Monday,  May 14, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 305 • 27 of 33 •  Other Editions

(Continued from page 26)

• Ian Wells of Allentown, N.J., is 21, autistic and won't graduate from high school until next year. He is unlikely to attend college because of his autism. He wants a job but has only found unpaid internships and is currently working part-time and unpaid as a worker at a fastener factory.
• He's a hard worker, with good mechanical skills, but has trouble reading and speaking, said his mother, Barbara Wells. She said his difficulties understanding social cues and body language can make other people uncomfortable.
• ___

Holy hooah: Pols hit and miss as they deliver shout-outs to troops, teams, trees, grits ...

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- "Hooah!"
• "Did I do that right?" Michelle Obama asked after sounding a battle cry to soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia last month.
• "Phew," she sighed when the audience signaled its approval.
• The local shout-out seems so natural when done right. And so cringe-worthy when flubbed.
• Any good politician knows the importance of finding common ground with a local audience. It's Speechmaking 101, whether accomplished through strategic praise for sports teams, cultural treasures or local figures.
• ___

Obama campaign airing first ad critical of Romney's role in private equity firm

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is casting Mitt Romney as a greedy, job-killing corporate titan with little concern for the working class in a new, multi-pronged effort that seeks to undermine the central rationale for his Republican rival's candidacy: his business credentials.
• At the center of the push -- the president's most forceful attempt yet to sully Romney before the November election -- is a biting new TV ad airing Monday that recounts through interviews with former workers the restructuring, and ultimate demise, of a Kansas City, Mo., steel mill under the Republican's private equity firm.
• "They made as much money off of it as they could. And they closed it down," says Joe Soptic, a steelworker for 30 years. Jack Cobb, who also worked in the industry for three decades, adds: "It was like a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us."

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