Presidential Quotes (7 of 8): Richard M. Nixon

Greetings to our blog readers in Canada, Belize and Uganda- where we learned that Yuweri Museveni is now president, hopefully he is a nicer guy than Idi Amin!

And, with that reference to a prominent '70s world leader, we turn our attention to President Richard Nixon, who left the White House due to the notorious Watergate scandal, but even though we are not Republicans, we kind of like this guy.

And, at this time, to arbitrarily increase hit numbers, we will mention Bradley Cooper, Elisabeth Hasselback and Kim Kardashian.

Here is our quote from Nixon who makes a 'cameo' of sorts in "The Big Lebowski," a film that was made several years after this death:

"Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then destroy yourself."

http://www.nixonlibrary.gov

Word of the Day: Megalomania

Though we are going with an image of the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the man we had in mind for this entry is Turkey's notorious prime minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A few years ago while visiting Bursa, Turkey, I saw a sticker with a toilet plunger which said: "AK Parti'yi Istemiyoruz/We don't want the AK-Party." And, given that Erdogan is from the ruling AK-Party, which couldn't agree more.

We suspect that our blogs might be blocked in Turkey as we have been very critical of the Turkish government, but hopefully, this can perhaps reach someone in neighboring Bulgaria.

Here is today's word of the day:

'Megalomania" (from Wikipedia): " This is a psychopathological disorder characterized by delusional fantasiesof power, relevance, and omnipotence.

Status Update_ I Wish That Darn Cat Would Come Back In.......

It's 3 a.m., what is Gizmo doing out there? It's a good thing I'm not the father of a teenage daughter! I would probably be like Idi Amin........well, ok maybe not that bad!

UPDATE: Gizmo came back in circa 5:15 a.m.

Things We Learned On Twitter This PM- Softball Team Apparently Isn't 'Gay Enough'

According to the "Seattle Weekly" Twitter page, a gay softball team from San Francisco that competed in the 2008 Gay Softball World Series in Seattle is being disqualified from their second place finish because the team had some straight players.

As a result, three heterosexual players on the men's softball team are suing for $75,000 in damages.

The Seattle alt weekly reported that play was actually stopped during the game and the alleged straight players were interogated about their sexual orientation. The group sponsoring the tournament made the ruling just this week about the matter.

You would think this sort of thing--well in reverse-- would only happen in the Turkish army (forgive the ethnic joke, but since I am a Turkish-American, I can make fun of Turkey which along with The United States is the only western country which bans gays in the military).

The 2010 Gay Softball World Series will take place later this year in Columbus, Ohio. I suppose since I am heterosexual, I won't be able to participate but then again I was never particularly good at softball anyway. And, I seriously doubt that Mount Airy, NC, will send a delegation there even though I bet some of these good ole boys around here are both in the closet and can hit that ball well over the fence!

SIDEBAR:

Speaking of sports, it was a very bad day for my alma maters yesterday. Channel 7 in Roanoke, Va., reported that the Virginia Tech Hokies beat our beloved Radford University Highlanders 15-5 in a men's baseball game that was played at RU.

Similarly, the Glenvar High School boys' soccer team from Salem, Va.,(we actually played with girls when I was on the team in 1988, and they got more playing time than I did though I think that was in part because the coach who acted like Idi Amin didn't care for me) lost to George Wythe High School from Wytheville, Va., by a 5-1 margin. It's too bad the Cold War is over, or else I'd ask Vladamir Putin to drop an A-bomb on Wytheville for revenge........well, hmmmmm.......I suppose that would affect the whole area where I grew up, which is only 70 miles away! (Of course, if it's not obvious, we are just kidding. Love Wytheville. Great truck-stop town!).

Quote of the Week- Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker won an Oscar for his chilling portayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland" (2006). Uganda has made news recently as they are trying to become one of the few places in the world where gays and lesbians are executed for their sexual orientation! (We only thought that happened in Iran and West Virginia!*).


Here is today's quote from Whitaker, which is in reference to Amin:

"I'm not trying to defend him. The Amin I found was not a good man."

We also love Whitaker's film "Ghost Dog:Way of the Samurai" (1999), which was directed by Jim Jarmusch.

*-I am from Roanoke, Va., where we make fun of West Virginia all the time. And, to my friends in places like Bluefield,Charleston and Morgantown- I know you guys do the same thing to us. Of course, our put-downs are a lot funnier!