SOTU Tweets Blogathon (1 of 3): Enter Paul Ryan

With the new House Speaker Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) getting a new job that 'nobody in Washington wants' according to Chris Cillizza of "The Washington Post" simply because both his Republican Party and Congress as a whole is a frigging mess.

Our images are of Cong. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Kermit the Frog (since "The Muppets" aired on ABC right before the SOTU), and Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), who gave the GOP response to President Barack Obama's speech.

We must thank WNYC-FM, New York City's NPR station for airing the SOTU which was not aired on my local public radio station.

For those of you in Albania, SOTU stands for State of the Union.

Here are the tweets:

1) Tom Tomorrow (liberal cartoonist): "Guys, I think they drugged Paul Ryan."

2) Audra Sparks (progressive activist): You won't be remembered as the president who fought for the environment.

3) WBTV-News (Charlotte, NC): SC Governor Nikki Haley to deliver GOP response after SOTU.

4) Cong. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.): We need to continue our economy and make it work for everyone.

5) Cong. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC): Ok.....the first thing I can agree with. Figuring out ways to help people up and out of poverty should be a priority.

6) National Zoo (we couldn't resist): Orangutans are the largest tree-dwelling animals in the world.

7) Andrea Mitchell (NBC News): POTUS hits climate deniers saying when Russians beat us into space we didn't deny Sputnik was up there, we raced to the moon.

8) Zeke Miller (Time): Obama: We're every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better world.

9) Nerdy Wonka: Pres. Obama: 'Look if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change have at it,  you'll be pretty lonely.

10) Cong. Gerry Connolly (D-Va): POTUS tells GOP that their climate change denial will make 'em pretty lonely given business, military, science international consensus.

11) Katrina vanden Heuvel (chief editor of "The Nation"): YES__ We spend more on our military than the next 8 nations combined, but why?

http://www.wnyc.org

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.cq.com

Top Ten European Cities We'd Like Visit: No When in Rome Cliches, please..........

Since Zappa the Family Cat is running loose like a runaway tiger from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. (not that there is a runaway tiger from the National Zoo or anywhere right now, perhaps, maybe the Phoenix Zoo......just kidding!), we will get right to our list:

1) Rome, Italy (Top image is of A.S. Roma, one of Italy's top soccer teams)

2) Stockholm, Sweden (the home country of Peter, Bjorn and John; Swedish flag pictured middle)

3) Barcelona, Spain (pictured bottom)

4) Berlin, Germany

5) Bergen, Norway

6) Lisbon, Portugal

7) Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

8) Athens, Greece

9) Rotterdam, Netherlands

10)  Riga, Latvia

http://www.visititaly.com/

http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden-us/

http://www.spain.info/

DC Week Teaser (2 of 2) : So Much for a Political Fund-Raiser at the National Zoo

We are getting ready for DC Week, which will begin on Thursday. Our interview with Newt Gingrich has been postponed as has our interviews with Michele Bachmann and Clarence Thomas (yes, we are kidding, of course), but we hope to bring you an array of entries pertaining to Washington, DC, as the nation's capitals deals with lost tourism revenue due to the federal government shut down.

But, for right now, we leave you with this teaser, which features: 1) Chris Pontius, an American soccer player for DC United; 2) a giraffe to symbolize the National Zoo, which is closed due to shut down and 3) Cong. David Price (D-NC), one of the few Democrats in a 'safe district' in the increasingly right-wing Tarheel State (Price's district is in and around Chapel Hill and Durham, NC), which was the subject of a brilliant "Doonesbury" comic strip that was published yesterday. I'm sure at least one tea partier in North Carolina cancelled his subscription to the "Charlotte Observer."

http://price.house.gov/#dialog

http://www.dcunited.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury

http://www.ncdp.org/ (NC Democratic Party)

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/

Apocalypse Now 2: Who's Afraid of Virginia Foxx?

Forgive the biased political humor, but I think if Republican members of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress vote for a government shutdown this evening, they should clean up the elephant dung at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. (for those of you in Dubai, the elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party).

Alas, a family of six from Winston-Salem, NC, or Knoxville, Tenn., who were hoping to visit the National Zoo during a weekend trip to Washington, DC, will have to make alternate plans. Perhaps, they can tour the Dutch Embassy?! (yes, that is a joke, but it gives us a reason to post a photo of windmills).

And, this brings us to Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC, pictured top) who was at one time considered to be most conservative Congressional member of the North Carolina Republican delegation. But, those were in the grand ole days of 2009.

Here are 10 tweets regarding the mess in Washington, DC:

1) HuffPost Politics: Unless Congress acts, the govt will shut down in 4 hours.

2) David Frum (a conservative who has been critical of GOP): "Just to put things in context: tomorrow, the Italian government will be open for business as usual."

3) E.J. Dionne: "Great Edward Gluce column: It makes more sense for Obama to talk to the leader of Iran than the GOP in Congress."

4) WashDCNews: "WUSA9 speaks to DC Mayor Vincent Gray about government shutdown."

5) The Daily Edge: "Republican extremists dig in their heels 'We remain determined to kill as many Americans as possible."

6) Huffington Post: "Michele Bachmann compares being dependent on health care to being addicted to crack cocaine."

7) Talking Points Memo: "Senate will reject House's latest Obamacare gambit before midnight."

8) WashingtonPost: "Man arrested at the National Zoo after police find white powder, shards of glass at zoo exhibit." (This is our one tweet not related to a govt shutdown, but it caught our attention).

9) Amanda Terkel: "Ted Cruz, whose wife works at Goldman Sachs says he'll give up his salary in shutdown."

10) LOLGOP: "If you judge House Speaker John Boehner by all the laws he's repealed rather than the laws he's passed he's even worse."

http://www.rollcall.com/

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.visitholland.com

Tweets Conisdering All Things Washington DC (2 of 2): Saving the Ferret from a Govt Shutdown

If House Republicans get their way, a family from Nashville, Tenn., who travels to the nation's capital may not be able to go to the National Zoo. Conversely, they may not be able to go to Smoky Mountain National Park in their own state as well (it's always good to open with an editorial comment, it gets people's attention!).

Here are a look at today's DC tweets, from the right and the left alike. Just so no one is confused, just because I'm including tweets from a Republican member of the House, and a conservative magazine, doesn't mean, I agree with them:

1) Mo Ellithee (Democratic strategic commenting on the Virginia Gov. Race): "Ken Cuccinelli says Terry McAullife is the only candidate with a F-rating from the NRA. Tim Kaine did too. Won statewide 3 times. Next?"

2) Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va): "Another Obamacare delay announced. Another reason the #SeanteMustAct."

3) Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC): "Tomorrow, I'm leading a hearing on my bipartisan bill to improve newborn screenings, which reduces preventable deaths among infants."

4) National Review: "Obama thinks O'care is unpopular b/c it's unfamiliar. Or maybe b/c it's more expensive and less quality healthcare?"

5) National Zoo (not a partisan tweet): "We're still working to help black-footed ferrets!"

6) George Washington U's women's volleyball team: "Very excited to welcome Alumnae this weekend for a our match vs. Towson" (modified version of the tweet they posted.)

http://www.nationalreview.com/

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

Motto of the Day- Just Do Nothing

It is perhaps slightly deviant of us to drag Kandula, the beloved nine-year-old Indian elephant at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, into politics, but..... (for those of our dear readers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the elpehant is the unofficial symbol of the Republican Party).

So, this is the first in what we hope we will be many Motto of the Day entries:

"Just do nothing_ it saves money, gas, and utilities."

Of course, it wastes a major resource which is time! Jonathan Chait of "The New Republic" brilliantly illustrated how the Republican Party has done nothing for America since the 1930s, and we couldn't agree more!

Interestingly enough, there is a non-partisan web site called "Do Nothing for Two Minutes" which urges everyone to just simply sit and stare at the screen for 120 seconds!

SIDEBAR: In a column that was reportedly published in "The Washington Post," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the most liberal member of the Senated, cited Valero Energy as the nation's sixth worst big corporate freeloader. The company made $68 billion last year, but they still got a $157 million TAX REFUND from the IRS.

I should hope this would raise the eyebrows of even the most conservative Democrat, arguably Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and/or progresive Republican, whom many believe to be Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), but they are perhaps concerned with other things. The rest of us, however, can pump gas some place else....and, I'm speaking as someone who catered to Valero!

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Kandula the Elephant

Since we posted an image of a Turkish donkey in representation of the Democratic Party, we thought we'd post an image of the Republican Party's symbol, the elephant even though I vote for Republicans as often as I ride an elephant (I actually rode on at the San Diego Zoo in 1984 when I was 14).

While researching this piece, I found out that 75 percent of all evangelicals vote Republican, and that our very own Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) is the ninth most conservative member of the Senate. Who are the other eight?!

The North Carolina Republican Party is now headed by former Raleigh mayor Tom Fetzer.

This image is of Kandula, who was born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in
2001. The zoo is currently hard to bred female elephants, including Shanthi. At the moment, from what I gathered, visitors can not view elephants at the National Zoo because they are working on an Elephant Trails project.

But, if one wants to see a female elephant in Washington, DC, they go to Capitol Hill and say hi to one of the Tarheel State's most vocal members, Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC).