DC Week (6 of 8): Congressional Reps from Red States

This list of Congressional reps contains some familiar names, including Cong. James Clyburn (D-SC; pictured top) who is an assistant Democratic leader in the House and Cong. Tom Cole (R-Okl.;pictured bottom) was once head of the Republican National Committee.

Cong. Mark Sanford (R-SC) won a seat in Congress_as a Republican no less_ in spite of a major sex scandal when he was governor of the Palmetto State.

Cong. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex) is the identical twin of Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio; Julian made what even non-partisan pundits considered an exemplary speech at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, NC, last year.

Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) made headlines today because of a clash with Cong. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) which went viral on the Internet, which gives us hope that someone, perhaps a bored teenager in Welch, West Virginia, might read this entry.

The middle image is of a game of chess because government shutdown seems to be a 16-day chess game which constantly ends in a stale mate.


Here is the list:

1. Mark Sanford (R-SC), 53, 1st District, Homeland Security; Transportation and Infastructre

2. James Clyburn (D-SC), 73, 6th dist., asst. Democratic leader

3.Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.), 39, 20th dist., Armed services; foreign affairs

4. Kay Granger (R-Tex.), 70, 12th dist., Appropriations

5. Nick Rahall (D-WVa), 67, 3rd dist., Transportation and Infastructre

6. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), 40, 2nd district, Homeland security; Judiciary

7. Tom Cole (R-Okl.), 63, 4th dist., Appropriations; Budget; Rules

8. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), 46, 3rd dist., Homeland security; Judiciary, Oversight and Govt. Reform

9. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), 59, 5th dist., Armed Services; oversight and govt. reform

10. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), 1st district, Small Business; Veterans Affairs (his district consists of a walloping 63 counties).  

http://clyburn.house.gov/

http://www.chess.com/

http://www.thehill.com

http://cole.house.gov/

Virtual Postcard from Kentucky- Horse Park in Lexington

We continue our eight part series (four entries with a pause for two other entries within the next few days) with a Vitual Postcard from the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, which might make one want to watch "Seabiscuit" again.

It was Thanksgiving Day here in America, and social media made the day interesting for us as we got Happy Thanksgiving tweets from Kevin Spacey, Julian Castro (the Democratic mayor of San Antonio, Texas) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), all of whom are three people we have never met; Sen. Nelson is retiring at the end of his term this year.

The day was also special for us because our good friend Bruce Piephoff, a folk singer in Greensboro, NC, has a song called "Notes from Knoxville," which I like to listen to around Thanksgiving. I must profess that as much as I admire another folk singe Arlo Guthrie, I'm not sure I have the patience to listen to his Thanksgiving song "Alice's Restaurant Massacre"or "Alice's Restaurant," which lasts close to 19 minutes; Piephoff''s song is some 13 minutes and 30 seconds shorter (we believe).

Piephoff will be playing at Southern Bistro in Greensboro on Thurs., Nov. 29 and Tues., Dec. 4. Greensboro has a vibrant local music scene and on Sunday, at the Green Bean coffe house downtown, there will be a performance by Julian Sizemore followed by Patrick Ferguson starting at 7:00 p.m.http://www.kentuckytourism.com

http://www.horsepark.com

http://www.brucepiephoff.net

http://www.thegreenbeanblogspot.com

http://www.southernbistro.com

Entry Based on Trending Topics_ DNC vs. NFL

Tonight sports and politics collided over American airwaves as a landmark speech by former president Bill Clinton may have gone unseen due to the fact that the New York Giants were hosting the Dallas Cowboys in a game aired on NBC; the Cowboys won 24-17 (but, we watched the Democratic National Convention where Clinton spoke from).

So, here is composition made up with trending topics and other recent social media network phenoms as well as other speakers and politicians who were in Charlotte, NC, for the DNC: Lady Gaga tour, Scarlett Johansson. Natalie Portman, Burger King, Andy Roddick, McKayla Maroney (pictured center), Tim Kaine (pictured top), Julian Castro, Sandra Fluke and Sen. Al Franken_

"It was announced today that the Lady Gaga North American tour would begin in Vancouver, Canada, on Jan.11 when the American presidential election will presumably be over with. Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman will be speaking at the Democratic National Convention tomorrow night. Yesterday, both Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro spoke to the same crowd, which included Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn). Today, pro-choice activist Sandra Fluke, who was called a slut by fringe right-wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, gave a rousing speech about the need to protect women's reproductive rights.

There may have been Internet rumors that Bill Clinton was going to have Whopper at the lone Burger King in Fort Mill, South Carolina, which is 15 miles south of Charlotte, but those were not proven and neither was a net rumor that Olympic gold medalist gymnast was going to endorse Dunkin Donuts.

Andy Roddick, 30,  played his last pro tennis game at the U.S. Open where he fell to Argentinian tennis player Juan de Portro, but he should have made enough wages to purchase a very expensive dog like Big Splash, a dog that is worth $1.5 million (we are not making this up)."

http://www.alfranken.com

http://www.kaineforva.com/home

SIDEBAR: Kudos to South African swimmer Achmet Hasseim, 30, who won bronze for his country at the 2012 London Paralympics in men's swimming (100-meter butterfly relay). Hasseim had lost one of his legs after a shark attack of the coast of South Africa in 2006. Interestingly enough, his nickname is Shark Boy.

And, in the world of Turkish Super League soccer, our two favorite teams GalataSaray (Istanbul) and BursaSpor squared off. GS won the game 3-2 with goals from the likes of Umut Bulut and Burak Yilmaz For BursaSpor, Omer Erdogan scored a late goal for the Crocodiles.