GOP Debate from Iowa Minus Trump (3 of 3)

Before we get to our final entry on this blog about tonight's GOP debate from Des Moines, Iowa, let's say Gunaydin/ Good Morning to our American Ambassador John Bass in Ankara, Turkey, where it is now 8:30 a.m. Yes, I know there is a less than one percent chance he reads this blog....

For your knowledge, the man at the top is Gov. Chris Christie and the man at the bottom is Sen. Ted Cruz, the state capitol building in Des Mones (not where the Fox News debate took place) is in the middle.

Here are the tweets:

1) Peter Beinart: Chris Christie__ the fact that your wife was near Ground Zero on 9/11 is not a foreign policy credential.

2) David French (conservative): Jeb Bush is right_he's been out front on ISIS strategy__and getting lawyers off the damn backs of the military__Yes!

3) Andrew C. McCarthy (conservative, no not the brat pack actor from the '80s): You think something about Muslims is suspicious.....and Chris Christie says you're a Sharia crazy.

4) Meghan McCain (conservative, daughter of Sen. John McCain): This is a completely different and more substantive debate with Trump off the stage.

5) Patton Oswalt: Mohammad Atta tried to fly a plane into my wife on 9/11........Chris Christie....

6) Spartan Basketball: With 513 wins at Michigan State, Coach Tom Izzo moves ahead of Gene Keady for second-most victories at a Big Ten school (yeah, we did this to play a mind game on you)

7) Zeynep Tufekci: They were trying to out-Trump each other yet they got hit with tough Qs while Trump didn't? Umm.....maybe, I'll read this Art of the Deal book.....

8) Cenk Uygur (liberal): Ben Carson just copied and pasted his closing statement. Too much effort to come up with his own conclusion.

9) Michael Medved (conservative): Maybe Trump's strategy worked....in his absence, chief rival Cruz had his worst debate, by far.....

Tonight's Republican Debate from Iowa Minus Donald Trump in Tweets (1 of 3)

Here are tweets from tonight's debate from folks who are right, left, center and non-partisan. As everyone outside of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, probably knows Republican front-runner Donald Trump (pict. top) ironically boycotted the Fox News debate because of a feud with moderator Megyn Kelly.
The other images are of the eastern Iowa town of Nemaha (the debate was actually held in Des Moines) and an image of Jeb Bush (actually from an event in New Hampshire):

1) Erick Erickson (conservative): This is a brilliant part of the debate. Megyn Kelly's accountability project.

2) Cenk Uygur (liberal): I have to give credit to Fox News for asking really targeted and fair questions showing these candidates' clear hypocricy.

 3) David Corn (liberal): Asked about immigration, Ben Carson points out that he declared war on ISIS.

4) Molly Ball (The Atlantic): Ivanka is due in two weeks, but Trump is hoping she has baby in Iowa: 'It'd be great. I'd definitely win.'"

5) Michael Ian Black: "Carson: 'I recognize not all Mexicans are terrorists.' Brave."

6) Michigan State Spartans Basketball: "With 15:18 remaining, MSU leads 41-29." (They wound up winning the game over Northwestern; yeah, this has nothing to do with the debate).

7) Ana Marie Cox (liberal): 'Chris Christie: I will flip flop in public so you can totally trust me." (Yeah, he didn't actually say that).

8) Michael Medved (conservative): If Ted Cruz wants to win anything, anywhere, he MUST learn not to talk like a bad, slimy televangelist. (Yeah, Medved did actually tweet this!)...

9) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Jeb Bush is getting better as a debater. But, he's not natural at all."

Colorado Republican Debate Blogathon: People Are Watching This in Israel?!

It dawned us that it was quite ironic that tonight's CNBC Republican debate was taking place in Boulder, Colorado, the state's most liberal community, which is represented by Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), one of the few openly gay members of Congress.

Polis is not the man pictured here who is in fact Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) one of three current U.S. Senators seeking the GOP nod; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), a democratic socialist is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination.

Here are tweets from a crazy night:

1) Felix Salmon: Carly Fiornia thinks she can bring the tax code down from 70,000 pages to 3 pages. So realistic.

2) Red Six Jones: I'm going to need more wine for this debate.

3) E.J. Dionne (Washington Post): One of my NH Republicans: "Wow! This is a zoo!"

4) Cyclone Volleyball (Iowa State): Different lineup to start set four. Capeizo. Conaway. Lazart up front, Berta, Harris, Nolan in back.

5) Michael Medved (conservative radio host): Whoever advised Jeb that he could help himself by attacking Marco Rubio did him no favors....makes a nice, serious guy look like a bully.

6) Ken Rudin (non-partisan political analyst): Methinks Jeb's attack on Rubio's attendance record in the Senate was a mistake. There was no need for it.

7) Chemi Shalev (Haaretz, Israeli newspaper): Finally, GOP debates gets heated enough to start resembling Israeli tv shows.

8) Cenk Uygur (liberal talk show host): Republicans think it shows strength to ignore the questions and talk over the moderators.

9) David Frum (center-right pundit): 'They don't believe in building walls.' Even when he's not talking about immigration, Jeb Bush talks about immigration."

Times Around the World: From Boston to Baku

 

We were going to look at what our favorite people were saying on Twitter; we are especially curious what comic actor Marc Maron and fellow liberal Turkish-American Cenk Uygur are tweeting, but as it is, Javier the Intern told us to keep it simple tonight.

So, we are looking at times around the world, but rather than going with Grenwich Mean Time, we are going to look at times compares to New York City when it is midnight in the Big Apple.

Here we go:

USA

Boston 12:00 a.m.
Denver 10:00 p.m. (map of Colorado is pictured)
San Diego 9:00 p.m.

South America

Rio de Janeiro 1:00 a.m.
Buenos Aires 1:00 a.m.
Quito, Ecuador 11:00 p.m.

Africa

Nairobi, Kenya 7:00 a.m. (Mount Kenya pictured top)
Cape Town 6:00 a.m.
Casablanca 5:00 a.m.

Former USSR

Moscow 8:00 a.m. (Misha the Bear pictured top)
Yerevan, Armenia 8:00 a.m.
Baku, Azerbaijan 9:00 a.m.

Yes, Prime Minister_ Turkey's PM Says Twitter to Blame

The great Mel Brooks, who is thankfully alive and well, said the best way to make fun of your enemies is to make fun of them. As residents of Istanbul continued massive protests against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plans to build a shopping mall on the grounds of Gezi Park, we are going to that here as Erdogan hides away in Tunisia, his next stop on his North African foreign affairs trip.

It seems from speaking with my fellow Turkish-Americans that we might actually dislike this guy as much as Cuban-Americans despise Fidel Castro, but we are not all right-wing fanatics.

In fact, my fellow liberal Turkish-American Cenk Uygur skewered Erdogan quite well last night on his Current-TV talk show, by saying that the man thinks he can always get his way because he has been power now for just over a full decade, but the Marmara Sea's colors seem to be changing.

Here is Erdogan's actual statement about the 'causes' of the protests: "There is a problem called Twitter right now and you can find every kind of lie there," he said. "The thing that is called social media is the biggest trouble for society right now."

http://www.current.com

http://www.twitter.com

Virtual Postcard from Florida...(even though I'm not really there)

Though we are not in Florida, and certainly not at the 2012 Republican Convention in Tampa, which is 38 miles from Weekie Wachee where these real-life mermaids are from. Weekie Wachee Springs, which I visited as a teenager in 1984, was in danger of being closed, but it has become a state park in recent years.

I am cutting this tonight to hopefully watch some of Current-TV's coverage of the GOP convention with Cenk Uyugr, a fellow progressive Turkish-American, and former vice president Al Gore.

Michael Moore delivered a shocker today as the very left-of-century documentary filmmaker predicted that his fellow Michigan native Mitt Romney would win the election; hmmmmmmmmmm........At least, Moore is not in my home state of Virginia as we desperately need Democratic candidate and former Tim Kaine to win that now vacant U.S. Senate. I dislike his opponent so much that I refuse to mention him by name:)


We were actually hoping to see the Black Mormon Republican congressional candidate Mia Love, who is currently, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, speak, as she seems to be quite a novelty on the political scene, but we missed it. Though the likes of Bill O have made it seem like newspaper aside from "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Washington Times" are as far to the left as Radio Havana, the truth is that most newspapers in Utah appear to be giving Love very subjective love indeed.

Lastly, we heard today that Aly Raisman, the recent three-time medal winning Olympic gymnast, received an unwanted marriage proposal from some autograph seeker she didn't know; Raisman is only 18 years old!

And, finally we want to thank her teammate Gabby Douglas, who won all-around gold in London, and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn)., who will hopefully make Sean Hannity's head blow up live on Fox News one day, as they are now both following me on Twitter... so can you at:

http://www.twitter.com/Tilly70

http://www.visitflorida.com

http://www.weekiewachee.com

 http://www.current.com

GOP Tweets_Turning It Over to Bill, Cenk and Charlie

Last year, a good friend of mine, announced to the world that he woke up one morning and decided to quit blogging. He had 10 times as many followers as I did, so this was a shock. Well, now I understand how he feels. While I'm not completely stepping away from blogging, I am going to wrap up this Republican convention tweet-a-thon sooner than I expected; but I will leave the coverage up to the subjective Bill O'Reilly (from the right) and Cenk Uygur (from the left; I personally prefer Cenk over Bill O) and the objective Charlie Rose.

But, we do hope to post entries on both blogs later in the week about a few heated races, and perhaps I will post a commentary on my thoughts regarding the GOP Convention in Tampa and coverage of it.

We are posting an image of Gov. Chris Christie (R-New Jersey) and American Olympics gold medal gymnast McKayla Maroney because we were thinking the other day that if Maroney got an on an elevator with the governor that a red light would come on. If this seems a bit mean, I should point out that I'm a hefty guy myself and folks have said much meaner things on Twitter about his weight, even Republicans!

As for Maroney, we have no idea where she stands politically (she is not quite old enough to vote), but her unimpressed/disappointment look has made her an Internet sensation, or what is called a meme. She made the wince when she got a silver medal on vault in London; an event where she was highly favored to win gold.

Here are some tweets about the GOP Convention from the night, some adjustments have been made to teh tweets for clarity: 

1) @susanlbrannigan (Susan L. Brannigan): "Rachel Maddow made the Olympic gymnast 'not impressed' look there for a second. LOL!"

2) @THEHermanCain (Herman Cain, a fringe candidate who sought the GOP nomination): "Why all the focus on #Isaac & how it hurts #GOP2012? #Pray for New Orleans and let's focus on #Solutions in Tampa."

3) @BlueInRedZion (a liberal blogger from Utah referring to the heated Congressional race between Mia Love, a Republican challenger to Utah Democratic representative Jim Mattheson): "#MiaLove to speak because she is representative of all female, black Mormons as Rs for Congress."

4) @LeslieType: "I adore Chris Christie. A straight talking mind your business, do as I say New Jersey man. I love it! Repubs and Dems are not ready for him."

5) @cocaoforreal (Touche): "not a big fan of Chris Christie, but of all the GOP 'stars,' he's the most tolerable to me."

6) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, a liberal satirist tweeter): "Because tonight's #RNC was rained out, no speeches from Nikki Haley, Mike Huckabee or Jeb Bush. Just reruns of 2 Broke Girls. Oh, the irony!"

7) @TedCruz (Ted Cruz, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Texas; he will face Democrat Paul Sadler. Cruz has a radical Fire Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General on his campaign web site): "Speaking at@GOPConvention tomorrow night at around 8:10 CT! Please tune in and RT to remind your friends."


http://www.tytnetwork.com

http://www.current.com

http://www.billoreilly.com

http://www.charlierose.com

http://www.blueinredzion.com

http://www.cainconnections.com

The Republicans Are Coming! The Republicans Are Coming!

Since this Shark Week on the Discovery Channel here in the United States, and the Republican Party National Convention will be starting on Monday, Aug. 27th in Tampa, Fla., we thought we'd make fun of our friends on the right. Of course, not all of them are as radical, fringe as Michele Bachmann, but then again, quite a few of them are indeed like sharks, and we don't mean the nice, friendly sharks one sees in the comic strip "Sherman's Lagoon."

As of today, many right-wingers are skewing Vice President Joe Biden for controversial remarks he made in Danville, Va., a town I'm a bit familiar with, in which he told a largely African-American audience that the Republicans would put them back in chains. The right immediately saw this as a reference to slavery. Biden also thought Danville is in North Carolina, but when college basketball season comes along, many residents in Danville pretend they are in the Tarheel State as well (for those of you in Dubai, the University of North Carolina and Duke University, both in North Carolina, are national powerhouses in the sport).

Of course, the partisan party faithful will be more likely to get excited if they see Chuck Norris as opposed to the likes of Congs. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky), Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), then they will accuse Chevy Chase of having too much power and influence in the Democratic Party.

Then, some convention-attenders may have one too many bourbons and have to call Yellow Cab of Tampa (a real taxi company), and hence miss out on the prayer breakfast the next day.

There have been some folks who are new Republicans like Cong. Artur Davis (R-Ala.), an African-American party who quietly switched sides in June. But, one has to wonder if this is genuine or if Cong. Davis just wants to stay in office as Alabama is a red state even by the South's standards.

And, assuredly, tonight Gov. Mary Fallin (R-Okl) will sleep well tonight having decided to execute an inmate named Michael Hooper last night. We will admit that Hooper's crime, which was the murder of his girlfriend and her two young children was very heinous. But, isn't hypocritical of Fallin and those who proclaim to be fiscal conservative to spend at least one million dollars per execution (according to a 2011 column in "Tulsa World," Oklahoma has not released figures on how much capital punishment costs), not to mention that executions seem to certainly contrast the teachings of Jesus Christ.

But, we look forward to posting several entries about it here and our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Times" as we include voices ranging from Cenk Uygur, a Current-TV progressive talk show host who used to be a Republican, and Dennis Miller, a comic/talk show host who switched stripes from liberal to conservative. Perhaps, now he even shares a Pabst Blue Ribbon or two with his pal Bill O'Reilly.


http://www.dsc.discovery.com/sharkweek

http://www.gopconvention2012.com

http://www.yellowcaboftampa.com

http://www.slagoon.com

http://www.godanriver.com

http://www.ok.gov/governor

http://www.okcadp.org

http://www.dennimillerradio.com

http://www.current.com

http://www.pabstblueribbon.com

The links above are for: 1) Shark Week; 2) Republican Convention; 3) Taxis in Tamps; 4) "Sherman's Lagoon" (comic strip); 5) Danville Register and Bee; 6) Oklahoma governor's home page 7) Oklahomans Against the Death Penalty; 8) Dennis Miller; 9) Current TV; 10) Pabst Blue Ribbon

Quote of the Day/Week- Al Gore

Today, we continue our month-long series of quotes from American vice presidents. Today, we quip Al Gore, 64, who served under President Bill Clinton, who is for some strange trending on Twitter today. My fellow progressive Turkish-American Cenk Uygur hosts "The Young Turks," a progressive political talk show on Gore's Current-TV at 7:00 p.m.

Gore is also known for being an advocate for global warming, which seems to be quite accurate given that Minnesota is now as hot as Alabama on any given day in July.

We have a quote from Walter Mondale, who served under President Jimmy Carter, on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Here is Gore's quote:

"The day I made that statement about inventing the Internet, I was tired because I'd been up all night inventing the camcorder."http://www.algore.com
http://www.current.com

Quote of the Day/Week-Clint Eastwood

One thing that is unique about America is that a liberal-leaning blog, such as our's, can post a photo of Clint Eastwood as "Dirty Harry" (1971), even though it runs contrary to our own personal politics.

But, perhaps in the process, we can lure in blog visitors who would normally listen to far-right radio talk show host Bill Cunnigham (I listened the other night; he is pretty radical) as opposed to our fellow liberal Turkish-American Cenk Uygur who hosts a talk show on Current TV (he is, of course, pretty rad!).

However, while Eastwood may be best-known around the world for playing cops and cowboys, he also won two well-deserved Best Director Oscars for "Unforgiven" (1992) and "Millon Dollar Baby" (2004).

Here is his quote:

"I have a strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want control over it."

Quote of the Day/Week- Joe Frazier

Last month, we had hoped to quote the great boxer Joe Frazier (1944-2011) as one of the quips from famous people who died last year, but as it is, he also fits into our efforts this month to quote famous African-Americans in honor of Black History Month.

Next month, we are hoping to quote famous gold medalists. We learned while researching this piece that Frazier, who died at age 67 from cancer was a gold medalist at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He defeated Hans Huber from West Germany.

Frazier, whose nickname was Smokin' Joe, was known for his bitter rivalry with Muhammad Ali. The two ironically became close friends even though they said terrible things about it each other at several junctures during their careers.

The two boxers met three times. Frazier won the first bout at Madison Square Garden in New York for what was dubbed 'the fight of the century' on March 8, 1971. Frazier would win that fight which saw the likes of Woody Allen in attendance.

Ali won the subsequent meetings between the two, including the 1975 'Thrilla in Manila," which did indeed take place in The Philippines.

Here is Frazier's quote:

"Life doesn't run away from nobody. Life runs at people."

SIDEBAR ONE: Since we are huge admirers of William Shakespeare, we thought we'd mention that in the hamlet of Hamlet, NC (some 75 miles east of Charlotte) it is 51 degrees and rainy today.

SIDEBAR TWO: As a fellow progressive Turkish-American, I want to salute Cenk Uygur, who coincidentally is a mere 17 days younger than me, for standing up to a right-wing electronic media outlet which said that Uygur looked like the notorious Pakistani terrorist Khalid Sheik Muhammed.

The comments were made in response to Uygur's interview with right-wing commentator Andrew Breitbart, on the Feb. 14th broadcast of Uygur's Current TV show, which airs at 7:00 p.m., New York time. Breitbart apparently disclosed that his 'stop raping people' jeers that he made at Occupy DC protestors was a publicity stunt.

Uygur confronted the haters by juxtaposing his face over that of the terrorist's through computer animation, a technique made famous by comic talk show host Conan O'Brien, who is seemingly and surprisingly popular in Turkey. O'Brien's own show airs at 11:00 p.m., New York time, on TBS. Steve Martin is scheduled to appear on that show tonight.

SIDEBAR THREE: Lastly, kudos to the UNC-Greensboro men's basketball team as they upset College of Charleston (from Charleston, SC) 78-63 on the UNCG Spartans' home court last night. Derrell Armstrong paved the way for the home team with 30 points.

The UNCG Spartans (12-15) were profiled by North Carolina Public Radio (WUNC-FM, Chapel Hill) since the team's coach Wes Miller, 29, is the youngest head coach in Division One basketball. Miller has been serving as a temporary coach since then-coach Mike Dement resigned in December.

Quote of the Week/Day- Che Guevara

For the record: "No, I'm not a socialist, but I would be one if I lived in Provo, Utah."

Nevertheless, the Argentinian radical revolutionary figure Che Guevara (1928-1967) who was executed in Bolivia at age 38, has been good for massive hit totals on our two blogs. And, personally, I'd love to have this puppet for Christmas, if not to see the shocked look on a conservative friend's face.

By the way, we are dedicating to one Paul Doss of Roanoke, Va., who wrote in a letter-to-editor to "The Roanoke Times" in which he defended folks like Donald Trump and Uncle Scrooge. He added that 'anyone who wants socialism should move to Europe.' Of course, my response to that is that if Newt Gingrich becomes president, many of us may actually opt for Cuba.

And, while researching this piece, we found that many actors have played Che Guevara on film, including Antonio Banderas (in "Evita," 1996), Benicio Del Toro, Gael Garcia Bernali and most astonishingly Omar Sharif (?!). Yes, the Egyptian actor who is still alive played the title role in "Che!" (the dubious 1969 version, not the one which got a Criterion Edition release). Of course, in this same version of Che, the late Jack Palance (1919-2006) played Fidel Castro.

So, irregradless if your political legions are with Ron Paul or Noam Chomsky, here is the quote from Che:

"In a revolution one wins or dies, if it is a real one."

This our first in a month-long series of quotes from famous Latin Americans.

SIDEBAR ONE: The road trip between the two Charleston takes C) 8 hours, 30 minutes (see Saturday's entry).

SIDEBAR TWO: Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast national, who is the main star for English soccer power Chelsea, scored two goals in UEFA Champions play for a 3-0 victory over Spanish team Valencia. This helped Chelsea win Group E.

Here is a partial rundown of the eight games played today in Europe; the stars indicate the teams that advance:

Shankhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) 2 *APOEL (Cyprus) 0

Porto (Portugal) 0 *Zenit (Russia) 0, tie

*Barcelona 4 BATE (Bulgaria) 0

*AC Milan 2, Plzen (Czech Rep.) 2, tie

SIDEBAR THREE: Last night, my fellow Turkish-American progressive Cenk Uygur made an impressive debut with Current TV on his show "The Young Turks" as he took great digs at Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann. But, my favorite segment was when he uncovered footage from Fox News of some right-wing nut pundit saying that the new Muppets movie "The Muppets" is encouraging children to become communists. And, the reason for this is because the film suggests big oil companies don't have our best interests at heart; uh huh! Tonight, Uygur welcomes Al Gore as his guest.

Quoting William Shakespeare (1 of 5)

What do Che Guevara, Jesus Christ and William Shakespeare all have in common?

Well, they've all had bobblehead dolls made after them, of course!

Here is our quip from the Bard:

"Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."

If you are looking for a refuge from Christmas play season, we highly recommend a production of the American Shakespeare Center's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" if you happen to be in the Staunton, Va., area where the stage company is based.

SIDEBAR: I happy to report that my doppelganger, and yes we checked Google to make sure this term was spelled correctly, Cenk Uygur will be back on television with a new daily show airing on Current TV at 7:00 p.m.

Uygur and I have many things in common. We are both politically progressive. We are both Turkish-Americans. And, amazingly enough we were born on a mere 16 days a part in March of 1970 (I was the one who was born first, not that that matters really).

Up until George W. Bush's now dubious decision to go to war over Iraq, Uygur was actually a Republican so I presume he did not vote for Michael Dukakis, a Greek-American, as I did, which did NOT quite go over well with the relatives in Istanbul.

And, I supported Hillary Clinton at the primary stage though Uygur endorsed Barack Obama. Ironically, it seems that I am considerably less critical of Obama than Uygur. But, all things considered, I agree with Uygur about 90 percent of the time, and I know he will be a great counter to the dittoheads on Fox News, and a strong complement to Keith Olbermann's show which airs at 8:00 p.m. on Current.

Both Olbermann and Uygur were previously talk show hosts on MSNBC.

SIDEBAR TWO: The answer to our Rabbit Ears Quiz on "H.R. Pufnstuf" (not spelled correctly on our tags) was C) $325. Yes, that is how much someone on e-bay is offering for an H.R. Pufnstuf lunch box. The products were made in limited quantity in 1971. We sure hope it has the thermos.

Quote of the Week- Jules Verne

Today's quote is our third one this month from famous French people in honor of Bastille Day, which was one week ago today. It comes from the author Jules Verne
(1828-1905), who is best-known for his novel "Around the World in 80 Days."


Since I love cats, this quip is a vintage one to me:

"I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through."

SIDEBAR: We are saddened to hear of the departure of progressive talk-show and fellow Turkish-American Cenk Uygur (we were both also born in March of 1970, and we are both liberals) from MSNBC. Since I only have basic cable, I only got to see his show "MSNBC Live," which aired at 6:00 p.m., a few times.

Uygur told sources that the network brass approached him in April to tone down his rhetoric. Amazingly enough, his replacement appears to be the uber-controversial Rev. Al Sharpton. Uygur is expected to be a guest on Keith Olbermann's new show on Current-TV. Olbermann left MSNBC for similar reasons. This comes at a time when MSNBC's rival Fox News has been reeling from the scandal involving their owner Rupert Murdhoch who is embattled with a phone-hacking scandal at one of his English newspapers.

Ironically, we found out that one of the country's leading conservative activists and Armenian-American (our rival ethnic group) Mark Krikorian, who is an anti-immigration advocate was the editor of "The Winchester Star" in Winchester, Va., a few short years before I worked as a reported at "The Shenandoah Valley-Herald," a newspaper owned by the same company in Woodstock, Va.

I imagine given our ethnic and political differences, Krikorian would probably not have gotten along too well.......to put it mildly!

Right-Wing Radicals Say the Darndest Things...

This comment was actually posted on Youtube against my fellow Turkish-American progressive Cenk Uygur, a talk show host with "The Young Turks" (he was once a Republican!). It is in reference to a segment that Uygur ran featuring Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller (he used to be sane!) discussing how President Barack Obama has been hypocritical with his policies:

"all I can do is laugh at that smug, dirty arab when HE calls oreilly smug."

The kicker here is that not only Uygur openly agnostic (as am I), Turks are NOT Arabs. We are completely different ethnic groups.

This illustrates one of my main points of contention with the right, especially the whacko tea partiers, they believe that racism and xenophobia in America are not a part of society.

While I would agree that there are times when the left cries wolf when there might be other factors to explain a situation like the Cambridge, Mass., incident between a police officer and an African-American Harvard professor besides racism, there are also times when it is very clear and very apparent. And, this is one such example.

A Facebook Group I Won't Be Joining

One of the most fascinating things about being a devout Twitter person is that you find out things you might not be aware of. For instance, last night I saw that uber-obnoxious film director James Cameron would be on "The Tavis Smiley Show." I follow Smiley on Twitter, and I was eager to see his interview with a man whose ego seems to be as large as the budgets of his films, but amazingly enough I was on the phone with a friend when the show aired in North Carolina at 12:30 a.m.

But, I also saw this bit about Tiger Woods on Twitter yesterday.

According to everyone's favorite 'neocon in reverse' Arianna Huffington the Facebook group "I Have Also Slept With Tiger Woods" had 171,000 members yesterday up from 139,000 members on Wednesday.

I looked and there is indeed such a group on Facebook. Today the group has 200,211 members as of 5:00 p.m. (east coast time!).

I also saw that Matthew DeBard, a contributor to the liberal-leaning Huffington Post blog (which is certainly better than The Drudge Report on the other side), has a column entitled "Tiger Woods Is So, So, So Much Bigger Than Golf."

The fact that The Huffington Post also includes articles from my fellow Turkish-American progressive Cenk Uygur (who has a liberal talk radio program) might lead one to think I look at the site daily, but there are so many places to go on the web, including Facebook, Twitter and this freaking blog! All of which reminds me that it's been three long weeks since I looked at my E-Harmony account!

WINTER STORM WARNING: For those reading this in Virginia, Maryland or North Carolina, you may have already noticed a lot of snow outside your window. Flights out of Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC, have been canceled as has a Christmas party for the Augusta County Eagles in Staunton, Va.

Similarly, Studio Roanoke in Roanoke, Va., has scrapped No Shame Theatre tonight. And, lastly there will no college night at the Lucky City bookstore in Reidsville, NC.

I guess we'll all have to stay home and watch tv movies on Lifetime tonight.

Know Your Congressman and Senators (Entry 7 of 21)

This Democratic congressman from the 3rd district of Virginia is known for opposing both capital punishment and the Patriot Act.

He grew up in Newport News, and he was the first African-American member of Congress from Virginia since reconstruction.

Right wing wonks from "The Free Republic" have also criticized him for opposing a Christmas resolution in Congress. With such whining, it's easy to see why the donkeys are in control now. (Hope this pleases my friend Cenk Uygur, a progressive talk show host who used to be an elephant!).

Is this member of The Hill:

A. Jim Moran

B. Brad Miller

C. Bobby Scott

D. Tom Davis

The answer to last week's quiz is one of my favorite people in Washington, DC_ Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind).