Posted 12/20/2002 01:17:00 PM by Sid link


Instapundit visitors, the story you're looking for is the fifth post beneath this one.

Posted 12/20/2002 01:03:00 PM by Katie Bug link


All or Nothing, Not a Lott To Ask For

Is it any surprise that Senator Trent Lott is stepping down from his post as senate majority leader? Yes, to me it is. I believe that it should be all or nothing here. What is the point of having the man step down from this position? If he is stepping down from this post because people truly believe that he is a racist who wishes that we were still a segregated nation, then why have him remain in any position of power?

I am a registered Democrat, who does not have any special ties to Lott, and don't care what happens to his political future. My complaint is simply that this is window dressing. He is stepping down from this post to please those who were giving him some heat.........BIG F&*%*%^ DEAL!!! If he is a racist he needs to leave the senate completely. My personal opinion is that he did not mean the comments in the manner they were taken, because (perhaps I am overly optimistic) surely, even he would have realized how people would react to the idea of modern day segregation. He did not use those words, but that is what the media implied when they replayed it over, and over, and over........ If he is to be removed from this position, he should be removed from the senate completely. If he is not removed completely, then he should remain in his current position. Stepping down from the majority leader post is simply an attempt to take the heat off and, in my opinion, completely misses the mark. Stay or go, but don't do it half way. The unfortunate thing in all of this is that this guy had to be from Mississippi, further strengthening their reputation as an undesirable place to live.

Posted 12/20/2002 01:00:00 PM by Sid link


Dear God

Kira is probably less than 2 years old. I found her and her 4 year old brother running down my street almost getting hit by cars that would not stop. They were honking at 2 barefoot barely dressed babies to get out of the road.
They are lost.

link via the blogatelle

Posted 12/20/2002 10:26:00 AM by Sid link


You saw what they printed.

Dr. Kontos replies to the e-mail I sent him regarding the NYT story on hospitals refusing to vaccinate for smallpox.

It is not uncommon for the media, including the NYT, to emphasize the 'newsworthy' portion of a story. We did not decide not to vaccinate. We have not been asked by Virginia health dept to do anything. We have approved a policy which states as follows: The VCU Health System would support smallpox vaccination of its employees if a case of smallpox is reported anywhere in the world, or state and federal officials determine that a serious risk of smallpox dissemination exists. I quoted the policy to the NYT and added that in the absence of these conditions we were not willing to expose our employees to the risks from the vaccine. You saw what they printed.

I am comfortable that we will make a thoughtful decision when the request from the State health officials arrives.

Now, this casts the story in a whole new light, albeit a familiar one to many here. As Dr. Kontos says above, VCU will start vaccinating once federal officials inform them

"that a serious risk of smallpox dissemination exists......in the absence of these conditions we were not willing to expose our employees to the risks from the vaccine"

So the VCU situation boils down to this; They'll vaccinate when the feds ask them to, but the feds haven't asked them to. Yet the NYT headlines scream "Two Hospitals Refuse to Join Bush's Plan for Smallpox". I don't know about you, but I detect the hand of Mr. Raines, imparting a bit more spin to the original story than is actually warranted. After all, "Courageous Docs Oppose Bush Policy" is a far better story for the Times and her politics than "Hospitals Wait For Request." Shocking, I know.

There's some comfort in knowing that the the situation on the ground, in Richmond at least, is not as the Times described it. Some comfort, not a lot, and it's a cold comfort. The publication of the story creates the perception that Richmond and Atlanta are going to be less prepared to fight a smallpox attack, a perception that is incorrect at least in Richmond. However, the fact that the perception is incorrect does nothing to reduce the chance of an attack. The NYT could update the story, or issue a correction, but not many people, and almost certainly even fewer terrorists, pay any attention to the corrections.

Richmond and Atlanta remain targets, but in the case of Richmond at least, it is because of Howell Raines, rather than any medical authority.

Thanks to Dr. Kontos for graciously taking the time to respond. Should I hear from Dr. del Rio, I'll post his reply as well.

Posted 12/19/2002 03:30:00 PM by Sid link


Target Coming Into Sight

If you were a terrorist with a vial or two of smallpox, and you wanted to cause the largest amount of devastation and disease, where would you go? Atlanta or Richmond would be a good choice. Both cities have large populations, are easy to get to, and have hospitals that have publicly refused to participate in the vaccination program.

What more could a biowar terrorist want? I also like the fact that unelected physicians get to make the decision that effectively hobble the ability of each city's public health infrastructure to respond if and when a smallpox attack occurs. After all, it's hard to treat people effectively if your doctors are all busy dying.

"No. 1, this is not a safe vaccine," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, chief of medical services at Grady Hospital and a professor of infectious disease. "This is a vaccine that has known complications and known side effects."

Not giving the vaccination also has side effects. One of them is the giant target you just painted on Atlanta. At the very center of that target is Grady Memorial, the place you're ostensibly trying to protect. If I'm a terrorist, and I know for a fact that the people who would normally treat the disease I'm going to spread are defenceless against it, who do you think I'm going to attack first?

The assumed death rate for any smallpox vaccination program, according to the article, is fifteen deaths for every million vaccinations. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in the year 2000, the death rate for motor vehicles was about 150 deaths per million. Is the good doctor advising the people under his care not to drive?

I've e-mailed Dr. Del Rio and Dr. Kontos, who has made the same decision for the hospital at VCU. Should they answer, I'll post the reply. I'm not a citizen of either city, but I were, I'd be pissed.

Update: Here's the text of the emails I sent. It doesn't contain the deaths per million info, as I found that after I penned them.

Hello Dr. Kontos/Dr.del Rio,

I just read coverage of your decision not to participate in the vaccination program in the NYT.

If you were a terrorist with a vial or two of smallpox, and you wanted to cause the largest amount of devastation and disease, where would you go? Richmond/Atlanta would be a good choice to start off with. It has a large population, is easy to get to, and now has a major hospital that has publicly refused to participate in the vaccination program.

What more could a bio-warfare terrorist want? Haven't you just made your city and your co-workers a more likely target in the, admittedly unlikely, event that there is a biological attack on the United States?

Thanks for your time,

Bigwig*

*No, I didn't sign it Bigwig.

Posted 12/19/2002 12:57:00 PM by Sid link


Innumeracy in Action

Ok, so Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants have been rounded up and put in jail in California. Gosh, that's awful. How many Muslims live in Southern California?

News of the mass arrests came first in southern California, which is home to more than 600,000 Iranian exiles and their families.

Lets be generous with the numbers and assume that all the Muslims in SoCal are part of that 600,000. That means that out of the entire population, 0.16% of them are being held. For every 100,000 Muslims in Southern California, about 116 got arrested. That number is....shockingly low. For the year 2000, the average rate of arrests per 100,000 total population was 3,427.5

So, in reality, SoCal Muslims are exemplary citizens, or the INS is shockingly inept. I'll take both choices, thank you. What I do expect, frankly, is for Muslim spokesman to quote these numbers with pride, pointing out that the American Muslim community is among the most law-abiding in the nation.

Yea, right. One victim complex, coming right up!

"It is a shock. You don't expect this to happen. It is really putting fright and apprehension in the community. People who come from these countries -- this is what they expect from their government. Not from America," said Sabiha Khan of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

You're blowing your chance here, Sabiha. Not that you're the only idiot involved in the process. Here's one from the ACLU.

The head of the southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union compared the arrests to the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during the Second World War.

"I think it is shocking what is happening. It is reminiscent of what happened in the past with the internment of Japanese Americans. We are getting a lot of telephone calls from people. We are hearing that people went down wanting to cooperate and then they were detained," said Ramona Ripston, the ACLU's executive director.

Not, it's not, Ramona. You know why? Because if it was, every single one of those 600,000, and more besides, would already be in camps, and they're not. And frankly, in World War 2 a huge number of Nisei volunteered to fight for the US, in order to prove their loyalty to their adopted country. Does anyone even have anecdotal evidence that Muslim-Americans are doing the same?

I thought not.

Even after we put them in concentration camps, 87% of Japanese-Americans were able to give an unqualified "yes" to this question;

Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization?

I'd love to see what the percentage of Muslims answering yes to a similar question would be.

And if there's an ACLU idiot on one side, you can be sure there's a matching one on the government's side.

"We are not releasing any numbers," said Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) spokesman Francisco Arcaute.

You are a government employee, Francisco, and if a citizen asks you for something, you better hop, asswipe. You should be crowing about the numbers for the same reasons as Sabiha. You're clueless, of course, and tone-deaf, and probably don't know the arrest totals to begin with because the INS is the poster child for unaccountable bureaucracies. There likely are terrorists in those 700 being held, or terrorist supporters, and they'll probably be released after the press discovers what a thorough cock-up your agency has made of the whole process. And they will discover this, because whatever the INS does is a cock-up. Thanks to INS employees just like you, 3000 died in New York and Washington. You know why they didn't target they INS, Francisco, if that is your real name? They didn't target you, because the INS is the best damn friend AL-Qaeda has in the U.S. Thanks to your complete ineptitude, you just radicalized the SoCal Muslim population a little bit more.

I'm sure the L.A. population will find some reason to give you a bitter thanks one day soon.

Update:The Taco Shop Psychic says my numbers are soft. He's probably right. Here's the post, because his archives are screwed too.

237.Fun with numbers...
InstaPundit has a post regarding a post elsewhere about the math behind the incarceration of many, many Muslims in Southern California.

Specifically, Bigwig links to this article and through some arcane figuring on his part arrives at the number of arrested Muslims in Southern California at 116 per hundred thousand or .16%, while the national average of arrests is 3427.5 per hundred thousand.

Well, first things first -- 116/100k = .116% not .16%.

Second, from that article on Yahoo! I was unable to determine where Bigwig had gotten the number of 116. Extrapolated over six hundred thousand, 116 per 100,000 is 696. The Yahoo! article never quotes 700, but a LA Times article where the government lays out it's case does -- it estimates 500 to 700 were arrested and per 100k people, that's 83 to 116 respectively. I'm just hacking off remainders, btw.

That's all well and good, but the third thing here is that Bigwig is mixing yearly with daily stats. Using the 700 arrested in one day number, 116 arrests extrapolated over 365 days is 42,340 arrests, or 42.34%. Even the low government figure of 500 arrests on that day yields an extrapolated figure of 30,295 (30.295%). Now, I don't believe that one-third of all SoCal Muslims are arrested per annum, so that number is obviously bogus (especially considering the 600,000 Muslims we've been working with are actually 600,000 Iranians), but it shows how using flawed statistics can haunt you. A leftist with a calculator could have had a field day here.


If you look at the Yahoo article now, I look like a complete idiot. The arrest numbers aren't 700, they're over 1000. Now look at the timestamp on my post and the news story. It's 6 hours after my original post. Reuters or Yahoo one updated the original article some hours after I linked to it, but didn't point out that they did. Gotta love the old media.

As for my calculations, here they are, as best as I can reconstruct them

600,000 Iranians, which I let stand for all the Muslims in SoCal. That's incorrect, as not only is the number almost certainly low, the Feds weren't interested in a person's religion, but their country of origin. I plead guilty to using it as shorthand, as did the original article. I'll also plead to losing a decimal place (116/100k = .116% not .16%.), but it made my arrest rate higher than it should have been, and my point was that it was already shockingly low.

As an aside here, whenever I could, I took the number that would make the most favorable case for the Muslim argument. 600,000 for the total population, and 700, which at the time was the highest number in the arrest estimate. The California arrest rate is the Adult arrest rate. The overall arrest rate includes juvenile arrests as well. I wasn't trying to cook the numbers for a predetermined position. What I did was run the numbers, then write based on what I saw them saying.

As to the daily versus yearly arrest rate, I must admit I didn't even think about it. The question I had in mind when I went hunting for California's overall crime rate was "Out of 100,000 Californians, how many of them are going to be arrested? The number I used was 3,427.5. Out of each 100,000 Iranians/Muslims in the 600,000, about 116 were arrested. I'm dropping remainders and rounding as well.

And now I must run to the daughter's Christmas pageant. I'll return anon.

Update: I realized during "Angels We Have Heard on High" that, while my numbers may eventually be wrong, they are not wrong right now. The Taco Shop Psychic is looking at the arrest rate of a certain population over time, in this case a couple of days, whereas I wasn't concerned with time, but just the overall arrest rate of a given population. My "shockingly low" arrest rate percentage statement may turn out to be wrong, eventually. Right now it's still shockingly low for the given population. You could also argue that the INS is cramming a year's work into a few days. In any case, until the number of detentions climbs into at least the 3000 - 5000 range, I don't think a case can be made that the number of arrests is out of the ordinary.

Posted 12/19/2002 12:01:00 PM by Sid link


Gymnasts Banned After Appearing in Porn Flick

Federation head Nicolae Vieru insisted that the 5 year ban had nothing to do the questionable content on the movie, but rather the performances of Double Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion Lavinia Milosovici and former team mates Corina Ungureanu and Claudia Presecan.

"Lavinia clearly takes an extra step after her dismount in the orgy scene." explained Vieru. "I don't where you are, in public or private, on the silver screen or performing for a 25 lei peep show in downtown Bucharest, you don't two-foot a dismount without suffering the consequences."

Vieru pointed out several other physical and artistic flaws in the performances of the gymnasts, including a vault where Corina failed to land a perfect 180 degree spilt on her partner's genitalia after a flawless double Yurchenko ½ off front layout, and a balance beam routine where Claudia's hand placement nearly knocks the other four participants off the narrow beam.

"Bela must be spinning in his grave."

Informed that Bela Karolyi was not in fact, dead, but living and coaching in the United States, Vieru snorted and insisted that as far as International gymnastics was concerned, it was the same thing.

"When was the last time you saw an American gymnast play a shy teenager being introduced to the world of men? Or be visibly turned on by a pizza delivery boy, termite inspector and brutish plumber during a naked floor exercise? These American girls, they have no career to fall back on after they turn fifteen! I ask you, what kind of life is that?"

Posted 12/19/2002 11:06:00 AM by Sid link


Coals to Newcastle

I hate linking to Lileks. It feels so "member of the herd"like. Everyone links to Lileks. Fribbin' blogspot should just add a permaLilekslink to its template.

This is not to say that I hate Lileks. Not at all. The Bleat is what I read over my first cup of coffee each morning, after I've cleared the first slew of computer ditch-digging chores from the morning's queue. On days where I read not another thing on the Internet, I read him. I just don't see the point in being the eight thousandth member of the blogosphere to link to him each day.

But...today he has a couple of mutilated carols, among other things.

Posted 12/18/2002 04:57:00 PM by Sid link


Senatorial Emails

Jesse Helms e-mail address is senator_helms@exchange.senate.gov. Given the Edwards example below, and what I know about institutions and their habits, I'm willing to bet that senator@helms.senate.gov is also valid, which means that the default email address for any senator is senator@theirlastname.senate.gov. I sent out an e-mail to test this theory, and it hasn't bounced yet.

Okay, Senatorial emails are easier to find than they were last time I looked.

Update: And the email to the theoretical Helms address bounced, finally.

Posted 12/18/2002 03:53:00 PM by Sid link


The Transparent Society

Wonder what Senator Dole's position on Total Information Awareness will be?

Her maiden name was Hanford, and her Official NC address is 712 South Fulton Street, in Salisbury.

Call her at home and ask.

Update: Senator Edwards is a bit more difficult when it comes to winkling out information, however

The Honorable John Edwards
3323 Alleghany Drive
Raleigh, NC 27609
Phone: 919-856-4245 (Not a home number, even though it looks like one. His old home phone was 919-834-3300, but it's been changed to non-published. You can send a fax to his house, though.)

825 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3301
Phone: 202-224-3154
Fax: 202-224-1374
E-mail Address: senator@edwards.senate.gov

Update: There's more information available, but I've decided against posting it.

Posted 12/18/2002 03:25:00 PM by Sid link


Scylla and Charybdis

Ok, so Trent Lott says he's changed. Dollars to donuts he'll tell some black person over the weekend that he "feels their pain", or some damn thing. If he has changed, then he won't have any trouble answering the following question;

Senator Lott, in your interview on BET you said "That's why I'm so proud of my own alma mater now, University of Mississippi, that obviously had a difficult time in the 60s and 70s, now led by an outstanding chancellor, Robert Khayat, that has gotten rid of the Confederate flag, that has now has an institute of reconciliation, that has a leadership..."

Given your appreciation for reconciliation, and your obvious support of the removal of the Confederate flag from the University of Mississippi events, do you now support the removal of the Stars and Bars from the state flag of Mississippi?

Posted 12/18/2002 03:23:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Must......Buy........Beer!!

Study: Kids Exposed to TV Beer Marketing

By SIOBHAN McDONOUGH
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Young Americans are exposed to more television commercials for beer than for sneakers, gum or jeans, according to a study released Tuesday.

Young people ages 12 to 20 saw two beer or ale ads in 2001 for every three such commercials aired on programs viewed primarily by adults, the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University found.

``The alcohol industry monitoring their own advertising and current standards aren't protecting youth from alcohol marketing,'' said Jim O'Hara, the center's executive director.

So what?? We seem to have turned out just fine...........alcoholics, yes, but just look at all the friends we have.

Posted 12/18/2002 01:05:00 PM by Sid link


But I Know What I Like

Student: Menacing Boxes Were Art Project

The menacing boxes that led police to evacuate one of the city's busiest subway stations and call out the bomb squad were just part of an art class project, a student says. Clinton Boisvert was arrested after admitting to police that he painted the word "FEAR" on 37 boxes and placed them inside the bustling subway station at Union Square.

In other news from the world of Art, the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade has received a 10 million Euro grant from the European Union Arts Endowment (pronounced "ewwww") for its continuing experiments in what it has termed "Kinetic Performance Art". EUEA Deputy Chairman Uriah McGuffin has praised the continuing series of impromptu street art performances for their "Immediate and visceral impact upon Israeli audience members of all ages." Al-Aksa spokesman Ali Ali Ahksenfrie said that the Martyrs Brigades would use the grant to improve production values in future performances, citing the longstanding appreciation of Fatah leader Yasser Arafat has held for American Painter Thomas Kincade "Painter of Light"

"It's kind of a ironic fear thing, you know?" said the svelte Ahksenfrie. "It's one thing to see a bulky fellow walking down the street in a down jacket at the height of summer. It's quite another to see that same person wearing nothing other than a limited edition print of Memories of Christmas. Also, we really need to find a new fertilizer source. We've been contacted by a German firm that's had experience in the Iraqi art market, but prices have been going up ever since a Saudi buyer entered the market last year."

Posted 12/18/2002 12:03:00 PM by Sid link


Best.Alternate.Post.Title.Ever.

John Ashcroft: Why We Must Drive A Wooden Stake Through his Cold, Black Heart, Burn the Corpse, and Bury the Ashes at a Crossroads at Midnight so that his Foul and Undead Soul Can Never More Rise from its Infernal Grave to Suck the Very Lifeblood of an Innocent Nation

Posted 12/18/2002 11:54:00 AM by Sid link


Legal in West Virginia

Carnival of the Vanities #15 is up. This week's edition is at Solonor's Ink Well, whom we conned into giving up his New Year's in exchange for the fleeting fame that is the lot of the Carnival host.

Upcoming stops include;

1/8 The Eleven Day Empire
1/15 Greeblie Blog
1/22 Yourish.com
1/29 Ipse Dixit
2/5 Plum Crazy
2/12 Dissecting Leftism
2/19 The People's Republic of Seabrook

If you'd like to host the Carnival, drop us a line. Information on how to join the Carnival can be found here.

Posted 12/18/2002 11:45:00 AM by Sid link


All Eleven of Them

Forty degree weather, two hours in line, but I have my tickets.

Why are you going to see The Lord of the Rings?

Posted 12/17/2002 02:19:00 PM by Sid link


George Bush, Not Playing To Win

U.N. Says Al Qaeda's Afghan Camps Reopening

Al Qaeda training camps have recently been reactivated in Afghanistan, and new volunteers are making their way into these camps, a U.N. report said Tuesday.

Afghan Women Are Still Policed

Under the control of Ismail Khan, the former Islamic militia leader who governs Herat province, the New York-based human rights group said women and girls are living in an atmosphere of official religious restrictions similar to those imposed by the extremist Taliban government that was toppled by U.S. and Afghan forces 13 months ago.

The theoretical date of an Iraqi invasion gets pushed back yet again

British Say U.S. Could Fight Iraq in Summer Heat

Saudi Arabia, home to 15 of the 19, finally gets added to the INS watchlist, over a year after the 9/11 attacks

Posted 12/17/2002 01:18:00 PM by Sid link


Yogic Flying is going to the dogs.

And they don't even need photoshop

Posted 12/17/2002 12:57:00 PM by Sid link


The Black Gate Opens

The rider was robed all in black, and black was her lofty helm; yet this was no Ringwraith but a living woman. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dur she was, and her name is remembered in no tale; for she herself had forgotten it, and she said: - I am the Mouth of Sauron.

Posted 12/17/2002 12:43:00 PM by Sid link


The New King James Bible for Young People.

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26:@nd GoD 5@iD, L37 U5 M@K3 MaN iN 0Ur iM@G3, @f73r 0Ur LiK3N355: @Nd l37 7h3m g07Z d0mInI0N 0V3R 7h3 fIsH 0F 7H3 SeA, @nD 0v3r 7h3 F0Wl 0F 7h3 @Ir, aNd OvEr 7h3 C@77L3, @nD 0V3R @Ll 7h3 3@r7h, @nD oVeR 3V3Ry cR33pInG 7HiNg 7h@7 Cr33P37h Up0n 7h3 3@r7h.
27:$0 G0D Cr3@73D m@n iN Hi5 0Wn Im@g3, iN 7h3 iM@G3 0f GoD cR3@73d H3 HiM; M@L3 @nD F3M@L3 cR3@73d h3 7h3m.
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30:@nD 70 3V3Ry B3@57 0f 7H3 3@r7h, @nD 70 3V3Ry fOwL oF 7h3 @iR, @Nd To 3v3rY 7hInG 7h@7 cr33p37h Up0n 7H3 3@R7H, WhErEiN 7h3r3 iZ lIf3, I G07z giv3n 3V3Ry Gr33N h3rB f0r m3@7: @nD i7 w@$ 50.
31:@Nd G0D 5@W 3V3Ry 7HiNg 7h@7 He HaD mAdE, AnD, B3H0Ld, i7 w@5 V3Ry G00d. @Nd tHe 3v3nInG aNd ThE m0rNiNg WeRe 7h3 SiXtH d@y.

Translated for your convenience by the English to Haxor translator.

Posted 12/17/2002 12:39:00 PM by Sid link


Why "English Fashion" Is An Oxymoron.

"...I just think tartan trousers are quite smart and that it would be a good idea for black tie events."

Posted 12/16/2002 04:28:00 PM by Sid link


Fishing Trip 2003, 10/11 to 10/18

The house is booked.

Posted 12/16/2002 04:11:00 PM by Sid link


Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to My Ass.

Speaking a as a a southern white male, and one that's heard that particular word all my life, I agree with Chatterbox. Strom definitely said "nigger."

Posted 12/16/2002 03:52:00 PM by Sid link


New Addition


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Posted 12/16/2002 03:29:00 PM by Sid link


Christmas Is The Season For Getting

I want this.

Posted 12/16/2002 01:11:00 PM by Sid link


Edge of the Wedge

America has been good to Muslims. Muslims have had the chance to practise their faith and see it flourish. America has been an open and welcoming society. But after September 11 many Americans view Muslims with suspicion and anger. It is therefore a time of challenge and opportunity for Muslims.

Posted 12/16/2002 12:30:00 PM by Sid link


Making Love In A Canoe

Hungary moves another step closer to the abyss.

The Hungarian Patent and Trademark Office has ruled that the word "Bud," the nickname of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.'s top beer, cannot be used in Hungary by the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar. The patent office said "Bud" does not reference the city where the brewer is located, Ceske Budejovice, Anheuser-Busch said on Tuesday. The Czech brewer also cannot claim that its place of origin allows it to use "Budweiser Bier-Budvar" or "Budweiser Budvar" in Hungary, Anheuser-Busch said. However, the Czech brewer can still use "Budweiser Bier" in Hungary, Anheuser-Busch said.

Now I know what Susan Sarandon feels like. Anheuser-Busch and Budejovicky Budvar have been going back and forth for years over the Bud and Budweiser trademarks, and I reflexively take the side of the tiny, yet historic Hungarian brewery over the All-American Budweiser. Even in this case, where it appears that the facts of the case favor Anheuser-Busch, I'm pissed. I want Budejovicky Budvar to kick August Busch III's ass even when they're wrong.

Why? I figure it's because I'm a microbrew and import beer swilling yuppie. I don't drink Budweiser, and I don't know anyone who drinks Budweiser. We took something in the neighborhood of 25 cases of beer with us to on the fishing trip, and the only Anheuser-Busch product that made the cut was Natural Light, and that was because of nostalgia for the days when we couldn't afford anything else. Seemingly nostalgia doesn't have the hold on us it used to have; it was the next to last case we drank, finishing ahead of only Rolling Rock in the unpopularity sweepstakes.

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with the American Budweiser, though you wouldn't know it from the Anheuser-Busch website. Right now the two featured beverages are Michelob Ultra, a beer primarily know for having most of the ingredients removed, and a "malt beverage" Bacardi Silver. Chick beers, not that there's anything remotely beer-like about either. Buh-bye "Here comes the King". From now on it's "Here comes the Queen".

Now, obviously there are those who do drink Budweiser, or Bud Light, and I could run into any of these people if I started going back out to bars on a regular basis, but I'm not going to do that. Aside from the fact that most of the regular Bud drinkers would happily fill my mouth with knuckles were I to start spreading my opinion of their brew, the wife has grown less and less enchanted with the notion of going out to another smoky bar to watch me karaoke These Boots Were Made For Walking for the hundredth time.

For me, when to comes to beer, the American giant can do no right. Susan has the same attitude about foreign policy. The best stuff is made in Europe, or by Americans consciously imitating the European styles. Neither of us is likely to change our attitudes anytime soon, because we don't travel in circles that expose us to those with a different attitude. We acknowledge the existence of those who differ from us, but our default attitude is "If you only educated yourself about foreign policy/beer, then you would agree with me. The only excuse for the choice you make is ignorance."

God help me, I'm a Beer Liberal.

Posted 12/15/2002 09:31:00 AM by Sid link


The Department of Homeland Security gets a new boss.