SEE UPDATE/CORRECTION BELOW Today is International Beer Day,* and if you’re a lover of fine micro-brews (and I know you are), you have but one person to thank. No, not Jim Koch. The person you must thank is none other than former President Jimmy Carter. E.D. Kain explains: To make a long story short, prohibition led to the dismantling of many small breweries around the nation. When prohibition was lifted, government tightly regulated the market, and small scale producers were essentially shut out of the beer market altogether. Regulations imposed at the time greatly benefited the large...
Continue reading...The Party of Lincoln, or the Party of Jefferson Davis?
Steve Benan on recent Republican efforts to revisit the 14th Amendment: Take a moment to consider what’s become fairly common in GOP circles of late. A sitting Republican congressman and governor have openly speculated about secession. A Senate candidate in Nevada has raised the specter of armed insurrection against the United States government. A Senate candidate in Kentucky has spoken out against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota believes states should be able to ignore federal laws they don’t like. None of these developments have drawn even mild rebukes from the party...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Gail \”The Colander\” Collins, who in her column...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Thursday, 5 August 2010
Good morning, everybody. Sandra Bullock is Hollywood\’s highest-paid actress and Lily Allen is having a baby. Now, your morning constitutional: California \”has no interest in differentiating between same-sex and opposite-sex unions,\” ruled U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, striking down California\’s state ban on same-sex marriage. According to Walker, the ban violated the federal constitutional guarantees of equal protection and of due process. The complete 138-page opinion can be found here. FiveThirtyEight: Kennedy, Olsen and the right side of history. Some delightful initial responses to Walker\’s ruling. The House will return to work next week to...
Continue reading...Sharron Angle believes Democrats are breaking the First Commandment
I may have ended my last post by noting that there is, indeed, nothing new under the sun. However, this sounds actually novel to me. Sharron Angle, the Republican vying to unseat Harry Reid in the Senate, who has said some ridiculous things in the past, is accusing the Democratic leadership—President Obama, Reid, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—of making the government into a god and thereby breaking the First Commandment. Jon Ralston reports that in an April 21 interview with TruNews Christian Radio’s Rick Wiles, Angle said: “And these programs that you mentioned — that Obama has...
Continue reading...Mad Men, "Christmas Comes But Once a Year"
Don: “I don’t hate Christmas. I hate this Christmas.” I hope everyone was excited about the return of Glen, or Creepy Glen, as I like to call him. As the Draper-Francis family picks out a Christmas tree, Glen emerges from the shadows to talk to Sally. His mother got re-married, he explains, and he heard about what happened with Sally’s parents. Bobby Draper seems to be adjusting well to their new life, he and Henry putting their arms around each other as they walk away. Sally is the one who truly feels the loss of Don, especially...
Continue reading...Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes warns that bike-sharing is a nefarious international conspiracy
Dan Maes, Republican gubernatorial candidate and current tea party favorite for the nomination, thinks that bike sharing programs are a plot to give cities U.N control. Months ago, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who is also running for governor, helped start a large-scale bike-sharing program in Denver. At first, Maes liked it, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was just a nefarious conspiracy. From the Denver Post: Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Thomas \”Tommy Boy\” Friedman, who in his column...
Continue reading...Triumph for Religious Tolerance
I was glad to hear that the New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has voted to allow the construction to move forward for an Islamic Center near ground zero. The plan is moving ahead despite vehement protests from the usual suspects (Sarah Palin, calling for a “refudiation” of the mosque, Newt Gingrich, et al.), as well as some less likely suspects (the Anti-Defamation League, as Pop mentioned in yesterday’s Morning Constitutional, objected to the location of the Islamic Center, saying that its construction “in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Good morning, everybody. Bristol and Levi broke off their engagement again. Now, your morning constitutional: BP announced Wednesday that the \”static kill\” effort to permanently seal off the spilling oil well in the Gulf has been so far successful. Also welcome news: According to White House energy adviser Carol Browner, almost three-quarters of the oil spilled in the Gulf has been captured, broken down, burned off, or evaporated. An election in Kenya today in a referendum on a new constitution which would limit the power of the president and settle land disputes that have caused violent conflict in...
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