Presidential Quotes (16 of 16) :Ronald Reagan, the Actor President

Today, we conclude our series of Presidential Quotes with a quip from Ronald Reagan who was president of America from 1981 to 1989:

"Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose your's."

Quotes from American Presidents (1 of 16): William McKinley

Greetings to our blog-readers in Malaysia, Colombia and Egypt.

Today, we begin our series quoting American presidents from yesterday. On this blog, we are quoting presidents 25-40, and thus we begin with William McKinley. Most young people probably recognize the name William McKinley from the cult tv show "Freaks and Geeks," which took place at William McKinley High School in suburban Michigan.

There actually is a real William McKinley High School quite far away from Michigan in Honolulu, Hawaii.

McKinley was one of several presidents from Ohio, but many of them did not have much luck as two of the four assassinated presidents (James Garfield being the other besides McKinley was the second). McKinley was gunned down by a left-wing extremist in Buffalo, NY, in 1801, who was later executed. McKinley is actually considered by many historians to be the most right-wing president in American history, even ahead of Ronald Reagan.

McKinley has seen a bit of hoopla lately as right-wing scholars have written many articles and even books about him, and we imagine he is loved at the Libertarian think-tank the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, whose views we pretty much strongly differ with. But, we'll give their link any way.

Here is the quote from McKinley:

"In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be the nearest."

PS: We thought we'd throw in our favorite line from Sunday's "Roanoke Times" comics page. This quip is from "Dilbert": "Go sit at your desk or you're fired." (no exclamation point!)......


http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williammckinley

http://www.cato.org/

http://www.dilbert.com

10 People Who Will Decide Election (8 0f 10)_ Minnesota

Name: Olga Bentzen (fictional person)

Age: 86

Occupation: Retired bank clerk

Residency: Hamel, Minnesota (suburb of Minneapolis)

Political Affiliation: Independent leaning Democrat

Will Likely Vote for: Barack Obama

Today, we continue our series with a look at Minnesota, which is arguably the most unpredictable state in the union. Minnesota is represented by both Cong. Keith Ellison (D), the first Muslim elected to Congress, and Cong. Michele Bachmann (R), who is about as far right as they come. Minnesota is also represented by Sen. Al Franken (D), a former comedian and "Saturday Night Live" writer/performer, who is one of the most progress U.S. Senators.

Minnesota has a rich political tradition as Walter Mondale (pictured above) is from the state; Mondale was only able to win his home state and Washington, DC, against Ronald Reagan, but then again he did tell the truth about the need to raise taxes (and, people wonder why politicians lie or fudge facts).

Currently, Obama is winning Minnesota 50-4, according to "Politico." The bigger concern for the Obama campaign as it tries to win key midwestern swing states from Mitt Romney is Wisconsin since Romney's tag team partner Cong. Paul Ryan is from there. In our view, Ryan is just slightly more progressive than Bachmann and it will be interesting to see how having someone who is arguably as far right as both Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin on the ticket will play out for the Romney campaign.

Quote of the Day- Josh Brolin

We conclude our series of quotes of actors who have played real-life American presidents with a quip from Josh Brolin, 44, who played George W. Bush in the Oliver Stone film "W" (2008). Interestingly, his father James Brolin played another Republican president Ronald Reagan in the tv movie "The Reagans" (2003).

Josh Brolin also played the title in the Oscar-winning film "No Country for Old Men."

Here is the quote from the younger Brolin:

" 'W' is not necessarily a political film, but it was sort of a contrasting reality for me to get into George W. Bush as a character because of how I felt about his administration before I started making the film."

Quote of the Day/Week-Walter Mondale

Today, we are continuing our series of quotes from American vice presidents, or veeps, with a quip from Walter Mondale who served under President Jimmy Carter. Mondale, 84, also ran for president against Ronald Reagan in 1984, but he was only able to win his home state of Minnesota. I was only 14 years old at the time, but I wanted to vote for Mondale. But, my home state of Virginia did not become a swing state until 2008, and by that time, I had moved to North Carolina.

Here is Mondale's quote:

"If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused."

Another one of Minnesota's favorite sons Bob Dylan is celebrating his birthday today.

From the Record Collection (7 of 8) Devo "Freedom of Choice"

Today, we feature the third studio album from the Akron, Ohio-based punk band Devo, which is "Freedom of Choice."

The record features the band's signature song "Whip It," which features a video with the band wearing hats that look like flower pots. Amazingly enough, Devo, a band known for covering songs of other bands ("I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones; "Gotta Serve Somebody" by Bob Dylan), were covered by Pearl Jam when they performed "Whip It" on stage complete with the flower pot hats and the yellow raincoats, that Devo is known for.

They Might Be Giants also covered the song "Through Being Cool," which is not on "Freedom of Choice."

The members of Devo are two sets of brothers, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, and Gerald and Bob Casale. It may seem startling today, but the industrial city of Akron, Ohio, was a thriving place for New Wave punk bands, including Devo, in the 1980s.

One of the other famous bands from the area during this era was The Waitresses, which is best-known for the holiday punk classic "Christmas Wrapping."

Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer of The Pretenders, is also from Akron and has even lived there in recent years though her band actually formed in London where Hynde was living abroad in the late '70s.

The name Devo comes from the term 'de-evolution,' which states that man is regressing back to the caveman years rather than moving forward.

Among the catchy tunes on "Freedom of Choice" are "Girl U Want," which is about how difficult it is to really be with the girl you want and the title track which is about the contradiction between rigid American conformity and the possibilities one should have in a free society. The song is made more ironic because it came out the same year that Ronald Reagan, arguably the poster boy for modern political conservatism in America, was elected president.

The album was recorded at Record Plant in Los Angeles, and produced by Robert Margouleff, who had produced many Stevie Wonder records.

In 2009, Devo re-released both "The Freedom of Choice" and their debut record "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo" and toured performing both albums in their respective entirety.

Special Quote of the Week- Magic Johnson

Since we quoted Larry Bird, we may as well quote his former rival and current friend Magic Johnson. The Los Angeles Lakers great shocked the world 20 years ago when he publicly disclosed that he was HIV-positive.

"The Washingtonian" has an excellent article in its current edition about how the HIV/AIDS epidemic affected the DC-Metro area in the '80s and '90s and how the recently deceased actress Elizabeth Taylor played a major role in getting then-president Ronald Reagan to publicly talk about the impending major problem at the time.

Here is the quote from Johnson:

"I tell you, it's funny because the only time I think about HIV is when I have to take the medication twice a day."

This and That- I Forgot About Joe Biden

Since I was in high school, I have been a partisan Democrat, so much so that I wanted to vote for Walter Mondale against Ronald Reagan in 1984 even though I was 14 years old at the time.

But, four years later, my opportunity came, and despite pressure from my Turkish relatives in Istanbul not to 'vote for the Greek,' I did indeed vote for Michael Dukakis over George H.W. Bush, even though Reagan's veep carried Virginia and won the election easily.

The field for the 1988 Democratic nomination seemed rather flat at the time, which lead to them being dubbed 'The Seven Dwarfs,' which Eric Alterman of "The Nation" would say proves that there is really no such thing as a liberal media. Of course, Bill O'Reilly would beg to differ, but we don't really care about what he thinks.

Yesterday, I had a chance to take a quiz for the web site for "Mental Floss" magazine which usually has all sorts of interesting quizzes. I had just talked about "snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" with a friend of mine, so the chance to name the 'seven dwarfs' as in the seven Democratic candidates from 1988 seemed rather nifty to me.

But, much to my suprise, I had a lot of trouble with it. After Dukakis, I remembered that Paul Simon (not the singer) and Bruce Babbitt, both of whom have since died, were candidates. I then remembered Al Gore, who as everyone knows became Bill Clinton's veep, but I had somehow forgotten about our current vice-president Joe Biden who was also in that field! This does beg the question, if I run into him someday at a political rally, do I mention this to him or not?!

I did get a chance to see one of the other 1988 Democratic candidates Richard Gephardt speak during a rally in Georgetown, SC, as he was trying to win the 2004 nomination which went to John Kerry. In fact, I rediscovered photographs I took of that event just a few weeks ago.

Speaking of political campaigns, I was just thinking when Mitt Romney, who we can't wait to make fun of again (we called him The Republican Dukakis during the last go around), that during his kick-off speech in New Hampshire that he did sound like Clark Kent and he was trying to convince Republican voters that he would be Superman when it came to reversing the American economic downfall.

Sure enough, some artists at "The Week" magazine had the same idea as they have Romney front and center under the caption "Waiting for Superman," in reference to an accalimed documentary that came out last year. Interestingly enough, Romney said yesterday that he differs with other Republicans in that he thinks global warming is partially man-made. Ironically, Paul Guggenheim, the director of Al Gore's documentary on global warming "An Inconvenient Truth," also directed "Waiting for Superman," which is a film about education.

Lastly, we had a chance to listen to the Turkish psychedelic compilation "Turkish Freak-Out" on vinyl yesterday afternoon just after listening to a streaming of "The Turkish Music Hour" on WUVT-FM (90.7-Blacksburg, Va.), and the recording from Bouzouki Joe Records is very good.

It includes 18 tracks from the likes of Erkin Koray (who turns 70 this month), Ajda Pekkan and the late Baris Manco. I found it at All Day Records in Carrboro, NC, just outside Chapel Hill.

Also, on yesterday's WUVT broadcast, I heard a song called "Sarhos" ("Drunk") by a singer named Dario Moreno (1921-1968). I had never heard of Moreno, and I presumed he was an Italian man who happened to sing a Turkish song, but he was in fact actually from Turkey!

Quote of the Week- Franklin D. Roosevelt

The night is getting late kids, but we thought we'd leave you with this quote from Bill O'Reilly's favorite president (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) Franklin D. Roosevelt:

"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has learned to walk forward."

The FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY, is currently holding a special exhibit to commemorate the 75th anniversary of social security.

On our other blog, we quipped Ronald Reagan. I remember once in the "Charleston Gazette" (Charleston, SC, newspaper) I saw a "Mallard Filmore" (right-wing comic strip with a duck by Bruce Tinsley) comic strip suggesting that Ronald Reagan replace FDR on the front of our dimes. That was almost enough to make me order a certain menu item from a Chinese restaurant!

Quote of the Week- Bertolt Brecht

Today, we continue our series our quotes from left-wing radicals with one of our favorite left-wing radicals the poet/playwright/screenwriter Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) who lived a very interesting life in many different countries.

I had the opportunity to see a Roanoke College (Salem, Va.) production of his play "The Good Person of Szechuan" (written in 1943) some five years ago.

The German writer also penned the works "The Threepenny Opera" (written in 1928) and "The Caucassian Chalk Circle" (written in 1948).

Brecht lived in America for eight years after fleeing Nazi Germany, by way of Scandanavia, but he relocated to Eat Germany in 1949 during the notorious HUAC period (brought on in part by then-actor Ronald Reagan) which would have probably lead to his being blacklisted.

Here is our short, but poignant quote from Brecht:

"Don't tell me peace has broken out."

My 10 Favorite Films of 1980

Many people know 1980 as the year that Ronald Reagan and the Ayatollah Khomeini both came to power- forgive the political humor (well, actually the former was inagurated in 1981 and the later overthrew the Shah in 1979).

But, it was also a year when many outstanding films came out. We are categorizing films according to their dates listed on the IMDB. "Atlantic City" actually came out in America in 1981 and "The Gods Must Be Crazy" didn't hit movie theatres in New York in 1984 (I think it actually came to my hometown of Roanoke, Va., in 1985!).

My favorite film of 1980 is Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull." Some film connosieurs prefer his earlier film "Taxi Driver," but I think this is the stronger film overall. Both films starred Robert DeNiro.

As a Sam Fuller fan, I also love "The Big Red One" which also features one of Lee Marvin's best screen performances (he was actually Reagan's co-star in "The Killers" which came out in 1964). "Atlantic City" is also an extraordinary film, and I think it is Louis Malle's most complete film (apologies to "My Dinner with Andre" fans).

"Kagemusha" which was an Akira Kurosawa epic is my favorite foreign-language film from 1980 though for some reason it is not usually mentioned as one of the Japanese master's best films. While I would certainly that films like "Rashomon" and "Ikiru" are better, this is still a great film.

Here is the list:

1. "Raging Bull" (pictured. d-Martin Scorsese)
2. "The Big Red One" (d-Sam Fuller)
3. "Atlantic City" (Canada/France. d-Louis Malle)
4. "Kagemusha" (Japan. d-Akira Kurosawa)
5. "The Elephant Man" (d-David Lynch)
6. "Tess" (d-Roman Polanski)
7. "The Shinning" (d-Stanley Kubrick)
8. "The Gods Must be Crazy" (South Africa. d-Jamie Uys)
9. "The Long Riders" (d-Walter Hill)
10. "Gloria" (d-John Cassavettes)

NOTE: Yeah, I would agree "Gloria" has its flaws, but Gena Rowlands is just amazing in it!

Honorable Mention: "Ordinary People," "Airplane!," "Breaker Morant," "The Long Good Friday," "Dressed to Kill," "Hopscotch," "Flash Gordon" and "Mad Max."

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Minor League Hockey Mascot

Anyone want to see a minor league hockey game at midnight?

Well, on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 11:59 p.m., the puck will drop in Charlotte, NC, as the home team Charlotte Checkers face the visiting Toledo Walleye.

The Checkers are also hosting an "Icing Autism Night" when they play the Trenton Devils on March 19. Procedes from that game will go to Autism Speaks (autismspeaks.org).

While researching this piece, it was interesting to learn that the league in which the Checkers belong the East Coast Hockey League now has teams like The Alaska Aces, The Idaho Steelheads, The Las Vegas Wranglers and the Utah Grizzlies. The ECHL even has a team in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada), called the Victoria Salmon Kings!

In fact, Mark Derlago of the Steelheads was named ECHL Player of the Week.

The ECHL used to include my hometown team The Roanoke Express (1993-2004) from Roanoke, Va., and their rival The Richmond Renegades from Richmond, Va. The Express failed to reach the league's playoffs in the team's later years and they had management turmoil which lead to their abrupt folding.

The Renegades started a new franchise with the same team name in the Southern Pro Hockey League in 2006, but that team folded as well in 2009.

The future is not much brighter for the Checkers as they face the chance of relocating or discontuning after this season.

The Checkers' web site (gocheckers.com) said that the contributions of newcomers Matt Stefanshion and Ryan Crane have helped the team beat their southern rivals, The South Carolins Stingray (based in Charleston, SC) and the Gwinett Gladiators from Gwinett, Ga.

The team also features players like Mike Taylor (forward), Trevor Glass (defense) and Ryan Munce (goalie).

There are some active NHL players from both the old Express team and the Checkers franchise.

Jason Jaffray (Vancouver Canucks) and Vernon Fiddler (Nashville Predators) both played in Roanoke.

Eric Boulton (Atlanta Thrashers) and goalie Chris Holt (Ottawa Senators) once skated for the Skaters.

Those of you who are hockey fans may also want to check out my extensive profile of Washington Capitals' star player Alex Ovechkin, who will be competing for Russia at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. One could not have imagined in 1984 that two Russian players (also Alex Semin) would be playing pro hockey in the capital of the United States! I guess the question is: "Do we credit Reagan?" or "Do we credit Gorbie?" Since this is not meant to be a political entry, I will simply let you decide!

Mock Interview with Sarah Palin

If you check our links section, you'll notice a link to my friend Randall H. Miller's blog The Friday Morning Fix. Miller usually deals with serious matters, such as the Iran election protests and the potential North Korean missile crisis. But, this week he has a hilarious mock interview with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in which she cites Ronald Reagan as her favorite founding father. It's brilliant satire!