10 People Who will Decide Election_Pennsylvania

Today, we continue our series with a look at Pennsylvania as we also feature this 1996 presidential campaign button featuring Bob Dole and the late Jack Kemp.

Here is a look at our fictional voter of the day:

Name: Rev. Paul Frederickson

Occupation: Baptist Minister

Residency: Scranton, Pa.

Will Likely Vote for: Mitt Romney

"Politico" reported at last check that Barack Obama is winning Pennsylvania 48.3 % to 42.3 %, but an alarming new story from "USA Today" shows that Romney is closing the gap there as well as in Michigan (hey if Fox News can be biased and pretend to be objective, why can't we?).

Though Pennsylvania is primarily a Catholic state, there are a fair number of Baptists and Jews in the demographic mix. Most evangelicals are supporting Romney even though many of them have negative views of Romney's Mormon faith. This was made evident when Romney was invited to give the commencement at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., which has become a mecca for college students from very religious families.

But, Bill Maher made a controversial comment when he said Liberty University was not really a real college because it is not fully accredited; the school also has negative views on Charles Darwin and evolution, from what we gather.


http://www.scrantonrevivalbaptistchurch.com (the web site for an actual Baptist church in Scranton, Pa.; the minister's name is not Paul Frederickson. Yeah, we checked!

Saturday Night Tweets_ Syria, Egypt and Saturday Night Live

There were many eye-catching tweets tonight about all the chaos in the world. To explain these images, they are of: 1) Cong. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a blue bird in Oklahoma, which are using for Twitter since their logo is a blue bird and an Amish family in Pennsylvania.

Let's get started:

1) @KeithEllison (Cong. Keith Ellison): "Keith will be on @meethepress tomorrow discussing the events in the Middle East and what it means for U.S. foreign policy, tune in!_staff."

2) @SamuelCookill (Sam Cook III): "@moveon_ I am voting Obama because, even though I'm a Republican, he puts small business first."

3) @HuffingtonPost ("Huffington Post"): "Netanyahu calls Iran containment policy ' a new standard of stupidity' " (this is in reference to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu).

4) @dailykos ("Daily Kos"): "Daily Kos Elections Polling Wrap: New poll confirms Pennsylvania a near certain blue state for 2012."

5) @Hanyghoraba (Hany Farouk Ghorab, Egyptian activist): "Salafi Preachers are the kind of people who are willing to kill you to convince you that they are peaceful and not killers."

6) @KenRoth (Kenneth Roth is the director of Human Rights Watch): "#Syria killing in August topped the bloodiest month in Iraq or Afghanistan, not to mention any Arab Spring state."

7) @LukeRussert (Luke Russert is the son of the late "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert): "Remember to DVR @SNL tonight. Going to take a wild guess and say #Obama or #Romney or both will get roasted."

http://www.hrw.org

http://www.moveon.org

http://www.keithellison.org

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.dailykos.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Jesus Christ

Today, we begin a series of quotes from figures who are asociated with the Unemployed Philosophers Guild, an American toy/novelty country, and we hope today's quote gets noticed by people who go to the presumably very conservative Church of the Living God in Eden, NC, some 10 miles from the Virginia border as well as folks who go to the presumably liberal Unitarian Universalist Church* in Charlotte, NC, some three and a half hours away from Eden.

Interestingly enough, the temperature in Bethlehem, Pa., today was 79 degrees. We would have checked the weather in Dubai, but we presume not many folks there will be interested in this post (for obvious reasons) and we reasonably assured that it is very hot there.

The novelty company offers the following products with Jesus: a toy pupett ($5.95), a plush toy ($17.95), a Jesus Shaves mug ($12.95) and a Jesus pill box ($11.95).

Other companies of a similar nature offer Jesus Christ bobblehead dolls and Jesus Christ dashboard toys.

Here is the quote from Jesus, whom we are quoting for the first time, and when we read this Donald Trump came to mind :

"What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul."

*-A congregation more in life with our world view...


http://www.christjesus.us

http://www.philosophersguild.com

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!).

No April Fools Joke This Year

We are postponing our annual prank for a variety of reasons, perhaps the main one being that everyone, even my naiive as a missionary working with cannibals in the Amazon River basin of Brazil friend Sal Jackovich* in Scranton, Pa., gets the gag.

Normally, we have said that we were going on a sky-diving trip at either Carolina Skydiving in Jonesville, NC (near Winston-Salem) or Sky Dive Orange in Orange, Va (near Charlottesville).

However, my friend Chris Knight from Reidsville, NC, normally has great gags on his blog (www.theknightshift.blogspot.com). The April Fools Joke in which he said the radical Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va.** had attacked the Pope in Vatican City remains one of the best cyber-pranks I've ever seen. Knight said that reportedly even the FBI called him to ask where he got 'the information.'

*- Not a real person, but I do have a friend like Sal though he does not reside in Scranton, Pa.

**-Yes, he is a real person and he does fit the stereotype of an over-the-top Southern preacher.

PS_ The answer to our road trip question last week was A, as Lexington, Ky., and Columbus, Ohio, are just over three hours away from each other.

North Carolina High School Football Roundup

The Western Alamance Warriors (pictured here) were among the victors in high school football action on Friday night in the Greensboro, NC, region. While, the mighty Reidsville High School Rams who had a very impressive 57 games in a row fell at home to Cummings High School by a 28-7 score.

Kudos once again to our beloved Ragsdale High School Flying Tigers who beat rival Northwestern Guilford High School 24-21.

This list of North Carolina scores includes schools that are mostly within a one-hour radius of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point:

Cummings 28 Reidsville 7
Smith 27 Page 18
North Davidson 24 Reagan 14
Ragsdale 24 NW Guilford 21
Western Alamance 25 Williams 21
Mount Tabor 39 Reynolds 7
Mount Airy 37 Northern Surry 7
Dudley 24 Southeastern Guilford 10
Rockingham County 18 Eastern Guilford 14
Forsyth 14 Asheboro 0
Northwood 35 Carrboro 34
Salisbury 56 Central Davidson 37 (wow!)
High Point 41 Parkland 20

SIDEBAR: In ACC football action, UNC won a rare victory over UVA as the Tarheels spanked the Cavs' 44-10. North Carolina State lost an out-of-conference game to state rival ECU 33-27 and hapless Duke gave their best, but fell to Miami (Fla) by a 28-13 score.

SIDEBAR TWO: Happy 50th wedding anniversary to Fred and Wilma Flintstone of Bedrock, Pa. (There is actually a Bedford, Pa; I ate a Denny's there once! By the way, I hate semicolons!). "The Flintstones" are indeed 50 years old this week as the ainmated series first aired in 1960.

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?!

Zip Code USA- Bethlehem, Pa. 18015

If there is one place in the United States, which could be deemed Christmas City, USA, it is probably this city of 72,000 near the New York border.

The city, which is the hometown of race car driver Michael Andretti, is currently offering Bethlehem By Night tours for $10 (adult) and $5 (children).

Bethlehem, Pa., is also ranked as the 88th best city to live in the country by "Money" magazine, and it is where the Philadelphia Eagles hold their pre-season camp.

The mayor of the city is John B. Callahan, and according to the jurisdiction's homepage, they are looking for some police officers.

SIDEBAR: I am alas canning the Presidential trivia series, which seemed to be about as popular as a late night infomercial competing with Conan O'Brien and Tavis Smiley. But, the answer to the last entry about the birthplace of Andrew Jackson was South Carolina.