Chaos in DC: Tweets from the Republican Congress Mess

Greetings to our blog readers in Serbia, Finland, and Scotland.........


Yes, it has been a full two weeks since I last posted. In the mean time, actor James Woods has reverted back to being a progressive and Susan Sarandon has become a tea partier......well, of course, neither of those things has happened, but we are still here, and we still maintain a center-left point of view.

The images pictured here are of: 1) Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who is one of 46 Republicans trying to become House Speaker since Cong. Kevin McCarthy stunned the nation by dropping out of the race (in actuality, there are 10 candidates who might be speaker), 2) Bao Bao the National Zoo panda who doesn't get to vote for House Speaker, and 3) Turkish ambassador Serdar Kilic posing with President Barack Obama, the man who has replaced Thomas Jefferson on the two dollar bill. (I think we lost some conservatives in the audience with that quip).........we refer to Kilic because Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was mentioned in a tweet (see below).......

Here are 11 tweets, one for each member of the D.C. United soccer team regarding the predicament over which Republican will prevail as House Speaker in the wake of Cong. John Boehner's (R-Ohio) stunning resignation.

1)  Donna Brazile: #TheSpeakerofTheHouse is second in line after the Vice President to accede to the Presidency. This is serious.

2) The Hill: Amid chaos, Dems catch GOP off guard with Planned Parenthood vote.

3) Roll Call: One member* stomped into an elevator away from reporters with an emphatic "no!" when asked if running for speaker (*-Cong. Trey Gowdy R-SC).

4) Slate: Ted Cruz ambushed the Sierra Club's president** on climate change (**-Aaron Nair). 

5) Gawker: Dr. Ben Carson just won't quit it with the Hitler talk.

6) Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.): "#chaosintheHouse who will be speaker?"

7) Politico: Leading Republicans to GOP conference: keep calm

8) Jonathan Chait: Biden seen ordering ice cream cone.

9) Ken Rudin: Newt Gingrich says he wouldn't rule being temp House Speaker.

10) New York Post: Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich won this year's Nobel Prize in literature.

11) The Economist: Turkey's Erdogan once visited Brussels begging for favours. The tables have turned.

Now, that we're done, we should head to the Turkish restaurant Meze http://www.mezedc.com though it is late and we don't actually live close to the nation's capital.

Our Top 10 Favorite NPR Series: Catch The Moth

Greetings to our blog readers in Germany, Greece and Ukraine........hopefully, those of you in Greece are recouping from the economic fiasco as well as one can.

Here are our ten favorite National Public Radio (NPR) shows, some of which we tune in on out of town public radio stations since they don't air here in Virginia.

The images are in reference 1) a moth is for The Moth Radio Hour, Rachel Dratch of "Saturday Night" fame is on this week's show; 2) the '80s Journey record is for "Sound Opinions,"  a show in which Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis decide which new records are worth listening to (they both happen to loath Journey; we don't); 3) Serbian food, which we are not using for "The Splendid Table," but rather "The Dinner Party Download," which ranks fourth in our top ten.

Here is the list:

1. The Moth Radio Hour

2. Sound Opinions

3. This American Life

4. The Dinner Party Download

5. Radiolab

6. Snap Judgment

7. Studio 360

8. The TED Radio Hour

9. On the Media

10. Only A Game

http://onlyagame.wbur.org/

http://themoth.org/radio

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

http://www.soundopinions.org/

East Coast NPR stations:

http://www.wnyc.org (New York)

http://www.whyy.org (Philadeplphia)

http://www.wamu.org (Washington, DC)

http://www.ideastations.org  (Richmond, Va.)

http://www.wfae.org (Charlotte, NC)

 http://www.wfpl.org (Louisville, Ky.)

Top Ten Comic Strips from Sunday May 31st "Washington Post".....We Like Lio Again!

Greetings to our blog readers in Serbia, Argentina and Australia.........

It took us like 3.5 hours to find the images above, so let's get straight to the list...

Well, first, we should add that Cheech and Chong (top)  are in reference to this week's "Lio" comic strip in which the title character kills a weed who is smoking weed, we imagine this might be a reason why the comic strip can not be found in newspapers in South Carolina and West Virginia.

The Danish import "WuMo" has a fat man blowing up dolls who look like him and other tourists at a beach, which is why we chose to go with an image of a potentially Cute Annoying Young Couple wind-surfing in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Lastly, we go with an image of rhinos as an homage to this week's "Mark Trail" even though the strip did not make our top ten:

1) Lio

2) WuMo

3) The Argyle Sweater (featured pizza cops at the scene of the crime!)....

4) Foxtrot

5) Baldo

6) Sherman's Lagoon

7) Speed Bump

8) Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

9) Knight Life

10) Frazz

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.denverpost.com/comics

http://www.gocomics.com/lio

http://www.gocomics.com/wumo

http://www.gocomics.com/baldo

Sunday Comics Survey from The Washington Post: We Love WUMO

Greetings to our blog readers in Algeria, Serbia and Lithuania.

Today, we reveal our ten favorite comic strips from the Sunday edition of "The Washington Post," which came out on Sept. 21, 2014. The newspaper has an eclectic mix of comics, some of which are aimed at young demographics ("Reply All," "Knight Life"), some of which are aimed at folks over 50 ("Doonesbury"and "Sally Forth" ) and some of which are aimed at people who are 92 or older and living in a retire home in Bethesda, Md. ("Dennis the Menace," "Pickles").

The images above are of 1) the planet Mars which was the subject of a gag in "WUMO," 2) Mae West for "Sherman's Lagoon" since the strip was focused on Sherman's wife who is quite sardonic and 3) dragons in Varna, Bulgaria, for "Rhymes with Orange" as Hilary B. Price which had dragon ordering 'hero sandwiches' from a fast food place..........yes, we presume the hilarious strip will be misunderstood in Uzbekistan as well!

Here is the top ten:

1) WUMO

2) Pearls Before Swine

3) Sherman's Lagoon

4) Rhymes with Orange

5) Judge Parker

6) Lio

7) Speed Bump

8) The Argyle Sweater

9) Dustin

10) Frazz

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

For our "Roanoke Times" comics survey, go to our sister blog: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Quotes from The Little Thinkers (1 of 16): Jesus Christ

Greetings to all our blog-readers in Bhutan, Israel and Pakistan (we couldn't resist!)....but, perhaps there will be lots of people who read this in Serbia and Poland instead.

Today, there is actually a one-percent chance that the Rev. Jonathan Falwell from the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., started by his father Jerry Falwell, will glance at this liberal, secular blog, since we will be quoting Jesus Christ.

This entry marks the first in our Little Thinkers series, dedicated to some very creative novelty puppet-makers called the Unemployed Philosophers Guild.

As it turns out, Thomas Road Baptist  has moved into the high tech era and now offers streams of its sermons live online. In fact, they have a countdown clock to Sunday at 9:00 a.m. (EDT), which is 4:00 p.m. in Istanbul, Turkey, where one, maybe two people might tune in to the broadcast. A second sermon begins at 11:15 a.m.

Edgewood Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, also known as The Edge, was an overt opponent to gay marriage in the Tar Heel State, and it is a very large church as well, but there was no mention of simulcasts on their web site. But, this month, they are focusing on the Ephesians.

Of course, there are liberal churches as well. In fact's there's even a Unitarian Church in Lynchburg, where there is also one least one synagogue and one mosque!

Here is our quote from Jesus Christ:

"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have the treasure of heaven."

http://www.trbc.org/

http://www.theedgebc.com

http://www.philosophersguild.com/LittleThinkers

Presidential Quotes (13 of 16): Chester Arthur, the Man from Vermont

Greetings to our blog readers in Serbia, Poland and Kazakhstan.

We are pretty sure this series of quotes from early American presidents will get considerably fewer hits than if we were to quote American serial killers, such as Charles Manson, who at age 79 has actually outlived our subject of the day, President Chester Arthur (1829-1886).

Or we could quip gangster John Dellinger who said: "I rob banks for a living, what do you do?" But, we'll stick with this one-term president.

Arthur was America's 21st president, and ironically, given that he was a Republican, he is one of only two presidents from Vermont, America's most progressive state today. President Calvin Coolidge, also a Republican, hailed from the same New England state.

Here is our quote: "I may be the president of the United States, but my private life is nobody's business." (I believe we've used this one before, but it's a gem!)...

http://www.millercenter.org/president/Arthur

http://www.visit-vermont.com

Sports Desk: College Volleyball Notebook...........A Good week for Tarheels and Highlanders

There were an unholy number of women's college volleyball games played over the weekend, as unlike some college sports, such as gymnastics and lacrosse, virtually every school in the country seems to have a women's volleyball, even The Citadel, a military institution in Charleston, SC, which only let women become students in recent years.

Let's start with the University of North Carolina Tarheels, as the team swept Notre Dame, a new ACC member, for a second time this year. This particular match being at home in Chapel Hill, NC.

Jovana Bjelica (pictured top), a graduate student from Belgrade, Serbia, who formerly played for Florida International University, had 16 kills, five digs and four service aces in the win over the Fighting Irish.

For her efforts in that game, as well as a win over North Carolina State earlier in the week, Bjelica was named ACC Player of the Week. The 'Heels are now 13-0, and ranked #11 in the country.

The other UNC_ this being the University of Northern Colorado Bears in Greeley, Colo._ had a tough bout with Weber State which ended in a 3-2 affair that was won by the school from Utah. But, Kendra Cunnigham, a junior from Eaton, Colo,, had 20 kills for the Bears.

And, Rachel Wiechecki, a junior from Wilmington, Del., had 14 kills and 20 digs to help Radford University in Radford, Va, your's truly'a alma mater, to a straight set win over arch rival Liberty. It was a home game for the Highlanders, and the team's first win over the Flames in several years. The Highlanders also won tonight over North Carolina Central 3-2 in Durham, NC.

Here are 15 weekend women's college volleyball games and their results:


Harvard 3 Darthmouth 0

UNC-Asheville 3 Gardner-Webb 1

Georgia 3 LSU 2

Virginia Tech 3 Wake Forest 1

*UNC 3 Notre Dame 0

JMU 3 William and Mary 2

Colorado 3 UCLA 2

Princeton 3 Penn 2

Duke 3 UVA 0

Ohio State 3 Michigan 1

*Weber State 3 Northern Colorado 2

Miami (Fl) 3 Boston College 2

Kentucky 3 Alabama 1

Long Beach St. 3 UC-Santa Barbara 2

*Radford 3 Liberty 0

*-Featured games

Incidentally, the middle image is a replica of the volleyball that was a companion to Tom Hanks in the film "Castaway."


http://www.ruhighlanders.com/index.aspx?path=wvball&tab=1

http://www.goheels.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3350&SPID=12977&SPSID=668175&SITE=UNC&DB_OEM_ID=3350

http://uncbears.com/sports/wvball/index

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Image to Fill Space: A Vintage VW Bug

It is hard to believe, but when I was a child circa 1977, my late father Mehmet Gokbudak, actually drove us from Frankfurt, West Germany, to Istanbul, Turkey. To my recollection, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria were among the countries we drove.

And, of course, we drove through the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia), where we encountered some very hilly roads.
http://www.vwclub.org/

Quote of the Day- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

We are dedicating this entry to the collective memories of Mehmet Ayvalitas, 20, who was killed in Istanbul, and Abdullah Comert, 22, who was killed in Antakya (Hatay/Antioch) during protests against the Islamist AK-Party government headed by Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is in Morocco today where he gave an apology for the excessive use of brute police force. But, for many of us of Turkish heritage as well as Turkish citizens of other ethnicities, Erdogan's best apology will be a full resignation.

The story of the protests, which are now being called "The Turkish Spring," is even a popular topic on "The Jerusalem Post" web site; Turkey and Israel have had strained relations due to Erdogan and his fellow right-wing counterpart Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unyielding nationalist foreign policies.

Egyptian activist Gigi Ibrahim who was one of the leading figures in the Tahrir Square demonstrations in Cairo has also tweeted her views on the events in Turkey which started out as a small protest against the government's plans to build a development on Gezi Park, the last remaining open space in Istanbul.

This quote is from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, in 1923:

"Mankind is a single body and each nation is a part of that body."

SIDEBAR: Many years ago, I wrote this unmailed postcard to a friend in what was then Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Today Belgrade is the capital of Serbia:

"Hi friend. This is just a test to see if you get this postcard. Peace and keep in touch. I'm always your friend no matter what happens."

The postcard was a photo image of Skyline Drive near Front Royal, Virginia.

Tilly Gokbudak is NOT Moving to Bulgaria (It was an April Fool's Prank)

For those of you in El Salvador, Dubai and Sri Lanka who read this blog on a daily basis, it is time to fully fess up. Though the American College of Sofia in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia is a real place, I have not accepted a job as an English teacher there. In fact, I have not been to Bulgaria since our family traveled through there en route from Belgrade, Serbia (it was the capital of Yugoslavia then) to Istanbul, Turkey, when I was a child in the 1970s.


We also need to add a correction to yesterday's piece as the national airlines of Bulgaria is actually called Balkan Bulgarian Airlines; perhaps they can find you a flight from JFK or Dulles to Sofia or Varna (another Bulgarian city).

Approximately 11-14 people fell for my prank yesterday, but it is nothing compared to what my good friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, did for April Fool's Day of 2009.

For that prank, Knight convinced people all over the globe that a radical minister named the Rev. Johnny Robertson from the Church of Christ in Martinsville, Va., created an unholy scene in Vatican City, of all places!

Here is a sample of that entry (we will post a link bellow):

"Johnny Robertson has been arrested in Vatican City following what is being called a 'coordinated and persistent' attempt to threaten Pope Benedict XVI within the very Papal Apartments of the Apostolic Palace."

Knight said in a April 9, 2009, entry that he received messages from both the State Department and Vatican City expressing concern about the 'incident.'

http://theknightshift.blogspot.com/2009/04/breaking-hard-johnny-robertson-arrested.html

http://www.theknightshift.blogspot.com


http://www.air.bg/en (Balkan Bulgarian Airlines)

http://www.acs.bg (American College of Sofia)

http://www.bulgaria_embassy.org (Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, DC)

http://www.allaboutclowns.com

Catholicism By the Numbers

Many people in America and Europe may not realize it, but there are a fair number of Catholics in Turkey, my late father's country, in addition to a sizable Jewish community, particularly in the largest city of Istanbul.

Though I'm not a Catholic myself, I thought that with the crowning of a new papal head in Pope Francis I of Argentina and the fact that tomorrow is Easter Sunday, I thought I would post an entry to look at how many Catholics live in countries where they are in the minority.

The image above is of a Catholic church in Buyukada, an island in the inland Marmara Sea that is considered to be part of Istanbul; this is also where one sees many horse carriages as seen below.

In addition to Catholic churches in Istanbul, there are congregations in Izmir and Mersin.

And, as one might expect, Wikipedia states that there are very few Catholics in Afghanistan; here is a look at some of the numbers we found:

1. Afghanistan 200

2. Armenia 110,000

3. Cyprus 10,000

4. Jordan 170,000

5. Kuwait 140,000

6. Serbia 411,000

7. Turkey 35,000

http://www.catholic.org

http://www.adalarturizm.org

Quote of the Day- Josip Broz Tito

Today, we conclude our quotes from 16 people associated with the 16 countries in Euro Cup 2012 (eight on each blog, the other eight can be found on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

And, we finish things off with the founder of Yugoslavia Marsal Josip Broz Tito, known simply as Tito, who was Croatian by birth. Croatia faces Spain next week in the last game of the first round. Tito (1892-1980) was born in the village of Kumrover, a Croatian village in the north which borders Slovenia.

Many have compared Tito to Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938). Both formed their respective countries in the ashes of changing geopolitics, and both were the proverbial strong man in their respective nations. The major difference was that Ataturk was a capitalist and Tito was a socialist. And, Turkey has had its borders in tact since the foundation of the Republic in 1923 whereas Yugoslavia, a coalition of six republics, is now seven separate countries.

Though he was despised by many ethnic Serbs and Croats in America and western Europe for his politics, Tito was respected by the West for giving Yugoslavia autonomy from the Soviet Union, more so than the other Iron Curtain countries in eastern Europe.

But, ironically, it was Yugoslavia which suffered the most from the Soviet Union's sudden collapse in 1990, and Serbia went to war with Croatia and Slovenia shortly thereafter. The war went on to grasp Bosnia-Herzegovina and turn its capital city of Sarajevo, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics, into a war zone.

Tito visited both John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon during their respective presidencies in Washington, D.C.

Here is his now seemingly haunting quote:

"We have split an ocean of blood for the brotherhood and unity of our peoples and we shall not allow anyone to destroy it within."

Quote of the Day/Week- Charlie Chaplin

Thanks to those of you in Afghanistan?!, Spain and Serbia for visiting us today. Hope the weather is nice in Kandahar province.

Today, we continue quoting famous people associated with each of the 16 nations competing in the Euro 2012 Cup in Poland and Ukraine. Yesterday in Warsaw, there were ugly clashes between fans for Russia and Poland on the eve of the two countries' soccer match. Thankfully, the game ended in a 1-1 tie and things were apparently less tense after the game....well, we hope!

England is one of those 16 countries, and since we are also quoting people who have been humorously merchandised by the American company The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, we thought we'd go with the great actor/director/composer Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977). A Little Thinker plush doll toy from the company retails for $17.95. Another company has a line of Charlie Chaplin ties, which might not be the best choice for a job interview unless you are interviewing for a manager's position at an old cinema, such as the Byrd Theatre in Richmond, Va., which is now screening "The Artist," which pays homage to silent films, such as the ones which made Chaplin famous.

Chaplin is best known for several cinematic masterpieces, including "The Gold Rush" (1925), "City Lights" (1931) and "Modern Times" (1936). Since Chaplin held left-wing views, he was targeted by the controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover during the infamous McCarthy period. This caused Chaplin who was living in America at the time, to move to Switzerland where he lived out his last years.

Here is his quote:

"Actors search for rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves."

http://www.philosophersguild.com

http://www.byrdtheatre.com

http://www.charliechaplin.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Amy Winehouse

We continue quoting famous people who died in 2011 with a quip from English soul/pop diva Amy Winehouse (1983-2007) who died at age 27; her last public concert performance was in Belgrade, Serbia, on June 18. She passed away on July 23.

Winehouse was known for her signature song "Rehab," which was a huge hit in 2007 as well "You Know I'm No Good" and "Stranger Than Me." Since much of her singing was encouraged by pop music of the '60s, Scottish singer Adele has said that Winehouse was a major influence for her.

Here is the quote from Winehouse:

"Girls talk to each other like men talk to each other. But girls have an eye for detail."

50 Beers Around the World- Efes Pilsen (Turkey)

We have gotten slightly behind in our 50 Beers Around the World series, but we resume it today by featuring Efes Pilsen which was previously posted here under an entry about Beers of the Islamic World.

Efes Pilsen, founded in 1969, is actually now the eighth most popular-selling beer in Europe. And, perhaps even more surprising is that it has breweries in Serbia, Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan!

The beer company is headquartered in Istanbul and is frequently advertised throughout Turkey. We have heard that it can at times actually be hard to find the beer or any alcohol products in Konya, Turkey, which is the country's most conservative city, but we have not been there is 23 years so that would hard to verify!