Quote of the Day/Week- John Kerry

Today's quote of the day comes from Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as we continue to profile party nominees who did not win the presidency, though Kerry came agonizingly close to winning over then-President George W. Bush in 2004.

Kerry, 68, was also the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts under then-Gov. Michael Dukakis, whom we quipped two weeks ago. Today, Kerry serves as the head of several key committees in the U.S. Senate. During his tenure, Kerry has made friends with Republicans, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who we quoted last week.

Earlier in his life, Kerry was known for his active opposition to the Vietnam War, and he was ironically (given that he later became a senator), the first Vietnam vet to testify against the war in Congress in 1971.

Kerry supports gay marriage and gun control laws, and he is an opponent of capital punishment, which is reflected in this quote:

"The consequences of a crime should not be out of proportion with the crime itself."

50 Beers Around the World- Tui Beer (New Zealand)

Long day. Long commute. Aching feet. Nagging headache. It's time for a Tui Beer from New Zealand, but ahhhh wait- I'm blogging from a public library in Graham, NC*, and there is not a single bar in Alamance County that carries this brand!

(*Not really where I am at; btw, we fixed the glitch with the photo of Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri)

But, if one is in Wellington or Auckland, they can indeed have a Tui. The beer is produced by DB Breweries and it is promoted through clever ads which according to Wikipedia use sterotypes, heavy irony and the phrase "Yeah, right."

The Tui brand also has kitschy models actually called The Brewery Girls, and an online New Zealand web site called The Changing Room offers (we kid you not!) Tui-brand Cheekie knickers.

SIDEBAR: While I was lying about being at a public library in Graham, NC, where I may have been debating about which version of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" that I want to check out, I am in fact actually drinking an Amstel Light (they didn't have Tui) at the Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas (home of the bacon martini!) with arch conservative, Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle who is trying to rob Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev) of his seat. She actually seems to have a good sense of humor, especially when it comes to making fun of Mexicans, but of course, I'd have to be awfully drunk to vote for her.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Celeb Couples

None of us like to publicly profess it, but let's face it_ we all love celebrity couples. They seem to have it all don't they? Good looks. Good fashion. Great talent. Good lawyers.

Today, we focus on celeb couple numero uno Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Yes, we wonder how they can stand each other even though of a lot of people (not us, of course!) can't stand them.

Tom is best known for blockbuster films from "Risky Business" to "A Few Good Men." While, Katie is an alum of "Dawson's Creek" who has made some cute films here and there, but none of us here at the office in Bridgeport, Conn. (not where we really are) can't remember a single title of any of them!

SIDEBAR: This week's semi-official High School of the Week is Brandywine High School in Wilmington, Del., a state which is seeing a surprisingly interesting U.S. Senate race between Christine "I'm Not a Witch" O'Donnell, who seems to be the Katie Holmes of the Tea Party movement, and Chris Coons. According to "The Christian Science Monitor," Coons is substantially ahead (editorial comment: YAY!).

As for Brandywine HS, the school's famous alum includes none other than rocker George Thorogood who is best known for the song "Bad to the Bone," which seems to be our pet cat's theme song these days.

My own alma mater Glenvar High School from Salem, Va., lost a home game to Giles County High School by a 20-17 score last week. But, the UNC Tarheels beat Clemson so I get to jeer my cousin Mike, a rabid Clemson fan, even though I only root for the Tarheels when they are winning!

SIDEBAR TWO: We have now passed 150,000 hits...hooray!

Remembering Sen. Robert Byrd with Quote from Joe Lieberman

There are definitely time when I strongly differ with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) whom many call 'Dick Cheney's favorite Democrat,' but this is not one of those times.

Lieberman tweeted this moving message about his fellow member of The Hill Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) who died early Monday morning at age of 93.

"Sen. Byrd was a genuine American statesman who loved his country and the great institution of the U.S. Senate."

The man who represented communities as diverse and divirgent as Princeton, Huntington and Morgantown will most assuredly be missed.

We should perhaps point out to blog visitors from places like Turkmenistan who are likely to be unsure of who is in the U.S. Senate that the man pictured here is Sen. Lieberman not Sen. Byrd.

Know Your Congressional Reps and Senators (Entry 21 of 21)- Susan Collins (R-Maine)

Initially, I was hoping to conclude this series by the end of 2009, but somehow things just kept popping up. But, even with the earthquake crisis in Haiti, we thought this would be a good time to wrap up this marathon session which has hopefully been as informal to you the reader as it has been for us.

Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) might well be ultra right-wing talk show host Glenn Beck's least favorite Republican senator. At one point her voting record was to the left of then-Sen. Joe Biden, who is of course now veep, and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Ct.).

Collins began her career in Washington, DC, back in 1975 when she was an assitant to then-Sen. William Cohen (R) from 1975-1987.

When returning to Maine, Collins lost to Angus King, an independent candidate, in the state's 1994 governor's race.

Collins would then defeat former Democratic governor Joe Brennan who was the third candidate in the '94 governor's race for a U.S. senate seat in 1996. Collins maintained her seat in 2008 election cycle by defeating Cong. Tom Allen (D-Maine).

Collins has a very interesting voting record. She was only one of a handful of Republican senators to oppose the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and she also voted against travel restrictions to Cuba. Collins even voted against the CAFTA trade act which many centrist Democrats actually supported.

But, conversely, she supported then-president George W. Bush's controversial tax cuts and she voted for Judges Samuel Alito and John G. Roberts for the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, Collins continues to maintain her independent streak in areas like global warming.

Even though right-wing talk radio idealogues lambasted Judge Sonia Sotomayor (Rush Limbaugh essentially said she was David Duke in reverse), Collins voted for her.

Collins also appeared in the acclaimed 2000 film "Traffic."

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is also known for her centrist votes in the Senate.

There is a sister series on my other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" which profiles American mayors. Today, we are posting about Salt Lake City, Utah's mayor Ralph Becker. By sheer coincidence, I found out that both Becker and Collins were born in 1952.

Know Your Congress Reps and Senators (Entry 14 of 21)

This is the first entry in this series since May! For today's piece, we choose the new U.S. Senator from Minnesota Al Franken (D) a former stand-up comedian and "Saturday Night Live" writer who now joins Sen. James Webb (D-Va)*, the co-screenwriter for "Rules of Engagement" as the only members of Congress with a screenwriting credit though I'm not sure Franken wants to fess up for "Stuart Saves His Family" (1995).

*- a presumption on our part

Here are some other fun facts about Franken:

_Born May 21, 1951, in New York

_Beat his opponent Norm Coleman by a mere 215 votes (out of 2.8 million votes cast)

_Author of #1 best-seller "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot."

_Appeared as actor in the 2004 remake of "The Manchurian Candidate."

_Hosted radio program "The Al Franken Show" (2004-05)

_Cousin of MSNBC's Bob Franken

_Wrote for "SNL" with partner Tom Davis from 1975-80 and again from 85-95.

_Created Sturat Smalley and interviewed Al Gore as Smalley for 2002 "SNL" show.

_Left "SNL" after losing Weekend Update segment to Norm MacDonald.

_Is first member of Congress who was a stand-up comedian, though amazingly enough Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct) has performed stand-up as well!