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

10 for 10 (10th Entry)................Defining Earworm with Michael Bolton

Greetings to our blog readers in Ukraine, Turkey, and Ghana.......

Today, we bring you the 10th and final installment of our 10 for 10 series commemorating the tenth anniversary of this very blog, which went up (in its original form) on Sept. 21, 2005. It was a radically different time then as Ari the beloved family tuxedo cat was still alive. Alas, he died just shy of his 20th birthday on March 2nd, 2007. Ok, otherwise, I guess things haven't really changed that much!

We are using an image of Michael Bolton because when we hear the slang word 'earworm,' the junkbox in our minds starts playing "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?"..........which makes us wonder if Dick Cheney urged that this song be played to terrorist or terrorist suspects while waterboarding them at Gitmo, the American naval base in Cuba.

I suppose we will never know the answer to that, but we have three definitions of urban slang words/terms for you:

1) Earworm: A song that sticks in your mind relentlessly, and will not leave no matter how hard you try (applies to Michael Bolton as well as any song by Air Supply).

2) Gold digger: A person who goes out with you for for your money, or someone who dates Tori Spelling!

3) Gender ninja: A person has an uncertain gender based on their personal appearance, hmm....see also the character Pat that was once part of "Saturday Night Live".....

http://www.urbandictionary.com

Presidential Quotes, John Adams

Our quote from John Adams, America's second president who was made more famous by actor Paul Giamatti's portrayal of him for an HBO mini-series, reflects some irony as his son John Quincy Adams became prez too:

"I must sudy politics and war so that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."

We gather that today John Adams is busy fly-fishing in Montana and Wyoming with Dick Cheney (yes, that is a joke).

Blogging in 3.5 minutes of Less_ The Six Largest 'Cities' in Wyoming

Greetings to our blog readers in Mexico, New Zealand and Peru.

We wrote 'Cities' as opposed to Cities in the header because most 'cities' in Wyoming have a low population unlike major cities.

We found out today that the state flower of Wyoming is the Castilleja Linuriifolia (hurray, it looks like we spelled it right; cartoonist Keith Knight calls these things 'life's little victories).

This flower will be in view at the upcoming Crested Butte Wildflwoer Festival in Crested Butte, Colo., from July 8-14th.
 
Here are the six largest 'cities' in Wyoming, a state where it is very difficult for Democrats to win elections; it is after all the home state of Dick Cheney (biting my tongue):

1. Cheyenne (the capital) 59,446

2. Casper 55, 316

3. Laramie 30,816

4. Gillette 29, 087

5. Rock Springs 23, 036

6. Sheridan 17,444

SIDEBAR: Since we are, for some reason, popular in El Salvador, I wanted to congratulate their under-21 national soccer team for stunning Australia 1-0 in Trabzon, Turkey, yesterday, where the U-21 World Cup match was played.

http://www.crestedbuttewildflowerfestival.com

http://www.wyomingtourism.org

http://www.colorado.com

http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com

http://www.knightlifecomic.com

Happy 76th Birthday, Daffy Duck

We want to wish our animated fowl a happy birthday; Daffy Duck first appeared in the cartoon "Porky Duck Hunts" on April 17, 1937. Somehow since he is known for an infamous duck hunting incident, we imagine this is not one of Dick Cheney's favorite cartoons. Amazingly enough, the former American vie president is four years younger than Daffy Duck.

One vintage line from Daffy Duck is in the cartoon "Duck Amuck" (1953): "Would it be too much to ask if we can make up our minds?, hmmmmmm...."

We are also going to wish Daffy Duck a happy birthday in six different languages:

1) gratulere med dagen (Norwegian)

2) z okazj urdzin (Polish; Poland is the home to one of the most famous non-American cartoons "Lolek and Bolek")

3) vsechno nejlepski (Czech)

4) buon compleanno (Italian)

5) gelukkige verjaardag (Dutch)

6) Tom Huledet (Hebrew)

Quote of the Day/Week-Angela Davis

Yes, we may well be the only between here and Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to post back to back entried from former veep Dick Cheney, who is we believe to the right of Attila the Hun (forgive the in-joke), and sixties radical activist Angela Davis, who is we believe to the left of Barney the Dinosaur, whom the Rev. Joseph Cambers of Charlotte, NC, cites as an example of socialist propaganda.

Davis was one of many African-Americans photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders as part of his The Black List series which was shown at the Smithsonian National Portraits Gallery in Washington, DC.

Here is the quote from Davis:

"First of all, I didn't suggest that we simply get rid of all prisons."

Quote of the Day- Dick Cheney

 

 Ironically, given that we are of the center-left ideology, we are quoting Dick Cheney today as part of our new series of quotes from American vice presidents. Last week, we quoted Richard Nixon, who was also once a veep himself.

Here is Cheney's quote:

"Except for the occasional heart attack, I never felt better."

Quote of the Week: Leo Tolstoy

I may not share my fellow Turkish-American Elif Batuman's love for Russian literature. Batuman, whom I've never met, is a respected nonfiction writer who has published many articles in "The New Yorker" and she wrote a brilliant 2010 memoir "The Possessed." While much of that book talks about long, famous Russian novels, Batuman also talks about spending time in Uzbekistan where she spent a considerable long time engrossing the fascinating, yet very remote country.

Of course, one of the novels that Batuman was examining was the epic 1869 work "War and Peace" from Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) which is 1,225 pages.

Here is Tolstoy's quote:

"Historians are life deaf people who go on answering questions that no one asks them."

SIDEBAR: When I saw the headline in "The Huffington Post" that "Man Survives 96 Minutes Without a Pulse," I thought they might be refering to Dick Cheney, but the man is in fact an unmplyed chef named Howard Snitzer from Goodhue, Minnesota.

SIDEBAR TWO: Earlier tonight, we had a chance to listen to the show "Progressive Torch and Twang," an alternative country/folk/Americana music show from Impact89-FM, the college station from Michigan State via the Internet. The show is extremely entertaining and amusing. Among the highlights on tonight's show was a song from Eddie Spaghetti, an alt country singer from Seattle, who sang a tune called "Jesus Never Lived on Mars." We can't imagine that one would ever hear it on a country music station in Lynchburg, Va.!

Things We Leaarned on Google Today_ It Was 20 Years Ago Today...

Actually, it was slightly longer than 20 years ago today, but the first McDonald's opened in Moscow in February of 1990 pre-dating both the end of the USSR as we know it and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The McDonald's at Pushkin Square in Moscow is the world's busiest as it serves up 30,000 customers a day! The fast food giant now operates in 37 cities across Russia.

I also saw a McDonald's in Baku, Azerbaijan, when I was there in 2008. Ironically, I actually liked the food at Misha's Cafe a lot better. The cafe which served Russian food is named after the 1980 Olympic mascot bear, pictured above.

Also, I must profess that I thought I was going to have heart attack (I am only 41 years old, but Dick Cheney* had his first heart attack at age 37), after I dined on a Quarter Pounder combo at a McDonald's in Virginia (yeah, we're not mentioning the town, sorry!). The incident in which my blood pressure went up 35-40 points reminded of the documentary film "Supersize Me" by Morgan Spurlock, who is only a few months younger than me (we were both born in 1970). And, Spurlock is originally from Beckley, West Virginia, which is relatively close to Roanoke, Va., where I am from. His new film "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" about product placement should be in theatres soon.

I should mention that I am craving Milk Duds right now, those things are great for sore throats!

Incidentally, we were originally hoping to ask Google how many McDonald's there were in Moscow, Russia, and we never got an exact answer. However, we did go on the company's web site, and find that there were apparently two McD's in Moscow, Idaho!

*-This does not mean I liked him as veep/president.

Revised Top 10 New Year's Resolutions

There were actually 50 New Year's Eve resolutions that I made; many of them will never, ever be made public--- not even if I am water-boarded (sorry, Dick Cheney!).

But, we came up with ten that are somewhat plausible or reasonable. Hopefully, we will actually get or three of these things accomplished.

And, of course, I would never resort to Pinocchio tactics to go out with an attractive woman....why is my nose growing?

Taking a cruise down the Nile River was actually number 39, but that has been removed for painfully obvious reasons, though hopefully there will be enough political stability in Egypt to go see King Tut's tomb one day.

Here is the list:

1. Go out with a cute girl you've just met for coffee (well, it will have to be someone else besides Natalie Portman!)

2. Lose about 15-20 pounds...yeah, I say this every year

3. Go to Asheville already (I live in NC, but it's still a bit of a drive from Roanoke Rapids*).

4. Eat more Turkish food, less Mexican food (sorry amigos, nothing personal, but I could go for a good steak burrito right now...)

5. Try to watch fewer bad movies

6. Volunteer for the local animal shleter or a non-profit group with no political agenda

7. Volunteer for the Democratic Party so Palinzilla does not become prez!

8. Write a memoir, a novel or a play already (this is always on the resolutions list!)

9. Figure out what the guy with the attractive girlfriend did to get her, even if it involves lying!

10. More mocha; less cappucino!

*- I don't actually live in Roanoke Rapids, NC, but I had to come up with a place to thwart potential cyberstalkers.

Quote of the Day- Alfredo Stroessner (Dead Paraguayan Dictator)

Since we quoted North Korean dictator Kim Jung Il, who is still alive and well (just ask the citizens of Pyonyang), on our other blog "The Daily Vampire," we thoughts it might not to be disengenious to quip the late Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner (1912-2006) even though like most Latin American dictators he was blamed for kidnapping, torture and corruption.

The right-wing dictator was the second-longest serving head of state in Latin America behind Cuba's Fidel Castro as he 'held office' in the capital Asuncion from 1954-1989. As one might expect, he was overthrown in a coup d'etat. But, Stroessner lived a full life as he died in exile in Brazil in 2006 at the age of 93. However, in the processor, the government officials who took over for him decided to remove his name from the main national airport.

Stroessner was also named "Dictator of the Month" by the web site dictatorofthemonth.com while he was still alive in April of 2003.

Paraguay is having a succesful run at The World Cup as they prepare to meet Japan in the knock-out round.

Here is the quote fom Stroessner, which could only come from an 'el presidente:'

"We can't make any statements here. We can't talk about the internal politics of Paraguay."

Yeah, I thought he sounded like Dick Cheney too!

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?!

Five People You'll Meet in Hell (satire)

Before I start typing away here, I do want to mention that I am certainly NOT the first person to satire Mitch Albom's book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven." In fact, I found out while researching this piece that there is a satire book entitled (obviously!) "The Five People You Meet in Hell" by Rich Pablom.

I have read neither book, but I made a quick list of five people I would meet if well, things didn't 'quite work out:'

1) Jay Leno- Yes, like all Conan O'Brien fans I hate this guy's guts. My blogger friend Phil Nugent has a great link on his blog to another blog which proclaims that Leno is Satan himself. No disagreement here! The blog "Stuff White People Like" also has a feature on Conan. I think Leno is hip for those who always vote Republican, go to evangelical churches, or watch Lawrence Welk and reruns of "Are You Being Served?"
Even my 70-year-old mom prefers David Letterman.

2)Pat Robertson- He should be numero uno actually. A letter-to-the-editor in "The Roanoke Times" (Roanoke, Va.) actually praised this evil tv evangelist for his comments about how Haiti's earthquake disaster was caused by a pact with Hot Stuff. A letter I have written to a newspaper in Greensboro, NC, condemning Robertson has alas yet to be published?!

3) Recep Tayyip Erdogan- This man is the prime minister of my late father's country Turkey. People of Greek and Armenian heritage seem to arbitrarily hate anyone who is Turkish, which is of course NOT the reason I hate this man. In fact, they are the few people who have ever made me defend him! But, Turkey's first openly Muslim fundamentalist PM has been a nightmare from day one. A Turkish friend of mine called him "The Turkish Bush." His wife wears a head scarf and he can't speak English?! His diplomatic skills are horrible though like his American counterpart Erdogan does connect with rural people. Erdogan also made a bonehead remark on "The Charlie Rose Show" critisizing Israel while defending Ankara's working relationship with Iran. All of this makes me want to reach for the raki* bottle!

*-A Turkish alcoholic drink similar to the Greek drink Ouzo. It is potent to put someone on their %$&!

4) Dick Cheney- I think even if I were a Republican I would believe this man was an agent of Satan himself!

5) Sarah Palin- She is Dick Cheney minus the brain and .............well, this is a family blog! (see Cheney's first name)

Political Humor- Top 10 Reasons Why I Am a Democrat

For those of you living in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, this is in reference to some comments that Virginia Beach, Va., tv evangelist Pat Robertson made regarding the earthquake disaster in Haiti which has killed at least 100,000 people so far.

I would explain this further, but it is lunch time!

Here is my list:

1. Pat Robertson
2. Pat Robertson
3. Pat Robertson
4. Pat Robertson
5. Pat Robertson
6. Pat Robertson
7. Pat Robertson
8. Pat Robertson
9. Pat Robertson
10. Dick Cheney


PS_ Amazingly enough, Sarah Palin didn't make the list!

Remembering the Newspaper-Restaurant Review

Yesterday while I was watching "Face the Nation," I witnessed former (vice) president Dick Cheney, who always reminds me why I am a Democrat (Nancy Pelosi looks so good by comparison!), taking a dig at Colin Powell.

Perhaps, the two need to have lunch at Siroc, a new establishment on 15th Street in Washington, DC, that was profiled in "The Washington Post Magazine" on May 3, so they can patch their differences.....that is, if anyone can patch their differences with Cheney.

Reviewer Tom Sietsema said Siroc is a place in which upon reading the menu one can sense that there is a chef in the kitchen who wants 'lure you in with familiar food even as he slips in a few surprises.'

That chef is Martin Lackovic, who co-owns the restaurant, and his specialties include octopus salami and handmade pasta. There is also the rabbit sausage dish, which might equally offend both Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig.

Sietsema said he was impressed that Siroc offered many dishes under $25 and a pleasant atmosphere. He said that he was also intrigued to see the place busy on a Monday night.

Siroc is a no-smoking establishment, and they offer valet parking on Fridays and Saturdays. Hmmmmm........I'm not sure many restaurants in Danville, Va., offer octopus salami.