Potluck Quote of the Day (1/10): Noam Chomsky Meets Marvin the Martian

Greetings to our blog readers in Turkey, Israel and Costa Rica......

Why are we featuring an image of Mars with a quote from left-wing philosopher/linguist/historian Noam Chomsky, one of America's leading critics of the Vietnam War, who happens to still be alive at age 87?

Well, just read this quote. And, thanks to the kids from Duke University for helping us with this research......(we are actually UNC fans here, but we wanted to be nice....and since all the college students are on break for the summer, perhaps, they will be reading this instead of playing video games)....

We gather that Speak of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) is a closet admirer of Chomsky's work (yeah, we just said that to get your attention)....

This will be our first of ten quotes from people who have achieved fame and/or notoriety in a variety of fields.

Here is the quote:

"If there were an observer on Mars, they would probably be amazed that we have survived this long."

https://chomsky.info/

http://mars.nasa.gov/

http://www.wxdu.org/ (Duke's student-run college radio station; they were playing Frankie Cosmos at last report, actually that was another college radio station).........

Presidential Quotes, (7 of 8): Gerald Ford

Greetings to our blog readers in Austria, Finland and Uruguay, where Jose Mujica is president and apparently he is also the poorest president in the world (ok, we asked Google who the president of Uruguay was).

Since these quips from the first and last eight presidents seem to be as popular as late-night vacuum infomercials, we thought we'd arbitrarily throw in a few names to boost our hits: Kate Middleton, Paris Hilton and Edward Snowden*: We don't actually give a fig about any of these people.

Here is our quote from Gerald Ford, who always enjoyed a good round of golf, and helped comic actor Chevy Chase rise to stardom; his presidential library is located in Ann Arbor, Mich.:

"I would hope that understanding and reconciliation are not limited to the 19th hole alone."


http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov

*-This is, in fact, the first time we've mentioned Snowden's name on this blog, though we gather people like Noam Chomsky and Ron Paul admire him.

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.

Bonus Road Trip- New Mexico to Iowa

Hello. And, for those of you in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, welcome to my blog.

As most of my faithful followers know (and, I have no idea how high or how low my following really is), I like to make fun of Republicans. And, with candidates as extreme as Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Ron Paul, it is frankly very hard not to make fun of them!

I must profess that even though his politics and ideas are extreme and radical, it is hard to make fun of Herman Cain. For one, he is an African-American and secondly I liked his Godfather's Pizza for quite a while. And, Cain certainly looks as cool as the Richard Roundtree, the original Shaft, who is also an African-American republican.

But, it is easier to make fun of Ron Paul. To be honest, I actually endorsed him for the Republican nomination in 2008 simply because I admired any Republican willing to speak out against the Iraq War. But, since I am an uber-partisan Democrat, the endorsement probably didn't help him much. And, within the last four years, we've all heard the Texas congressional rep (yes, he actually holds a federal office) express some real far-out things, including some highly controversial remarks about
9-11. One may have attributed such sentiments to the far-left intellectual scholar Noam Chomsky, except that those remarks were made by Paul during a Republican debate!

I have also noticed that if there is an alien sent here from outer space to take over the world in the political forum, it would have to be Paul. I mean with Republicans making illegal immigration one of their main cause celebres, especially for Bachmann, it is highly ironic that one of their own might be from Mars!

So, we decided to see how far Roswell, New Mexico, is from Ames, Iowa, since Roswell is associated with UFOs and since Ames, also the home of Iowa State University, is where a key political straw poll takes place.

For, our two destinations, we went with the UFO Museum in Roswell (there is also one in Istanbul, Turkey_ of all places!) and The Cafe Ames in Iowa.

So, what is the answer; is it:

A) 16 hours even
B) 16 hours, 30 minutes
C) 16 hours, 45 minutes
D) 17 hours, 15 minutes

If you get this right, we will promptly send you a copy of "Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits" on 8-track tape (that is a joke!).

Special Quote of the Week- George Orwell

Today, we conclude our month-long series (yes, we know today is actually June 1, 2011) from novelists with a quip from the great English writer/essayist/novelist George Orwell (1903-1950) who died young at age 46.

On our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," we are quoting Albert Camus (1913-1960) who also died at age 46. Both men were also born in colonized territory as Orwell was born in India and Camus was born in Algeria. And, both writers, of course, are still well-known around the world for their highly political works.

Orwell has the distinction of being admired by both the right and the left. This is emphasized by the fact that his staunchest supporter in the modern day is the atheist intellectual Christopher Hitchens, who has drfited from the left to the right to the middle, or wherever he is/may be at the moment. Hitchens wrote a book entitled "Why Orwell Matters" in 2002, and Hitchens also has the distinction of having spats with both left-wing philosopher Noam Chomsky and the late evangelical extremist Jerry Falwell.

According to Wikipedia, Orwell's works were written with regard to an awareness of social injustice and a concern for totalitarism. The terms Orwellian and Big Brother derive from his works. Due to his short life, Orwell is most regarded for just two novels, "Animal Farm" (1945) and his last and most famous work "1984" (1949).

Orwell's works also inspired the film director Terry Gilliam with his famous critically acclaimed film "Brazil" (1985) which is also about totalitarianism.

Here is Orwell's quote:

"All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who not fighting."

Quote of the Day- Noam Chomsky

Today's quote comes form one of America's leading liberal activist Noam Chomsky, 82, also a philosopher, who has (according to Wikipedia) described himself as a libertarian socialist.

Chomsky got considerable recognition during the 1960s for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War which was articulated in his 1967 essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals."

In 1988, Chomsky, along with fellow activist Edward S. Herman came out with the book "Manufacturing Consent..." which was highly critical of mass media and its Orwellian ability to influence people's decisions.

I have agreed with Chomsky on some issues and differed with him on others, especially the notion he proposed during the Iraq War, that America, Israel and Turkey (my late father's country) were the real 'axis of evil.' But, like him, I was very opposed to the Iraq War and the George W. Bush presidency.

Ironically a conservative friend of mine in North Carolina is an admirer of Chomsky! But, by the same token, I have a profound interest in Richard Nixon even though I would have probably voted for his opponent George McGovern had I not been two years old in 1972.

Recently, "The Nation" sold a Gnome Chomsky, a gnome shaped liked Noam chomsky, for a fund-raising item. And, Chomsky is prominently featured on shows that air on Link-TV.

Here is today's quip from Chomsky:

"Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune."