Angry Birds Touching Politicians

Touching Politicians

Late on Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2012, I sent an email to my various representatives in Congress.  I sent an email to Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Mike Lee, and Representative Jason Chaffetz, inquiring for information about the Postal Reform legislation currently going through congress.  I went into this being openly skeptical.  I thought that if I received a reply it would take a long time to do so and would not answer the question I asked.

On February 9th, 2012, I received a phone call from the office of Senator Mike Lee.  An actual phone call from a staffer in Senator Mike Lee's office on the Thursday after I sent the email.  This staffer, Robert Ackson, gave me an exact web address as well as instructions as to where I could find the information that I was looking for.  Later on, I looked up this information and found that the instructions I had received were correct, easy to follow, and gave me the information I was looking for.  As I said to Mr. Ackson, I was pleasantly surprised to have received this call, having received it so quickly, and that I had gotten the information that I had requested.  I have to give credit to Senator Mike Lee as well as his office and congressional staffers for the work they did in answering a constituents questions.

On February 28th, 2012, Representative Jason Chaffetz's office sent me the following email.

Hunter,

For updates on any bill, you are able to go to the website lis.gov.  Here you can search bills that have been proposed or voted on.  Thanks for your email to Congressman Chaffetz.  We really love hearing from our constituents.

Susannah Hertz

Congressman Jason Chaffetz

While Representative Chaffetz's office did direct me to a place where I could find the information I was asking for, clearly Senator Lee's office served me better to that end.  I do thank Rep. Chaffetz's office for getting back to me about this matter.

On March 5th, 2012, I received a letter in the mail from Senator Orrin Hatch's office.  Yes, a letter.  Sen. Hatch's office responded to an email with a letter.  An actual physical letter.  Don't believe me?

The actual letter Sen. Hatch's office sent me.

In this letter, Senator Hatch tell me of the currently pending legislation having to do with Postal Reform, going as far as stating the actual name of the bills in question, as well as the reference numbers(Real Term) for those bills.

Senator Hatch then went on to give me his personal views about the currently pending Postal Reform legislation.  This is not what I asked for.  I did not ask for the views of my various representatives, I asked for an update about the legislation.

What this example shows to me is the dedication that the various people who represent me in Washington hold to serving their constituents in a correct and responsive way.  Senator Lee and his office gave me the answer I wanted in a easy in very clear way in four days.  Representative Chaffetz gave me a less than adequate answer in twenty-three days.  Senator Hatch did not give me the answer that I wanted and did so in twenty-nine days.  I will be taking this knowledge with me when I step into the voting booth this November.

Bird Screens 

In talking about the upcoming Angry Birds Space, chief marketing officer Peter Vesterbacka said about the game, "With all our games, we're going for all the screens: Smartphones, tablets, TVs, the web, so we really want to bring Space to all the screens as well,"  Mr. Vesterbacka specifically stated that he wanted to get Angry Birds on Sony's Vita handheld console.  While getting Angry Birds on the Vita is still being worked on, Rovio has managed to get it's wildly profitable game on another kind of screen.

On Saturday, Rovio announced that Angry Birds will soon be available on drug screening administered by Drug Testing USA.  Soon when you apply for a job, apply for foodstamps, or seek to play for your school's basketball team, the drug test you will be compelled to take will now allow you to play Angry Birds.  Drug Testing USA spokesman Wallace Wolodarsky said, "When Rovio approached us about implementing Angry Birds into our drug screening process, we thought it was a joke.  We thought it was some comedian taking the quote "We want Angry Birds on every screen possible" to the extreme.  However, once a representative from Rovio showed us how Angry Birds could be implemented in a way that does not result in a contamination of the drug tests we administer, we were more than willing to be a part of the Angry Birds revolution."  When asked how Angry Birds could be played while a drug test is being administered, Mr. Wolodarsky said refused comment.

In fact several inquiries into the process by which Angry Birds can be played on drug screens went without a reply.  To this point, no one that I have talked to can think of a way that Angry Birds can be played while a drug screening is being administered.  In fact, the asking of this question resulted is this reporter being slapped by many random people he talked to on the street.