If you attended SXSW Interactive this year, you know that it was packed.  It was packed full of people — 30,600+ paying attendees according to unofficial numbers.  It was packed full of sessions  – too many to count.  And it was packed full of interesting and compelling content from noted gurus and celebs such as Elon Musk, Neil Gaiman and Al Gore.  There were parties galore — most sponsored so everything you ate and drank was free.

With all that great stuff, what’s the problem then?  One word: BADGES.  I spoke with dozens of attendees who all agreed that it was impossible to effectively network at the event because you couldn’t efficiently identify the folks you were searching for.  And while there were certainly other complaints such as overbooked sessions and too many session panelists who were shamelessly pitching their companies or products, the best part of any conference (and the part you don’t want to screw up for your sponsors and attendees) is the networking part.

Take a look at the picture of my badge.  The only way to know who I was at SXSW was to either know me before the conference or bring a set of binoculars because the type fonts are ridiculously small.  As someone who was at the conference to meet and greet “people of value” (folks that would matter to my employer’s business and my professional network of contacts), there was no possible way to know whether the hand you were about to shake was that of a prospect or someone totally unrelated to your business.

I spent hours pre-prospecting the event and sending out invites for meet ups to attendees via the SXSW Social app.  I thought it would work seamlessly and we’d  be able to meet up at whatever event we found we had in common.  Nope.  Had I printed out their headshot and carried it around in a binder chock full of photos of attendees, perhaps I would have been more successful.  But trying to read someone’s badge was an exercise in total frustration.  And a few times I got some very perturbed return glances from females who noticed me squinting at their chests, not realizing their badge hung directly between their breasts.

Note to event organizers…if you expect those of us trying to make connections at this world-class gathering, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE follow Rule #1 of almost every other conference badge designer…MAKE THEM EASY TO READ.   Names and Organization Names should be the largest font on the badge. PLEASE.

“Truth, like water, always finds its level.” ~Ed Lamoureaux

URGENT. I need everyone’s help TODAY to avoid the same tragic flooding we suffered last year in northern NJ (see photo below).

We are trying to get Pompton Lake in Oakland lowered before Hurricaine Sandy gets to NJ. Please take 5 minutes and help out PLEASE!!!!! Phone numbers are posted below.

When you call, let them know you are calling regarding Pompton Lake & Dam, on Rt. 202 in Oakland & Pompton Lakes. Ask them to lower the lake 1 foot prior to Sandy arriving. Even if you live in California… PLEASE CALL. Every call will help. 

Northern NJ Flooding 2011

Govenor’s Christie 609-292-6000
Bob Martin, DEP Commissioner 609-292-2885
Sen. Kevin O’toole 973-237-1360
Congres.Rodney Rodney P. Frelinghuysen 973-984-0711

The lake has a dam attached to it which is controlled by NJ DEP, and they have the means of opening it thus lowering the lake prior to the storm. If they lower the lake 10″-12″ NOW, it will lessen the impact of the flooding in Pequannock, Lincoln Park, Pompton Lakes, Little Falls etc.

COPY AND PASTE TO YOUR FB PAGE…… LETS ‘FLOOD’ (sorry for the choice of words) THEIR OFFICES WITH PHONE CALLS. If nothing gets done today, call again tomorrow!

I have it on good authority (wink, wink)  that Hollywood will be remaking “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”  It is fairly certain that Clint Eastwood will co-direct it with another Romney supporter, Adam Sandler.  Here’s a sneak preview of one of the famous scenes that will be made more contemporary and will be loosely based on Obama’s presidency:

~     ~     ~

Peasant Woman: Oh. How do you do?

King Obama: How do you do, good lady? I am Barry Soetoro, King of the Americans. Whose castle is that?  Is that Mitt Romney’s castle?

Peasant Woman: King of the who?

King Obama: King of the Americans.

Peasant Woman: Who are the Americans?

King Obama: Well, we all are. We are all Obamians…er, I mean Americans. And I am your king.

Peasant Woman: I didn’t know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous democracy.

Dennis the Peasant: You’re foolin’ yourself!  We’re living in a dictatorship. A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working class…

Peasant Woman: Oh, there you go bringing the 47% thing into it again.

Dennis the Peasant: Well, that’s what it’s all about! If only 53% of the people would…

King Obama: Please, please, good people, I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?

Peasant Woman: No one lives there.

King Obama: Then who is your lord?

Peasant Woman: We don’t have a lord.

Dennis the Peasant: I told you, we’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to be a sort of executive officer for the week…we support term limits.

King Obama: Yes…

Dennis the Peasant: …but all the decisions of the executive officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting… unless, of course, we can utilize Executive Privilege to ram through our agenda…hey, wait a minute…now I think I may recognize you.

King Obama: Yes, er, um…I see…

Dennis the Peasant: …aren’t you the guy who uses Executive Privilege as a simple majority of one in the case of purely partisan affairs… and Obamacare!

King Obama: Be quiet!

Dennis the Peasant: …but aren’t you supposed to gain a majority vote and embrace those across the aisle…

King Obama: Be quiet! Make no mistake…I order you to be quiet!

Peasant Woman: Order, eh? Who does he think he is?

King Obama: Let me be clear…I am your king.

Peasant Woman: Well, I didn’t vote for you.

King Obama: You don’t vote for kings.

Peasant Woman: Well, how’d you become king, then?

[Angelic music plays... ]

King Obama: So here’s the deal…back in 2008, David Plouffe was the mastermind behind my winning strategy that looked well past Super Tuesday’s contests and placed value on large and small states, his arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft my limited credentials as community organizer from the bosom of Lake Michigan, signifying by divine providence that I, Obama, was to carry the moniker of POTUS. It wasn’t easy.  Make no mistake, that is why I am your king and it is how we’ll win the future.

Dennis the Peasant: Listen. Strange men from the swamps of Delaware distributing titles is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony and circumspect titles such as Barry Soetoro, Barack Hussein Obama or King Obama.

King Obama: Be quiet!

Dennis the Peasant: You can’t expect to wield supreme power just ’cause some watery tart got you elected!

King Obama: [grabs Dennis the Peasant] Shut up! Will you shut up?! You sound just like Joe Biden.

Dennis the Peasant: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!

King Obama: [shakes Dennis the Peasant] Shut up!

Dennis the Peasant: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system!  Help, help, I’m being repressed!

King Obama: Bloody Peasant! You’re supposed to be in the 47% and on my team.

Dennis the Peasant: Ooh, what a giveaway!

I’ve been monitoring the chatter on Facebook and Twitter today and, according to those in Obama’s corner, Romney’s latest banana peel remarks about the 47% who don’t pay taxes has ended his run for president.  Once again, the main stream media (MSM) is dancing in delight and practically wetting themselves as they joyfully predict (again) the end of Romney 2012.

David Corn at Mother Jones outed the recording.  But it is reporters like Josh Barro at Bloomberg.com that have attempted to twist it into Romney’s agonal gasp:

“You can mark my prediction now: A secret recording from a closed-door Mitt Romney fundraiser, released today by David Corn at Mother Jones, has killed Mitt Romney’s campaign for president.

On the tape, Romney explains that his electoral strategy involves writing off nearly half the country as unmoveable Obama voters. As Romney explains, 47 percent of Americans “believe that they are victims.” He laments: “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

So what’s the upshot? “My job is not to worry about those people,” he says. He also notes, describing President Obama’s base, “These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax.”

This is an utter disaster for Romney.”

Dear Mr. Barro, you can mark my prediction now: You will owe your readers an apology when all is said and done.

Read the words Governor Romney spoke and a different picture emerges.

“There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. …

“He starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn’t connect. So he’ll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean, that’s what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

His words speak common sense and provide rare transparency around an issue that has become the foundation of the Democratic platform…get the poor and disenfranchised on the government dole to win their votes.  Teach them not to work and to become dependent on government assistance.  Promote government assistance programs to get more and more “voters” indebted to the party.  The words are not intended to offend those in the 47% group, rather they state the obvious…those people won’t vote for Romney so there’s not much reason for him to be concerned with trying to sway their vote.  That’s it.

Here’s what I posted earlier today on Facebook:

“What the MSM forgets to factor is that 53% of Americans dislike the other 47% who don’t pay federal income taxes and who are far more dependent on government handouts and “nanny state” social programs. That 47% of people will likely not vote for a GOP candidate so Romney is right to write them off.  And many of us are happy he’s speaking the truth on the issue of how the left has enslaved many of the poorer folks through government subsidies. Would Romney actually not care about the 47% as POTUS? That’s a ridiculous theory. That’s like saying Obama doesn’t care about the 53% who do pay their federal income taxes.”

But, according to my slightly more liberal friends, the sentiment is that Romney has made a colossal gaff:

“Seems Gov. Romney is on the defense — all his supporters rallying their troops — Custer’s last stand?”

“I guess I am a victim, although it certainly seems like I pay a lot of taxes. Maybe I do want a handout and I don’t know it?  Didn’t know that voting for Obama was such an indictment on my character.”

The debate reminds me of a scene from the movie “The Cinderella Man.” James Braddock always remembered the humiliation of having to accept government relief money. After his boxing comeback, Braddock returned the welfare money he had received. That’s the core issue Gov. Romney was addressing. Our society no longer values that work ethic. Democrats long ago realized that they could “capture” a voting base by delivering government handouts. So while some level of assistance is necessary in a civilized society, so is a sense of self-reliance, pride and duty to country. I know people who WILL NOT work and who have HIDDEN windfalls because they would have lost their government assistance. Those are the people Romney was referring to. They are the ugly underside of our democracy and their number is growing, fed by rampant government assistance programs.

And that is why Mitt Romney should press this issue forward.  My guess is that nearly 60% of all Americans are fed up with government that rewards those who would choose to take from the till instead of work toward self-sufficiency.  Again, I say that assistance for those truly in need should be made available by the government but when the government’s main interest is adding more and more people to those programs to continue supporting government jobs and reelection of officials, the system is in need of serious overhaul.

A new Facebook friend of mine said it best:

“Lots of time and money spent by HHS to “promote” food stamps, etc., to “market” the program as a way to fight obesity (seriously), efforts made to redefine food stamps as “stimulus,” and to allow states to skirt the work requirement in TANF (formerly welfare), etc., to expand eligibility and raise the income limits to recruit more folks, to expand the definition of disability to grow that program explosively. Not accidental. If I were him (Romney), I would expand on it in my next speech and encourage a public debate on it.”

Bravo.  And I hope he does.  This country deserves a leader that will finally tell us the truth and help us break our dependency on the government as our keepers.