Democratic Forum Debate Tweets from Winthrop U (1 of 3): Live from Rock Hill, SC, it's Saturday Night Live........

Welcome to those of you in Greece where perhaps tourists heading to Turkey, my late father's country, have decided to stay put following the re-election of ultra right wing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, perhaps they will join Syrian refugees who have decided not to head north to Serbia!

Tonight's Democratic Party Forum at Winthrop U in Rock Hill, SC, is perhaps just over now, but we got some tweets from the debate including one from Bakari Sellers, a former Democratic state legislature from Denmark, SC, who was at the debate himself (he is a contributor to CNN; yet he slams the media in his tweet).

Our images are of Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Clinton (top), a bald eagle (center, since Winthrop's mascot is an eagle), and Dale Earnhardt Jr., since the band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (now Jr. Jr.) was playing gig at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, where everyone not watching the debate in the nation's capital were probably gathered.

Here are the tweets:

1) Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC, newspaper, earlier in the day): "Rand Paul talks about Keystone XL while stumping in Spartanburg." (the GOP candidate Paul later went to Rock Hill).

2) Overheard in Newsroom (not about the debate, but we thought it was amusing): "Those pesky interns with their creative impulses and their hope."

3) Shane Goldmacher (Politico): "So Marco Rubio is asking for Scott Walker's endorsement."

4) Ken Rudin: "Ben Carson, accused of making things up and not being truly informed, announces he would appoint Judge Reinhold to the Supreme Court." (This is a joke, Judge Reinhold was a teen movie actor in the '80s).

5) Jack Miller (Clinton campaign): "Hillary Clinton supporters loud and proud! Turnout is amazing!"

6) Martin O'Malley: Hillary Clinton wants to go after Jeb Bush for making excuses on guns. But, she did the same thing in 2008."

7) Washington Post: "Amid national coverage about race, Yale acknowledges failing its minorities."

8) Shannon Greene ("Rock Hill Herald" reporter): Meet Hillary "fangirl," Madison Kimrey, the first in line for the debate.

9) Bakari Sellers: Mainstream Media....there is one reason your Bernie is making a comeback like in '08 is really off, Bernie is not Barack Obama. You're welcome.

http://www.930.com

Saturday Afternoon Tweets: Dead Chinese Pedestrians

It has been a zany day of news events both here in America, as well as around the globe, as evident from these ten tweets (not all of them are about news items):

1) Male Thoughts: And yet another day I've gone without using calculus (top image)

2) Because I'm a Guy: It can take me anywhere between 0.02 seconds to 3 days to reply to a text.

3) Patrick Radden Keefe (bottom image): Astonishing story. Look both ways indeed: Why drivers in China intentionally kill pedestrians they hit.

4) Anne Applebaum: Europe turned away from crises in Libya and Syria. But now the results have arrived on their shores (center image: Both Turkey and Greece have received influx of refugees en route to western Europe).

5) John McCain: Must-read WSJ-Opinion: Beijing's Martial Display_ China puts on a show of military power and nationalism.

6) Bridget Bowman: Two protests confronting each other in Upper Senate Park (in Washington, DC).

7) Denver Post: Two suspects in custody in connection with Eagle County armed robbery where one person was shot.

8) WRAL News (Raleigh, NC): Just in: Authorities evacuate Chatham County Food Lion after bomb threat (it was later revealed that no bomb was found).

9) PRI's The World: This Afghan teen rapper has gone from poverty in Afghanistan to eating sushi in the US (she resides at a boarding school in Utah).

10) Montreal Gazette: "Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee to make announcement regarding gender change status."

http://www.twitter.com

Top Ten Comic Strips from the Sunday Roanoke Times: Going to Syria

We are quite pressed for time today, so let's go ahead and jump in the pool, which probably doesn't translate well in Japanese, Polish, or Norwegian!

This week's first place comic strip went to "Pearls Before Swine" where pig gives a brilliant line in the last panel; we don't want to give out a Spoiler Alert, so we shall let you find the strip for yourself (see link below).

In "Doonesbury," political satire takes center stage as one patriotic American wanting to defeat ISIS terrorists realizes that coming to Syria is even more problematic than Afghanistan, a country he knows much better.

In our third place strip, Bucky the cat and Satchel the dog have a spot about Atlantic salmon (pict. bottom); here is our top ten:

1. Pearls Before Swine http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2015/08/09

2. Get Fuzzy http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy

3. Doonesbury http://www.doonesbury.com

4. Agnes http://www.gocomics.com/agnes

5. Non Sequitur

6. Jump Start http://www.gocomics.com/jumpstart

7. Dilbert http://www.dilbert.com

8. Mutts

9. Speed Bump

10. Zits

http://www.roanoke.com

Tweets from This Crazy World: International Reactions to ISIS Terrorists

Here are some tweets regarding ISIS and the terrorist group's beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff in Syria. The same group is very active in Iraq. These comments come from the likes of Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish journalist, David Corn, a liberal American journalist, and Josh Block, who is pro-Israel.

1) Mustafa Akyol: "I condemn the ruthless murderers of 'Islamic State' with all my heart. They are an insult to Islam, and a threat to the world."

2) The Jerusalem Post: "Foreign Ministry reveals journalist beheaded by Islamic State terrorist had Israeli citizenship."

3) David Corn: "The Arab World's version of the Ice Bucket Challenge: Burning ISIS flags."

4) Zaid Benjamin: "PKK Co-founder Abdullah Ocalan to Kurdish Forces: Do not wait for the offensives. Attack ISIS and destroy them- leaked letter." (Personal note, we fully support the State Department's classification of the PKK, a Kurdish militant group that started in Turkey, as a terrorist organization. This may or may not be the tweeter's view)

5) Josh Block: "And if his death awakens the world to the evil among those who killed him, then maybe, maybe, there can be redemption."

6) Jeff Gauvin: "Pres. Obama soft on ISIS? He's already ordered 300 effective Super Hornet and B-1 strikes on ISIS tanks and artillery."

7) Rabbi Kenneth Cohen: "There is humanitarian crisis going on in Kurdistan, but nobody cares because they can't blame Israel."

NOTE: The photo on top is of the Turkish shadow puppets Karagoz (the one with the beard) and Hacivat, since the puppets represent Turkey's split between east and west, we felt their use was appropriate here.

Tweets Considering All Things DC (1 of 2): Interesting Suggestion About the Creation Museum

A tweet from LOLGOP, which makes fun of the Tea Party and Republicans, posted a tweet today about one thing conservatives would want in the federal government; it concerns the Creation Museum in Hebron, Kentucky. When I saw liberal folk singer Billy Bragg play at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, I was amazed he visited the Creation Museum! But, again, so has Bill Maher.

Here are the tweets about Washington, DC:

1. The Fix: "(Imagine) The government shutdown debate as a game of ping pong."

2. LOLGOP: "#GOPDemands: Move the Creation Museum into the Smithsonian and/or depict the Founders as riding dinosaurs."

3. Ambassador Namik Tan (Turkish ambassador to the USA): "President Abdullah Gul's interview with "The Washington Post"....Assad must go."

4. Ezra Klein: "The falling deficit has been a disaster for the GOP."

5. The Daily Edge: "#GOPDemands: National buyback program to replace dangerous video games with assault weapons." (This is meant to be satirical).

6. Roll Call: "OMG!! A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. Or maybe not."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/

http://creationmuseum.org/ (Not an endorsement)

http://www.rollcall.com/

Tweets of the Day: What To Do About the Great Dictator?

We can't bring ourselves to post an image of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, so in his place, we have an image of Mad King George. The other two images are Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn., top) and The Katzenjammer Kids, a beloved American comic strip of yesterday; we are using their image in reference to a tweet from the always hilarious faux news publication "The Onion."

Though many of these tweets suggest vast opposition to intervention in Syria, I support any measures as it now seems clear that thousands and thousands could be randomly killed if something is not done to stop him and his insanity. But, we do feel obligated to show a range of public opinions.

Here we go:

1) CommonKnowledge (@CommonKnowUK): "China sends warships to #Syria. Joining Russian warships in the Mediterranean."

2) Raquel E Saraswati @RaquelEwati: "Oh Thank God Madonna lent her foreign policy expertise to the debate on #Syria. SAID NO ONE EVER."

3) Reason @reason, a conservative Libertarian magazine: "Polls show Americans demand Obama get Congressional approval for #Syria airstrikes."

4) TheNation @thenation, a liberal magazine: "President Obama was right to seek approval to strike Syria- but new Congress must turn him down."

5) Hurriyet Daily News@HDNER: "Eleven G-20 states, including #Turkey and #US urge strong response to #Syria #chemicalattack"

6) The Onion @theonion: "Nation Throws Great Temper Tantrum Upon Learning Syria is Complex, Nuanced Issue."

7) Dennis Kucinich @Dennis_Kucinich, a former Democratic congressional rep from Ohio:"Busy day today! I'm on @oreillyfactor tonight; 8:30 ET talking #Syria. Tune in if you can."

8) Roll Call @rollcall: ""Cong. Eric Cantor (R-Va) sees Syria vote coming within two weeks."

9) Slate @slate: "With #Syria, Obama made the exact same mistake Bill Clinton made 20 years ago with Serbia."

10) The Daily Beast @thedailybeast: "@nytimes staffers got 'physically ill' watching and editing #Syria execution video."

11) The Hill @thehill: "Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) leaning towards supporting military action in Syria."

12) DenverPoliticsNews @denverpolitics: "AP Survey: House shows opposition to Syria attack."

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.rollcall.com/

http://reason.com/

http://www.thenation.com/

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/

Tweets of the Day and Night: Damascus is Causing Problems

With images of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, and Secretary of State John Kerry, we begin our tweets of the day about the sensitive matter regarding possible military intervention in Syria, which I personally support as I feel if the late American folk singer John Denver were to support a war, it would be this one.

Let's go:

1) The New Republic @tnr (a center-left magazine): "As long as the Christian population is ok, Rand Paul seems unconcerned with #Syria's fate."

2) The Daily Edge @TheDailyEdge: "Republicans express concern that Obama plan for #Syria doesn't slip in any multi-billion-dollar no-bid contracts for Haliburton."

3) Hurriyet Daily News @HDNER: #Russia says strike on #Syria could mean nuke disaster. (Hurriyet is a Turkish newspaper with Turkish and English editions).

4) Slate @slate: Congressional Republicans now using the example of Iraq to oppose #Syria

5) Free Syria Media Hub @FSA_Media_Hub: "Obama, Putin Handshakes and Smiles at G20 Summit."

6) The Onion @TheOnion, this is a satirical journal: Obama assures Americans this will not be another 1456 Ottoman seige of Belgrade. (Our favorite tweet of the day).

7) @TodaysZamancom: Turkey says Syria strikes should aim for regime collapse. (Zaman is a Turkish newspaper with Turkish and English editions).

8) The Nation @TheNation, which is a liberal American political magazine: "Media Question Kerry's mysterious 1,429 death toll in Syria."

9) Jason Chaffetz @jasoninthehouse, Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is known for his social media savvy: "Utah delegation not sold on Syria air strikes."

10) John McCain @SEnJohnMcCain: "Another scripted town hall on #Syria in #Tucson this afternoon with lots of participation and great t-shirts!"

11) The Colbert Report (an American satirical tv show): "29% of Americans want the U.S. to attack #Syria; plus side means 29% of Americans know there's a place called Syria."

12) Plaid_Seida (Plaid Seda is president of the Syrian National Council, and an opposition activist): "I am still in Istanbul, Turkey. I wish I could be at the G-20 summit, convincing world leaders to help #FreeSyria."

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.theonion.com/

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.newrepublic.com/

http://www.todayszaman.com/home

http://www.free-syria-foundation.org/

7 Words in Norwegian (5 of 7): Shark

The Norwegian word for shark is hai, or shark=hai. The image above is from the American cartoon "Jabberjaw," which ran on ABC in 1976.

SIDEBAR ONE: Kudos to the University of North Carolina for the team's 3-0 win over Notre Dame in the season-opener for women's volleyball. The other UNC (University of Northern Colorado) won as well as the team defeated Cal Poly 3-1. Other victors from the first night of women's college volleyball included North Carolina State's 3-0 over Cleveland State and my alma mater Radford University's 3-0 home win over North Carolina A & T.

SIDEBAR TWO: A few weeks ago on Facebook, my friend Ara Baliozian, a respected Canadian author of Armenian heritage, made the following observation: "Marriage is the best cure for love as suicide is the best antidote for a fear of death."

SIDEBAR THREE: There were lots of interesting tweets tonight on Twitter, and most were about trivial matters, such as Miley Cyrus shedding her Marie Osmond image once and for all, or very delicate news items, such as the Syria crisis. But it was this one from @MarketplaceATM (the NPR/American public radio show "Marketplace") which stood out: "15% of all Americans are offline."


http://www.marketplace.org

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.ruhighlanders.com

http://www.baliozian.blogspot.com

Free From Blog Entry: All That Jazz

This is new idea we have come up with, if it doesn't work, we'll blame Javier the Intern. We take six phrases and try to make a flash fiction piece with it.

The phrases are pregnant women, jazz (Dizzy Gillespie, picture top), cuckoo clocks, cold pizza, Angry Birds, Air Canada

Here we go:

"Little Marvin was playing Angry Birds on his hand-held device while waiting for the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Montreal when his father told him that he should eat the rest of his personal pan pizza from an airport Pizzaa Hut kiosk as it would surely go cold. Marvin ignored his father, which was in his DNA.

Marvin's father decided not to argue with him and listen to jazz on his I-Pod. He had tried to educate this son about jazz: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Kenny G, ok, the later was a mistake. Marvin's father then noticed a pregnant young woman without a boyfriend, fiance or husband. She was actually reading a book. Even though it was a fluffy romance novel, Marvin's father was impressed.

Suddenly, the cuckoo clock in Marvin's father's head went off. There were now only 20 minutes until the flight was scheduled to depart. But, there appeared to be a long delay. Marvin's father then noticed a dark-skinned woman, perhaps from Syria or Egypt, wearing a hijab, now sitting beside the pregnant woman. Marvin's father's mind then drifted towards impure thoughts, and then he heard it was time to board the flight. He gently tapped Marvin's shoulders, but, of course, his son was going to play Angry Birds until the proverbial last minute possible."

http://www.aircanada.com

http://www.kennyg.com

12 of the 24 Countries Mentioned Last Night: Let's Go to Poland

According to the BBC, Poland along with (surprisingly) Pakistan are two of the very few countries where citizens prefer that Mitt Romney take the throne (we are making fun of a highway billboard near Burlington, NC, which says: 'We must dethrone Obama') over President Barack Obama.

Poland was one of the 24 countries mentioned in the 'last debate' from Boca Raton, Fla., last night.

In case you are wondering, the flags above are of: 1) Poland (Donald Tusk, prime minister), 2) Egypt (Heshan Qandil, prime minister), and 3) Russia (Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister).

Here is a list of 12 of those countries:

China, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Syria, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Venezuela (the only South American country mentioned, which was disappointing to those who watched the debate in Colombia according to the BBC).

Well, actually, that's 13 countries.........oh well!

For a list of the other countries, visit our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

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

Monday Morning Tweets_ The Agony of Swedish Defeat

The images are of 1) Spiro Agnew- Richard Nixon's first vice president who resigned over scandal 2) The Swedish handball team and 3) A debate between Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot in 1992.

Here is a rundown of some eye-catching tweets we saw one hour ago:

1) @PamGrier (actress Pam Grier): "Missy Elliott Had 'No Clue' About Aaliyah album" (This is in reference to swimmer Missy Elliott of the United States who several gold medals at the Olympics).

2) @Todayszaman ("Today's Zaman" is an English-language newspaper): "Number of Syrian refugees in Turkey nears 60,000."

3) @DailyNewsEgypt: "Iranian President in significant visit to Saudi Arabia" (Iran and Saudi Arabia have ironically been political rivals).

4) @RadioSweden: "Sweden's not so shabby Olympic performance" (The link indicated there were some pleasant surprises for Sweden at the games, but that the men's handball team 22-21 loss to France in the gold medal game was a profound disappointment; handball is very popular in Scandinavian countries).

5) @Electionate (Nate Cohn): "Instead the Ryan plan produced movement among the 'rising American electorate and independents."  (Cohn is a writer for the center-left American magazine "The New Republic," in case you were in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia over the weekend, Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate).

6) @DavidFrum (David Frum): "Shouldn't congressional Republicans propose some pilot programs to test whether premium support will control costs effectively?" (Frum is a former speech-writer for George W. Bush who coined the term 'axis of evil.' He has been critical of the fringe Tea Partiers within the Republican Party. Ironically, he was given a seemingly friendly profile in the very liberal magazine "The Nation").

7) @KatrinaNation (Katrina vanden Heuvel): "Great that first time a woman will moderate presidental debates, but will we tough questions? That's what debates should be about." (She is the managing editor of "The Nation").

8) @LOLGOP: "Ryan is the most extreme GOP nominee in a century. The most extreme GOP VP nominee in 4 years is scary enough." (This tweet is why we chose Spiro Agnew; there were too many for Paul Ryan and most were unusable).

http://www.tnr.com

http://www.frumforum.com

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.svrigesradio.se

http://www.todayszaman.com

http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Syria is Still a Mess

The following disturbing tweet came from "The New Yorker" this afternoon:

"Reports from inside Syria: "There was nothing but shooting and sound of explosion, no water, no electricity."

Turkey, my late father's country, has brought in 8,500 refugees from Syria so far. Many of the refugees are staying at a camp in Boynuegin in the Hatay province. I was not aware that actress/humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie had visisted the camps back on June 17.

The image above is a mosque in Aleppo, Syria, the country's second largest city.

SIDEBAR: I just finished reading comic writer Jane Borden's debut memoir "I Tottally Meant To Do That," which I got from the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC. The book is about Borden's transition as she relocated from Greensboro, NC, to New York. In an interview with "The New York Daily News," Borden said: "Moving to New York City is an adjustment for anyone. But it's particularly a tough transition when you come from the South."

Things We Learned on NPR Last Week-Problems with the Other Neighbor

Greece is making international headlines due to its financial crisis which has caused riots on the streets. Though the events are not quite as violent or dramatic, as the fall-out from the Arab Spring in Syria, Yemen and Libya, the government in Athens is undoubtedly overwhelmed at the moment.

For centuries upon centuries, Greece's main rival has always been Turkey, my late father's country. I once wore a t-shirt from the Turkish resort of Kusadasi while visiting the Greek island of Rhodes as a teenager in 1985, and yes, the locals noticed!

But, at the moment, Greece seems to having even more of a rift with Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic that is now its own independent, small nation.

As the always brilliant NPR show "The World" (which we should perhaps listen to more often) reported last week, Macedonia unveiled a towering 92-foot statue of Alexander the Great in the capital city of Skopje. The problem is that the Greeks consider Alexander the Great, who was ironically an inspiration to Sultan Suleyman the Magnificient, as their national hero.

The radio series also said in its report that there are already plenty of tensions between Skopje and Athens as Greece has repeatedly tried to block Macedonia's entrance into the European Union.

All of this brings us to the reason why we chose Karagiozis, a Greek version of the Turkish shadow puppet Karagoz, as our image to go with this entry.

As it turns out, both Turkey and Greece have many cultural overlaps. And, the Greek shadow-puppeteer Sotris Haridimos currently has a traveling Karagiozis roadshow in Greece, which an American travel writer saw in Athens and reported on for his travel blog.

Like Karagoz, his Greek counterpart represents the plight of the average person. And, given Greece's domestic turoil, and Turkey's struggles with an overwhelming influx of refugees from Syria, it seems that both countries are a bit overwhelmed these days. And, very few tourists visiting the resort town of Bodrum, Turkey, and the Greek island of Kos, a mere three miles off Bodrum's coast, are concerned about any of this.

SIDEBAR: It is official. The Wimbledon women's final will be between Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Russian superstar Maria Sharapova. If we had John McEnroe's email, we'd ask him who he likes on this one. But, then again, I may say something to tick him off, and that would be like an eruption of Mount Pinatubo.

The Next 10 Films in Our Netflix Que- Lots of Foreign Films

The dominance of Netflix among the dvd sales market has been subject of NPR pieces on "Market Place" and written articles in "Wired" magazine, which we really need to read some time (subscribing to eight or nine other magazines has its disadvantages!). Though with its own streaming services, amazon.com is projected to be gradually catching up with the online giant soon.

Since it has been a depressing week lately for a variety of reasons, including the tsunami in Japan as well as the political unrest Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Libya, I hope some of these films are a bit uplifting. But, then again, I'm in no mood for "Mary Poppins" which is amazingly enough one of the most favorite films of filmmaker David Fincher ("Zodiac," "The Social Network")!


Here are the next ten films I am scheduled to be recieving from Netflix. In case you were wondering, "Lightning in a Bottle" is a 'rocumentary' about blues musicians like B.B. King.

1. "The Class" (France, 2008).

2. "Yi Yi" (Taiwan, 2000).

3. "The Son's Room" (Italy, 2001).

4. "Not on the Lips" (France, 2003).

5. "Undertow" (2004)

6. "The Mist" (2007)

7. "15" (France, 2003).

8. "Lightning in a Bottle" (doc., 2004).

9. "Rivers and Tides" (doc., 2003)

10. "The Yacoubian Building" (Egypt, 2006).

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Dick Durbin Talks

According to NPR, the most boring day in the 20th century was April 11, 1954. I am not sure if today was one of those days even though assuredly everyone from Hilo, Hawaii, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is talking about the infamous Wikileaks fiasco, but not much was going on today, at least on Twitter.

But, we did find out that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) will talk to progressive-leaning PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley. The shows airs at 12:30 a.m. in Mount Airy, NC, but hopefully ultra-right wing Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) will suffer from insomnia and tune in.

Here is the actual tweet from "The Tavis Smiley Show:"

"Also tonight @ PBS, Sen. Dick Durbin shares his thoughts on deficit reduction, unemployment benefits and tax cuts."

SIDEBAR: Are you wondering how the heck you spell Chanukah/Hannukah/Hanuka. Well, the hip magazine "Mental Floss" has an article on it. Assuredly, it will be more popular in Tel Aviv, Israel, than Aleppo, Syria, but we are sure it's a fascinating topic.

A Tale of Two Countries :Turkey and Israel

Since Israeli commandos stormed the flotilla The Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship that was carrying relief aid to Palestinians, there has been a virtual nuclear fall-out between Ankara and Jerusalem in terms of diplomatic relations.

Among those nine people who lost their lives, all of them Turkish, was Furkan Dorgan, 19, a Turkish-American from Troy, NY, who was set to attend Erciyes University in Kayseri, Turkey, this fall in the hopes of becoming a doctor one day according to "The Washington Post".

The incident set off protests throughout Turkey. The BBC showed footage of a peaceful demonstration in Beyoglu, the most liberal part of Istanbul. But, similarly, the same television report carried a more militant protest with Islamic overtones in a more conservative part of the city (perhaps Eyup, which is argubaly the most fundamentalist section of Istanbul).

"The Washignton Post" also reported that another American citizen Emily Henochowicz, 21, of Potomac, Md., who is not of Turkish heritage, was seriously injured as she lost her eye due to injury as Israeli soldiers attacked her during the raid.

Nilufer Cetin, among the first Turkish nationals to return home, told "The Guardian" newspaper in London that Israeli troops opened fire before they even boarded the Mavi Marmara.

Even Turkey's traditional rival Greece was affected by the incident, as Michalis Grigoroopoulous, a Greek citizen who was another ship The Free Mediterranean, told "The Guardian" that 'the Israelis acted like pirates.'

There have been those, both on the political right and the left in America, who have defended Israel including Congs. Eric Cantor (R-Va) and Anthony Weiner (D-NY). But support seems heaviest among evangelical conservatives as both Liz Cheney and the Rev. Nathan Tabor of Winston-Salem, NC, one of the Piedmont's leading conservative actists, have verbally expressed support for Israel.

But, there are some who are not so quick to give Israel a proverbial Get Out of Jail Free Card. These include the ever-wise columnist Leon Wieseltier of "The New Republic" who is himself a Jew.

In a column that was published today, Wieseltier, the literary critic of the "TNR" said the following: "The Netanyahu-Barak government has somehow found a way to lose the moral high ground, the all-important war for symbols and meanings, to Hamas. That is quite an accomplishment."

As a Turkish-American who has appreciated Israel's delicate security problems in the past, I call on all Americans to put pressure on Congress to demand an all-out apology from Jerusalem.

It seems quite ironic to me that Israel has now surpassed Syria as a greater security threat to the stability of the region, even though Israel is a democracy and a dictator still rules from Damascus!

Syrian Child Bride Goes Back Home

According to "Today's Zaman," an English-language edition of what has traditionally been one of Turkey's most conservative newspapers (I generally don't agree with their opinion page- to put it midly), a 12-year-old Syrian bride who was married to a 35-year-old Turkish man in the southeastern Turkish city of Urfa (known for its famous dish, Urfa kebab-pictured here) has returned home to her parents.

Bedia Amori, the child bride (she is not the one actually pictured here), has claimed that her spouse Abdullah Tapan, had abused her during their very short marriage, which was never recognized by the state though it had been sanctioned by a local mosque (Turkey's state laws, in many instances, are quite ironically more progressive/secular than 'tribal laws' in rural regions).

According to "Today's Zaman," Tapan had a criminal record in the Urfa district and the groom's family had paid their future in-laws a considerable amount of money (approximately $30,000) for Amori's hand in marriage.

Amori's father ended up traveling to Urfa, which is very close to the Syrian border, and asked to get his daughter back. Local authorities soom arrested Tapan, and Amori was set free to return to Syria.

The child bride told police that Tapan drank too much alcohol and forced her to watch pornographic films.

Amori's family had assumed they were giving their daughter to a good Muslim man.

I should point out that anti-Muslim sites like jihadwatch.org love these sorts of stories, but I disagree with their political agenda as I see both extreme evangelical Christians and radical fundamentalist Muslims to be an equal political threat to secularism universally. And, though I don't practice Islam, my late father's religion, myself I do not in any way view it as a religion of evil.

Nevertheless, I am concerned that the social aims of Islamic conservatives in Turkey and elsewhere has reached its proverbial tipping point, but there are signs, at least in Turkey, that opposition movements will soon regain traction politically.

Beers of the Islamic World (4 of 6) Petra Beer from Jordan

There is an image of Barada Beer from Syria on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

So far, I've been able to locate images of beers from Turkey and Egypt as well.

I have a feeling it's going to be hard to find an Afghan beer though!