Author: Trish
Thank You, Ray Bradbury
I don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.
— Ray Bradbury, author of Farenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and numerous short stories and other works, who died on June 6 at age 91. Bradbury also said, “Death doesn’t exist. It never did, it never will. But we’ve drawn so many pictures of it, so many years, trying to pin it down, comprehend it, we’ve got to thinking of it as an entity, strangely alive and greedy. All it is, however, is a stopped watch, a loss, an end, a darkness. Nothing.”
Romney Team Puts Out a Call for Copywriting Help
With Romney himself a walking gaffe, it seems unlikely that doing a better job in print will save the candidate from future embarrassment
Showing the kind of right-on-top-of-it leadership style we expect from someone born in the end zone who thinks himself an MVP, Mitt Romney is finally looking for a better copywriter, according to Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski.
The candidate suffered through three copy errors in one week, the most famous being the misspelling of the word, “America” in his “With Mitt” app as “Amercia.”
Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
“We’re not perfect but they’re nuts.”
Suggestion for a Democratic campaign slogan from Rep. Barney Frank, according to the New Yorker’s George Packer.
Vodka’s Name Offends People Who Don’t Drink It with Reference to Custom They Don’t Practice
Since everyone knows that Mormons no longer practice polygamy (in this life) and they also don’t consume alcohol, how could they be offended by a vodka named “Fives Wives?” Uh, you got us there.
But the Idaho State Liquor Division has banned the new libation from being sold in the state, based on the idea that the 23 percent of Idahoans who are Mormon might take it personally.
“We feel Five Wives Vodka concept is offensive to a prominent segment of our population and will not be carried,” according to a letter from the Idaho State Liquor Division to an Idaho distributor wishing to carry it…
The head of Idaho’s liquor division acknowledged that Mormons don’t drink, or at least that they don’t admit it if they do.
“Presumably, people of the LDS faith would not be shopping in our [liquor] stores, but that does not mean that we are not sensitive to them.” But [Jeff Anderson] said Five Wives was rejected for other reasons, too, including the fact that vodka is a “crowded and competitive category” and that “there was nothing that really differentiated [Five Wives] other than its name and its label that had five women with cats in their crotches covering their genitals.
How anything differentiates a clear liquor with no taste is debatable. One wonders where Anderson worships, but that’s beside the point. Or is it?
While [Steve Conlin, director of marketing and a partner at Ogden’s Own, the Utah micro-distiller which makes the product] concedes the name could be seen as referencing polygamy (especially since it’s made in Utah), he said it carries many meanings. “The person who came up with name, she really liked the idea of five wives sitting around having a drink. There really is no pointed meaning to it and everyone can bring what they want to it … it’s not about making fun of Mormons at all. Quite simply it’s a name that seemed to fit.”
We’ll take his word, not having tried his vodka, that the name “fits” but I see no reason to protect the sensibilities of people who practice polygamy. Which of course, Mormons don’t. Anymore.
Many Welcome Romney’s Victory as President of Amercia
Storify is among those chronicling the memes popping up after Mitt Romney’s new iPhone app misspelled the name of the country which Romney wants to run. And while we all wish him well on attaining the presidency of Amercia, we fervently hope he will never be the president of America.
Playing off the Obama campaign, which Romney just keeps doing, his team came up with a new tagline. You know how Obama asks, “Are you in?” Well Romney wants you to say you’re “With Mitt.” That this rhymes so closely with “nitwit” seems to have escaped Romney’s strategists.
You’re supposed to use the app to upload a picture of yourself and, choosing one of 14 pro-Mitt slogans provided, post it on Facebook or Pinterest or someplace else that people you know would enjoy seeing it.
That saying you’re “With Mitt” rhymes so closely with “nitwit” seems to have escaped Romney’s strategists
Romney’s folks are learning what is meant by the loss of control that goes with social media, as people are using the hashtag #Amercia on Twitter to provide such bon mots as:
- If you’re applying for a job, and you misspell the name of the company you want to work for, you won’t get that job. #Amercia
- Mitt Romney: wrong for wemon, wrong for minotiries, wrong for #Amercia.
- Mitt’s gonna be holding an app designer down and cutting his hair today. #amercia
This Smells Bad: Booker Took Campaign Money from Romney’s Company
For those trying to understand Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s tortured stance on whatever exactly he was trying to say that Pres. Obama should do in his campaign to defeat Mitt Romney, this sheds quite a bit of light.
Bain Capital was among Booker’s earliest and most generous backers
A ThinkProgress examination of New Jersey campaign finance records for Booker’s first run for Mayor — back in 2002 — suggests a possible reason for his unease with attacks on Bain Capital and venture capital. They were among his earliest and most generous backers.
Contributions to his 2002 campaign from venture capitalists, investors, and big Wall Street bankers brought him more than $115,000 for his 2002 campaign. Among those contributing to his campaign were John Connaughton ($2,000), Steve Pagliuca ($2,200), Jonathan Lavine ($1,000) — all of Bain Capital. While the forms are not totally clear, it appears the campaign raised less than $800,000 total, making this a significant percentage.
He and his slate also jointly raised funds for the “Booker Team for Newark” joint committee. They received more than $450,000 for the 2002 campaign from the sector — including a pair of $15,400 contributions from Bain Capital Managing Directors Joshua Bekenstein and Mark Nunnelly. It appears that for the initial campaign and runoff, the slate raised less than $4 million — again making this a sizable chunk.
In all — just in his first Mayoral run — Booker’s committees received more than $565,000 from the people he was defending. At least $36,000 of that came from folks at Romney’s old firm.
Was Crist Blackmailed for Placeholder Senate Seat?
There’s a lot more to this story that someday may be told, but I’m not ready yet to tell it.
Jim Greer, former head of the Republican Party of Florida, confirming reports that George LeMieux was not Gov. Charlie Crist’s first pick for the U.S. Senate set vacated by Mel Martinez in 2009. According to Greer, whose criminal trial over mismanagement of funds promises to expose skeletons in the closets of Sen. Marco Rubio, Crist, and other top Florida Republicans, LeMieux, “strategized how to get the interview and how to get the appointment, and that strategy included direct pressure on the governor.” Rumors that Crist is gay and has been protected by those around him have long surrounded the former governor, whose first choice for the seat was reportedly his lieutenant governor Jeff Kottkamp.
Mick Jagger Warns That Romney Isn’t So Nice After All
Among the many highlights of Mick Jagger’s recent performance on Saturday Night Live was this song, “Tea Party,” written by Jagger and accompanied by Jeff Beck. Our favorite part: “You know Mr. Romney, he’s a mensch,* he plays it straight and fair. Yeah, Mr. Romney, he’s a hard-working man…But don’t ever let him cut your hair.”
* “Mensch” is a Yiddish word that has come to mean a good person, a nice guy, or someone of reliable honor and character.
A Message for North Carolina Democrats: Vote in November
The hilarious, if a little lewd, columnist Wm.™ Steven Humphrey has a message for North Carolina, which passed a constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage during its recent Republican primary.
Dear entire state of North Carolina: Please forward the following message to your customer service department…In the past, I’ve excluded you from my vicious rants about hillbillies largely because—even though you’re squarely in the South—Clay Aiken was born there. However, there aren’t enough Clay Aikens in the world to make me forgive your recent vote in favor of Amendment 1, which puts a statewide ban on same-sex marriage, partnerships, and civil unions.
This was dumb. Why? …your state still allows people to marry their first cousins. I know, I know, if you were to ban those marriages, half the state would be forced to marry their sister or something.
