Special Quote of the Week- Richard M. Nixon

Since November is the month of elections, we thought we'd quote former 20th century American presidents, and we start with my favorite Republican president Richard M. Nixon (which may explain why I'm a Democrat).

It is a bit ionic that Nixon, who helped establis the national park systems, may have actually been to the left of Joe Lieberman!

The Richard m. Nixon Museum is located in Yorba Linda, Calif., and one has to wonder if the very liberal filmmaker Oliver Stone, who made a cinematic bio of the man, has ever visited!

Here is the quote:

"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits."

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Sea Turtles Go Free!

Since we had a hard-as-heck time downloading an image of an actual sea turtle, we had to settle for this stuffed toy instead. And, oh yes, for those of you wondering why I am posting this on Tueday instead of Wednesday, which is our designated Twitter day, it is because life is getting busy and hectic lately. Did I just say that?!

We did learn on Twitter today that the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is releasing several sea turtles into the waters of Georgia as they tweeted earlier this afternoon:

"We're all on site preparing to attach the satellite tags for our sea turtles so they're ready for our release in Jekyll Island tomorrow!"

The Georgia Shakespeare Company, also in Atlanta, tweeted that they were performing "King Lear" this week. That's the one with the unhappy ending, right? (Forgive the English lit humour).

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Zoo will have a concert with Joan Baez tomorrow night. (No, she's not the one who sang "Sweet Child of Mine" silly---she's a '60s folk singer).

Alas, some news today through Twitterville as many people, including Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct) who probably roots for both the New York Yankees and the Boston RedSox, expressed their condolences for the passing of Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner who is perhaps best known for his feuds with the late Billy Martin.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office tweeted that all flags at the City Plaza will be lowered for him, and the Bronx Zoo had this great message of sympathy:

"From one Bronx Zoo to another RIP George Steinbrenner. Our condolences to his friends, family, and fans."

PS_ Believe it or not, this is our 600th entry!

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.

Top 10 Left-Wing Films of All Time

We are running an accompanying entry on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" entitled the Top 10 Right-Wing Films of all time.

This list is basically totally random, though not entirely pointless.

My friend Jason Garnett, who is NOT a right-wing extremist, professing his admiration of the ultra-conservative film "Red Dawn," which makes our other list.

He is opening a new venture entitled The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va., with a screening of "The Big Lebowski" on March 27. To my knowledge that film does not have a political bias, but the John Goodman character is reportedly based on the director of "Red Dawn" whose name escapes me (where is the IMDB when you need it???).

I did see two films on this list, the Brazilian film "Motorcycle Diaries" and the Michael Moore doc "Fahrenheit 911" at Jason's former house of worship the Grandin Theatre, also in Roanoke, which was kind enough to screen "Gremlins" for my 40th birthday last night. Perhaps, it's just me, but I sensed the 1984 adventure film had some Cold War overtones........yeah, I guess I do read too much into things. The Grandin is currently showing films like "Crazy Heart," "Shutter Island" and "Valentine's Day," none of which are subversive but you can never too sure about romantic comedies.

Ironically, one film listed here the original 1968 version of "Planet of the Apes" is considered a liberal film for its environmental message even though it stars the late ultra-conservative actor Charlton Heston.

Here is a list of our favorite films which are definitely to the left of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.):


1. Medium Cool
2. Salt of the Earth
3. Battle of Algiers
4. Easy Rider
5. Motorcycle Diaries
6. Joe (pictured)
7. Tout Va Bien!
8. Harlan County USA (pictured)
9. Hearts and Minds
10. Planet of the Apes (1968-pictured)/Fahrenheit 9-11

Amazingly enough the socialist propaganda film "I Am Cuba" did not make the final cut!

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!

Political Confusion Test (20 of 21)- Gogol Bordello or Yakov Smirnoff

As we inch closer to the end of this ever-popular series which has its roots in the election year cultural battles that all of us are Americans are still recovering from, we focus on which two Russian emigre entities which might hint at your political leanings.

The first is my favorite punk band in the whole frigging world_ Gogol Bordello known for their lavish live performances around the globe which might well include their 'ballad'_"Alcohol," which is of course an ode to drinking. The boys are performing this weekend in South Burlington, Vermont_ certainly wish I could be there! The band will coincidentally be performing in St. Petersburg, Fla., on July 27. Their 2008 album "Super Taranta!" which includes the awesome song "Wanderlust King" is in my view one of the best cd releases in the last couple of years. We align them with Democratic voters because frankly we can't see Newt Gingrich shaking his booty at one of their shows.

The second is Cold War-era comedian Yakov Smirnoff, a dear sweet lovable figure who is alas a Republican. Smirnoff currently performs regularly in Branson, Mo., and he is joining country singer Neal McCoy for a joint Make-A-Wish fundraiser in Branson on June 12. He is also starting a venture called Yakov's Moscow Circus on June 10, which I gather is indeed some sort of circus, and he will be performing in Albany, New York, on July 3. Smirnoff is also an avid artist and he put together a mural recognizing the September 11th victims which was displayed at Ground Zero.


So far, I have chosen 20 things that are more indicative of Democrats than Republicans. I wonder if I can get Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct) and Arlene Spector (D-Pa) to take the test?!