Washington Business Spring 2012 | Page 18

The Water Cooler “The county used to be a little bit like the Yankees. Its first response to a problem was to throw money at it.” — Remarks by King County Executive Dow Constantine in his “state of the county” speech, comparing county government to that of the chronically underfunded Oakland A’s (and the cash-infused New York Yankees) as characterized in the film and book, “Moneyball.” (1) “Apple is facing a $38 million fine in China because the word ‘iPad’ is trademarked by a Chinese company. Apple was nervous about owing money to China — but then Obama was like, ‘Ah, you get used to it.’” — Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2) RON PAUL COMIC BOOK IN STORES TODAY — PAUL SIGNS COPY OF COMIC BOOK & BEATS ROMNEY! — E-mail teaser from Bluewater Productions, touting its latest publication, “Political Power: Ron Paul.” Other upcoming comic book biographies from Bluewater include the U.S. Army, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, John Lennon, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. (3) “Mr. Obama has seen the energy sun rise and is crowing like a rooster that he made it happen.” — From “’Stupid’ and Oil Prices,” The Wall Street Journal’s Feb. 24 editorial about President Obama and rising gas prices. (4) 16 association of washington business