In the "vendor" portion of our role, we get to see some amusing marketing copy. Capitol Advantage this week announced a new tool called "Birthday Alerts" to help a few thousand of congresscritters' closest constituents jam their inbox or fax machine with form birthday greetings.

Because clearly, what is lacking in the constituent-representative relationship is an adequate supply of webform messages that are -- their words -- "automated, fresh, and positive". I remember every time I weed out blogspam that nothing says fresh and positive like automation.

Lame duck nuthin': Macaca checks out for the holidays. (Link)