DC Week (7 of 8): Meet the Ambassadors

Wow! I'm amazed that Javier the Intern found this spinning globe for us!

Today, we are going to list 20 ambassadors representing their respective nations in Washington, D.C. (between our two blogs) We must apologize to the likes of Iraqi ambassador Faiy Lukman and Finnish ambassador Ritav Koukku-Ronde for not finding a slot for them.

And, on our sister blog, we will name ten other ten ambassadors, including Dutch ambassador Rudolf Bekink, who we mentioned on this blog last week.

On our sister blog, we also jokingly suggested that Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va) meet with Turkish ambassador Namik Tan (pictured top) for lunch at Ezme, a Turkish restaurant in Washington, D.C. This is the link for that particular entry:
http://politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com/2013/10/dc-week-teaser-perhaps-cong-morgan.html

http://ezmedc.com/

The joke was that with a government shutdown, perhaps members of Congress could engage in some activities they never can while working on Capitol Hill. But, as it turns, both the House and Senate members are burning the proverbial midnight oil.

The ambassador pictured below is Jan Mattysen, the Belgian ambassador to the United States. We had a coin flip conducted by Javier the Intern and as a result we chose him over Bulgarian ambassador Elena Poptodorova for the below image.

For the daily goings-on in the diplomat circles, we highly recommend "The Washington Diplomat." http://www.washdiplomat.com/

And we learned from The Washingtonian magazine several months ago that Roble Olhaye of the northwest African country of Djibouti is the longest serving diplomat in the nation's capital.

Here is the list, we have put the serve they started their Washington missions in parantheses:

1. Turkey, Namik Tan, (2010)

2. Slovenia, Bozo Cerar (2013)

3. Israel, Michael Oren, (2009): Oren was actually born in New York.

4. Czech Rep., Petr Gandalovic (2005)

5. Djibouti, Roble Olhaye, (1988)

6. Belgium, Jan Matthysen (2009)

7. Bulgaria, Elena Poptodorva (2010)

8. Egypt, Mohamed M. Tawfik (2012)

9. Azerbaijan, Elin Suleymanov (2006)

10. Mexico, Eduardo Medina-Mora (2007)

http://vasington.be.mfa.gov.tr/

http://www.azembassy.us/

http://74.81.82.58/~bulgaria/

http://www.diplobel.us/

DC Week (5 of 8): Ten Swing State Congress Reps

Cong. G.K Butterfield (D-NC; pictured top) is one of only four Democrats representing North Carolina in the House as fellow Democrat Brad Miller got gerrymandered out of office.

Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va) and Cong. Mike Coffman (R-Col.; pictured bottom) are among the relatively new members of the House. Both have made provocative statements about the government shutdown which appear to be tailored to the Tea Party. Griffith was cited today by "Mother Jones," a liberal publication, for stating that it might be better for America in the long run if America went into default.

The oldest person on this list is Cong. John Dingell (D-Mich.) who at age 87 is the oldest member of the House. The youngest member of this list is Cong. Sam Graves (R-Missouri).

Here is the list:

1. Cong. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) 1st District. Age 66

2. Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va). 9th District. Age 55

3. Cong. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.). 6th District. Age 58

4. Cong. John Dingell (D-Mich.) 12th district. Age 87

5. Cong. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) 3rd Dist. Age 63

6. Cong. Sam Graves (R-Missouri). 6th District. Age 49

7. Cong. Ann Kuser (D-NH). 2nd dist. Age 57

8. Cong. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) 5th Dist. Age 50. (Ellison is the first and only Muslim in the House).

9. Cong. Steve Pearce (R-N.Mex.) 2nd dist. Age 66

10. Cong. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) 1st dist. Age 58.


http://thehill.com/

http://www.motherjones.com/

http://www.rollcall.com

http://www.c-span.org

Return of Friday Night Tweets: All Things Washington D.C.

Greetings to our blog readers in Mexico, South Africa and India. Tonight, if you only learn one thing from blog hopping, we hope that you take away this fact: Elin Suleymanov, we hope we spelled his name right, is the Azerbaijani ambassador to the United States.

Embassies were the focus of one tweet tonight, while others dealt with political issues du jour. It should also be pointed that unlike the web site for the Roanoke Tea Party (sorry, we aren't giving ou their link), which actually attacked Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia (?!), we are being nice to Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va), even though all of us here have voted for Barack Obama four times each.

Here are eight tweets which have been posted in the last 24 hours:

1. WNYC @ WNYC (NPR station in New York): Does NYC's density help protect elderly who live alone from dying in heat waves?

2. The Hill @TheHill, which is a DC-based newspaper covering Capitol Hill: "U.S. to reopen 18 of 19 embassies that were closed to terror threats. (Yemen is the lone American embassy which is not re-opening).

3. Politico @politico: "One take away from Obama's press conference. He doesn't like Vladamir Putin, not one bit."

4. The Vancouver Sun @VancouverSun: "Gay Russians seeking refuge in Canada to escape homophobic news laws."

5. Mormon Democrats @MormonDems: "#LiberalsGetUpsetWhen Republicans side with the 3 % of climate scientists who don't think #globalwarming is a problem."

6. Carson Daly @CarsonDaly: "And the Emmy goes to...........Jon Voight for Ray Donovan #wordscomingsoon"

7. Katrina vanden Heuvel @KatrinaNation: "A party that defies demographic reality, grounded in white resentment, may well doom itself to permanent minority-dom or political suicide. (Katrina is the managing editor of the liberal magazine "The Nation," pictured center. The publication has made national news for its spat with Wal-Mart over workers' wages).

8. Morgan Griffith @RepMGriffith: "Ok, Mr. President, show me the "dishes!" Show me the FISA court opinions, etc., so we can have the discussion you invited in your press conference." (Cong. Griffith is pictured bottom, he was previously the Republican leader in Virginia's House of Delegates).

For more tweets from the night go to our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com


Other Links:

http://www.azembassy.us/3/33.html

http://thehill.com/

http://www.politico.com/

http://www.utahdemocrats.org/

http://morgangriffith.house.gov/

http://www.thenation.com/

The Post-Election Day Hangover

Perhaps the problems I had with the mushroom cloud entry (see previous entry) signaled that it would be a very bleak day for those of us who have the distinction of being liberal Democrats who reside in very staunch conservative Bible Belt jurisdictions_ in the South no less!

As Fred Barnes of the conservative "The Weekly Standard" gloated today: "The GOP practically drove Dems out of The South."

Though Barnes did not mention that Democrats actually retained a 7-6 majority in the U.S. Congress in North Carolina, the state I reside in. Only one incumbent, Republican or Democrat, was ousted in the Tarheel State as Cong. Bob Etheridge (D-NC) fell to Renee Elmers. But, WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported that the Etheridge camp is asking a recount as the incumbent lost by a mere 1,600 votes.

Liberals nationwide are very concerned about the race as "The Nation" (which is generally to the left of my views, and folks in places like Murphy, NC, might think I'm a socialist, but they are pretty extreme themselves!) said the Republican takeover could spell political doom in the areas of health care and abortion.

Lindsay Beyerstein of "The Nation" said that Rand Paul, the Senate-elect from Kentucky, even opposes abortions when a woman's life is in danger. Beyerstein added that Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio, who won U.S. Senate races in Pennsylvania and Florida respectively are also radical pro-life politicians.

Meanwhile, "The Seattle Times" has said as of 6:06 p.m. eastern time that the Senate race in Washington state between incumbent Sen. Patty Murray and GOP challenger Dino Rossi was too close to call with Murray holding an extremely slim lead.

I will devote commentary on the two of the key races in my home state of Virginia, in which Republican Morgan Griffith of Salem (who is ironically a friend!), the house leader for the GOP in the state general assembly in Richmond upset long-time incumbent Cong. Rick Boucher.

Boucher was first elected to Congress in 1982, and he was upset by Griffith even though the Roanoke Valley Republican lives outside the ninth district, which stretches to the state's far-western borders. Boucher was considered a centrist Democrat who was even endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

The other key race of personal importance was first-term incumbent Cong. Tom Perriello's (whom I also personally know) well-fought battle against conservative Republican Robert Hurt, a state senator from Chatham (some 50 miles north of Danville), who was well-funded by both state and national GOP operatives. Though Perriello closed considerable ground in the late stages of the race, Hurt prevailed.

Regardless of which way you swing politically, it looks like it will be an interesting two years in the American political spectrum.