Top Ten Comic Strips from The Sunday Roanoke Times.........yes, Pearls wins again

Stephan Pastis, the man who created Ataturk the Spitting Llama (thanks ok, us Turkish-Americans know our yogurt is better than Greek yogurt), once again wins our sweepstakes with his "Pearls Before Swine" trip in which a family trip to Key West, Fla, to go whale watching takes a Twilight Zone episode turn, which is, of course, hilarious.

"Get Fuzzy" was second as Bucky, Rob Wilco's out of control Siamese cat, goes on a rant about how a kid who has memorized Pi is not really smart of be interviewed on network television.

And, a cat was also featured in "Dilbert" where the title character was curiously absent. Here the cat gives personal advice to Dilbert's boss on how to seem caring around employees since he is a man incapable of empathy.


Here is the top ten from the Sunday "Roanoke Times:"

1. Pearls Before Swine

2. Get Fuzzy

3. Dilbert

4.Doonesbury

5. Garfield

6. Funky Winkerbean

7. Zits

8. Speed Bump

9. Agnes

10. Blondie


http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.gocomics/getfuzzy

http://www.stephanpastis.wordpress.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.whalewatching.com

http://www.mainewhales.com


http://www.fla-keys.com

http://www.newport-news.org  (Newport News, Va., is said to be a good place for whale watching)

Top Ten Comic Strips from the Sunday Roanoke Times: Can Anyone Top Stephan Pastis?

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

Welcome to another edition of "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," which dates back to Sept. 21, 2005! But, our friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight has been around longer than us as he just celebrated the tenth anniversary of his blog "The Knight Shift."

Special greetings to those of you checking us out from The o2 Lounge in Breckenridge, Colo., and Crooks Corner Restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC, which are a mere 26 hours and 45 minutes away from each other! Hope all is well in Colorado and North Carolina.

Today, we look at our favorite comic strips from "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va. The competition is a little less steep than "The Washington Post," which features "Sherman's Lagoon," "Rhymes with Orange" and "Brewster Rockit: SpaceGuy," but "The Roanoke Times" does have "Hi and Lois," which "The Washington Post" does not.

Our sweepstakes winner for today is once again "Pearls Before Swine," which proves that we are over his character Ataturk the Spitting Llama (Tilly Gokbudak, the editor of this blog, who is me, is a Turkish-American. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the patron saint of modern Turkey, well in the secular sense).

Today, Stephan introduced a complicated concept for a 'Brain Alert' system for older people who can't remember that Jimmy Carter was president before Ronald Reagan. The last panel ends more perfectly than a season finale of "Homeland." We'll leave it there, so we don't have to issue a 'spoiler alert' (I'm still shocked at the season finale of "Homeland.")

The runner-up strip was the increasingly surprising "Garfield," which seems to have gotten exceptionally more funny since it has been parodied by "Garfield Minus Garfield." Garfield has actually around since 1978, which means at 36, he is older than the world's oldest cat, who reportedly lives in York, South Carolina, a border town with just under 10,000 people (ok, we are making that up).

"Get Fuzzy" was a bit shockingly literate today as it seemed to evoke George Orwell's "Animal Farm" or perhaps we are reading too much into it!

Here is today's top ten:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Garfield

3) Get Fuzzy

4) Doonesbury

5) Zits

6) Speed Bump

7) "Non Sequitur"

8) Agnes

9) Dilbert

10) Funky Winkerbean

http://www.theo2lounge.com


http://www.crookscorner.com

http://www.stephanpastis.wordpress.com

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy

Virtual Postcard of Turkey: Konya Eregli

Since Oct. 29th was Turkish Republic's Day, we thought we'd salute my late father Mehmet Gokbudak's country with an image from Konya Eregli, the town where he was born in 1921. Two years later, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk formed the Republic of Turkey, with Ankara as its capital.

My late grandfather Fuat Gokbudak, who alas does not yet have a Vikipedia* page, represented the Konya province in the Turkish Parliament during its early years. But, Fuat bey is mentioned as a member of the first parliament.

*-Vikipedia is the Turkish version of Wikipedia

More Tweets Regarding Events in Turkey

The BBC is reporting this hour that some 40,000 pedestrians crossed from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian side of the city by walking over the Bosporus Bridge.

This above photo is of Istikal Caddesi, the main street in Beyoglu, the cultural hub of Istanbul, which is in close proximity to Taksim where the initial protests against the right-wing government started, but those protests spread into Istikal Caddesi.

The main issue raised by the protestors is that Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking Turkey into Islamic fundamentalism, which is in direct conflict with the foundations of the modern state set by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

These protests also originated as an environmental protest to preserve Gezi Park, the only remaining open space in Istanbul. Ironically, there are reports that both Turkish liberals and Turkish secular nationalists have set aside differences to form a coalition in the protests.

Here are the tweets:

1. BBC News: "Fresh clashes in Ankara and Istanbul. Turkey's two biggest cities between anti-government demonstrations and police."

2. Today's Zaman (an English-language edition of the conservative Turkish newspaper "Zaman"): "Stability guaranteed by upholding freedoms, US says on Gezi Park protests."

3. Najwa Mekki: Was in #Taksim #Turkey last weekend and saw riot police but couldn't figure out why. Now I get it. #OccupyGezi

4. Osman Kaytazoglu: "Police is not stepping back heavy teargas use."

5. A Tzanakopolous (A Greek tweeter; Turkey and Greece have been traditional ethnic rivals, but there is no sense of that here): "Our brothers and sisters in Istanbul brutally attacked for defending their city."

6. Gizzy MagicPants (We have no idea what this person's real name is): "This time yesterday, police attacked sleeping protestor in Taksim Gezi Parki and started a chain reaction."

7. Can Yeginsu: "As the crowds surge into #Taksim, Turkish tv refuses to broadcast the popular unrest, a dark day for the press #taksimgeziparki

Happy Children's Day, It's a National Holiday in Turkey

We are wishing everyone in Turkey a Happy Children's Day. 23 Nisan/April 23rd was first recognized by modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1920.

While figuring out which image to use, we stumbled across an image of this children's magazine with the Smurfs on the cover.

It was through another children's magazine "Tercuman Cocuk" (Cocuk is the Turkish word for children) that I first heard of the Smurfs, which were actually created in Belgium. In early editions, the Smurfs accompanied the Little Prince.

We recently found that particular magazine which came out on Feb. 25, 1978, some ten days before my eighth birthday.

Some right-wingers, perhaps someone like Cal Thomas or Newt Gingrich, has theorized that the Smurfs are a Marxist entity because they encourage community building.

Yeah, we think they are reading too much into it too.

For Republic's Day, a Quote from Nazim Hikmet

Since today is Republic's Day in Turkey, which honors the founding of the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Oct. 29th, 1923, we thought we's quote Turkey's most famous poet Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963).

Here in America, the Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival in held in Cary (Raleigh), North Carolina every year, usually in April.

Here is the quote from Hikmet:

"And, don't forget a prisoner's wife must always think good thoughts."

http://www.nazimhikmetpoetryfestival.org

Quote of the Day- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Today's quote of the day comes from the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) who was ironically born in what is now Greece, which has been Turkey's long-standing rival for many centuries. In fact, there has even been a brewhaha over Cyprus in recent weeks.

Here is Ataturk's quote:

"Unless a nation faces peril, war is murder."

Hapy Children's Day in Turkey

Saturday, April 23rd, will be Children's Day in Turkey. It was officially started in 1927 as an idea by the Republic of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

For more info on the date and its origins, visit our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

Here in America, many local Turkish-American associations, including the one in the Chicago metro area, have their own events for the occasion.

Dr. Mehmet Oz (known more commonly as Dr. Oz), Cenk Uygur of MSNBC, a fellow progressive Turkish-American and author/writer Elif Batuman whose work has appeared in "The New Yorker" are among the most notable of Turkish-Americans who were born in the United States. Uygur, who turned 41 last month, and I have birthdays that are two and a half weeks apart!

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!)

Today's GeoQuiz-A Question About Spain?

For today's entry, which we dedicate to students at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, SC, which is the alma mater of my cousin Michael and former North Carolina State gymast named Ashley Shepard (I had initially forgotten her name!).

Today, we ask what is Spain's third largest city. This city is also home to soccer player Raul Albidol, who will one of the 22 players taking the field for the World Cup final between Spain and Holland. He also plays for Real Madrid.

The mayor of this city (its flag is pictured here) is Rita Barbera, and it boasts a population of 810,000 and it shares a Siste City program with Sacramento, Calif.

Is this city?:

A) Valladolid
B) Valencia
C) Zaragoza
D) Seville

SIDEBAR: We are always looking to see who is visiting us from where. Today, we are curious if any of you are from Athens, Georgia, or Thessaloniki, Greece, which is the country's second largest city and ironically the birthplace of The Republic of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

PS- The answer to last week's GeoQuiz is Yaounde, which is the capital of Cameroon.

Special Quote of the Day- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Since today is Republic's Day in Turkey, my late father Mehmet Gokbudak's country, we quote a line from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) who founded the Republic of Turkey:

"A nation devoid of art and artists can not have a full existence."