By Zac Byer, on Mon Feb 20, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET  Happy Presidents’ Day! I thought a good way to celebrate our forty-four presidents and fifty-six presidential elections would be to send a quick update to satisfy your political appetites.
Appetizer: So much of what we do is finding the right words for the right time. Last e-mail, I talked about how Romney should promote “economic freedom” rather than “capitalism” — he’s getting better, but Chairman of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan does it best. Here’s a few more tricks of the tongue…Ask people if they think Washington bureaucrats should “tax” millionaires more than they already do, and the response is overwhelmingly positive. But if you change just one word and ask if Washington should “take” any more money from millionaires, nearly 75% say no. The best way to use this language: “We shouldn’t let Washington take one extra dime from hardworking taxpayers until they hold themselves accountable for all of the waste, fraud, and abuse.” Likewise, a politician who “fights for hardworking taxpayers” will win significantly more support than one who talks about “protecting the middle class.”
Main Course: Romney or Santorum, Santorum or Romney…The Michigan primary is February 28th, and Santorum leads Michigander Mitt by a few points. Santorum does have a legitimate chance to win Michigan. The state’s more socially conservative than people realize, and Romney’s been as bad at building momentum as Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. Romney is still the odds-on favorite to win the GOP nomination. He has outspent Santorum 12 to 1 on television advertising, has raised considerably more money, and has a much larger ground operation both in numbers and scale. Here’s what’s holding Romney back…1) Santorum isn’t Gingrich – Romney and his SuperPAC “Restore Our Future” are kings of the negative ad, as we saw in Florida with the full-scale war waged on Gingrich. But, on what is Romney going to hit Santorum? That he is too socially conservative? Santorum has plenty of negatives that would make him absolutely unelectable in a general election, but Romney can’t do anything about it now because he’s trying to prove to Republican primary voters that he is just as conservative as the former senator from Pennsylvania. 2) Philosophy Matters – Agree or vehemently disagree, at least you know what Santorum believes in. And, at an even more fundamental level, you know Santorum believes in something. I wouldn’t go so far as to call Romney a technocrat, but I wouldn’t hesitate to say that he treats everything like a Harvard Business School case study. Accordingly, when the focus shifts from the economy to social issues, as we’ve seen the last few weeks with gay marriage matters in CA and NJ, and birth control provision mandates from DC, Romney gets flustered. That leads him say things like he is “severely conservative,” contributing to his image as the phony, stiff politician for which he is rightfully criticized. 3) Every Person Gets One Vote – Santorum treats all of his potential voters like they’re important to him. He doesn’t do it like Bill Clinton could — nobody can — but you talk to him and feel like he is listening to what you say. At the Conservative Political Action Conference, Santorum stationed himself in one of the hotel ballrooms and let anybody get in line to shake his hand and take a picture with him. Romney’s approach was a microcosm of his entire persona. Romney instead invited only the highest donors and conservative movers and shakers up to a presidential suite to talk about fundraising. That’s a bad visual, and frankly, a bad strategy.
Read the rest of…
Zac Byer: A Presidents’ Day Menu
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Feb 16, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  After prodding from several friends I’ve finally started the Zija diet.
It’s a green powder you put in water and drink periodically throughout the day.
I think.
Don’t hold me to specifics.
I bought some powder that comes in green packets. I assume they go in water and are to be drunk with some regularity.
It seems that I haven’t read the instructions –yet–and am approaching this plan intuitively. provide rare and important nutrients and suppresses appetite.
My first day I weighed myself (benchmarking) and I drank a glass of water with the powder. It tasted all right.
I waited 30 minutes and then weighed myself again. Nothing. In fact I had gained a quarter of a pound.
The second day I didn’t eat much to avoid having to drink more green water, although I did drink a little later in the day. It was the batch I’d made the day before and tasted awful a day later.
It’s now been a week since I started the Zija diet. The past 5 days I haven’t drunk any of the powder bc it tasted so bad that second day. But I’ve still lost 4 pounds.
This stuff really works! Don’t know how exactly but I’m a believer.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Feb 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET  Finally!
2 years ago I was with a group of businesspeople and we were asked to respond to some questions.
One was “If you could go out to dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?”
Most people wrote down people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump.
I didn’t. Nothing about either of those men makes me hungry.
I wrote down Nelson Mandela but didn’t mean it. In fact, it had never once crossed my mind that I’d like to have dinner with Nelson Mandela. And hasn’t since. I was just trying to impress the moderator.
In fact, no one came to mind and that bothered me.
But now I know the answer. Donald Fagen (formerly of Steely Dan). I’d genuinely like to hang out with him for a night–have dinner and pick his mind and experience his rich imagination. Even more so than Nelson Mandela. A lot more.
Now….where would I like to eat? Hope this doesn’t take me another 2 years to figure out?
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET A true Fish Tale.
I don’t have a “Bucket list” just yet (I’m still not conceding death is an inevitable option) but do have a “Parent list,” a list of about 10 things I want to do with my children before they leave home.
This happened 7 years ago when my son, Johnny, was 10 years old. I had recently checked off “Flying kites” and “Going fishing” was on deck.
We decided on a Sunday afternoon and immediately started by packing a picnic basket. True, I had never really been fishing and only imagined what I should do…but a picnic basket seemed like a no brainer. My daughter made ham sandwiches and packed them for us.
On the way out the door I shrewdly remembered we’d be sitting in grass and grabbed a throw blanket for us to sit on while fishing.
We went to WalMart and bought fishing poles. We found a public lake nearby and set up our gear and lay down the throw blanket.
I tried to demonstrate casting for Johnny. “Watch me, honey. This is how you want to do it.” I shanked it into the marshy grass.
After untangling it I realized in addition to a flubbing the cast I had not baited the hook. I had forgotten to buy bait and had to improvise.
What to do?
Those ham sandwiches had stringy, soggy slivers of ham that I reasoned could be confused for a worm by a fish that wasn’t paying attention or had below average intelligence.
So, we baited our lines with ham and cast like two men who had never before had to eat what they killed. Our lines intertwined and as we tried to unravel them it began to rain…..
A Fish and Wild Life officer pulled into our lake and walked toward us and barked, “Excuse me. Do you have a fishing license?” I said, “Oh no! I didn’t know we needed a license officer.”
He looked at the intertwined fishing lines with soggy ham hanging from the hooks and then at the throw blanket we were standing on and said in an almost whisper,
“You don’t fish much do you, sir?”
There was really no point in me responding. It was what is called a rhetorical question—a questioning device that is rarely used by law enforcement unless the person being questioned has failed so badly at something that further evidence isn’t necessary.
He let us off with a warning and we packed our belongings and sat in the car waiting for the rain to let up and split the second ham sandwich.
My son noted, “I’ve never been arrested before, Dad.” I explained this whole episode would help with his “street cred” at school but not not give too much detail about the cause of our brush with the law.
We both seemed to like the idea of feeling a little like outlaws, especially if it meant not having to fish.
Afterwards we drove to a more modern place for fathers and sons– where we played video games and miniature golf and raced go carts.
None of which were on my “Parent’s List,” which I have since thrown away.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET Life’s great –perhaps greatest conundrum.
Society has become so complex. The mysteries of the human mind coupled with mind-boggling technological advances, has created perennial questions that we may never fully have satisfactory answers to.
From space exploration to string theory to crop circles to revisiting the theory of relativity and countless intractable political and economic conditions, so much of our world remains perplexing.
But no riddle, no puzzling reality seems more elusive more wholly inexplicable than Fruit Cakes.
Each year around during the holiday season millions of people buy and gift Fruit Cakes to friends and loved ones.
That’s right, MILLIONS!
 And yet no one has ever been spotted eating a piece of Fruit Cake. Ever!
Why do people buy them?
Why do others feign excitement when receiving fruit cake gifts?
And what happens to these cakes after the gift is given and nobody is watching?
One social commentator, Calvin Trillin, several decades ago posited that there was really only one Fruit Cake in the world. And it simply has been re-gifted millions of times. But technological advances have undermined this otherwise plausible theory.
Others have theorized aliens are making us buy and gift Fruit Cakes against our will by an race of sophisticated space aliens who own several thousand mall kiosk franchises that sell cheese and sausage baskets and, you guessed it, Fruit Cakes. But there is inadequate evidence to to prove this theory at this time.
Which leaves the mystery of the Fruit Cake perhaps the human conundrum least likely to be solved in any of our lifetimes.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
If you’re planning a New Year’s Eve party that involves wine and cheese, here are some helpful tips on pairing the two. [Delish]
Asian tiger prawns are invading the Gulf of Mexico, threatening native species of marine life. [Kristv.com]
The FDA has yet to define what a gluten-free food is, which means that some food products that are labeled as such may actually contain small amounts of gluten. [Slashfood]
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET You know how when you are talking to someone who is undergoing hormone replacement treatment in preparation for gender reassignment surgery it can sometimes be awkward?
You know, how you try to make the other person feel like you have no idea they are about to change from a man to a woman or vice-versa and try to bring up banal topics like basketball or the weather?
Of course you do.
And it is confusing.
Sometimes –given how far along the person is in the process–it can be confusing about which “brand” (so to speak) they are leaving and which one they are becoming.
I just went through McDonalds drive-thru a few minutes ago and was struck with that same awkward feeling I have when around people getting sex changes.
The drive-thru menu was very feminine, so to speak, splattered with colorful pictures of apples, oatmeal, fruit and all manner of healthy foods and fancy girly coffee drinks.
 This used to be a fry and burger joint with hot black coffee that would burn your skin off—a fast food joint with more of a guy’s personality. But I went through the drive thru anyway.
As I paid I looked the person working the register in the eye as if to say, “I have no idea what you are going through and it is none of my business. I do not judge. I’ve known people who have gone through transformations like this and they are good people and I wish you the best. Please just give me my Big Mac and fries while I still recognize this place so I can leave because I have nothing to add about basketball or the weather.”
I think the person at the register understood what I was communicating and appreciated the subliminal gesture. It was the right way to handle an otherwise awkward situation.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Dec 26, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Happy Kwanzaa! While many people think Kwanzaa is a religious holiday, this seven-day festival is actually a celebration of African-American heritage and culture. [boomer-living.com]
Here are four things that both atheists and believers need to stop saying. [cracked.com]
Praise “Jizas”–for the first time, the Bible is being translated into creole. [BBC]
Movie and Chinese food: Yesterday, non-Christians engaged in their Christmas traditions while Christians celebrated the birth of Christ (and consumerism at its finest). [CNN Belief Blog]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Thu Dec 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
Save money by not letting food go to waste. Here are 15 easy tips to help you do so. [MSN Money]
Good news for the local food movement–the USDA’s Farmers Market Promotion Program offers grants to promote local and regional food production and sales. [Foodsafetynews.com]
Here’s a list of 25 foods you may remember from your childhood that can no longer be found on your grocery store shelves. [Buzzfeed]
If The Christmas Song has you thinking about roasted chestnuts, here’s how you can make them at home. [About.com]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Thu Dec 15, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
Acidulated, botrytis, chapuline–if you consider yourself a foodie, you should know these three words in addition to 47 others. [Huffington Post]
Are you hosting a holiday dinner? If so, prepare yourself for giving the toast by reading these simple guidelines. [Bon Appetit]
In order to be labeled”extra-virgin,” olive oil cannot been refined in any way by chemicals or high heat. The EVOO you buy at the store, however, may not actually meet those requirements. [NPR]
The RP’s Recipe of the Week: Kale Chips. They’re delicious, easy to make snack, and nutritious.
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