Wherein I defend Lil Luke Russert

Yes, Lil Luke deserves all the scathing snark TBogg can deliver. The whole grand tradition of journalism that seats according to bloodline should be regularly skewered.

But damn, I do love dragonflies and that is one helluva of a specimen.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Mitt's tour ends in communications meltdown

In a moment of delicious symbolic significance, the Mittster's European Tour of Errors ended with a curse. As in Romney's press aide cursed out the press. Seems they had the audacity to shout out questions.

But his traveling press secretary was furious.

“Kiss my ass; this is a holy site for the Polish people,” said aide Rick Gorka. “Show some respect.”

Gorka then told a reporter to “shove it.”

Gorka subsequently called a pair of reporters to apologize, saying he lost his cool.

“It was inappropriate,” Gorka said.

Can't think of a more appropriate ending to this miserable tour myself. Priceless.

Yet while Mittster looks the fool to the majority of the world population, this will likely play well with the angry base. Hits the right pleasure centers. That mean old lieberal lamestream media being mean and unfair to Mitt. And who cares what those furrniers think anyway. Hell, the campaign is already pushing that exact meme out to the press.

I expect it will work to some degree but it says something when they're working this hard just to keep the base in play.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Texts from Hillary

As I explained last night elsewhere,my sleep patterns are all screwed up. Didn't post a single thing yesterday besides that because there wasn't enough coffee in the world to jumpstart my brain. Overslept again this morning and spent the better part of my day posting at Balloon Juice. Having way too much fun over there this week. Getting almost nothing else done but that gig is almost over. I'll be home soon.

I do have some stuff I want to archive here though, starting with a new Text from Hillary that made me laugh this afternoon.

[via watertiger on the twitter]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

The cult of personality (disorder)

In the endless quest to sell magazines, this deliberately provocative Newsweek cover is creating some buzz today.

The Mittster told CBS this morning, he "doesn't care what the media says.." Guessing that's probably not true.

Haven't read the article, but I was just musing about Mitt's social ineptitude last night. In reviewing all the bizarre rhetorical gaffes he's made over the course of this campaign, it strikes me this is a man who never emotionally matured beyond teenage anxiety. His apparent need to establish his status and superiority by tearing down others borders on complusion.

Thinking particularly of his huge breach in disclosing his meeting with MI6, I see a guy who is still desperately trying to impress the cool kids in prep school who never fully accepted him into their inner circle. Not sure I'd classify that as wimpy, but it certainly suggests an innate insecurity that won't serve us well should he somehow manage to gain the Oval Office.

Update: Robert O'Brien, a foreign policy adviser for Romney, responded to the Newsweek cover:

...The fact is that Mitt Romney is a steely-nerved businessman, who has turned around failed companies, the corruption-plagued 2002 Olympic Winter Games and an almost-bankrupt Massachusetts – against all odds in each case. Moreover, he has raised a great family with his wife, Ann.

Steely-nerved businessman? Don't believe I've ever seen Rmoney's predatory business practices described in quite that way.

[Cross posted at Balloon Juice.]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Setting the record straight on Israel

Via Charles Johnson the latest Obama internet video.



As Charles says:

Of course, it’s a political move for President Obama to release this web ad on the day Mitt Romney visits Israel. But since the right wing is hyping their completely false “Obama hates Israel” meme like angry weasels, this is a welcome answer to these deranged claims — full of facts and details about Obama’s record, and testimonials from Israeli figures.

Not that I'm holding my breath waiting for the prime time prima donnas on the idiot box to mention any of them.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

The Daily Dharapak

Probably won't be a daily feature, but I just love Charles Dharapak's work so much, thinking I should share his twitpics more often. His ability to capture the perfect frame in any given situation is uncanny. These two are from Rmoney's misadventures in London town.

Willard takes to the street to beat the traffic on his way to a meeting.

Ah. Someone has finally recognized the Mittster. Can't you just feel the warmth in that greeting.

To be fair, I've seen more flattering photos of that stroll, probably after Willard noticed he was being photographed. But Charles is the only one that seems to be able to capture the unguarded moments that reveal Rmoney's robotic aura.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

He'll take the fifth

Posted without comment. Twitter find of the day.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Take me to your Mr. Leader

I've been a fan of his work for years but never realized it until I started following Charles Dharapak on the twitter. He delivers the iconic photos every time.

WHEELS DOWN: MItt and Ann Romney arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel, photo via @AP twitter.com/CharlesDharapa…

— Charles Dharapak (@CharlesDharapak) July 28, 2012

[Larger photo Worth clicking.]

Rmoneybot is looking a little jetlagged again, so anticipating more world tour hiliarity.

Not that we're likely to hear about it if he does stumble over his own tongue again. My twitter feed is full of outraged journos who just found out Rmoney decided to break agreed protocol and is now barring the media from his fundraiser.

And according to what I'm told is the right wing news site in Israel, local media won't get access to his highness either:

Romney is also scheduled to give a foreign policy address in the late afternoon in Jerusalem, but reporters have not been invited to attend the event. Adding to the sense that Israel is a background prop for the Romney campaign is the fact that the press pool for the meeting with President Shimon Peres does not include any members of the Israeli media. Romney will also sit for an ABC interview from Israel.

As David Axelrod put it on twitter, the Mittness Protection Program is fully operational again.

Thinking it's going to be kind of difficult for Mittster to establish his foreign policy creds if the media isn't allowed to report on his events.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Rmoney hits the road

Mr. Personality is off to a flying start.

Not so much as a glance at the press corps from Romney on the plane, which was both funny & telling. Biggest press group traveling w/him yet

— Maeve Reston(@MaeveReston) July 28, 2012

The campaign team shows off their superior organizational skillz.

[original photo via]

Romney plane also decorated w/ Middle East map & Team USA Olympic sign. Aides had an Israeli flag to hang but nixed it

— Holly Bailey (@hollybdc) July 28, 2012

Meanwhile, Team Rmoney is ready for Obama's "Saturday Surprise." Not that Obama needs one. All Team Obama has to do is sit back and wait for Willard to destroy himself. But what a campaign strategy. As commenter g said at my Balloon Juice post: "It’s the new trend in political campaigning! Make up your opponent’s attacks and pre-respond to them!!"

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

I want to be a part of it

As long time readers know, I collect links to livestream webcams. (A few of my favorites on way down on the sidebar.)I was thinking about my friends in the Northeast who are about to battered with storms tonight and suddenly remembered I could watch in real time on the Times Square livecams. Last I checked the first storm passed through. I'm told there's a second round on its way.

[Suggested soundtrack]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Mitt's Misery Tour

Spent the better part of the day posting at Balloon Juice and hanging out in the comments. As I said over there, being that I spend most of my time reading politics, when I woke up this morning, I did not expect this to turn out to be such a fun news day. I haven't laughed this hard in weeks.

I imagine you've caught most of the hilarity already but we're going to archive some links here for posterity. One of my favorites of the day has been the Guardian's liveblog where they've been covering the Brits' reaction to Mitt's non-stop gaffefest. And how delicious is it that Mitt's fundraiser with the leading low lifes of England's Banksters is now discounting tickets in an attempt to fill up the seats.

The London blogger Guido Fawkes reports that organizers of a Romney fundraising reception in the city this evening have slashed the original $2,500 ticket price to $1,000 for "a few last minute guests," in an effort to drum up participation.

Fawkes quotes an email from organizers:

Subject: romney dinner…..reduced price for last minute guests has been negotiated

Good news: The Romney dinner in London on Thursday, July 26th is reaching an all time record for a one event fundraiser. In order to get us over the top, we have been allowed to invite a few last minute guests at 10,000 [sic] per ticket vs 25,000 [sic] per ticket.”

We'd like to know the nature of that all-time record for a one-event fundraiser. What's the data pool? Thursday night events featuring at least one internationally competitive heptathlete?

Surely athletes get in free.

And I suppose I should try to find the transcript of Mittster's pre-tour interview. This was the hidden gem there:

As if questioning the enthusiasm of the British public wasn't enough, Romney appeared to go on to denounce the whole of Europe, telling NBC: "We're at a point here where we have two different roads we can go down. One leads to Europe. The other leads to the kind of dynamism and prosperity which has always characterised America."

There's just so much marvelous fail in this tour today, it would take too long to post it all. TPM has a summary of such priceless stuff like Mitt forgetting the name of Labour's Ed Miliband, and calling him "Mr Leader" instead. Mitt announcing he met with M16, the highly secretive intelligence agency in England, which is simply not done, old chap. Mitt using an English euphenism for arse in describing his visit to 10 Downing Street. And Andrew, an ex-pat Brit himself, has yet more and tells us why it matters.

In less than a day, Mitt managed to completely mangle the "special Anglo-Saxon relationship" that his foreign policy advisor claimed just yesterday, only the Romneybot really understood.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Hell hath no fury like a media scorned

Didn't take long for Mr. Personality to piss off the British on his little "pretend I'm the President" world tour:

LONDON — Mitt Romney’s carefully choreographed trip to London caused a diplomatic stir when he called the British Olympic preparations “disconcerting” and questioned whether Londoners would turn out to support the Games.

“The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging,” Mr. Romney said in an interview with NBC on Tuesday.

That prompted a tart rejoinder from the British prime minister, David Cameron. “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,” an allusion to Salt Lake City, which hosted Games that Mr. Romney oversaw.

More on the Mitt's gaffes at The Guardian. And the Brits aren't the only ones pissed off. Via Political Wire, the Mittster's U.S. media minders are not amused:

Romney’s press-corps faux pas: During his meeting with Miliband, according to the pool report, Romney answered questions from British reporters but did not take any questions from the American reporters, which isn’t protocol. In fact, it’s considered a bit of an insult to the U.S reporters who are following the presumptive GOP presidential nominee overseas.

My considered advice to Chuck and the rest of the campaign media corps is don't get mad, get even.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

The Mormon rapid response team

In all the years I've been blogging at Detroit News, I posted about Mormons for the first time just this weekend. Since then I've been deluged with emails from Mormons. Really long emails. With multiple links. They're apparently very sensitive about how their charitable contributions are calculated.

I read all the way through every one of them because, I know nothing about Mormons. Never even met one in real life. They tell me they are not an organized group. They don't speak on behalf of the church. Yet their emails are nearly identical. Except for this one stray phrase which caught my interest:

There is a book out on the Mormon way of doing business. We are trained from a young age to learn skills that can be transferred to the business world.

I want to read this book. I wonder if I can buy it without joining.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Who knows where the time goes

I'm terrible at Mondays. Somehow lost this one on the internets today. DougJ slipped me the spare key when he left on vacation, so I'm guesting at Balloon Juice for a few days. Which means I'm also hanging out in the comment section instead of blogging. And my last couple of posts at Detroit News generated a record breaking deluge of email. To my private address. Much of which needed to be answered.

DetNews edited one of the post titles. A new first. On the bright side it was a good edit. So there's that...

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Mitt Romney is not like us people

FSM on a broomstick, we know Slippery Mitt's tax returns are different.

A top campaign official who worked for Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential bid and helped select his running mate said Sunday that Mitt Romney's tax returns "do not look anything like the average American," but held nothing which prevented him from being on the ticket.

That official would be Steve Schmidt who is now saying he viewed the tax returns. If memory serves, only a few days ago, Schmidt claimed he didn't see them at all. Why doesn't somebody ask him about that? And if there's nothing in bad them, then Slippery Mitt should fracking release the last ten years so the voters can see for themselves just how different he is from "us people."

Bit weary of the excuse, so easily accepted by our prime time prima donnas of the media, that Mitt just doesn't want to give the Obama campaign thousands of pages of oppo to "distort and use in attacks." It's only oppo if he's got something to hide. We're talking about appropriate disclosure here and asking questions about the facts revealed in the returns is not an attack no matter how many damn Pinocchios Kessler thinks those questions deserve.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

For the love of mammon

I don't know much about them, but one thing I learned recently is the Mormon Church is really good at making money:

Mormons make up only 1.4 percent of the U.S. population, but the church’s holdings are vast. First among its for-profit enterprises is DMC, which reaps estimated annual revenue of $1.2 billion from six subsidiaries, according to the business information and analysis firm Hoover’s Company Records (DNB). Those subsidiaries run a newspaper, 11 radio stations, a TV station, a publishing and distribution company, a digital media company, a hospitality business, and an insurance business with assets worth $3.3 billion.

They own land, "about 1 million acres in the continental U.S." worth well over $1 billion. And then there's their foreign holdings:

Outside the U.S., AgReserves operates in Britain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Its Australian property, valued at $61 million in 1997, has estimated annual sales of $276 million, according to Dun & Bradstreet.

And they own non-profits including "the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), a 42-acre tropical theme park on Oahu’s north shore that hosts luaus, canoe rides, and tours through seven simulated Polynesian villages." That's worth some $70 million. PCC’s president earns a cool $296,000 annual for running it. Hawaii finally insisted they pay state taxes but they get to skip out on federal taxes on "claims to be a 'living museum' and an education-oriented charity that employs students who work at the center to pay their way through church-run Brigham Young University-Hawaii." In fact, as a church, they get to skip out on a lot of taxes, even those related to profits from their commercial properties. Also they "don't pay taxes on donated funds and holdings."

A recent Reuters investigation estimated "the LDS Church is likely worth $40 billion today and collects up to $8 billion in tithing each year." Last spring, they spent $2 billion of that wealth building a mega-mall across the street from their giant Salt Lake City temple.

The mall includes a retractable glass roof, 5,000 underground parking spots, and nearly 100 stores and restaurants, ranging from Tiffany’s (TIF) to Forever 21. Walkways link the open-air emporium with the church’s perfectly manicured headquarters on Temple Square.

Meanwhile, SoBeale flags a piece on one of their other business enterprises, "one of the most active and unregulated gun sale websites in America. KSL.com runs "classified adverts which allow individuals to buy and sell handguns and other firearms without proper background checks and no questions asked."

They list an inventory of some 6,000 items including high caliber guns. A spokesman for the website says well, they put a disclaimer on the site advising people to follow the appropriate gun laws and not to sell to kids. So they figure they're covered.

"The responsibility for the transaction is that of the parties involved," Mr Atkinson added. "This is just like any other transaction, a vehicle, a lawnmower, a bicycle."

Yes, that's exactly the same as selling Glocks, Smith & Wessons and Sigs to any random anonymous maniac with an internet connection. Guess we know now where Slippery Mitt learned his business ethics.

[Big thanks to Bill Wolfrum sitting in at Crooks and Liars Blog Roundup for kindly linking in. If you're on twitter and you're not following @Wolfrum, you should be.]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

I will follow him

It seems Slippery Mitt enjoyed a sudden sharp spike in twitter followers in the last 24 hours. So did the Mittster pay for followers? Damned if I know though the evidence shows the accounts are mostly fake. Hilariously fake in fact. The twitterati are amusing themselves at the hashtag #MoreFakeMitt by pulling out the funniest profiles.

Team Rmoney claims they didn't buy Mitt's fake followers. I tend to believe them. The fake surge was painfully obvious. It's an epic bot infiltration. They were asking to be caught. I doubt his internet unit engineered this little fiasco.

So the question is, who would? There's a dozen delicious conspiracy theories lurking in that answer. I imagine we're hours away from a Breitbarblarian headline screaming sabotage by teh left.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Taking it to the streets

I was watching BBC News last night and remembering when our media used to cover foreign events. Time was when massive demonstrations in Spain would have made the U.S. nightly news. The official count in Madrid was 100,000 protestors.

The organizers claimed that 800,000 people participated, and El Pais noted that the cuts program ‘ has unified a range of unions, organizations and social movements whose cooperation would have been unimaginable up to a week ago — six major labor unions working together for the first time is a telling sign.’

Indeed it is. And similar protests have been taking place all over Spain. Last Wednesday, thousands of demonstrators in Valencia, Alicante and Castellón took to the streets in a joint protest organized by Spain’s two major unions under the slogan ‘Quieren arruinar el país: hay que impedirlo’ -’ they want to ruin the country, we have to stop them.’

In Valencia demonstrators surrounded the office of the mayor chanting ‘¡corruptos!’ and ‘¡Hasta los huevos,estamos hasta los huevos!‘ – ‘Up to here, we’ve had it up to here!’ and ‘con este gobierno vamos de culo’ – ‘ with this government, we’re screwed.’ [...]

Others placards denounced the government’s austerity measures as ‘financial terrorism’, while demonstrators chanted ‘Rajoy, escucha, el pueblo esta en la lucha’ – ‘Listen Rajoy, the people are in struggle’ (it sounds better in Spanish) and ‘se va a acabar la paz social‘ – ‘the social peace is over.’

It reminds me of the now nearly ancient article in The Atlantic, The Quiet Coup: "But inevitably, emerging-market oligarchs get carried away; they waste money and ... look first to ordinary working folk—at least until the riots grow too large."

What worries me is the riots keep growing larger but it doesn't seem to be slowing down the oligarchs at all. If anything they keep doubling down, madly extracting every penny possible from the world economies before the torches and pitchforks arrive at their gates. [More photos here]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Make it stop

This sums up where my head is today.

Mass murder renders me useless. I pretty much spent yesterday in stunned disbelief, musing on what a relief it would be to be living on a remote beach on the Caribbean where the internets don't reach. Guess it will pass eventually. [graphic via]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

You people want too much

Social net outrage of the day comes to us via Ann Romney backing Slippery Mitt's tax return embargo. Her rhetorical slip into snobbery inspired the hashtag #youpeople on the twitter. Within hours it was trending.

“We’ve given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and how we live our life,” she said.

I watched the clip at the link and I'm with Steve M.. I'm not inclined to make a federal case out of the phrase "you people." There's not one person on this planet who hasn't used that term, though granted it's usually in jest. You probably said to a group of friends as some point in your life, "You people are all crazy!" Or all drunk. Or all wrong. Or something.

Her voice inflection gave no added weight to the words. It's just a figure of speech and she clearly didn't mean it as an insult. But it wasn't said in jest either. And even when said in jest, it's worth noting the phrase indicates putting yourself outside, and indeed above, the group. The group in Ann's case being all of us who are not Romneys or their intimate inner circle. As Charlie so often reminds us, to the Romneys, all us people are the help.

But the real outrage was in the context of the entire remarks. Ann is effectively saying, my husband is a good man on the surface and we've given out all the financial details the public deserves to know to judge his value. We don't have to justify our wealth, or the means by which we obtained it, any further to the people.

I'm beginning to think Ann understands the internets better than anyone else on Team Rmoney. She figured out the shiny object to distract the narrative. The words "you people" (the subtle dog whistle is silent)were catnip for the snarkerati. For the first time in almost two weeks, my tweet stream was mostly playing the #youpeople game and not talking the tax returns. With gives Ann the added bonus of having pissed off "teh left." That shit energizes the GOP's angry base. Something the Rmoney campaign desperately needed to do.

Ann Romney practiced that line. She knew it would come up. She chose the perfect words. So Ann wins the day and well played. Of course, it's summer silly season. Few will remember any of this by election day. And in a way, everybody is having fun. So there's that...

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Decline and fall of western civilization

Surely an omen predicting our impending doom. That's apparently Snooki in the middle.

Post title stolen from Josh Marshall's tweet.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

The Bain Mutiny

In their ongoing, and futile, attempt to change the damn narrative, Team Rmoney is trying to make an issue of Bain employees donating to Obama's campaign. ZOMG! Just look at this!

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks Federal Election Commission data, Obama has collected $118,121 from donors who list Bain as their employer between June 2004 and May 2012. The period covers Obama’s bid for the Senate and his presidential campaigns.

One of Obama’s top campaign financiers — Jonathan Lavine — is also managing director at Bain, bundling between $100,000 and $200,000 in contributions for the 2012 Obama Victory Fund, according to estimates released by the Obama campaign.

Rmoney trying to spin this as hypocrisy but he might want to think that through just a little more. These are people who work for the corporation Romney built, some perhaps even had direct dealings with Romney himself. So what does it say about their judgment of Slippery Mitt's character when they're donating to his opponent? It's not shouting vote of confidence to me.

Which brings up a related thought. Clearly he's not universally revered within Bain Capital or within the larger world of private equity. So maybe the real reason Mitt is adamant about not releasing his returns is because he doesn't want his business associates to find out where he made his money.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Team Romney betting on vetting

Atrios joked the other night that it appeared the Romney campaign hired the Zombie Breitbart brain trust to run his operation. Today he looks clairvoyant. A panicked Team Romney, still desperately trying to derail the Bain narrative, announced they're not going to play nice anymore. Calling POTUS a liar while they lie their faces off about his record was just kid stuff. They're now going to hike up their big boy pants and do the vetting McCain refused to do.

“I mean, this is a guy who admitted to cocaine use, had a sweetheart deal with his house in Chicago, and was associated and worked with Rod Blagojevich to get Valerie Jarrett appointed to the Senate,” the adviser said. “The bottom line is there’ll be counterattacks.”

And if rehashing those stale memes doesn't work, they'll deploy Joe the Plumber. Okay I made that one up.

Imagine the trembling in the White House can be measured on the Richter scale and not because they're quaking with fear. Just hope the roaring laughter doesn't literally bring the roof down. [Image via skippy]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

You make me feel like dancing

New campaign ads are coming out in droves. A lot of good ones, but this is my favorite of the morning.



I do hope they cover the dressage event at the Oympics this year.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Tricky Mitt

Whoa. Countdown to massive right wing freakout in 5, 4, 3...



Wonder how long before Romney will demand an apology?

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Drowning in stupid

Seriously. There's a legion of cons and GOPers out there today trying to drown out the calls for Rmoney's tax returns with a veritable tsunami of stupid. Not worth archiving it all, but Grumpy Grandpa McCain might be the funniest one. Earlier today he told the media he picked Palin over Rmoney for VP because she was "the better candidate." The walkback is the funny part:

Some in the media have chosen to take my answer today, in response to the question of why I did not select Governor Romney as my vice presidential nominee, out of context. I selected Sarah Palin because she was the best fit for my campaign, and my decision had nothing to do with the bogus tax return attacks currently being waged by the Obama campaign. I have the highest respect for Governor Romney and his record of public service, and he will make an outstanding president.”

Sorry Gramps, but quoting your full remarks is not "out of context." You just suck at messaging. Which is why you're not president now.

Meanwhile, MSNBC's newest resident token idiot wingnut, S.E. Cupp, took the stupid to toxic levels. For real. After I watched the clip I felt a little dizzy and sick to my stomach. But I'll let Charlie explain that one. I'm still recovering.

I will add though, someone should tell her that wearing the same eyeglasses as Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow does not make her as smart as them. It just magnifies the empty place behind her eyes.

Addendum: John Sununu was a contender for dumbest con of the day too, but Steve M. has that one covered. I'll just add it's hilarious that a guy who was born in Havana to a foreign born mother, whose father was raised outside of the United States is saying President Obama doesn't understand how to be an American. [More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

About that George Romney quote

You've heard the quote a hundred times by now but I, for one, never knew the genesis of the George Romney tax return quote. It's an interesting story. He initially refused when his biographer asked him for just one year. Hence the quote:

"Release of the document, while it might serve a political purpose, would not prove very much, he argued. One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show, and what mattered in personal finance was how a man conducted himself over the long haul." [...]

George Romney, however, called Harris back and surprised him.

"Stumped by this argument, I was not prepared for the move that it eventually led him to make: He ordered up all the Form 1040's that he and Mrs. Rome had filed over the past twelve years — including those profitable ones from when he saved the American Motors Company from bankruptcy and became a millionaire on the company's stock options."

The returns revealed an ethical businessman and a concerned citizen. Harris went on to write a glowing account of how George Romney became a self-made man of means who used his money to make the world a better place. Decidedly not driven by obscene acquisition and accumulation of power. He also paid his taxes without complaining.

Romney also payed an income tax rate several times that of his son's roughly 15%: He payed more than half of his income in taxes some years, and paid a total rate for the period over 50%.

Makes me wish we could retroactively replace the son with the father on this year's ticket.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Casino capitalism

The Mittster is madly trying to keep the focus of the Bain media mania on whether or not he really left management of the corporation in February 1999. But that's not the real issue. Bain business practices before 1999 are just as horrible as what happened after that date:

What’s clear from a review of the public record during his management of the private-equity firm Bain Capital from 1985 to 1999 is that Romney was fabulously successful in generating high returns for its investors. He did so, in large part, through heavy use of tax-deductible debt, usually to finance outsized dividends for the firm’s partners and investors. When some of the investments went bad, workers and creditors felt most of the pain. Romney privatized the gains and socialized the losses.

Thanks to leverage, 10 of roughly 67 major deals by Bain Capital during Romney’s watch produced about 70 percent of the firm’s profits. Four of those 10 deals, as well as others, later wound up in bankruptcy.

Read the whole piece. It's not that long and the details are damning.

Back in the day I believe they called these leveraged buyouts, hostile takeovers. The formula is to put in a few million, take over management, load unsustainable debt through leveraged loans, pay themselves huge management fees from the loaned money and then get out with obscene returns on the initial investment. Taxpayers pick up the costs of shorted pension funds, empty factories and workers who lost their jobs in the ensuing bankruptcies.

Bloomberg calls it casino capitalism. If Bain didn't invent it, they certainly perfected it. That's Rmoney's real Bain problem. And likely why he won't release his tax returns. It's not that he did something illegal, it's just that it will expose the inherent greed and callousness of his business practices.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

The GOP's new world order

Mitt Rmoney isn't the only one with something to hide. It's his whole damn party.

A cloture vote on the DISCLOSE ACT is scheduled in the Senate this afternoon. McConnell pledged to kill the bill, just like the GOP killed campaign finance disclosure last summer.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

I'm a little tea pot, short and stout

I usually ignore Grfitzilla, but this classic Sarah Palin quote from the Koch brother's sponsored Tea Party Woodstock this weekend is just too funny not to archive for posterity.

"We're little tea pots and we're getting steamed up because Obama is tipping us over, pouring us out and draining the entrepreneurial spirit from us, that which grew America into the most exceptional nation ever known."

And I here I thought that was just smoke coming out of her ears...

Surprised Chris Savage didn't catch that one himself. Eclectablog was there undercover and has much more.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

We're so sorry, Mr. Romney

I'm so old I remember when the Mittster was disdainfully condoning deceitful, out of context clips in his own campaign ads and the juvenile heckling at Obama's events originating from Romney's own campaign staff. Because, that's politics baby. But given a taste of his own medicine...

So you want an apology Mr. Romney? As the kids say -- Boom!



I'm beginning to wonder if I should dust off my old favorite conspiracy theory. I mean, these people aren't stupid so it's getting harder to believe the Rmoneybot is not deliberately trying to throw the race with this lamebrained response to the ongoing Bain/tax return problem. I know it's still early, but Mother of God, the Rmoney campaign has become a walking disaster area.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Turn me on tonight, cause I'm retroactive

This turned out to be meme of the day to the great amusement of the social nets. Romney's spokesmouth informed the Sunday morning bobblehead crowd Romney can't be held responsible for Bain for a vewy good reason.

GREGORY: He was still financially linked to Bain. And of course, a lot his fortune is due to his time with Bain. Even when he was on leave, does he stand by the business decisions that were made by the firm he created?

GILLESPIE: He actually retired retroactively at that point. He ended up not going back to the firm after his time in Salt Lake City. So he was actually retired from Bain.

Brilliant. We could apply this to so much that ails us. As I said earlier on the twitter, everyone with an underwater mortgage because of predatory lending practices can tell the bank they ‪retroactively‬ refuse the deal after all. Foreclosure problem solved.

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Willard Romney looks worried

So it seems the Mittster is all worn out from his whirlwind denial tour on the MSM last night and he's back at his beachfront estate in New Hampshire. Buzzfeed has the photos. I particularly liked this one.

Looks like he's praying: Oh please, please, please [Mormon God] make Bain go away!

[Photos by Evan Vucci - AP]

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Mitt explains Bain

Only two weeks ago the Romney campaign was boasting it didn't need the lamestream media:

…The governor will no longer allow the mainstream media to dictate the terms of this debate. This is just the beginning… We are witnessing the rise of the center right media.

And by center right they mean the Zombie Breitbart task force, Tucker's vanity project and the various other far fringe screechers of Wingnutopia.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the wingnut revolution. The dreaded MSM got interested in Bain and suddenly Willard was just dying to give those irrelevant mainstream networks and a couple of the cables a round robin of interviews. You can get the coverage and transcripts here but CNN's summary pretty much covers the gist of every single one.

On five different occasions in the first few minutes of the interview, Romney said he had “no role whatsoever” at Bain Capital after February 1999.

Well of course, there is a mountain of evidence that suggests otherwise leaving the Romneybot to explain that just because he's listed as sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president, and was paid $100K+ a year for holding those titles, it doesn't mean he actually was in charge of anything. In fact he has absolutely no idea what those people were doing while he was so busy running the Olympics that he just didn't have time to so much as set foot outside of Utah.

Needless to say, none of his media interrogators pressed him on why he testified differently to the ballot commission when he was defending his residency requirement to run for governor. As I recall he claimed at the time he was maintaining a residence in his son's basement. They just let him mumble something and moved on.

All this could be easily cleared up if the Rmoneyman would just release a few more back years of his tax returns, but you know that's not going to happen:

“I know there will always be calls for more. People always want to get more. And you know, we’re putting out what is required plus more than that is not required,” Romney said.

Referring to the 2010 and 2011 returns, Romney could not be more clear about his plans. “And those are the two years that people are going to have. And that’s – that’s all that’s necessary for people to understand about my finances,” he added.

Actually, no it's not. If that was enough there wouldn't be all these questions about conflicting legal filings. But clearly he's going to do his best to keep everybody in the dark because, it would be bad if anyone figured it out. He's running for president for Pete's sake.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Where have all the linkfests gone

Regular readers may have noticed that I haven't been doing linkfests here in a while. That's because I now post all my arty and cute links at my other little hideaway blog, Last One Speaks. So check out that place if you're looking for mental health breaks.

Meanwhile, I am going to cross post this link because it's so good. Warning, this live stream of golden retriever puppies is addictive. Seems to be on 24/7. Can't stop watching it myself. I put a link on the sidebar.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Romney's the problem

This latest ad from Team Obama is getting rave reviews on the social nets and rightly so. Packs a lot of win into 30 seconds.



[via Greg Sargent]

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Conservatives in disarray

Not difficult to see how very nervous the cons have become about the Bain issue. The stretch to find even the slightest plausible false equivalence is no longer confined to the outer reaches of the Zombie Breitbart zone. This is possibly the silliest post ever published at Volokh.

Turn on the Drudge siren. President Obama can't bring up Rmoney's outsourcing because his tax returns show he made money from foreign sources.

Their returns do not disclose which foreign countries are responsible for paying the Obamas the $2.7 million in foreign source income, but the overwhelming bulk of it must come from payments resulting directly or indirectly from book sales. Nonetheless, the Obamas did report a total of $3,611 in foreign passive income in 2009 and 2010, a type of income that most often results from investments in foreign countries. Like some of the foreign investments for which Romney has been pilloried, this Obama passive foreign income might result from the foreign investments of U.S. financial entities in which the Obamas invested.

Oops. Addendum to the paragraph.

[See update below; the passive income indeed came from the foreign investments of a U.S. entity in which the Obama's had an interest (Michelle Obama in a beneficiary), but it is not one over which they had any control over the investments.]

So, in other words. Nevermind. (To be read in Emily Latella's voice)

By what stretch of logic is selling a couple million dollars worth of books and declaring a few thousand in passive income the same as this?



But beyond that, Jim seems to have missed the irony in that he could examine President Obama's tax returns because, Obama released his. That Romney hasn't released his tax returns is at the crux of their Bain problem. So, not helping. Neither to help Romney or inform the public.

I'm so old I remember when Volokh cared about the latter. They were the only conservative blog on my blogroll back then, when blogrolls ruled the ranking systems.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

In perfect harmony

I'm a little bit irritated that TPM is now making it impossible to embed their videos but this mashup is funny enough to be worth the extra click. The ending made me LOL for real. Organs make political speeches better.

To give it context for those who missed it, the Romneybot dropped in on the NAACP this afternoon to make a litte speech. Deliberately designed to elicit booing. That he read off a teleprompter, by the way. Nonetheless, the youtubes will play well with the base.

The Rombot's applause lines were punctuated with organ music, which inspired the twitterati. Post speech hilarity ensued.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Media putz on tax returns

I was going to blog this ridiculous post about tax return disclosure but it deserves much more serious snarkery than my limited skills can deliver, so just go read TBogg snark out ABC's Matt Negrin.

There's effectively two guys running for president. One released multiple tax returns. One didn't. One has super secret foreign investments. The other one doesn't. That's the only story. Negrin's idiot false equivalencies are lamer than the lamest troll in newspaper comment sections. Small wonder the public is so misinformed when a major network passes this off as "serious" journalism.

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Everything changes

I'm so old I remember when the first half of this panel was everyday reality. Didn't expect to live long enough to see the other come true.

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Romney's mystery money

Latest ad from the DNC is pretty good. I would have skipped one of the newsroom clips and found a Romney one myself, but then again I don't know how to make these videos, so I suppose I shouldn't criticize. Judge for yourself.



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CEO class okay with lying and cheating

In case you were wondering how our corporate overlords make all that money, this would be a clue:

In a survey of 500 senior executives in the United States and the UK, 26 percent of respondents said they had observed or had firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace, while 24 percent said they believed financial services professionals may need to engage in unethical or illegal conduct to be successful.

Sixteen percent of respondents said they would commit insider trading if they could get away with it, according to Labaton Sucharow. And 30 percent said their compensation plans created pressure to compromise ethical standards or violate the law.

Would appear that Mitt Romney is okay with lying and cheating to get ahead too:

But Bain and Co., the person recalls, pushed employees to find out secret revenue and sales data on its clients’ competitors. Romney, the person says, suggested “falsifying” who they were to get such information, by pretending to be a graduate student working on a proj­ect at Harvard. (The person, in fact, was a Harvard student, at Bain for the summer, but not working on any such proj­ects.) “Mitt said to me something like ‘We won’t ask you to lie. I am not going to tell you to do this, but [it is] a really good way to get the information.’ … I would not have had anything in my analysis if I had not pretended.

“It was a strange atmosphere. It did leave a bad taste in your mouth,” the former employee recalls.

I suspect the numbers are really much higher. But the CEO class use their ill-gotten gains to purchase the politicians who then dutifully rig the legal and regulatory system in their favor. None of the big players go to jail and they still get multi-million dollar bonuses. Which is why I suppose so many were willing to admit it happens. Talk about perverse incentives.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Drudge Siren: 83% of doctors consider quitting because of Obamacare

Drudge dutifully picked up this ZOMG survey as "reported" by Tucker Carlson's vanity project, claiming a non-partisan group discovered doctors want to quit rather than practice under Obamacare. (No, don't click the link)

Steve M, who is becoming the best investigative blogger on the intertoobz, gets the lowdown on this "non-partisan" survey. It turns out the survey was conducted by a Tea Party group, also connected to ALEC. So, bogus survey. But the best response I saw to this hit piece was on twitter yesterday. Think it was Brian Beutler:

"83% of doctors consider quitting because of Obamacare. 100% don't quit."

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

One year could be a fluke, just for show

Vanity Fair's investigative piece on Romney's money it the gift that keeps on giving. Bless them for reopening the call for the Romneybot's tax returns. Truth Team is on the case. They have a decent summary of the big questions about Romney's foreign investments and they just released a new web ad.



Thinking it's a little too long. They could cut the newsroom view out though and use the last 30 seconds or so with the Romney clips as a teevee ad. Pretty sure it would resonate in my market which is mostly poor Republicans.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Romney plans pushback against last month's memes

Here's the most unintentionally hilarious story of the day. Apparently responding to widespread complaints that he isn't being aggressive enough, Team Romney is preparing a "counterattack" to Team Obama's ads pointing out Romney is the King of Outsourcing. Or, offshoring if you prefer. "But today the counterattack with the surrogates is going to begin."

Shorter counterattack: "Am not. You lie."

Am I the only one who has already seen those ads being run by Romney friendly front groups that say exactly that and nothing else? You know the one I mean. It features a clip of Hillary calling Obama a liar in 08. And I swear I heard about the press releases of a few days ago where they already called Obama a liar, without mentioning what particularly they were accusing him of lying about. I guess this is the new part:

To spread the message, the source said, the campaign is going to start circulating a document to press that compiles "presidential falsehoods and exaggerations."

Yeah, that will impress our tragically cynical media, for sure. But it might fool the rubes into thinking Romney is putting up a fight. So there's that.

Meanwhile, where are those tax returns Mittster? [image via]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Romney rakes in the riches in the Hamptons

Maeve Reston at LAT had a different view at Romney's day in the Hamptons than my previous post. She unearths more quotes illuminating the innermost thoughts that darken the beautiful minds of our national wealthholders.

Loved the "money manager" who complained Romney wasn't showing enough balls in the fight but was afraid to give his own name because "it would hurt his business." However, this woman wins for best summation of donor concerns:

A New York City donor a few cars back, who also would not give her name, said Romney needed to do a better job connecting. "I don't think the common person is getting it," she said from the passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits. "Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them.

"We've got the message," she added. "But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies -- everybody who's got the right to vote -- they don't understand what's going on. I just think if you're lower income -- one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works, they don't understand how the systems work, they don't understand the impact."

Yeah this country just went to hell when they gave those stupid working class people the vote. You know, like these obviously undeserving folks:

[Photo credit: Clare O'Connor. More photos at link.]

But one guy wasn't afraid to give his name. Michael Zambrelli says he used to love Obama but it's all over now because, class warfare.

"It's not helping the economy to pit the people who are the engine of the economy against the people who rely on that engine," said as the couple waited in their SUV for clearance into the Creeks shortly after the candidate's motorcade flew by and entered the pine-tree lined estate. "He's basically been biting the hand that fed him in '08. ... I would bet 25% of the people here were supporters of Obama in '08. And they're here now."

Poor little rich people. They thought they had an easy patsy when they supported Obama last time but then he goes and hurts their feelings by suggesting they kick in a few thousand extra from the millions and billions they made since Obama has been in office. Hell, how they are supposed to afford $75K dinners if they have to carry that awful burden? Oh, and by the way, Steve M does some digging on Michael Zambrelli. Ironically, it turns out he's a sold out hippie. Which proves the old saw, money changes everything.

But the most important point in the piece I think is this:

At the evening fundraiser at the estate of Julia and David Koch on Meadow Lane in Southampton, the suggested contribution was $75,000 per couple — with funds going to Romney's campaign, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Kochs are playing a long and wide game. They're using the presidential race as a distraction. The real power is in controlling the Congress and the Statehouses and with their billions, they can afford to buy it all. And have I mentioned the election is only four months from now?

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Lifestyles of the rich and infamous

Willard Romney's vacation is over and he's back to his grueling schedule of avoiding media availability and selling his soul by attending exclusive fundraisers within the protected confines of gated estates. Apparently, there's no shortage of buyers:

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. – A woman in a blue chiffon dress poked her head out of a black Range Rover here on Sunday afternoon and yelled to an aide to Mitt Romney, “Is there a V.I.P. entrance. We are V.I.P.”

Sorry lady. At 25K a head for a brief meet and greet, everybody is a V.I.P. in that queue.

This was from the first fundraiser, a luncheon (rich people don't do mere lunch) at the palatial digs of Ronald O. Perelman, billionaire chairman of Revlon.

After that, Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was also scheduled to attend fund-raisers at the Hamptons homes of Clifford Sobel, the former United States ambassador to Brazil, and the billionaire industrialist David H. Koch, a major donor to conservative causes.

Word has it, a couple of hundred demonstrators are planning a "welcoming committee" at the Koch bash.

Meanwhile, back at the Perelman mansion, the ultra-wealthy want us to know how they suffer. One high end hotel owner's wife tells the tragic tale:

Ms. Simmons paused to highlight what she said was her husband’s generous spirit: “Tell them who’s on your yacht this weekend! Tell him!”

Over Mr. Conklin’s objections, Ms. Simmons disclosed that a major executive from Miramax, the movie company, was on the 75-foot yacht, because, she said, there were no rooms left at the hotel.

Oh the humanity!

[photo via]

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When you wish upon a star

Former conservative kid hero, Jonathan Krohn reflects on the backlash he's endured from his former fans after rejecting knee jerk conservative ideology. Actually a better written piece than any of the juvenile rants being spewed against him around Nutopia. Recommend it as a read in full, but here's the money quote:

I was just a 13-year-old kid spitting up the nonsense he’d learned. In the future, a good rule of thumb might be: If you’re not old enough to have consensual sex, you’re probably not old enough to make consequential political statements.

In the case of the alleged adults who now attack him for growing up and learning to think for himself, I suppose we have to amend the rule to read, anyone who hasn't acheived the emotional maturity of a ten year old...

Which pretty much includes every frothing at the mouth member of his former fan club.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

What is Romney hiding?

Obama's Truth Team strikes again. Not quite as catchy as the last one I posted, but still very good questions. Questions that would be rather easily answered by releasing his tax returns.



[via Eclectablog]

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Sadly, no one really listens to old people

When I read this lament by Judge Posner, my first thought was: Now you come forward? You built the bones of this monster.

My second thought was: When elder statesmen of tortured conscience emerge from the comfort of their close to retirement zone to say, (ever so politely), this is batshit insane; it's very clearly gone too far.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

GOP rigs the game with Voter ID

The Republican party has nothing to run on. They know they can't win unless they lie and cheat. Of course, they have no problem with lying and cheating. Hell, it's effectively their credo. And thanks to the GOP coup of 2010, which allowed them to not only take over the House, but also a large number of statehouses, they have the best scam ever. Voter ID laws.

As it turns out, one of the worst voter suppression laws is in PA, which I'm sure I don't need to remind you is a swing state.

The estimated 750,000 voters who do not have state-issued IDs in Pennsylvania surpasses President Obama’s margin of victory in 2008. Many of the voters without ID are in poor and minority communities — typically blocs that vote Democratic. Democrats’ worst fears appeared to be confirmed when the Republican leader of the state House, who helped shepherd the legislation onto the books, recently boasted that it will “allow” Mitt Romney to win the Keystone State.

The requirements to get an ID are so convoluted my eyes glazed over just reading them. But if you're a resident, or especially a student, in Pennsylvania, Kay at Balloon Juice, who is my ultimate authority on state voting laws, has read the new law. It's designed to steal your rights at the ballot box.

Kay has advice on how to navigate the PA Voter ID process. If you live there, read it and protect your vote.

[Image via, by photo credit.]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Conservative Utopia

You often see people suggest social cons, glibertarians and other "small government" preachers should move to Somalia. But there is another option that's even better.

[Found on twitter]

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A tale of two candidates

America, do you know what your presidential candidates were doing this week? Compare and contrast. After hosting a barbecue for 1,200 veterans on Independence Day, President Obama was comforting a sobbing woman he met on the road who thanked him for passing the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare if you prefer. She recently lost her sister to colon cancer because the sister couldn't afford health insurance. [photo via]

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney was riding in his boat in New Hampshire, where he is spending a couple of weeks at one of his mansions.

[photo by Charles Dharapak]

Think that pretty much says it all.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Romney man assaults protester

Not difficult to imagine what the headlines would say if an Obama supporter had done this to a Romney protester. Media is reporting this as a clash or a confrontation, but it's clearly an instance of a Romney man assaulting a dissenter who disagrees with his personal views.

At one point, Romney supporter Richard Brysac of Parma confronted protester Al Neal of Canton, who attended with members of a group called Fight for Fair Economy Ohio.

Brysac, 77, attempted to hush Neal by emptying a bottle of water into the 25-year-old union worker's mouth.

"He seemed thirsty, so I tried to shove the bottle in his mouth," Brysac said. "I thought it was wrong to interfere with [Pawlenty's] freedom of speech.

"I acted out of character and I apologize if I offended anyone."

When the bottle didn't work, Brysac pulled out his handkerchief and gagged Neal

. Difficult not to notice the classic GOP dodge. "I apologize if I offended anyone."

In a way, you can't blame the old guy. He comes from a different era when young folk respected the elders and newsmen didn't lie to you on the teevee box. He probably believes they're not allowed to lie on the teevee box. He's heard a thousand conservative Republicans say those exact words on his teevee box, to justify a thousand different afffronts to civil society. And he's been told a thousand times that freedom of speech only applies to his side, because they're the oppressed ones.

Nonetheless, this wasn't a mere confrontation. It was by definition a criminal assault. The kid he assaulted didn't even react to him. Not so much as a angry glance. See the video of the geezer stuffing the handkerchief in his mouth.

I don't think I would have had the same restraint in this situation. It's unlikely I would have decked the old coot, but I surely would have hollered at him for manhandling me.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Offshore

I didn't get around to posting the latest revelations on Mitt Rmoney's international depositories for his cash yet, but while I'm working on that, here's the latest effort from the Obama Truth Team. It's the best video I've seen from them so far.



[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Money changes everything

There are most certainly exceptions but this new study pretty much confirms my life experience. Too much money kills empathy. It turns people into power hungry, self-entitled asshats.

And an appalling lack of empathy would explain how our wealthy ruling class can so easily ignore the legions of newly homeless middle class Americans emerging from the wreckage they made of our economy for their own benefit and still sleep at night. I suppose that's why everybody uses Ambien." [graphic via]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Happy Independence Day

Fair warning PSA from Marilyn. Have a fun and safe holiday.

[Original photo]

Life is funny, but it's not a joke

Strange day. Did my serious blogging at Detroit News. I'm out of steam. All I got left is this Facebook find of the day.

And Charlie has a gorgeous Independence Day post. Swear, I was a little teary by the end of it.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Name checked

Yes, it's a Politico piece that flags a throwaway post but still, I'm such a geek. Never get tired of being name checked and quoted by a major news org. Thanks Tim.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Sacred trust

My timeline is becoming an ongoing graphic novel. Often the graphics tell the story better than reams of words and analysis. Today's Facebook find is a particularly good one. This works on so many levels.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]