Quote of the Day/Week-Lyndon B. Johnson

Today, we continue our quotes from American vice presidents or veeps, with Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), whom like Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, later went on to become president. Though the circumstances behind Johnson's ascendency to the president were quite tragic as it was in the aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Johnson was re-elected president in 1964 when he walloped Barry Goldwater, winning all but six states, including Goldwater's native Arizona. Among the state that Johnson are several states which have entrenched in red today, including Kansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma and North Dakota.

Johnson was also the last president who had previously been a U.S. Senator (though Gerald Ford was a member of the House of Representatives) before the election of President Barack Obama, though many past and present Senators, including Al Gore, John Kerry and John McCain have attempted to become president in the years in between. Former Sen. Chuck Robb (D-Va.) was Johnson's son-in-law. Johnson, also known as LBJ, was the Senate Majority Leader from 1955-61.

The 36th president/37th veep, died in Johnson City, Tex., outside of Austin, where his presidential library is today.

Here is his quote:

"Every man has a right to a Saturday night bath."http://www.lbjlibrary.org

Image of the Day/Week- Doberman Puppies

Since we featured a Van cat last time (white cats named for the city of Van, Turkey, where the breed originated), we thought we go with an image of a puppy dog this go-around; this is a photo of a very young doberman-pincher.

We aren't sure if one can find this particular breed of puppy at the Animal Rescue Foundation of Tulsa, Oklahoma, but the organization has plenty of dogs and cats up for adoption.

On May 15th, Top That! Pizza (8393 South Memorial location in Tulsa) will help raise funds for the animal shelter.

Anyone living in that part of the Sooner state who wants a new dog or cat can call the shelter at 918-622-5962.

SIDEBAR: Next week or some time within the very near future, we are hoping to post a series about the trip to Washington, DC, that was completed yesterday. The working title for the entries on this blog is "Next to the Burmese Embassy."www.arftulsa.orgtopthatpizza.com

Quote of the Day/Week-Barry Goldwater

Today, we continue our series of quips from men who tried to become American presidents, but didn't quite get enough votes to pull it off.

Barry Goldwater (1909-1998), the Republican candidate who lost to Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 presidential election is widely believed to be most conservative Republican to have ran for his office, though some may argue that Ronald Reagan, who was president from 1980-88 was just as or even further to the right.

Goldwater actually lost many states that Republicans have won in recent election cycles, including Oklahoma. Goldwater was a U.S. senator who represented Arizona.

One of the great political ironies is that Hillary Clinton, who came from a conservative family in suburban Chicago was a 'Goldwater girl.'

Here is his quote:

"It's a great country where everyone can grow up to be president except me."

Colleges Nicknames- Is that Really Tulsa's Nickname?

We conclude our project of showing the nicknames of 96 different NCAA schools (in men's college basketball). We wish we could share them all them all, but there are 334 schools! If it's any consilation, I left out the Radford University Highlanders, my own alma mater.

Today, we look at some of the most distinctive and in some cases outright strange college nicknames.

One that always stands out from the pack is the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. For those of you residing in Sri Lanka who are perhaps unfamiliar with American geography, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is far, far away from both coasts. Though Oklahoma is quite vulnerable to tornadoes. Nevertheless, it is an absolute impossibility that Oklahoma could ever get hit by a hurricane.

The three schools we have pictured here are the Akron Zips, the Sacramento State Hornets and the Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos.

Of the schools listed here, it is a virtual certainty that both Florida and Georgetown will into the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Florida A & M has a chance if they beat Norfolk State today in the MEAC semi-finals and then win the conference tourney. Akron is also in their conference tournament semi-finals today as they face Kent State.

We believe that we got all 33 or 33 of the conferences, but we did inadvertently snub some states, including West Virginia, Minnesota, New Mexico and New Hampshire. While we did have a huge number of schools of these eight lists from North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and California.


Here are the teams, yes we are not making some of these crazy nicknames up:

1. Akron Zips, Mid-America, Akron, Ohio.

2. Denver Pioneers, Sun Belt, Denver, Colo.

3. East Tennessee State Buccaneers, Atlantic Sun, Johnson City, Tenn.

4. Evansville Purple Aces, Missouri Valley, Evansville, Ind.

5. Florida Gators, SEC, Gainesville, Fla.

6. Florida A & M Rattlers, MEAC, Tallahassee, Fla.

7. Georgetown Hoyas, Big East, Washington, DC.

8. Maine Black Bears, Northeast, Orono, Maine.

9. Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos, Summit, Kansas City, Mo.

10. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, Big Sky, Flagstaff, Ariz.

11. Sacramento State Hornets, Big Sky, Sacramento, Calif.

12. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes, C-USA, Tulsa, Okl.

Bonus Road Trip-NOLA to Branson

Last year, at some juncture on one of our two blogs, we said that essentially the differences between political liberals and right-wingers here in the USA was a rather simple one. Liberal Democrats are more likely to listen to Gogol Bordello, a Russian-emigre punk band (well, at least those who are younger than 45), and conservative Republicans were more likely to find humor in the dated Cold War humor of Russian-emigre comedian Yakov Smirnoff.

As many folks may already know (well, we mentioned this before), Smirnoff regularly performs shows in Branson, Missouri, which has become a mecca for country music fans, perhaps even ones from as far away as Kiev, Ukraine.

As it turns out, Smirnoff will actually be performing on the road as well in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Oct. 15th.

On that same night, the historic Preservation Hall Jazz Band will be performing at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois. But, normally the band plays in their hometown of New Orleans, La., otherwise known as NOLA.

We also checked to see where Gogol Bordello was performing on that night, but their next concert date is not until Nov. 3rd when they will hit the proverbial stage in Burlington, Vt.

Alas, Branson, Missouri, is also where the late country-singing legend Conway Twitty gave his very last performance. But, a tribute band called Twitty Fever Band will be performing at the Oley Fire Company Apple Festival in Oley, Pa., on Oct. 8 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

So, we are looking at the distances between New Orleans, which is a haven for jazz fans, and Branson, Missouri, and the answer is:

A) 9 hours even

B) 10 hours even

C) 11 hours even

D) 12 hours even

We've got a Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits eight-track tape for the winner (that's a joke, folks!).

Special Quote of the Week- Gunter Grass

We love Gunter Grass, and this like the fourth time we've dedicated a blog entry to the German novelist/playwirght (b. 1927) who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1999; his best-known work in America is the novel "The Tin Drum" (1959). It was made into an award-winning 1979 German film of the same name which was for some reason banned in Oklahoma (I guess you could check out the book at the public library in Tulsa; we assume the ban has been lifted. Yes, it is like something out of North Korea, isn't it?!).

Grass is also politically active, and he has made many enemies among German conservatives. In the 1980s, Grass also visited India for his months.

Here is his quote:

"The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open."

SIDEBAR: Germany was one of the four choices in a fun Internet quiz which asked which European country would you go to; the choices were A) Sweden, B) Germany, C) Spain and D) Greece. I am indeed the one in 100 person who chose Sweden! According to visitsweden.com, there is now an art exhibit in Stockholm of the illustrations by the English children's author Beatrix Potter (1866-1943). She is best known for "Peter Rabbit," which many of us read often when we were children.

We are Postponing Our Scheduled Entry, but.....

....In the meantime, we are going to recommend that you read Gunter Grass' classic German novel "The Tin Drum" over the weekend. The 1959 novel was made into a vintage 1978 German film that was banned in Oklahoma!

One might be able to find the novel at Malaprop's Bookstore in Asheville, NC. Should they NOT have it, you can ask for "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., instead of blaming us!

By the way, we are planning on posting an entry dedicated to the 10 Craziest People in America. The Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., who is apparently hoping to start World War III, and the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., who probably disdains Muslims, gays and people who don't go to his church just as much, are likely to make the cut!

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Obama/Chavez 2012

We actually posted that header to make fun of radical Republicans/Tea Partiers/Doomsdayers (editorial comment: the Rapture is not going to happen on May 21, 2011) rather than to support them. The image is of Maoist protesters in Nepal.

Today, we saw this great tweet from The Muslim guy, otherwise known as Arsalan Iftikhar, who has been, like me, a supporter of Pres. Barack Obama:

"Rep. Paul Brown (R-Ga.) once said President Obama will establish a Marxist dictatorship."

And, we also want to express support for all NPR stations as they are unfairly being targeted by right-wing activists. But, we want to mention WUNC-FM (91.5-Chapel Hill) in particular. Today, Frank Stasio interviewed UNC professor David Halperin who has written a novel called "Journal of a UFO Investigator." The book, which I have to get or read, has become a hit with readers, especially in North Carolina.

Stasio's North Carolina-oriented show "The State of Things," which also features stories of national and even international interest, airs at noon and is repeated at 9:00 p.m. (on Fridays, the station does not rebroadcast the show). It is also available for downloads.

NOTE: We experienced many technical difficulties with our entry on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," so I hope those of you who have time and are feeling bored at your desk job in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or Louisville, Kentucky, can take a look at it. The link is listed on this site.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Bakersfield Condors are Not Extinct

Does going to a minor league hockey game at 10:30 a.m. sound like a really cool thing to you? (or at least, a great way to get away from work!). Well, that is what happened today in Bakersfield, Calif., as the home team Bakersfield Condors beat the visiting Victoria Salmon Kings (love that name!) from British Columbia (western Canada) by a 3-1 score.

The game, which is-get this- between two EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE teams (and we wonder why ninth graders are more hip with geography), was part of a Field Trip Day Game, and it did manage to lure 5,051 fans to the arena.

The Condors are the defending Pacific Division champions and this year, players from teams like the The Wheeling Nailers in Wheeling, WVa., will travel across the country to come play in the ECHL All-Star Game to be held early next year in Bakersfield.

We also learned that Defenseman Jason Lepine of the Condors leads the ECHL with assists from a defenseman with nine. And, the team's goalie Josh Tardjman (we have no idea if this is him pictured above) is serving a six-game suspension, but we have absolutely no idea why!

We also want to take this chance to bring in folks who would ordinarily never visit this blog and we thought there was no better way than to arbitrarily mention some of the trending topics on Twitter for today.

So, perhaps we can give yet more kudos to Prince William and Kate Middleton on their engagement. Congratulate Tony Parker on his split with some hot tv actress (we're just kidding).

Thinking of a good Christmas for your spolied brats, well how about a video game called Playing God, which will assuredly sell well at the Target stores in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And, lastly, everyone is talking about some movie called "Cowboys and Aliens." Yeah, we have no earthly idea what it's about either!

High School of the Week- Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City

Greetings from the Waffle House in Staunton, Va., (well we are not actually there at the moment!), where we profile Northwest Classen High School from Oklahoma City as our High School of the Week.

The high school, which is the alma mater of country singer Vince Gill, is nicknamed The Knights. The school principal is Tamie Sanders. And, the school's demographics are 38.5 % Latino, 25.8 % White, 22.4 % Black, and .00000000009 % Pashtun (forgive the humorous reference to an Afghan ethnic group).

Alas, folks in Oklahoma are not likely to be happy tonight as their beloved Oklahoma Sooners, the top-ranked team in college football, fell to the University of Missouri by a 36-27 margin. But, then again we can't feel too sorry for Oklahoma since it is a red state and it now approaching 3:30 a.m. here at The Waffle House in Harrisonburg, Va.,.......oh, I mean Staunton, Va., of course!

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Movie Critic Talks Politics

One may assume that legendary Chicago film critic Roger Ebert might be tweeting about how much he hates "Jackass 3-D," but instead he was talking politics tonight.

Ebert has made headlines for his groundbreaking surgery which allows a new artificial voice-box to speak for him since he lost his real voice to cancer as well as criticism of California high school students who were wearing American flag t-shirts on Cinco De Mayo. Of course, those t-shirts were probably made in Honduras (hmm...., we probably lost some members of the Tulsa Tea Party for that remark!).

Here was the tweet from Ebert which was in reference to (he provided a link) a column from Frank Rich of "The New York Times" about how President Barack Obama is perceived by many Americans to be subservient to elitists even though he provided a tax break for 95 percent of all Americans. This was the exact tweet from Ebert:

"Obama won't go after Wall Street thieves: GOP should be applauding. Ordinary people get screwed."

Perhaps, tomorrow Ebert will tell us who will win the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. I suppose I am a bit of a fervent center-left political person because I'll be rooting for the Giants merely because the Rangers were once owned by George W. Bush!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- The Next Twisted Sister?!

Apparently, there are lots of garage bands in Pennsylvania, and as we continue our look at summer jobs in our series Silly Photo to Fill Space, we once again focus on of our favorite zip codes in the USA---that of Altoona, Pa. (even though we have no idea what their zip code is!).

While researching this piece, we found out that there is an '80s hairband tribute band in Altoona called Hair Force One, not to be confused with some silly children's movie of the same name with either talking hamsters or talking gerbils (how did someone pitch this crazy idea?!).

The band Hair Force One is playing lots of dates in Pennsylvania this summer, including a July 17th performance at 30 Something, a bar located on E. Walton Ave. in Altoona.

Another Altoona band, The House Band will be playing at the Old Canal Inn on July 9.

And, as for one of the real '80s heavy metal hair bands, Twisted Sister (lead singer Dee Snider is pictured here) is playing at the Norway Rock Fest in Kivindestal, Norway, on July 7th (man, I wish I could be there, well any excuse to go to Norway!). But, the band returns from the Land of A-ha (they will also be playing in Sweden and other countries in Europe) to come back to the States for a July 23 concert in Oklahoma City.

ROADTRIP?!