The DC List (2 of 3): More Republican Members of Congress........and, when they turn 103

Greetings to our readers around the world, including those of you in Wales, Poland and Portugal.

Today, we continue making fun of Republican members of Congress (the House of Representatives) as we give you the year they will turn 103, which is when their comfortable perfectly gerrymandered seats might be vulnerable to Democrats, God forbid!!! (sarcasm intended)

There are actually two women on this list, including Cong. Ann Wagner (R-Mo, pict. bottom) and Cong-elect Mia Love (R-Utah), a black woman representing a 99-percent white district, who along with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas proves that Republicans are actually better at affirmative action than Democrats (David Duke and Rush Limbaugh must be fuming!).

Here is your list:

1) Cong. Randy Forbes (R-Va, pict. top) 2055

2) Cong. Patrick McHenry (R-NC, pict. center) 2078

3) Cong. Ann Wagner (R-Mo, pict. bottom) 2065

4) Cong. John Boehner (R-Ohio, house speaker) 2052

5) Cong. Jeff Miller (R-Fla) 2062

6) Cong. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okl.) 2080

7) Cong. elect Mia Love (R-Utah) 2078

8) Cong. Austin Scott (R-Georgia) 2072

9) Cong. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala) 2050

10) Cong. Matt Salmon (R-Az) 2061

http://www.mallardfilmore.com (Right-wing comic strip we don't agree with)

http://www.townhall.com (Nope, we don't agree with them either)

http://www.thenation.com (More inclined to agree with them)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/politics/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

DC Week (4 of 8): A Quote from SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Today, we have a quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 80, who is one of the Supreme Court's more progressive justices. She recently made headlines by presiding over a gay wedding at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Ginsburg was also profiled for the cover story of "The Washington Post Magazine" in the Oct. 6th issue. The article was written by Robert Barnes. Reading it is on our 20 things to do list.

Before we get to Ginsburg's quote, I want to wish our readers in other parts of the world "Good Morning." It is now 8:30 a.m. (08:30) in Istanbul and Athens while it is almost 9:30 a.m. (09:30) in Dubai.

Here is Ginsburg's quote pertaining to the abortion debate:

"The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality."

For a quote from one of the more, if not the most, right-wing SCOTUS member, check out a quote from Clarence Thomas (not an endorsement), one our sister blog: http://www.politicscultureanotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com

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

Things We Learned on Twitter This PM---Politics in Swedish School Elections

We were only going to post one entry today, so I don't go overboard and post 14 entries per blog as I did this last week. We also normally post "What I Learned on Twitter This P.M." on Wednesday, but this was too good to pass up.

Imagine if you're school election, in a place like Georgetown, SC, were to be held with each candidate being backed by a certain political party!

I remember the school election my senior year at our high school in the Roanoke, Va., area in 1987. Cheryl (psedonym) was running against Mark (psedonym) as it turns I would later find that as adults one was a Democrat and one was a Republican, but we didn't know this at the time.

Mark beat out Cheryl who was the incumbent junior class president in what I believe was a close race.

Can you imagine if this were done with local political parties got involved?

Well, apparently, that seems to be what they are proposing in Sweden! According to Radio Sweden's Twitter page, the youth wings of Sweden's political parties and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions have issued a joint call for local councils to take on such a measure.

Many schools have decided to ban political parties for fears that it would include the far-right Sweden Democrat Party (no that is NOT a typo- the radical right-wingers in Sweden are a part of the Democratic Party, which for those of you in Uzbekistan is not the way it is here in America).

Anders Krape who heads one of the governmental organizations in favor of political parties in the classroom told Radio Sweden that his support for the motion was based on the fact that high school students couldn't be sheltered from xenophobia. He added that it was best for students to learn how to argue against such archaic ideals politically.

PS_This is the first story we're reported about concerning Sweden since the parliament in Stockholm passed a bill regarding the Armenian matter which angered the Turkish government earlier this year. I am a Turkish-American, but I generally refrain from getting into the highly toxic political dispute between most people of Turkish and Armenian persuasion over very violent events which occured in eastern Turkey in 1915 since my views have actually been disputed by virtually everyone (Turk and Armenian alike) though I have referred to the issue as a 'Rashomon Nightmare.' And, I stand by that.

SIDEBAR_ Joe Eskenazi of "The San Francisco Weekly" is reporting in an article I also found out about through Twitter that the City of San Francisco, lead by supervisor David Campos, is actually going to introduce legislation calling for a boycott of Arizona since state has passed a highly-controversial new immigration law.

I personally oppose the Arizona law myself as it will only lead to more paranoia and xenophobia towards Hispanics, but this seems to be a bit extreme as well. Does this mean we should all quit drinking Arizona Iced Tea?--- (well, it is actually brewed in Canada!).

Facebook Messages We'd Really Like to Post

State Employees who vote Republican must want to watch 'General Hospital' and eat Fruit Loops all day.

Quote of the Week- David Mamet

I had a chance to see the Triad Stage (Greensboro, NC) preview production of David Mamet's highly controversial play "Oleanna" last night, and I really enjoyed it!

The play was directed by Preston Lane, who is also the co-founder of the theatre.

"Oleanna" is a heated play because it deals with the ever-sensitive subject of sexual harrassment and how it can quickly turn into a he said/she said 'Rashomon' nightmare.

I had done a paper on the play while at Radford University, and I read it several times. I also saw the 1994 film (the play hit Broadway in 1992) which Mamet directed himself.

"Oleanna" is definitely a play which is better seen on-stage though two of his other plays, "Glen Gary, Glen Ross" and "American Buffalo" have been adapted well on screen.

Ginny Myers Lee was quite as Carol (the student) as was Lee Spencer (the teacher).

Mamet is an interesting figure himself as he wrote a column in "The Village Voice" about moving from left to right in terms of his politics.......the most shocking part of the piece was his support for George W. Bush! (who even many conservatives deemed to be an absolute idiot!).

I highly recommend the play for anyone living in Greensboro/Winston-Salem area.

It runs through Nov. 8. The box office number is (336) 272-0160 or 1-800-579-TIXX

Here is today's quip from Mamet, which I myself don't entirely agree with, but it does illustrate his creative perspectives:

"The avant-garde is to the left what jingoism is to the right. Both are a refuge in nonsense."

NOTE: The above picture with Julia Stiles as Carol is not from the Triad Stage production.

Know Your Congressman and Senators (Entry 6 of 21)

Alas, this appears to be one of our least popular series, but since I am NOT a tv network executive, it shall continue.

Today, I ask which one of these Midwestern Democratic Senators won his seat with 64 percent of the vote in 1998? He is pictured at the top of the entry.

Is it?:

A) Tom Harkin (Iowa)

B) Russ Feingold (Wisc.)

C) Evan Bayh (Ind.)

D) Dick Durbin (Ill.)

The answer to last week's quiz was Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)

Know Your Congressmen or Senator.....

This entry is from a series that we started on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Cong. Ilena Ros-Lehman (R-Fla) was the answer to the last quiz.

The aim of this series is to better inform you about the men and women from both parties and the work they do for all of on "The Hill."

Today we ask who the Republican senator pictured here is.

Here are three hints.......he is a good friend of vice president-elect Joe Biden, his birthdate is Sept. 18, 1933, and his middle name is Foster.

Is he:

A) Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)

B) Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho).....yes, we all know who he is!

C) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

D) Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)

Hmm.......I'm afraid I made this too easy. Oh well!

Political Confusion Test (5 of 21)

So much for the hiatus. Simple Explanation: the lunch date cancelled. I suppose my mother will never have grandchildren.

At any rate, here is today's Political Confusion Test which could also qualify for the Sexual Confusion Test.

The question is:

Which celebrity would you rather have in your hot tub?

Sorry, but to in order to be a true partisan Republican, you must choose Chuck Norris!

If George F. Will happens to come across this, he has my permission to complain about this entry in his next column

Quote of the Week.....from a former president

Who said: "Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There is nothing to do but stand and take it."

Was it:

A) Lyndon B. Johnson
B) George HW Bush
C) Bill Clinton
D) Jimmy Carter

Today is also the birthday of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1935), who founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923.