Mitt Romney's unpaid family bill catches up with him

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Guardian

Mitt Romney might think the most he has to deal with this week is the approach of tropical storm Isaac and his upcoming convention speech, but the Republican presidential candidate has also just been landed with a 130-year-old bill for $25,000 (£16,000) from the author Judith Freeman.

Freeman, author of a well-received biography of Raymond Chandler and four novels, has traced her family history back to the 1870s, when her great-grandfather William Jordan Flake and Romney's great grandfather Miles P Romney "were patriarchs of adjoining Mormon communities in the high, cold, hard country of northern Arizona, a region known as Apache County". Although both men ran into trouble with local communities over their "scandalous practice of polygamy", Flake was a "deeply respected man", according to Freeman. Romney, on the other hand, was described by one newspaper editor as "a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples; a skunk, with the face of a baboon, the character of a louse, the breath of a buzzard and the record of a perjurer and common drunkard."

US marshals were rounding up polygamists and arresting them at the time, and both men became targets and were eventually arrested. Flake posted bail of $1,000 for Romney, who had no money, Freeman writes in the Los Angeles Review of Books, and "now we come to the matter I'd like to bring up with Mitt".

Miles P Romney, she says, then fled to Mexico, where Mitt's father George was born, while Flake served a six-month sentence for polygamy.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/28/mitt-romney-unpaid-bill-demand

---

Wow.

Romney's great grandfather Miles P Romney...was described by one newspaper editor as "a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples; a skunk, with the face of a baboon, the character of a louse, the breath of a buzzard and the record of a perjurer and common drunkard."

[byeya]

1. Seems the same genetic traits were passed intact to the Mittmeister.

Ya think?

[2pooped2pop]

2. apple - tree -fall

Romney's great grandfather Miles P Romney...was described by one newspaper editor as "a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples; a skunk, with the face of a baboon, the character of a louse, the breath of a buzzard and the record of a perjurer and common drunkard."

[valerief]

4. Man, you beat me to it!!!!

[2pooped2pop]

5. I would say great minds and all

but jeese, that one has to be the first thought on anyones mind who read that section. Sounded so much like Rmoney.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Another one of flakes great-grandchildren:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Flake

[Coyotl]

6. "all the Flakes of the world will get their fair share" = polygamist's 15,000 descendants

OMG! 15,000 Flakes Are they all as bad as Jeff

[klook]

7. The original piece in LA Review of Books --

The Mormon Chronicles: A Meditation in Four Parts by Judith Freeman -- is a fascinating read, about much more than this long-standing debt:

Utah, from the time of its settlement by the Mormons in 1848, has had a reputation for producing some remarkable scammers. Making money has always been a very good thing in Mormon culture. Rich men are respected and inevitably rise through the ranks in both civic and church affairs. How you make your money is not so important as simply making it. Mormon get-rich schemes often involve exploiting some kind of current fad – diet pills, or vitamins, body-building supplements, reducing machines and pep pills, gizmos invented from scratch to make life easier – or, in the case of Mitt Romney, the perfect life-like doll.

While working at Bain Capital, Romney’s great talent, according to The Real Romney, Michael Kranish and Scott Helman’s recent biography of the candidate, was not in generating ideas for products or ventures in which people could invest but in crunching numbers to see if such an investment could make sense. One of the very few ideas he originated from scratch and backed with his own money was a product he called “Lifelike.”

Most of his ideas for new deals had flopped when Romney arrived at work one morning in 1996 with what he thought was a great new idea. It had actually come from a friend, another Mormon named Reed Wilcox, also a graduate of Brigham Young University and Harvard Business School. Wilcox worked for a company that had developed the ability to take a photograph of a child and create a doll that looked exactly like that child. Wouldn’t this be a fun thing to do? Romney thought. Wouldn’t this be a sure-fire moneymaker? The two-foot high dolls would sell for $150 – a bit pricey for the average family maybe, but Bain didn’t exactly deal with the average. One can imagine Mitt thinking what it might mean to children to have a doll that looked just like them, one almost their own size – two feet tall! When that child looked at the doll what would he see but his own little likeness. It would suddenly be a world of me-me-me! You could even order more than one doll if you wanted and have a whole roomful of your own little selves, like a scene out of a nursery horror movie.

Romney authorized a $2.1 million investment from Bain Capitol to get the ball rolling, and then personally loaned an unknown amount of his own money for the venture. The dolls were manufactured in Hong Kong and Colorado. But sales sputtered when the economy began tanking in 2001, and by 2003 there were serious problems with both quality and production. One wonders what exactly the quality problems were – egregious misrepresentations of the little tots? Perhaps dolls that fell apart before their eyes, like their own tiny selves coming apart? Whatever the difficulties, Lifelike wasn’t doing so well. There were hundreds of complaints by consumers who told the Colorado attorney general that they felt bilked: the dolls they ordered had not been received in time for Christmas 2003 as promised. By 2005 Lifelike had filed for bankruptcy. It owed $2 million to its Hong Kong manufacturer and thousands more to advertising agencies and various other creditors. That same year, a judge approved an auction of the company’s assets, which went for less than half of what was owed, let alone what Bain had invested originally and whatever Romney had put in. Bain lost its money, and so did Romney, and Lifelike became the word no one wanted to ever hear again around the Bain offices. All mention of it was erased from the company’s website. Like other elements of Romney’s life, it was consigned to the dust-heap of that-which-we-don’t-talk-about.

Freeman was raised a Mormon and writes about some of her experiences growing up in the church, as well as the excommunication notice she received for daring to write about the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which a group of Mormons murdered a whole wagon train of Arkansans traveling through southern Utah on their way to California. The 120 victims included 80 women and children. "These emigrants had done nothing to deserve their fate," writes Freeman, "except to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to have come from a state – Arkansas – where a high-ranking and much-beloved Mormon elder named Parley P. Pratt, who was serving a mission there, had recently been killed by a jealous husband for stealing his wife. For many years the Mormons lied about their role in the massacre, claiming the Indians did it."

[magical thyme]

9. ooh. I see an opportunity here. Lifelike, Romney

Lifelike. Lifelike. Lifelike.

Need to work "lifelike" into everything. Have it ringing in his ears day and night.

Need to work it into the debate, too.

[klook]

14. Maybe this FRENCH recording artist,

Lifelike, can perform at the convention with Lynyrd Skynyrd or Kid Rock. His French music would be a perfect fit with the Romney campaign, because, of course, Willard was a young Mormon missionary in France at one time, where he bicycled on French streets trying to convert the people of France to Mormonism.



Note that Lifelike's MySpace address is myspace.com/lifelikevulture#! -- you just can't make this stuff up! (Apologies to the recording artist, who I feel pretty sure is not a Rmoney supporter! But did I mention he's from France? And that Rmoney lived in France for a while and speaks fluent French??)

[NJCher]

29. also, don't you think...

That perhaps he was working out some psychological need with this doll? Like, when he realized that he himself was not very life like, he may have been doing a kind of reverse manifestation. This could have been oddly satisfying for a nut like Romney.

Somehow this doll thing and the costume stuff (playing policeman) all ties together. I'm not sure how yet, but maybe I or someone else will figure it out soon.


Cher

[AlbertCat]

11. claiming the Indians did it.

Well, they are descended from the Devil, are they not?


Y'know, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all just as nuts and ridiculous as Mormonism, but they were formed and gained their power and authority in the distant past when mankind knew nothing, or very little indeed about the true nature of the world and universe. They were sorta doing the best they could with what they knew back in the Stone age and Bronze Age. But Mormons and even Scientologists have NO EXCUSE. The 19h century wasn't as advanced as today of course but they did know some things and science and the scientific method was flourishing. And of course the techno 20th century we all have lived thru, unless we're 12. There's simply no excuse for falling for such claptrap for the past 150, 200 years.

[TalkingDog]

23. When you base your entire world view on the "visions" of a schizophrenic

I don't think science comes into play.

[klook]

33. That is an interesting point.

These people had every opportunity to embrace science, rational thought, and modern notions of social organization, yet chose to willfully ignore them. They don't have excuses like, "Well, back then, it was normal to think a thunderstorm was a message from God!"

[truthisfreedom]

8. We can settle on one part of the description: Character of a louse.

A blood-sucking parasite. Runs in the family.

[Sanddancer]

10. Let's stop the childish name calling.

I think Romney is basically a decent man who doesnt have a good grasp on what the real world is like. I dislike him for being all too willing to discard his previous centrist principles so that right wing nuts will vote for him.

[barbtries]

12. you say he's a decent man

then mention how willing he is to abandon his principles. not a decent man after all.

[Generic Other]

15. decent for a "a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples"

decent man my ass. I think you came to the wrong website to promote that crap.

[olegramps]

16. You have a strange concept of denceny.

He hides his money in off-shore accounts, won't release his tax returns, bankrlupt companies and then sold them off leaving the government to pick up the tap for the workers pensions, along with out-sourcing his fellow countrymens jobs to enrich himselve. Sounds like the same bastard that his grandfather was.

[snooper2]

20. Why don't you talk to the author of the article about that

Mittens would appreciate it

[monmouth]

22. If you think this POS Romney is a decent man, that says way too much about you..n/t

[Angry Dragon]

24. Since when is a predatory animal a decent man??

[JDPriestly]

26. Romney is greedy, pathologically greedy.

He sold American jobs to the lowest bidder -- yes the lowest bidder.

That is how he made his many, many millions.

In my book, selling America's industrial infrastructure and jobs to low-wage, toxic foreign countries is right up there with treason.

Basically, Romney and Bain are among the small, wealthy elite who sold out America.

Romney is not a decent man. He has a very good grasp on what the world of oppressing working people is about. He has embraced right-wing principles wholeheartedly, no hesitation. Romney is only about Romney and note that, in the real world, the word "Romney" contains the same letters as "R money." That's what the Romneys are about -- Their money.

[sofa king]

27. You are incorrect about Romney being decent.

Can you see Mitt in this diagnosis?


A) There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three or more of the following:

* failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;

* deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;

* impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead;

* irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;

* reckless disregard for safety of self or others;

* consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;

* lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another;

B) The individual is at least age 18 years.
C) There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.
D) The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or a manic episode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder

People with antisocial personalities are not decent people. That is why this condition, which practically defines Mitt Romney (and Dick Cheney, and Newt Gingrich, and Ted Bundy) is classified as a disorder.

Do I have to come back and pepper this post with links to Mitt Romney's actual behavior and statements?

[closeupready]

31. He is certainly not decent; he's not even tolerable.

He is a parasite and a freeloader, enjoying the benefits of American citizenship but seeking to maximize ways to avoid paying US taxes.

[LaydeeBug]

32. Welcome to DU Sanddancer, Let's stop telling other people not to tell the TRUTH. nt

[Sanddancer]

36. Sheesh! You guys are a tough crowd.

[jeff47]

38. When reality doesn't line up with your narrative,

it's not reality's fault.

"Mitt is a decent man" is a statement without anything to back it up. You'd need to provide evidence that he is a decent man.

You'll also have to provide some sort of argument about how his "non-decent" acts don't change that.

[Gormy Cuss]

39. My friends who worked at Bain would disagree with that assessment.

Ruthless, uncaring and power-hungry would be closer to their descriptions of him.

[wordpix]

43. decent? Apparently you're not reading the news re: offshore investments and illegal tax avoidance

schemes.

Decent??????

[ellie_belly]

48. I'm all for no name calling.

I believe we do it far too much. I don't know if Romney is a decent man in some senses of that phrase. Much of his public behavior seems to say otherwise.
Regardless, I teach my kids not to use name calling and I wish we'd do less of it at DU.

[Cha]

49. Romney is the furthest thing

from decent that you can get. Romney is the opposite from decent.

[Did I Just Type This]

13. wow, i mean wow man.

[CountAllVotes]

17. Just a bad apple ...

>> "a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples; a skunk, with the face of a baboon, the character of a louse, the breath of a buzzard and the record of a perjurer and common drunkard."

Nothing to see here ... just move right along folks!

& recommend.

[Historic NY]

18. If you flee to another country to avoid the law does that make you a fugitive.....

or does it say your giving up on this country. Don't you sorta lose your rights as a fugitive?

[olegramps]

19. I took out the time to read the Book of Mormon.

I often traveled on business to Salt Lake City. The Book of Mormon was placed in every hotel room I stayed in. Curious as to what these folks believed and with little else to do on some nights, I began to read it. I found it to be the most incredulous story ever spun. This Joseph Smith guy had an overactive and strange imagination. To actually believe that so many people believe this stuff is really fascinating. I can understand how people who were not well educated and rather gullible could swallow this nonsense, but I have a problem with today's better informed accepting this fairytale. I realize that much Bible is pure nonsense, but I have to conclude that Smith out did himself. I learned later that Smith was known to have had a long history of spinning fabrications and was known for his imaginative concoctions long before he embarked on writing the Book of Mormon.

[NJCher]

28. thanks for the primary source input

I've never read it, but I had a childhood girlfriend try to convert me. This was pretty much the impression I got of it, too--that it was fairytale-like.

As a child, my teachers often told my mother about my wild imagination and creativity in storytelling. Being a wild fabricator myself, when I heard my childhood friend's summation of what Mormonism is, my first thought was "wow, what a great story." At least I had the sense to label mine "fiction."

Now, a decade later, I want to say, "Why didn't I think of that?" I'd have my very own tax shelter.

I was run out of Sunday school for saying the same stuff about Christianity, fwiw.


Cher

[AtheistCrusader]

37. Dunno, seems pretty credible to me when you stack it up against Scientology.

[jeff47]

40. At least L. Ron had the decency to admit it was a fraud up-front

In one of his earlier books, a character created a cult with a sci-fi backstory.

L. Ron then created a cult with a sci-fi backstory.

[riverwalker]

21. Wow, the quote alone deserves it's own thread

Romney's great grandfather Miles P Romney...was described by one newspaper editor as "a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples; a skunk, with the face of a baboon, the character of a louse, the breath of a buzzard and the record of a perjurer and common drunkard."

[JBoy]

25. Rotten goose pimples are people, my friend.

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. Awesome.

And not a cussword in the lot.

[hughee99]

34. I was on the fence before, but after finding out what some editor with an axe to grind

thought of Romney's great grandfather, it's clear I can't vote for Romney.

[Berlum]

35. Wow - a family history of Republican lying

disgraceful

[undeterred]

41. Newspaper editors don't write like they used to.

[wordpix]

42. lying and cheating seems to run in the family

[progressoid]

44. I'm not sure what Rotten goose pimples are,

and I don't want to find out.

[madrchsod]

45. have`t you ever had goose bumps?

[progressoid]

46. Yeah,

but how do they get rotten?