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).........

Happy Valentine's Day (4 of 4): The Funny, Quirky and Dark Side of Romance......

Our apologies to our Republican friends, yes we know Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are not actually gay lovers.

SOTU Blogathon (2 of 3): Does Bernie Sanders Like Moo Goo Gai Pan?

With images of President Barack Obama, Washington Wizards star John Wall, and Cong. Peter King (R-NY), we present with a second round of tonight's tweets regarding the SOTU:

1) John Harwood of CNBC: Obama: 'We're threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states."

2) Lizz Winstead: Peter King needs some Activa.

3) Roll Call: Obama: 'The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. But, there are still threats.'

4) Miriti Murungi: Bernie's about to order Chinese food (image of him pulling out iPhone was beneath tweet).

5) Ken Rudin (NPR): A little history here. This is the first SOTU where the two men standing behind the president debated each other in the last election.

6) Jonah Goldberg (National Review): Wait.....WAIT!! Barack Obama killed Osama Bin Laden? I never heard that before."

7) The Onion (satire news): Biden Urges Paul Ryan To Check Out Nude Scenes from 'Porky's' on Phone.

8) Politico: Obama: "If you doubt America's commitment or mine to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden."

9) The Weekly Standard (conservative magazine): Obama's talking foreign policy at SOTU right now. But, he's leaving out the sailors detained by Iran today.

10) Catholic Democrats: Did anyone ever think 8 years ago that a Democratic president would be quoting a pope in his SOTU?

11) Nicholas Kristof (New York Times): Obama has been mostly in law professor mode. But he showed passion when he denounced attacks on Islam as unfair and counterproductive.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.weeklystandard.com

http://www.newrepublic.com

SOTU Blogathon: Let's Drop the Gloves (1 of 3)

With our hearts and minds on the ISIS terrorism victims from today's senseless ISIS attack in Istanbul, Turkey, which we hope to dwell into later this week, we focus on tweets from tonight's State of the Union Address (SOTU), the final one for President Barack Obama.

Picture here we have Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Alex Ovechkin captain of the Washington Capitals, and new Speaker of the House Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.).....

Here are tweets from right, left and center.........

1) Ana Marie Cox: Paul Ryan thinking about how tomorrow is legs day.

2) Mormon Democrats: Obama calls for bipartisan work on criminal justice reform.

3) Susan Davis (NPR): Prescription drug abuse is one of those issues that crosses party lines. Big and growing problem in both red and blue states.

4) Molly Ball (The Atlantic): Oh god, the WH livestream is full of cheesy graphics.

5) Larry Sabato: Camera focused on Bernie. Those stars in his eyes are actually polling numbers.

6) Chris Cillizza: Direct Trump shot: "Promising to restore past glory if just get some group or idea that was threatening America under control."

7) Michael Crowley (Time): Only two sentences on Iran in this speech.

8) Washington Week: Obama asks: "How can we make our politics reflect what's best in us, and no what's worst."

9) New Republic: Paul Ryan and Joe Biden: Awwkwarrdddd

10) NBC Nightly News: Former Congresswoman Gabbie Giffords is attending tonight's SOTU.

11) Post Politics: Obama: 'I want to focus on the next five years, ten years, and beyond. I want to focus on our future. '

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.rollcall.com

http://www.politico.com

The DC List (3 of 3)..........Last Group of Republican Congressman.............and when they turn 103

Welcome to our beloved blog readers in Croatia, Costa Rica and Brazil!

For those of you who live outside America, the Republican Party is a far right wing coalition of Jump-4-Jesus evangelicals, Yosemite Sam gun nuts, fringe anti-government anarchists, rich greedy multimillionaires and war mongering radicals who like to see us invade the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

Of course, in spite of this, we respect their members who serve in public office and the long hours they put in up in Washington, DC, and on the golf courses they play on for fundraisers.

Here are ten more Republican House members and the years in which they will turn 103, when their seats might become competitive again:

1. Cong. Rob Wittman (R-Va., pict. top) 2062

2. Cong. Richard Hudson (R-NC, pict. center) 2074

3. Cong. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC, pict. bottom) 2070

4. Cong. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) 2069

5. Cong. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) 2073

6. Cong. John Culberson (R-Tex.) 2059

7. Cong. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) 2063

8. Cong. Chris Smith (R-NJ) 2056

9. Cong. John Duncan (R-TN) 2050

10. Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc., failed 2012 veep nominee) 2073

http://www.newsmax.com/ (Right wing journal we disagree with)

http://www.motherjones.com/ (Left wing journal we are more inclined to agree with)

http://www.politico.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.theonion.com/section/politics/

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com  (for more GOP reps and they will turn 103)

Election Day By the #s (1 of 4)_Good Thing Hawaii Isn't a Swing State

Yes, the camel wrestling match is over and kudos to President Barack Obama in winning re-election over a feisty challenger in multimillionaire Mitt Romney.

Before we get to the numbers, let's run down three major U.S. Congress races:

Tammy Duckworth, 44, the double-amputee from her years of services in the Iraq War,  won as the Democratic challenger to Cong. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), who was just one of 20 incumbents to lose his or her seat.

But, Cong. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), one of most far right members on the Hill, maintained her seat by the slimmest of margins over Democrat Jim Graves.

Similarly, though he lost as Romney's veep choice Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) had a surprisingly close scare from his challenger Rob Zerban, but in the end Ryan won by a 55-44 percent margin.

And, in another surprise, a Democrat won a House election in Montana as state senator Kim Gillian won over Republican Jonathan Paton.

Now, as they say on "Market Place," one of our favorite daily NPR radio programs, 'let's do the numbers:'

60,602,103_ The number of votes Barack Obama got in the 2012 election.

57,776,942_ The number of votes Mitt Romney got in the 2012 election.

48,886,097_ The number of votes George H.W. Bush got in the 1988 election (The first year I voted)

41,809,074_ The number of votes Michael Dukakis got in the 1988 election

62.7 %- The percent Obama got in New York state

62.3 %- The percent Romney got in West Virginia

56%- The percent Obama got in Maine

52%- The percent Obama got in Pennsylvania (a swing state)

303- The number of electoral votes Obama got (if the present holds up, it will equal the same number that President John F. Kennedy got over Richard Nixon in 1960)

206- The number of electoral votes Romney got

29- The number of electoral votes for Florida which has yet to be called

53- The number of Senate seats belonging to Democrats

45- The number of Senate seats belonging to Republicans

5-The number of Senate seats which changed hands

3- The number of Democratic gains in the Senate (Conn., Indiana and Mass.)

2- The number of seats won by independents in the Senate (Maine and Vermont, both will sit with Democrats)

1- The number of seats gained by Republicans (Nebraska) and independents (Maine)

0-The number of Senate incumbents who lost his or her seat

Tweets of the Night_ Politics, Sports and Religion

AAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! This just in: The Washington Nationals have lost in the deciding Game 5 to the St. Louis Cardinals by a 9-7 score.

In case you are wondering, the third image is of an Armenian Orthodox priest. Since I am a Turkish-American, I thought of no greater irony, my favorite word in the English language, than to use an image of him for this entry. Above him is the American vice president Joe Biden and a kid playing little league baseball.

Here are 12 tweets from about 2.5 hours ago:

1) @MLBJesus (Major League Baseball Jesus): Thou shall pitch Strasburg in Game 5.

2) @JournalNow (Winston-Salem Journal): High Point University poll shows post-deabte bump for Romney among North Carolina voters.

3) @cnni (CNN International): Report says Turkey to avoid Syrian airspace.

4) @_faris (Faris): Saturday morning, the life version of "The Walking Dead."

5) @timesland (Roanoke Times Sports): Halifax County comes back from 20-0 and defeats Franklin county 37-36 in double over-time.

6) @seattletimes (Seattle Times): "Arrest in Seattle Tour de Banks robberies."

7) @katrinanation (Katrina vanden Heuvel, managing editor of the liberal journal "The Nation"): "Joe Biden may have bracing set of old teeth but Paul Ryan lying through his young teeth."

8) @sesameworkshop (Sesame Workshop): "We are a non-partisan, non-profit organization. We do not comment on campaigns, but we're happy we can agree that everyone likes Big Bird!"

9) @thekinghtshift (Chris Knight, blogger from Reidsville, NC): "Big Bird is a monument to all your sins #obama #romney."

10) @mtaibbi (Matt Taibbi, liberal reporter for "Rolling Stone"): "Apparently, Obama needs to rush the passer more."

11) @BigBird (a liberal blogger who is not related to "Sesame Street"): "GOPer sent me an email why Obama's out of touch with times, using an AOL account"

12) @BaltSunSports ("Baltimore Sun" sports, alas the Baltimore Orioles also lost tonight): "Memorable season will have #Orioles aiming even higher in 2013."

10 People Who will Decide Election (9 of 10) _Iowa

Today, we are continuing our series of how a given person in each swing state could potentially play a pivotal role in the American presidential election, which will be watched from Dover, Delaware, to Dubai.

The image above is a campaign button for George McGovern (D) who is the oldest living man who has run for the president. The former South Dakota senator who is now 90 lost to Richard Nixon in 1972.

Here is a look at our fictional voter of the day:

Name: David Harrison

Occupation: Community College Teacher

Residency: Davenport, Iowa

Age: 35

Political Leanings: Democrat, will vote for President Barack Obama


It is no secret that like Big Bird on "Sesame Street" whom Republican presidential candidate turned into a social sensation when he said he would cut federal spending for PBS during the debate last week that teachers generally vote Democratic because the party has traditionally been more supportive of education and teachers' needs as well as school funding.

The Big Bird comment was the topic of a recent "Washington Post" column by Glenn Kessler which asked: "Does Mitt Romney want to kill Big Bird?;" the same newspaper also published a stunning column by college professor Frank Portnoy who argues that America's long marathon presidential race is good for the country. One can assume that both Democrats and Republicans may actually unite in opposition to Portnoy's theory, even intellectually it was fairly well laid out.

Among the stories in the most current issue of "The Quad City Times," which serves Davenport, Iowa, and surrounding areas, the local police department is seeking a three-year contract and a three-percent pay raise.

In the comments section, a reader who attended a Paul Ryan rally in Clinton, Iowa, said that the Obama campaign had taken her comments in which she asked the vice presidential candidate about his plan to fix the economy out of context.

According to "Politico," Obama has a 48-6 to 45.5 percent lead over Romney.http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.politco.com

http://www.sesamestreet.org

http://www.qctimes.com

Ten People Who Will Decide Who Becomes President (4 of 10)

Well, kids, it has been a long time since we last posted in this series, July 6th was the latest one in fact. And, since the American presidential election is less than two months away, we have some catching up to do.

Today, we focus on my home state of Virginia, with this fictional person in mind:

Name: Nelson Faulk

Occupation: Naval Officer

Party Affiliation: Independent

Race: Afrircan-American

Age: 24

Residency: Norfolk, Va.

Will Likely Vote For: Obama on a coin-toss

In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama got 71 percent of the vote in Norfolk. While the city is overwhelmingly Democratic surrounding areas, such as Virginia Beach, tend to vote Republican.

The Hampton Roads area is home to both a large naval base and the Rev. Pat Robertson's headquarters, so it's not surprising that both Obama and Mitt Romney have sought this region out on the campaign trail. In fact, Romney declared Paul Ryan to be his running mate aboard the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk.

Radical right-wing candidate Virgil Goode, a former member of Congress from Rocky Mount, Va., who served as a Republican and (before that) ironically as a Democrat, will take a long-shot at becoming Virginia's ninth president as he represents the Constitution Party. 

http://www.barackobama.com

http://www.mittromney.com

http://www.vademocrats.org

http://www.rpv.org

Saturday Tweets_ Patio Party Time

Let's jump in the pool, here are some tweets from the 15:00-16:00 (3:00-4:00 p.m.) hour New York time today; at that hour, it was 4:00 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 8:00 p.m., in London, England, 10:00 p.m. in Istanbul and 11:00 p.m. in Dubai:

1) @LailaLalami (Laila Lalami is a writer whose work frequently appears in "The Nation"): "What a difference 4 years make. A majority of Democrats support keeping Guantanamo open and approve of drone program."

2) @GroveWinery (a winery near Greensboro, NC): "Patio Party! Sunday! $2.99 glasses of wine all day_ Readings from local novelist_ Free food tasting."

3) @WVUSportsBuzz (West Virginia University sports): "The WVU volleyball team competed in its annual Gold-Blue match today with Team Gold claiming victory."

4) @tnr ("The New Republic"): "Will the Obamas be able to convince people who already support him to vote."

5) @ncatsuaggies (North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, NC): "Welcome to all our new followers. We are 5 followers short of 500. Who should we follow to even things out?"

6) @davidmtset (Dave Test): "The internet is a better place beacuse @GMinusG exists." (referring to the "Garfield" satire "Garfield Minus Garfield" with no fat cat).

7) @LOLGOP: "Paul Ryan taking over your Medicare is like Mitt Romney and Bain taking over your factory." (Yes, this tweet is the reason for the purple elephant).

http://www.lailalami.com

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.grovewinery.com

http://www.letsgomountaineers.net

http://www.tnr.com

http://www.ncat.edu

http://www.garfieldminusgarfield.net  

Olympics and Politics Clash on Twitter Today

We got in the Twitter forum ourselves today by congratulating Mitt Romney for choosing former American Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton (pictured top) as his running mate aboard the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va. (for our yack-herding friends in Tibet, we should point out Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was Romney's actual choice, as it is Retton's home state of West Virginia is not considered a swing state this time around).

For those of you in Denver or Los Angeles I will issue a SPOILER ALERT as many of the Olympic events discussed here have not been televised as of this writing.

These tweets were compiled between 5:00-6:00 p.m. New York time, which would 10:00-11:00p.m. in London and 12:00-1:00 a.m. in Istanbul. We shall explain some of the tweets with info at the end of the compilation. We should point out that the center image is of Hodari, the tiger mascot of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the bottom image is a zombie version of Michele Bachmann.

1) @VanouverSun: "Canada disqualified in Olympic men's 4 x 100-metre relay as Usain Bolt, Jamaica sprint to victory (with reaction)*

2) @AlexSemin: "There's better chance that I would be absolutely #filthy @ men's field hockey."**

3) @NPROlympics: "America's Brigetta Barrett Brings Out Her Best, and Jumps To A Silver Medal***

4) @LOLGOP: "We'll stop blaming Bush when you stop running on his ideas."

5) @tomperriello (Tom Perriello): "Romney comes to VA with a chairman behind sequestration that put millionaires ahead of the military. Classy." %

6) @BBCWorld: "(Tom) Daley secures 10m diving bronze." ^

7) @TeamBachmann: "#RomneyRyan 2012 is a winning combination! RT if America's Comeback Team has your support." ^%

*_Team Canada was disqualified because Jared Connaughton had stepped out of his lane during the relay. Trinidad and Tobago got bronze instead. Team America got silver in the event.

**_Alex Semin was a Washington Capitals star who recently joined the Carolina Hurricanes. Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 to win gold in men's field hockey. Australia won bronze with a 3-1 over host Great Britain.

***-A pair of Russians_Anna Chicherova (gold) and Svetlana Shkolina (bronze) won the other medals in the high jump.

^- British diver Tom Daley won bronze; and American diver David Boudia (gold) pulled a huge upset over Chinese diver Qui Bo.

%-Tom Perriello is a former Democratic congressman who represented the very conservative fifth district of Virginia for one term; he pulled a major upset over arch conservative Virgil Goode, who is now running for president with the fringe right wing Constitution Party (ironically, Goode was once a Democrat). Perriello is now CEO of American Progress Action.

^%_In case it's not obvious, we do not share TeamBachmann's views.

http://www.teamusa.org

http://www.nhl.com

http://www.americanprogressaction.org

http://www.tomdaley.tv

http://www.marylouretton.com