Sunday Comics Grand Slam (1 of 4)

Greetings to those of you in Poland, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, thanks for tuning in, and we regret your respective countries not being in the World Cup.

And, greetings to our readers in Belgium, Italy and Chile, and kudos for making it to the World Cup!

We are a week behind, so bear with us. We begin with a look at our favorite comic strips from the June 8th "Washington Post," be sure to go to our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com for a look at our favorite comic strips from the June 8 issue of "The Roanoke Times."

Also, since we have a slight center-left political bias here at "The Daily Vampire," we wanted to mention that we are amused (for the moment) that Cong. Eric Cantor (R-Va) lost his Congressional seat due to a Republican Party primary which was won by tea party extremist David Brat, who will face Democrat Jack Trammell in November.

Two weeks ago, while in Richmond, Va., we saw 18 signs for Cantor and one for Brat, whom we mistook for a Democrat!

Cantor was also given the dubious Worst Week in Washington title by political reporter Chris Cillizza of "The Washington Post."

We personally think if there was a Best Week in Washington title that it should go to the Dutch ambassador Rudolf Bekink as The Netherlands shocked Spain 5-1 in World Cup play in Brazil.

Last week, our favorite strip from the Post belonged to "Dustin," a King Features strip which had a great take on the agony of remembering all 42 passwords for our respective Internet/social media sites. We are using an image of Sean Connery playing James Bond because we presume JamesBond007 is one of the worst passwords to use.

"Foxtrot" also delighted with us as the kids took in lots of ice cream, so much so that one of them actually wore a winter coat! Thus, we give the strip second place.

The bronze medal goes to "Prickly City," a strip which some times shows a conservative tilt, but this week cartoonist Scott Stantis had a great take on how cyber deities whose name we won't mention (Google, Facebook, Twitter) are inclined to watch us these days!

Here is our top ten list:

1) Dustin

2) Foxtrot

3) Prickly City

4) Doonesbury

5) Pearls Before Swine

6) Brewster Rockit

7) Lio

8) Sherman's Lagoon

9) Judge Parker

10) WUMO

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.dustincomics.com

http://www.foxtrot.com

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/worst-week-in-washington/

DC Week (1 of 8): A Quote from George Washington

We start DC Week with a simple entry featuring a quote from America's first president George Washington. Of course, thanks to the likes of Cong. Eric Cantor (R-Va., forgive the editorial commentary), the Washington Memorial is closed as are all national parks in Washington, DC, and around the nation.

One fiasco that the shut down caused was the scheduled cross-country journey of a Tyrannosaurs Rex skeleton belonging to a 67 million-year-old dinosaur, whose name is Wankel T-Rex, from Montana to the nation's capital where it was to be displayed at the Smithsonian Natural Museum of Natural History.

Oh well................

As for Washington, his face is on our one dollar bills (I suppose those of you in El Salvador, Moldova and  Zimbabwe already knew that) and if one is to find a one-dollar bill at the Beach Bum Café in Honolulu, Hawaii, you can see where it originated_ perhaps it originated at a gas station in Passaic, NJ.

Here is our quote from the first prez:

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."

Oh, and we should add that there is a high school in Danville, Va., named for GW.

http://www.gwmemorial.org

http://www.mountvernon.org

http://www.wheresgeorge.com

http://www.beachbumcafe.com

http://www.danville-va.gov/

Silly Picture to Fill Space- A Donkey

Today, I am posting images of a donkey and an elephant on our two blogs since the health care debate has finally been settled as Democrats in the House successfully passed the bill in spite of Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) declaring that the bill was a greater threat to domestic security than Osama bin Laden.

The State of North Carolina, where I reside, actually has eight House members from the Democratic Party. But, surprisingly enough three of them including Cong. Mike McIntyre (D-NC) did not vote for the bill.

While researching this piece, I found out that Jews and Arabs actually agree on something!

According to Wikipedia, 39 percent of Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans have tended to vote Democratic since the Iraq War, which is now entering its seventh year. 26 percent of the same demographic vote Republican.

Meanwhile 70% of Jewish Americans vote Democratic as well though ironically Judaism is the faith of Cong. Eric Cantor (R-Va), the arch conservative minority whip who many Democrats cite for making passage of the bill quite difficult.

David Young, a Greensboro businessman, is the current chair of North Carolina Democratic Party.

Donkeys happen to quite popular in my late father's country Turkey, which reportedly sold a donkey to the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan for $18,200 in 2009. But, Yashar Aliyev, the Azeri ambassador in Washington, DC, assuredly probably has too many other important things to deal with to confirm or deny this for me.

There is also a place called Donkey Island in Turkey off the coast of the resort town of Cesme in the Aegean across from the Greek island of Chios.

Cesme, Turkey, was actually sister cities with the town of Wise, Va., in the far southwestern part of my home state.

Former Virginia governor Tim Kaine is now the national head of the Democratic Party.