Romney’s new 60-second ad uses footage from an Obama campaign event in Londonderry, N.H., in the final weeks of the 2008 race, when the Illinois senator and Democratic nominee was making his case to voters on the economy.  Among the lines from that speech recycled in the Romney ad is Obama saying: “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”

The trouble with this is that what Obama actually said was:  “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”  Obama was quoting an unnamed campaign advisor for John McCain.  Romney’s campaign did provide the full context of the quote in a release announcing the new ad Monday night. But for those of us watching, there is no such disclaimer.

Regardless of your political bent, this is just flat-out wrong.  I for one am mortified that candidates for the highest office in the land revert to deceit as blatant as this.  Shame on them.  In beating  each other up, they beat up the psyche of America.

Wouldn’t it be great if all politicians treated us with the respect that we, as voters, deserve?  And wouldn’t it be great if we all rose up and demanded that they stop this nonsense?  Of course, it would be too much for them to take heed and listen…

This ad makes me angry, sad, and incredibly worried about the next 12 months.

We deserve so much better…from all politicians, regardless of party.

Well, seems like the FTC had a little problem with that, which means that Reebok has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges from the FTC that ads for their EasyTone and RunTone shoes were misleading.

Let’s fast forward to the upcoming debate season.  How many misleading claims do you think we’re going to hear as the presidential campaigns get into full swing?  It makes my head hurt just thinking about it – heck, if you’ve watched any of the recent Republican ‘debates’, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Which makes me wonder – if Reebok gets slapped for misleading claims about your legs and butt, shouldn’t politicians get slapped for misleading claims about: the economy, jobs, the debt, the other guy’s record, etc. , etc., etc.???  Let’s give FactCheck.org some real teeth, and let them assess fines for half-truths, misleading statements, convenient omissions, and all-out lies.  Maybe they could be standing on the sidelines during speeches and debates and throw penalty flags when a real doosie comes out.  Who knows – maybe more people would actually watch the debates if penalties were called on-the-spot!

I don’t know if my butt is 28% more toned or not, but it’s nice to know that the FTC is so concerned about my butt that they’d go after Reebok.  However, it sure would be nice if someone was just as concerned about the facts and the truth when it comes to political discourse and political advertising.  If the FTC can go after Reebok for the claim in their commercial, why can’t (or won’t) they go after politicians who run equally misleading ads on TV???

Sadly, we may be more concerned about the truth when it comes to our butts than we are about truth in politics.

Now, I’m not advocating capital punishment by any means.  But I don’t think that the proverbial timeout chair has had the same impact on society that my dad’s belt and mom’s wooden spoon have had on me.

Cases in point:  Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.  A Canuck bites the finger of a Bruin, on camera and for all the world to see.  Does he get reprimanded by the league and told to keep his mouth shut and sit out a game?  No way.  Not even sure if he served any time in the penalty box (hockey’s version of the timeout chair) for his misdeed.  Instead of doing real time for his crime, he goes on to score two goals in the next game, including the game winner.

Second case in point:  Rep. Weiner.  What he did was flat out wrong – maybe not legally, but socially.  I’m pretty sure that most (if not all) of the belts and spoons I took as a kid were for social infractions and not for breaking any actual laws.  I believe my parents called that character building.  Weiner decides to go for some counseling (his version of the timeout chair) rather than doing the right thing.  When you let it all hang out like that you deserve the consequences, and in this case the right thing to do is to resign.  Zip up, go home, and start over.

My parents never seemed to hesitate in metering out punishment – and in the end, that was a good thing for me.  Does it seem to you that our society is somewhat afraid to meter out punishment today?

So I have to wonder…has the timeout chair made us soft rather than swift and decisive?  When it comes to bites and Weiners, I have to think the answer is yes…

They each came with a suitcase full of clothes and toys for the children – which doesn’t sound like much, but it will mean a lot to the kids when you consider the fact that Kenya is a country whose annual GDP per capita is just $1,600 USD, which is 3.4% of what it is here in the U.S.  They each held bead sales to help raise additional funds for the orphanages.  And they each showed up with the belief that they can help change the lives of a few children by helping them get what they need to be adopted and cared for.  They’ll know they’ve done their job when just one child winds up getting what they hope for – an identity, a home, a family, and love.

The Internet has made it easy to be a nation of whiners.  A nation of complainers, not a nation of doers.  If we don’t like something, we post about it or we put it in our daily status.  That’s not being the change at all.  It seems like it’s more part of the problem than the solution.

It took a group of college-age women to remind me to be the change I want to see in the world.  To be passionate, not just loud.  To act instead of posting.  I hope that I have the courage, drive and will that my daughter and the other young women demonstrated yesterday.  I may not be able to change the world, but surely I can change something for the better.

Godspeed, ladies.  And thank you for being the change for the children you are about to meet.

Am I the only one who finds this blather to  be complete and utter nonsense?  Hello – had the full-body scanners been in place, the underwear bomber never would have made it on to a plane in the first place!!  Sorry, We Won’t Fly, but your credibility just got flushed somewhere over the Atlantic.

Oh, and the radiation scare they are trying to spread?  Does We Won’t Fly inform you that the radiation from one scan is about the same as a person would get from flying for about three minutes in an airplane at 30,000 feet, where atmospheric radiation levels are higher than on the ground?  No – didn’t think so.  Or that the amount of radiation from a scan is vastly lower than a single dental X-ray?  Ooops, left that out as well…

As for those at We Won’t Fly that expect to count on me to be a better line of defense than a full-body scanner, I’ve got some advice – please pick a different seat.  I’m an airline narcoleptic.  I fall asleep before the wheels are up, and typically stay sound asleep for the duration of the flight.  Sorry, We Won’t Fly, but the full-body scanner is a much better bet than counting on me for your safety in the air.

To those that agree with the propaganda be spread by those at We Won’t Fly – thank you for not flying.  I’m glad you’re not on board.

So, leave it to the yahoos to come up with National Opt-Out Day, which they describe as follows:

Whipped cream on a pile of poop means you’ve likely picked the best of the worst.  It also probably means your campaign is off strategy, and that you’re going for the laugh rather than the sale.  Examples?

Capital One credit cards.  Do you really want to carry the same credit card as a bunch of bumbling neanderthals?  Is that the image you want to convey when you pay for something?  Tell you what – when I decide to stop showering and wear animal skins in public, I’ll be sure to apply for my Capital One card.  Funny?  Mildly.  Aspirational? No way.

The old “yo quiero Taco Bell” campaign.  Boy, when I’m hungry, I really want to get the same food that is coveted by a scrawny dog!  I guess that since dogs have such discerning palettes (we’ve all seen what a dog will happily eat), I’m supposed to think that I’ll love it because a chihuahua loves it.  Unique?  Yes.  Strategic? No way.

E-Trade.  Let’s see…I’m supposed to be confident about becoming my own stockbroker and risk my life’s fortunes using E-Trade because a snarky baby can use it.  Clever?  Actually, no…its been done before.  Smart?  No way.

And then there are individual executions within a campaign that are definitely whipped cream ads.  Geico is obviously running out of ideas.  There’s now an ad where a mature woman mistakes the gecko for her cheating lover.  Is it me, or is it creepy to think that they’re suggesting that some grown woman has been out cavorting with a six-inch lizard?  How in the heck did the client approve that ad?

Ask your target consumers which ad campaigns have motivated them into some sort of action.  Which campaigns have caused them to re-think a brand or company in a more positive way.  Which ad campaigns speak to them as individuals – they’ve captured a truism that is important to them as people.  Then ask if the campaigns you’ve developed do any of these things.  If not, send the agency back to the drawing board.

Otherwise, have fun with your whipped cream.  Just be careful, because when it melts, you’ll be left with…well, you know, poop!

By the way…would love to know which ads you think are whipped cream.

My daughter and I attended a lecture by Elie Wiesel this weekend at UNC.  Mr. Wiesel is the author of NIght, a book that chronicled his time spent as a teenager in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.  Several things stood out about what he had to say, including:

We are living in a world of indifference, and Mr. Wiesel challenged the students in the audience to change that.  As a point in fact, ask someone to tell you who is running in the midterm elections this November.  They may not only not know, they will likely tell you they don’t care.  Indifference.  Do we take the time to really understand the new health plan, the tax issues before us, the national debt, the reasons our troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan?  Indifference.  Unfortunately for us, the opposite of indifference has become ugliness – public shouting matches, rude behavior, name-calling, lies and half-truths.  There seems to be no middle ground.

In my opinion, indifference is the biggest social problem in this country today.  An indifferent and apathetic society is not one that will continue to move forward; rather, it will stagnate and become stale.

Mr. Wiesel also talked about how today’s youth have access to more information than any generation before it – pretty humorous coming from an 82-year-old!  But notice that he said information, not knowledge.  Which was his point.  Knowledge is the active and cognitive act of making sense of information – it takes time and effort to distill vast amounts of information into knowledge.  How many of us are really in search of knowledge rather than information?

Lastly, he posed a question:  What if my past becomes somebody’s future?  What a powerful – and scary – question.  Thankfully, we weren’t indifferent back in WWII.  Are we capable of being indifferent today?  I believe that was Mr. Wiesel’s point…

Mr. Wiesel is a soft-spoken octogenarian.  I’m glad that my daughter and I took the time to learn from the wisdom of his words and experience.

For one hour on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we were not indifferent.   

Mind you, Google provides the following disclaimer for its walking maps (which is still in Beta right now): Use caution – this route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

Ignoring any shred of common sense and apparently not being in the possession of the least bit of human intelligence, the woman was struck by a car on Utah State Road 224.  Rather than admitting her stupidity, she sued Google and the driver of the car to cover her $100,000 in medical damages, as well as punitive damages – ostensibly for emotional and mental injuries (which may be pre-existing conditions – Google’s lawyers and insurance company may want to check for that.)

I bike.  If I get a bike map from Google Maps or MapMyRide.com, I have the common sense to check them out and adjust them according to my comfort level with the roads suggested.  Sometimes it means back-tracking to a safer road.  Funny how that seems like the better option to me compared to biking along or across dangerous roads.

This reminds me of a 27-year-old that hid in Sea World until they closed, then jumped in the whale tank to swim with the whales.  He got eaten.  His parents sued because Sea World didn’t have the right signage.  Yeah…that’s what caused him to get eaten, alright…poor signage.

Taking responsibility for one’s actions.  There’s a concept!  Too bad there are way too many knuckleheads out there that would rather sue than admit they’re…well, knuckleheads.

Paige is a history student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and brings to this a fascination with the study of other cultures, particularly the study of her own Italian roots. She is currently on staff at Quixote Group, a market research and communications firm located in Greensboro, North Carolina. This is the first of many potential travel journals in her future.

While working with the legendary Italian cooking-school owner and chef, Mamma Agata, and her daughter, Chiara Lima, on the promotion of their newly-released cookbook, Mamma Agata: “Simple and Genuine” Italian Family Recipes, our family was able to experience the true, local culture of the Amalfi Coast, through their eyes. Almost immediately after informing Chiara of our plans to travel to her neck of the woods in Southern Italy, she eagerly began to assist us in developing our itinerary. Not until we got over there did we find out that what Chiara had really done was openly invite us into her close-knit circle of friends, filled with bakers, chefs, boat drivers, luxury hotel owners, tour guides, and chauffeurs, all natives of the region and committed to serving visitors from the town of Maiori to the city of Positano. What was the one thing they all have in common? A tremendous love for the area, and a passion to share it with everyone they meet. Here is what we found:

Amalfi Coast Destination, owned and operated by Roberto Di Palma
Roberto always knew he was destined to be involved with the tourism industry, specifically in the Amalfi area, because of the great pride he holds for his hometown. For this reason, he opened his company, which is based in Amalfi and provides car service, tours, and transfers all along the coast. However, a ride with Roberto is not your typical dull cab ride; instead, Roberto fills you with information, on everything from the history of the region and quick lessons in Italian to how to find the best gelato and his personal recommendations on restaurants. He is overflowing with information on his beautiful homeland, and his eyes light up with enthusiasm when he gets the opportunity to share it with his clients.

The slogan for his company is, “Come as guests, Leave as friends”, and I cannot think of a more accurate description of my family’s experience with Roberto! His personable nature brings out a true desire to get to know his guests and to develop a commonality with them: a love of the Amalfi Coast.

Dolceria Antico Portico, located in Amalfi and run by Tiziano and Mafalda Mita
When my father and I travel to Italy, I like to think that the two of us make one of the best teams when it comes to consuming, and therefore rating, anything related to desserts, from the commonly-known gelato to the more unfamiliar pastries like sfogliatella and baba au rhum. Because of our expertise in eating anything sweet, Chiara recommended our family visit the Dolceria Antico Portico while we were sight-seeing in Amalfi. Not only did we visit the pastry shop to try a little bit of everything they had on display, but we also attended one of their cooking demonstrations, where we learned how to make gelato, pastry fillings, granita, and sorbet. While in this class, the chef, Tiziano, delighted in sharing his love of cooking and baking that developed him and his wife’s pasticceria years ago.

One of the main qualities of the bakery that makes them stand out among others is their emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. When speaking with Tiziano, he commented on how ridiculous it seems to import things like lemons and almonds, which are both produced in abundance in the Amalfi region, simply because importing from mass-producers is cheaper. For this reason, Tiziano buys whatever ingredients he can locally. He doesn’t believe in sacrificing quality, taste, and freshness, thus creating this local piece of heaven. He has found a very happy medium between his creativity and his love and respect for traditional Italian desserts, presenting every dish he serves with perfection by paying close attention to every detail.

Hotel Villa Fraulo in Ravello, with majestic views from every room!
Situated in the quaint town of Ravello, the newly renovated hotel is perched directly on the mountain-side, offering views unlike anything my family had ever seen before! One of the main goals my family has when we travel is to avoid the cramped, commercial sites in cities and instead dig deeper to find the true culture and lifestyles of the locals. Ravello quickly became an example of a town that made it easy to do just this! The history of the 12th century town is neatly integrated with decadent luxury, which is apparent everywhere, from the intimacy of its local cathedral to the beautiful terrace full of spectacular vistas at the Villa Cimbrone. The city’s charm only increases as you walk through the main town square to find shops that sell intricate cameos and authentic pieces of expertly-developed ceramics.

Therefore, it was guaranteed that the hotel would have a history of its own as a renovated villa handed down through generations of family, accompanied by a breath-taking setting and local charm. The owners describe the view as, “Overlook[ing] the Amalfi Coast: Where the green of the mountains melts harmoniously with the blue of the sea and of the sky”. The rooms of the hotel do not resemble the typical small rooms of European hotels; instead, they are spacious, open, and bright with large bathrooms and a balcony attached to every room. The staff is wonderful, helping us with anything we needed and always professional and polite.

Ristorante Falalella, where the Chioffi Brothers serve delicious local dishes
For a meal consisting of local favorites from the Mediterranean diet, Chiara explained to our family that we would find nothing better than the creations at the Falalella. The restaurant is located on the side of the road between the main cities of Maiori and Salerno. To clarify, however, being on the side of the road does not mean nearly the same thing on the Amalfi Coast as it would anywhere else; it means being cliffside along the road that connects all of the major cities of the coast as it winds along the mountainous coastline. The views that one is afforded from the road are the most picturesque views in all of the area! It was a great privilege, then, to dine at the Falalella, as it allowed us to experience cliffside patio seating that puts all others to shame. Even the view from the parking lot is spectacular!

And Chiara was right; the meal was an unforgettable experience. The Chioffi brothers pride themselves on freshness and they ensure the dishes they serve reflect this. For example, their specialty seafood dishes vary daily depending on what fish the local fishermen were able to catch. Not only did we try this seafood specialty, but we also enjoyed delicious cheese-filled Italian crepes, local tuna grilled rare to perfection, and gnocchi with a carrot essence. The service was superior, as every waiter had a professional and attentive nature. Overall, the setting combined with the food and the service makes the Falalella one of the best fine-dining restaurants my family has ever experienced.

Mamma Agata’s Cooking School on the Amalfi Coast, run by Mamma herself!
Using vegetables from her own garden and lemons from her own trees, combined with all kinds of homemade pastas, olive oils, wines, and sauces, Mamma and her daughter Chiara Lima dazzle their guests with the simplicity, yet elegance, of their dishes. While watching them cook, it amazed our family how they could use so few ingredients, and still get such vibrant, delicious tastes! The best thing about their cooking school was that Mamma truly wanted to share all of her cooking secrets with her guests, with no hidden ingredients or unexposed techniques. The class even takes place in the family home in Ravello, a true indicator of how Mamma and Chiara invite all of their guests into their home as friends. Like others who came before us, we quickly transformed into part of the family in the course of one meal.

Following the class, the guests are invited to the family’s patio, which overlooks the Gulf of Salerno and thousands of lemon trees. A true Italian meal is served – the kind my family dreams about! With at least six courses and all-you-can drink homemade wine, the meal was a delicious feast. It’s amazing how such great food can bring complete strangers together, and make them feel as if they have been friends for years. The conversation flowed up and down the table between guests from all over the United States, and even some from Australia.

All of these experiences and the tremendous amount of memories they brought to our family were the result of one woman’s deep love for her home and desire to share it – could there be a more generous soul? Not only were we sent home ten pounds heavier and with more than 300 pictures each, but we also brought home a love for the land that had been so kindly shared with us.

For more information on any of the sites we visited, log on to:

Amalfi Coast Destination
http://www.amalficoastdestination.com/

Dolceria Antico Portico
http://www.dolceria-amalfi.com/

Hotel Villa Fraulo
http://www.villafraulo.com/en/

Ristorante Falalella
http://www.ristorantefalalella.com/

Mamma Agata’s Cooking School
http://www.mammaagata.com/