Congress and bloodsuckers
The Congress-obsessed website Politicohanded out some loveto Kansas City's Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and the weekly letters he sends to colleagues.
The "letters can seem absurd at first, but they ultimately call on representatives to be better, more civil versions of themselves," Politico said.
It pointed to a recent letter in which Cleaver believed the "Twilight" series seems to violate horror movie canon. "Everyone knows that real vampires and real werewolves don't date the same girl," the congressman writes with mock seriousness. "This is a travesty."
Politico noted that Cleaver's letters tend to find a welcoming audience on Capitol Hill in their continued call for civility.
"Even if what I'm doing is inconsequential," Cleaver told Politico, "I'm going to do it anyway."
With friends like this
Presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been getting bruised for his indelicate comments in London. Romney has much to boast about in helping rescue the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. Yet he's been hit for saying London might not be ready.
"There were a few things that were disconcerting," Romney said while in London. "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."
Enter conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer on Fox News.
"All Romney has to do is say nothing. It's like a guy in a 100-meter dash. All he has to do is finish. He doesn't have to win. And instead he tackles the guy in the lane next to him and ends up disqualified."
The geography of nowhere
British Prime Minister David Cameron didn't care for Romney's appraisal, and suggested that pulling off the Olympics in bustling London might be a tad trickier than presenting them near Salt Lake City. Or, as Cameron put it, "in the middle of nowhere."
Comedian/mock cable blowhard Stephen Colbert felt obliged to correct the Brit boss:
"Utah is not in the middle of nowhere. It's in the northwest corner of nowhere. Get your geography straight, Dr. Who."
'Pants on fire'
The Tampa Bay Times' PolitiFact.comconcluded last weekthat President Barack Obama's campaign rated a "pants on fire" score for an ad claiming Romney "backed a bill that outlaws all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest."
"The Obama campaign," PolitiFact wrote, "provides virtually nothing to back that up. ... (It) has no evidence that Romney explicitly opposed the exception for rape and incest." The site adds that in 2011, Romney declared that he supports those exceptions.
Chick or click?
Chick-fil-Acontinued to put faith ahead of profits this month, even in the face of a boycott for its opposition to same-sex marriage. Now conservatives are rallying to the fast-food chain's defense with a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" this week.
President Dan Cathytold the Baptist Pressthat the company was "guilty as charged" for backing "the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives."
MeantimeAmazon.comfounder Jeff Bezos and his first and current wife, MacKenzie, pledged to help pass a same-sex marriage referendum in Washington state. That makes them the biggest boosters to date of gay marriage rights in the U.S.
Bellwether businesses
Online pretend newspaper The Onion satiricallysuggeststhe presidential election "will almost certainly be decided by a small handful of swing corporations. ...
"The president's favorability has fallen steadily among independent-leaning multinationals, a demographic that effectively carried him to victory in 2008. ... Both Obama and Romney have made frequent campaign stops at swing corporations in recent weeks and delivered speeches aimed squarely at these pivotal companies' interests, with both candidates blasting each other as out of touch with the issues that truly matter to real American CEOs."
