clarence Thomas, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin and Pat Robertson, but I never got any though once I did get some flack from a man who may have been Cheney himself?! (And, since he's recovering from a recent heart attack, he may be glancing at this page yet again........well, we actually hope that's NOT the case).

Knight and I have political differences. He is a Libertarian who usually votes for third party candidates in national elections. While I have voted for every Democratic candidate for president since 1988 when I turned 18, and that included Michael Dukakis, which did not go over well with my Turkish relatives!

I also believe global warming is a real problem though I realize Al Gore is perhaps not the best delivery man for this serious situation because he is a partisan figure, but Knight basically thinks it's all a hoax (from what I gather).

Knight is also a devout follower of the cult ABC series "Lost," which I've only watched twice.

But, in spite of these nuanced differences, I really love his blog especially a recent entry on how a statue of Andy Griffith in Mount Airy, NC, was defaced by vandals?! And, he is always up on the latest video gizmos and science fiction films as well as some unique and strange stories that few of us seem to discover. And, there is his feud with the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., who is pretty much the Jim Jones of southside Virginia (you can quote me on that!).

So, we congratulate Knight and I expect he will be getting his 2,000,000th in the very near future or at least before that crazy preacher in Martinsville's prediction for Doomsday?!

Political Confusion Test (16 of 21) Earth Day or Tea Party

Yes, folks one can see the political divide everywhere including where I live in Boneville County, NC (fictional county).

Just yesterday, there was a 'tea party' in the town of Ararat (fictional name) where folks held up negative signs about their commander-in-chief. At another such rally in Greensboro (real town), one person refered to our president as 'Baby Killer Obama' (yes, I agree that person is an idiot!).

For those in Karachi (real place), the tea party is being held to protest Barack Obama's efforts to stabilize our economy with a bail out package, even though Republicans are just as too blame for the economic mess as anyone else in Washington, DC (real place).

But, on Saturday, in Boneville we will have an Earth Day celebration with live bands outside the Backstreet Buzz Coffee-Shop (real place). This is undoubtedly going to be the very first Earth Day celebration in Boneville.

Some how, I doubt my good friend Chris Knight (I'm sure he'll let me use his real name since he is an uber extrovert) won't be there as he once refered to Earth Day as 'Nerf Day.'

I, for one, am not an environmentalist fanatic but if Ahnuld thinks global warming is a reality and each summer day in Boneville feels as hot as hell's kitchen when it's on fire then I think it's safe to conclude that Al Gore has a valid point.

I would write more but I have a class to teach at some real town in a real rural part of southern Virginia.

Sidebar_ Oooops! This was supposed to be on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com