Beer and Firkins

Celebration!

2010-12-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

Those who read this blog will note (if you even come by anymore!) that there has been a dearth of posts for the past year. I've been busy and frankly, have too much to do to post my thoughts in a blog these days. I did experience some special moments lately though that prompted me to write the following. If you read it and find that it may describe some similar feelings you may have with regard to beer and brewing, I would appreciate a response. Life takes us all on many different journeys but our common humanity never ceases to surprise me. There really is no new thing under the sun, as the Preacher sayeth. Merry Christmas to all!

In July, 2000, I began homebrewing. My wife bought the kit for me as a present from my sons, Michael and Andrew. It has been the greatest hobby I could have imagined. I've made so many great beers and so many great friends through this hobby, I really can't properly explain the joys it has given me and the gratitude I have for my wife for buying the kit that started it all on Father's Day of that year. I had brewed 19 beers by January 2nd, 2002. I brewed a kit beer that day from Things Beer. It was an English Barley Wine Ale called "Bear Ass Barley Wine". Original gravity was 1.118. Seven ounces of hops in five gallons of beer, it was a dark, heavy monster of a beer and I really enjoyed it. I doled it out on special occasions and saved as much as was humanly possible of that woefully small, five gallon batch until-in summer of 2004- I had only one bottle of it left.

Then disaster struck my family. My oldest son Michael, just out of High School, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He underwent a year of treatment and cleared the hurdles making him "cancer-free". I told him I would save that bottle of beer so we could share it five years down the road when he had been the obligatory five years cancer-free. Things being busy as they often are, the deadline came and went, and the Barley Wine sat on the shelf in my basement.

A couple of months ago Michael went to see about some pain he had in his neck and was told there was a growth in his thyroid. Immediately, all of the cancer fears came back! Extreme fear and paranoia gripped us all as we worried about the return of this killer to our home. I went to the doctor for a checkup and after several trips for follow-ups and specialist visits was told I had prostate cancer!

The lone bottle of Bear Ass Barley Wine sat patiently on the shelf.

Today, we went to the oncologist's office so he could give us his reading of the PET Scan Michael had a week ago. PET Scans are very expensive tests which show the presence of cancer cells in the body. We received the best news possible from Dr. Bikina: no cancer was found at all!

I decided on the drive home that we should celebrate the good news. I asked Michael if he felt like sharing the Barley Wine with me and he agreed it was the perfect occasion. We decided to toast that good fortune while we were thinking of it and were positive in our outlooks. I rushed downstairs to the cool basement and picked the bottle off the shelf, literally brushing off cobwebs in the process.

Now, I have brewed about seventy beers since I made that Barley Wine Ale back in 2002, and I really didn't know what to expect. I was a novice brewer and a novice taster of beers at the time. I do remember thinking it was something quite special (but, frankly, my family can tell you that I think that of most of my beers!). I cracked the bottle and there was no noise at all. I remember it being lightly carbonated when it was fresh but it was not carbonated now...Still, perhaps it tasted good. I poured it off into two Sam Adams glasses for Michael and me. A quick swirl and a sniff told me I wouldn't be disappointed!

The beer was very dark brown but could still be said to be very clear. The yeast cake at the bottom of the bottle was solid and did not move as I poured off the second glass and emptied the contents of the bottle. There were definite ruby-red highlights in the nominally brown beer. Holding it up to the lights, it was possible to see that the beer was clear but not quite possible to see through it.

It smelled very "sherry-like" at first, then a distinct black cherry aroma came through. Coffee and chocolate rounded out the smells that hinted at my first sip. No hops were noticeable in the nose. The first sip was loaded with sherry notes combined with a strong character of stone fruits. Black and tart cherries came most to mind, though plums would not be a bad description, either. There was a definite sweetness to this very strong beer (it finished at 1.028 in specific gravity), though it was decidedly tart in the finish. To round out the flavor profile of this complex beer, a very smooth and flavorful coffee and semi-sweet chocolate character emerged in the warming. I also detected a satisfying crisp, nutty finish.

Michael said it was the most complex beer he'd ever tasted. I can't in all honestly say that, myself (the beers and the years are piled much too high for me, in that regard) but it certainly was a special moment for us both. Andrew tried a taste and agreed it was most delicious. My wife, smelled it and passed on the tasting, shaking her head at the overblown importance we placed on the flavors and nuances of something so mundane as a beer(even a nearly nine year old beer!).

Oh, she "gets it". She's tried many a micro- and homebrew and has a pretty darned good palate for the stuff. It just isn't her passion, as it is mine. And that's fine. She knows that it's not the beer or even the appreciation of it that makes this enjoyable for me. It's always about the sharing and the camaraderie that beer brings.

I believe the prostate cancer was caught very early and will be completely excised in my upcoming operation. Michael has something going on in his thyroid that will need attention but at least it's not cancer. We have our share of health and family issues to deal with like most everyone else, I'm sure. Those things can be put aside for the Holiday season, to make way for happier times, with the "C" word (mostly) out of the picture. As I await my surgery in January, and enjoy a festive Christmas season with family and friends, I contemplate these things that make us happy and content. A warm house and family and friends enjoying laughs and conversation with a craft brewed beer or a cup of eggnog seems simple but combined they create the warm memories that we cherish through the years. It's the family and friends that really make these moments special. Still, mine will probably always include a beer...

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-20T07:10:00.000-07:00

In May, 2000, I lost my father after a sudden heart attack. He was 71. He was a classic tough guy. A John Wayne type man who took no shit from anybody but had a great sense of humor. He was insensitive and tough on his kids but he loved them and worked his ass off for all of us. As little kids, when we would fall down and scrape a knee or something, my Dad would always yell at us, "Come here and I'll help you up"! Life is a complex mix of differences, isn't it? Many times my father said very hurtful things to me and let me know in no uncertain terms that I was either a blithering idiot or a sissy of the first magnitude. I also know he did these things to all of us kids, so it wasn't just me. A simple, disgusted look was enough to make me feel about as insignificant as a dog turd.

Conversely, he was a good father to us all, treating his step-children as his own and helping us all through any problems we may have come across. I remember him working on one of my cars after a breakdown one Winter, when I couldn't believe he could continue to use his hands, since mine were frozen solid! He forged ahead and got 'er done! Perseverance and strength were probably his best attributes.

I tried to emulate him as much as possible growing up and, when my children came along, in raising my own. That was probably a mistake. I was never as tough as he nor as persistent. On the other hand, I tell my kids how much I love them more in one week than I heard from my father in my lifetime. Our relationship was just that way.

As he aged and dealt with grandchildren and retirement, he mellowed considerably. Like a big Winter Warmer, he lost much of the sharp edges and heat and what was left was sweet, complex and satisfying. He was a doting grandfather to my sister's kids, who lived with him, for the most part, and was always well-loved by my two boys. Just before he died, I went down to "the hills" to visit him and tried to convince him to go to the doctor, since I had been told he was having heart troubles but was too stubborn to do anything about it. I took my two sons with me and we had a nice visit. He assured me he would go to the doctor and get checked out. We left believing everything would be fine that April weekend. On May 18, he died suddenly in his sleep.

I learned a lot from my father and I think I miss him more now than ever before. Even though one thinks normally that a son benefits most from a father in his formative years, I believe I would appreciate my father's guidance now, at 53 years of age, than perhaps ever before. I've had many expectations during this journey and almost none of them have turned out as scripted. Is that a problem? I'd guess my Dad would say that it isn't. You deal with things as they come at you because the script is always under re-write.

In June of that year, my lovely wife got me a Father's Day gift. I know it was from the boys but she is the person who picked it out and bought it for me. My sons were a part of the process, to be sure, but the idea and effort came from my wife. It was a beer brewing kit. I had admired the idea after a friend had gotten one. He made a couple of batches and dropped it like a hot rock. I, on the other hand, found the new hobby to be fascinating and very rewarding. I brewed a simple pale ale which came out pretty darned good, and the rest is history.

Along the years, my kids learned to indulge Daddy's hobby interests. They both learned to siphon and bottle beer (whereas, my Dad taught me to siphon gasoline!) and to taste and determine what a good beer is and why. This may not be something that wins me the Responsible Father of the Year Award but you take it as it comes, right? My kids were drinking and enjoying-responsibly-fine craft brews before they were teenagers. At 25 and 23 neither drinks more than a beer a month. They aren't all that fond of the stuff!

We script our lives for success (what the hell is that?), wealth (again, what?), the cars and homes we dream of and all that jazz, but it is health, love, relationships and memories that truly make us happy and satisfied. I could die penniless and homeless and be a happy fellow, simply because my life has been interesting, varied, and full of loving and happy family and friends.

My kids have their entire lives ahead of them. They have made plenty of mistakes and probably will make plenty more but they WILL learn from them. Well, my kids could probably benefit from some of my Dad's tough love. When they fail at something it hurts and I feel for them as much as for myself. I want the best for them in life. Isn't that what every father wants? I may have spoiled 'em a bit but they turned out to be good people and that is what really counts, isn't it? I think my father would agree. Priorities shift and success keeps morphing.

Lately I've been thinking I've fallen down and can't really find my footing. Then, in the back of my mind I hear, "Come here and I'll help you up"! I see my Dad with that shit-eating grin on his face and I know that all is right with the world.

Doing Deutschland!

2010-01-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of months I've been visiting Germany in my beermaking. I purchased some German malts and hops and decided to make a series of German beers with the same yeast. I started with the Munich Dunkel style. This is a moderately light-flavored beer, medium copper to dark brown in color, with a decidedly sweet, falavorful malt character. Very little hop flavor or bitterness is perceived and the beer is fairly easy to quaff, though it is a showcase for rich, flavorful Munich malt.

I decided to build a bigger beer on top of this yeast when the beer finished and settled on the Traditional Bock beer. This is the classic German liquid bread originating in Einbeck. Nearly as dark as the Munich Dunkel but much heavier and maltier, this beer is a showcase again of the toasty, bready Munich and Vienna malts. Caramel, chocolate, toasted bread and delicious crusty flavors abound in this classic beer.

Finally, after thinking long and hard about making a doppelbock on the yeast of the bock, I decided to go with a lighter, more drinkable (though certainly no less flavorful or interesting) beer and settled on the little-known style of Dortmunder Export. This beer is similar to a malty Helles but with some of the hop character of a German Pilsner. A very tasty, maltier, heavier version of the German Pils would probably be a good description. It came out a bit strong for the style but the flavor and the clean character the yeast provides it masks this a bit.

So we began our German trip in Munich, making a beer that originated in that city and flourished all over Bavaria. This dark (dunkel) beer is malty, toasty and delicious! From Munich we headed to Einbeck (near Hannover), the birthplace of the great, Traditional Bock beer. This beer was much appreciated in Munich and actually was adopted by that area and is now fairly considered to be a Bavarian beer. Big, malty and strong, it is a great warmer for the Bavarian winters! We finished our trip in the manufacturing city of Dortmund, where the style of Dortmunder Export was born. A substantial beer for working men, it is thirst-quenching and strong.

My three German lagers were fun to make, delicious to drink and a kick to share with friends and family! Where do I go next?

Parti-Gyle Brewing

2009-08-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Parti-Gyle brewing is an archaic manner of brewing wherein the mash is drawn off used for one strength of beer and the remaining grains are re-mashed. There is no sparge to speak of. The process can be repeated three or more times to produce three or four progressively weaker beers. In fact this method was used extensively in the Medieval times to produce beers of varying strengths from a single mash (Strong Ale, Common Ale and Small Beer, for example).

I have always been a big fan of batch sparging, in which the sparge water is applied all at once after the first runnings have been drawn off, then the second runnings are added to the first for the entire beer produced by that mash. It's simply an easier and quicker-albeit, perhaps less efficient-method of mashing. I like simple.

Recently I had a bit of trouble deciding on which kind of beer I wanted to make. I always have this problem because I like so many types of beer! I decided on making two different types of beers at once. Because I have a large supply of free hops and an equally large supply of very cheap hops (thanks to a bulk purchase made by my homebrew club), I decided to put these to use. I made an Imperial IPA with the first runnings and made a weaker beer with the second runnings (sort of a Parti-Gyle brew, though I didn't actually mash the grains again...much). I deliberately sparged with less than the expected amount of water for my typical ten gallon batch, to ensure adequate gravity for both beers and ended up with a little over eight gallons of beer total.

It was interesting but I didn't have enough beer when all was said and done! The product was pretty good, though!

The following recipe is for an IPA. I used the resulting two runnings to produce the Imperial IPA and the IPA. Here are the details (the italicized portion is what the beer would have been if I hadn't split the batch):

Mitten Envy IPA
14-B American IPA
Author: Mike Mullins
Date: 7/20/2009

Size: 10.48 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 181.41 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.055 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 6.27 (6.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 5.36% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 41.2 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
20 lb English 2-row Pale
2 lb Vienna Malt
1 lb Carapils®/Carafoam®
2.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05
Hop schedule for IPA:
1 oz Nugget (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled FWH
1 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled FWH
1 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min

Schedule for Imperial IPA:
1 oz Nugget (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled FWH
1 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled FWH
1 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1 oz Centennial(10%)- added at knockout, boiled 0.0 min
1 oz Simcoe (8%) - added at knockout, boiled 0.0 min
1 oz Amarillo (6%) - added at knockout, boiled 0.0 min
1 oz Centennial(10%)- added in secondary, dry-hopped
1 oz Simcoe (8%) - added in secondary, dry-hopped
1 oz Amarillo (6%) - added in secondary, dry-hopped

Mashed at 158 for 90 minutes, then...
Ran off 4 gallons in first runnings
Sparged with five gallons of water at 170, waited 20 minutes, then...
Ran off 5 gallons in second runnings.

Notes
Used a couple of packs of S-05 rehydrated.
split first and second runnings.
First runnings were 1.080 out of the mash tun. boiled 90 minutes. Yielded 3 gallons at 1.110.
Second runnings were 1.038 out of mash tun. boiled 60 minutes. Yielded 3.5 gallons at 1.050.
(Note that the split is about what is expected by Mosher in the Brewing Techniques article referenced above)

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

What I ended up with was a very strong and very hoppy Imperial IPA (only about a case of 12 oz bottles, though, after sampling, and a case and a half of a decent IPA. The extended boil of the Imperial IPA lessened the take considerably:-(

The Imperial is about 11% ABV and intense in bitterness and hop aroma, while well-balanced by malt sweetness. Reminds me of a Bells Hopslam (Larry Bell and crew rocks!). I am really happy with the aroma produced by the dry-hopping of three different hop pellets. It is sooo wonderful! Hop heaven!

New Member!

2009-07-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Say hello to the newest member of the BJCP that you know...me! Yep. Member A0692, with 8.5 experience points. Don't ask me what my rank is, because my test hasn't been scored but even if I failed miserably, I am a "Recognized" member of the Beer Judge Certification Program and an "official" beer judge!

Yeehah!

Keep your fingers crossed for that score. I'm hoping for a seventy percent, at least, so as to be "Certified", but I'll take whatever I get. I can always retake the test.

Studying for the test was difficult and the test itself was a daunting task but I would strongly recommend it to all who are interested in judging beer (or even learning more about beer). Take the next step!

Dearth of Posts

2009-05-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize to everyone that actually reads this blog for the dearth of posts lately. It doesn't mean I haven't been busy or even beer busy (and hence having a wealth of beery material with which to regale). I have been immersed in beer over the past few weeks (there's a visual for you). I have been studying for the BJCP exam, judging beer at the World Expo of beer (both commercial beers and homebrews) and making beer pretty steadily, as well as entering my beers in competitions (which, sadly, has not yielded any hardware).

Recently the club (Lapeer Area Brewers) participated in Big Brew/National Homebrew Day at Replays Sports Tavern in Lapeer. We brewed thirty gallons of beer on that historic day! There were five brewers and we brewed several different kinds of beer, from Irish Stout to American Lager. A good time was had by all!

Today, I kegged the result of Big Brew, an American Pale Ale. Here are the details:
12 Lbs. 2-Row American Malt
4 Lbs. German Pilsner Malt
2 Lbs. English Crystal 45
1.5Oz. Nugget (60 Minutes)
1 Oz. Cascade (20 Minutes)
.5 Oz. Cascade (0 Minutes)

Mashed at 153 for 60 minutes. Boiled for 60 Minutes with above hop additions. Chilled and racked into Glass Carboys and pitched two Safale 05 yeast starters. Fermented for two weeks at 60 degrees. Racked today into two kegs, one with 1 ounce of Amarillo dry hops, the other without. Original Gravity was 1.048 and Final Gravity was 1.010.

Color is a light amber, IBUs at about 30, ABV around 4.5%.

Frankenmuth, chicken dinners and the World Expo of Beer awaits!

Too Busy to Blog?

2009-04-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Wow! I've been kind of busy lately. Since my last post, I've made several beers and assisted in the making of some more. I finished up my teaching gig in early March, so I thought I'd be busily blogging here and elsewhere but, instead I've just been busy doing other things, none of which seem important but just had to get done.

Here is a little bit of what's been going on in the life and times of Beerme, beer-wise:

The tweaked, second attempt at the perfect English Dark Mild came out a bit sweeter and a bit earthier, due to the Goldings hops. I am going to enter it as a Southern English Brown Ale. Cross your fingers! I like the first one better, though, so I will enter that as the perfect English Dark Mild!

I racked a Robust Porter onto the yeast in March and it finished a bit weaker than a US version of Robust Porter should be (less roasty and not as much mouthfeel), so I may enter it as a Brown Porter. Competitions simply do not respect historical (restrained) guidelines. Bolder beers (only just incrementally so) seem to do better, in my humble opinion. Here is the 10 gallon grainbill:

20 Lbs. 2-Row (US)
2 Lbs. Crisp Crystal 45
1 Lb. US Chocolate Malt
.5 Lbs. Roasted Barley
2 Oz. Nugget (Homegrown) 60 Minutes
1 Oz. Cascade (Homegrown) 20 Minutes
Irish Moss
Yeast cake of WLP 002 English Ale Yeast
OG: 1.054 FG: 1.012

On April 11, I brewed a big Barleywine. It finished at 1.091 and the additions of homemade caramel syrup and beet sugar brought it up to 1.106. I added these incrementally during the first week of fermentation. I just racked it to secondary and it is already a hefty 9% ABV! The gravity check yielded a still sweet 1.030. It has a ways to go but it tastes pretty darned good right now! Vinous and very sweet, there are heavy dark fruit notes and a spicy and hoppy counterbalance to the malt-heavy backbone. Here is the 5 gallon grainbill:

20 Lbs. 2-Row US
4 Lbs. German Pilsner Malt
2 Lbs. Crisp Crystal 45
1 Lb. Belgian Caramunich
1 Oz. Nugget (Homegrown) 60 Minutes
1 Oz. Cascade (Homegrown) 20 Minutes
Irish Moss 1.5 Teaspoons 15 Minutes
2 Lbs. Beet Sugar (prepared as equal additions of syrup, one of which was inverted and caramelized)
Yeast Cake of WLP 002 English Ale Yeast (Finally retired!)
OG: 1.106 FG: 1.026 (Expected) currently at 1.030.

I will leave it in secondary until mid-May and then rack to a keg and bottle in 7 oz. bottles for keeping. This one will not be ready for competition until Fall, at the least.

The Lapeer Area Brewers is a growing concern! We have a new member nearly every month and the brewers are getting better and better! We have a brewing demonstration scheduled for Big Brew-National Homebrew Day, on Saturday May 2, 2009 at Replays Sports Tavern just North of Lapeer. At least two beers will be brewed: one all-grain and one extract. We will have some samples on hand and a host of experienced brewers to answer questions and give advice on this great hobby. Anyone in the area is encouraged to come by and enjoy the fun! There may be some trivia games and even a Red Wings playoff game to watch, after the work is done! The bar beer menu is limited to BudMilCoors and Oberon, on tap...it'll have to do. Hey, Miller is "triple-hopped", ya know!

Until the next post, Prosit!

Tweaking the Mild

2009-02-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

I made an excellent English Dark Mild a couple of months ago (it was my favorite beer for at least a month) and re-read the very good style series book, Mild Ales, by Dave Sutula. This created in me a strong desire to make the Mild even better. I took the original recipe and tweaked it thusly:

Original Lapeer Mild:
(King Henry V's Barley Broth)
14 Lbs US 2-row
1 Lb Crystal 45
1 Lb US Chocolate Malt
1 Oz HG Nugget-60 minutes
1 Oz HG Cascade-10 minutes
Mashed at 152 F
Boiled 60 minutes
OG: 1.038
FG: 1.010

New Lapeer Mild:
(Bigger Barley Broth)
12 Lbs US 2-row45
2 Lb Crystal
1 Lb US Chocolate Malt
1 Lb Flaked Oats
1 Oz HG Nugget-60 minutes
1 Oz HG US Goldings
Mashed at 155 F
Boiled 90 minutes
OG: 1.039
FG: 1.010

I was going for more mouthfeel, more body, as well as some more residual sweetness. I racked the first five gallons into a keg yesterday and tasted the hydrometer reading sample. It was good but I really couldn't judge it well with the small and un-carbonated sample. We'll see soon. The second five gallons will be bottled with priming sugar, I think. The final gravity of both was about the same, so I don't know what the difference will be. I might have kept the 2-row to 14 pounds but it would have made for a pretty big Mild.

My yeast cakes are looking to be fed with some new wort and I am not sure what to make. Has anyone any good ideas? I'm looking to keep it in the family, so to speak. An English beer of higher gravity than a Mild. Perhaps a Brown Ale or a Bitter or even a Pale Ale.

I'm entertaining all suggestions at this time...

Dakota Inn: I revisit the Rathskeller after some forty years!

2009-01-30T08:54:00.001-08:00

Sometime in the Sixties, I remember visiting this wonderful German restaurant in my old Detroit neighborhood, The Dakota Inn. What stood out most in my mind from that childhood visit, was the image of a roomful of people singing along to the words to old songs-German songs, as I remember-while they watched the words displayed by a slide projector on the wall. This was quite a long time before I ever heard the word, "karaoke"!

Well, I have long since moved out of the neighborhood and, in fact, most of the neighborhood has pretty much disappeared, having been destroyed by blight and crime and pretty much bulldozed into something resembling a farm field with sidewalks. But The Dakota Inn remains and I revisited the place last night with my wife and another couple. We had a wonderful time and look forward to going again (Karneval is every weekend in February!).

Check out the site for pics and history, as the visit is well worth it! We had dinner and a few good beers. We started with kartoffelpuffer, a kurtz stack and went on to have the following four entrees: Cheese Spaetzle (Kasespaetzle), Sauerbraten, Huhnerfleisch (chicken breast)and Rouladen. All was passable, authentic German fare. We all remarked that the food was generally more bland than we'd have liked but really quite good. The chicken breast was the only disappointment, being tough and somewhat dry.

The beer, however, was not the least bit disappointing. In fact it was sehr gut! We started with a 23 ounce draft Fraziskaner, Hefe-Weisse Dunkel which was dark, mysterious, delicious and a big beginning entry to the German bier fare we were about to experience. Next we tried the obvious, a Spaten Optimator, a slightly larger, more extreme German large lager(bottle). Finally, we ended the night with a big half liter of Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock (bottle), oh my! What a fine finish to a great evening!

The Craft Beer Explosion and Beer News Dot Org

2009-01-11T06:17:00.000-08:00

OK. I have to say that the Craft Beer Scene is so large, so varied, so prolific and so terrific that I am officially overwhelmed by it. It's not just the numbers of excellent craft brewers that make the task of following them so nearly impossible but the quality and the variety which makes the task so much more essential, yet so much less probable. And that just takes into account the brewers in this country. Lately brewers across the pond have really been stirring up the competition by producing increasingly interesting and inventive beers. Nogne, Norrebro Bryghus, Mikkeller and De Proef, are just a few recently brought to my attention. Enough! I can't keep up!

I have usually focused on the Michigan brewers, here, along with the usual scratchings about my personal homebrewing, but I try to occasionally keep any readers up on what has recently caught my attention in craft brewing. I will continue to do that but in no way can I promise a good gauge of what is available to the craft beer consumer anymore. It is simply too overwhelming. I will offer a great resource, though, to those who love craft beer and want to try to keep up. It is called Beer News and you can add it to your google reader or other RSS service so you can get frequent updates on what's new. For instance today Beer News tells us about the new releases of Bells Hopslam, Founders Double Trouble and Troegs Nugget Nectar. How's that for some good news!

For a more in-depth treat, visit their RSS Info page for even more options for those interesting in getting the inside dope on new craft beer info, blogs, or just new beers. Go to the Craft Beer Index for a listing (and link to) every beer that has been discussed on the Beer News site over the past several months (It's huge!).

So leave the depressing news services alone and keep up with some optimistic news for a change: Beer News! It's delicious!

Session Roundup!

2009-01-03T04:24:00.000-08:00

The 23rd edition of The Session is finished. I would like to thank Stan Heironymus, Jay Brooks, and all the others who created and developed the concept of a Beer Blogging Friday, for allowing me to participate. It was fun and, during the course of the last month's activities, I've become aware of a tiny portion of the great number of really good beer blogs out there!

If you have a beer blog and you haven't hosted a Session, yet, you really should do so. It has been a great learning experience for me! If you want to find out about the breadth and depth of the beer blogging universe, this is a very good start!

Here is the roundup (in no particular order):

Ron, at HopTalk tells us what five things he won't miss about 2008. I have to agree with him on most of them, too!

Stan at Appellation Beer, gives us a list of things he will miss about 2008 (hint: sleeping in a parking lot is one of them!) and a smaller list of the things he hopes to see in the coming year.

Rob, at Sophisticated Brews, lists some of the things he eagerly awaits in 2009 (having posted a year-in-review a few days ago...). One of these is more cask ales...hooray for session beers!

David, at Musings Over a Pint, puts a local spin on the topic, listing what he will miss in the Virginia beer scene and what might adequately replace it...

The Beer Nut gives us some of his plans for the coming year and a very simple, but eminently sensible, answer to what he'll miss about 2008.

Mario, at Brewed for Thought, makes his case for the Zappa series from Lagunitas and has big hopes for Pliny the Younger.

Steph at Beer and Food Love gives an exciting and lengthy list of personal "firsts" in 2008 and hopes for even more of the same in 2009. Go homebrewers!

Mark, at Beercraft, offers a couple of beers he will miss and some ambitious plans for the coming year.

Shaun, at 21st Amendment, gives us a review of the past year's financial difficulties in the brewing biz and a celebration of a new trend he hopes to see continue in the coming year: Collaboration Brews (Way to go, Melissa Myers!).

Jimmy, at Hopwild, says he doesn't miss much about 2008, but is looking forward to a better 2009. I'll second that!

Lew Bryson, at Seen Through a Glass, will miss a few very specific things from 2008 and has guarded hope for the new year.

Brewmaster Matt, from A World of Brews, thinks 2008 was pretty darn good and plans for more beery good times in the coming year!

Tom, from Yours for Good Fermentables, has a few regrets about 2008 and some great expectations for 2009!

Keith, at Brainard Brewing, tells us what he missed in 2008 and that he plans on rectifying that in 2009!

Joe, at The Thirsty Pilgrim, cries us a river over his missed Belgian beer opportunities and has a very special arrival to look forward to in 09!

Jon, at The Brew Site, says he misses one specific beer (a really good one!) and looks forward to "more Beer" in 2009.

couchand, at I'll Have a Beer, has some thoughts on the hop crisis and some sour predictions for 2009.

Thomas, at Geistbear Brewing Blog, misses some old haunts but looks forward to new ones, too.

Rob, at Pfiff!, examines the brewing extremes and, perhaps, the not so extreme in the coming year?

Jay, from Brookston Beer Bulletin, describes the past year as a "miserly little year that took more than it gave" (well-said!) and waxes philosophical in his offering.

Peter, from Better Beer Blog, compares last year to a trip to the Magic Kingdom and "hopes" for more and better next year.

Beckel, at Legal Beer, will miss growlers at Surly's and is looking forward to a special collaboration beer with a twist!

Brad, at La Petite Brasserie, identifies his travels and the great real ales he discovered as the thing he'll miss most from '08, and brewing more of those great English Milds in the coming year is what he's excited about. I'm down with that!

Next month's Session will be hosted at Musing Over a Pint, by Dave Turley. Look for a topic to be announced soon, there.

Old and New

2009-01-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

This post is my effort toward the global beer blogging community's collective Friday Session, hosted by yours truly this month. I picked this unwieldy subject and will endeavor to make something of sense out of it (no small task).

What will I miss from 2008 and what will I excitedly await in 2009?

I will miss many things, not the least of which is the time that's passed (as I get older, I treasure that so very much more!). I miss the time that passed during which I failed to brew as much as I wanted and so failed to improve on my brewing skills with the effort. As trite as it sounds, it is missed opportunities that I most regret. I missed the chance to brew the stepped set of increasingly alcoholic, increasingly dark lagers that I had planned on building this Winter. I had wanted to brew three or four lagers, starting with a light colored, light lager and finishing with a Doppelbock, with a couple of others in between. Didn't get it done (yet). I miss the fact that there were opportunities to improve my homebrewing club, The Lapeer Area Brewers, that were not acted upon.

In this year that has shown the world the tenuous nature of the economic situation that we all held as so sound, not so many months ago, I feel particularly sorry that the United States has lost its last remaining big brewer. There is no longer an American beer in the big three (B-M-C). Inbev has purchased the Anheuser-Busch (now ABInBev)powerhouse and changed the landscape of corporate beer in the world forever. A-B has been the top brewer in the States since the year I was born (1957). That's a long time! Sure they make corporate swill but it was our corporate swill! Let's not forget the good things that A-B did for beer and brewing here in the US and in the world, either. Many hop varieties owe their existence to A-B, since the demand for newer and better hops came directly from the bigger brewers and was answered by the world's hop growers. Never mind the fact that you could never taste the Cascade, Willamette, Liberty, Mt. Hood and Sterling hops in their beer, all of these hop varieties came about due to Anheuser-Busch-sponsored research (to be fair, all of the big brewers sponsor such research). Since all of these hops were developed here, in the US, the entire brewing world that uses them (yes, most of our hops are exported), should also be thankful for A-B!

I guess I should say here that A-B is not gone, but merely changed into a more "global" entity. That in itself is sad, as we-so near Detroit-see much of our manufacturing base outsourced and our automobile industry slide into possible receivership. It is a false sadness, though. This is more of the creative destruction that the market and the global economy indulges in to make things better for all of us. I will celebrate it as a change and not as something bad. This is the year of change, no?

As for something I will be excited about in 2009, I can say that it is that change that I most embrace. Change in the sense that all of the good in the world that happens is an improvement upon what has gone before. I see the world of Craft Beer as improving on a daily basis. New brewers and breweries are popping up every day, even in a world that is experiencing a great deal of financial hardship. More importantly the brewers and breweries are making better and better beer!

I visit as many breweries, brewpubs and beer festivals as I can and I am always surprised at the ingenuity, inventiveness and excellence-in-craft that I find. I am excited about the local brewers that interest me, such as Doug Beedy at Fort Street Brewery and Joe Short at Short's Brewery, to name a couple. I see them creatively stretching the boundaries of the Michigan beer world, in their efforts. I anxiously await the next delicious offerings from all of our great craft brewers as well as the craft brewers around the world. I can't wait to be surprised at the ingredient combinations and unusual results these artisans produce and I can't wait to take their inspirations and work my own magic with them in my basement brewery.

In the coming year, I want to experience more of the world's beers. I have been reading about beers from Czechoslovakia that make me drool (thanks to Velky Al and others) and angry that I can't find most of them, here in Michigan. I have gained a greater appreciation for British beers and can't wait to further educate my palate in that country's offerings. German beer also awaits a further exploration in the coming year, as I have sadly neglected this font of beer knowledge. So many countries, so many beers, so little time! There's that time theme, again!

I want to see my homebrewing club expand and gain new members. This past year we saw an influx of new members that has truly enriched our club and our members! New members bring with them new beers, new methods, new equipment and ideas and new friendships! I hope to see more and more of that.

I wish for all my readers and friends that the coming year is a better one for them, that the changes that occur make their lives richer with new experiences and better circumstances and that their lives are further enriched by the beers they drink and the company they keep. Beer is a wonderful drink and a great social lubricant, but it is the people we meet, talk with, drink with and befriend that make us richer. I wish for all of you that your circle of friends grows along with your beer drinking experience!

Reminder...

2008-12-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

This post is simply a reminder that next Friday is the 23rd Session. On January 2, 2009, the beer bloggers of the world (those that care to, anyway) can mass blog on the same topic. It's like a beer version of the Borg: resistance is futile! This Session will be hosted by Beer and Firkins and the topic is the contrast between old and new that dominates the end of the year news and entertainment programs every late December. Only this time it relates to beer. Quite simply, what will you miss most in the beer world from the past year and what excites you most about the beer world in 2009? Again, the chosen items may be specific beers or simply beery events, people or breweries.

Those Blogs who will be contributing should post their links on Friday as a comment on this blog or as an email to Brewmiker[@]charter.net.

Have fun and tune in on next Friday for all the links to beer blogs around the world!

Extreme Brewing

2008-12-24T11:02:00.001-08:00

A friend wanted to brew a beer. We decided to do it at my house. A week or so later the temperature had dropped to single digits with a biting wind and over a foot of new snow was on the ground. Oh well. That's Winter brewing in Michigan!

Art and I brewed ten gallons of beer on Monday night. The temp really was 9 degrees Fahrenheit! We started at about 5 PM and finished around 1130 PM. It was an unusual brewday...

We ran out of propane and Art had to go pick up some more. While he was gone I transferred the strike water into his mash tun and started the mash. When he returned with propane (and a couple of beers!) we got right to work...on trying the new beers he brought. One was a Scottish IPA (Belhaven's Twisted Thistle) and the other St. Peter's Old-Style Porter. We tried the IPA first. It was surprisingly good and surprisingly hoppy! It poured a dark golden color with a fine white head. The aroma was hoppy and floral with earthy notes. The taste was sweet caramel and biscuity with a strong floral, spicy hop finish and aftertaste. It was very drinkable at the surprising 6.1% and well-balanced. I really liked it and so did Art.

The St. Peter's Porter was next. I didn't expect much because I'd had their IPA and, probably due more to its age and being lightstruck (green bottle), it was not enjoyable at all. The porter was another story altogether. It poured a dark brown and had a beautiful tan head on it. The aroma was chocolate with roasty notes. Tasted a delicious chocolaty coffee with roast and some very slight hop character. the mouthfeel was not too heavy for a porter but full enough to respect. I found it an altogether enjoyable porter and would drink it anytime I wanted a good English porter.

Now, by this time we were about ready to sparge so sparge we did. We got a little less than 11 gallons from the sparge, so we added a little sparge water and resparged. After all this was over we had enough beer and began to heat to boil. No problems so far. We had enjoyed some new beers were playing pinball in between the little jobs requiring our attention and listening to a nice shuffle on my computer.

After the boil we went to turn on the (outside) hose to chill. Now, I keep my white RV water hose inside until it's time to chill just because I know Michigan Winters. Still, I didn't expect the faucet to be frozen. It was. I took my Mapp torch out and started to gently heat the faucet so that I could turn it. After I got to that point, I had to heat the faucet further back to unclog the ice that was keeping it from releasing any water. After a few chilly minutes working gently on this job we were able to get the chiller going! Pheww!

Then it was time to drop the wort into the fermenters. The wort had chilled to just under 80 degrees and we were anxious to end this long brewday in such extreme conditions. We got everything situated and turned the handle on the ballcock...Nothing! Back to the torch. A few moments of gentle heat supplied the answer and we were racking!

Long story short, we got a good ten gallons of 1.067 wort in the two fermenters and pitched starters of Scottish Ale and Belgian Dubbel yeast into each. Should result in a nice Strong Scottish Ale and a Belgian Dubbel. I'll try to remember to supply tasting notes, here.

Merry Christmas, all!

A-B Normal

2008-12-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

Permit me a bit of a rant, here. I am really tired of the carping about the big commercial brewers by craft beer snobs. Oh sure, I'm one of them but I try not to act so "above the station" of the masses and their preferred drinks. Of course I recognize the fact that most of the B-M-C (Budweiser-Miller-Coors, the American Light Lager triumvirate) offerings (insert the appropriate Molson, Warsteiner, Fosters, etc. for countries outside the U.S.) are less adventurous and more concerned with selling volumes of their product than with producing small batches of handcrafted beer but that doesn't make their product "bad" or "undrinkable" as is commonly asserted by my beer snob buddies out there. In fact, if truth be told, it makes their products extremely "drinkable".

I've recently seen some activity on a couple of the craft beer forums and talk groups to which I subscribe, concerning the merits (or lack thereof) of Anheuser-Busch's American Ale. Now, I'm not saying A-B's American Ale is a great beer or that it should be praised for being more flavorful than A-B's normal offerings, merely that some of the criticisms hurled at it are unfair and mislabeled. I've read-on one of these forums-that it tastes like Bud Light. That's absurd. I've read that it was brewed with "drinkability" in mind. That is probably true but the writer was using the term derisively, as though "drinkability" was an invented, marketing term that meant little or nothing (think "fahrvergnugen"). The term does have some meaning and the truth is that (I'm sure many craft beer drinkers will agree with me, here) American Ale isn't exactly all that "drinkable".

What exactly is "drinkability"? Of course, at its very heart the word means consumability, right? If an item is drinkable, it possesses the qualities that allow the item to be drank. Of course, that would mean liquidity, potability, temperature appropriateness, etc. It is not that definition that is being used in the Bud ads and it is not that definition that we tend to use when describing beer. Drinkability refers to the different aspects of a beer that make it easier to drink. This is also what A-B is talking about when they describe their beers as "drinkable".

I like to view this quality as displayed in a continuum of different beers. A Bud Light is very drinkable. It's light, refreshing and not too filling or chewy. Of course a good English Mild is similarly drinkable, while supplying something the Bud Light doesn't: flavor. At the other end of the continuum, a good English Barleywine is certainly delicious, chewy, intensely flavorful and filling. It is certainly not a session beer, though it may invite another (but not many). I hate to say it but this type of beer does not have "drinkability". Do I prefer them to their more drinkable cousins? Usually, but not always. If my bar had the recent Mild I brewed, that would be my regular beer!

Is this simply a marketing term invented by A-B for their ad campaign? No, it isn't. I have seen the term used by beer writers as knowledgeable as Gordon Strong, in the newest issue of Brew Your Own, for example. To further illustrate this, I'll let you in on a little secret: the bar I frequent most often is a beer desert. I mean by this that they sell only the most common B-M-C offerings, for the most part. The exception to this is the summer offering of Bell's Oberon. I go to this bar because it is close to my home, it offers the NTN trivia game I love to play and there are many of my friends there to meet (OK, the owners and serving staff are real cool, too). I don't go there for the beer (There! I said it!). I say this to explain that their replacement for Oberon this Fall was "American Ale". They thought this would make the beer geek (that's me) happy. Well, I was underwhelmed, even though I hadn't tried it, yet. So I got a glass and it wasn't a bad beer. It had some residual sweetness and definitely a more chewy mouthfeel than most B-M-C offerings (I really don't notice any hops, though)...you could say it had an ale character. I had a few over the course of the evening and didn't mind it at all.

I have tried to make this beer my regular beer when at this bar but I really can't because it is too "strong" for that purpose. It is less drinkable than B-M-C and is too flavorful, heavy and has too much alcohol to drink it as if it were a session beer. Now, I would drink the Oberon that way, even though it is stronger, but that's because Oberon tastes better and is more "drinkable" (due to its enjoyability, not it's gravity or mouthfeel). I switch to Bud or Bud Light if I'm going to have more than a couple.

American Ale is not a bad beer but it is far down the list of even the big brewers' beers for me. I would greatly prefer an Amber Bock to it and perhaps even a Killian's, too. Both of these beers are more enjoyable for me to drink. Given my druthers I'd have a good craft-brewed beer but that is usually not available to me in the beer desert (I need an oasis!). Both of these beers is also more "drinkable", as well. I mean this both in the sense that they are less filling, less chewy and "lighter" but also in the sense that they invite another, which is an even more important aspect of drinkability.

Adventures in Taylor (and Lincoln Park)

2008-12-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Lapeer Area Brewers made a road trip on Sunday to the Southwestern Detroit suburbs of Taylor and Lincoln Park. We visited Adventures in Homebrewing, where we bought several corny kegs and assorted other homebrewing products and Fort Street Brewery, where we sampled some great beers and fine food.

Adventures in Homebrewing has a great deal on Cornelius kegs. They sell used, pressurized, five gallon ball-lock kegs in decent shape for $17.99 apiece. That is about four or five dollars cheaper than the prices elsewhere. They also have a great selection of all the little items homebrewers need in their hobby and a whole bunch of the items we are all wishing for! Their prices for equipment were generally very good. Their prices for yeast and grain were beatable, however. Still, the overall experience was pretty darn good, as you can see from the shot of the club members leaving with their swag.

Fort Street Brewery was a great experience. Brewer Doug Beedy was present and as hospitable as any brewer I've ever met. He took the crew on a tour of the brewery and answered all questions with ease. We learned a lot about the brewery and it's short history, as well as the beer served there. We even got a chance to sample the newest of the Twelve Beers of Christmas, the 8th beer, "Hearth Ale". Doug described it as being brewed with eight different malts plus orange and lemon peels. It was a complex mouthful but not too heavy or harsh to have a few. We sampled it right out of the fermenter! It was a mahogany colored beer with excellent malty, bready flavors, with a hint of dark fruits and some hop spiciness. Yum!

I had two pints while there and sampled a few of the other available beers. There was not a bad beer ion the bunch. The first beer I tried was "Gentlemen, The Queen", an Imperial Engllish IPA. It was wonderful! If I didn't notice the glow I got after only about half the pint, I would never have known it weighed in at near eight percent ABV. The aroma was flowery and earthy hops. It poured with a slight, tight white head which dissipated quickly. The flavor was heavenly hop-charged, with a very flavorful, near perfumed hop presence. The sweetness was just enough to balance the 101 IBUs, and was bready and toasty in nature. Not exactly what one would think of when drinking an English IPA but it certainly was good! I can't remember the bittering hops used, but the flavor and aroma hops were E.K. Goldings and Fuggles. They were more pronounced and spicy than I would have guessed, though. All in all, a very fine beer!

The second beer was a lager brewed with Barley, Oat, Rye and Wheat malts, called "4X4". Interesting, to say the least! I love the spicy character, rye brings to beer and this one was no exception. The crisp, clean character of the lager beer only enhanced this effect. I liked this one a bunch, too.

Doug showed us his brewery and we saw many an interesting item that will soon be served to the lucky patrons at FSB. Two casks held highly hopped creations that were spiced with two different herbs. One was spiced with Astragula (i guess this is a root with some medicinal qualities)and the other with Angel-something or other. I do remember Doug say that he added hop additions every two minutes until he passed out, or something like that...Here's one of the firkins:

The food was interesting bar fare accentuated with such rare gems as Scotch Eggs, sauerkraut balls (check the menu)and pierogis. I didn't hear a bad comment from any of the ten diners there that night. In fact, while food was being eaten I didn't hear anything! Below is a pic of my pizza, Imperial IPA and Scotch Eggs on the right. YUM!

In short, good people, great service, great beer and a very nice location made this one of my favorite brewpubs to visit. If you are in the neighborhood, you MUST stop in! Check out Doug's Wall of Foam, if you do. It's a wall of posters created for the beers he makes. Very unique and creative.

The craft beer scene is certainly alive, here in Michigan! This is just one great example!

Road Trip!

2008-12-13T07:06:00.001-08:00

The Lapeer Area Brewers are opting for a road trip in lieu of a meeting this month. We will be visiting a homebrew shop in Taylor called Adventures in Homebrewing and a Brewpub in Linclon Park called Fort Street Brewery. These businesses are a good hour and a half from Lapeer, so we don't get there often if at all.

AIH is building a great internet business and has attracted a lot of us by the great prices on items like reconditioned corny kegs and the like, while recently expanding into fabrication of brew keggles and sculptures. Check out their website for a good view of what they have to offer. They recently moved from a location in Dearborn to the current Taylor address. The site is big and promises to be a better venue for this thriving business. Currently, though they are trying to fit things into the new digs and straighten out the moving mess. I hope to post some pics and a review of the operation after our visit on Sunday (I was there a week ago to get a used corny, so I cheated).

Fort Street Brewery has about three years in the location, which once "was an empty lot that at one time or another had been a pharmacy, diner, farm, and the boyhood home of Preston Tucker", according to the FSB website. The brewer, Doug Beedy, has a great reputation in Michigan craft beer drinking circles. The establishment seems to be well-received for beer, food and atmosphere. To give you an idea of what type of brewpub this is, they are currently serving the Twelve Beers of Christmas, a specialty beer on the average of two per week leading up to the New Year's Day, 12th beer offering. Two of the most recent offerings thus far (as described by brewer Beedy)are
The 6th Beer of Christmas, "Garde jusqu a Noel" is a delicious French
biere de garde style. It's dark, mysterious, and deceptively strong.
The 7th Beer of Christmas, "Seven Elf Monks" is a little bit like the
legendary "When Monks Get Drunk" it's light, mysterious, and obviously
strong (clocking in at 8.8% ABV and 100 IBU's).
There is also a cask conditioned ale tapped (yeah, with a mallet!) every other Thursday!

It sounds like my kinda pub! Too bad it's 75 miles away! At least we'll get to sample it once a year or so. Stay tuned for the reviews of this establishment and their beers, coming soon!

The Session #23

2008-12-08T03:37:00.000-08:00

It seems that change is a theme the entire world is dealing with at the moment. Hope for a better future seems also to be on the minds of many. The topic for the next edition of The Session, hosted by yours truly, will be a New Year theme. I would like to write about the yearly mix of the hope for the new rising out of the ashes of the old, as it relates to...beer. Specifically, what will you miss about 2008 (feel free to list your tasting notes, if that item is a particular beer) and what do you expect will excite you most in 2009 , in the "Beer World"?(again, if that is a beer, what about it is special and worthy of being excited about?)

As always the theme is a suggestion and is open to your interpretive manipulations. Your treatment can be a list of things, one of each, or a philosophical approach to whether or not there can be something "new" in the "Beer World". Predictions for the coming year are certainly not out of the realm of possibility, nor are elaborate treatments of the past year in beer.

The Session takes place on Friday January 2, 2009. Have fun and send your responses (or links to them) to me in an email (Brewmiker [@] charter.net)or a comment to this post.

Beer Freedom

2008-12-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

It's The Session, beer blogging on a common topic, and this month it's "the repeal of Prohibition." See all the links soon here.

When I first thought about the topic for this month's Session, I thought about the eerie numerological aspects of the topic. The 18th Amendment being repealed by the 21st Amendment, the legal age of drinking being 18 and 21 in different States and countries, etc. Oooh! Scary! The beauty and symmetry of the concept was completely undermined by the fact that this is the 22nd Session, though. Oh well.

Then, I thought about celebrating the repeal of Prohibition and I got all giddy because...well, because I just happen to enjoy celebrations, in general. Of course my conscience wouldn't allow all that enjoyment without some thoughtful reflection (curse you, conscience!), so I began to wonder what exactly we were going to be celebrating, after all. Is it the end of Prohibition? The ability to drink beer? The revitalization of the brewing industry? I settled on something a bit more general: freedom, itself.

To this end, let's start with the absurdity of an Amendment to the Constitution that outlaws drinking alcohol. Talk about restricting freedom! It boggles the mind. Of course, the Constitution doesn't mention drinking but from what I've read, the development process involved more than a little of alcoholic fuel. I'm also willing to bet that if the Founders had ever imagined some dolt (or some great number of dolts, to be even more unbelievable) would even think of trying such an outlandish stunt, they would have enshrined the right to drink alongside some of our other enumerated rights in one of the first ten Amendments (My vote? Right after the right to bear arms...).

When the right to brew, sell and transport beer was revoked (drinking was actually not prohibited!), there was a very vibrant brewing scene in the United States. There were tens of thousands of breweries in this country before prohibition. Only a few dozen survived the 14 year prohibition. In fact there are probably less than twenty pre-prohibition breweries still in operation today. Almost all of those breweries made lagers, exclusively. Some produced ales. Some produced a range of lagers that would be considered interesting by today's standards but most of today's craft beer fans would consider the beer scene rather dull by comparison. Of course that was no reason to ban them!

After years of alcohol-fueled organized crime, which produced criminal elements that threatened our freedoms and livelihoods but also produced enhanced law enforcement entities and tactics which continue to threaten our freedoms and livelihoods, this farce of an Amendment was repealed. Yay! Interestingly, ten States never ratified the 21st Amendment! Michigan was the first State to do so on April 10, 1933. While I am proud of that fact, I would be much prouder if my State had been one of the two that did not vote for but repudiated the 18th Amendment (kudos, Rhode Island and Connecticut!). This act was something to celebrate more because of the wrongs it corrected than the rights it conferred. I like to think that we all had the right to brew, sell and drink beer as one of our unenumerated rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (hoppiness?).

As a homebrewer, there are actually reasons to celebrate Prohibition, rather than its repeal. Prohibition caused an explosion in the hobby of homebrewing. People brewed beer because they couldn't find any to buy. Like the homebrewing of old times, it became a necessity. The beer produced was often barely drinkable but did produce the desired effect. I imagine there were a few families who worked out pretty good brewing techniques and recipes, some of which may have become family-recipe-heirlooms, but I can't cite an example. Still, the homebrewing scene did not actually flourish under these conditions. Quantity did not equal quality, so to speak. If it had there would have been a variety of malted grains and hops available on a commercial basis, instead of the ubiquitous cans of Blue Ribbon and bags of sugar that everyone remembers hearing about. Given enough time, though, it probably would have grown much more sophisticated.

Fast forward to the future, after the 21st Amendment was passed and prohibition was repealed. Hooray! Breweries started up again and people began toasting their good cheer with the, now more consolidated and consistent, Light American Lagers being legally brewed in this country. Homebrewing went away for a long time. As a homebrewer and a craft beer lover, this was curiously a "dark age" of beer in America (why do we celebrate the Pre-Prohibition Pilsner, if it wasn't somehow better than the post-Prohibition Pilsner?). I'm all for celebrating the repeal of that onerous Amendment but we all need to realize that the repeal did not revitalize the industry as much as consolidate it. The few inventive breweries that existed before prohibition were largely wiped out by the 14 year hiatus. What survived was the thin watery light lagers that we know today. These beers competed for years and years with each other trying to carve out market share with clever ads, against nearly identical beers in different cans.

What I truly celebrate is the freedom produced by a vibrant society that enjoys the more refined and varied styles of beer that are being produced by the craft beer industry, today. Obviously, it is-at least partly-financial freedom that fuels this explosion in beer appreciation. Good beers are extremely expensive compared to mass market beer. Yet, even in these tough economic times, enough people are purchasing them to allow big expansion in the industry. Look at the dozens of 400 barrel fermenters laying outside the Bell's Brewery in Comstock, Michigan (one State recession, anyone?) being readied for installation if you don't think the industry is thriving. People have the time to enjoy good beer and the money to buy it, as well as the time to invest in learning about the subject to better appreciate it. A "nasty, brutish and short" existence this is not!

Homebrewers are no longer brewing out of necessity. They brew good beers because they enjoy the fruit of their labors. They enjoy the artistic elements in brewing and the pride in a job well done. They enjoy the fact that they can produce an excellent product that rivals any commercial example at home. They also would not be able to expend the time and efforts at such a trivial matter without financial and physical freedom. Oh, it's still true that beers brewed at home are cheaper than their counterparts purchased in a store but that's not the real reason homebrewers brew. The differential is not that great. Homebrewers brew because they enjoy the hobby and they want to become better brewers.

So, rather than simply celebrate the end of prohibition, which actually stifled artisinal brewing and homebrewing, I'd like to celebrate the freedom embodied in the act of ending so onerous a restriction on free individual expression. My celebration on December 5, 2008 will salute the flowering of free societies in the world which allows us all the freedom and leisure time to enjoy great craft beer and the homebrewing hobby as we now do. Now we have craft brewers that use the imagination and freedom that a vibrant and free society allows and encourages, to produce beers that continuously inspire and astound us. They are artists of fermentation and deserve all the wonderful rewards that such work receives. The craft beer industry and the homebrewing hobby have enjoyed such fantastic success that it seems impossible that it can continue to grow and expand as it does. Is there a craft beer/ homebrewing bubble that's about to burst? I hope not!

So, when you celebrate the ratification of the 21st Amendment on December 5th, as we all should do, celebrate the slow and inexorable march to individual freedom that it exemplifies and not just the right to brew beer again. And realize that this march is far from over. We have a long way to go but at least we can enjoy great beer during the march!

Screwups

2008-12-02T14:44:00.001-08:00

All homebrewers have a list of screwups they can recount. The dropped carboys, ingredients discovered "leftover" when the brew day is done, the timing issues, and many others may come to mind. These aren't the things we like to admit to, much less recount to others in a blog, but I feel compelled to mention one that just simply irritates the heck out of me and this one is a week old!

Last week I bottled five gallons of beer with beet sugar. I also assisted a fellow homebrewer with his ten gallon bottling day. I checked the recipe on Beertools (I love that program!), and discovered that the recipe called for some 8 ounces of sugar to prime the batch. Now, since I was only bottling half the batch, you would think I would be smart enough to actually split the amount of suggested sugar in half and use that amount to bottle my five gallons. Well, then, you would be WRONG!

I decided that, instead of measuring the sugar by volume, I would actually weigh it. This would offer a much more precise method of measurement so that the carbonation would be more precise. Or, so I thought. I marvelled at the large volume of the sugar, remarking at how it was a full cup of sugar or more. "Wow", I said, "that looks like a lot of sugar. Maybe it's too much. I don't want bottle bombs!" So I intelligently poured out a little before I put it into the pot of hot water. So much for precision! Never did the fact that this was much more sugar than I have ever used to bottle a five gallon batch of beer before-in over eight years of brewing -ever cross my feeble mind!

Then after actually bottling the beer, I went to Art's house and assisted him in bottling his. You guessed it. I weighed the seven and a half ounces of sugar and used that amount for EACH of the five gallon batches we bottled. I really don't have an excuse for this. I knew all along that this was more sugar than should be used but the fact that I had taken the data from Beertools, left me assured that it was correct. Of course it was. Even Beertools could not keep me from doubling the amount of sugar they prescribed!

Later in the day, I realized my error. I knew that not only was I in trouble but that I had made potential bottle bombs in Art's house as well. I told him what I had realized and suggested we pop the tops and recap. This might release enough pressure to save the bottles from blowing and the beer from being wasted. I advised Art to keep his relatively cold while I kept mine room temp and 'sperimented a bit. Over the next couple of days I did just that. In one case I had a gusher the second day after bottling. I recapped and checked it again a day later. Another gusher. The same bottle third day? Gusher. I thought I might need to put on my hockey helmet to open these beers! I realized the plan would NOT work.

I called Art and we decided we would just pour all the beer into fermenters and let it finish out, then re-bottle. I went and bought a fourth Corny keg and put mine in there! If I want to bottle, I'll bottle out of the keg. Art put his into two carboys. When he says he's ready, I'll go and assist him in bottling his with the correct amount of sugar, this time. It's only right for me to do my penance!

Slainte!

Update

2008-11-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

I racked the latest beer-the Mild-into kegs today. For the first time, I used carboy caps and CO2 to force the beer out of the carboys and into the kegs, through the "beer out" connection of the kegs. This method results in a beer that has never encountered the air. I have noticed an irritating off flavor in some of my beers over the past couple of years and believe this flavor comes from molds or other wee beasties in the home. This racking method is meant to minimize any such effects. We'll see.

After racking the beer, which was supposed to finish at 1.009 specific gravity, I force carbonated one of the kegs and had a couple (of course!). I was pleasantly surprised. It is exactly what I was hoping for. A mild (in alcohol) beer with a lot of flavor! The beer pours a wonderful, clear mahogany color, with a fine beaded, tan head. The hops are barely noticeable, both in the nose and in flavor/bitterness. They are homegrown Nugget and Cascade, so they are not true to style, but they suit me just fine. There is an abundant grainy/toasty flavor, with a good dose of coffee and chocolate (I love this chocolate malt!). The beer, though carrying some dark fruitiness, is not sweet at all but stands up well to the hops in malt complexity. A roasty finish makes the beer seem drier than it is. It will be a bit better in a week or so but it is quite tasty right now!

While the working title of the beer was Lapeer Mild, I've decide to call it something a bit more exciting. Henceforth, this shall be known as King Henry V's Barley Broth, in honor of the great English King and title character of the Shakespeare play. Henry V was an heroic King who defeated the French at Agincourt and married the French princess, Catherine of Valois, uniting the crowns of England and France (The Hundred Years' War).

The play, famous-at least partly-for the St. Crispin's Day Speech, is the final part of a tetralogy of plays devoted to 15th Century English kings. The speech Henry V delivers before the battle of Agincourt to rally his troops against long odds has been mimicked and reflected in so many different theatrical and cinematic performances, it has become an archetype. Two more common modern examples would be the rallying speeches of the President (Bill Pullman) in the movie Independence Day and William Wallace's (Mel Gibson) rallying speech from Braveheart.

My beer's title is a more obscure reference to a speech by the Constable of France in Act III, Scene IV, where he laments the ferocity of the English warriors:

Dieu de batailles! where have they this mettle?
Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull;
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,
Killing their fruit with frowns? Can sodden water,
A drench for sur-rein'd jades, their barley-broth
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?
And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine,
Seem so frosty? O, for honour of our land,
Let us not hang like roping icicles
Upon our houses' thatch, whiles a more frosty people
Sweat drops of gallant youth in our rich fields,-
Poor we may call them in their native lords!

To which, the Dauphin replies:

By faith and honour,
Our madams mock at us, and plainly say
Our mettle is bred out, and they will give
Their bodies to the lust of English youth
To new-store France with bastard warriors.

Now, perhaps the French knight from Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail would have a thing or two more hopeful to say but Shakespeare hadn't invented him yet. I believe this passage refers to the virtues of beer versus wine, though I can't prove it.

Grain Bill:

14 Lbs US 2-row
1 Lb US Crystal 60 L
1 Lb US Chocolate Malt
1 ounce Nugget 60 minutes
1 ounce Cascade 10 minutes
2 teaspoons Irish Moss
White Labs WLP002 English Ale yeast
OG: 1.036
FG: 1.010
ABV: 3.55%
Color: 19.36 SRM
Bitterness: 21.8 IBUs

Cheers!

Teach A Friend To Homebrew Day 2008

2008-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day. Bet you didn't know that! I registered my house as Official TAFTHBD site #130 and had a few friends over to brew. You see them relaxing around the brewing beer to the left. We brewed twenty gallons of beer today! Art brewed five gallons of an American Wheat Ale with coriander and orange peels and five gallons of a Belgian Wit with coriander, orange peels and Morrocan preserved lemons! You can see it filling the carboy in the second photo on the page. Two other Lapeer Area Brewers are brewing either today or tomorrow, as well.

I brewed ten gallons of a simple English Mild. I strayed from the guidelines a bit as I wanted to use my own homegrown hops. My US Kent Goldings would have been the best choice but there were too few of them again this year so I opted for the American favorite, Cascade. I bittered with Nugget and added a pound of light Crystal malt for malty balance. In a few weeks I'll do a tasting and record the results, here. The beer came in at 1.036 OG and is otherwise "down the middle" of the style guidelines. It should be about 3.5% alcohol by volume; a nice session beer.

We had a great time today brewing, swapping stories and drinking homebrewed beer and cider (Thanks Brandon!). My lovely wife made a tremendous pot of Texas Chili (made with Venison Stew Meat that I butchered last week). OMG! Some homemade pita chips and a bit of sour cream and the spicy chili made for an excellent meal to top off a great day. And since I started at 6 AM we didn't finish cleaning up until after 6 PM, we needed that extra pick-me-up! I think that's what TAFTHBD is all about, really.

Slainte!
The Mild is to the left, there...

Musings...

2008-10-12T06:31:00.001-07:00

I just picked the last of my hops. These are the Nugget Hops, a high alpha acid hop, used mainly for bittering. They may have a future inside some big, bold beer lurking somewhere in my brew-brain. I figure I got over a pound of dry weight hops out of this one! The final tally will come after the drying process, but it looks like I finished with over fifty-five ounces of free hops this year! My freezer is full and I need to brew...soon!

I just checked out the winners announcement from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver this weekend. Once again, Michigan's fine breweries were scarcely mentioned. It seems pretty weird that only West Coast breweries seem capable of winning in any of the APA/IPA-type categories, when there are exceptional IPA-like beers produced by brewers all over this country (Hopslam, Two-Hearted, Hop Devil, Dogfish Head, Flying Dog, Magic Hat, etc.).

The good news is that, for some reason, Redwood Lodge is always well-received at the GABF. They won the best small brewpub award, as well as a couple of Gold Medals (for Sweet Stout and Dunkel). Congrats to Bill Wamby and his crew! Detroit Beer Company also won Gold for their Detroit Dwarf (Alt), Bastone won Silver for Dunkel and Jolly Pumpkin won Bronze for Saison.

What I want to know is, where are all of the other great breweries from Michigan? Do any of you readers actually think that those four breweries are the best that Michigan has to offer? I'm not dissing these four breweries (I'm a lifetime mug club member at Bastone's, and am a frequent customer of all of them), I'm just saying there are other breweries here that make beer as consistently good or better and never get any awards at this, the greatest of the beer festivals. That seems strange if not wrong.

Short's Brewery, Arcadia, Bell's, Founder's, and many, many other fine establishments in this Great Beer State seem to be up against the West Coast Bias.

Discuss...

AHA Rally At Bell's!

2008-09-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

What do you think about an event that combines a great bunch of friendly, creative and fun-loving people, a really interesting and exciting venue and the best damned (commercial) beer in Michigan? Well the latest American Homebrewers Association membership rally was just that kind of an event! It took place in Kalamazoo, Michigan but started off with a tour of the Bell's Brewery in Comstock, Michigan, about six miles away from the site of the rally, Bell's Eccentric Cafe.

Fred (one of my Lapeer Area Brewers buddies) and I went to the rally together and we enjoyed the beer, the special guests and the camaraderie very much. We met Brandon, newest L.A.B. member, and his lovely wife Melissa, at the brewery tour, and hung out together the rest of the day. The tour was pretty cool. We saw the entire Bell's operation learned about the bhistory of the brewery and all the changes that are even now, still taking place. We were greated upon arrival by the sight of two dozen extremely large cylindro-conical stainless steel ferementers, piled all around the building. These, we were told during the tour, were 24 brand new 400 barrel fermenters! Each one of these fermenters will hold over 12000 gallons of delicious Bell's beer! They are to be installed in the next week or so. I forgot my camera but many others didn't and I believe you can see some one hundred photos or more of the tour and the rally at this website (courtesy of Mike Obrien at the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild-thanks for the link Mike!)

The Michigan Homebrewing community was well represented. I saw Fred Bonjour, Jeff Renner and Jeff Carlson and many, many other excellent homebrewers who contribute mightily to the homebrewing scene here in the Great Beer State. The host for the event was Larry Bell, the guy who started the craft-brewing revolution in Michigan and its most successful practicioner. The guests of honor were AHA founder and homebrewing Godfather, Charlie Papazian and his lovely wife Sandra. The fact that I forgot my camera or even that I forgot the tattered, dog-eared and wort-stained eight-year-old copy of The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, by Charlie Papazian, that I was very excited to present to the author for a signature, won't surprise any of you that actually know me but that did indeed happen! I got my Pontiac Brew Tribe hat bill signed, instead, though, so no worries, mate!

Speaking of the Brew Tribe, when I met Larry Bell for a picture and to thank him for the party, he took one look at my hat and said, "I have one of those"! I calmly tipped up the brim and asked if his was signed by Charlie Papazian, and he said, sheepishly, that it was not. Noticing my cup was empty just before the photo was taken of Fred, Brandon, Larry and me, I asked Larry, who had a nearly full pale ale in his hand, for a little fill up. He happily obliged with a tip of his cup and we shared a Bell's beer together. Hey, I mooched a beer off of Larry Bell!

A good time was had by all and the AHA increased in numbers again, thanks to the generosity of Bell's Brewery, the founder of the AHA, Charlie Papazian, and the efforts of the Michigan homebrewing community!
I hope to get some photos of this event added to another post, soon. Until then, cheers!

Hops Harvest Begins!

2008-08-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Picking began the other day with the most ripe of my four hop varieties, the Hallertau. They were actually just a bit beyond optimum ripeness but should be just fine as they are not brown or crispy, yet. The harvest should yield a few ounces of this fine German hop for my next wohlschmeckend (Tasty) brew. The picture on the right is a full screen-door-sized screen which I suspended from the ceiling to dry the hops on. Looks loaded, don't it? I went into the garage yesterday and the smell is intoxicating!

The next variety that will be picked will be the U.S. Goldings, though there will be precious little of that. These just are not thriving. Maybe I'll get an ounce but I doubt it. The next variety after that will be the Cascade. That variety will make up for the lack of Goldings. I should get several ounces of Cascade hops. The final pickings will be the high Alpha acid hop, Nugget. Again, there should be plenty of these to go around! Fortunately, these varieties all mature at different times, so there is time to pick and dry one variety before the arduous picking begins again.

All told, this will be my best hop harvest ever. That's great because as many of you know, the hop shortage has made my farming hobby a near necessity!

Cheers!

Beer Snobbery or It's About Time?

2008-07-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Being a generally "Blue Collar" guy, I have always had a bit of a schizophrenic association with my "tastes". What I mean by "tastes" are the sensory qualifications and quantifications that result in what I like (e.g., I enjoy this type of food for this reason or, I like this type of beer/wine because of this taste or other factor). There is no doubt that some items taste better or provide better examples of what makes them "good" than other examples. For instance, there are few people who have trouble deciding between a good filet mignon or a round steak. These are two very different cuts of meat. Leaving aside the price, who would take the latter over the former? The same applies to any other discriminatory exercise.

Over the years I have determined that my tastes run to the expensive. By that I mean I enjoy the best of all experiences and they are usually the more expensive of each variety of "experience". I like good bourbon, good cheeses, good food and good beer. One of the reasons that I am a homebrewer is that I can make good beer that would otherwise cost me a fortune! This elitist attitude runs counter to my upbringing and my generally populist attitude to what most people would regard as "snobbery".

Which brings me to discuss a new wrinkle on beer snobbery: the Cicerone. This program is the brainchild of Ray Daniels, well-known beer writer and former Executive Director of the American Homebrewers Association. Ray has been a leader in the craft brewing revolution in America and, like many of the people who love great beer and want to see it properly appreciated, saw a great divide between the way people think and talk about wine/food pairings and the way they don't think and talk about beer/food pairings. Ray thought-correctly, I believe-that beer should hold as high a place on this food-pairing issue as wine, if not higher. After all, there are many, many more flavor combination possibilities to beer than could possibly be wrung from wine. The culmination of Ray's ruminations and discussion of this topic is his Cicerone program.

A Cicerone, then, is the beer equivalent of a sommelier. A sommelier, or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, commonly working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service. A Cicerone, then does the same job with beer. Is such a profession necessary? Well, just ask yourself if you have ever wanted a more knowledgeable waitperson when trying to decide on an appropriate beer at a restaurant. How many times have you asked a waitperson if they have any craft beers, and they offer you Heineken or Beck's? Ask for something specific and you get an answer like, "Oh, we have some of the dark, heavy stuff like Guinness but I really don't like dark beer..." Obviously many waitresses and waiters know very little about beer, which can be frustrating at times. But does that necessitate a highfalutin idea such as the Cicerone?

On the one hand, I would actually pay a bit more for my food and beer, and tip a bit more for my service, if the server had the knowledge and experience guaranteed by the Cicerone program. It would be a welcome relief from the normal, "Sam Adams is our most popular import"-type waiter. On the other hand, beer is the common man's beverage. The very idea of sniffing a beer and worrying about whether it would go well with a nice smoked Gouda seems a bit snooty, doesn't it? We don't need no stinkin' Cicerones!

Finally, there is another angle that makes me a bit apprehensive about the program. The money angle. Ray Daniels has trademarked the term Cicerone (at least as it applies to a beer server) and is selling certifications. Now, this is a free country and free markets rule-believe me I love the entrepreneurial spirit, here. But, there's a little something self-serving about inventing a term for a beer sommelier, using your beer author status and standing to promote it, and then cashing in on it as a profession. Am I off base, here?

I took Ray's sample test and scored 8 of ten (got confused over Scottish/Scotch Ales, yaargh!). If the test is representative of the certification process, I would probably pass without studying at all. Does that make it an elite program? Probably not. Does the certification mean that your server at the pub/restaurant is much more knowledgeable than most? Almost certainly.

I guess the beer world is open to all new twists and certainly beer servers could use more education. In the end, I am of two minds on this subject. How about you?

Hoppy Birthday, America!

2008-07-04T06:55:00.001-07:00

I decided to grow my own hops for homebrewing back in 2001. I grew Fuggles back then. Unfortunately a few years into the project, I found I needed a new septic field and the old hop plants did not survive. In 2004, I planted four new varieties: US Goldings, Cascade, Hallertau and Nugget. These are doing very well, now. In the picture above and to the right, the plants are just beginning their new lives. The picture was taken on May 19, 2008.

I have been using my own hops for beer for several years but this year, due to the hop shortage, I have decided to use my own hops exclusively. It will save me a bunch of dough! I have made several ten gallon batches this year, using only my own hops!

Next year I plan on extending the trellis by adding a central pole and running the hops up that to a height of near twenty feet. It may make it easier to keep the different hop varieties from getting tangled up together. I should also divide some of the roots. If I do, I will have them available for others interested in the hobby (stay tuned!).

The second picture shows the hops as they look today. The flowers are fuzzy little things at the moment but will morph into hops cones in the next week or so. In August they will ripen and I will pick and dry them for freezing. I will record the process this year for the blog. Each variety ripens at a different time, just to make things interesting!

So sometime in September I will be able to celebrate Hop Independence Day!

Happy Birthday, America!

2008-07-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

On this anniversary of the founding of our nation, the birth of self-rule and the creation of the Hope-there's that word again!- of the world, it is essential that we reflect on what made this experiment work and why we need to return to those principles before the experiment fails...miserably.

"That government is best which governs least." This quote by Thomas Paine really sums it all up for me. Individual freedom and restrictions on governmental power are what made this country the astounding success of the enlightenment and the bright and shining example towards which all free-thinking peoples have aimed over the past 232 years. Those principles are threatened today by an attitude and ignorance that would have astounded the Founders and made them question the sacrifices they made to create this system of governance.

Think in terms of the finishing words of the Declaration of Independence, where the signers pledged to each other, "with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence", their lives, fortunes and scared honor. These words were not written or pledged in a hollow fashion. This political rhetoric is wholly different from that of our current crop of political functionaries. These men actually risked their lives, their families lives, all of their possessions and their "scared honor" in pledging to overthrow the rule of Great Britain and create a new nation and form of government. Many lost some or even all of these during the course of the war. But the cause prevailed.

Examining that cause today is somewhat disappointing. We seem to have gotten so far afield of our founding principles that the resulting colossus is almost unrecognizable. With full-time professional legislatures, the near elimination of "state's rights", an imperial presidency, taxation beyond any sensible measure and a budget and fiscal attitude that can only be described as ridiculous, does anyone think the Founders would recognize their creation in our current condition?

Every day, all around this country, full-time, professional tax-spenders are creating laws. And with each new law there is a new tax, a new criminal or a new deficit. Why is this the norm? Why do we now shrug and say, "Oh well. That's just the way it is"? These kinds of tyranny would have resulted in open rebellion two-hundred years ago!

We as a citizenry are at fault. We have taken to settling for unprincipled and unethical politicians that appeal to our basest instincts in order to gain office and retain their power. Most often these people count on our collective ignorance or our prejudices and differences to maintain and expand their power. The ignorance of the population regarding the incredible brilliance of our form of government and what trials and tribulations went into creating it is perhaps why these attitudes are so prevalent.

We have accepted schools and colleges that teach social diversity and politically correct rewrites of history, rather than the Truth. My children, who graduated over the past five years, did not have a Government or a Civics class. In place of this, the system offered a class called, "American Democratic Institutions", taught by teachers that couldn't pass the simplest test on the Constitution. We have accepted cults of personality, rather than good public servants. We have accepted an intolerance of religion rather than a tolerance of all faiths (including no faith). We accept hyper-sensitivity to all of our differences, rather than celebration of our much more considerable similarities.

Everyone should take the time to expand their knowledge of our Founding at this time of the year, if not at other times. Teach your children what they will not learn in our public schools. Talk about freedom and the principles of small, effective government and elect people who are principled and ethical, from the local dogcatcher to the President of the United States. If that movement ever catches on, the Founders might think the experiment was worthwhile after all.

What's Happening

2008-06-08T06:47:00.001-07:00

First off, I want to apologize for the dearth of posts over the past few months. I've been busy and I also have been blogging at Right Michigan, so the posts have been missing in action. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy at making beer, though. So here's a rundown on what's been happening on the brewing front:

The two lagers I made late last year were entered in a couple of contests. One was the National Homebrew Competition, the largest homebrew contest (by far) in the world. Click on the link to see the results (I won a second place in Dark American Lager). Just click on first round winners and find me in the Great Lakes Region and wish me luck in the Second Round!

The second competition was a local one, the World Expo of Beer homebrew competition (the first year of what I hope is a long-lasting tradition). This one took place at the Frankenmuth, Michigan, World Expo of Beer, an annual beerfest and commercial competition. I have attended several of these festivals over the years and have judged at least twice in their commercial competition, where commercial brewers vie for medals in several beer categories. I also judged in the competition I entered, though not the actual categories. I took two second place awards for the two lagers I entered. My new homebrew club took several medals and overall was very successful. Now, if we only get a few other members to enter competitions, we could rock the Michigan homebrewing world!

I made an Irish Red Ale in May and an American Amber Ale a few weeks later. I tried a taste of the IRA, yesterday and it is scrumptious. A malty, yet crisp example of the true Irish Ale (not Killians, which is a lager that masquerades as an Irish Ale). A friend wanted a brew to serve at his daughter's open house and this was what I cooked up. I will be bottling the other five gallons, today.

I should also rack the Amber Ale into a secondary this week and see how that tastes, eh? Stay tuned...

A Republic, If You Can Keep It

2008-03-09T08:40:00.001-07:00

OK, people, here we go again! All you're gonna hear about (at least from the Clinton faction) is that "every vote must count". You'll be hearing about disenfranchisement of different segments of the community and how the sanctity of our democratic process rests on the "one person, one vote" principle. All of this because of the I-75 corridor cancellation. Michigan and Florida failed to play by the DNC rules and held their primaries early. The candidates agreed to follow the rules and not campaign in those two states. No one figured the vote (and elector) totals would be this close and actually make those two states...important. Oh well, now they are. They could be so at any time. So, really, isn't the calendar placement of each state's primary a wash? More on this later...

Essentially, the entire problem rises from the idea that the primary system unfairly boosts the importance of the states whose primaries occur the earliest. Historically these are Iowa and New Hampshire, with a few others thrown in over the years. The argument (and it's a good one) is that these states enjoy an importance far beyond their meager populations in paring down the number of candidates early in the primary races. I see nothing wrong with this but most do. The Founders did not plan on our nation being infatuated with "democracy" when they crafted our Constitution. They warned specifically against the tyranny of popular opinion. The idea that some of the less populous states might have more power than their population dictates would not have fazed them in the least. In fact that is the entire reason behind such facets of our system as the electoral college and the assignation of at least one U.S. Representative per state, regardless of population.

We are a nation of laws. That was the lesson of the 2000 debacle in Florida. The laws were violated by the Florida Supreme Court in favor of the argument that our government is a democracy. The Florida Supreme Court knelt at the altar of "the will of the people" and decided that that concept overruled the law. Even the U.S. Supreme Court failed to firmly establish the fact that this concept is unfounded. It is not the will of the people-in the form of a popular vote-that decides our governmental makeup. We are a republic, not a democracy.

The rule in the primary system-and I would be happy to entertain arguments that the entire primary system is wrong and serves to do nothing but maintain the power of the two dominant political parties, but that argument is for another day-is that you follow the party and their rules for the primaries. When Michigan and Florida violated those rules, they were told their delegates would not be seated. "Well, they won't really do that", said the party faithful in those states. "They can't do that, it would disenfranchise all those voters", said the pundits. So they went right ahead and had their primaries early. They never expected them to count for much anyway, it was the principle of the thing, you know. They WILL take Michigan and Florida seriously in the next election, by golly!

Now, I understand that there is a good argument that this primary process does not necessarily give Michigan and Florida their due. But the outcome in this year's process is the exception that disproves that point. You can't have it your way every time. Now what do we have? I love the fact that this mess is stirring up dissension in the ranks of the Democrats, because I disagree with their agenda on almost every point, but it could just as well have been the Republicans who were in this mess. Then I would have been upset. Of course, with a candidate like John McCain, I'm not sure the Republicans have a candidate in the race, but that, too is another argument for another day. The point is that we didn't play by the rules, the rules were explained to us before we changed our primary dates, and we did it anyway.

Look at the deliciousness of this situation! Those people who most favor the idea that "every vote should count" and that we have a duty to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised (including felons, illegals and dead people), are actually hollering for disenfranchisement! Obama's folks think the results should stand and those delegates from Florida and Michigan should not count. He is winning without them and counting them would only hurt his position. Hillary-the only person on the ballot in Michigan-wants those votes, even though she agreed not to campaign in Michigan and (it could be argued) shouldn't have even had her name on the ballot. We all know that a Clinton is not beyond quibbling over the definition of "is", if it might benefit their political ambitions.

Watching Debra Wasserman Schultz and Debbie Dingell on Fox News Sunday this morning was so much fun! First of all, is there a congressperson any more dingbatty than Ms. Wasserman Schultz? I would put her against anybody for the least rational, most ditzy congressperson award. Thank you, people of Florida, for electing this entertaining goof! I don't watch American Idol, so I appreciate a good laugh every now and then and watching her squirm over trying to sound dignified and reasonable in debating this situation was much better than watching the latest untalented hack get reamed by Simon! In contrast, Debbie Dingell looked reasoned and intelligent! People, if a popular vote can elect people such as Debra Wasserman Schultz, is that not in itself an argument against such a system?

Obama is going to be forced to argue against seating the delegates from Michigan and Florida. He is going to argue FOR disenfranchisement! Should be fun! Hillary is going to be forced to argue that blacks and young white college students in those two states should not have a place at the table of national politics. That should be fun! What will be the compromise in this decision? What Solomon-like carving can make both sides "happy"? Is a "win-win" even possible? I would argue that it isn't, because people are under the impression that the mechanism of the vote is the same as on American Idol. The most votes wins. I'm sure most people think that is not only morally right but also technically and legally correct. Well, it ain't.

Here's a novel idea and one that you WILL NOT hear anyone arguing for; not in this age of "every vote must count", anyway: Why don't the Democrats allow the two state legislatures to elect their electoral college electors? That's the way it was originally meant to be, anyway. It would be a return to original intent. It would allow the people's elected representatives to choose the electors who will vote for their President and Vice President. Article II, Section I: "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector." What could be more fair and true to the concepts set down in our Constitution?
Oh, wait a minute. We're talking about the Democrats, here...
Never mind.

Freedom and our Constitution

2008-02-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

I have been engaged in a very comprehensive class on our constitution for the past three weeks. It has been very enlightening. Two days a week for two and a half hours each class, we study the origins and meaning of our nation's constitution. I count myself as one of those who knew quite a bit about this document before taking the class but I've really learned a lot. I am also much more attuned to vacuous and inaccurate statements about our nation's origins and form of government from elected officials, judges and politicians. For instance, how often do you hear completely ignorant statements alleging that the US is a Democracy or that the Supreme Court determines the "law of the land"? I used to hear them all the time and not flinch. Now, it's like a punch in the gut!

I recommend everyone spend a day at their local court, watching the proceedings. Watch as your fellow citizens are brought forward and dealt justice by the criminal justice system. See the attention to the rights of the accused, while the system grinds them under its wheels. It is a sad state of affairs, indeed! Think about phrases such as "innocent until proven guilty", "effective counsel" and "a jury of your peers", while watching the spectacle. This exercise should be mandatory for all voters. You might learn some respect for the poor and the cheaply judged in our society.

I had occasion to be in Lapeer's district court the other day and watched the proceedings with a fresh view towards constitutional rights, especially those of the accused, and what I heard and saw was frightening, indeed. Now, I don't mean to say that we don't have crime problems in this country or even in my county of Michigan but the troubles we do have are far less serious endangerments to the public than some of our solutions.

The judge was ruling on the sentence for a young man's second offense drunk driving conviction. The attorney had mentioned that, though it was the judge's routine to give jail time to second offenders, he hoped an exception could be made in the present case. The judge responded by saying that in over twenty-five years he had always given jail time for second offenses. He wanted this known because if the defendant left the court upset at getting jail time, and spoke with others, he would find that there have been no others in his court in similar conditions that haven't also received jail time. He was consistent.

Now, in essence, what the judge was saying is that he doesn't rule on such issues on the basis of the case's individual merits, but rather based upon a preconceived standard that is immutable. If this is the case, why do we need a judge at all. Use a computer database. Plug in the case details and out comes the reliable, consistent sentence. And this man is proud of this policy! His statement reminds of the policy of "zero tolerance", which I equate to "no brainer". Zero tolerance means that in every case, the same result should accrue, regardless of the individual aspects of some potentially very complex cases. Think about this for a second. That judge is saying that over the course of twenty-five years, never has an individual case come before him that did not deserve the sentence of jail time. Not once!

Take also into account the fact that in today's society, for good or ill, a person can be convicted of drunk driving based upon having an alcohol content in their system equivalent to having consumed three beers in an hour. Those are normal, American light lagers, by the way. Now, that might not faze you, but maybe this will. If a person is convicted of two drunk driving offenses-even if they both are reduced to "first offense, impaired driving"-the next time they are charged with any alcohol-related offense, it will be a felony! Even if fifty years have passed between the second offense and the third! No mercy and no tolerance!

Add to these alcohol-related offenses, the new issue of marijuana-related driving offenses and you have a potentially serious new criminal-producing system in Michigan. The new law prescribes "Impaired Driving" and "Driving Under the Influence" charges for people who are pulled over and found to have any level of THC in their system. Of course, the problem with this law is the issue that THC, the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana, can remain in ones system for as long as a month after using marijuana. This means that one may be completely NOT under the influence of the drug, and still test positive for it. The courts will hold you accountable for this violation under the law. If an over-exuberant police force, seriously aggressive towards the local youth population, wants to ruin a young man's life, this law makes it pretty easy to do so, doesn't it? It might be pretty easy to determine the types of kids that are driving around your town, who are more likely than not, marijuana-users. Pull them over and arrest them for suspicion of DUI. Take them down for a blood test and, voila, another dangerous doper off the streets! Never mind the fact that marijuana-influenced drivers are not exactly a public menace these days. Never mind the fact that these kids may not even be under the influence of the drug at the time they are tested. We are talking "ZERO TOLERANCE" laws, here folks.

Later in the day, while I observed the court proceedings, I heard the same judge address a young woman who was there on a hearing for her violation of probation. She had been tested by the probation department upon her arrival at the courthouse that morning and had been found to have alcohol in her system from the night before. This was, apparently her sixth such PV. The judge asked her if she had been drinking the night before with her boyfriend. She said that she had. He asked if they lived together and she answered that they did. He asked if her boyfriend was also in his court for an alcohol-related offense and again, she answered, "Yes". The judge commented that they were perhaps not good for each other and pondered, aloud, whether he should issue a court order that they be separated. Now, if that's not nanny-state behavior, I don't know what is!

This judge was willing to tell this young woman who she could live with! Because they drank alcohol together! Alcohol is still legal in this country, isn't it? Even in Lapeer County? Does it worry you that a judge thinks it is not only his right to tell a person whether they can drink in their own home (a legal act for all adults) but also with whom they can live? Is that freedom?

You don't need to be a constitutional scholar to know that is wrong...

Innerspace

2008-02-17T10:09:00.000-08:00

I was reading an issue of Popular Science, the other day and it included an article about a daring caver and exploration specialist, named Bill Stone. He has a company named Stone Aerospace and has been something of an anachronism for years: that rare combination of reckless egomaniac and prophetic seer that produces men and women who actually change "the world as we know it". I could write all day about the fellow but a simple talk he gave recently says a lot more about him than my words could convey. What I am more interested in is the future of this type of thinking and the benefits of going much more boldly, where man has never gone before, than our current government-dominated thinking allows.

You'll see from Bill's company website that he has put his money where his mouth is, so to speak. You'll also see that he has experienced some success, which in turn, garnered him OPM (other people's money), an essential element for anyone's vision. He has even convinced NASA of spending some government money to fund a few of his more adventurous projects. He is convinced, however, that it is private entrepreneurship which holds the most hope for extraterrestrial exploration. While NASA is stuck on slow, stodgily safe and incrementally planned missions, funded by the government, Stone and his counterparts (like Bert Rutan and Richard Branson) see the necessity to take bold chances to get where we need to be in time for the successes to fuel further explorations. And, yes, it is just as likely that failures will further the process as successes. Bold action is required, though and that is most assuredly not NASA's M.O.

Here's to adventuresome explorers who blaze the trails that produce a future that will ensure, not only the continued flourishing of human endeavors but our very survival!

Cheers!

Lager Days

2008-01-13T10:35:00.000-08:00

The last two beers I made, including the one I am actually brewing right now, have been lagers. I don't make many lagers but I don't really know why. I LIKE lagers, so why don't I brew them more often? Well, for one reason, they take a long time to ferment and condition. I am impatient and want to drink my beers ASAP! For another thing, they require cool temperatures to ferment. Living in Michigan, cool temperatures should be no problem, right? Well, it's not that the temps aren't cool but that they aren't consistent. For years, now, I've had that problem solved through the use of an external thermostat on my lagering fridge.

Lager fermentation occurs at much cooler temperatures than ale fermentation. For instance, the Classic American Pilsner I made a couple of weeks ago, started off at 60 F and was quickly dropped to about 48 F for the complete time in primary. After secondary is nearly complete, I will drop the temps down to near freezing for a month or so for cold conditioning, then bottle a few bottles from the kegs.

CAP recipe:

16 Lbs. German Pilsner Malt
4.5 Lbs. Flaked Maize
1 Lb. Light German Crystal Malt
1 Lb. Flaked Rice
2 Lbs. Rice Hulls
2 oz. Hallertau (60 Minutes)
1 oz. Hallertau (15)
.5 oz.Hallertau (4)
2 teaspoons Irish Moss (15)
Pitched two half gallon starters of WLP 840 American Lager Yeast

I tasted it at rack-off to secondary and it was good, real good!

Since my fridge is full, this new dark lager will be fermenting in my (currently cold) basement. It is hovering around 50 F, now in the brew room. I hope it stays there! It is a clone of Lowenbrau Dark, but I made it a little bigger and a little hoppier (of course using Cascade hops will change it as well). It should be pretty interesting, to say the least.

Here is the recipe:

16 Lbs German Pilsner Malt
5 Lbs. Crisp English Malt
2 Lbs. Belgian Carapils Malt
1 Lb. German Caramunich Malt
.5 Lb. English Chocolate Malt

1.5 Oz. Homegrown Cascade Hops (60 minutes)
.5 Oz. Homegrown Cascade Hops (15 minutes)
2 teaspoons Irish Moss (15 minutes)

10 days at 50 F
rack to secondary and lager at 38-40 F

Cold condition for a month after fermentation is complete. This beer was made from leftover grains, homegrown hops and used yeast. It cost me a total of $5.95 for ten gallons of beer!

The next lager I make is going to be a bigger, maltier beer. Probably a Marzen (or Oktoberfest), followed by a Doppelbock on the Marzen yeast cake...Oh yeah!

I wish you all could taste this!

Super Wednesday

2007-12-24T06:57:00.000-08:00

During this wondrous time, when all hold dear the spirit of Christmas, including such concepts as fairness, non-competitiveness and service to those less fortunate, I would like to suggest that we all follow Senator Hillary Clinton's lead and ask that those who are going to vote Democratic, vote on some date that is past the actual voting date. In the past, I have asked many of the Democrats I know to be sure to vote on Super Wednesday. This has actually been very effective on a few occasions, as those Democrats have told me that they were going to do just that and cancel out my Republican vote. These admissions were made with defiant and proud demeanors, meant to stifle any ridicule I might muster. Well, I can tell you they put me right in my place!

It appears that the good Senator from New York urged her supporters to be sure to vote for her on January 14, in Iowa. I second her motion, here, and hope that in each state her supporters react similarly according to her progressive agenda. I would suggest they stick to a date somewhat less than eleven days progressive to the actual date of the primary, but any progressive date would be helpful to the rest of us.

Just when the conservatives in the country were under the impression that Santa Hillary had nothing in her sack for them, she throws out this gem of an idea! I for one, would like to thank the honorable Senator from New York for doing such forward-thinking work. This behavior is such a marked difference from some of her other noted actions, that it makes many of us marvel at what the Christmas season can do to even the hardest of hearts.

"You show people what you're willing to fight for when you fight your friends."- Hillary Clinton

There, now. Doesn't that just about say it all?

Bonzo Mania!

2007-12-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

One of my guilty pleasures is a fondness for the odd or the unpopular, especially if it has genuine quality in it. Well, I can't think of a more odd, unpopular or genuinely excellent musical group than the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band. I've been a fan of these patently insane British "musicians" for many a year. Unfortunately, I was not a fan early enough to have actually seen the band, but a friend of mine claims he saw them at the Michigan State Fair in the late sixties. They disbanded in 1970 but did produce one more album in 1971. I became infatuated with their music in the early seventies. Their comic genius-typically British, typically subdued and typically sarcastic-puts one in mind of the Monty Python group. Actually, Eric Idle was a regular "member", as were Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and many many other famous musicians and comedians in Britain at the time.

The band began with a group of Art College students who loved traditional jazz and dixieland music and formed a band to play it. Their creativity moved them into comical revisions of the genres in which they were originally interested and some very interesting results were obtained. Over the course of their development they became the "house band" on a weekly children's television show called Do Not Adjust Your Set, which featured Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. Later, they began writing and recording some more mainstream (Ha!) Rock music cuts, some of which actually made it on the "charts", in England. Even during this period, they kept tongue planted firmly in cheek, rest assured! If I could suggest one album to listen to it would be Gorrilla, from 1967, but, really, it is impossible to choose and there's no reason to do so. Take a few hours and listen to them all! They run the spectrum in genres from Dixieland Jazz, to Spike Jones, to British Blues, to Psychedelic Rock to Elvis and even some Country Western! Something for everyone, so to speak.

So what brings such a topic up for discussion some thirty-six years after the band's demise? They have re-united again and produced their first new album since 1971! Now, I have bored and amazed my friends for decades by making them listen to the fantastic works of this band at parties and during long travels in the car. Some actually listen and they get it, while others simply get bored because it doesn't match the latest musical trends and they lose interest quickly. They know me as the guy who likes weird music. If it's unusual, quirky or just plain weird, I probably know something about it. The thing is, though, this band is different! They're not only weird and comical (and they are freaking hilarious!) but they have true musical talent and songwriting abilities, as well. Think of them as Monty Python with instruments and much, much more. Supposedly, their stage presence was frenetic and wildly entertaining, often involving skits, costumes, acting and the lot. They were multi-media, then!

Of course no written article can impart the rich, comic and musical genius of the Bonzos to the public without benefit of actually hearing the music, itself. And that would violate many copyright laws and such, so it isn't possible, here. You'll have to search them out and listen to them on your own. They are certainly worth the trouble. One of my Christmas presents will be the new album available here both in downloadable format and for ready-made purchase. Of course, their other albums are still for sale as well.

Enjoy!

Christmas Ale

2007-11-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

I brewed a Christmas Ale on October 27th which is a clone of Affligem Noel. I hadn't actually tried that particular Belgian brew before but it sounded good and I had a hankerin' to brew! Last night at the Holiday party for the Pontiac Brewing Tribe (one of the brew clubs I belong to), I actually tried that beer, along with some N'ice Chouffe and some Delirium Noel! They were all pretty special. Add to that some fantastic homebrewed meads, wines and beers and it was a pretty tasty night!

This beer taxed my keggle system as it filled the mash tun pretty much to its capacity, as seen by the picture on the page. I did oversparge, though (based on my Beertools pro recommendation) and ended up with a beer a little less strong than expected (but a lot more of it!). Anyway, here is the recipe for a ten gallon batch (or thirteen):

34 lbs. Pilsner malt
1 lb. Belgian Caramunich
1 lb. Belgian Aromatic
.5 lb. Belgian Biscuit
.5 lb. Chocolate Malt
.25 lb. Honey Malt
1 lb. Light Brown Sugar
2 lbs. White Table Sugar (Beet based)
.4 teaspoon cinnamon (15 min.)
2 teaspoons Irish Moss (15 min.)
1.5 oz. Styrian Goldings (60 min.)
1 oz. Styrian Goldings (15 minutes)
.5 oz Styrian Goldings (5 minutes)
1 teaspoon crushed coriander (5 minutes)
White Labs 530 Abbey Ale Yeast (two half gallon starters)

Mashed at 152 for one hour batch sparged and primary fermented in glass for one week, transferred to secondary (glass) for three weeks and pitched an additional half gallon of same yeast five days before bottling.

I added some 100% cocoa Chocolate (one ounce) in the secondary of the three gallon carboy. I bottled that day before yesterday. It smelled very vinous (winey) but when I tried a bottle today (partially carbonated) it tasted pretty good, just a bit harsh (alcohol). I didn't notice the chocolate but the cinnamon came through subtly. It was sweet and spicy with a caramel malt note and had some characteristic Belgian spiciness in the aftertaste. Hop presence was subued. I can't wait to try it in a month or so (and then again a year or two or so...). At about eight percent alcohol it should age well!

I won't be bottling the other ten gallons for about a week or so, as it is still fermenting!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

BDS and Other Insanities

2007-11-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

The Left is awash in Bush Derangement Syndrome. It is the overriding belief that no matter how far removed from the problem at hand, everything on earth that goes bad is Bush's fault. Now, I don't mean to denigrate those who've made a living or a name out of this behavior (Rosie O'Donnell, Sean Penn, and Liberal Larry come to mind...), but now that Bush's final term is winding down and he won't be running again, it is a bit silly to continue to blame everything on W.

Thinking about this topic, as I was today, I realized that this syndrome is probably based upon an emotional response to what Bush and his policies seem to be to the majority of the people who feel that way. This is no scientific study but I tend to think of most of the BDS sufferers as liberals and anti-war types, who are also likely not very religious or are actually secular humanists/atheists. These folks see Bush as a "cowboy", a misspeaking misanthrope and a religious nut that wants to rule America as a evangelical theocracy. Most of their anger and distrust of Bush comes from one or more of these views of his "agenda".

Full disclosure: I have photos of Bush and his wife on my basement wall, next to my brewery and my wife framed our Christmas card from the Bush's a few years ago. I admired the man very much for his leadership after 9/11 and his aggressive stance in the War on Terror. In truth, I probably embraced Bush almost as much for the anger he engendered in liberals as for the agreements I had with his positions. I was also very disappointed in many of his positions and decisions over the course of his two terms and am much more disillusioned in the man and his policies now. I see his good points and his bad by using reason and not emotion when I try to do the evaluation. That logical evaluation is the key.

That is what is missing from the Bush Derangement Sufferers and, consequently, what is missing from those who blindly support Bush and his policies when they are wrong. Supporting Bush when he presses for amnesty for illegals, for increased governmental powers and less freedom for Americans and for spending our progeny into the poorhouse is as deranged as any Truther position that Rosie spouts. If you really think that increasing the powers of the presidency and allowing the government to improve their ability to spy on US citizens is a good thing, it's only because you trust George W. Bush. I trust him, too, for the most part. But I don't trust the government and I certainly don't want powers given to Bush to be handed over to Hillary Clinton in a year or so. See my meanin'?

I was thinking lately that while this federal government continues to tell us that they need to be able to intercept emails and phone calls at the drop of a hat, in order to keep us free and safe from the terrorists, that argument really doesn't square with the facts. The fact is that our government, like all bloated, flabby, brainless bureaucracies, will not be effective with the tools we give it and will abuse those tools given half a chance. This will happen and is happening in Bush's term and will be much worse if a liberal Democrat wins the White House.

Now, I know many of my conservative friends will say that the federal government needs to be able to spy on us for our own good and that there have been no documented cases of actual citizens being spied upon by the government using the expanded powers of the federal government provided by the Patriot Act and its successors. They will say that the government isn't interested in our petty emails and phone calls; they are trying to stop the next Al Qaeda attack. Furthermore many of them will say that if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about. I'm sure that was a common statement of J. Edgar Hoover and COINTELPRO.

Rather than arguing that the government is overstepping its bounds, as I believe it has (see this article and others at JWR by Nat Hentoff for clarification), I would rather argue that we can't trust the government because of its bungling, corrupt nature and ineffectiveness, regardless of whether it is deliberately invading our privacy against the strictures of our Constitution.

Take 9/11, for instance. Many people have argued that our government did not have the tools to prevent the attacks prior to that event and argue that we need these new tools to keep us safe. Hogwash! Remember that phrase "connect the dots"? The dots were there prior to 9/11 but we didn't connect them. Even the Director of National Intelligence, Michael McConnell admitted in September, before Congress, that if those "dots" had been connected, "9/11 should have and could have been prevented". Arguing for more governmental power in light of this statement sounds a bit contrived, doesn't it? If we had all the data we needed before 9/11 but failed to put it together, would more power to access more data actually help us in the future? And at what price?

In this month's Reason magazine, Jeff Taylor writes a brief article about the FBI's inability to stop 9/11, though they had all of the necessary information beforehand. It's an excellent, short treatment of the ineffectiveness of one of our top federal police agencies during the weeks leading up to that dreadful day. To paraphrase his article, federal agents on the ground knew that hijackers Khalid al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi had sought pilot training. They knew that Zacarias Moussaoui had sought the same sort of training and that he was carrying 747 manuals when he was picked up on immigration charges. McClatchy Newspapers' Greg Gordon reported on 9/10/2007 that information in Moussaoui's notebooks, for which supervisors at FBI headquarters refused to seek a warrant (against the pleadings of special agent Harry Samit), would clearly have exposed the hijackers and prevented the attacks. Samit, himself, blamed the "obstructionism, criminal negligence and careerism" as the roadblock in his own investigation. Increased surveillance powers will not improve those problems, will it?

Finally, as we head up to the next presidential elections and Hillary Clinton is the clear frontrunner among all candidates, do we really want to give this clearly corrupt, immoral and power-mad person the keys to our newly hopped-up terrorist hunting (and civil liberty destroying) hotrod? I think not!

Noble Prize

2007-10-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Alfred Nobel , when he died in 1895, left some money in his will that created the funds to award the prizes that will forever be doled out in his name. He was presumably all tore up over what he perceived would be his legacy as the inventor of Dynamite and wanted leave a different sort of namby-pamby legacy, instead. Now, why he would want to be so embarrassed by his legacy as the inventor of one of the most important inventions the world has ever known is beyond this writer. After all, Jimmie JJ Johnson isn't ashamed of his trademark, "DYNOMITE!", is he?

Anyway, the guiding principle of these awards seems to have been Nobel's guilt at having created so destructive a force as...he-he-he...Dynamite. He wanted to be remembered for his prizes, which have since been awarded to more commies and fruitcakes than you can shake a stick of Dynamite at. First, let's see what the criteria of these awards was supposed to be, as defined by Alfred's will:

"The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

At least for Literature, the criteria seem to be somewhat political, don't they?

one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency

None of the other criteria seem to have any value judgments, do they? So I guess we can forgive the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding the majority of these (Literary) prizes to communists who have enjoyed little or no commercial success and have done little other than skewer the beliefs and values of a majority of the world's peoples in their inconsequential works. But how do we square the incredibly political bent of the committee in awarding all of the other prizes? I guess we just chalk that up to the Leftist-intelligentsia of Europe.

To illustrate we should look no further than the Peace category. Here are the past few years winners:
2007-The IPPC and Al Gore Jr. for scaring the hell out of everyone and prodding a guilty West into supporting a Luddite visions of the future, while allowing certain enlightened visionaries to continue to enjoy life's technological largesse.
2006-Muhammed Yunus and Grameen Bank for setting up a "bank" that supposedly gives loans with no collateral to poor subsistence farmers in Bangladesh or somewhere. And supposedly this "bank" is making a profit! Ok, you know this is impossible, right? It sounds so uplifting, though and makes me feel warm all over.
2005- International Atomic Energy Agency and Muhamed ElBaradei for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way. Leaving aside that they have not been one whit successful and that no one wants nuclear energy to be used in an unsafe manner, what exactly have these folks done to merit a prize of any kind?
2004-Wangari Maathai for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. "Sustainable development" is eco-speak for methods that third-worlders can't afford. It's just fine for San Francisco liberals to work on sustainable development, but Kenyans and other Third-worlders need to develop at any cost. They certainly don't need to worry about diversity, eco-friendliness or any of these weakly defined hippie concepts.
2003-Shirin Ebadi for her efforts for democracy and human rights. Hhhmmm, maybe...but why her? Aren't there plenty of people working for this in the world and probably doing much more good than Ms. Ebadi? Let's look at the Nobel Committee's press release:
Ebadi is a conscious Moslem. She sees no conflict between Islam and fundamental human rights. It is important to her that the dialogue between the different cultures and religions of the world should take as its point of departure their shared values. It is a pleasure for the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to a woman who is part of the Moslem world, and of whom that world can be proud - along with all who fight for human rights wherever they live.
Well, now it's clear as mud!
2002-Jimmy Carter Jr. for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development. Don't these reasons start sounding awfully similar after awhile?

It would seem that these prizes are awarded more for the recipients absolute failure to achieve any objective at all than for any actual achievement!

In fact, it might just be that the recipients of the infamous Ig Nobel Prizes may be more deserving of an award than the Nobel Prize Winners, at least in some cases. At least these prize winners caused a laugh or two, unlike most of the Nobel Prize Winners (Jimmy Carter and the carnivorous rabbit, excluded).

Political Theater

2007-09-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Warning: long article with interest only to Michigan taxpayers ahead...

I have resisted writing about the current state of affairs in our state government in Michigan, lately. This is partly because I am very busy these days and partly because the issues are extremely conflicting for me. Full disclosure: I am an employee of the State of Michigan. This means I am paid by the taxpayers and I provide a service for all of those taxpayers. I am also one of the people whose salaries are a current drain on those same taxpayers. As our lovely Governor is wont to point out, there are two sides to a budget equation: revenues and expenditures. I am an expenditure.

The reason the issue is conflicting is that I am very much in favor of cutting state government. On the other hand I am a part of that government. The argument I make, then, sounds a bit self-serving if not disingenuous: I am in favor of cutting state government, just not my job. There how does that sound? Lame, I know. But that is just my argument. You see, I work for a portion of the government that really can't be privatized. I work in the state's prison system and, as such, we have the power of life and death over our inmates. If an inmate tries to escape, it is my duty to stop him by any means necessary, including the legal use of deadly force. I am of the opinion that the state can't delegate this power to a private entity. There are plenty of arguments to the contrary. Good ones, in fact. My own views are primarily based on the explanation given above and the poor record of those corporations that have been given that power by other states.

So, I am in favor of the portion of Michigan's government that wants to cut expenditures, before even thinking about raising revenues (That's raising taxes, in plain-speak). I am confident that-given the information and the opportunity-I could easily cut 2 Billion in fat out of the state's budget. The people who think like me on this issue are almost all Republicans.

The current crisis in Michigan's government is of course, nothing new. This summer the same sort of thing was happening in Pennsylvania. A liberal governor, Ed Rendell, threatened to shut down his state's government if a budget deal was not reached that would include his pet tax hike, an energy tax. Sound Familiar?

Here is a quote from the linked article that indicates just what was happening at the time and shows also, what is happening right now in Michigan: “It doesn’t have to be this way,” said Rep. Curt Schroder of Chester County. “The governor is using state employees and government services as pawns in an attempt to garner support for tax, fee and spending increases that fall outside the General Fund budget. It is absurd that the governor is using the livelihood of state workers to leverage support for unpopular proposals.”

I understand that Granholm and Rendell are quite friendly with one another. Perhaps she thinks that a government shutdown would be no less injurious to her and her Democrat congress than it was for Rendell. Of course that remains to be seen, as Pennsylvania voters have shown a propensity to "vote the bums out", in the past. Michigan voters, however, are mostly sheep and continue to vote primarily for liberal Democrats, even though the state's future is seriously at risk by following this prescription. For example, the Michigan state legislature (and the Governor) voted themselves a 35% increase in their wages in 2001 and there was no backlash as in the cited Pennsylvania case. (Actually, the mechanism for salary increases for our legislature and executive branch is extremely sneaky. It requires a vote by the appointed Civil Service Commision, and can only be overidden by the legislature once awarded. So the legislature didn't vote the increase, they only failed to vote against it!) In short, Granholm's gambit will probably work.

She wants a tax hike as opposed to making the truly tough decisions to make the cuts necessary to bring the budget under control. She wants to continue to make state government the tool for change in this economy, when it is actually the millstone around this economy's neck. Her "cool cities" initiative is one good example. Let's give money that the state doesn't have to cities that want to initiate changes that make them "hip"! WTF? All the while making it more difficult and costly to do business in the state. Granholm threatened the Republicans that if they don't support her "revenue" increases, she would attack state business interests by closing tax loopholes advantageous to businesses. Yikes! A state that is leaking jobs like a sieve is going to attack the only businesses who remain? Yup! That's progressive action, people! After all, we can't cozy up to the corporations, publicly. We're Democrats, after all! We'll just keep talking about the evil corporations, while eliciting quiet campaign contributions from all of the CEOs of those companies. It isn't as if we will do anything for those contributions...

There are hundreds of unnecessary, high-paid, state employees. There are hundreds of congressional staff members that are also unneeded for the actual performance of government business. Legislators earn unnecessarily high salaries, work unnecessarily long hours, earn unrealistically high retirement benefits for ridiculously short careers and unnecessarily high health care benefits. Visit the state government website to see the plethora of agencies and departments that comprise our state government. There are nineteen departments within the executive branch of our government, some of which are entirely unnecessary! All our governor has done to "streamline" these departments is shuffle high-paid administrators from one department to the other. No real reduction has taken place during her tenure. Any person that thinks it makes sense for the regular, blue-collar state employee to receive cuts to bring their compensation packages down to what the average private sector employee receives, should be outraged at what the higher end state employees are getting.

Michigan's state government is huge and it could stand a whole helluva lot of trimming. We pay many, many people over one hundred thousand dollars a year for things that have dubious benefits for most state residents. The job of General Manager for the Michigan State Fair comes to mind. This job pays over $101,000/year and includes an attractive benefit package. It doesn't rival what a general manager in the private sector might get but the job is not a private job. Here is the difference, people. These jobs are not given to people based upon their abilities, qualifications or their work histories. They're given on the basis of political considerations and cronyism. For this reason more than any other, these jobs should be up on the block during tough political times.

Could the state government privatize the state fair's operation? Yes. Could they sell some fo the millions of acres of state land they have? Yes. Could the state cut the salaries of the legislature and halt the payment of retirement wages to some of these people whose work histories don't even reach ten years of service? Yes. Instead of these hard decisions, our governor wants to keep the status quo and raise taxes.

In order to get the public to support a tax increase, she wants to show them how bad things can get. You won't be able to buy liquor! No lottery sales can be made! Certain bridges will be shut down! Scary, huh? Now, don't you think a tax increase is better than all that? Not only that, but the governor and her party (which is the majority party in our legislature) wants to force Republicans to vote for the tax increase so that key, vulnerable Democrats can vote no or decline to vote, to help maintain their seats next election!

As a libertarian, I don't care if government shuts down. In fact, I like the idea. Most of the government is doing me harm when they're working, anyway! Still, the governor's gambit has paid off. There will be a tax increase and the only people that will pay for their crime of raising taxes will be fiscally irresponsible Republicans.

I was notified on Friday that I am a non-essential state employee. I was told not to report to work on Monday, unless the budget is resolved. I am to watch the news and check the website at Michigan.gov. I will be losing even more money to act in the governor's political theater. So far, I've received cuts in my wages of over $6000 in just one year, during Ms. Granholm's tenure. 2005 marked the first year in twenty years that my wages actually dropped from the previous year. Oh well, when the going gets tough, the fat cats circle the wagons!

Hsu: Latest in Clinton Body Count?

2007-09-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

A mysterious illness, disappearances in the dark of night and allegations of serious corruption involving the Clintons, should come as no surprise any more. The same scenarios have played out numerous times over the past fifteen years with a host of characters. Just Google the Clinton Body Count for some very interesting reading. Really, one can't help coming away from such a visit without being convinced that the Clintons and their people have been involved in some very nefarious activities.

Now, on the verge of Hillary's entry into the Big Leagues, Hsu surfaces and throws more bad publicity her way. Who can be surprised if he suddenly comes down with a mysterious illness that doctors can't seem to explain and which just keeps getting worse? It certainly wouldn't be the first time. Take Ronald Miller, for example. Mr. Miller was preparing to implicate President Clinton's Chief of Staff, Thomas F. McLarty III in Oklahoma-related scandals, in his upcoming testimony before a congressional committee in 1997, when he suddenly became ill with "flu-like" symptoms. He deteriorated and died ten days later, though the cause of death has never been identified. Ricin poisoning was suspected and ruled out, as well as anthrax. Miller had also tape recorded Gene and Nora Lum and turned those tapes over to congressional oversight investigators. The Lums were sentenced to prison for campaign finance violations, using "straw donors" to conceal the size of their contributions to various candidates. This is exactly the strategy currently being alleged in the indictment of famous Dr. Jack Kevorkian attorney, Geoffrey Fieger.

Much like Mother Nature, it just does not seem to pay to piss off Hillary Clinton. The list of casualties is long and the stories are convincing. Conspiracy theories abound about these poor dupes who met their demise after crossing or agreeing to cross the Clintonistas. Consider Jerry Parks, who was murdered gangland style in a hail of bullets while driving in a suburb of Little Rock. Two months earlier, while watching a news broadcast on Vince Foster's apparent suicide, Jerry muttered under his breath in the presence of his son, Gary, "I'm a dead man". His home had been burglarized three months earlier and the only thing stolen was a pair of files on Clinton's sexual escapades during the late 1980's. It seems that Hillary had tired of Bill's philanderings and was about to divorce him in 1988. She hired Jerry Parks to follow him and gather evidence and contacted Vince Foster about writing up the divorce paperwork. It was that evidence which was stolen in the break-in.

Anyway, Fieger and Hsu had better watch their backs. It's not nice to fool Mother Clinton!

Culture of Corruption

2007-08-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

I was watching Hannity and Colmes the other night and they were discussing the efforts to reduce earmarks and other slimy congressional behaviors. They had a fellow on from California, U.S. Rep John Campbell (R-CA) who had challenged Mr Murtha (D-PA) over the latest earmarking extravaganza in what was passed as a Defense Spending bill. There were 1337 earmarks worth some 3 Billion dollars in that bill, including $150 Million to Murtha's district. Murtha, of course, vigorously defended not only the earmarks in that bill, but the entire earmarking process, saying that they "go over every single earmark" and that such earmarking legislation amounts to a "competitive bidding process" which results in technology which would be owned by the U.S. I have since been unable to find evidence of any such U.S. owned technology resulting from any of these "competitive bidding processes", though. Sounds a lot like Pelosi's euphemism thing being tried again. Let's not call them earmarks, let's call them "competitive bidding processes", mm-kay?

Now, leaving aside all of the hypocrisy over the newly elected Democrat majority's pledge to clean up congress and provide the most open and honest congress in history, Mr. Murtha's comments are seriously over the top in many other ways. He told a whopper about the nature of the earmarking process itself, he bristled and angrily dismissed the reasonable questions asked by Mr. Campbell and he basically told the American people to "bugger off" if they don't like the way things are done in his House. This guy's behavior is truly outrageous! But the military loves him, right? Not exactly. Military contractors in Pennsylvania love him, though.

But the thing that really got me going in watching the H&C coverage of that event on the House floor, was Alan Colmes's attempt to imply that Republicans think only Democrats are earmarkers. Of course he laid that little charge on Mr. Campbell, who was brave enough to actually come on the show and discuss his actions in the debacle, unlike the earmarking champion, John Murtha. Campbell told Colmes straight-off that earmarking is definitely a bi-partisan problem and that Republicans do it as often as, or maybe more than, Democrats. He followed that up with an interesting point, though. He said that there is a group of congresspeople that are dedicated to ending earmarks-as-usual in the legislature and that they are all...Republicans!

Isn't this the point? Sure, there are congresscritters of all parties out there gaming the system by back-scratching lobbyists, each other, and peddling their influence in oh, so many ways. But it seems as though the only ones seriously challenging this earmarking, pork-barreling, business-as-usual in the congress are...Republicans. Witness the recent attacks on these practices (which, I know, no one has heard about, because it just isn't important to the mainstream media) which have all been produced by a dedicated minority of lawmakers, and note that the only lawmakers with one-hundred percent support for these anti-pork amendments are...Republicans.

The Club for Growth congressional Re-Pork Card shows the records of congressfolks in voting for anti-pork legislation and lists some of the amendments proposed by the anti-porkers against some of the most egregious hunks of swine fat in this year's legislation. Check it out carefully! It clearly details the battle over earmarking and shows who the real reformers are. Of course most of the amendments (49 out of 50) proposed to curtail pork-barrel or earmark spending failed miserably, but at least these courageous legislators tried. These fifty amendments were proposed by John Campbell, Jeff Flake, Jeb Hensarling, Scott Garrett, and David Obey. Obey, the only Democrat, proposed one of the fifty amendments and then proceeded to vote against it! The rest of these Representatives are...Republicans.

So, yeah, the corruption in Congress is a bi-partisan problem but the solution, so far anyway, seems to be purely...Republican!

The Opposite of Loser is...

2007-08-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

There have been several years of US activity in Iraq for the public to criticize. Much of the criticism is entirely appropriate. Still, it seems that for the last couple of years the Democrat Party has based its entire party platform on the US losing the war. They say we have already lost, that it's become a civil war, that we need to withdraw because our presence is making matters worse, there, etc. All of their energy is focused on getting the US out of Iraq and accepting the military loss that they have already proclaimed. All this because...a US loss is a Bush/Republican loss.

Many snarky Republicans have said over the years that the Democrats want the US to lose in Iraq, and most reasonable people-me included- have said, "No. That can't be true." I think the jury is in on this one, though. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party's efforts to press for a timetable to end the war. Good news on our progress from Petraeus would be "a real big problem for us", said the Congressman. Is Mr. Clyburn alone? I think not.

It is absolutely clear that leading Democrats do not want to see any good news coming from Iraq. Even if there is any good news, they'll go out of their way to dispute it. Witness our good friend and ABSCAM bribe ponderer, John (I support the troops!) Murtha
Murtha dismissed the claims of two longtime Iraq War critics who cite improvements in conditions in Iraq. Now if this was a considered, studied and intelligent refutation of flawed statements by the "longtime critics" of the war, I'd say agreeing or disagreeing with Mr. Murtha would be an individual choice, based upon one's opinion of the war and our progress. Since it was, rather, a knee-jerk reaction to some rare good news about the war, I'd say most of us should cry, "Bullshit"!

I don't know if the situation is actually getting better or if it's Global Warming that's assisting the lower death rates. I don't know if the situation in Iraq is stabler and safer as the Brookings Institute observers said, or if they were simply in the right place at the right time. I know what I want to see happen, though. I want to see things get better for the Iraqis and for the US. I want to see more stability and freedom in the Middle East. I want to see a group of sane nations stand up against insanity all around them. I want the US to win the peace in Iraq and then I want our troops to come home as the heroes they truly are.

That's the opposite of losing, in case any Democrats ask you how you'll know when we've won!

Summer's Cauldron

2007-07-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the Lyrics to "Summer's Cauldron", a song written by Andy Partridge of XTC and performed by XTC on the album "Skylarking":

Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron
Under mats of flower lava
Please don't pull me out this is how I would want to go
Breathing in the boiling butter
Fruit of sweating golden inca
Please don't heed my shout I'm relax in the undertow

When Miss Moon lays down
And Sir Sun stands up
Me I'm found floating round and round
Like a bug in brandy
In this big bronze cup
Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron

Trees are dancing drunk with nectar
Grass is waving underwater
Please don't pull me out this is how I would want to go
Insect bomber Buddhist droning
Copper chord of August's organ
Please don't heed my shout I'm relax in the undertow

When Miss Moon lays down
in her hilltop bed
And Sir Sun stands up
raise his regal head
Me I'm found floating round and round
Like a bug in brandy
In this big bronze cup
Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron

Now that's the way I feel on a lazy summer day, floating in my pool, with a cold homebrewed beer in my hand! Yup! And here's the beer I want to be drinking when I next do that:

Summer's Cauldron II (Kolsch)

22 Lbs. Belgian Pils
2 Lbs. German Wheat Malt
.5 Lbs. Belgian Biscuit
.5 Lbs. Flaked Maize
.5 Lbs. Rice Hulls

Mashed (single infusion) at 152 F, for 60 minutes.
Batch Sparged and drew off 11.5 gallons of 1.046 Wort
Boiled 60 Minutes with the following hop additions:
60 minutes-1.5 oz. Hallertau
45 minutes- 1 oz. Hallertau
15 minutes- 1 oz. Hallertau
5 minutes- .5 oz. Hallertau

Irish moss at 10 minutes left in boil.
OG-1.048 FG-1.009
4.7 SRM
5% ABV
23 IBUs

A nice summer-colored, summer-flavored brew!

Kolsch beer is a beer that was originally made to compete with the enormously popular lagers coming out in the late 19th century. It is a top-fermented beer (ale) with a straw color, light alcohol content, crisp and clean palate and a subtle fruity character. It is lightly hopped and fairly dry in finish. The appellation, Kolsch. is protected by the twenty or so breweries in Koln (Cologne) Germany, that make the style, and by the organization they formed, the Kolsch Konvention.

I have been homebrewing for seven years this month. I will be bottling a Belgian Trippel I made several weeks ago today as well as making this wonderful Kolsch described above. Look for more posts about beer as the Michigan Summer Beer Festival will be coming very soon (July 27 and 28th)...

Pardon Me

2007-07-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, I don't blame Bush at all for commuting the sentence of "Scooter" Libby. Libby's "crime" will be more than made whole by his $250, 000 fine and probation, not to mention his loss of respect and ability to practice law (as if those two were not otherwise mutually exclusive).

I agree with the decision. What I can't understand is why he hasn't commuted/pardoned a whole bunch of folks that deserve it. The man ain't running for anything anymore. What's he got to worry about?

Thanks to Cato.org, here are some other worthy people for Bush to pardon/commute...

Marsha Cunningham

Like Kemba Smith, Cunningham, who was arrested in 1997, had no prior offenses. Nor was there any evidence that she had ever participated in a drug deal.

Yet when police found powder and crack cocaine in the Dallas apartment that Cunningham shared with her boyfriend, and her boyfriend was caught with crack while driving her car, federal mandatory minimums kicked in. Now, Cunningham is serving 15 years in prison.

Dane Yirkovsky

Yirkovsky is serving a 15-year sentence for possession of a single .22-caliber bullet.

In December 1998 he found this bullet while doing remodeling work for a friend who was giving him a place to stay in exchange for the work. Yirkovsky put the bullet in a box in his bedroom. Later that month, the police found the bullet while searching Yirkovsky's room after a call from his former girlfriend, who claimed he had some of her possessions. Because of Yirkovsky's prior convictions for burglary, federal prosecutors charged him under the Armed Career Criminal Act, although he had not threatened anyone and did not have a gun.

Weldon Angelos

A year ago this week, 24-year-old Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in prison for selling two small bags of marijuana to a police informant. During the transaction, Angelos was carrying a pistol in an ankle holster, although he did not threaten anyone with the weapon. Nonetheless, the law imposed a severe mandatory minimum for gun possession during a drug deal.

In sentencing Angelos, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell of Utah, a conservative Republican appointed by President Bush, also ran through the maximum penalties for hijacking an airplane (25 years), a terrorist bombing intending to kill a bystander (20 years), and kidnapping (13 years). The judge noted that just two hours earlier, he had imposed a sentence of 22 years in a case where a man beat a senior citizen to death with a log.

"Is there a rational basis," Cassell asked, "for giving Mr. Angelos more time than the hijacker, the murderer, the rapist?" Cassell called the 55-year sentence "unjust, cruel, and even irrational" but said that the law left him "no choice."

Of course, President Bush need not free Angelos immediately—a crime was committed—but he has the power to reduce Angelos' sentence. Surely one mistake is a poor justification for taking away most of a young father's life.

Robert Blandford, Diane Huang, David McNab, and Abner Schoenwetter

Three American seafood dealers and one Honduran lobster-fleet owner are currently doing hard time for importing lobster tails that were the wrong size and that were packaged in clear plastic bags rather than in cardboard boxes. They ran afoul of the Lacey Act, a federal statute that makes it a crime to import fish or wildlife taken "in violation of any foreign law."

The U.S. government argued that they had broken Honduran law because some of the lobster tails—3 percent, to be exact—were less than five and a half inches long, and because a Honduran regulation required that the lobster tails be packed in boxes. Yet Honduran officials testified that no laws had been violated.

Nonetheless, Blandford, McNab (the Honduran national), and Schoenwetter, three small-business men with no previous criminal records, were sentenced in 2001 to eight-year terms. Their "partner in crime," Huang, got off easy: two years' incarceration for the mother of two young children.

Oh, and also the two border guards, but they're already getting plenty of press, aren't they?

OUR LIVES, OUR FORTUNES, OUR SACRED HONOR

2007-07-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Can anyone imagine any of today's serious candidates for President making the pledge elicited in the title above...and meaning it? That pledge made by the fathers of this country, the 56 signatories of the Declaration of Independence would melt the tongues of the present politicians that mean to serve this nation. I cannot imagine our present politicos risking their livelihoods, property and their lives on anything, much less their sacred honor (something worth far less than was reflected in the signing of that most illustrious of documents).

When I make those disparaging remarks about our present crop of politicians, make no mistake, I do not spare Republicans. The current rage among conservatives is Fred Thompson, an actor for the most part. I do not for a minute expect that man to be the savior of this country, as the patriots who sacrificed their all did to build this great nation. In fact, I don't expect Fred Thompson to be much of anything. Perhaps he will be a preferable evil to Hillary Clinton. If so, he will probably be huzzahed by the great majority of right-thinking conservatives in this country-and perhaps deservedly so. They need something to believe in after the current dipstick's shenanigans (can you say No Child Left Behind, Harriet Myers, Shamnesty, a broken veto pen, and on and on and on...?).

What can one expect out of today's politicians? Can one expect a politician to be honest, self-sacrificing and dedicated to serving the people of this country, in this day-and-age? Well, certainly one might be able to find such a rare soul in our population, but could one expect that rare soul to make it to the ballot of the first presidential primary? I think you see my point.

I don't trust Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani. Of course, I trust my trash collector more than I trust John Edwards, Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton. Obama's raised a lot of money and it has been honestly raised by small donors. That's no mean feat. Still, the man would do the wrong thing for this country, nearly every single time he chooses to act (whether he acts honestly or selfishly means little when his honest action is simply wrong). Hillary is nothing but a power-hungry pol, willing to do anything to get elected, including paying off those who assist her in any way possible, once in office. How could you expect anything else from someone who has already shown her willingness to do this as a first lady and a Senator?

I will vote for the honest politician that agrees most with my vision of the best direction for this country. If the politician is not honest (and I can detect bullshit from a mile away, thanks to twenty-three years of working with convicts), I will not vote for them. I don't care who's running against them and I don't care who will win if I vote for a third party candidate, instead. Simple as that. I'm voting for the one that honestly wants what I want for this country and my children and future grandchildren. Right now, that's Ron Paul. He says what he believes, not what he thinks will get him elected. Can you say that about any of the other candidates?

I could see Ron Paul chancing his fortune, life and sacred honor for the protection of this country. I can't say that about any other candidate at this point. Maybe somebody will step up and surprise me, but I doubt it very much.

Good Day for Americans

2007-06-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

The defeat of the Shamnesty Bill was a great victory for all Americans. This nation could ill afford-just economically-another Bush-Kennedy collaboration! And this one would have far-outdistanced the NCLB previous collaboration in both monetary costs and the costs associated with decreased security. The efforts of thousands of conservative bloggers and activists defeated this bill, make no mistake. "Kill Bill 2, the sequel" was launched by grassroots conservative organizations and individual bloggers. Just one such group, "Grassfire .org",
made millions of contacts to the Senate.

Grassfire actions included:

Presenting nearly 750,000 petitions to key Senate leaders
Over one million contacts with Senators including:
Personal visits to Senate offices
Hundreds of thousands of phone calls - contributing to a complete overload shutdown of the Senate phone system
Hundreds of thousands of faxes.

And that is just one group dedicated to winning this battle. There were many more. I thank them all. Heck they even convinced Debbie Stabenow to vote against the bill!

I see an awakening of the people occurring in this country. We don't trust what politicians tell us anymore, whether they be Democrats or Republicans. We won't get fooled again, again! Bush tried to ram this incredibly expensive (in all ways) measure down the throats of the electorate, arm-in-arm with his politico-pal, Ted Kennedy and we shoved back! There's no limit to what a fired up grassroots group can do when they want to. What's next on the agenda?

Tough Luck Wings!

2007-05-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well it wasn't to be for the Red Wings this year but it was a fine ride while it lasted. A tough loss in game 5, especially considering a bullshit penalty called on Datsyuk in the final minute that allowed the Ducks to score on the PP, just took the air out of the Wings. They lost it in OT and went on to a lackluster performance for two periods in game 6 which they finally lost as they ran out of time to tie the game. Give credit to the Anaheim Ducks for fighting every minute of that sixth game! The Wings did not play inspired hockey until it was too late.

Now I'm reduced to rooting for the Pistons. They've been pretty dominating in their NBA march to the Finals and now only need to win two more games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, to face off in the Eastern Conference Finals. As I've said before, it's tough being a sports fan in the Detroit area!

All of the Detroit fans want one thing more than any other this year, though, and that's a greatly improved Lions. I won't hold my breath on that one, but there are some good looking changes.

On the beer front, I decided not to take the BJCP exam last week, as I wanted to watch the Red Wings game and I didn't feel I was totally prepared for the tough exam. I'll take it the next time it is given, though. I did visit twelve breweries in one day, on the 14th of this month, though! The pic at top is just one of the photos taken during this trip. It was taken at Ann Arbor's Grizzly Peak. We wanted to visit twenty breweries but a pint at each one just proved to be too much for my delicate beer drinking abilities.

So many breweries, so little time!

What a great time of year!

2007-05-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm really quite busy these days. I will be attending the World Expo of Beer in Frankenmuth, Michigan, today. Since I judged for the competition, I want to see what the winners were and especially, the Best of Show! Tomorrow I will be taking the BJCP exam (during the Wings game...). Wish me luck!

Tomorrow the Wings play the fifth game of the Conference Finals against the nasty, brutish Anaheim Ducks. The series is all tied, though the play of the Wings has improved steadily, as befits a championship caliber team. Pronger missed the last game due to a suspension, rather the the normal way he's missed the other games (by just not being an important factor!). Ducks fans are all fired up about his return, supposedly rested, fit and angry. I hope he is angry. It will be his anger that sends the Ducks into repeated penalty-kill situations, giving the very potent Wings PP a chance to show the Ducks what fer!

It has been reported that Pronger was upset at the officiating, especially the suspension handed down against him for boarding Homer, along with fellow goon Rob Niedermayer. Tough luck, buttercup! Don't hit from behind and don't lead to the head with your elbows! The five inch differential between the two players had nothing to do with the nature of the hit, either. Pronger aimed for the head and that's that!

All-in-all, this has been an exciting series. I do agree with Pronger that the officiating has been inconsistent. But that's no different from any of the regular-season games. If the refs begin calling all of the cheap obstruction penalties that Anaheim commits, this series could be over in two games, but don't bet on that!

For my money, the Ducks best player has been Getzlaf, the 22 year-old phenom forward. Even Selanne has glowing words for this kid. Still, none of the Ducks is as impressive as the young Detroit stars, like Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Fillpula. Look to these rising stars to raise their level of play even higher in the remaining few games.

As noted in the article from the Globe and Mail above, Detroit coach Mike Babcock muses that the best teams get better with each game in a series. If he's right-and he is-the Red Wings are looking at the Cup Finals in two games.

Go Wings!

Springing Forth!

2007-05-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Shakespeare's Sonnet XVIII

Now it just may be that this little ditty is one of the greatest ode's to beauty e'er writ. The only question is as to whether it refers to the beauty of the subject (fair lady?) or to the written ode itself. The poem tells us that beauty is fleeting in all of its manifestations. All the more precious! Of course, as the years since the poem's writing have shown, the words themselves endure.

The photo is mine. I took it the other day in my front yard. The foreground is a McIntosh Apple bough in full bloom, while the background is my gorgeous Birch tree! I assure you there were no shortages of honey bees in the four apple trees in my front yard that day!

Spring is my favorite season. I love the sights and smells of nature bringing forth her new life. It always brings a hopefulness that all things can be reborn aright. Sorry, I missed getting a pic of the Cherry tree, but Washington DC has my little tree beat all over, so you could easily miss it. But I'll place the four apple trees in my yard against any bouquet you care to show me. They are gorgeous!

Go Wings (and Pistons and Tigers)!

2007-05-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

In spite of the terror of Joe Thornton (whose aggressive play reminds me a bit too much of 1995's New Jersey Devil's defensive standout, Scott Stevens), the Red Wings are poised with the momentum necessary to win this tough series against the very big, very tough, defensive-minded but offensively talented, San Jose Sharks. It's been a see-saw battle in the second round for the Winged Wheelers, with momentum changing game-by-game, if not period-by-period. I am officially in playoff fever now, though. I've even taken a short break from my beer-related thinking to post some thoughts on this playoff series. Wow! I must be suffering from playoff fever!

Lang, the enigmatic forward with the quick and accurate snap shot, finally scored a big goal early Thursday morning! About time, Robert! Bertuzzi, one of the meanest big men in the NHL, has not done much of anything, and even less of what he's done has been smart. Bertuzzi also has been one of the sweetest puck-handling of all NHL big men and in this series-in fact especially in the last game-he has not been able to keep a puck on his stick for two seconds. Get with it Bert! The Wings need a fired up and physical Todd Bertuzzi in this series, where they're outmatched in size and meanness, to win. But more importantly, they need the surprise deftness with which this guy can stick-handle and score. That's totally missing so far. I hope to see it today.

The Wings have the speed to change the game on these rough and ready Sharks. They have the experience. They have the goaltending in Hasek. They have the four-line arsenal and the puck-possession to wear down the Sharks' fine defense. So far, though the games are low-scoring affairs, the Wings have played inconsistently. The last game they lost, in San Jose, they came out flying and scored the first goal, outshooting the Sharks in the first period by oh, 20 to 7, not counting the ringer off the post or the several blocked shots and missed nets. They eased up a bit in the last half of the second and played lackluster in the third. That cannot continue! This team is the better team. Even the Sharks know that.

As Scotty Bowman said recently: "Whatever happened to the new NHL"? Yeah they're calling all the cheap non-hooks and even a few obstruction penalties, but the truth is, the Sharks obstruct-within the limits of what the "new NHL" allows-on every play. Watch as they go after the puck in tandem, and block, one-for-the-other, on puck movement and puck takeaways. They hit the Red Wings players long after the player has passed the puck or sent it into the offensive zone. They cross-check the players playing the puck, regularly and their goalie whacks every Red Wing that comes near him. I guess that's the new NHL, eh?

To be fair, there are many admirable qualities to this Sharks team. Thornton is a monster. He is big and strong and has the uncanny ability to get the puck in the right board area, hold it long enough to see a streaking left winger come towards the net, and deliver a perfect one-timer pass to that winger for an excellent scoring chance. Credit him for many of the scoring chances the Sharks get. That said, why is it the Wings give him so much time with the puck in that spot? That must improve. Also the Sharks seem to have an uncanny ability to block shots and clearing passes. They have especially been good at the latter. The Wings ability to clear their zone and handle the puck better in these crucial circumstances must also improve.

I believe the Wings will win this series but to do so, they must improve in those areas. Thornton will not go away and neither will Grier. Grier's been fairly quiet so far but had his best game Wednesday night. The Sharks are for real. The Wings are better but need to carry the play again, like they did Wednesday night, for three periods to win. No lapses and no stupid penalties by Bertuzzi. The puck possession of the Wings could be the thing that wears down the Sharks' defense like it did in the last game. In that case, costly turnovers proved deadly and the game was won. Let's hope the series goes the same way.

Datyuk and Zetterberg will combine for some goals today. Lang could improve on his lackluster performance, as well. Holmstrum can be the goal crease pest with the uncanny hand-eye coordination that baffled the Sharks last game. And Hasek could be the stone wall he needs to be. Today's game will be the game that turns the tide of the series. It may be the game where more than three goals are scored for one team. If the Sharks open up at all, that could be the crack in the defense the Wings are looking for, but don't count on it from a Ron Wilson coached team. Wings in six!

I don't even want to think about the other two teams in Detroit playing right now, because this is the most important series of all to me. Still, I will say that the Pistons series against the Chicago Bulls should be another nailbiter, especially due to the defensive play of former Detroiter, Ben Wallace. I look to the Pistons to win it but it could go either way. As for the Tigers, they are playing well and Sheffield is starting to hit. If the pitching remains solid, they could contend again. It's good to be a Dteroit fan right now! If the Lions could improve, we'd be in sports heaven. Why didn't the Lions draft a top-rated Offensive lineman in the draft? Oh well, I guess we really needed another good wide receiver, since we let Mike Williams go...Matt Millen, you better improve a whole lot this year or you might get dismembered by a rowdy mob of Detroit Lions' fans come Winter.

Big Brew

2007-04-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

The Lapeer Area Brewers brewed up a big IPA last month at my house (you know, the one that needs painting) and we are scheduled to bottle that rascal today. It has turned out quite well, if my few little tastings-done during the times the beer was racked into new fermenters or the gravity was checked-are any good indication. It should be an intensely hoppy strong (7%) American IPA.

Yesterday I brewed up a Northern English Brown Ale that is currently fermenting away in my dining room (which also could use a coat of paint). Brewing has become pretty automatic for me lately as I made my 27th All-grain batch yesterday.

On May 5th the American Homebrewing Community celebrates Big Brew, the main holiday of homebrewers. It is customary for homebrewers to brew on that day and to have a simultaneous toast at noon to the homebrewers of the world. Brewpubs and microbreweries all over the country assist in these celebrations, so find one in your area that does and go meet some homebrewers. Not all of them are like my suburban, "docker-clad homies" from Lapeer. They run the gamut of different individuals around the country, with one common characteristic: they love brewing and are happy to talk about it. The homebrewers I know are some of the nicest people you'll ever want to meet. So go do it!

Note: I looked at the photos from the last post and I don't see a single person wearing dockers. I also note that these people, with a couple of exceptions, aren't really suburban yuppie types, either. But, what do I know? Or care?

One final note. Tomorrow will be the second anniversary of this blog. I posted my first blog article on 4-15-2005! Boy, does time fly! I've kept up to my promise to post infrequently, at best, and I intend to continue that tradition.

Cheers!

Things Beer

2007-03-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

I have been virtually awash these days in all things beery. I started a brewing club in the Lapeer area of my home state of Michigan. We are called, ingeniously, The Lapeer Area Brewers, or LAB for short. In addition to this beer-related activity, I have also enrolled in and begun attending a beer appreciation and sensory evaluation class. What, you may ask, is a sensory evaluation class? Well, my oh-so curious friends, a sensory evaluation class is a way for a supreme beer geek (the Instructor, not me) to actually con thirty or so people into listening to him drone on and on about beer for three hours each week for five weeks. Either that or its a class that helps one to appreciate the various levels of complexity in the beer we taste and to evaluate and identify those tastes and their origins, as well as the history of the beer and its related geographical minutiae. One or the other. I'm not sure which yet, because I've only taken two classes. Tell you what: I'll let you know in a few weeks, OK?

In addition to this, I am preparing to take the Beer Judge Certification Program's certification test. This test is tough! Just to give you an idea of the toughness of this test, I'll describe it in all of its glorious, geeky, boringness. It's 10 essay questions on beer. This includes beer-making, beer history, regional styles and their history, classic style examples, the judging program itself and much more. The ten questions should take about three hours to finish. Yes, three hours! These questions are worth 70% of your grade. Then there are four beers to evaluate according to style. The tough part is there are no descriptor definitions on the score sheets. This means you have to have memorized the style guidelines for all of the beers. If you've clicked on the hyperlink and seen the score sheet, you will have seen one of these score sheets and the items on the left are the items that are missing from the testing score sheets. The style guidelines are different for each beer and the descriptor definitions all apply to the unique style guidelines for each beer. Whew!

To give you a better idea of how tough the test is, I know a professional brewer, who has brewed several medal-winning commercial beers at the Great American Beer Festival, who has failed to pass this test three times. Basically, one needs to study the material to pass. Period.

Just prior to posting this article, I did a little homework for my beer class. I taste-tested several commercial beers for the next class. I tasted Bell's Porter as an example of the Robust Porter category, Hacker-Pschorr Weisse as an example of the German Weizen/Weissbier category and Victory Hop Devil as an example of the American IPA category. These are listed as prime commercial examples of each of their respective styles. I am unhappy to have been unable to find good commercial examples of three of the styles I wanted to try: Baltic Porter, Imperial IPA and English IPA. Still the best beer store in my county was able to provide me with good examples of all of the other styles between 11 and 15. Note to those who have very good beer stores in their area (Camojack, for instance), I couldn't find any of the listed commercial examples of English IPAs, Baltic Porters or Imperial IPAs! Feel sorry for me. Feel very sorry!

My new Homebrew Club also brewed a club batch of strong American IPA on Saturday. It was a ten gallon batch of near 7% beer with a very hoppy character (106 IBUs). The pictures at the top of the page are of the brew club (I took the pictures, so am not pictured) on the job. I'll let you all know how that beer turned out in a few weeks...

The 1/2 Hour News Hour

2007-02-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

Of course liberals are funny but what about conservatives? Can a satirical news show with a conservative point-of-view make America laugh? The new faux news show on Fox News Channel, The 1/2 Hour News Hour (Shades of the CBC show, "This Hour Has 22 Minutes") is a new attempt to make funny with some conservative-based political humor. I think it's high time for such an offering. I just hope it is well-written and, above all, funny.

The show is executive-produced by Joel Surnow, who created the wildly successful Fox thriller, "24", and features cameo appearances by Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. The article linked to above, from the Washington Post's Tom Shales, indicates (albeit, begrudgingly) that the show is funny. If he thinks it's funny, it's probably hilarious, especially to conservatives.

My suggestion? Hire Scott Ott to provide some of the writing for the show, as well as some other, established satirists with a right-leaning political bent. They could also get conservative actors-yes, there are some-to come on for cameos and short bits to boost ratings and provide some star power. Conservative politicians with good senses of humor could make appearances, also. Finally, the show should make sure to poke fun at conservatives as well as liberals. Sure, liberals are easy targets and they have the most material to work with but there are plenty of conservatives that would be good fodder, as well. It would make the show seem more even-handed and would probably make it more popular, too.

The show debuts tomorrow night at Ten. I'll be watching, how about you?

Terror-Free Oil

2007-02-09T16:21:00.000-08:00

I never buy gas at Citgo stations because of the money going largely to the Venezuelan government and Chavez. Up until now that was the extent of my politically-based decision making in regards to oil and gas purchases. There is a better alternative: Terror-Free Oil. Somebody had the bright idea of starting a gas station that sells only oil purchased from non-terrorist-supporting/non-Middle East states, and advertising the status of that gasoline as a marketing ploy. They also provide a percentage of the station's profits to anti-terrorism efforts and have a green/alternative agenda, supported from the profits. I got the info from a Reason article by Katherine Mangu-Ward.

The only Terror-Free gas station available now is in Omaha, Nebraska. If I could find one where I live, I would buy my gas there. If I could swing the money to invest in a new franchise, I'd do so, as well. In the meantime, check out the website for info on which gas stations buy oil from terror-supporting states and from the Middle East, and which do not. It might help you make an informed decision. I really love this idea! I hope the idea works and catches on!

Park Bench Mutations

2007-02-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

Much of the power of the groundswell that was the Leftist Movement in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s was composed of the environmental movement. This aspect of the movement, which was otherwise considered largely political (or even, more accurately, one-dimensionally anti-war), was nowhere more powerful than in the music of the day. The Rock albums of the sixties are filled with paeans to the environmentalist notions of the time. Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Guess Who, and others nearly made a career of lamenting the damage being done to our environment, while bemoaning the happy, faultless state of peace that they claimed was our native population's legacy. Notwithstanding the error of that silly Rousseauean vision, it is interesting to note the Luddite character of this commonly held and romantically revered view of the world and our place in it.

This vision requires a couple of precursors. One, that mankind is a non-natural destroyer of the world environment, causing damage to a system that, without him, would exist naturally and blissfully for all of the other creatures and flora of the planet. The end-result of this view is that it would be best for the planet and its inhabitants if mankind simply ceased to exist. The other precursor is that the principle fault of man in his existence on this planet lies in his development and use of technology. In this view, held by a range of thinkers from hippies to the Unabomber, it is technology that hurts the environment and a return to less technologically advanced methods of making a living would be beneficial to the environment. Of course both of these views are tragically flawed, but they have powerful, romantic associations that make them attractive to many people. Who can deny the draw of the pastoral, unfettered by modern machines, view of the "state of nature"? Isn't it this romantic notion that fuels the hiking, camping and other niche industries?

Many of the ills of the modern world can be attributed to technology. Gun violence, obesity, nutritional related diseases, pollution, global warming and many other problems can be easily traced to an origin of modern technology. It is also true, however, that technology provides many cures for otherwise destructive situations and its usefulness far outweighs its destructiveness.

During the Movement, many of the proponents of change (i.e., revolution) were also caught up in the sexual and pharmacological aspects of the changing times. Over the course of what many felt was a "back to the earth" movement, a significant portion of the participants fell off the bus, due to drug problems and depravities associated with the new, more libidinous lifestyles.

Today, we find that the core of the Movement is still environmentalist in nature. The overtly political factions were peeled off into mainstream political parties or just dropped out. The "back to the earthers", though they may have been co-opted a bit in their need to continue in life and join the "work-a-day world", is still concerned with our pollution of the environment and mistreatment of animals. They may not have remained on the commune but they carry much of the same values with them in their daily lives.

I look at the song, "Thrasher", by Neil Young as a sort of history of this movement in the country. I have no evidence to back it up, but it fits nicely with the lyrics. I think there's little doubt about the drug abuse connection, but more obscure are the references to those seeking a new direction and the natural allusions of planting and harvesting. Obviously, the thrasher is a malignant force, though harvesting is not necessarily so. Is it the machine that's bad? Perhaps Neil should have been Amish?

Are his "companions" those in the Movement, who drifted into drug abuse, debauchery and the love of technology? Is the "light of day" the modern reality of technology? Certainly the reference to "the aimless blade of science" seems to be. Slashing the pearly gates seems to me to be the idea that pharmacology opened up heaven to anyone who wanted to use the hallucinogenic drugs that became available during the sixties. "Burned my credit card for fuel" indicates a return to primitivism. His companions had the best selection but became park bench mutations, lost in crystal canyons. Their motel waits with heated pool and bar, but Neil doesn't want any of it (he says). I really like some of the phrasing, here and the song itself is beautiful. I guess my interest in nature makes me susceptible to the lure of this philosophical view. I know I was enamored of Thoreau and Walden's Pond, as a child. I always wanted to learn to live off the land.

Anyway, read the lyrics and tell me what you think. The song is from "Rust Never Sleeps".

They were hiding behind hay bales,
They were planting in the full moon
They had given all they had for something new
But the light of day was on them,
They could see the thrashers coming
And the water shone like diamonds in the dew.

And I was just getting up, hit the road before its light
Trying to catch an hour on the sun
When I saw those thrashers rolling by,
Looking more than two lanes wide
I was feelin like my day had just begun.

Where the eagle glides ascending
Theres an ancient river bending
Down the timeless gorge of changes
Where sleeplessness awaits
I searched out my companions,
Who were lost in crystal canyons
When the aimless blade of science
Slashed the pearly gates.

It was then I knew Id had enough,
Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
With a one-way ticket to the land of truth
And my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends I still dont understand.

They had the best selection,
They were poisoned with protection
There was nothing that they needed,
Nothing left to find
They were lost in rock formations
Or became park bench mutations
On the sidewalks and in the stations
They were waiting, waiting.

So I got bored and left them there,
They were just deadweight to me
Better down the road without that load
Brings back the time when I was eight or nine
I was watchin my mamas t.v.,
It was that great grand canyon rescue episode.

Where the vulture glides descending
On an asphalt highway bending
Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions
Waits with heated pool and bar.

But me Im not stopping there,
Got my own row left to hoe
Just another line in the field of time
When the thrashers comes, Ill be stuck in the sun
Like the dinosaurs in shrines
But Ill know the time has come
To give whats mine.

Fifty Years Ago

2007-01-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

I just turned fifty, so I thought I'd post a bit of history that interested me (since I am now officially history, myself!). So here goes...

Fifty years ago, a Muslim terrorist organization waged a campaign against the imperialist Western nation that had ruled the country for some hundred years. The campaign had lasted for four years and was insanely brutal. The terrorists used bombs and the killing of innocents as their primary weapon. They claimed they were the true patriots of the country and were against the foreign occupiers. They were largely financed by other countries who had specific global political reasons for their support. The terrorists wanted an Islamist state and the Western "occupiers" wanted peace and stability. Clearly, the people of this country were better off with the foreign occupiers who had brought modern medicine and economic prosperity to the country which was poor beyond Western understanding.

The ruling imperialists fought this war against the terrorists with great vigor. In 1957, they had 400,000 troops in the country waging war against the extremists. The cost in 1957 dollars was $4 million a day. More than 55,000 military and civilian lives had been claimed in the conflict. Much like the present Muslim terrorist conflicts, the primary victims of the Muslim extremists were fellow Muslims. Even in the home country of the colonialists, the bulk of the victims of terrorist attacks were Muslims.

The country was a Third World outpost for the colonial power, rich in oil and strategically placed for military purposes. News reports of the time used the word, "terrorist" to describe the rebels who fought against the colonial power. Bombings and the massacres of civilians who aided the colonialists or refused to fight them were common. In one such incident, all of the male members of a village were slaughtered, for their loyalty to the colonial power. Three hundred boys and men were killed and mutilated. Only one survivor was found, who related how the rebels had gunned down the male civilians with a complete absence of mercy.

Fifty years later, we are seeing this macabre dance played out again and again. When will it stop? In 1957, the imperialist "occupiers" were the French. The Arab terrorists were located in Algeria. Today, Algeria has been free of the colonialists for over forty years. The socialist government has been largely military-ruled for the entire time of their independence. Algeria would have been a modern, secular democracy, had the French won the war against the terrorists. That was not to be, however, and the result has been disastrous. It remains poor, violent and war-torn.

I don't know about you, but not even considering the would-be Millenialist Bomber, Ahmed Ressam's Algerian citizenship, this doesn't make me optimistic for the future of Iraq or any other Middle Eastern country.

THE Auto Show!

2007-01-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here at the computer, composing a post about my trip to Detroit this morning to visit the North American International Auto Show, sipping a homebrewed ESB and diggin' on some awesome tunes, courtesy of Motor City Josh. Meanwhile, I'm composing an exam to make the 17 students in my college class just miserable! Life is Goooood!

Anyway, this was my umpteenth time at the real car show, the Motor City car show, having lived in Detroit or near there for most of my years. I had a great time! I took my son, Beerme3, who is just about to turn 20, next week and he seemed to have a good time as well.

Last week I got a cool digital camera so I could take some pics and send them to my other son, Beerme2, who lives in Atlanta. He likes cars alot! So I took a bunch of photos and sent him a few. The pics at the top are of Beerme3 in a Mitsubishi Eclipse and a cool, GM concept car, called the "Efijy". Retro with a twist or two!

If anyone reading this has never been to the Detroit Auto Show, you're missing out! It is lots of fun to check out what's new, what's being planned and what all the newest gadgets are. See ya next year!

I have a companion blog at Multiply, which is kind of like MySpace, but less popular (sorry, that's my style). Anyway, I can post music and photos and videos, there, so if you're inclined, check it out at Brewmiker's Tavern
I promise to post a few more pictures there when I get the chance!

Medical Marijuana

2007-01-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

Among the things that I frequently criticize the Bush administration for is their dogged determination to continue the WOD (War on Drugs), despite the paucity of evidence for its effectiveness. Add to that fault the flagrant disdain for "states' rights" shown by much of this federal anti-drug action and you've got a federal government that worries me.

On Wednesday, the federal government rode down on 11 legal medical marijuana distributors in Los Angeles. They confiscated the product and detained several people present, though did not make any arrests. It would be reasonable to assume they also confiscated customer data, as well. Hat tip to Radley Balko and his The Agitator blog for this news and for all of the excellent information he presents with such wit and accuracy.

Unlike most people in this country, I believe all drugs should be legal for adults. I am aware that the consequences this might have but am certain the overall effect would be preferable to our current practice of prohibition. But even if though this view may be a minority view, the support for decriminalization of marijuana-or the legalization of it for medical purposes-is far more widespread. I know several people who've told me that marijuana is the only drug they used that had an affect on their appetite, while going through chemotherapy. Other drugs were either ineffective or had unacceptable side-effects.

As a law enforcement officer for over twenty years, I have seen the adverse effects of drugs on people and society. The fact is, though, that the adverse effects of the prohibition of drugs has been even worse. Many other law enforcement officers are aware of the problems with drug prohibition and are speaking out on the subject more and more frequently.It has become common practice for police agencies to perform even routine warrant services with the support of a full SWAT team, resulting in several unnecessary deaths and "wrong house" disasters. The current law in Michigan has changed significantly over the years as a direct result of the war on drugs, to the point now, that a person can be stopped for a driving infraction (or the appearance of a driving infraction), deemed by a police officer to be under the influence (by a series of extremely subjective "sobriety tests", of dubious validity), and forced to submit to a blood test at the risk of arrest and drivers license restriction. If the blood test shows any concentration of marijuana, the charge is Driving Under the Influence of drugs. This result does not depend upon the driver's actual sobriety but on the presence of a prohibited substance in his blood; one that may have ceased affecting his driving skills as long ago as one month!

The prison population is surging in this country, due partly to the tough enforcement of drug laws. While only about one percent of the prisoners in this country are serving time for only the use and distribution of marijuana, nearly ten percent of the probationers are serving probation for it. When you add in those who were sent back to prison for marijuana use, the numbers become rather high, indeed(pardon the pun). Far more marijuana-users are dealt with in the kangaroo-like misdemeanor courts, paying the very beast that works so hard at destroying their lives. For example, when a person is charged with these drug misdemeanors, they are most likely to be offered a plea, which they will most often accept, guilty or not, because the cost of fighting it is more severe than accepting the punishment. The result? Probation and continuous drug testing supplied by a private corporation that makes millions off these miserable marijuana smokers (yeah, they pay the their right to be pulled into a drug testing facility at some bureaucrat's whim!). Add to that numerous other fees and fines and you see the individual is swamped by the government practice of prohibiting a simple plant. Sure the business is good for criminal attorneys and the county and state prosecutors' offices but the money is supplied by low-wage earning people who broke a very minor law. Usually the treatment they receive makes it more difficult for them to get a job and be more productive, causing further criminal activity. It is a cottage industry that supplies its own customers!

But what of the trouble this drug causes, you might ask. Have you recently seen any marauding bands of marijuana smokers rioting in the streets? How about a marijuana smoker who must rob the local liquor store to pay for the drug? Nah. The fact is that marijuana smokers do not normally engage in criminal activity, other than their pot use. Now, you might see a few breaking New York's ban on the consumption of trans fats, but that's about the extent of the marijuana-users' threat to society.

Finally, the fact is that the people of California have voted to allow the use of medical marijuana in their state. It is certainly their prerogative to regulate this practice as they see fit but it is unconscionable for the federal government to arrest California residents for an act that is legal under California law! What's next for the federal golem? Ignore the recent laws in several states outlawing the seizure of private property, for another private person's gain, via eminent domain? How about asserting federal law over state law for the criminal sanctions applied to certain crimes such as Criminal Sexual Conduct? Some states' have far more restrictive penalties for the sex abuse of children than the federal laws prescribe. This slippery slope is more than apparent.

It is apparent this administration (and the federal government, in general) is expanding the power of the federal government in more than one way. This exercise in federalism should be denounced by all right-thinking Americans. Let the states and the localities decide what their own laws should be and insist the federal government leave them alone to live as they want!

Twenty Four

2007-01-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

Twenty-Four hours in a day, twenty-four beers in a case: coincidence? I think not!

I decided to write about the television show that seems to be really catching fire this season: "24".
First off, disclaimer: I've been a huge fan of the show since it's inception, having watched every episode and I actually own seasons two and four (Christmas presents from my sons). Jack Bauer kicks ass! I haven't talked much about my enjoyment of the show because, frankly, it's a guilty pleasure. The show is hugely implausible on almost every level. It's blow 'em up, shoot-first, ask-questions-later- fare at its best, though.

The show follows twenty-four hours in the day of Counter Terrorism Unit agent, Jack Bauer, on a real-time basis; that is, each hour of the show is an hour of time in Jack's day. That in itself makes it one of the more unique television shows in history. But 24 is so much more.

The first season aired in November 2001, just after the 9/11 attacks, making it about as relevant as any TV show on the set. It deals primarily with the government response to terrorist acts. Each season, a new cataclysmic terrorist threat arises to test the government's ability to respond, and Jack's ability to outwit the bad guys.

Recently, the show has been the talk of the nation, as I've heard Rush Limbaugh dedicate his show today to discussing last night's season 6 opener, as well as Scott Ott suggesting Jack Bauer might be an effective negotiator for Bush's Iranian problems. I've also heard critics lately saying that the show is a thinly disguised plot to bolster chauvinist, war-mongering attitudes among the electorate. Well, if you want to see the kind of blood and gore, veins in your teeth movies that I loved as a youth, in which John Wayne and Clint Eastwood saved the day and turned down the girl, 24 is just right.

The only criticism I have with the show is the unrealistic aspects tend to bother me. Most of us can't get a cell phone to work for us half the time but Jack Bauer can download satellite images and video on his phone, while the clock ticks on a nuclear device certain to destroy Los Angeles, in seconds. In yesterday's episode, there were a number of implausible situations and actions that detracted from my enjoyment of the show. I would predict, based on the opener, a lot more of the same this season. It seems, as I aired my fears to my wife before last night's show, anything that becomes popular becomes cheaper. Oh, but I'll be watching. You can bet on that!

One thing more: The two hour premier last night went by faster than any show I've ever watched. That says a lot about the show. It's a fast-paced, action-packed thriller, every week. The two-hour second episode airs tonight at 8PM. I'm teaching class, so the wife has been strongly encouraged to tape it for me...

Hoppy New Year!

2006-12-31T08:48:00.000-08:00

After a tough year at the Beerme home, I am looking forward to a better year, starting tomorrow. My oldest son has moved to Atlanta, Georgia to begin his life as an independent man. I'm happy about that and for his continued health since battling and beating cancer a couple of years ago. My youngest son had a tough year last year, as well, but seems to be picking himself up and dusting himself off for a run at 2007. My wife has been fighting the loss of her oldest boy, since the move to Atlanta a couple of months ago, but she is happy and healthy as well. I am working hard at maintaining my professional status with the State and moonlighting as an educator one day a week. All is good.

As for the brewing, it went pretty slowly this past year, but picked up considerably during the last month or two. A review of my brewlog shows the following brew schedule:
1-15-2006-Rye-Rish Red Ale, the eventual blue ribbon winner at the Michigan State Fair!
1-15-2006-Jeff's Amber Ale, a fine Strong Ale brewed with my friend Jeff
5-29-2006-Top-Heavy Blonde, a Belgian Golden Ale that was somewhat disappointing
11-4-2006-The Mild Ale That Wasn't, a brew done at the Teach A Friend To Homebrew celebration at Hopman's Brewing Supply in Waterford Township
11-24-2006-Golem Barleywine, a smokin' strong ale (11%) that appears to be a real winner, so far...
12-3-2006-The Bitter End, an ESB that also looks like a winner (if the judges can get past the American hop presence)
12-3-2006-Honey I Shrunk the Beer, a Small Beer produced by the final runnings of the ESB. Also a fine beer, perhaps a session beer of some prominence.

So there you have it. Seven beers this year. Not much to crow about in terms of production but all were very good, with the exception of the Belgian.

What I hope for in 2007, brewing-wise, is some more consistency. I would like to see better efficiency in my brewing, some new equipment (new or homemade) that will better the product, more prolific brewing, a better hop harvest and some more awards for my beer. I think I may have ensured at least the last wish with at least one of the beers I brewed over the last month, but I'm still awaiting some independent evaluation from my friends before predicting it.

This year is barley over but may the new year be very hoppy for you all!

Corruption Barometer

2006-12-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

What with William Jefferson's being re-elected by a substantial majority and Republicans and Democrats all across the country coming under fire left and right for corruption and ethics issues, I thought a visit to Transparency International would bear a look see. From their website: "Transparency International is a global network including more than 90 locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation. These bodies fight corruption in the national arena in a number of ways. They bring together relevant players from government, civil society, business and the media to promote transparency in elections, in public administration, in procurement and in business. TI’s global network of chapters and contacts also use advocacy campaigns to lobby governments to implement anti-corruption reforms."

Though many of us are prone to argue that a country's politics and economic structure is what makes it a good or bad place to live, in most cases it is the presence of corruption, in its many forms, that truly sorts the good from the bad. "Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority." I certainly would expect that those countries with socialist regimes and economies, or theocratic dictatorships (as in Iran, for instance) would score very high on the corruption barometer, and it turns out, they do. Still, many countries with freely elected governments, with free economic environments score high, as well. What keeps these countries from making the lives of their citizens better is, quite simply, corruption.

Many of us have experienced corruption in our lives, here in the good old USA. When the cop in your hometown pulls people over just to pad his stats on Drunk Driving convictions (yeah, it happens here) or when the local election officials throw your vote away or assist in limiting others ability to vote or get out the vote, that's corruption. We could be much better off than we are, and we're doing great compared to most countries! Just imagine how prevalent and horrific these things are in, say, Turkey or Pakistan.

It is my belief that free economies (and ours is not nearly as free as it should be), rule of law (honestly and fairly enforced) and local control in most governmental matters, are the prerequisites for true freedom in any country. The more I read, the more I feel this way.

For a look at how the different participating countries did in the "corruption barometer" surveys at Transparency International, visit this site and click on "English Global Corruption Barometer 2006" under the segment entitled "Full Report".

Shredded Pork

2006-12-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican (or anything in between) you will probably agree that:
1. The government spends too much money, and
2. People who want special things for their own areas should pay for them themselves.

If so, you should be encouraged by some of the actions of a certain junior Senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn. It seems as though Coburn has been on a lonely crusade to end pork-barrel spending for a couple of years now, with little to show for it but grief and the wrath of his more senior fellows. He doesn't seem to care, though, because he has stepped up his attack on pork and everything connected to it lately, and is finally getting some positive results for his efforts.

Check out this article from Reason's Katherine Mangu-Ward, to get a pretty nifty accounting of his successes in this crusade. From his attacks on the "Bridge to Nowhere" to his collaboration with "Osama Obama" on a pork attachment transparency bill earlier this year, Coburn has been making a name for himself among those who think this federal government has simply gone swine crazy. It is not unusual to see the attachment of thousands of pieces of pork (earmarks) to a large appropriations bill nowadays. These kinds of additions used to-say in times of yore, as recently as the 1980s-number more like a few hundred, at the most.

If you're tired of hearing about the senator from Hawaii or Alaska (or Mississippi or Massachusetts, for that matter) larding on pet projects for their states to be paid for by the taxpayers of the other states, then you should applaud this man's efforts and try to vote in more like him.

Honestly, there's not alot to be hopeful about in our federal government these days, so when a federal politician commits to doing the right thing, despite rocking (more like upending) the boat in the gentleman's club that is the US Senate, it should be noticed and appreciated!

The English (Not So) Mild

2006-11-22T20:36:00.000-08:00

I promised to write about the beer I made at Hopman's Homebrew shop on November 3rd, and here I am to do so! I downloaded a recipe from an internet site (Brew Monkey)for an English Mild. An English Mild is a brown ale that is light in alcohol content but malty and roasty and full of flavor. This is a beer that weighs in at 3 to 4.5% alcohol by volume and is a light brown in color. There really are few commercial examples in this country to cite, so I won't. Suffice to say that it is a flavorful alternative to your megebrew low-carb offerings.

When I brewed this beer, I had to double (approximately) the ingredients list to make a ten gallon batch, as the recipe was for a five gallon batch. I was brewing this beer approximately an hour's drive away from home in a parking lot. This is to say that I needed to carry everything I needed with me to Hopman's brewshop. I forgot the hops and the two half-gallon yeast starters I made the day before! I did bring everything else I needed, though, and since I was in the parking lot of a homebrew shop, the hops weren't hard to find (in fact, Rick Hopman gave me the three ounces of English Kent Goldings I needed for the recipe. Thanks, Rick!).

When it came time to heat my sparge water, I second guessed myself and somehow, came up a couple of gallons short on the volume. I can only say that this was a teaching session and I was very busy both brewing and answering questions from curious would-be brewers who were there to learn a bit about the hobby. I screwed up on the calculation and as a result ended up with only about eight gallons of liquor! I could have added some water to the liquor tank and heated it to 170 degrees and added it to the mash tun to gain the expected volume but instead I decided that everything happens for a reason and boiled the volume I had for a stronger but less voluminous batch of beer.

After boiling, I had some problems with my equipment. The homemade screen I use to strain the hops from the wort (unfermented beer) clogged on me due to a kink in the hose near the outlet. Imagine as your hero explains to the adoring crowd that he prefers to use whole hops for their filtering properties and when asked if they clog the runoff, replies, "Nope. Never had that problem". Then watch horrified as the device he proudly points to as something that will do the job quickly and efficiently-that he made himself-clogs and slows to nary a dribble as the runoff commences! Oh, ignoble Law of Murphy! This caused me to have to ladle the wort through a screen into the kegs I was using for transporting the beer home. This certainly was a dangerous practice because it increased the chance that an infection could occur! Remember, this is cooled wort and is susceptible to bacterial invasion at this point. I had little choice, so I did what I had to do and went home with nearly eight gallons of unfermented beer.

When I got home I tranferred the wort to glass fermenters and pitched the yeast starters. The original gravity of this beer was 1.064. This is perhaps twice the normal gravity of an English Mild (normally between 1.030 and 1.038)! I guess the resulting beer could be considered a Strong Ale but really, since it was brewed as a Mild, I think I'll call it an Imperial Mild! Strong versions of normal beers are often categorized as Imperial beers, following an old habit begun when the English brewed strong Stouts for the Russian court, called Russian Imperial Stouts. Nowadays, one can find any number of American craft brewers producing Imperial Stouts, Imperial IPAs and other stronger versions of normal beers. Imperial Pilsners are the current rage.

So, to cut to the chase, I racked the finished beer into a keg and force-carbonated half of it on Saturday. I tried it an hour or so later. It is fantastic! My new favorite beer! I bottled the rest of it-37 12 oz. bottles-on Sunday. It is carbonating naturally now, in the bottles. This one is a winner, folks! I don't know how I'll enter it into any contests, with it's unusual character but I'll have to find a way because this beer needs to be recognized as the star that it is. Strong-at about 6.5 to7% ABV-but so flavorful! I'm certain that it will age gracefully, too.

I'll file this one under the heading of Serendipity. I may call it Kismet Imperial Mild. Or, how about Serendipity-Dew?

Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day

2006-11-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

Although I didn't publicize it as I should, Saturday was Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day. I know, I know, you all forgot. That's OK, you can send the present you got for me now, it's never to late to give the gift of beer, you know. No, actually, the holiday was created to expand the hobby of homebrewing to as many people as possible. The holiday is scheduled for the last Saturday every November so be ready for it next year, OK?

This year I assisted Rick Hopman of Hopman's Homebrew Shop, in Waterford, MI. He held a demonstration behind the store on Walton Avenue, in the back parking lot. Rick did a great job of promoting the holiday and setting the site up for the various brewing demonstrations that were done. Three brewers did batches of all-grain beer that morning, two members of my homebrewing club, The Pontiac Brew Tribe and one member of CRAFT homebrew club. One IPA, one English Mild and one American Barleywine was made "from scratch" so-to-speak! Two other brewers made kit beers, from extract. A great time was had by all.

The cool brew sculpture in the bottom photo is Dale Marquart's rig. He won a blue ribbon at the State Fair for a Belgian Trippel this year! You can see Beerme, himself, wearing the purple sweathirt and hoisting a glass of Rye-rish Red Ale in the top photo, and also checking the mash temperature in the photo on the right.

I'll try to remember to promote this holiday a bit better, next year. Tune in for a report on the English Mild that wasn't. Update expected in a month or so...

Election 2006

2006-11-07T12:18:00.000-08:00

I waited to post this because I didn't want to influence any of the Brazillion readers of this blog in any way prior to the actual vote. Now that the election is almost over (all but the lawsuits and the phased redeployment of our Democrat brethren), I think I'm safe.

First, there is no one (really) who is more disappointed in the Republican government we've had over the past ten years or so, than little ol' me. They have been terrible on spending, less than libertarian in pushing projects like No Child Left Behind and the new Medicare debacle, while wimping out on much needed reforms in social security and school funding (how about vouchers, people?). All that said, it is equally certain that Democrats would have been and will be much, much worse in all these areas. At least Republicans talk the talk, even though they limp around a bit when trying to walk the walk. Democrats don't even say they're for the things I want government to do-or more importantly, not do.

So there really is no choice but to vote mostly Republican again. I'll hold my nose and vote for a watered down Mike Bouchard over a raving liberal nutcase like Debbie Stabenow; for a slightly weak candidate for governor over our current socialist, Ms. Granholm; for a number of other less than ideal candidates because they're infinitely better than their opposition. I will post my protest vote in other ways, however.

I am largely libertarian in my political views. I rarely feel safe in voting libertarian, though, because I feel as though I'm wasting my vote and might help to elect some of the morons the Democrats want elected. So I have decided that, until a third party I can see as electable comes to be, I will cast my third party votes for the boards of regents for my state's public universities. In this way I might be able to get some libertarian-minded people elected to public posts and maybe have their "foot in the door", so to speak.

As for the various proposals on the ballot today in Michigan, they were largely no-brainers for me. Prop 1-Yes, Prop 2-Hell Yes!, Prop 3-yes, Prop 4-Hell yes!, Prop 5-Hell NO!

That about sums it up. Hope you all voted and hope you Democrats only voted once!

Michigan's Choice-Update

2006-10-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

I guess I wasn't actually done with my rant because I am compelled to return and post this addendum. Has anyone noticed that the one thing Devos hasn't talked about in this campaign, regarding Michigan's economic woes, is the proverbial eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room? I'm talking about unions. Michigan is lousy with 'em and they control this economy and the politics of this state like few others.

Jobs are leaving the state by the truckloads-non-union, over-the-road-carriers, to be more specific. All because the unions have made doing business in Michigan a losing proposal. Ask any Democrat what he hates about Devos and he'll say he's a union-busting Right To Work candidate. Well, then. Why doesn't Devos admit it and point out the obvious to Granholm and her Dem/union flunkies when they attack him? It is them and their philosophy which has dragged this state and the auto industry into the poor house.

OK, I feel much better, now.

Dr. Evil Would be Upset at This!

2006-10-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

Even Mini-Me would have a hard time keeping a straight face at this project. The Doomsday Vault is a Norwegian government-backed seed bank that will house meelllyons of...seeds. Yep. In the event of a nuclar holocaust, or the inevitable Global Warming debacle, the earth's vast store of crop seeds will be safely house in a gigantic vault hidden in a concrete bunker (eat your heart out Ms. RightWing) under the permafrost near the North Pole.

Now, never mind the fact that if the situation ever becomes as serious as to need these seeds, we will probably be unable to actually a)travel to the vault or b) get into it or c)be able to plant them in the frozen ground of perpetual nuclear winter. This is a feel-good, "hope for humanity" sort of thing. A very expensive, feel-good, "hope for humanity" sort of thing.

I hope they have seeds for two-row barley and Cascade hops in that thing! Oh, wait a minute, can I add some yeast cultures?

Michigan's Choice

2006-10-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Once again, it's election time and we are forced to choose between the lesser of two weevils. In this particular case it's between Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos. What makes the choice even more frustrating is that DeVos isn't really nearly as bad a choice as he makes himself out to be. But first, to the former weevil.

Granholm, the pretty, blonde Canadian cutie, who made her name as Michigan's Attorney General, has been Governor of our great state for four years, now. She is fond of offering as an excuse for the current state of the State, that she "inherited" an economy in decline and a gazillion dollar deficit (or something like that). Fact is John Engler, the former occupant of the Gubernatorial Mansion, did cut out like a thief in the night, taking a huge salary increase and leaving the dot-com bust in the hands of Ginny. It made it all the more palatable for the legislators in office at the time, that they themselves received about a thirty percent increase in salary at the same time Engler got his, so "no harm, no foul".

When the current Democrat governor came to power, you didn't hear her talking about the fiscal crisis the state faced. She was talking, instead about all the goodies she would be getting for all of us Michiganders. 'Cause that's what gets ya votes, people! After nearly four years, the state's economy is in the dumper. We are the only state not hit by a hurricane last year to lose jobs. There's plenty more bad news about the state's economic condition but I'll leave you to read about it in the papers. What I want to talk about is what frustrates ME!

I don't know what it is about politicians but they totally piss me off! DeVos, by most honest accounts, is an honest man, with good business sense and a "free market" attitude about the economy. He is well-known in Michigan for working tirelessly to approve vouchers for this state over the past few years, though unsuccessfully. He seems largely to be a libertarian-minded, Christian conservative. He has steadfastly maintained his opposition to abortion, especially any federally or state-funded abortions. On this he has not wavered. But that's about the only thing.

I can forgive him the inability to schmooze as well as his opponent. She is a first-class phoney and able to tell anyone what they want to hear, regardless of her beliefs or the truth. In short, she's the consummate politician. DeVos should not be dissed for looking like a "deer-in-the-headlights" at the debates, because he is not a politician and is not used to lying so much. What I fault him for is his centrist moves to make himself more "electable".

In the first couple of debates (I admit I didn't watch the third, it would have been too painful), he played political softball with his challenger, while she raked him over the coals. She accused him of exporting jobs to China, of being responsible for nursing home patient abuse and of being an "extremist" on abortion (implying of course, that he was a religious nut). All the while you could just watch him staring off into the distance, thinking, "I can't believe this Beeyotch"! He could easily have countered these false assertions by stating...wait for it...it's really revolutionary...THE TRUTH! But he didn't. He waffled and wavered and covered and sounded like he had something to hide, when he actually didn't. He was right and she was wrong. Oh, so wrong, in oh so many ways!

The actual simmering point for me was his waffling on the positions that I know he holds, for political purposes. When he was asked about vouchers, which are the simplest and most effective manner of dealing with failing public schools-effective virtually everywhere they've been tried, he waffled. When asked about his opposition for stem cell research and abortions, instead of articulating his positions and qualifying the issues that Granholm confused (on purpose, of course), he waffled. I was literally going to the cupboard to get the Mrs. Butterworth's, I tell ya!

When are these consevrative politicians going to realize that liberals are never going to vote for them? So why pander to them when all it does is dilute your base?

OK, I'm done with my rant. But check out this article from Sikha Dalmia for a short account of what I'm talking about, OK?

My Other Anniversary

2006-10-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

Twenty-two years ago today I hired in with the Michigan Department of Corrections. What a wierd experience that was! In those days you were interviewed at the institution at which you were being hired to work (now, you interview at a central location like Lansing). I remember that interview well.

I walked into the Administration Building at Huron Valley Men's Facility and saw a number of people in "uniform", walking around the front office lobby. The uniform at the time was very different from what I would have expected for a law enforcement-type government job. In those days corrections officers in Michigan wore white shirts, black pants and a green blazer, similar to a certain well-known realtor. We had black ties, that clipped on, for safety reasons. I remembered wearing a similar tie to church as a child. All the employees were walking around with these clip-on ties hanging from the top button-holes, with their shirt collars open. Bizarre! I really wondered what I was getting into.

In the interview, I was asked alot of questions about why I wanted to work for the MDOC and what made me qualified. I remember thinking, "Obviously, it's because I need a job"! I didn't say this, of course, but gave them the standard response of wanting to work for a respectable government agency that keeps the public safe and ensures that the "bad guys" are kept where they belong. In retrospect-after conducting dozens of similar interviews on others- I'm certainly glad I didn't say anything stupid like, "I want to help people" or "I think I can make a difference in some of those young mens' lives"! Gag! (Yes, I've heard that kind of response many times and those folks are trouble, with a BIG "T"!)

The most interesting and-it seemed at the time- most important question, came near the end of the interview. One of the questioners, a Deputy Warden at the prison, asked me if I could shoot an escaping prisoner. I told him that I could. He explained that he wasn't asking me if I had the ability to hit a target, but if I had the ability to take a life. Pretty heady stuff! Non-plussed, I answered, "Yes". I could shoot-to-kill a prisoner that was trying to escape. I wouldn't be happy about it and I wouldn't think it a badge of honor but I would be fully capable of doing that part of my job. And I would, still.

At the time I applied for the job, the testing process was much different than it is today. I was way overqualified for the job. I had a bachelor's degree in English and had been planning to go to Law School. At that time only a High School diploma was required to work as a corrections officer ("prison guard" is considered a pejorative term by today's "corrections professional", ha!). I had decided I had neither the patience to go to four more years of school nor the money to do so without going deeply into debt. So, I decided to find a career that would supply me with a pension and a secure income.

I had recently washed out of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Academy in Oklahoma City. THAT was a blow to my ego! I wasn't quite able to do the job required of me as an Air Traffic Controller. The fact that several former military Air Traffic Controllers in my class flunked out with me, didn't make me any less ashamed. I was newly married and needed a job that paid more with some benefits.

One of my best friends worked in the state psychiatric hospital that houses the criminally insane and those that are incompetent to stand trial. I heard from him that it was a good job and paid well, with good benefits. He spent most of his day playing ping-pong with the "patients, justified as a part of his job in creating a "therapeutic milieu". Hey, I thought, I can do that and improve my ping-pong skills at the same time!

It turns out that the prison system hires from the same test and when the call came for an interview, it was for a job as a corrections officer and not a professional ping-pong player! I was at my job as a small parts assembler for a automobile supplier, when the call came to set up the interview. Interestingly at about the same time, I was hired by a local shop to program and run CNC machines. This is similar to what my son does now. I often wonder what our lives would have been like had I chosen that job instead. But, I chose the prison and the rest is history.

Twenty-two years later, I've risen through the ranks at my job to that of Inspector at my third institution. The highest ranking security officer at the prison. I thought by now, I'd be a warden somewhere but now realize that certain jobs are reserved for those with political aspirations and connections. In a strongly Democrat-run state with strong and long ties to unionism, I am a little under the radar for this type of promotion. Still I like my job and do it very well.

Three years from today, I can retire with a full pension and benefits. Maybe I will and maybe I won't. Who knows what the future brings. The important thing is that I've provided for my family for all these years and earned a retirement to continue to do so, after my death. For all that I've gone through in this job (and believe me there were many unusual and distasteful moments over the years-some even involved the inmates and not the staff!), the State of Michigan has been very, very good to me! I thank the people of this state for providing me with a good income and meaningful work, while assuring them that they've gotten a good employee and a fine job done for the money.

Who knows, maybe I'll decide to go to law school after all...

Go Get 'em, Tigers!

2006-10-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

After the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, which cancelled the post-season and wasn't resolved until the next Spring, I swore off baseball completely. I didn't watch a game or pay attention to MLB for the ensuing 12 years. I guess you could say I hold a grudge...

All that ended this year with the Detroit Tigers and their unlikely successes. After losing a record 119 games in 2004 and another hundred games or so in 2005, the Tigers wowed the country by leading the league in wins for almost all of the regular season, before slipping a bit in the last couple of weeks. With all that success and with a team that was short on superstars, and loaded with young, up-and-coming talent, I returned to the fold.I went to two ballgames at the new stadium, Comerica Park, this year and loved every minute of it!

I have watched several games this season on TV, also. This team is exciting and inspiring! How could you script a post-season better than this one has turned out? Taking on the mighty Bronx Bombers, with a lineup of hitters most experts felt was perhaps the best in MLB history, and whipping them convincingly in three straight, after losing the first game, then sweeping the Left Coast's best Oakland A's, in four makes these Tigers something special!

Right now, the Mets and the Cardinals are fighting it out for the National League title, while the Tigers rest up to meet the winner in the World Series. If St. Louis wins, it would be the rematch of the 1968 World Series contestants. That was the first World Series that was important to me. I was 12 years old and a huge Tiger fan. I used to listen to the Tigers games with my Dad, on the porch in Detroit, on an old transistor radio, as those great players won it all that year. Great memories!

Baseball has weathered the storms of player strikes, "juiced" balls, corked bats, and steroids to once again capture the hearts and minds of the nation as "America's favorite pasttime". Now, this year, with a Tigers team that won in spite of all the odds, Baseball is again magical for me. The 1968 players are retired and many have died. The majestic Tiger Stadium has been replaced with Comerica Park, and will likely be torn down next year. Much like the city in 1968, which was recovering from the riots of the previous year, the 2006 city-with dwindling population and soaring unemployment due to the decline of the auto industry-needs a lift. The roles of Denny McLain, Mickey Lolich, Norm Cash, Al Kaline and all the others are being filled by Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, "Pudge" Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Joel Zumaya. They seem up to the challenge. In 1968, the overweight Mickey Lolich faced down the best pitcher in Baseball (Bob Gibson)in the seventh game and won. He was perhaps symbolic of the regular guy fighting against the odds. This year a bunch of regular guys will do the same thing. I BELIEVE! How about you?

"I guess you could say I'm the redemption of the fat man. A guy will be watching me on TV and see that I don't look in any better shape than he is. 'Hey Maude,' he'll holler, 'Get a load of this guy and he's a twenty-game winner.' " - Mickey Lolich

With Friends Like These...

2006-10-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker pacifist group, says that North Korea's decision to test a nuclear device, recently, is a result of the Bush Administration's "failure" to develop a comprehensive strategy toward the Korean peninsula. This is a group that has worked for more than 60 years "to end the scourge of nuclear weapons", remember.

To refresh everyone's memory, Bush described three nations in the world as an "Axis of Evil" in his first address to Congress. Can anyone remember which three nations he accused of membership in this unholy alliance? Why yes, they were Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Since that time the world's terrorists have literally crawled out of the woodwork to fight the US in Iraq, Iran is threatening Israel and the rest of the world with its nuclear ambitions and North Korea, well is still North Korea. On December 11, 2002, a ship was boarded, while flying no flag, in the Arabian Sea. The ship was a North Korean ship carrying a bunch of SCUD missiles that had been sold to Yemen, according to the Koreans and the Yemenis. So the North Koreans are demonstrably engaged in destabilizing that very unstable region of the world.

To get back to the Quakers, though, what is it about an axis of evil that troubles them so? North Korea has been proven to be a rogue state, engaged in starving its people, selling weaponry to anybody, counterfeiting money (US), and making and selling drugs. Now it says it wants a nuclear arsenal and if you want to stop it, you better give it more aid or else. Simple, really. Clinton bought them out to the tune of about a billion dollars over the course of his administration. What did that get us? Negotiating with terrorists has a habit of making you look silly. That's why Bush won't engage in bilateral talks with NoKo. He's right.

The guy had prescience enough to identify the axis of evil in his first address to congress. He was almost laughed out of office after that speech, as more nuanced politicians discussed how irrelevant these countries really were. How relevant is a nuclear North Korea? How about a nuclear Iran? Kim Jong Il is a madman. He is an evil dictator who doesn't care a whit about the poor, starving population in his country, as long as he is well-fed and able to grow his military stronger. His buddies Saddam and Ahmadinejad were/are evil, too. But that kind of talk isn't politically correct. You're supposed to be more nuanced when dealing with these folks. Don't call a nut a nut.

The Bush administration has been an embarrassement to most conservatives for its lack of attention to reducing the size of government and its total focus on retaining political power, at the expense of doing the conservative thing. In this situation, it has been all over the right thing, right from the beginning. I just hope it's got the stones to walk the walk. The alternative is a troubled world indeed.

Concept Albom

2006-10-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

I was driving home from Jackson, Michigan today after doing key audits at three of Jackson's prisons (one of which was at what is left of the great Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson, formerly the largest walled prison in the world), when I happened to hear the Mitch Albom program on the radio. Now, Mitch's show is syndicated and it probably does very well in most areas of the country but long-time listeners know Mitch's politics are left-liberal. I frequently end up screaming at his show which causes my wife no end of consternation. "If you hate his show so much, why do you listen to it?" To which my mental answer is that I need to know that there are people who think this way and that my worldview is still intact...but my actual answer is something like, "Sorry, honey."

Anyway, after discussing the Mark Foley affair, he ended the segment with a statement that went something like this (I can't repeat it verbatim because I was driving and couldn't take notes, though all the drivers around me were talking on cell phones and ignoring most lines on the road, but I digress):
"What kills me is that when Bill Clinton got into an affair with a young woman all the Republicans thought that was terrible and he should be impeached but when a Republican Congressman engages in sexually suggestive emails and IMs with a sixteen year old page, they don't think it's a problem at all. Aren't they essentially the same thing?"

Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. First they are not essentially the same thing. Foley's acts were much, much worse than Clinton's. Monica Lewinski was an adult, not a child, and even though he carried out his sexual fantasies with her and Foley (probably) didn't (with any of the pages), the idea of treating a sixteen year old page as a potential sexual partner is much more morally depraved than trysting with a young adult tart. Second, I don't believe I have heard any Republicans saying that they think Foley's actions were anything but outrageous and sick, if not criminal. If Mitch is going to accuse Republicans of thinking this is no big deal, he should have produced a name or a quote from someone who had this thought or made this statement. He can't. They didn't.

Finally, it is this completely bald-faced liberal slant that gets a complete pass in the press or in any news coverage that continues to bend the public to the will of these liberal media mavens. Albom is a best-selling author, writes plays and books, has had some of his books made into movies and has a highly rated radio program. He is frequently on TV as a sportscaster as well as a culture critic. What he says makes a difference. The liberals don't need Air America with Mitch on the airwaves. He does it better, in stealth mode, and does it for a wider audience.

One other thing he said was that if the stock market (the DOW hit an all-time high today) is doing so well, why are the people in Michigan not feeling it? I virtually yelled at the radio, "Because they think like you do, Mitch!" An analogy would be that I hire a band to work a party and I promise them to pay them with a keg of fine homebrew (it's my story and I'll spin it any way I like, thank you). Then after they show up at the party, they bring in another guy (let's call him their agent) and he takes a few gallons of the beer from them as his payment for making sure that they are treated right by mean old me. Then, as the party winds down, he takes some more of that beer and gives it away to people that he thinks might be able to help him find more clients like my band and some to people that might want to hire bands for their parties, you know, to form some networks for his own business-which is ostensibly, just to ensure his clients, the band members get "treated right". At the end of the night, when the band is ready to drink their beer, there's hardly any left but the agent is drunk as a skunk and all his future clients and their future clients are in their cups, as well. That's the nature of Michigan's over-unionized workforce and the reason this state is at the dead bottom in terms of job losses in the country, while the stock market and the economy is booming! The unions are drunk with power and the workers are thirsty for a beer.

And, yes, I did yell at the radio. Sorry, honey.

Fair and Balanced, what a concept.

Citgo rolls Snake Eyes

2006-10-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

I've never been the biggest fan of convenience stores, even though they have made everyone's life a little easier. I guess I see them as taking away from the mom-and-pop corner stores of my youth. This is of course a silly reason to dislike a store, especially one that exponentially increased the choices to neighborhood consumers over the past thirty years or so, but I am a silly person, I admit. I have a newfound respect for the Seven Eleven chain, though. Recently the company-an enormous chain with over thirty thousand stores, worldwide- made a nice move. They dropped a partnership held with Citgo which was twenty years old. I don't care why they dropped Chavez's government-owned oil company. The company reports that they dropped it because of the anticipated boycott and the harm it would do to the company and its employees, who don't agree with Chavez's sulfurous comments in the UN recently. That's fine. I'll consider the boycott effective and I'll consider Seven-Eleven as an active member of the boycott, whether they say so or not.

Thank heaven for 7-11! I hope more companies jump on the bandwagon!

Back to School

2006-09-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

I have taken a teaching job at Baker College again this year, after a sabbatical of three years or so. I will be teaching COF222, Criminal Investigations, a class I taught first in 2001 and last in 2003. It is a great introduction to evidence gathering and criminal investigations and alot of fun to teach. I have only nine students, so far, so that makes it a pretty relaxed and informal atmosphere.

The pay is so-so and the great majority of the work is done at home, with no pay whatsoever, but it is rewarding and a challenge so I decided to give it another go. One of the biggest frustrations is the lack of serious study among the students these days. It is a challenge just getting them to turn out an acceptable research paper. The reading and writing skills of the majority of college students, these days is about on a par with what my High School's tenth graders were producing.

Anyway, with most of the hop harvest bagged and in the freezer, and plenty of beer still in the cellar, I have the time and can use the extra money. Think of me this fall while you're out enjoying the colors or hunting. I'll be the guy at home grading papers and writing tests...

Eat Your Heart Out, Eliot Spitzer!

2006-09-21T02:23:00.000-07:00

In "California v. General Motors, 06-05755", U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, California has decided to sue automakers in this country for harming their state. The basis of the suit is that domestic car companies make a product that contributes to global warming and has harmed the health of Californians, while costing the state billions of dollars to combat pollution and erosion. If this isn't the most ridiculous waste of money a state government has exhibited, I don't know what is.

The suit is the latest attempt by California to push business and the federal government to acknowledge and address global warming.They've legislated lower to force utilities to cut emissions, recently and also sued the federal government to for failing to address carbon dioxide emissions. This suit against all domestic carmakers is the latest stunt.

While an admittedly minority opinion among the world's scientists, many of them do not believe that global warming is being caused by human activity at all. Those that believe glbal warming is part of a cyclical shift in temperatures further believe that if global warming is occurring as a result of human behavior, there is nothing that could be done now to stop it. Even if we all returned to the horse and buggy days here, in the US, China and India would continue to increase greenhouse gas emmissions to fuel the effect. This is mainly why a Kyoto treaty is non-workable. It fails to address third world countries and their emissions.

So, if cars cause global warming and contribute to a "public nuisiance", as this suit alleges, why not ban them, California? While you're at it, ban cattle-raising for it's carbon dioxide emmissions? Breathing should be addressed, too. Cars don't cause pollution, driving them does. Arnold, are you listening?

The Original Beer Festival

2006-09-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

I know many of you might think this post is early, it being September and all, but Oktoberfest began on Saturday in Munich, with the ceremonial tapping of the first keg. In Germany the festival is called "die Wiesn", a contraction of "die Wiesen"-the fields. The original Oktoberfest was held on the fields in front of the city gates which were later renamed "Theresienwiese" (Theresa's fields). The original Oktoberfest was held to celebrate a wedding. Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, who was later crowned King Ludwig I, wanted the people of Munich to share in the celebration of his marriage to Princess Therese (of Theresa's fields fame) of Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. He organized a horserace, offered copious amounts of beer and food, invited all the people of Munich and voila! Oktoberfest was born. It was such a success he decided to do it again the next year and a near two-hundred year tradition has ensued.

The modern Oktoberfest involves food, beer and a carnival atmosphere. There are 28-30 tents, six main breweries providing beer, tons of food and about six million visitors consuming about six million litres of German beer. It's a sixteen day festival and the fun flows as freely as the lagers. It begins with the tapping of the first keg by the mayor of Munich. As seen in the first photo above, taken on 9-16-2006, Mayor Christian Ude hollers out "O'zapft is!"-the barrel has been tapped-and the party is on! No, fellas it's the photo on the left...your other left...ahem.

The ladies on the right are wearing the traditional peasant dress, the dirndl. Wear a dirndl or lederhosen, for the men, and you can get in free, I hear. Last year the EU, in its PC frenzy, tried to ban the lowcut tops of the beermaids at Oktoberfest (skin cancer concerns, believe it or not!), creating quite a protest by the men. The edict was largely ignored, though, so no harm no foul. The protests continued until this year, when finally, two weeks ago, the EU parliament rejected the offensive regulation, just in time for Oktoberfest! To top it off, last year there was a group of pickpockets working a con, which involved a buxom, Bavarian maid exposing herself to inebriated men (and there might be one or two around), only to distract him while her cohorts snatched his wallet. Police were on the lookout...

Six Munich breweries, Löwenbräu, Spaten, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, brew a special beer just for the Oktoberfest. The beer, Wiesnbier is slightly darker and stronger than a normal Pils. It is served in a one-liter-tankard, ein Mass. This year the cost for ein Mass is 7.50 euros. If you don't specify a Wiesn, you'll likely get a lighter lager, so you need to know what to order.

I've never been to THE Oktoberfest, but I am planning to go in 2010, for the Zwei-Hundert Anniversary of Ludwig and Theresa's marriage. That should be fun. In the meantime, I'll enjoy some festivals closer to home.

Prost!

Beer and Football

2006-09-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
Frank Zappa

The hop harvest is in full swing at the Beerme residence! I picked the US Goldings and most of the Hallertau hops yesterday and set them to dry in my garage. The weather has been gloomy, cool and wet here in Lower Michigan for at least two weeks, now, and it doesn't look to be getting any better anytime soon. I figured it was time. I think I was a little late on picking the Hallertau hops, because they were browner, on whole, than I wanted. I got a pitiful yiels on both of these plants, though.

Today I will pick the rest of the Hallertau and try to get all of the Cascades picked, too. The Nugget hops will be fine for another week, I think. I hope to get a good amount of Cascade for some future IPAs and Bitters. They do smell good!

After the hop harvest is done for the day, I plan on watching the Lions/Bears game. Yesterday was a fine one for Michigan college football, as both UM and MSU won their games. UM's defeat of the "Crying Irish" was particularly fine! Coach Weiss was very gracious in defeat, though, so I shouldn't really use that moniker, but what the hell. The win should place Michigan in the top five next week! Look out Ohio State!

In a year where all of Michigan's sports teams have excelled, it is now the Lions' turn to step up. The Pistons, Tigers and Red Wings all held the best records in their respective sports for most if not the entire seasons-though losing in the playoffs has been another common characteristic that may bode ill for the Tigers. Now let's see if the Lions have improved enough to make the playoffs this year. Should be interesting!

Hey, I just noticed that hop cones are shaped a little like footballs...

A Gentle Wind

2006-09-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

"Gardner Christopher 36 Darien CT Deceased WTC Occupant Christopher Gardner, a senior executive at Aon Corp., was seen on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center trying to escape the aftermath of the attacks on Sept. 11. His father-in-law, Kenneth Hecken, told the New York Times that the family has received one or two unconfirmed reports that Gardner got out of the building but returned to aid others inside. "That's the kind of guy he was," Hecken said. Gardner loved to sail and was passionate about his wife, Susan, and his two children, Christopher, 3, and Alexander, 2. -- The Hartford Courant"

I have researched Chris a bit. I do know that he was working in Tower Two of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 when the attacks occurred. Witnesses have claimed that he escaped the tower and ran back in to save others. Judging from the stories friends and family have told of Chris, this seems probable to me.I learned that he was called Sam as a child. I could write about his joys, one of which was sailing, or his work as a senior executive at AON Corporation, but I really don't know much about those things. I understand his business was Insurance (better known in the business as "risk assessment", perhaps).

Now, I have sailed exactly once, in a small sailboat with my wife and a friend who knew what he was doing. It was great fun but one trip hardly qualifies me to write about sailing, though I retell the story often; expounding on my wife's fears as we flew along with the mast tip bouncing off the waves (it does get scarier and more adventurous with each retelling, but that's what stories are for, right?).

I have purchased plenty of insurance and I understand the concept of risk assessment. I've always thought that insurance was one of the more ridiculous things we humans pay for. I mean, if you think about it, when you buy insurance, you are placing a bet with the insurance company that you will die soon and they are betting against that happy occurrence. Kind of wierd, huh? So obviously I have no business writing about Chris Gardner's job as a senior executive at an insurance company.

I'd like to be able to say that Chris loved a good craft-brewed beer or that he was a fellow homebrewer. That would make it easy for me, a homebrewer and beer-lover, to properly connect to the man's life. I'd like to know that he was an avid hunter or fisherman because we'd also have that in common. Unfortunately, I am unaware of his drinking habits or of any hobby he enjoyed other than sailing. The picture at the top of the page is a racing photo taken at the Glen Cove Yacht Club, in Glen Cove, Long Island. Chris lived there as a child and surely sailed this stretch of sea as a young crew hand. He was also known to have sailed at Camden, Maine from the Camden Yacht Club in Penobscot Bay. He still sailed there with his wife and two children up until 2001, I believe. So, while sailing and the sea was Chris's passion, I don't really know enough about it to properly expound on this aspect of his life.

Of course one of his joys was his family, and that I am very familiar with. Chris had a wife, Susan, and two young boys, Chrstopher and Alexander. He and Susan were very dedicated young parents. According to Susan, Chris never golfed a weekend in his married life, as time with his family was too important to him. I understand that sentiment! Many times I have left my family for a hunting or fishing trip or a golf weekend with the boys, only to feel guilty and somewhat cheated by not being at home with the three people I care most about. I suspect this is why Chris didn't golf. At least with sailing, he could bring along the whole tribe and have fun together! I understand that Chris had a Boston Whaler, "Robo Chief" and a sailboat, "Evening Star", and he navigated the waters of Pebobscot Bay regularly in both.

As humans we like to name things because it personalizes those things for us and gives them even more meaning due to the personal connections the names add. The names of Chris's boats is an example. In the same way, in order to familiarize ourselves with people, we need to know who the people in their lives were, as we are a product of those personal relationships. Judy Gardner was Chris's mother. She was married to Jonathon Gardner, Chris's father. They had two boys, Jonathon and Christopher. Chris's wife was Susan. They were married in 1996 or 1997 and had two boys themselves, Christopher and Alexander. I don't know about you readers but that short list of the closest people in Chris's life helps me to understand him better.

This tribute to this particular victim of the 9/11 attacks is meant to celebrate the life of Chris Gardner and not to talk about the attackers. Of course it is tempting to rail on about the ignorant and bloodthirsty savages that perpetrated this crime or to lament the time with Chris lost to Susan and her boys. That would only exacerbate the pain and, in a way, assist those who enjoyed their (limited)successes on that day. I prefer to celebrate the life of an American husband and father, who lived a life of service to his family and his job, while enjoying the beauty and simplicity of the art of sailing and the magnificence of the sea.

I am a working class midwesterner, whose father left the Appalachian coal mining region and drove the Hillbilly Highway north to Detroit during that blue collar migration in the Fifties and early Sixties. I'm about fifty years old and could only dream of ever belonging to a yacht club or owning two boats (other than canoes or maybe a small fishing boat). I work in a middle management position in State government. I say all this to show that Chris and I come from very different worlds. The connection between the two of us is that we were both Americans and family men. We had more in common than we had differences, I believe.

Christopher and Alexander will be eight and seven years old by now. They will remember very little of their father, his having passed away when they were too young to have formed the memories that last as adults. I hope they remember the boating trip they took with Mom and Dad in 2001 on Penobscot Bay, where the two boys got to steer the boat through the crowded harbor. There is very little I can remember from before four or five years of age. I am sure Chris's wife, Susan, has kept the memory of their father strong in those little fellows , though. They now know what happened on that day and who is responsible. I'm quite sure they don't understand how such a thing could happen or why, but that's reasonable as most of us can't.

While I don't sail or even do alot of boating, I understand the lure of the sea and the peace and sense of communion with God and his nature that it brings. I have lost my father and mother and also know a bit about the loss of a loved one. Recently, the diagnosis of cancer in my oldest son, further illuminated the ephemeral nature of life to me and my family. For these reasons, I feel I can better understand what Susan and her two boys are going through. Perhaps a trip out on Penobscot Bay would help. I know just looking at the picture above, with that mast tipping towards the frothing waves, as the boat fairly flies along with the wind, helps me to blend with the nature that surrounds us all. I'll bet Chris would enjoy watching his family take another such turn on the water. He might even lend a hand, now and then, when the going gets tough.

Strange Bedfellows

2006-09-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

As I indicated in a previous post, it is apparent that the Leftists are cozying up with the Islamists all over the world. This is especially obvious at any of the recent anti-war rallies and demonstrations across the US. What could make socialists so familiar with Islamic kooks? My previous post indicates it is the power vacuum created when the USSR (and all hopes for a socialist world revolution) went the way of the buffalo (which, by the way, are still doing just fine, thank you).

To expound on that thought, let me say that socialists are expected to be, *atheists-shunning all Godly talk or belief
*liberal-promoting almost complete freedom of choice in almost every aspect of life
*scientific-promoting a belief that an enlightened and scientific collective can organize and scientifically run society far better and more efficiently than "the invisible hand" could ever hope to,
and so on.

While Islamofascists are, well, fascists. They want everyone to do what they are told is the will of Allah, an all-powerful and very vengeful god. They want to restrict the behavior and dress and beliefs of all of the populace and offer no choice in almost any matter.

Why do the two sides seem to be working together? As has been suggested before, they are working toward the same end.

The linked article from The New Left Review, by Malcolm Bull (hat tip to Grim from Milblogs), is an articulation of this strategy. Basically the destruction of the current global capitalist entity by Islamist revolution is preferable to wasting away under capitalist, imperialist domination for even another day. Then, of course, the new utopia will rise from the ashes of the Islamist global society, as Marx promised us so many years ago. It's just that the current political situation has prohibited the proper spontaneous revolution from occurring as Marx foresaw it. So we need the Islamofascists to help us hasten the end. Revolution is revolution, you know.

Reminds me of the old saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". It also reminds me of some of the current crop of Democrats who will do damage to this country just to make political hay.

Crikey! Is that ironic, or what?

2006-09-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, is dead. He died of a freak sting from a stingray while snorkling in the Great Barrier Reef. The man who endeared himself to millions of people who watched his incredibly dangerous encounters with incredibly dangerous animals, met his death from an animal that rarely even attacks people, and then rarely results in death. Remember, this is a guy who literally dared animals like crocodiles, komodo dragons, vipers and other fearsome creatures to attack him-and was actually bitten, stung and injured by most of them during his career as an environmentalist and wildlife enthusiast.

I have watched this fellow for years and come to respect his dedication to the preservation of these animals that most people fear and want to see hanging from a hook. In his show, he revealed quite a bit about himself and his family. His wife, Terri, and kids, Bindi Sue and Robert, were also a prominent feature in his shows. He was a character, like many Aussies, and a loveable, humorous, incredibly passionate showman. He will be sorely missed in this whitebread world, by many of us humans, the Australia Zoo, and alot of those animals he loved so well.

To quote from a mourner in the above article from The Australian, the world "just lost a bloody good bloke"...

Brewgrass Festival

2006-09-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last year I saw a mention of a Beer Festival that sounded too good to be true: a craft beer festival that also features Bluegrass music. I am a big fan of traditional bluegrass music and am moderately fond of craft brewed beer, so what could be better than mixing the two activities into one big festival?

The Brewgrass Festival does just that! Nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina-a beautiful place to be, indeed-this festival has been an annual event for ten years! This year there are forty-six brewers lined up to present their wares, most of them from the Southeast portion of the US, but some from as far away as the Pacific Northwest. The list is Here. Note that Rogue Ales from Oregon and Sierra Nevada from California are showing up to showcase their very excellent beers! I honestly am more interested in trying the local breweries' offerings, than those beers from the larger brewers that are available at any good beer store. The presence of these big, far-off brewers indicates this venue has become a premier beer festival, fo' sho'!

There will also be plenty of good music to hear.The lineup of acts is listed Here. Again, for me, it is the local, the least popularized and the most eclectic or most traditional of the bands that I am interested in. Still, the presence of some "national" acts indicates that this is a big venue (if that phrase can be uttered in reference to Bluegrass music...). From the link posted above (Bands) you can visit the websites of four of the five featured bands. I listened to examples of each of them. John Cowan Band seems to be an interesting mix of Country and Bluegrass, I'll listen and see if I like their stuff. The Gibson Brothers is the most mainstream Country of the bunch, which means, in this day and age, Pop Country. That is of little interest to me. They may be better than that in concert, though, so I'll give 'em a chance. Robinella sounds pretty darn jazzy to me, but Bela Fleck fits that category and can jam in the Bluegrass vein with the best of them. We'll give 'em a chance, too. The Whitewater Bluegrass Company seems, by the info on the website, to be the only traditional Bluegrass band on the menu. Their downloads indicate a proficient band doing lots of the classics. I'm very certain I'll like them! Finally, the wildcard will be the intriguingly named, Greasy Beans. No explanation or samples of their music is available from the website, so I Googled, 'em. Turns out they are a traditional and talented band. Take a listen, Here! Click on Broken Hearted Woman for a taste of the band, live. In fact, I think they'll be number one on my list of bands to see!

My wife and I will be going along with a beer-loving friend and his wife. We should have a great time and I'll let you all know how it goes after the festival which is September 23rd. Craft-brewed beer and Bluegrass music in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Am I lucky or what?

Beer-related

2006-09-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

The results fo the MSF Homebrew Competitions are now posted here. Just click on the button labeled, "results". As you will see when you scan the winners of the different categories, several very good homebrewers won multiple awards at the Michigan State Fair this year. Some of the most successful brewers were, Kirk Rowland, John Applegarth, Jeff Carlson, David Coleman, Phillip Campbell and Robert Krieger. My Brewing Club, The Pontiac Brew Tribe scored with three medals and an honorable mention, thanks to Dale Markwardt's excellent showing of one First Place for his Belgian Trippel and a Third Place in the American Barleywine category, as well as an Honorable Mention in the American Pale Ale category. Way to go, Dale!

In an effort to bolster the public's consumption in good beer, not to mention local beer, these competitions and beer judging in general, are wonderful exercises. The next time you try a beer, even one of the fizzy, yellow sodas that comprise most American examples, try to evaluate it for taste, color, aroma and appearance. Be aware of the subtle hints of barley malt, hops and unexpected aromas and flavors which can range from fruity to caramel to biscuity. See if you can pick out flavors and aromas in one beer style that are not present in another. Go to a local beer store that sells craft brewed beer and mix-and-match a six pack, and perhaps over a card game or a sporting event on TV, join your friends in evaluating a beer or two using these criteria. It's fun and educational.

Watch for some links at this blog to further enhance the beer drinking experience.

Beer. It's not just for getting drunk on anymore! It is a handcrafted drink that enhances the dining experience and provides enjoyment and entertainment. Think of it in the same way oenophiles think of wine. It's really all the same sensory experience.

"Blue Ribbon" Beer

2006-08-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

As promised, I will now reveal the results of Beerme's entries into the Michigan State Fair Homebrewing Competition. The Blue Ribbon for the best Irish Red Ale at the 2006 competition goes to-drumroll, please-Beerme!

Only one of the five beers entered placed (oh, well!), but that one won the first place award. The beer was called "Rye-rish Red Ale" and was an Irish Red Ale, brewed with thrity percent rye malt. It won in the Irish Red Ale category. I picked up my award yesterday at the awards ceremony.

The beer received 44 points out of a possible 50. As a First Place winner, it was entered in the Best of Show judging but a Vienna Lager took those honors. Some favorable judges' comments were, "Creamy, malty, smooth tofee-like, fruity Irish Red", "Rich & creamy (again w/the high carbonation), medium body w/nice width/depth" and "Just enough bitter to nearly balance the sweet malt. Could be stronger but not necessary". The last two quotes were from a National ranked BJCP judge!

The other beers were treated respectably, with two of them scoring more than 32 points, so all-in-all it wasn't a bad showing. It does make me anxious to start brewing again!

I'll post the link to the website when the results are posted, there.

Bliss Defined

2006-08-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last twenty-three years married to a wonderful person. She is my very best friend and the love of my life. I know how lucky I am to have fallen into this rare condition. All around me are the pratfalls of my friends and co-workers, who fall victim to temptation and the simple problems of cohabitation, yet here I stand still married and happy after twenty-three years!

My wife is a hard-working, loving woman. She raised two young men to maturity with great facility (some might say three...). She worked most of those years at a full time job, as well as the overtime involved in keeping a home. Good cook, sweet companion, marvelous lover and thoughtful confidant: she's a keeper!

To add to all this, she has done it while living with a narcissistic, ponderous, ne'er-do-well, like me! My God! The woman's a saint!

Wish me a Happy Anniversary if you would, but I really don't think I need it...I married up, you see.

Still Safe After All These Years

2006-08-16T14:40:00.000-07:00

"And what [last week's] plot reminds us is that five years after 9/11, the United States has not eliminated al-Qa'ida. We eliminated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in under four years, but five years into this war against al-Qa'ida, they're out there still plotting major attacks against the United States." —ABC News consultant Richard Clarke

Well there's a sane voice in the world, eh? This statement of a career public official, longtime terror expert, Clinton apologist, and Bush critic needs further examination.

What is it that the esteemed terror/security expert draws from the foiled terror plot last week? Not that the world has learned to do a better job in dealing with Islamic fascists, or that a plot of this sort was unable to be carried out in our post-9/11 world but that we haven't eliminated al-Qa'ida! Who thought that we would have eliminated al Qa'ida by now? Certainly not Richard Clarke who has been criticized for riding the fence and worrying about political considerations too much to be bothered with doing anything to actually stop bin Laden. The Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti writes: "Scheuer (former chief of the bin Laden Unit at the Counterterrorist Center at the CIA) believes that Clarke’s risk aversion and politicking negatively impacted the hunt for Bin Laden prior to September 11, 2001. Scheuer stated that his unit, codename 'Alec,' had provided information that could have led to the capture and or killing of Osama bin Laden on ten different occasions, only to have his recommendations for action turned down by senior intelligence officials, including Clarke." I'm certain you could not find any member of the Bush camp after 9/11 saying publicly that al Qa'ida will be completely defeated in five years, so what's Clarke talking about?

Could his comments be nothing more than a partisan cheapshot aimed at the current administration? You betcha! He has been a proven liar in the past few years and every time the lie has been one for partisan reasons. In 1999, he was all for the suggestion that al Qa'ida was in bed with Sadaam Hussein. He changed his mind during the politically heated run-up to the 2004 election, though and said there was no such link. During the aftermath of the 9/11 crisis, it was Clarke who made the decision to fly the bin Laden family out of the country. He stated under oath, however, that the decision was made by someone in the Bush administration before admitted later that he had authorized it himself and still stood by his decision. In his book, Against All Enemies-published in March, 2004, he stated that Donmald Rumsfeld, "who looked distracted throughout the session, took the (Deputy Defense Secretary Paul) Wolfowitz line that there were other terrorists concerns, like Iraq". This meeting was held on September 4, 2001. The only problem with this statement is that Rumsfeld was not in attendance at that meeting. Politicking with the facts, Mr. Clarke?

Yes, the United States and its allies defeated Germany and Japan in four years and we have not finished the war on terror in over five. Is that a news flash? How is it that the war against the Axis powers ended in only four years? Does anyone remember the "disproportionate response" that finished off the will of the Japanese to continue fighting? Perhaps if we fought that kind of war against the jihadists we could win it in les than five years, too. I imagine Mr. Clarke would not be too happy with that type of prosecution of the WOT, though.

When I see the news that this terrible plot was thwarted I am proud that we may have learned a few things about fighting this enemy. I am heartened that some of our techniques for prosecuting this war on terror are working. I am glad that different agencies and different countries are working together to resolve this problem. And I pray that most of the partisan Democrats and nattering, naysaying career politicians in the Executive Branch are either getting with the program or retiring, like Richard Clarke.

Power Vacuum

2006-08-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

While waiting to attend the MSF Homebrew awards ceremony on August 26, I continue to study liberal/leftist thinkers to glean what insights are possible from the lot of them. One thing I have come to understand is that the lack of a set system of morals tends to plague most of these thinkers. With God being dead and all, they have no moral compass upon which to rely, falling back on moral relativism and the age-old "might makes right" axiom. If there is no God (or even a moral system which can be agreed upon that is secular in origin, however plausible that concept is) and everyone should be free to decide on their own what is morally right and morally wrong, what decides whose concept of morality is correct? Why, it must be power!

Most leftists will tell you that the old morals are dead. Many will tell you that the idea of a belief in God should be ridiculed as well. In place of these age-old systems of belief, morality and strictures of social conduct, the Leftist places the idea of a "perfectable mankind". In the eyes of the Leftist, mankind is not flawed (weak and stricken with the inability to make moral decisions on his own) but is-through the use of science and technology-perfectable. The only reason mankind has not solved all of its troubles and created the true workers paradise is because we haven't yet quite figured out how to perfect the one weak cog in the machine: Man.

Marx believed that Capitalism was doomed because it alienated the workers as well as the capitalist from their true nature. In this way people became identified with the products they made and/or consumed. This rather metaphysical concept was called "commodity fetishism". He believed that under communism, a planned and organized system of government/economy, man could achieve what it could not under the unorganized, disparate system of capitalism. Since he has been proven wrong a thousand times, his adherents still insist that the perfection of the weak cog has yet to be achieved. What he failed to understand is that mankind is flawed. Call it "original sin" if you like or say simply that mankind is petty and weak for the most part because, well...it's only human. Whatever your take on the reason for man's fallibility, understand that science can only take man so far. Petty greed, human weakness and prejudice/bigotry will always flaw this grand experiment. Only a system that recognizes that weakness and places safeguards against it, while providing an automatic mechanism for achieving what we want (private property) for ourselves (freedom) without harming our fellow men (rule of law) will ever succeed. Capitalism is the only system to apply these ideals and it works.

Presently in the world we see a strange group of leftist/terrorist bedfellows. In Russia, we have a government that has shaken off the label of communism but remains largely socialist to this day. They freely trade with groups and nations that have stated aims to destroy democratic governments and establish a worldwide theocracy. This is certainly not in Russia's best interest, is it? Take the nations of Iran and Venezuela. The leaders of these two nations are remarkably friendly these days, aren't they? Hugo Chavez sounds alot like Ahmadinajad when he complains about America and its imperialist plans against the rest of the world. Now this complaint is nothing new. Communists have been railing against an invisible imperialism in the USA for nearly a hundred years, now. What is interesting is that Ahmadinajad says much the same when he is asked about America. Perhaps the presence of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan helps to explain this talk of empire but I can't help but think it is a useful appropriation of the old socialist rhetoric.

How does a leader of an Islamic Republic, a veritable theocracy, find a friend in a socialist/communist who doesn't believe in God and wants to erase all religious thought from the world as backward-thinking superstition? It is the filling of the power vacuum, created by the fall of the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the USSR, America's presence in the world as the only super power threatens the world view that has no moral compass to guide it. The communists and socialists, as well as the jihadists, fear the power of the United States because they understand nothing but power: power over their people's ways of life, thought processes and belief systems. If might truly makes right, as we in the USA know is morally wrong, then they had all better work together to make themselves stronger against this powerful foe (us). Don't think for a second that our allies in the European Union aren't thinking along the same lines, either. France continues to trade both weaponry and nuclear technology with Iran, even while working together with the US in the UN to create resolutions to halt the use of these technologies. What does this tell you?

Viewed in this way, the events on the world stage become much clearer, don't they?
As long as we continue to believe in right and wrong, we will be hated by those that think there is only "different", along with their allies who think only Islam is right and everyone else is wrong...or doomed. But take heart because the American liberal establishment is working hard to erase our moral compass so that we can become one with the rest of the world and then we'll be safe...right?

Pondering Liberalism

2006-08-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

I am always trying to figure out liberals. They confound and confuse me at almost every turn. I mean, do they not see the political pandering behind the leftists in the Democrat Party when they denounce someone like Lieberman as "Bush's lapdog" (yeah, a Senator who votes with his party 90% of the time and has been a liberal stalwart for thirty years, a Republican lapdog!)or stand behind partisan hack like Murtha when he denounces our efforts in the Middle East and palpably prays for our failure in that struggle, just to win a few seats for his party in November? I see similar failures in the Republican Party and am ashamed by them. I also readily condemn those responsible and point it out. Delay's pompous denial that there is anything left to cut in last year's porkfest of a budget was reprehensible. The wedding of so many Republicans to cash-fisted lobbyists and their addiction to pork makes me sick. I condemn their poor behavior and their hypocritical insistence that they're for less government when they're indistinguishable from Democrats most of the time.

Now if I see and recognize these weaknesses and foibles in my preferred political party, why does it seem that Democrats can't do the same when faced with hypocrisy and political slight-of-hand? It doesn't take a genius to see that a constant barrage of "Bush killed my cat" is just so much bullshit, when there are serious problems and solutions to work on. If the Republicans are going to conduct business like Democrats, then what do I care if they maintain their majority? I don't!

I've been reading some historical essays on and by the American Left. Yeah, it's a tough job but somebody has to do it. I pulled out some of my college textbooks recently and thought it would be fun to re-read some of them. It was. It gave me some better insight into what drives liberalism and the relationships between liberalism and communism and the continuing struggle between the forces of government versus the forces of freedom.

One thing I was astonished to read was a part of a speech delivered in 1919 by Victor Berger (1860-1929), Socialist congressman from Milwaukee. In it Mr. Berger states that socialists "never claim that the concentration of capital is the cause of evil...The trusts are the legitimate outcome of competition. The trust is the 'survival of the fittest' under capitalism. The trust appears after competition has virtually destroyed competition." So here is Berger a socialist, claiming that he sees the trust or monopoly as the finest resolution of the business process, the evolutionary pinnacle of capitalism. He thinks it is efficient and modern and economical beacuse of its centralization of control and its "efficient" concentration of work and services. This is the fatal flaw of socialism showing its ultimate product. Socialism bases its philosophy on the abolition of private property which will bring about wealth for all:from each according to their ability, to each according to their need. This philosophy centers around science and the ability of man using scientific methods to both create this utopia and make the citizenry enjoy their new paradise enough to not miss the fruits of their own labor.

In this way, socialists are no different from many other groups whose hubris fools them into thinking their ideas for what the future should be can be anywhere close to the unpredictable, dynamic reality of what is possible. Life and progress are largely self-organizing systems that produce many unpredictable and wonderful outcomes, when freedom, self-interest, private property and the rule of law provide the assist. For more information on this concept, see the wonderful book by Virgina PostrelThe Future and its Enemies.

Back to this speech. Berger goes on to say that socialists "appreciate so fully the advantage of industrial production on a large scale that we wish its most perfect development-and wish to give its benefits to everybody-which is impossible under the capitalist system. For that reason we want to nationalize the trusts". Doesn't that remind you of the old Who lyrics? "Meet the new Boss. Same as the old Boss".

Of course the truth in all this is that this centralization of control and ever growing monopoly of business interests was not the highest form of economic behavior. Smaller, more supple and more decentralized control structures have proven to be far more nimble and flexible in today's economy. These are the corporations that are really making changes in our society, while the Fords, IBMs and ATTs are langusihing and whithering on the capitalist vine. Much of the problem with the old thinking was the fallacy that bigger is better but some of it was in the fallacy that the path to more productivity and more efficiency lies in the direction of ever more centralization of command and control powers. This was also the downfall of the Soviet Union.

Of course the left always has the romantic, Robin Hood theme to unite its utopian followers. Take from the lazy, undeserving rich and give to the overworked and overburdened poor. Who can argue with this? It's always easy to agree with someone who says it's a good idea to take property from someone else who doesn't deserve it. It only becomes a problem when the ruling powers decide that you are the one that doesn't deserve your property. Then we want to abandon those high-minded principles and say, "But that's my property. I worked for that and it's mine". "Imagine no possessions" never sounded much good to me but I guess it floats alot of people's boats, judging from the membership in liberal and socialist groups.

No matter what the leftists and liberals say they believe in, you'll find that many of these core socialist principles are in their political repertoire. That's why they're always for the underdog in political conflicts: Palestinians, Iraqi insurgents, Hezbollah, etc. That's also why they think the Soviet Union, despite all evidence to the contrary, was such a magnanimous and positive force in the world. Likewise the leftists belief in the ability of governments to do all that needs doing in the world, despite all manner of evidence to the contrary, from the failures of Katrina to the laughable losers who pushed for the Big Dig project. They still believe in science and the ability of men, united in political power, to effect real change in our lives for the better, while never understanding that these groups of men also carry with them their own prejudices, greeds and a multitude of ulterior motives.

I believe in private property and the ability of men and women, motivated by their own self-interest, to effect lasting change for the better, in a system that rewards individual effort and protects the lives and property of the participants. It will create more progress and do more good for those less fortunate than any centralized government effort in the world. History and science backs that belief up over and over again. We just have to make the politicians back off and leave us all alone to do what we know how to do. That is a tall order indeed, but I believe in progress and the ability of people to learn what's good for them in the long run. So, I'm optimistic...

MSF Homebrew Contest-Updated

2006-07-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I assisted some forty-six others-homebrewers, professional brewers, beer lovers and BJCP certified beer judges-in judging the 570 homebrewed beers entered in the 2006 Michigan State Fair Homebrew Competition. This was the largest homebrew competition ever held in Michigan (by about thirty entries). It also qualifies as one of the largest competitions in the country. We had beers entered in every category sanctioned by the Beer Judge Certification Program, as well as entries in every mead and cider/peary category (28 categories).

My job included judging two categories, India Pale Ales (IPAs) and Ciders/Pearies, along with another experienced judge. In the cider category, there were four of us judging twenty entrants,, two BJCP judges, each paired with a novice/experienced, non-BJCP certified judge (that's me!). We chose the best three entrants in that category, finding three nice examples of ciders/pearies (pearies are ciders made with pears instead of apples). The top three included one from each of three sub-categories: Common cider, French Cider and Peary.

In the IPA competition, there were forty-one entrants, judged by four pairs of judges. Sadly, the eleven entrants I assisted in judging were less than spectacular, having only one entrant reach the score of 39 (top score is 50, though rarely reached). One of the IPAs we judged did make it to the final three, though: a nice English IPA. It came in third, behind the first-place American IPA and a splendid Imperial IPA.

It was fun and educational. And, while I was finishing up the tally on the ciders, I heard a discussion at the next table about a Tamarind/Lemongrass Wheat beer they were judging. Hhhmm, I did enter such a beer into the competition. Wonder how it did?

As soon as the results are in, I will let you all know how the five beers I entered (and the one I assisted in brewing, with my friend, Jeff) scored.

Best of Show awards will be judged at the State Fair on August 26 at 4 P.M. I am going to be there this year, if just to observe the process. Best of luck to all participants!

NEWSFLASH!-I received a call yesterday notifying me that "at least one" of my beers has "placed" in the contest! I have no further information than that and won't until the 26th and the Awards Ceremony.
Man! I hate waiting!

Michigan State Fair 2006

2006-07-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

I am submitting several beers to the 2006 Michigan State Fair Homebrewing Competition this year. Many of you will remember that I took Second Place in last year's competition in the American Wheat Beer category. I hope to top that this year with more awards. I submitted an American Wheat again this year-this one with lemongrass in it for a tangy, citrusy kick, an Irish Red Ale with rye in it, an American Amber Ale, a Belgian Pale Ale, and a Wheat beer in the Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer category-it has tamarind and lemongrass in it. I assisted my fellow brewer, Jeff, in making an Old Ale, a strong, garnet-colored ale that originated in England but has become somewhat popular in the US, lately (Third Coast Old Ale, by Bell's is an example. Try it!). He will submit this beer to the competition and I will be listed as the assistant brewer. I hope he wins a medal!

I will also be judging this competition on July 30th at King's Brewery in Pontiac. Of course I will not be involved in judging any of the categories in which I've entered beers.

If you make it out to the Michigan State Fair this year, try coming on August 26. The Best of Show judging will take place that day at 4 PM. You just might see the Beerme team collect at the winner's circle!

Soft on Crime?

2006-07-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

Talk Show host, Rush Limbaugh, shown here displaying the vigor of the Golden EIB microphone, has been cleared of all charges against him for possessing a bottle of Viagra with his doctor's name on the prescription label. Paul Miller, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, said in June that the alleged violation could be a second-degree misdemeanor.

Florida Assistant Attorney Paul H. Zacks said in a filing that a case against Limbaugh couldn't be "proven beyond a reasonable doubt." Zacks said that even though one of the Viagra bottles was prescribed to someone else, that person was Limbaugh's doctor, who apparently agreed to have his name on the label "to avoid potentially embarrassing publicity" for Limbaugh.

Of course the truth is that the "alleged violation" is not a crime at all, as it is legal for a doctor in Florida to prescribe a medication in a third party's name as long as everyone involved knows who the prescription is really for. This hasn't kept the Limbaugh critics from pumping up the volume on their calls for his prosecution, though.

After eighteen years on the air, Limbaugh's cadre of listeners continues to swell, despite some stiff competition from other conservative talk shows and the fledgling Air America offerings, which are working hard to recover from limp ratings. He has always been a lightning rod for leftwing critics but has continued to weather the storm with an upright message that keeps his fanbase solid.

While Rush could not be reached for comment, it is expected that he is keeping a stiff upper lip about the situation and will carry on as usual behind the mic at the EIB studios. He was seen lighting a seven inch, fifty ring Honduran cigar after the filing. Perhaps this incident displays some of the impotence of his detractors, dedicated though they may be...

A Long, Strange Trip

2006-07-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Summer Vacation, an American institution if ever there was one, has changed considerably over the years with the introduction of the automobile and the US Interstate system. The Interstate Highway System is fifty years old this week, having been begun by Dwight Eisenhower's administration in July, 1956. It served the country well for most of those fifty years, in directing traffic from suburbs to city, from city to city, and around the country. The system was simple in it's spoke-like, hub design, directing traffic around and to the inner cities, which were the hubs of the traffic patterns. Traffic has changed considerably, though, in modern America. The system has lagged behind.

Originally, this system worked well because traffic patterns were focused on commutes from outside the cities to the inner cities, as people generally worked there and lived in the suburbs. Now, however the suburbs are where much of the work is and traffic patterns have changed. The funding for our transportation system is still largely the same as it was in the fifties, also, and it doesn't reflect these changed traffic patterns and has no method of responding to them, either. Many people think a user-paid system would be preferrable to our current funding, and would reflect the usage patterns more accurately, thereby allowing the system to more accurately respond to changes in patterns. Toll roads would be paid for by those using them, and not foisted upon those who will probably never even see them, ala the Bridge to Nowhere. This would shift the payment of roads to the users and eliminate much of the congressional pork we're all so tired of seeing.

My family and I recently went on vacation. We travelled from Michigan through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio, before returning to Michigan again. It was a great trip and we enjoyed ourselves despite the hours of driving and stays in questionable motels along the way. We visited Mammoth Caves and the Heaven Hill Distillery (18 year old Elijah Craig, mmmm-mmm!)in Kentucky; Asheville, the Biltmore House, the Blue Ridge Parkway and Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina; Bristol Tennessee; Clintwood, the Ralph Stanley Museum and in Ohio, having driven through West Virginia on the Robert Byrd Highway at the fastest possible speed allowed by law.

During most of this nearly two thousand mile trip, the driving was unhindered and enjoyable. I highly recommend the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina as one of the most beautiful and enjoyable drives I've ever encountered. In most of the states we visited, the roads were well-maintained and the signage was accurate and sensible. All of that ended, of course, when we entered Ohio. I've always marvelled at Ohio's road system. It seems intended to cause travellers woe at every turn. Detours and construction are everywhere and the signage announcing turns on detours is all but non-existent. travelling on State Highway 2, towards Toledo, we literally never saw a sign announcing directions to I-75, until we were ON I-75! This is the most travelled Interstate in the eastern half of the country, and yet, Ohio's Transportation Department feels that no one traveling towards it, really needs to know how to get on it. Incredible! But, I digress...

One click on the link to the Robert Byrd Highway should give everyone an idea of why I would favor a user-funded (toll roads, private or state-run)method of highway maintenance over our present system. I know during this summer vacation season many others have driven our national roads for hours, as I have, so I'll put it to you: What say ye?

Beer: A Tool for Change?

2006-06-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

Beer can be a vehicle for change. If you think that is nonsense, just look at what happened yesterday in Australia. One of the darkest and most heated conflicts in the modern world was soothed temporarily by the simple gift of beer. No I'm not talking about the War on Terror, but the eternal war between the celebs and the paparrazi!

It seems that the army of paparrazi camped out beside the home of Nicole Kidman, awaiting a chance at a "money shot" of the beautiful actress and her soon-to-be-husband, Keith Urban, were sent a peace offering of...beer! The gift soothed the savage hordes of photgraphers and offered a bit of tranquil comraderie between two deeply conflicted opponents.

Now if we can only work on Al Quaeda with this tool...
Click link here

"Pretty women sell beer, ugly women make us DRINK beer" -Al Bundy

Cultural Dissonance

2006-06-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been doing alot of thinking about my cultural dissonance. That is, the disconnect between what I believe and what music and art I enjoy. I enjoy an eclectic collection of different musical styles, from Bluegrass to Classical. In terms of graphic arts, I have been enamored with Dali and Escher, as well as the classical painters like Davinci and Rubens. I also like trashy art, from movies like Plan 9 From Outer Space and the Three Stooges to television shows like The Rockford Files to 24; from graphic novels to graffiti on trains; from photography to sculpture; from Science Fiction novels by Heinlein and Spinrad to the classics by Melville and Hawthorne, and so on. But what is unusual is the fact that much of the art I enjoy is created by those far left of center, on the political spectrum. The questions are,
Why?
And, does it matter?

Personally I don't think it matters one whit. Art is art and politics is politics. Cleverness in creating a work of art knows no political affiliation, does it? Heinlein was no lefty, and the classical authors of whom I'm fond were from an era that would make it difficult or impossible to characterize them in modern terms, but most artists today seem to be of the left-leaning bent, don't they?

Some of the germs of this treatise comes from the arguments seen on many blogs after Neil Young's latest album was released. Many saw the album, Praire Wind, as a screed against Bush and the WOT. I disagree. Of course Neil Young is no conservative and he has a written songs for decades that celebrate nature and condemn industry and the destruction of the natural environment. These songs like most in the genre, are replete with hypocritical underpinnings. Still, they are moving and interesting and many are beautiful. I like them, even though I'm no tree-hugger. "Thrasher" comes to mind, so I'll post the lyrics here to illustrate what I mean:

They were hiding behind hay bales,
They were planting
in the full moon
They had given all they had
for something new
But the light of day was on them,
They could see the thrashers coming
And the water
shone like diamonds in the dew.

And I was just getting up,
hit the road before it's light
Trying to catch an hour on the sun
When I saw
those thrashers rolling by,
Looking more than two lanes wide
I was feelin'
like my day had just begun.

Where the eagle glides ascending
There's an ancient river bending
Down the timeless gorge of changes
Where sleeplessness awaits
I searched out my companions,
Who were lost in crystal canyons
When the aimless blade of science
Slashed the pearly gates.

It was then I knew I'd had enough,
Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement
turns to sand
With a one-way ticket
to the land of truth
And my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends
I still don't understand.

They had the best selection,
They were poisoned with protection
There was nothing that they needed,
Nothing left to find
They were lost in rock formations
Or became park bench mutations
On the sidewalks
and in the stations
They were waiting, waiting.

So I got bored and left them there,
They were just deadweight to me
Better down the road
without that load
Brings back the time
when I was eight or nine
I was watchin' my mama's T.V.,
It was that great
Grand Canyon rescue episode.

Where the vulture glides descending
On an asphalt highway bending
Thru libraries and museums,
galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions
Waits with heated pool and bar.

But me I'm not stopping there,
Got my own row left to hoe
Just another line
in the field of time
When the thrasher comes,
I'll be stuck in the sun
Like the dinosaurs in shrines
But I'll know the time has come
To give what's mine.

Well-written, if somewhat vague, this song is an anthem against progress. It virtually oozes disdain for the trappings of our modern condition. Never mind that it was produced using metal and plastic instruments, using electrical power and now pollutes hundreds of landfills with it's shiny discs.

For another good example, I have posted a song that was written in 1946 by Woody Guthrie, and was put to music by Billy Bragg and Wilco in 1998, on the album Mermaid Avenue. This is a wonderful recording that puts several of Guthrie's unrecorded songs to music, in a collaboration between the musicians and Guthrie's daughter, who owns the rights to the words.

The song that follows is a perfect display of socialist rhetoric and class envy. Guthrie makes a hero out of a thief and his wish for violent wealth redistribution is of course easy to deride and villify, intellectually. The song has a great deal of power, though and clearly illustrates what draws many young lower class youths to such a philosophy. Of course the romantic, Robin Hood quality of the song is nothing new:

The Unwelcome Guest Wilco lyrics
Artist: Wilco
Album: Mermaid Avenue
Year: 1998
Title: The Unwelcome Guest

To the rich man's bright lodges
I ride in this wind
On my good horse, I call you
My shiny black Bess

To the playhouse of fortune
To take the bright silver
And gold you have taken
From somebody else

And as we go riding
In the damp foggy midnight
You snort, my good pony
And you give me your best

For you know and I know
Good horse 'mongst the rich ones
How oftimes we go there
An unwelcome guest

I never took food
From the widows and orphans
And never a hardworking man I oppressed

So take your pace easy
For home soon like lightning
We soon will be riding
My shiny black Bess

No fat rich man's pony
Can ever overtake you
And there's not a rider
From the east to the west

Could hold you a light
In this dark mist and midnight
When the potbellied thieves
Chase the unwelcome guest

I don't know, good horse
As we trot in this dark here
That robbing the rich
Is for worse or for best

They take it by stealing
And lying and gambling
And I take it my way
My shiny Black Bess

I treat horses good
And I'm friendly to strangers
I ride and your running
Makes my guns talk the best

And the rangers and deputies
Are hired by the rich man
To catch me and hang me
My shining black Bess

Yes, they'll catch me napping one day
And they'll kill me
And then I'll be gone
But that won't be my end

For my guns and my saddle
Will always be filled
By unwelcome travelers
And other brave men

And they'll take the money
And spread it out equal
Just like the Bible
And the prophets suggest

But men that go riding
To help these poor workers
The rich will cut down
Like an unwelcome guest

I wish you could all hear these songs because the effect is much greater than that of simply reading the lyrics. The point I am making is that though these people are politically and philosophically wrong and perhaps even juvenile, the music and the lyrics are good and enjoyable. For that reason, I tend to refrain from making my judgements of music and art, on the basis of the artists' political or philosophical viewpoint. I just listen to it and look at it and if I like it, I buy it!

I realize I haven't touched on the question of why so much of the art I enjoy is made by artists left of center. That will be the subject of a future article, I guess...

Happy Days Are Here Again!

2006-06-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

Forgive me if I am as happy as a drunk Jack Russell Terrier, but this week has been gooood!

For starters, Al Zarqawi's dead. I just hope he lived long enough for one of our burlier troops to whisper to him that he was virgin number one and there were seventy-one others, right behind him...

Speaking of dead, three (count 'em, three) Gitmo detainees offed themselves to bring the world's attention to the plight of the Jihadists being held in torturous conditions at the naval base in Cuba. Works for me.

Bush jetted to Baghdad to greet the troops, who appear to love him, despite all of his verbal faux pas and blustery cowboy banter. Imagine that.

Al Gore continued to be an idiot. Imagine that.

KKKarl Rove told Special Prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that "These are not the droids you are seeking", while waving a hand in front of his face. It worked!

The poll bounce that Bush and his agenda received makes it a little less likely that Democrats will retake the congress this election cycle. That's a good thing, right? Well just to illustrate why it is a good thing (just in case you aren't apprehensive enough about a Speaker named Pelosi, a free and legislating William Jefferson and an unmuzzled hero like John Murtha...), at a recent Democrat gathering in Virginia, Jim Moran (D-VA) stated,
“When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I’m going to earmark the shit out of it,”!

Now what was that I heard a month ago about a "culture of corruption"???

Add to all of this wonderful news, the fact that the "net neutrality" amendment to HR5252 (a communications bill that would increase competition for cable TV)was defeated (WAAHOO!), and it was a great week indeed! This was a blow against the forces of regulation and governmental control and for the continued freedom of the internet.

Excuse me while I gloat and drink a toast to common sense in this country!

New Gold

2006-06-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

There's new gold brewing at the Beerme residence! A newborn Belgian Golden Ale was created on Memorial Day and is happily gurgling away as I write this post. The pic I added will be especially recognized by any readers from the Great White North, as the beer store is the Ontario variety. Now that's my kinda rainbow!

Since Memorial Day, I have been doing very little blogging. I've been busy working in the yard and doing my honey-dos, as well as trying to get my fat ass back in shape. I started jogging again a few weeks ago and am finally up to a respectable two miles a day, at least three days a week. Now that's no marathon but it should keep my health a little more stable for my later years : )

I started running about twenty-two years ago and kept it up for at least twenty years, at the rate of a few miles a day, a few days a week. At my peak, in 1986, I ran a marathon in Detroit. For those who have done it, I offer this snippet of running wisdom: A marathon is evenly divided into two halves, the first twenty miles and the last six. It's true!

Being a longtime runner, and a long time drinker (I know, you're surprised at that one!), I've often thought of joining a Hash House Harrier club. The Hash House Harriers are a drinking club that runs! They have group runs and social activities including drinking, eating and singing (kinda like around the campfire). It always sounded interesting to me and I'm sure I'd fit in.

Do you think the H3 folks would like to have a brewer in their club? I'm betting I'd be their new bestest buddy! I'll post if I decide to take this plunge, but for now, I'm just a "lurker".

Here is a link to the world H3 website

Memorial Day Brew

2006-05-29T05:06:00.000-07:00

The fire was put to the mash tun at 0700. The backyard was quiet and still, without a breeze of any kind. The sun was already hot, making the heat of the propane cooker insanely oppressive for an early morning in May. Forty feet away in the pond, a mallard hen and her new babies swam quietly away, having noticed my intrusion into their breakfast swim. A short time later, as the temperature climbed steadily in the strike water, the dog walked near the side yard fence and a wild turkey flushed, not fifteen feet away from me. I watched as it flew high across the pond and lit in a tree a couple of hundred yards away. A peaceful and pastoral setting for a fine Memorial Day.

I love Michigan.

I decided to brew a special beer for this holiday. It's a Belgian Golden Ale. This style of beer began about a hundred years ago, when Belgian brewers were trying to compete with the newly successful Pilsners. They came up with a golden ale, fermented at ale temps and cooled for the secondary fermenation, then stored (lagered) for a month and a half for a smooth and highly drinkable beer that was light in color, like the pilsners, but big in taste and alcohol content. Perhaps the most famous commercial version of this style is the wonderful Duvel, brewed by Moortgat Brewery, though there are many Belgian and American versions to speak of.

The Belgians were doomed in their attempts to stem the tide of the popular Pilsners. As anyone knows today, the Pilsner lager is the most popular beer in the world, by far, and has been since the late nineteenth century. Beer afficionados, however, wouldn't trade a common pilsner-or even a fine Czech or German example-for any of the wonderful Belgian Golden Ales. These beers are a party in your mouth. The light, highly quaffable taste belies the 6% to 11% ABV, while a feast of subtle flavors delight the taste buds. I can't wait until I crack one of these babies in a couple of months!

Here's the grain bill:
21 Lbs. of Belgian Pilsner malt (Dingemans)
2.5 Lbs of Belgian Carapils (Dingemans)
1 Lb. of cane sugar
1/2 Lb. of light D.M.E. ('cause I had some left over from the starters)
Hops
2.5 Oz. Styrian Goldings (60 Min.)
2 Oz. Czech Saaz (20 Min.)
2 Oz. Czech Saaz (0 Min.)

2 Tbls. Irish Moss (finings)

Corn sugar to prime at bottling

Yeast
Split ten gallons into two five gallon batches and ferment with two different Belgian yeasts: Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale and WLP570 Belgian Golden.

A barbeque is scheduled for 3:00 PM at the Beerme residence in honor of our veterans. I can't think of a finer beer to celebrate the occasion than this one. Makes me think of the poppies at Flanders field in Ypres, Belgium, celebrated in the poem by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McRae in 1915. Too bad it won't be available until after July Fourth. Well, I might cheat and try one around that time...just for evaluation purposes, you understand.

The Great Democrat Wagon Race

2006-05-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Politics of every stripe seems little more than a big confidence game, but Democratic politics in particular lends itself to this rendering. It is this party that has taken to huckstering and scamming to get what they want. What do they want? Your vote. For this they will promise you anything. And if that doesn't work (mainly because the Republicans are promising you everything, too) they will take to pandering to your hatreds, your weaknesses, your social standing or just about anything else that might make you believe they are the team to help you get what you want, whatever that is.

Find a weakness, any weakness. In the Seventies, two of my brothers were in trouble with the law, my older sister was having the problems that many young mothers are saddled with, my mother was working at home and at a difficult and dirty factory job to help dad pay the bills and we were living in an increasingly crime-ridden and depressing inner-city neigborhood in Detroit. My mother, in order to help save her beloved family from all the world's pressures, turned to religion. Not just any religion, but in keeping with our fundamentalist Christian upbringing, she turned to a southern evangelist.

This in itself was certainly not a bad thing. Many southern evangelists are honorable men of God. I personally find Billy Graham to have been the example to which all others might aspire; being an honest and Godly man all of his life and career, never stooping to low behavior to increase his power or wealth. Oral Roberts was another story, however, and I came to hate that man as I hated no other.

My mother decided (with the help of dozens of pamphlets and mailings from Oral Roberts and his "organization") that Oral Roberts could help her poor family to overcome the trials and tribulations that this cruel world had foist upon them (crime, drug and alcohol problems, poverty and promiscuity, among the most recognizable). Oral Roberts slickly sent out mailings that asked his readers if they were having problems with any and all of these afflictions. If the answer was "yes" to these questions, he replied that the answer was God. Oh, but not JUST God. No, the answer was God, as revealed to His favorite minister, Oral Roberts!

In this way, my mother was persuaded to send her hard-earned money (and there was precious little of that around!)to Mr. Roberts, so he could take her prayers to his newly constructed Prayer Tower, where presumably his voice would be heard above all others in prayer, because he was soooo high up in that tower, you see (wink-wink).
Of course, there was little positive result from these petitions ("You cannot petition the Lord in prayer"!-Jim Morrison). Still, it was the only thing my mom had going for her at the time, so she gave it a whirl anyway and prayed and sweated and hoped that her sons and daughters would come out of all of this in good shape.

Well, the truth is almost all of them did, in time. But it was probably helped more by a righteous woman who loved God and her family that helped these children, and I submit that Oral Roberts had nothing to do with it at all. My mother died at the age of fifty-six, of lung cancer. She did live to see her troubled sons get their act together and even to see a few of her grandchildren born and grow. She died far too soon and received far less in her short life, than she deserved. She certainly did not deserve to be swindled by a huckster like Oral Roberts. God, I miss her!

This example is displayed to show how a con man will look for your weakness and use it to his benefit. Oral Roberts knew that the poor and inferm, those in trouble with the law and struggling with all manner of troubles, are ready to seize on any scheme to help themselves out of their predicaments. It isn't limited to unscrupulous religious leaders. The Socialists and Communists have long been overly concerned with class and race conflict: the Put-Upons with which to wage their war against Capitalism/Imperialism. In this manner, the Democrat Party looks for an aggrieved subset of humanity, from which to draw their lucre (and their soldiers).

Historically, it was the southern whites of the reconstruction on whom they preyed. Seizing on this group's perceived (and actual) grievances, the Democrats promised the usual in return for the votes that would bring them power and money. The baton in this Democrat wagon race was passed to the populists, with their long-suffering troubles at the hand of the rich, northeast business establishment. Then the famous donkey passed the baton to the poor, suffering through the decades-long depression, so that they would have the hopes and dreams that the WPA offered. The donkey passed the baton along to many other poor, Put-Upon peoples over the years, until it rested, very comfortably in the hands of the African Americans (of course when they were orginally passed the baton, they were still called Negroes, but Muhammed Ali was still calling himself Cassius Clay at the time...).

The Democrats have earned their votes and power for decades by pandering to the fears and grievances (real and imagined) of this demographic. But now, the donkey is fixin' to pass the baton again. Yes, folks the new Put-Upons are the illegal immigrants, or as the Dems put it, Undocumented Laborers. It is this group of malcontents who hold the most promise, since they are the fastest growing demographic in the nation (of course the demographic includes most of the hispanic population in the country, illegal or not). Democrats are offering the same "everything" to this group as was offered and never delivered to all of the others.

It is to these "Undocumented Laborers" who now pull the wagon and carry high, the baton of the Donkey, that I offer the following words of advice, specifically relevant to this Democrat Con Game:

"You can't cheat an honest man"

Price Gouging?

2006-04-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

It's all over the television news, both local and national coverage, especially over the past week or two: the rising cost of gasoline. Every politician wants his or her constituents to know that it is something they're concerned about and if it takes an investigation into price gouging or a cap on "windfall profits", then by God, that's what they'll do to fix this problem.

But is it really that big of a problem? Now don't get me wrong. I'm no different than anybody else. I don't enjoy paying higher prices for gasoline, but I don't enjoy paying higher prices for any other commodity either.

In the past year gasoline prices have risen about thirty percent, from $2.25/gallon to about $2.91/gallon. That's highway robbery, right? Well, just to illustrate why it isn't, let's look at a few other commodities. Now, you can check out any of the oil industry sites to see their take on this increase as it relates to the rise in costs of other commodities (I would suggest Conoco-Phillips), but this will help to put it into perspective a little simpler. In the same period, April, 2005 to April, 2006 Aluminum rose over 45%, Copper over 107% and Gold over 49%. I don't remember hearing anyone calling for a cap on profits from these sectors. These commodities are also very essential to our economy and our everyday lives but no hearings on capitol hill over the copper industry, right?

I know what I'm getting when I buy a gallon of gas. It's a substance that will propel my vehicle a few miles down the road. It's largely tied into the cost of a barrel of oil in the current commodities market. During that same period mentioned above, the cost of a barrel of oil went from $54.81 to $74, a 35% increase. That tells me that the cost of a gallon of gas is pretty closely tied into this increase of the material needed to make gasoline. I can't complain when the cost of making gasoline has risen thirty-five percent and the cost of the gasoline itself has risen only thirty percent, can I?

When I graduated from high school in 1975, the cost of tuition at a state university was around $300 for a full semester of classes. That cost has now risen tenfold or more. Has the product been improved? I think not. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) asked high-school level questions of college seniors in a February 2000 survey of historical literacy and found that 81 percent would have received a D or F (American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Restoring America's Legacy, September 2002, at http://www.goacta.org/publications/Reports/america%27s_legacy.pdf.). The increase in the cost of higher education has exceeded the increase in the consumer price index by several percentage points each year for most of the past twenty years. Meanwhile the value of that education has become entirely suspect (this is to say that the product has diminished in qualilty, not necessarily that the product is not as valuable in getting a better job).

The wisdom of setting price caps or attaching windfall profits taxes to any industry is weak at best. Such a strategy was tried by Nixon in the Seventies and resulted in product shortages and an economic decline for the entire country (I remember seeing long lines for gas and getting to the pump only to find a sign saying, "OUT OF GAS"). Consumers will bear the brunt of these approaches to price control, as no industry will make a product to lose money. Either they make money or they will not produce, it's that simple. On average the oil companies make about 9 cents/gallon on the gasoline they sell. Government taxation nets (in some states) over sixty cents on that same gallon! What do we get for our money from these exorbitant government taxes? That's a rant for another day (if you've been here before, you know it's a rant for just about every other day!).