Top 10 Roanoke Times Comics...........yeah, we are just not getting around to posting this.....

Greetings to those of you in the Netherlands, Australia, and Israel.......even though we aren't fans of Benjamin Netanyahu here........domestically, we want to send greetings to those of you in Hartford, Baltimore and Dallas.

What do The Three Bears, King Midas and the late Rodney Dangerfield (all pictured above) have in common you might ask? Well, our favorite Sunday "Roanoke Times" comic strips (the newspaper serves Roanoke, Va., and surrounding areas) touched upon the three bears (Non-Sequitur), royalty (Speed Bump) and stand-up comedians (Doonesbury)............here is the list:

1) Non-Sequitur (a first time number one)

2) Speed Bump

3) Doonesbury

4) Funky Winkerbean

5) Pearls Before Swine

6) Zits

7) Garfield

8) Agnes

9) Dilbert

10) Get Fuzzy

http://www.roanoke.com

Quote of the Day- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

We are dedicating this entry to the collective memories of Mehmet Ayvalitas, 20, who was killed in Istanbul, and Abdullah Comert, 22, who was killed in Antakya (Hatay/Antioch) during protests against the Islamist AK-Party government headed by Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is in Morocco today where he gave an apology for the excessive use of brute police force. But, for many of us of Turkish heritage as well as Turkish citizens of other ethnicities, Erdogan's best apology will be a full resignation.

The story of the protests, which are now being called "The Turkish Spring," is even a popular topic on "The Jerusalem Post" web site; Turkey and Israel have had strained relations due to Erdogan and his fellow right-wing counterpart Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unyielding nationalist foreign policies.

Egyptian activist Gigi Ibrahim who was one of the leading figures in the Tahrir Square demonstrations in Cairo has also tweeted her views on the events in Turkey which started out as a small protest against the government's plans to build a development on Gezi Park, the last remaining open space in Istanbul.

This quote is from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, in 1923:

"Mankind is a single body and each nation is a part of that body."

SIDEBAR: Many years ago, I wrote this unmailed postcard to a friend in what was then Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Today Belgrade is the capital of Serbia:

"Hi friend. This is just a test to see if you get this postcard. Peace and keep in touch. I'm always your friend no matter what happens."

The postcard was a photo image of Skyline Drive near Front Royal, Virginia.

12 of the 24 Countries Mentioned in Last Night's Debate

Last night, 24 countries were mentioned in the last debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. David Brooks, a center right columnist for "The New York Times" and commentator for PBS said the debate was a tie that will probably not swing polls much in either direction. Mark Shields, also of PBS, said that he was surprised that India and Japan, two global economic powers, were not mentioned at all.

The debate last night also proved history repeats itself as Romney said Obama should have done more to help Iran, a charge that then-president Ronald Reagan laid out against the Jimmy Carter administration when he debated Walter Mondale, Carter's veep, in a 1984 presidential debate.


In case you are wondering, the flags above are for: 1) Greece (Prime Minister Antonis Samaras), 2) Turkey (Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan), 3) Israel (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). There is sort of an in-joke here as Turkey, my late father's country, has a long-standing rivalry with Greece and there is currently diplomatic turmoil with Israel.

Here are 12 of the countries in alphabetical order:

Afghanistan, Cuba, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Yemen


For the 12 other countries, go to our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time." http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Things We Learned from Twitter Today- Alaska Senator May Get Teabagged

Since this blog is known to be as objective as Fox New, Radio Havannah, "The National Review" and "Mother Jones," we should openly state that we think the Tea Bag movement is pretty much a rabid right-wing exercise in banality, or it is essentially a hippie movement in reverse.

Nevertheless, these delusional maniacs have made a considerable political impact on the American landscape (but then again so did Che Guevarra in Latin America).

Yesterday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) got a taste of this as she is now losing to Tea Party right-wing radical Joe Miller by about 2,500 votes according to a tweet from WashDCNews, which lead to a CNN article about the Alaska Republican primary, which was held yesterday.

Miller, who was backed by the demonic diva Sarah Palin, is winning the race with about 84 percent of the votes in Alaska accounted for. Murkowski is like 'the old John McCain' of the Senate as she has voted against the GOP 30 percent of the time. Interestinly enough, McCain beat the right-wing pit bull he was facing yesterday.

The winner will face Democrat Scott McAdams, who is the mayor of Sitka. Alas, for him, Alaska is about as progressive as Qom, Iran.

Speaking of Iran, the prime minister of their main nemesis Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is an alumnus of Cheltenham High School in Philadelphia (actually in the 'burb of Wyncote, Pa.) as is former New York Yankees great Reggie Jackson.

Cheltenham is our "High School of the Week" along with schools from Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The school nickname is The Panthers. Abington Senior High School are their rivals. And, Dr. Elliot Lewis is the principal.