I'm...a Beer Man

Some guys are butt men and some guys are breast men. I am a beer man. We have a secret, yet not so secret, love affair together. Like all relationships we have our good moments and our not so good moments, but the good outweighs the bad. I like to experiment and try new things, and the beer does too. We like to extend our palette beyond the mundane and generic brews. The usual suspects have run their course and we’re getting into a deeper relationship. We’ve even talked about taking the next step and making little brews of our own. I want more than just a six-pack or a full suitcase; I want my own micro-brewery. But we have a long way to go in our relationship to get there. So much more to try, so much more living to do together before we tie ourselves down to such a large commitment. You could say we’re still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, neither can do any wrong; well, some wrong (i.e. Natty). But we won’t go there. We both want to travel and taste what the world has to offer. I’m not sure if we’ll ever settle down in a particular country. I want to stay true to my German roots, but Beer likes to get me out of my comfort zone when I get complacent. Instead of going to the movie store and bringing back a few different movies, we talk about going to Total Wine and bringing back a variety six-pack. When we go out to eat we try a different beer each time. Recently we’ve fallen in love with Blue Moon and Stella Artois, but I think it’s time to move on—there’s so much more out there. We are limited financially and therefore limited in our selection, but every so often we splurge and go exotic. If I drink wine I feel like I’m cheating on Beer. I don’t drink liquor because there’s nothing to savor, no real flavor. I stay true to my first love, Beer.

I want to start brewing my own beer and eventually develop my own line. I’m trying to think of new and interesting combinations that I can perfect and make into my own brand. Give me some suggestions of beers I should try or your top echelon of brew. If you inspire me enough, I might just name a beer after you.

The Olympic Spirit

The Olympics, be it Summer or Winter, are a time for the country to come together. The Summer more so, because not everyone gets a winter. These events allow the host nation to “welcome” in “friends” and share their hospitality with them. It gives them the chance to showcase their culture, what a great way to educate the world! It’s almost an excuse for world leaders to show support for each other by sending normal citizens to represent their country in front of the world. Every summit the “Big 5”, the “Big 5 plus 1”, or the G-20 attend there are protestors. Don’t get me wrong, protestors are good, they force those in the summit to address issues to a certain extent, but they also tend to mar the proceedings through their actions. So why not use the Summer Olympics or the Winter Olympics to normalize relations with one another? As I watch the events I notice that at the end of a race/run the competitor that lost, had a slower run or that was bumped out of contention congratulates the winner or the person that bested them—that’s the epitome of sportsmanship. Why can’t our leaders conduct themselves with sportsmanship? Every country has pride, every country wants what is best for their people (or their leader), and every country wants to be the best; just like every competitor wants to win, wants to beat their rival and wants their place atop their respective sport. But at the end of the race, event, or season they congratulate the better man and rededicate themselves for the next go-around. Competitors need each other to make themselves better. They need someone to push them to their limits, to be the best they can be. We need our leaders to push each other to be better leaders. We don’t need our leaders to call others bluffs or force their hand, i.e. repeatedly call for sanctions. We did it to Saddam in the 90’s and 00’s. We kept calling for him to reveal his WMD’s when he probably didn’t have them, he was just trying to show possible threats that Iraq wasn’t as weak as it really was. We don’t need to repeat that with Iran or North Korea, because what if we force their hand, what if they are further along militarily than we think. We need our leaders to show sportsmanship. We need them to cooperate and work together to make this world better. They need to recognize that every side has pride in their country and that every side wants a piece of the pie. Only when the leaders of the world have the same understanding can they work towards progress, otherwise they are working to someone’s gain, not everyone’s.

The Best Offense is a Strong Defense

The US government is currently developing an anti-missile program. Earlier this week they tested the system in the Pacific Ocean, but due to electronic troubles the test failed. The US also just agreed to establish another system in Romania designed to shoot down short and mid-range missiles from rogue nations like Iran. Poland has also signed on to the same program. By establishing this system the US has agreed to dismantle another system in Eastern Europe designed to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles. That system caused much unrest in Russia because they believed it to be pointed at them. The US is doing this to try and improve relations with Russia and to insure the protection of its allies from “rogue nations”.

I personally think it’s a brilliant idea to try and work together with other nations. Especially at the present time when Iran is determined to go forward with their nuclear facilities. Iran claims that they are merely trying to create nuclear power for their country, but many are wary of their “intentions”. Reagan’s idea of Star Wars isn’t going to happen, but it has been adapted to a realistic and rational level of implementation. They say defense wins championships, but can it win wars?

Preparation

There are always stories about how much athletes prepare for games and how much time they spend watching film on their opponents, but who prepares the most for what they have to face? Certainly not city government officials! We just had a, for a better term, blizzard in southeastern Virginia. For the area it was a blizzard. Everyone was watching its progress across the country. Every one heard stories about how much snow it was dumping on its way east—except for Hampton Roads city governments/VDOT. Everyone prepared for it except them. They didn’t prepare for it by spreading salt or even sand—which we have an abundance of. When the snow fell it stuck and no snow plows were in sight. No evidence of them on any streets, highways or even the interstate. You’d think if they would plow anything it would be the major veins of transportation in and out of the area, but no. My wife and I drove over to Chesapeake (20-30 minute drive), but this Saturday it took over an hour. The roads were covered and people were forced to drive very carefully so as not to fishtail and wreck. There was no clear indication of lanes. There was one lane where there should have been three, and that one lane didn’t reside within its designated lines—it weaved slowly over the entire space of the highway. The snow stayed on the highways through Saturday and Sunday and schools closed, business closed and the government closed down Monday. They could have gotten it cleared by Monday easily. I enjoyed having the day off, but schools are still out today. Why, because VDOT does not know how to prepare. They could have called in trucks from other areas, they could have contracted out to local companies, but no they decided to let us risk our own lives to try and get anywhere—that is a bit drastic, but they didn’t do much to help out the people they are paid to service. Maybe in the future they’ll learn from their mistakes—but I doubt that.

Constant Vigilance

Everybody needs to pay close attention on what’s happening in the Pacific right now. The Middle East is the US’s current focal point, but Korea and China could quickly supplant it. North and South Korea have been exchanging warning shots since Wednesday. North Korea claims it has been taking part in a regular military exercise by launching missiles over the disputed sea border. South Korea has responded by lobbing missiles back warningly. Earlier this week South Korea also expressed that they have no problem using force against North Korea. Keep your eyes on that because if they go to war the US will likely be dragged into the fight.
The US is also set to announce an arms deal with Taiwan, China’s disputed territory. China has repeatedly warned the US about arms deals with Taiwan, because China believes that Taiwan is its property. Taiwan claims that they are a free nation. The weapons are mainly defensive weapons, but in such close proximity anything can be used offensively. The US is already at odds with China for several reasons and this won’t help relations with the largest economy in the world (and our current world banker of choice).
Keep your eyes open.
CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

Ignorance is never blissful

A legal family member of mine recently posted something on Facebook that really disturbed me:

“Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going to without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment—yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations? 99% won’t have the guts to copy and repost this!”

I had to read it several times to make sure of the tone and meaning of the statement. It made me so angry. I immediately went looking for statistics to disprove this most ignorant of statements. I looked up poverty levels by country and found this. According this graph we’re ranked 121 out of 141 countries reporting. There are 120 countries that have a higher percentage of people living below the poverty line. I’m sure our numbers have fluctuated since 2004, but so have the other countries’. Right away you can see that we aren’t the only ones with “homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going to without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment.” Soon anger turned into pity. To think that someone who lives in his own place, has food on his own table for he and his son, and who has a job can say something like that is pathetic. What is he doing to help those in this country? What is wrong with helping others? Isn’t that our job as citizens of the world? Isn’t that we’re called to be as human beings—caring, helpful, sympathetic?
I saw the benefit on all those channels. I was initially annoyed by it, but after traveling from channel 2 to 68 I realized that it wasn’t just on the major networks, but on various cable channels. I was impressed. I went up and down to see just how many channels were airing this. I thought it was brilliant. To witness the level of caring and humanity was impressive. The best way to reach Americans is through the TV or internet and to have something on almost every channel doesn’t give us a chance to escape it, we can’t run from it, we can’t hide from it lest we turn off the TV—and that’s close to blasphemy. I am impressed by all the help Americans have given to the country of Haiti, especially since it’s during one of the worst recessions in our country’s history. To look past our difficulties and help out people who are facing worse times than we are. We have military there, we have celebrities flying supplies there (Travolta flew a plane of supplies), and former Presidents calling for more, challenging our people to give more because more is needed and we are a country that can afford to give more.
I feel sorry for that family-member, but I feel more for the people of Haiti. Jesus said we would always have to poor, but he should have added that we would always have the ignorant. Oh well.

Why are we the way we are?

Last night was the President’s first State of the Union Address. Unfortunately I was only able to watch the second half of it due to being in class. But what I heard was fantastic. I enjoy hearing President Obama speak. He is awfully mesmerizing, but eloquent and very brilliant. One quality a President/Prime Minister/leader should have is being a good orator, and Obama is a great one. I also enjoy watching the members of Congress in the crowd. Last night, to quote my wife, “The Republicans are ridiculous and Democrats get up and clap and interrupt too much.” That’s how it is every State of the Union; the party in power gets up and claps at every other thing the President says while the other party sits and sulks, brooding over every word trying to show that they don’t like anything he says. I don’t get that. Why do we insist on being poor losers? Why can’t we get over ourselves and work together? Congress, you’re in Washington because We the People sent you there to represent We the People.
In what I did hear from President Obama, he addressed that mentality. He didn’t call the Republicans sore losers. That’s just my opinion. Obama addressed the need for cooperation between parties. He wasn’t ignorant about what divides them, but called for a common sense approach to working together. He argued that every one in the House Chamber that night loved the US. They loved their freedom, but acknowledged that they all have a responsibility to the People. Saying “No” just because you can and with the aim of preventing any program/idea devised by the opposite party is not how government should be. Give a better reason than “Because”. Do more than just sling mud. Rise above and be the bigger man/woman. The GOP relies heavily on the Religious Right, they should take note of the scripture that they “live by” and turn the other cheek. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Let he who is willing to work for the greater good, challenge others to do the same and then back that up.
President Obama was correct in his assertion that people are becoming disenchanted with our government. No one really trusts it. Congress has the lowest approval rates out of any branch and their rates have been decreasing for years. They need to redeem themselves. The Supreme Court made a bone-headed decision recently to rival the Dred Scott case and Korematsu. Constitutionally, it isn’t fair to keep people from speaking and spending their money supporting candidates. Corporations and labor unions represent the people that make them up, that work for them or that they fight to protect. But for a corporation to assume that every one of its workers supports a candidate is reckless. For them to pour money into advertising for a candidate amounts to mere coercion. The candidate isn’t forced to but is obliged to protect that corporations interests. The corporation has basically become a sponsor for the candidate, like a major league sports team. I contributed to a facebook thread about just that, it got carried away, but that’s what could happen. President Obama challenged the Supreme Court on the issue, and Justice Alito refused to believe him. Obama argued that corporations are going to drown out the regular voter, but Alito adamantly shook his head in protest and mouthed “No they won’t. No they won’t.” I wouldn’t expect anything less from someone that George W. Bush nominated to the Supreme Court. But we as the electorate can counter-balance the Supreme Court’s decision. If we educate ourselves about the issues, not just take someone’s word on it. Particularly someone who is paid to spout out “facts” about the issues. My former professor, who can’t stand Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Stooksbury would support Thomas Jefferson’s belief that an educated electorate is the best. That educated electorate must not be a mass of sheep. They need to think for themselves and decide for themselves—that’s democracy. We The People need to assert ourselves. Congress, the President and the rest of the government are responsible to We the People.