Potluck Quote of the Day: Howard Zinn on Monopoly

Greetings to those of you in Germany, Spain and Australia........as well as to those of you who might just be checking us out on your wi fi from Ozo Coffee Pearl in Boulder, Colo., where perhaps you are reading a print edition of "Boulder Weekly" or from Publik Coffee in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah...........

Tonight, we start a series of quotes from noteworthy people, both alive and dead, who made contributions to society (yes, we will not quote Charles Manson, but Marilyn Manson is a possibility).

And, we start with the late very progressive scholar Howard Zinn (1922-2010). Once you read this quip, you will understand why we went with a Monopoly game board; Scrooge McDuck was out alternative choice.

Here is the quote from Zinn:

"Capitalism has always been a failure for the lower classes. It is now beginning to fail for the middle classes."




 https://www.publikcoffee.com/#/locations

http://www.ozocoffee.com

http://www.boulderweekly.com/

 

Democratic Forum Tweet (3 of 3): That's a Wrap

With images of Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley (pict. top), MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow (pict. center) and They Might Be Giants (we are using them to fill space, and it looks a suitable image for a finale). TMBG is actually on tour right now in Australia.

O'Malley is running against Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Dick Cheney (that's a joke) for the Democratic party's 2016 presidential nominee.

Tonight's debate took place at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, where my late grandfather Dudley "Doc" Sturgis once taught economics. We also noticed the sharp irony that the last GOP debate took place at Colorado University in Boulder, Colo., a progressive college town, and the current Democratic debate is taking place in a zip code which has probably voted for every Republican candidate since Chester Arthur.

Here are the tweets:

1) Secular Talk: Bernie Sanders runs circles around the other candidates when it comes to both substance and confident messaging.

2) Catholic Democrats: Bernie Sanders has become a lot sharper when discussing racial disparities and ways to address racial inequality.

3) Pat Bagley (liberal political cartoonist for The Salt Lake Tribune): Bernie Sanders isn't proposing anything more radical than what Eisenhower implemented in the '50s.

4) Suzy Khimm (liberal journalist with "The New Republic"): Free points for media-bashing wooooooo.....

5) E.J. Dionne, center-left columnist for the Washington Post: Smart move by Bernie Sanders to criticize 'stupid' Republican attacks on each other and to say Democrats don't want to campaign like that.

6) Andrea Mitchell (NBC News reporter): Rachel Maddow to Bernie Sanders: What is the misconception about you? He says people think I'm grumpy.

7) Anna Douglas (Rock Hill Herald): Maddow asking the gun Q. Had to know this was coming.

8) Jessica Valenti (The Guardian, UK): I really do enjoy watching Bernie.

9) Zaid Jilani (progressive Muslim activist): Bernie is doing well in this Dem Forum. He's coming off as very loose; I think better than the debate."

http://www.theymightbegiants.com/

http://yorkdems.com/

http://scdp.org/

http://www.msnbc.com/

http://www.heraldonline.com/

http://www.winthrop.edu

Colorado Republican Debate Tweets: The DC Insiders Perspective (3 of 3)

Instead of focusing on strife in places like Afghanistan, Syria, and South Sudan, the BBC World Service will be giving live updates from the CNBC Republican Debate held tonight in Boulder, Colorado. Perhaps, that it is indeed quite fitting.

SPOILER ALERT: The Kansas-Iowa State college volleyball game we mentioned in earlier tweets resulted in a Kansas victory (3-1).

These tweets are from Washington, DC, media outlets as well as some partisan and non-partisan observers. Now, the BBC is saying that Google is trying to reach remote jungle areas in Indonesia, hmm....yeah, we can't imagine we get many hits from those areas.

The photo above is of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex), one of the Republican candidates, who bears a stark resemblance to the late "Dracula" actor Bela Lugosi.

Here are the tweets:

1) The Hill: "Ben Carson on homosexuality_ I believe our Constitution protects everybody."

2) The Onion (a satirical publication): Jeb Bush Inching Podium Closer to Center of Stage During Commercial Breaks.

3) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are just on a different level tonight.

4) Robert Costa (Washington Post): Bush muted. No more hits on Rubio for now.

5) Bernie Sanders (liberal presidential candidate): "It is an embarrassment that we have a major political party that rejects the overwhelming science on climate change."

6) Emily Stephenson (Reuters): Rubio: Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC, it's called the mainstream media.

7) Glenn Kenny (movie critic): One liners not withstanding Rubio's a goddamn fascist.

8) John Robinson (former  Greensboro, NC "News&Record" news editor): "You poor people watching the GOP Debate. You could be watching the Series or the NBA or Jane Seymour's Skin Care Secrets."

9) Tom Tomorrow (liberal cartoonist): Another hit on the media DRINK.

Colorado Republican Debate Tweet Round-up: The Local Angle (2 of 3)

Colorado Springs, Colorado, is not only the most politically conservative in Colorado, but also one of the leading right-wing settlements in America. But, the CNBC Republicans Debate took place at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo., a liberal enclave which is represented by Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo., pict. above), one of the few openly gay current members of Congress.

Here are tweets which are mostly from Colorado sources, mixed in with an update on the Kansas-Iowa State college volleyball game in Ames, Iowa, which was broadcast on ESPN-U tonight.

1) The Colorado GOP: Packed house at the official Colo GOP watch party. CO Republicans are engaged.

2) Denver Political News: Carly Fiorina blasts politicians for talking about tax reform for years, but not doing anything about it.

3) Jared Polis: Jeb and Rubio fighting as only lovers can.

4) Marshall Zelinger (local newspaper reporter): Chris Christie makes an appearance at the GOPDebate. Better make it worth it, not sure when he's gonna be asked another question.

5) Cyclone Volleyball: ISU has sure fire now! 3-0 run has reduced the Kansas advantage to 9-7 in the fourth.

6) Adrian D. Garcia (Coloradoan Reporter, a newspaper in Fort Collins): CNBC to Fiorina: 'Your board fired you, I'm just wondering why you think we should hire you now?'"

7) Foreign Affairs: For those glued to the GOPDebate tonight, the World Series Game 2 is tied 0-0 at the top of the fourth.

8) College Republicans: Thank you, Ted Cruz for saying what we are all thinking.

 9) Colorado Dems: Rand Paul's budget priorities cuts to programs that hurt Coloradans. 

GOP Debate from Boulder, Colorado: Politics vs. Sports (1 of 3)

Though tonight's CNBC  Republican debate was held in Boulder, Colorado, as opposed to Ames, Iowa, we are going with an image of Cy, the Iowa State mascot, as we were also keeping track of an Iowa State home volleyball versus Kansas as well as the World Series. We will say who won that game in a later entry.

Here are tonight's tweets:

1) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Say what you want about CNN's intro music and stuff, it's WAY better than this.

2) Crowley Report: Let's keep the camera on the panel said a CNBC director who should be fired.

3) Boer Deng ("The Times" of London): Trump clearly never saw Mulan_you know the Great Wall gets breeched.

4) Liz Mair (conservative political strategist): "Donald Trump literally just compared Latin American unauthorized immigrant to Mongolian hordes. Interesting."

5) Jonathan Chait (New York Magazine): "First question for Donald Trump: Has your entire campaign been a dream"

6) Cyclone Volleyball: Maggie Anderson sends a serve wide and we on the board in the third set, 1-1."

7) Joe Perez (Kansas City Royals fan): Please never show the Matthew McConaughey commercial my World Series.

8) David A. Bell (Princeton U historian): Food fight!

9) Kai Ryssdal (host of NPR's "Marketplace"):Why is Trump going after John Kasich? Don't quite get it.

Top 10 Sunday Comic Strips from the Times-Call: Carlos Gonzalez Makes the Chart

Greetings to our blog readers in the Czech Republic, Japan, and Ireland......

As we are posting this, Wolf Blitzer of CNN is interviewing Republican long-shot presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for his views on the nuclear agreement our government has just made with Iran. Yes, of course, we diligently paid attention to Mr. Huckabee.......zzzzzzzz.....Wait, did Huckabee just say Israel borders Iran?! He may want to check the map again.

Politics aside, this week, we are running our top ten from "The Times-Call," a daily newspaper serving the Boulder County suburbs of Denver, Colo. One of the unique aspects of this paper's comic pages is that they run two King Comics strips: 1) "Take It from the Tinkersons" and 2) "The Pajama Diaries," which are not in some major newspapers' funnies section, like "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times" (we're just kidding on the NYT as they don't have a comics section).

For this week's survey, we are going back to strips which ran on Sunday, May 4th. Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies (pict. top) is in reference to "Foxtrot," the top strip in our survey, which depicts a kid catching a fly ball as he is taking a selfie of himself in the process. The second image of a colorful fish is for second place finisher "WuMo" which revolves around a fish who want to plug in a toaster in a fish tank. Lastly, the Bulgarian cuisine picture at the bottom is for "Tinkersons" in which a family meal is interrupted by a cellphone, which perhaps ironically belongs to the father as opposed to his wife and children.

Here is our top ten:

1. Foxtrot

2. WuMo

3. Take It from the Tinkersons

4. Pearls Before Swine

5. Get Fuzzy

6. The Pajama Diaries

7. Dilbert

8. Zits

9. Mother Goose and Grimm

10. Hagar the Horrible (this comic strip also finished tenth last week in our poll of comics from "the Martinsville Bulletin in Martinsville, Va.)

http://www.pajamadiares.com

http://www.tinkersons.com

http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot

http://www.gocomics.com/wumo

http://www.coloradorockies.mlb.com

Quote of the Day: The Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalia Lama of Tibet made an appearance on Capitol Hill this week, of all places, to offer the opening prayer for Congress. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) was among those who had photographs taken with the most recognized Buddhist in the world.

The Dalai Lama also came to Washington, DC, as CPAC 2014, a gathering of arch conservatives like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) were essentially giving rough drafts of would-be TED Talks focusing on how wimpy President Barack Obama has allegedly been with regards to Russian head of state Vladamir Putin regarding the hostile takeover of the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea coast of Ukraine.

Of course, many Republicans, such as Rudy Giuliani have professed admiration for Putin, which lead center-left political columnist E.J. Dionne of "The Washington Post" to suggest on NPR that Republicans are suffering from Putin Envy.

His Holiness was also in Washington, DC, when the Washington Capitals were playing vital home games. The Caps were able to put away the Phoenix Coyotes last night 3-2; we imagine very few people in Tibet or Bhutan watch pro hockey games.

Here is our quote from the Dalia Lama:

"The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred."

http://www.dalailama.com/

http://boulderzen.org/ (Boulder Zen Society in Boulder, Colo.)

http://www.politico.com/

http://thehill.com/

http://www.rollcall.com/

The Return of Friday Night Tweets: Bad Night to Deliver Pizzas in Raleigh, NC

The three images above are of: 1) Soap actress Nadia Bjorlin of "Days of Our Lives" fame (she is apparently not on the show right now, but she has come back twice); 2) Police officers in Troy, Montana, and 3) Local televangelists from Reidsville, NC, we are actually using their image to go with a tweet about Kansas. We do have to thank friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight as he used the image of the Men in Grey on his blog initially. We believe this two tv preachers are associated with the very radical Rev. Johnny Robertson from Martinsville, Va.

Let's go:

1) Nadia Bjorlin @RealNadiaB: "Happy Friday! First day off summer and I'm off to Vegas!"

2) Raleigh News @RaleighNews: "Two pizza delivery drivers robbed minutes apart in Raleigh."

3) The Denver Post @Denverpost: "Ironman triathlon coming to Boulder in August 2014."

4) Wall Street Journal @WSJ: "Montana is the first state to require police get a warrant before tracking a suspect through a cell phone."

5) The Seattle Times @seattletimes: "Got big plans this weekend? Beware of traffic impact
from Saturday's Rock 'N' Roll Marathon"

6) Rolling Stone @rollingstone: "Gun nuts, anti-abortion zealots and free-market cultists are leading Kansas toward disaster."

7) ABC 11 WTVD in Raleigh, NC @ABC11-WTVD: "Report: 2 cannons raised from Blackbeard's ship."

http://www.nadia-bjorlin.com

http://www.visitmt.com

http://www.visittopeka.us

http://www.theknightshift.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare

Today happens to the 449th birthday of one William Shakespeare, from Starford on Avon, England.

In America and perhaps in other remote parts of the globe, like Canada, the day is being celebrated as National Talk Like Shakespeare Day as well.

Many Shakespeare plays are currently in production or will be soon around the country.

The Folger Theatre in Washington, DC, which specializes in Shakespeare plays, will be performing "12th Night" from April 30-June9th.

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder, Colo., will be performing "Midsummer Night's Dream," among other plays from June 7th-Aug 11.

And, in Conway, Ark., where we gather that they joking refer to the Bard as Willy Shakespeare, the Arkansas Shakespeare Festival will be performing "Much Ado About Nothing" in addition to other plays starting on June 6th.

"Whereth outh thou Nutella?" "Whereth outh thou cat food?" "Whereth out though paper towels?"

 Well, we couldn't resist.
http://www.folger.edu

http://www.talklikeshakespeareday.org

http://www.coloradoshakes.org

http://www.arkshakes.com

This Blog Will Go On.....

Since we are surprisingly popular in Greece (the editor of this blog Tilly Gokbudak, who is me, is a Turkish-American), we thought we's post the first entry of 2013 with an image of the Greek shadow puppet Karagiozis who really sets a bad example for children by walking barefoot (we are just kidding....we like being populr in Greece).

Karagiozis has a Turkish counterpart in Karagoz, a bearded anti-intellectual, who frequently bouts with his frenemy, the benevolent Hacivat.

One of our hopes for this year is to post a weekly round-up of weather temps around the globe on Wednesdays. We will probably annoy folks in both Greece and Turkey by posting the temps in Fahreinhiet, but perhaps one day, we will use Celsius as well.

Here we go:

Athens, Greece 51 (partly cloudy)

Boulder, Colorado* 10 (snow)

Charlottesville, Virginia* 48 (cloudy)

Istanbul, Turkey 45 (rain/yagmur)

Lawrence, Kansas 30 (cloudy)

Paris, France 38 (cloudy)

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 28 (partly cloudy)

*- These are American cities, all of which are also college towns.

Virtual Postcard from Illinois- The Sears/Willis Tower

I'm not actually in Chicago, but since Illinois is one of the 8 states we've been through on this mammouth roadtrip, we thought we'd send you 'a virtual postcard from there.'

Apparently, the Sears Tower is now called the Willis Tower; I guess I should thank the kids working at Google's regional office in Boulder, Colo. (yes, that place does exist) or Javier the Intern, which is a long-running gag on my two blogs.

http://www.theskydeck.com

http://www.willistower.com

Sunday Comics Dialogue_ Bombs Away

 

 

Here's a look at today's Sunday comic strip dialogue from "The Denver Post," we were going to give you the weather in Baltimore (45 degrees, partly cloudy) but due to time constriants, we are going to go ahead with some nifty lines from those cartoon balloons. We hope you enjoy:

 

 

 

1) "Louie!!! What are you so excited about?" (from "Overboard*)

 

2) "There are a lot of apocalypse-themed shows on these days" (from "Prickly City*)

 

3) "Pizza!! Pizza!!" (from "The Knight Life" by Keith Knight*)

 

4) "It's just too soon! It's just too soon!" (from "Dilbert")

 

5) "Boy, they're really stetching out this season's winners" (from "Blondie")

 

6) "What's the best way to get rid of garlic breath, I recently had a cold," (from "Luann")

 

7) "What's with the canary?" (from "Mother Goose and Grimm")

 

8) "We should go back in time to 1970" (from "Adam @ Home")

 

9) "No Love, he died before you were born" (from "Family Circus")

 

10) "This is George Washington. You can look him up on the Internet, too." (from "Sherman's Lagoon")

 

11) "Then I spent an hour in the waiting room" (from "Pearls Before Swine")

 

12) "I just tend to get really depressed this time of the year" (from "Mallard Fillmore*, yes- we are still a liberal blog...."; it is a right of center strip)

 

13) "Uhm, sir...what's with all the boxes? Are you moving to an even more prestigious office?" (from "This Modern World"*http://www.boulderweekly.com#)

 

14) "Nicole will go on Facebook and tell everyone how sweet and super awesome you are..." (from "Foxtrot*)

 

 

*- Not a strip that ran in the Sunday "Denver Post"

 

#- Strip ran in "The Boulder Weekly"

 

 

 

Quotes from Famous World Writers, contd._ Voltaire

Today, we continue our quotes with one from the late French writer and intellectual figure Voltaire (1694-1778). We imagine one can find some of his works at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo.

Those of us who have tried creative writing can certainly identify with Voltaire on this quip.

Here is the quote:

"The only reward to be expected from the cultivation of literature is contempt if one fails and hatred if one succeeds."

http://www.boulderbookstore.com

Quote of the Day- Robin Williams

For those of you keeping track of the series, yesterday, I overlooked the fact that Charlton Heston also played Andrew Jackson as President Andrew Jackson in the film "The President's Lady" (1958).

Now that we have that out of the day, let's turn our attention to Robin Williams. He is the latest actor who have played real-life presidents who we are quoting. Williams played Theodore Roosevelt during the Rough Riders years before Roosevelt became president. But, he played Roosevelt in a very non-traditional way as the part was an exhibition piece at a natural history museum which came to life; we are, of course referring to the film "Night at the Museum" (2006) and its sequel which came out three years later.

Both films starred Ben Stiller.

Williams, 61, won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as a psychologist in "Good will Hunting" (1997); the actor got his big break playing the alien Mork on the sitcom "Mork and Mindy" (1974-78), which is very likely the only tv show that took place in Boulder, Colo.

Other actors who have played Theodore Roosevelt including the late Brian Keith (1921-1997) who played him in the film "The Wind and the Lion" (1975). Keith played another president, this time William McKinley in the 1997 tv movie "Rough Riders," which also featured Tom Berrenger as Teddy Roosevelt.

Here is the quote from Mork:

"My God. We've had cloning in the South for years. It's called cousins."

http://www.robinwilliams.com

Status Update- Beat the Clock

Today, we are starting Status Updates as our new blog series. Hopefully, it will last longer than the animated tv version of Kevin Smith's "Clerks" (there is also a more famous film version and a comic book version; we don't think there is a Clerks opera though!). Not that anyone cares, but I actually follow Smith on Twitter. I wonder if he actually still resides in New Jersey.

Here is our first Status Update:

"I really should NOT have slept an extra two hours this a.m. because I can never get them back."


I do blame to excessive zzzzzzzs on staying up too late and sinus mediation, but I know that sounds like whinning.

While putting this piece together, we were curious as to learn what was going on with the Boulder Atomic Clock in Boulder, Col., which has the most accurate time in the country.

According to the clock, which one can now find on the net, it was 15:28:30 eastern time, 13:30:50 in Colorado and it was 11:29:10 in Anchorage, Alaska, where perhaps one person looking at this entry actually resides!

Top 10 Riskiest Neckties to Wear to Work...

The "Tom and Jerry" necktie pictured above probably would NOT cause problems at work unless you had a very uptight boss, however even in hip, liberal places like Berkeley, Calif., or Boulder, Colo., many of these neckties would not be cool. Conversely, rebel flag and Stop Abortion neckties would not work well in an office environment in Lynchburg, Va., (actually we're not certain about that!).

Incidentally, all of these listed ties are available from zazzle.com or other Internet outlets!

Here is our list:

1. Che Guevara necktie (pictured)
2. Marijuana leaf necktie (pictured)
3. Old Soviet Union flag necktie
4. Chairman Mao neckties
5. Stop Abortion neckties
6. Koranic scripture neckties (definitely not a good idea on the Liberty University campus!)
7. Confederate Flag necktie
8. Playboy emblem necktie
9. Two Grooms with Brown Hair necktie (or any other overt gay neckties, not in the fashion sense)
10. Nude Woman Drinking Beer necktie

Other ties that were considered:

Palestinian Flag neckties (really bad idea if you're going to meet with Sen. Joe Lieberman on The Hill).
Rush Limbuagh neckties
Josef Stalin neckties
No Condom neckties
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk neckties (bad idea if you're in Glendale, Calif., which is home to America's largest Armenian population!)

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Store Mascots...?!

Today, we feature another installment on summer series on summer jobs with a photo of The Noid who was the store mascot for Domino's Pizza up until....(ay karamba, we forgot to wiki this?!)......the point when Vanilla Ice went out of fashion.

I never had the fortune/misfortune to dress like The Noid, but I did promotions (I was a Teenage Human Billboard) and deliveries for Domino's as a 19-year-old kid back in the Roanoke, Va., area in 1989.

Personally, I consider this to be the third worst job I ever had behind being a crime reporter for a small newspaper in North Carolina and later teaching ESL to mostly Hispanic inmates at a state prison.

So, I would encourage anyone in our feature town of the month- Akron, Ohio, to actually seek out employment at Capri Pizza, which according to their web site was voted Best Pizza in west Akron. The establishment also features the $7 Killer Steak Sandwich! Who's counting calories?

SIDEBAR: The Akron Aeros lost their home game to the Bowie BaySox from Maryland by a 10-5 margin last night, but the two teams go at it again this evening.

SIDEBAR TWO: Those of you living in one of our favorite towns Boulder, Colo., may want to check out The Sierra Lone Refugee All Stars. The band from Africa was featured in an award-winning documentary which aired on the PBS series "POV" a few summers ago. The show at The Boulder Theater is scheduled for Aug. 7 at 8 p.m.

Today's GeoQuiz- Chile

The capital of Chile which features this mural (pictured here) is the subject of today's GeoQuiz, which we dedicate to students at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colo.,-admittedly one of our favorite college towns.

This city has had a bit of a dark history in recent years as Chile was ruled by dictator Augusto Pinochet from 1974-1990 after he toppled Marxist leader Salvador Allende with the assistance of the CIA. These events were profiled in the epic French documentary "The Battle of Chile" (1975-79) from Chilean emigre Patricio Guzman.

My late uncle Ilhan Gokbudak, who died in 2000, was actually a Turkish diplomat in Chile during the 1970s and 1980s, and he told me many stories about his life there. And, I actually inherited an autograph from Pinochet from him, which felt a bit strange since...well, he was a dictator!

But, today, this city and Chile is back on its proverbial feet as many tourists come to this capital which has also been sister cities with the likes of other capitals ranging from Ankara, Turkey, to Manila, Philippines. This mystery city is also currently a sister city with Miami.

Is this capital city:

A) Asuncion

B) Montevideo

C) Lima

D) Santiago

SIDEBAR: We want to wish a happy birthday to fellow Radford University (Va.) alum Jayma Mays of tv's "Glee" (a show that my friend Moviezzz really, really likes) who turned 31 on Friday. She is originally from the coal-mining town of Grundy, Va., which is not to far away from Wise, Va., where the late actor George C. Scott ("Patton") was born. Many people are surprise to find out that far southwestern Virginia town of Grundy is close to three hours away from Roanoke, Va., my hometown which is the largest city in the region.

SIDEBAR TWO: Spaghetti western movie fans will be happy to learn that TCM is airing the Sergio Leone film "For a Few Dollars More" with Clint Eastwood tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., EDT. It is the sequel to "A Fistful of Dollars." My favorite spaghetti western is another Leone film "Once Upon a Time in the West."

PS-The answer to last week's GeoQuiz was "B," Valencia.

Things We Learned on Twitter Very Early This A.M.

Before anyone accuses us of being snotty liberals who use the beloved "Sesame Street" characters Bert and Ernie to represent the homosexual lifestyle, we should remind you that it was The Rev. Joseph Chambers of Charlotte, NC, who first made the claim that they were a gay couple back in 1994.

Personally, I think one can tell society has gone whacko when the sexual orientation of children's tv show characters are being questioned.

But, this does bring us to What We Learned on Twitter in the wee hours of the morning today when we suffering from insomnia.

It was at this juncture that I saw a tweet from a college student in Lawerence, Kan., that according to the liberal-leaning mega-blog "The Huffington Post" it appears that Cong. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), 50, who is running for Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat may well be a closeted homosexual.

The allegation comes from gay activist blogger Mike Rogers, who is based in Washington, DC, and was featured in the recent documentary film "Outrage" which deals with politicians who are suspected of being gay but vote against gay and lesbian political interests.

Rogers said that he was initially reluctant to pursue the matter of Cong. Kirk's sexual orientation since he has generally been more favorable towards gays than most Republicans. But when Cong. Kirk decided to vote against the lifting of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military, Rogers felt it was appropriate to disclose the allegations.

Rogers said that two men claimed to have had homosexual relations with Kirk while they were in college. The gay blogger also told "The Huffington Post" that someone met Kirk at a 2004 house party and the congressman reportedly asked if a gay man he came across at the party was 'single' (apparently, he wasn't).

For what it's worth, Kirk's ex-wife Kimberly Vertolli who divorced Kirk last year has vehemently denied the rumors.

As for the female college student from Kansas, who 'broke' the story on Twitter for me, she had this thought-provoking tweet this afternoon: "Have I ever told y'all how much guys suck? Cause they do."

I also reached yet another silly Twitter milestone this afternoon, as Boulder the Cat (we are not sure if the feline actually resides in Boulder, Colo.) became the 1,500th 'person' I'm following on Twitter. The cat, whose gender was uncertain at press time, left the following tweet several days ago: "You know to me, personally, a cat that twitters is just as impressive as a dog that skateboards."

We couldn't agree more!

Happy Star Wars Day! (with Kudos to Tom Angleberger)

Since I found out through Twitter that today is Star Wars Day, which I'm sure my friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, is recognizing (he once dressed like a Jedi knight to a local school board meeting to protest a proposed dress code ordinance), I thought I would plug my friend Tom Angleberger's new book (Tom and Chris are actually my only two friends-nudge, nudge, wink, wink) "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda."

Angleberger, who previously wrote another children's book under the pen name Sam Riddleberger, is also a coulmnist for "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va. He was interviewed by that paper's reporter Ralph Berrier Jr. about how he got permission from George Lucas to use Yoda in his book. Angleberger replied that he actually dealt with the Star Wars licensing department instead. And, a woman who works for Lucas took the book home to her ten-year-old boy. He loved it, and thus the force was with Tom (we couldn't resist).

Ironically, Angleberger once interviewed me about a midnight screening of the famous/infamous film "Turkish Star Wars" (1982) with legendary cult action star Cuneyt Arkin, who is now 72 years old (a year younger than Warren Beatty!) that I was hosting at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., in May of 2005 on the eve of my graduation from grad school.

Out of curiosity, I just looked the film's Wikipedia page, and I found that in addition to "Flash Gordon" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the science-fiction film had 'borrowed' music from the likes of "Moonraker," "Ben Hur" and "Planet of the Apes" (that's two Charlton Heston movies!).

Those who live in DC metro area can meet Angleberger at Hooray for Books in Alexandria, Va., on May 14.

The book has been published internationally though we aren't sure if one can buy it in Oslo or Istanbul, but it should be available at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., which happens to be our favorite indy bookstore on planet Earth!