Presidential Quotes: Bill Clinton

Special Greetings to our blog-readers in Paraguay, Poland and Portugal and a last minute Happy Fourth of July to our readers in Philadelphia, Boston and Denver, where we gather that the Colorado Rapids are winning at home over the New York Red Bulls by a 2-0 margin in Major League Soccer play.

We will momentarily be quoting former President Bill Clinton, but before we do, we thought we'd use some taglines from the conservative newspaper "The Washington Times" to show irony (sorry to our readers in Boise, Idaho, but this is a center-left blog....well, when we go into politics).

Those terms are: National Security Agency, Mohammed Morsi, Congress, 4th of July and Egypt:

"It appears as though Egypt is in a bit of a row, as the Brits would say, as the military ousted Prime Minister Mohammed Morsi. We gather both far-left progressives and far-right Tea Partiers are outraged by the National Security Agency and Congress, but frankly when one mentions Washington, DC, to us personally, we think of Rusty the Runaway Red Panda who is now safely back home at the National Zoo. Happy 4th of July, everyone."

Here is Clinton's quote, it is regarding the White Zoo (Freudian slip, we meant...) White House, and an astonish number of presidents, including Harry Truman truly hated living there:

"I don't know whether it's the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the American penal system."

UPDATE: Colorado won its soccer game over New York by a score of 2-0 in Denver.

http://www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org (Clinton's presidential library/museum in Little Rock, Arkansas)

http://www.washingtontimes.com

http://www.mlssoccer.com

Quote of the Day- James Monroe

Pop singer Justin Bieber, the Supreme Court and Tropical Storm Debby are trending on Bing. We sense that this quote from James Monroe (1758-1831) will not go viral. but we'll see what happens.

One of the most surreal things regarding American presidential history is that three of the first five presidents died on the Fourth of July; none have died on that day since.

Both John Adams, the second president, and Thomas Jefferson, the third president, died on July 4, 1826. Monroe died on that exact date five years later.

Four of the first five presidents, everyone except Adams, was from Virginia, including Monroe.

Here is his quote:

"A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue."

Quote of the Day- Stephen King

As is the case with every July, we will be quoting both famous Americans in honor of the Fourth of July and famous people from France for Bastille Day, which will be on July 14th.

Initially, we were going to start the series with quotes from famous Americans tomorrow, but we have some great Fourth of July kitsch lined up for the occasion. This year, we are going to focus on quips from famous people from the six New England states.

We start with Stephen King from Bangor, Maine. The horror novelist known for dozens of award-winners and best-sellers ranging from his early novels like "Salem's Lot" and "Carrie" to "It," "Insomnia," "The Shinning" and "Night Shift" since the 1970s also owns the rock n roll station 100.3-FM/Bangor, which goes by the nickname The Zone, perhaps in homage to King's novel "The Dead Zone."

Recently, King wrote an exceptional short story for "The Atlantic" called "Herman wouk is Still Alive," which should fit into your schedule better his full-length works. I must profess that I have seen Coke machines the same way since one killed a person by hurling Coke cans at the victim in King's novel "The Tommyknockers."

Here is his quote, which people who have tried to do remarkable things for the world, such as Barack Obama, can perhaps relate to all too well:

"It's better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a terrific cost."

UPDATE (6:00 p.m., Sunday): While we are at it, I thought I would mention two Fourth of July performances happening tomorrow. My good friend and Greensboro, NC, folk-singer Bruce Piephoff will be performing at Center City Park in downtown Greensboro with a 12-year-old prodigy named Ranford Almond starting at circa 3:45 p.m.

And, comedian/actor/musician Steve Martin, who has recorded bluegrass music at a studio in Asheville, NC, tweeted just now that he will performing as part of the annual Fourth of July gala in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Amerika Birlesik Devletleri * from Daffy Duck!

I realize that since it's gradually approaching midnight here on the east coast of les etats unis** the only folk still watching fireworks might be in Reston, Wash. (a 'burb of Seattle), nevertheless we wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July.

My favorite Russian emgire rock band (well, we love Gogol Bordello too!) The Red Elvises tweeted the following message even though it appears they are in Moscow, and we don't mean the college town of Moscow, Idaho:

"We my be Russia now but any excuse to celebrate is good! Happy 4th of July America."

Meanwhile, our beloved Durham Bulls*** defeated the Gwinnett Braves from Georgia 6-4 in front of a record-breaking crowd of 11,674 fans in Durham, NC, tonight.

*-How you say USA in Turkish

**-How you say USA in French

***-Yeah, I know I should perhaps be more loyal to the Salem RedSox since I'm from Salem, Va., and the Greensboro Grasshoppers since I am a resident of the Triad (Greensboro, NC-area) as opposed to the Raleigh-Durham area, but hey none of those teams had a movie made after them! (I'm of course referring to "Bull Durham" with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon which first came out in 1988). I will say for my hometown that the Salem Fair is going on right now, and apparently some people drive from Fairbanks, Alaska, to enjoy the smell of (how should we put this?!)_ the bull---t!

PSA- Have a Safe Fourth of July

We want to use this weekly Thursday 'PSA' (Public Service Announcement) entry to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July even if they live in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

But, in all seriousness, The American Civils Liberty Union (ACLU) tweeted today that they are advising anyone traveling to see their aunt in Yuma, Ariz., what their rights are should they be stopped by a federal or state law enforcement officer in Arizona which recently passed a new highly controversial anti-immigration bill. Among the fears expressed by Hispanics who live in The United States legally is that they will be stopped and harrassed simply because of their ethnicity. The ACLU has full details about what perspective travelers passing through Arizona should know at their web site http://www.aclu.org

In more fun news, The Durham Bulls are having a Fourth of July homestand in Durham, NC. Tonight, the Bulls play the Louisville Bats, a team they beat 5-4 in 10 innings last night thanks to a bases loaded walk which scored Jose Lobaton. The Bulls will also have four straight nights of fireworks starting with tonight's game, which will be underway in about 20 minutes.

Another minor league team in North Carolina, the Asheville Tourists of Asheville won their game last night with one of their in-state rivals The Kannapolis Intimidators by a 2-1 count thanks to a ninth inning homerun from Orlando Sandoval. The game was played in Asheville.

In World Cup news, a Twitter site devouted to strange news reported that an Austrian man is selling his bejewelled vuvuzela on the Internet for $20,800. And, Austria was not even in the World Cup!