Friday Night Tweets: Big Ben and Domestic Politics

Greetings to our blog readers in Turkey, France, and Mexico........


We are closing out July with three consecutive blog entries (hmmm.....yea, we changed our mind), this one is dedicated to tweets that were posted during the 9-10 p.m., eastern US time, many of which dealt with the partisan political divide in the country.......

1) Big Ben (yeah, that clock in London, pict. top): BONG BONG

2) UbertFacts: Osama bin Laden was obsessed with Whitney Houston (pict. late) and wanted to make her one of his wives (alas the pop singer died a few years ago as did Osama)....

3) The Daily Signal: Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky; pict: bottom) commits to Planned Parenthood defunding vote next week (He does NOT have the support of comedian Sarah Silverman who mocked pro-life groups with a video that is causing quite a stir)

4) Urban Dictionary: White Man_ A term used to describe a group of people who are blamed for all the problems in the world.

5) Adam Owens (A tv news reporter for WRAL, Raleigh, NC): Raleigh Police investigate fatal accident on Roy Road....

6) Psychological Facts: If you think someone is starting at you: 1. Yawn 2. If they yawn, they were staring

7) Martin DeGarmo: The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers (a quote from Ralph Nader as the tweeter cited)

8) Jon Winokur (Advice to Writers): Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it. (a quote from Maya Angelou as the tweeter cited).

9) The Job Guy: "The only limits are, as always, those of vision," James Broughton, a late American poet.

http://www.dailysignal.com

http://www.urbandictionary.com

http://www.job-guy.com (This might not be the same job guy we mentioned!) 

Quote of the Day- Maya Angelou

There are many great poets here in North Carolina, but the one who is the most universally recognized has to be Maya Angelou who resides in Winston-Salem (she is originally from St. Louis). So, we sill quip her today:

"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"

Other unqiue figures in poetry here in the Tarheel State include Keith Flynn from Asheville. Alas, I missed a great opportunity to hear him speak publicly a few weeks ago, but I read an awesome poem he wrote honoring the jazz great Duke Ellington.

There is also Bruce Piephoff from Greensboro, who is better known as a folk singer, but his poetry about county fairs and blue collar jobs reasonates well, and it certainly reflects the dashed hopes and dreams of folks living in the shadows of closed textile mills. Of course, I would say this even if I didn't know Bruce personally! (Full disclosure: he is a good friend of mine, but his work is respected by folks who have never met him just as much as those of us who are fortunate enough to be friends with him).

One place where I've seen Bruce perform over the years is the Green Bean, a coffeehouse in downtown Greensboro. This weekend, I had the chance to hear a young singer named Bess Rogers from Brooklyn, NY, sing there as well. One of her most unique qualities is that she has maanged to turn some '80s hair-band anthems into folk/country-sounding songs. If you can't imagine what this might be like, just contemplate a Whitesnake song being sung by Joni Mitchell!

Quote of the Week- Maya Angelou

This Quote of the Week which is being done in conjunction with the Fourth of July as we are quoting famous Americans on Mondays this month. Since Bastille Day, the French day of independence in on July 14th, we will be quoting famous French people on Wednesdays this month as well.

I thought this quote from poet Maya Angelou who teaches just down the proverbial road at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, would be appropriate since we are working on the laundry!:

"Achievement brings its own anticlimax."

SIDEBAR: The Twitter feeds were quite busy this p.m.

We learned that Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle is lobbying to win a new Best in Seattle poll in "Seattle Weekly."

Nathan Tabor, a conservative activist in Winston-Salem who I normally differ strongly with, had an interesting link about a Texas store which sold an American flag with 61 stars. I guess they're counting Guam and Puerto Rico and some other places!

Cartoonist Darrin Bell who pens "Candorville" said: "I'm alone in a Cosco and so scared."

While "Zippy the Pinhead" himself (an alternative comic strip from Bill Griffith) said: "The Korean War must have been fun!"

Lastly, we learned that University of Michigan gymnast Kari Pierce who is actually from Ann Arbor, Mich., had a birthday today. We don't know; however, if she is old enough to drink an Amstel Light at Applebee's just quite yet!