We Have Been Blogging for 11 Years.........Wowza..........

We have a slew of new or semi-new material to put forth in recognition of our 11th anniversary of blogging which occurred yesterday as we posted out very first blog entry on Sept. 21, 2005. To our recollection, we simply posted a grocery list for the Food Lion in Mount Jackson, Va., some two hours south of Washington, DC. Or, maybe, it wasn't.

At any rate to mark the occasion, we are featuring images of Megyn Kelly (pict. top), the gorgeous Fox News anchor born in November of 1970 who is the subjective right-wing news network's hopes of maintaining viewers who include 79-year-old men at nursing homes in Amherst, Ohio, in the hopes that viewers from liberal places like Seattle will actually watch for nine minutes or so....

The middle image is of Erin Andrews (center) the sportscaster who now hosts "Dancing with the Stars" which competes with Fox News for those same nursing home residents in not only Ohio, but the whole entire midwest and the state of Florida. 

Finally, we hope to maintain an international audience with Turkish-German actress Sibel Kekilli, who first became known for her acting in the critically-acclaimed German film "Head-On" by Fatih Akin. Kekilli became a yuge star when she appeared in "Game of Thrones." 

Other actresses we considered posting images of include Parker Posey, who has been in a film with Kekilli, and is now starring in Woody Allen's "Cafe Society," which also features Kristen Stewart. Posey is actually two years older than Kelly, and to our knowledge, those nursing home men residents in Amherst, Ohio, probably don't know much about the indie films that made Posey a distinct actress.

Katie Holmes was also on her radar but it seems she is getting enough attention both from Instagram and tabloids suggesting she is in a secret burning romance with Jamie Foxx, who is supposedly a pal of her ex-husband Tom Cruise. And, we thought about posting an image of Nina Totenberg, the legal affairs reporter for NPR for our intellectual readers. But, yea, they probably are in the minority.

Here's to the next 11 years......!!!

http://www.foxnews.com/

http://www.npr.org/

http://www.amherstohio.org/

http://www.mountjackson.com/

Movies Plus Movies: Yes, We Stole This Idea from Twitter

Last week, Twitter featured the hashtag MoviePlusMovie. At first, we couldn't think of anything, but since all of us here at the public library in Providence, Rhode Island, (not really the city where we are) are ardent film fanatics, we soon came up with tons of stuff.

While we are posting this, we are listening to WETA-FM (Arlington, Va./Washington, D.C.) which is having a pledge week. Alas, we don't have the funds to call host Bill Bukowski and make a donation so we can hear more Mozart, but perhaps you can! Those of you who aren't into classical music, may know Mozart from the '80s pop song "Rock Me Amadeus" from the late Austrian new wave star Falco.

Our images of are of: 1) a bobblehead Jesus Christ, (perhaps the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., will hack our blog for doing this!); 2) Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins and 3) The Toledo Walleye, a minor league hockey team in Toledo, Ohio, which resembles the one Paul Newman played for in "Slap Shot" (1977. Dir: George Roy Hill).

Here are ten MoviePlusMovie samples we came up with:

1) The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ Superstar

2) There's Something About Mary Poppins

3) Slap Shot in the Dark

4) The Maltese Falcon and the Snowman

5) The Magnificent Seven Psychopaths

6) Singin' in the Purple Rain

7) The Best Little Whorehouse in Paris, Texas (our apologies to Wim Wenders)

8) Dead Men Walking Don't Wear Plaid

9) The Man with Two Brains Who Knew Too Much (year, that's two Steve Martin films in a row)

10) A Fish Called Wanda That Saved Pittsburgh

http://www.weta.org/fm

http://www.toledowalleye.com/

http://www.provlib.org/

Presidential Quotes (14 of 16): Grover Cleveland

Today, we quote president Grover Cleveland, who is the only president to serve two non-consecutively. Cleveland was thus both the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, so we will actually quote him twice. Cleveland, whose first term in office was from 1885-1889, was the only Democratic president from 1861-1913.

As it turns out, the city of Cleveland, Ohio was not named for Grover Cleveland but a general named Moses Cleaveland. There are Grover Cleveland High Schools in New York, Buffalo and Reseda, Calif.

Here is his quote:

"The United States is not a nation to which peace is a necessity."

http://www.millercenter.org/president/cleveland

Presidential Quotes (11 of 16): Rutherford B. Hayes, a Forgotten Man

If one takes the Mental Floss "Name All 43 Presidents Quiz," we have a feeling Rutherford B. Hayes, a one-term Republican president from Delaware, Ohio, might be one of the half-dozen a person would forget.

Hayes (1822-93; president from 1877-1881), did have a better fate than his successor, President James Garfield, who was the second of four American presidents to be assasinated.

Here is a quote from Hayes, which those of us who are capital punishment opponents can identify with:

"One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals."

http://www.miller.org/president/hayes

http://www.vadp.org (Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty)*

Both the Miller Center and the VADP are based in Charlottesville, Va.

http://www.mentalfloss.com

Presidential Quotes (10 of 16): General Grant Said.....

With perhaps the exception of Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom we are quoting on our sister blog http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com Ulysses S. Grant(1822-1855; president from 1869-1877)  was perhaps more known for his life before the presidency as a Civil War general for the winning Union side, than he was for his years in the White House.

Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He signed an end to the Civil War with General Robert E. Lee, who headed the losing Confederate side of the Civil War, in Appomattox, Va.

Grant also defeated Horace Greeley of New Hampshire to win reelection in 1872, and Greeley also had the misfortune of dying before all the votes were tallied!

Here is Grant's quote:

"My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent."

http://www.millercenter.org/grant

Virtual Postcard from Ohio_ Jungle Jim's

Today, we are contiuning with our series of the eight states that we have been to with a Virtual Postcard from Ohio from Roanoke, Va., to Denver, Colo., with an image of Ohio even though we actually just missed going through there.

This photo is of Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield, Ohio, near Cincinati.

The place is a theme park of food that was established in 1971; according to Wikipedia this place has the largest collection of wine in the United States! http://www.roadsideamerica.com

http://www.junglejims.com

How to Say Turtle in Four Different Languages

Perhaps, it is because we love the comic strip "Sherman's Lagoon" (see last entry), which features not only the exploits of Hawthrone the Hermit Crab, but also Fillmore the Sea Turtle or because we like the folk/rock band Trampled by Turtles, from Minnesota, that will perform at Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio, once they have finished touring the United Kingdom and Ireland, but we thought we'd look up the word for turtles in eight different languages.

The other four will be posted on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Times:" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoftime.blogspot.com


Here we go:

1) Kaplumbaga- Turkish pronounced Kap-loom-baah

2) Schildpad- Dutch

3) Zelva-Czech

4) Tartaruga- Italian

http://www.slagoon.com

http://www.trampledbyturrtles.com

Tweet of the Day_ From Larry King???

We have decided to just post one tweet from today instead of the usual 6-to-12 that we normally post, so we can get some pancakes at Denny's or something....and, the tweet of the day comes from former CNN talk show host Larry King, 78, who recently moderated a third party candidate debate between the likes of Gary Johnson, Jill Stein and Virgil Goode, who is highly unlikely to become Virginia's ninth president, in Chicago.

We should also point out that the man in the middle is Toledo, Ohio, mayor Michael Bell, and the bottom image is of a very young Reese Whitherspoon in the film "Election" (1999).

Here is the tweet: "The way #election2012 is going, it could be one person in Toledo that will decide the race."

Monday Night Post-Debate Tweets: Triumph the Comic Insult Dog Wins Debate

Tomorrow morning, we are hoping to post an entry dedicated to the 24 countries mentioned in the foregin policy debate from Boca Raton, Fla., tonight (12 countries on each of our two blogs). But, for right now, we have lots and lots of tweets to get to.

Before we do that, the first image is of far right political figure Sarah Palin; the former Alaskan governor was John McCain's running mate in 2008. The Second figure is a game of chess. And, the third is of Conan O'Brien's Triumph the Comic Insult Blog. The BBC says some 10 million tweets have been tweeted. They further report that folks in Colombia were disappointed that Latin America wasn't discussed more. Of course, how this debate will impact voters in swing towns like Akron (Ohio), High Point (North Carolina) and Reno (Nevada) remains to be seen.

Here are the tweets:

1) @JoshuaGreen (Joshua Green is a columnist for "The Boston Globe"): "Haha, Palin's trashing both candidates on Fox News in hapless, tongue-tied signature style."

2) @CrowleyTime (Michael Crowley, a reporter for "Time" who has also written for "The New Republic and "Rolling Stone"): "The Iraq exchange was confusing but I think Obama got away with pretending he's glad we're fully out when that really wasn't actually his policy."

3) @GregMitch (Greg Mitchell is a blogger for "The Nation," a liberal journal): "Disgusting how so many pundits ignore national security and only care how worker in Ohio reacts on economy."

4) @Chris_Moody (Chris Moody is a reporter for Yahoo News): "Not joking; both Pauly Shore and Triumph the Insult Dog are in debate spin room tonight."

5) @AlexMacGillis (Alex MacGillis a contributor to "The New Republic"): "Actually think it's a bit unfair to judge challenger against POTUS on foreign policy stuff. But, Romney was more anxious than previously."

6) @LailaLalami (Laila Lalami is a contributor to "The Nation"): "If Romney loses the election, he can always become a 'Hair for Men' model! Wait no. He'll buy the company and ship the jobs overseas."

7) @ariannahuff (Arianna Huffington, the founder of The Huffington Post): "Wouldn't have predicted that North Mall would get more mentions than Europe."

8) @citizencohn (Jonathan Cohn is a columnist for "The New Republic"): "GOP post-debate spin: Sure Obama won on points. But his aggressive posture proves that he was losing."

Friday Night Tweets- Abortion and Billboards in Ohio

Today, we are posting tweets from the 6:00 p.m. hour, most of which are politically focused as we edge closer to Election Day here in the United States. One of the most interesting races is between far-right Tea Party favorite Cong. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) and Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War combat veteran who lost both of her legs in 2004. Duckworth ran for Congress in 2010, and she is profiled by Adam Weinstein in the current issue of the liberal magazine "Mother Jones."

Here are some tweets from the night:

1) @SunDC (The Sun in DC): Sunrise 6:22 a.m.; Sunset tomorrow 6:24 p.m.

2) @tnr ("The New Republic"): "It's getting ugly. check out those Ohio billboards trying to scare minority neighborhoods."

3) @Chuck Todd (MSNBC news analyst Chuck Todd): "Mitt Romney just added Boston to his New Hampshire TV buy. Had avoided it for weeks. First sign that they are more serious about NH."

4) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, actually a hilarious liberal satirist): "Obama ad says Romney will ban abortion. Mitt says no: I'll appoint judges who will. But, I will not ban it myself."

5) @HuffPostPol (Huffington Post politics): "John Kerry's daughter launches swift boat-inspired pro-Obama super PAC."

6)  @capitalweather (Capital Weather Gang): "Nasty storms continue around Baltimore vicinity. Intensity of storms diminishing around DC, but rain to last inside beltway, up to another 30 minutes."

Ten People Who Will Decide the Election (10 of 10)- Ohio

It is 5:00 a.m. in Liverpool, England; 7:00 a.m. in Eskisehir, Turkey; and 8:00 a.m. in Yerevan, Armenia. On a personal note, we are hoping the Armenian-American news and opinion web site http://www.asbarez.com publishes my comments regarding the very interesting, heated inner party political race between Cong. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Cong. Howard Berman (D-Calif.); it should be pointed that the 'executive editor of this blog' is a Turkish-American named Tilly Gokbudak, who happens to be me. They have apparently been reluctant to do so, and even though my statements were not hostile towards the Armenian community, we are concerned that the reason maybe because of ethnic politics.

But, for right now, we are focusing on Ohio, and the city of Akron, Ohio, which is home to Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer of The Pretenders, and here is our fictional voter, who will be making a big decision in 26 days:

Name: Thanh Nguyen

Residency: Akron, Ohio

Occupation: Bartender

Will Likely Vote for: Barack Obama

There are no exact numbers of how Vietnamese-Americans are voting in the 2012 election, at least to our knowledge, but Barack Obama did win Ohio by a 4.6 % margin over John McCain in 2008. Currently, "Politico" shows Obama with a slight .8% lead over Mitt Romney.

Summit County where Akron is located went to Obama by a 58 to 42 % margin in 2008. And, the local newspaper "The Akron Beacon-Journal" reported that Romney gave a stump speech in nearby Mount Vernon where he promised to lower taxes.

To our knowledge, Big Bird did not come up, but Romney's mention of the beloved "Sesame Street" character and a hint of the possibility that he would guy public broadcasting in the United States if elected has many educators and parents concerned.

According to a column in today's online version of "The Washington Post," the controversial Obama campaign video with Big Bird, which the producers of "Sesame Street" have asked to be removed, has 1.6 million views on Youtube.

http://www.politico.com

http://www.ohio.com

http://www.sesamestreet.org

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/thefix

http://www.barleyhouse.com (a bar in Akron, Ohio)

Image of the Day/Week- Ice Cream Cone

Spring is underway, and now it seems like the season, especially with global warming (forgive the political humor), to appreciate a nice ice cream cone, unless you live in Fairbanks, Alaska.

We were going to mention Giffords Ice Cream in Bethesda, Md., which had a reputation for being one of the Washington, DC-area's best independent ice cream shops, but they were purchased last year by the Maine-based Giffords Ice Cream, which lead to this headline in "City Paper" (Washington)  from Oct. 25, 2011, which sounds like an April Fool's Joke or a story in the satirical publication "The Onion:" 'Gifford's Ice Cream Is Now Called Gifford's Ice Cream.'

But, we did find an actual non-corporate ice cream place in Boulder, Colo., in the Table Mesa part of town called the Boulder Ice Cream Shoppe. However, we presume it may be easy to mistake it for Boulder Ice Cream, an organic ice cream company which says on its web site that it makes its produce from the milk of Rocky Mountain cows.

SIDEBAR: Speaking of ice cream, we loved this headline's in today's online edition of "Politico," a daily Washington, DC-based newspaper/web page dedicated only to politics: 'Rob Portman: Vice President Vanilla.'

This is in reference to the possibility that Mitt Romney will choose Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) for his vice-presidential nomination given that votes in places like Dayton, Toledo and Akron will matter significantly more than ones in Provo, Utah, or Princeton, NJ, two college-towns which will assuredly go to the respective candidates (the other, of course, being President Barack Obama) who are almost certain to carry Utah and New Jersey respectively.

Portman is liked by moderate Republicans and intellectual conservatives, such as commentator David Brooks of "The New York Times," but fervent right-wingers, birthers and tea partiers, seem to be carrying the mantra of far right Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who is tauting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Image of the Day/Week- Pitbull Puppy

Since we are a cat-leaning blog (forgive the political humor), we thought we'd be nice and feature an image of a puppy dog today. Due in part to the dog-fighting scandal involving NFL quarterback and former Virginia Tech star Michael Vick, the breed has a reputation for being a rough dog. But I've been told from folks who have pitbulls and people who work in animal shelters, that the dogs can actually make for very loving pets.

We're not sure if McKamey Animal Center, an animal shelter in Chattanooga, Tenn., has any pitbull puppies up for adoption, but they are a seemingly large animal shelter in a major metro area. For those of you living in that part of the Volunteer State, the shelter's phone number is 423-305-6500.

SIDEBAR: We just got back from Washington, DC, and we are hoping to post a story about the trip up here either next week or within the coming weeks depending on our schedule here at our offices Toledo, Ohio (now where we are really located). The working title for the series, on this particular blog, is "Ronald Reagan Was on the Blue Line."

NOTE: We just noticed that our tag for 'animal shelters' was not spelled correctly, so we are including both the proper spelling and the incorrectly spelled versions here...in case, anyone wants to see past entries on this blog regarding animal shleters (animal shelters).mckameyanimalcenter.org

Quote of the Day/Week- Bob Dole

Since today is Super Tuesday, which means that Republicans in Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio and seven other states will choose their candidate to represent the party in the general election against President Barack Obama, we thought we would quote a famous Republican.

This month, we will be quoting men who got their party nod, but failed to win the general election. Here, we will quote Bob Dole, 88, and on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," we will quip George McGovern, 89, who lost the 1972 election to Richard Nixon.

Dole represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate from 1969-1996. Though he is most known for losing to Bill Clinton in the general election of 1996, Dole was also Gerald Ford's running mate in 1976. He is thus the rare individual who was on the ticket with an incumbent president who was not that president's vice president (Ford's veep was Nelson Rockefeller) and also one of the few people who was on two losing tickets. This is made more ironic because Dole is a Republican, and they have a 5-3 advantage over Democrats in terms of the presidency since 1968.

Dole was born in Russell, Kan. He went to the same high school as his Republican U.S. Senate colleague Arlen Specter, who stunned The Hill by becoming a Democrat as the GOP was moving more to the right.

Dole's wife Elizabeth Dole was also a U.S. Senator, as she represented north Carolina for one term. Bob Dole has also said publicly that he hopes Newt Gingrich will not become president of the United States.

Here is the quote of the day/week from Bob Dole, which helps confirm my view that the National Zoo in Washington, DC, and the U.S. Congress may have more in common than one might think:

"If you're hanging around with nothing to do and the zoo is closed, come over to the Senate, you'll get that same kind of feeling there and you won't have to pay."

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Cleveland Browns Fans

We normally post the Silly Picture to Fill Space on Tuesdays, but we were preoccupied with many, many other things two days ago.

So, today we are showcasing Cleveland Browns fans, who hang out in a place called The Dawg Pound. The original team scandolously left for Oriole Town and became the Baltimore Ravens in 1995.

But, the new Cleveland Browns resurfaced in 1999. The current team is 0-3 this season, but they play a home game against their arch rival the Cincy Bengals on Sunday. According to the Browns' official web site, there are three days and 45 minutes remaining until kick-off. Perhaps, someone will watch the game via satellite at the American embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan!

Famous Browns' players from the original team include quarterbacks Bernie Kosar and Brian Sipe.

SIDEBAR: One of our "High Schools of the Week" is East Side High School in Youngstown, Ohio. We have no idea if Browns legend Bernie Kosar actually played for the school, which closed in 1998, but reopened in 2007, but he is from the industrial city in northeast Ohio. The team mascot for East High School is the Panthers.