20-Word Fiction: Sunday Night with Clarence Thomas

We dedicate this post to 'my congressman' Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) who is playing a came of kick the can to prevent President Barack Obama to finding a Supreme Court justice to replace Antonin Scalia who died while on a hunting trip to Texas.

If November's election were on Tuesday and Goodlatte were to run against Woody Woodpecker, the red-haired bird would get my vote.

Though he is to the left of us, as we support Hillary Clinton while he supports Bernie Sanders, many years ago left-wing documentary filmmaker proposed running ficus plants against embodied, entrenched members of Congress; we fully agree with him on that point!

Here is our short, short, short story:

"The Supreme Court in my mind has voted 4-3 to stay awake; of course, Justice Clarence Thomas abstains as always."

http://www.michaelmoore.com

Top 10 Dinner Guests: Will Alexandra Petri Be Running Late.....

Greetings to our blog readers in Ireland, Greece and Pakistan....

Today, we start a new entry series as we look at ten dinner guests we would love to have at our table for dinner; we got this idea from both "Washingtonian" magazine http://www.washingtonian.com and the NPR show "The Dinner Party Download" http://www.dinnerpartydownload.org which runs on radio stations such as WUNC-FM (91.5-Chapel Hill, NC) http://www.wunc.org

Among our guests would be "Washington Post" social life columnist Alexandra Petri http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/ who wrote a vintage column about the art of losing.

The other people who made our top ten include: 1) Ambassador Rudolf Bekink of The Netherlands (pict. top), 2) Film director Sofia Coppola (pict. center) and 3) Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.). Here is our top ten:

1. Rudolf Bekink

2. Sofia Coppola

3. Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va; even though we don't tend to agree with him).....

4) Gillian Jacobs of "Community"

5) Stephan Pastis, comic strip guy

6) Alexandra Petri

7) Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)

8) Parker Posey, independent film actress

9) Zeynep Tufekci, UNC professor, expert on Turkey

10) Roy Williams, UNC men's basketball coach

SOTU Tweets: Which Member of Congress Will Fall Asleep Tonight?

Greetings to Our Blog Readers in Lithuania, Italy and Brazil as well as the city of Eskisehir, Turkey, where it will be 4:00 a.m. when President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union (SOTU) address to both houses of Congress.

We are projecting that Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will be the two members who go ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..........tonight, but then again, we love making fun of Republicans though we are just a tad bit more objective tonight.

The images are of Cong. Gerry Connolly (D-Va), a sleeping man who is younger than most members of Congress except those crazy Tea Partier like Cong. Mia Love (R-Utah) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Chilly Willy, the cartoon penguin, who hopes the GOP realizes global warming is a reality.

Here are the tweets:

1) Matt Fuller (reporter with "Roll Call"): Fox News, The Daily Beast, and Roll Call just teamed up to count 449 regular seats on the House floor. Will send breakdown if needed."

2) Connolly: Caught Selma at Cinema Arts. The LBJ miscue notwithstanding, it's a moving rendition of the critical civil rights events of 1964-5. (Cinema Arts is a movie theatre in Fairfax, Va.)

3) Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va): "Tune in President Obama will deliver the State of the Union tonight at 9 p.m. Will we hear more of the same?"

4) Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY): "Honored to have Vanessa Fontaine, Avonte Oquendo's mother at the SOTU tonight to rally support for Avante's Law. (Avante was a New York City teen with autism who was found dead last week).

5) Chris Cillizza or The Fix (Washington Post political columnist): "Who will fall asleep in the State of the Union tonight?" (We were actually asking the same question before this tweet)

6) Cong. Joe Crowley (D-NY): "Our president has been a champ for the middle class and has expanded access to the American dream. Looking fwd to his SOTU address!"

7) Politico: "Obama's SOTU to address 'middle-class economics' and to call for a 'smarter kind of American leadership abroad.'"

8) Sierra Club (progressive environmental group): "The Senator who is giving the GOP State of the Union response campaigned on ending the EPA" (Environmental Protection Agency; Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican freshman from Iowa, has been become both a darling of the far right and a pariah to those on the left and center-left even though she has barely been in office).

9) John Dickerson (of CBS News): "I think Joe Biden should play the spoons tonight."

10) National Review (a conservative journal): "White House Drops 'News' from Fox News placard at SOTU lunch."

11) Talking Points Memo: "SCOTUS (Supreme Court) ruling against Obamacare threatens GOP in 2016 swing states."

http://www.rollcall.com

http://www.politico.com

http://www.c-span.org

No Blog Entry Today as I'm Sick as a Cat

Since I am under the weather today, we will feature this image of a Siamese cat roaming the streets of Sofia or Varna or some other Bulgarian city. We got this image from googling 'Cats in Bulgaria.'

We also want to mention that the great '80s independent rock band Big Head Todd and the Monster, which we believe are from Athens, Ga., will perform at the fabled 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, on Sat. Jan. 18th; the concert costs $27.50, which costs as much as a parking lot ticket in the nation's capital. Somehow, we can't imagine that Congs. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) will be there???!!!

Speaking of Goodlatte, though we are opposed to him politically, he is from my hometown of Roanoke, Va., as is cult film director Charles Cullen, who turns 50 today. His film "The Day the Whole $%#&*@ World Blew Up" is clearly influenced by the films of Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman (yes, we are kidding!).......but, Charles Cullen of Roanoke, Va., should not be confused with the other Charles Cullen.

The other Cullen, who is just three years older than our Charles Cullen, is the most notorious serial killer in New Jersey history!

http://www.930.com

http://www.bigheadtodd.com

http://www.catchannel.com

http://www.cullenstudio.net

The Govt Shutdown is Finally Over (after 16 days)

Thanks for those of you coming over from our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com where we reported on how House members in Congress representing North Carolina voted on the bill to stop the federal government shutdown.

There are three House members representing Virginia, including Congs. Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and Bobby Scott. Every Democrat in the House favored the bill.

It was disappointing for many of us in southwest Virginia to see Congs. Bob Goodlatte, Morgan Griffith and Robert Hurt vote against the measure.

But, at least three Virginia Republican reps voted for the bill:Congs. Frank Wolf, Robert Wittman and Scott Riggell.

The other two Republican members from Virginia are Congs. Eric Cantor, a majority whip, and Randy Forbes.

This means that many national parks in Virginia, including Skyline Drive in Front Royal and the Arlington National Cemetery are back in business.

Our entry last week suggesting Cong. Griffith dine with Turkish ambassador Namik Tan remains highly popular!:

http://politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com/2013/10/dc-week-teaser-perhaps-cong-morgan.html

http://www.vademocrats.org/

http://www.rpv.org/

http://www.thehill.com

Tweets Conisdering All Things Washington DC (2 of 2): Saving the Ferret from a Govt Shutdown

If House Republicans get their way, a family from Nashville, Tenn., who travels to the nation's capital may not be able to go to the National Zoo. Conversely, they may not be able to go to Smoky Mountain National Park in their own state as well (it's always good to open with an editorial comment, it gets people's attention!).

Here are a look at today's DC tweets, from the right and the left alike. Just so no one is confused, just because I'm including tweets from a Republican member of the House, and a conservative magazine, doesn't mean, I agree with them:

1) Mo Ellithee (Democratic strategic commenting on the Virginia Gov. Race): "Ken Cuccinelli says Terry McAullife is the only candidate with a F-rating from the NRA. Tim Kaine did too. Won statewide 3 times. Next?"

2) Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va): "Another Obamacare delay announced. Another reason the #SeanteMustAct."

3) Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC): "Tomorrow, I'm leading a hearing on my bipartisan bill to improve newborn screenings, which reduces preventable deaths among infants."

4) National Review: "Obama thinks O'care is unpopular b/c it's unfamiliar. Or maybe b/c it's more expensive and less quality healthcare?"

5) National Zoo (not a partisan tweet): "We're still working to help black-footed ferrets!"

6) George Washington U's women's volleyball team: "Very excited to welcome Alumnae this weekend for a our match vs. Towson" (modified version of the tweet they posted.)

http://www.nationalreview.com/

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

Getting Ready for the Trip of a Lifetime!

I must say at the age of 40 there are some things I never thought I would ever do in my life, and White Water Rafting in the New River of West Virginia, was one of them!

When my good friend Nishan Shakazi, a Pakistani geology instructor at Wytheville Community College in Wytheville, Va., first asked me about the proposed trip plan three weeks ago, I was hesitant for several reasons.

First, it is the weekend of the Final Four, which includes a game between West Virginia University and Duke, and I really enjoy sitting at home and being a couch potato this time of the year.

Second, it is Easter weekend, and even though I'm not a religious person, my mom likes to take me up to Mountain Lake, where "Dirty Dancing" was filmed, in southwestern Virginia for brunch there during Easter weekend. They have such great food there!

But, as you get older, you realize life is passing you by. I will probably never to get to date a gorgeous young woman like Jennifer Love Hewitt, travel to an exotic place like Zimbabwe for a safari trip or run against Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) in my home district of southwestern Virginia (the fact that I almost went to Cuba with a group of socialists while attending Radford University would in itself doom my campaign even though I consider myself a centrist Democrat today.)

So, why not go to West Virginia and have a great time.

What's the worst thing that could happen to me.........besides drowning?!