Presidential Quotes (15 of 16): Benjamin Harrison

Today, we quote Benjamin Harrison, a Republican from Indiana, who was president from 1889-1893, who, judging from this quote, sounds like the Ron Paul of his day, and he likely would have had issues with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.):

"We Americans have no commission from God to police the world."

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 Day/Week- Peyton Manning

Since it is highly possible that current Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who turns 36 on March 24th, could be playing for another team, perhaps the Washington Redskins, we will just use the image of the team's helmet. The Colts originally played in Baltimore, so technically Manning lead the team to its second Super Bowl win back in 2007 (the team won its first Super Bowl as the Baltimore Colts in the early 1970s).

For those who have not paid attention to the American sports media, which at times seems as heated as political talk (and this is an election year), there are many reports suggesting that there is tension between Manning and Colts' owner Jim Irsay.

Manning has a large salary and the Colts are likely to draft star quarterback Andrew Luck from Stanford, who finished second for the Heisman Trophy.

To make things more annoying for Manning, who played college football for Tennessee, is that his younger brother Eli Manning just won a second Super Bowl for the New York Giants some ten days ago.

But, nevertheless, Peyton Manning, who lost out a chance to win a second Super Bowl for himself when the Colts lost Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7, 2010, to the New Orleans Saints, remains a fixture in the sports world domestically.

And, here is one of his most quipped quotes:

"Pressure is something you feel when you have no idea what the hell you are doing."

SIDEBAR: A blogger running for president? Well, it is not happening here in the United States though Republican libertarian candidate Ron Paul, a sitting member of Congress representing his district in Texas, is arguably the most successful American fringe political candidate of all time. In fact, he even has the endorsement of kitsch music superstar Barry Manilow.

But, in Russia, where Vladamir Putin, is the odds on favorite to win back the presidency in Moscow, he faces a challenge from the right (?!) as the BBC is reporting that Alexie Navalny is trying to become a 'conservative populist.'

We suggest that he not ask current American Republican candidate Newt Gingrich, currently running a distant third in the polls (just ahead of Ron Paul), for advice.

Bonus Road Trip (8 of 10)_ In the Ivy League

Today, we ask you the blog reader how far apart two Ivy League towns are. They are Princeton, New Jersey, where (of course) Princeton University is, and Hanover, New Hampshire, the home of Dartmouth College, where Ron Paul might very well be trying to pump students up for the upcoming New Hampshire Republican Primary so he can surge past Newt Gingrich, or as we like to call him here (we are a center-left blog) Sigmund the Sea Monster (forgive the retro humor).

Until today, we were unaware of Dartmouth's nickname; they are the 'Big Green.' And, their men's basketball team will have a daunting task when they face nationally ranked Harvard on the road at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. As for Princeton, they can boast at least one NBA star and U.S. Senator from their alumni, as Bill Bradley, who was both, graduated from the school as a Rhodes scholar. Alas, he still lost the Democratic Party nomination to Al Gore in 2000, perhaps New Hampshire was to blame.

So, for this trip, our destination points are the Ivy Inn in Princeton, NJ, and Molly's Restaurant in Hanover, NH. Feel free to take a guess so you can win an 8-track tape of the Oak Ridge Boys' greatest hits.

Is the answer:

A) 4 hours even

B) 5 hours even

C) 6 hours even

D) 7 hours even

Quote of the Day/Week- Stefania Fernandez

And, we fully expect that this image of Stefania Fernandez, Miss Universe 2009, will boost out hits total for the day and week. Fernandez, 21, is one of many women from Venezeula who have won the coveted Miss Universe pageant, which we believe is one of Donald Trump's media entities.

Sadly, on Dec. 17, another former Miss Universe/Venezuela 2001 Eva Ekvall, died of breast cancer at age 28 in Houston.

Fernandez became the first woman crowned Miss Universe by a title-holder from her country as she recieved the crown from Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe/Venezuela 2008.

Though she is perhaps not as politically active as many American celebrities like pop-star "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson who endorsed the libertarian-leaning Republican candidate Ron Paul today, it is widely believed that Fernandez opposes the policies of eccentric, far-left president Hugo Chavez.

Fernandes is actually of Ukrainian heritage.

Here is her quote:

"We've already reached the same level as men."

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!).

Virtual Postcard from South Carolina

At the moment, I am not actually in South Carolina, but I was over the weekend. This image, for those of you logging from Singapore today (and, yes, I saw someone from that city nation was checking us out!), this image is from the Peach water tower in Gaffney, SC, which motorists can see as they drive on the interstate.

There is an event called the South Carolina Peach Festival in Gaffney every year.

A strange thing happend when I was in Charlotte, NC, for a sidetrip. A panhandler with a walking stick who had just given me directions to a Starbucks (keep in mind, this was when the Carolina Panthers were playing a home football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a game which the Panthers won 16-10, and there were lots of folks flooding the downtown area) asked me for a dollar so 'he could buy a cup of coffee.'

Well, about five minutes later, I saw him at that same Starbucks with a cup of coffee. A part of me felt like I was scammed since coffee at Starbucks is more expensive than most places, but another part of me said: "Well, he said he wanted a cup of coffee."

SIDENOTE: I was actually going to take a week-long hiatus from the blog, but ultimately it is too much like going a long time without making fun of Republicans (especially Rick Perry, Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann) or some iced vanilla coffee from Starbucks. In short, all of us, to a degree, have our vices!

Speaking of Ron Paul, I gather the state of Montana has a substantially high number of UFO sightings, so perhaps he is on his way there as we speak to meet up with his fellow little green men.