GOP Pre-Convention Tweets: I Am Not a Republican Because....

Before we run down our tweet log from a busy night on Twitter, in which one trending topic was #IAmNotARepublicanBeacuse, here is a list of the images above:

1) Donny Osmond. The '70s icon from Utah who is a Mormon is a strong supporter of Mitt Romney. To his credit, unlike country singer Hank Williams Jr., Osmond has not made disparaging comments about President Barack Obama or the Islamic faith. We learned than in recent years, he has been a game show host?!

2) A Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader: We tried to find an image that would not get our blog banned in Qom, Iran, well, it probably is any how.

3) A Chow Chow puppy: Today is/was National Dog Day in America, and this breed is worth $3,000-8,500. Perhaps, with a hefty tax break that Romney would give rich Americans, that demographic will indulge in lots of expensive pets.

The GOP Convention is reportedly delaying its first day due to Tropical Storm Isaac.

Here are tonight's tweets:

1) @amazingatheist (The Amazing Atheist): "#IAmNotARepublicanBecause: "I'm not tricked into focusing on my pseudo-moral indignation over social issues to the detriment of all else."

2) @OlivierPortugal (Benjamin Button): "#IAmNot......I Don't Blame Teachers for a Recession Caused by Bankers."

3) @HuffPostPol (Huff Post Politics): "Seniors, Occupy movements protests GOP convention."

4) @KatrinaNation (Katrina vanden Huevel, she is the managing editor of the liberal journal "The Nation"):
"Will Huckabee Defend Akin in His RNC Speech?"

5) @lobsterpajamas (Michelle Morgan): "IAmNot.....I have a soul. Common sense helps too."

6) @LOLGOP (LOL GOP): "I blame Obama for creating 4 million jobs, getting bin Laden and ending the Iraq War. Things used to be so awesome."

7) @davidfrum (David Frum, the former George W. Bush speech writer has become a leading advocate for moderation in the conservative movement): "I want a modern Republican party precisely because I am a Republican. If I weren't, I wouldn't care."



 http://www.nationaldogday.com

http://www.donny.org

http://www.mormon.org

http://www.visttampabay.com

http://www.gopconvention2012.com

http://www.frumforum.com

http://www.atheists.org

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.islam-guide.com

For a link to our other blog, which features an image of a toy version of Tampa Bay Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier, go to "The Daily Vampire:"

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Christopher Hitchens

On Dec. 15, 2011, the world lost a very vocal person who everyone likely either agreed or disagreed with at one point or another irregardless of where one stands in the political landscape. That was very vocal person was renown essayist/intellectual/pundit/culture critic Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011).

This month, we are quoting famous people who died in 2011. And, we start with a controversial figure as we did with Dr. Jack Kevorkian (1928-2011) on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

Hitchens was perhaps most known for being one of the world's leading atheists, and in the process, he outraged Christians, Muslims, Jews and even Hindus and Buddhists alike. Other atheists and many secularists were also uneasy about Hitchens' outright disdain for religion which he articulated in his book "God is not Great" (2007).

Though Hitchens was not only liberal, but even a Marxist in his younger years where he gained prominence for covering the war between Turkey and Greece over the island nation of Cyprus as a young journalist in 1974, he did end up supporting many neo-conservative causes, most notably the War in Iraq.

But, where exactly Hitchens stood politically or philosophically at the time of his death age 62 may still be a source of debate. Interestingly enough, he supported Ralph Nader (2000), George W. Bush (2004) and Barack Obama (2008) in the last three American presidential elections. Many perceive that Hitchens went from left to right, but there is some dispute to that because he was an ironic supporter of British conservative Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher, also known as "The Iron Lady," in many areas, including the UK's highly controversial war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

Hitchens would disagree with liberal atheist Bill Maher, whom he was reportedly close friends with, over the War in Iraq, yet he would also argue with the likes of Sean Hannity on the right about the existence of God. He was also critical of both the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and Noam Chomsky. In his lifetime, Hitchens' work took him to 60 countries, including North Korea.

Here is his quote from "God is not Great," these are the views of the late essayist, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog:

"Religion is man-made. Even the men who made it cannot agree on what their prophets or redeemers or gurus actually said or did."

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- The President is 'On the Line'

Yes, we love relics that are Casualties of Modern Technology on this blog (we should get a trademark on that term!), and it goes well with today's entry as to what we learned from Twitter today.

There was this tweet from much-respected journalist Nicholas Kristoff:

"Had a chilling conversation with a friend in Libya. He was terrified somebody was listening and praised Qadaffi." ("Newsweek" spelled his name Gadaffi; we are truly confused here!)

While checking out Twitter, we were listening to WXYC-FM (Chapel Hill, NC) which is not only the student-run radio station for the University of North Carolina, but in 1994, it became the first radio station to stream over the Internet.

Tonight, WXYC was playing the music of Japanese avant-garde instrumentalist Toshi Ichiyanagi, who as it turns out was married to Yoko Ono from 1956 to 1963 before she met up with John Lennon. I must profess I had never, ever heard of Toshi or his music, but it definitely helped relive my 'brain freeze' which is apparently becoming a side effect of staying on the Internet way too damn long. (Wow, is it 10:05 p.m. already?!).

Lastly, we saw a white pickup truck in Roanoke, Va., last night that was proclaiming that May 21, 2011, is going to be JUDGMENT DAY (it was in all caps). The web site thinkatheist.com thus posed the following question: "Some Christians believe it will mark the beginning of the Rapture. What will you be doing on May 22?"

Quote of the Week (Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek)

We continue our series of 32 quotes from 32 people associated with the 32 countries in this year's World Cup with a quote from the great Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, born in 1949.

Zizek, who was the subject of a 2005 documentary film, has written many books, including "Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle" (2004) which was reportedly very critical of the war in Iraq.

The Slovenian philosopher is also a socialist and an atheist and his other books include "In Defense of Lost Causes" (2008) and the current release "Living in the End Times" (2010)---yes, I think that's a strange title for a book by an atheist too!

Zizek wrote an op-ed in 2006 for "The New York Times" which said that atheism was a great legacy of Europe, and he has said that all churches should be converted into culture halls (I would prefer cinemas!).

As a fellow film enthuiast, I chuckled when Zizek listed the horror film sequel "Freddy Versus Jason" (2003) as one of his favorite 'guilty pleasures' for an article in "Film Comment," even though I have never seen the movie.

Zizek is also known for his contribution to both political theory and film theory.

And, as this quote indicates, he even has opinions about food!:

"The same rightists who decades ago were shouting, 'Better dead than red!," are now often heard mumbling, 'Better red than eating hamburgers."

The World Cup, incidentally, is the latest entry for the highly popular blog "Stuff White People Like," which became a book of the same name.

SIDEBAR: If one is residing in the DC-metro area, they may want to check out World Cup coverage at The Wing Hub on Cordell Ave., in Bethesda, Md., where Thursday night is also Poker Night!