In an interview today with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, Bush echoed Biden’s remarks when asked about Obama. “He’s an attractive guy. He’s articulate. I’ve been impressed with him when I’ve seen him in person,” Bush said.He’s articulate! And he’s only a United States Senator. I’m not sure Bush would know articulate if it bit him in the ass but there you have it.
Sources tell The Sleuth that the Obama camp has "frozen out" Fox News reporters and producers in the wake of the network's major screw-up in running with the erroneous Obama-the-jihadist story reported by Insight magazine.Let’s be clear that this wasn’t just a “screw-up”, major or otherwise. If it had been, and not part of a long standing anti-Democrat smear campaign, I’d say Obama was being petty. Truth is, that’s the kind of stuff they do day-in and day-out. Their core audience loves it and won’t stand for anything less. Why would they when they could get real news (more or less) a million other places?
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy…”Clean? Mainstream African-Americans aren’t clean? Or articulate? Or bright? Come to think of it what are “mainstream” African-Americans? Oh man, did Biden ever step in it.
Yes, we’re in Bush’s final quarter but that’s still two years.BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Pentagon is investigating whether a recent attack on a military compound in Karbala was carried out by Iranians or Iranian-trained operatives, two officials from separate U.S. government agencies said.
"People are looking at it seriously," one of the officials said.
That official added the Iranian connection was a leading theory in the investigation into the January 20 attack that killed five soldiers.
The second official said: "We believe it's possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained."
Even the Chief’s supporters don’t really care that much about the Chief (why would they). What they care about is beating their political and cultural opponents. I suspect the other side has a lot of this same energy. That’s why I’ve also consistently said that while I oppose the Chief in principle, it’s really about item number 10,001 on my ranking of issues that need addressing.I recently asked supporters of Chief Illiniwek: "What important principle do you feel is being advanced by the effort to save this symbol of the University of Illinois? What makes it worth all the controversy and the hurt feelings?"
Many responses later, I'm confident I have the answer: Not tradition. Not respect for American Indians. The main sentiment keeping the Chief in place is opposition to those who want to retire him as an offensive caricature.
As early as 9 a.m. Saturday, tailgaters gathered in the parking lot of Pinch Penny Pub hell-bent on defying Mother Nature.Yeah, OK. Beer, college kids, large groups of college kids, people coming in from out of town, more beer and pretty soon you have Halloween all over again. Not that I have any problem with that.
More than 1,000 Corona cases and almost 300 pounds of limes later, all that was left of the fifth annual Polar Bear Party was a head cold, a soiled T-shirt and memories for between 2,000 and 3,000 partiers.
[Snip]
He said the bar is considering expanding the event to become a festival-like atmosphere that would include more than just the bar to avoid these problems.
"Something that Carbondale could be proud of as a community and market it towards other campuses and other towns, just to show that if you know what you're doing and you've got a grasp on it that it doesn't have to be out of control like Halloween," Karayiannis said.
Rudolph is the daughter of the late soul singer Minnie Riperton and Jewish American composer/songwriter/producer Richard Rudolph. She was in the studio with her mother on the day Riperton recorded "Lovin' You"; one can hear her mother sing "Maya, Maya, Maya" to her near the end of the track.Minnie died at the age of 31 from breast cancer. If you’re old enough, you might remember this song she recorded in the mid 1970’s a few years before she died.
Thousands of anti-war protesters demanded a withdrawal of U.S. troops in a demonstration in Washington today. … About 40 people staged a counter-protest.And while we’re on the subject of the Bush Glorious War, I have finally had something confirmed to me. I was told several years ago, at the start of the BGW, that all those Support the Troops signs in yards and on the back of cars were really just to show support of the troops. I contended that those signs were really designed to show support for the war while hiding behind the troops to insulate the sentiment from criticism.
The president's approval ratings are at their lowest point in the poll's history—30 percent—and more than half the country (58 percent) say they wish the Bush presidency were simply over…[emphasis mine]I often think that to myself, “I wish this administration was DONE AND OVER WITH.” So to see that most of the country is thinking the same way is quite heartening.
I stepped into the taxi depot that serves the Minneapolis - St. Paul International Airport, where drivers sit and wait for their next fare. In this crowded, noisy room, most of the cabbies are Muslims originally from Somalia.Sounds familiar, no? If your religious beliefs conflict with your job duties you should find another job. That goes for pharmacist and cab driver.
"We're doing a story about the conflict between the cabbies and the airport. The Muslim drivers have been refusing to take passengers carrying alcohol, such as wine or liquor purchased at a duty free shop," I explained.
A group of men gathered around us.
"This is America, we have freedom of religion," says one cabbie. We could see their feelings are intense -- that the issue seems to cut to the core of their identity.
"The Metropolitan Airport Commission is discriminating against us Muslim drivers," says Abdulkaddir Adan, a Somalian-American who's been driving a cab in the Twin Cities for two years.No, YOU Mr. cabbie are discriminating based on what items a fare is carrying. You don’t have to drink. You don’t have to like that others drink. And unless your passenger is beating you over the head with a Jack Daniels bottle or, I suppose opening and drinking the hooch in the cab, it’s really none of your business if someone is carrying alcohol. The booze is just not any of your concern.
And how ‘bout this for an offensive line. Actually, there isn’t anything offensive about this except that I’m not there to sample the lineup brought to us by the Hop Yard American Alehouse and Grill. A beer rainbow.
Moving on to a Lucky Labrador from the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company. Lap up them suds, dawg. Or, er, bear down or something.
Oh what the hell, one more football metaphor. Check out this huddle from the folks at Bell’s Brewery.
Happy Weekend!
This information describes a segment of a news broadcast held by the Vanderbilt Television News Archive. The Archive has recorded news programs from the U.S. national television networks since August 1968. To view this item, you may request that a copy be sent to you through the Archive's videotape loan service.Wow, how cool would this be if you could just click on the particular story and watch it right online? Maybe there is another such archive that does provide online access of the video? I couldn’t find one.
We charge a service fee to help recover the costs.
In the past week, many of you have read a now thoroughly-debunked story by Insight Magazine, owned by the Washington Times, which cites unnamed sources close to a political campaign that claim Senator Obama was enrolled for “at least four years” in an Indonesian “Madrassa”. The article says the “sources” believe the Madrassa was “espousing Wahhabism,” a form of radical Islam.Standing up to these liars and bullies is something we all need to do. Enough is enough. It’ll never stop until we all start calling bullshit on this stuff. I’m glad Obama is showing some leadership in this area.
Insight Magazine published these allegations without a single named source, and without doing any independent reporting to confirm or deny the allegations. Fox News quickly parroted the charges, and Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy went so far as to ask, “Why didn’t anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised — spent the first decade of his life, raised by his Muslim father — as a Muslim and was educated in a Madrassa?”
All of the claims about Senator Obama raised in the Insight Magazine piece were thoroughly debunked by CNN, which, instead of relying on unnamed sources, sent a reporter to Obama’s former school in Jakarta to check the facts.
If Doocy or the staff at Fox and Friends had taken [time] to check their facts, or simply made a call to his office, they would have learned that Senator Obama was not educated in a Madrassa, was not raised as a Muslim, and was not raised by his father – an atheist Obama met once in his life before he died.
Later in the day, Fox News host John Gibson again discussed the Insight Magazine story without any attempt to independently confirm the charges.
All of the claims about Senator Obama’s faith and education raised in the Insight Magazine story and repeated on Fox News are false. Senator Obama was raised in a secular household in Indonesia by his stepfather and mother. Obama’s stepfather worked for a U.S. oil company, and sent his stepson to two years of Catholic school, as well as two years of public school. As Obama described it, “Without the money to go to the international school that most expatriate children attended, I went to local Indonesian schools and ran the streets with the children of farmers, servants, tailors, and clerks.” [The Audacity of Hope, p. 274]
To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago. Furthermore, the Indonesian school Obama attended in Jakarta is a public school that is not and never has been a Madrassa.
These malicious, irresponsible charges are precisely the kind of politics the American people have grown tired of, and that Senator Obama is trying to change by focusing on bringing people together to solve our common problems.
Your average car offers a blank rear canvas for personal expression of at least 5 square feet -- empty bumper space, body panels and so on. So why anyone feels the need to express himself in the exact same 6-inch by 12-inch rectangle that the state uses for license plate information has always been beyond me.I really don’t have a problem with vanity plates but I’ve always thought the specialty plates to be excessive. And I’ll have to admit, I basically agree with the judge’s decision. It’s kind of hard to draw distinctions between what law-abiding organizations can and can’t have specialty plates.
I think middle schools are awful -- kids at that age are just horrible little creatures and putting them all together in an environment cut off from the rest of the world brings out the worst in them. My friends who went to K-8 schools had much better experiences and I think I would have preferred it.Well, I went to a K-8 school. Maybe that explains it. I was spared the horrors of middle school because…I didn’t go to a middle school. Interesting. I also suspect it helped that I wasn’t a girl and that I already had a general disinterest in a large percentage of my classmates. Although I kind of regret that last part all these years later since those are people with whom I probably have way more in common than almost anyone else in the world.
She thinks she's smarter than me. She thinks she's smarter than anyone in the room. The "vibe" she gives off - comes from way over my head, and she feels the need to talk down to me. She is the polar opposite of Bill (I wasn't crazy about him either) - but he connected to people in a way she never will. I ask myself if she has a chance receiving votes from "regular people." These are the voters in the "fly over" states - the red states in between New York & California (The whole country) I see Homer, Ed & Jimmy sitting at a coffee shop in Springfield Missouri drinking coffee. Hillary sees herself as intellectually superior to these people.Good Lord, where to begin. First, notice this almost-hatred isn’t based on anything concrete just a “vibe”. He knows she thinks she’s smarter than everyone. However, not one area of policy is mentioned in Bri’s post. Nope it’s all a sense of Hillary thinking she’s so smart. Oh, what a bitch!
So Hillary is the front runner. According to whom? Average Americans?Now are these “Average Americans” who should be in charge of who is the frontrunner the same people who are “regular” Americans? Actaully, if you’ll indulge a bit of smarty-pantsism on my part, Hillary is currently, nearly two years out from the election, the frontrunner among Democrats who we all know aren’t “regular” or “American” (or patriotic or in any way normal).
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Thirty years after it began as just another quirky movement in Berkeley, Calif., the push to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places has reached a national milestone.Man the barricades! Or at least start emptying your garbage and cigarette butts into the gutters (but watch out for killer panhandlers).
For the first time in the nation's history, more than half of Americans live in a city or state with laws mandating that workplaces, restaurants or bars be smoke-free, according to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.
''The movement for smoke-free air has gone from being a California oddity to the nationwide norm,'' said Bronson Frick, the group's associate director. ''We think 100 percent of Americans will live in smoke-free jurisdictions within a few years.''
Seven states and 116 communities enacted tough smoke-free laws last year, bringing the total number to 22 states and 577 municipalities, according to the group. Nevada's ban, which went into effect Dec. 8, increased the total U.S. population covered by any type of smoke-free law to 50.2 percent.
The ban forces patrons of bars and restaurants to step outside to enjoy smokes, and many simply toss their cigarette butts onto the sidewalks near the front doors of drinking establishments.So the reporter when out looking for cigarette butts in front of bars. And she found some! Okaaaaaay.
A check of some downtown bars last week showed unsightly trails of cigarette butts outside many bars in the mornings. By lunchtime, most of the messes had been cleaned up.
But at least one downtown bar owner, still disgruntled about the smoking ban, said he has his employees just sweep the butts into the gutters.Wow is he really sticking it to The Man or what? Civil disobedience I guess. And if that doesn’t work, try bogus scare tactics:
"We don't put any ashtrays out," said Tom Kelty Jr., owner of Sammy's Sports Bar, 217 S. Fifth St. "As far as I'm concerned, it's the city's responsibility. They're the ones who forced smokers outside.
Along with the litter is an unanticipated problem: the people who gather outside to smoke often become the targets of panhandlers.Oh yes, the “safety” issue of panhandlers. Just like the dangerous homeless folk at the library. Man, I guess a lot of people are going to be giving up smoking now rather that face the dangers of panhandlers. Right?
"It's a smorgasbord," Kelty said. "People try to stand outside to smoke, and (the panhandlers) bounce from bar to bar, so there's a safety issue. It's an eyesore for the city for visitors to town to be accosted. They've been dealing with the problem for years, but it's more of a problem with everyone standing outside."
Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.Here’s what Bloomington’s WJBC did in response:
The Rush is no longer going to be on the air on WJBC. Radio Bloomington General Manager Red Pitcher announced this afternoon the syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show will air for the last time March 2, 2007. Pitcher tells WJBC's Steve and Beth on The Drive, local programming will replace Rush.Well, it couldn’t have happened to bigger asshole. Bye Rush!
Pitcher believes Limbaugh's popularity is declining because of controversial remarks that are offending even his Republican fans. He pointed to today's show in which Limbaugh compared players in the NFL with gang members. Details of the local programming line-up that will begin on March 5th will be announced in coming weeks.
Nothing makes history come alive like a bobblehead.
Photo by Dave Curtis, Dunedin, New Zealand via Spaceweather.com
Comet McNaught is now only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. More pictures here and here.
He’s so overexposed that boredom and then disillusionment will set in.I think that’s a real concern. Peaking too early can be politically deadly. Right now, I think Obama is Mr. None of the Above and when he transitions into a real person, political warts and all, there may be a rebound effect when people discover he’s not everything they imagined. You can’t please all of the people all if the time, to paraphrase that tall guy from Springfield.
I know the beer cans here are simply to facilitate the cooking of the birds but I squirm in my seat whenever I see a picture of this culinary technique.
With Guinness as the main course …
And for the kids, in the tradition of the candy cigarettes of my youth, we have beer suckers.
Bud Appetit!
The Oglala Sioux Tribe today demanded the University of Illinois return the Lakota regalia worn by Chief Illiniwek, the school's controversial mascot.Yeah well, if Native Americans are so smart why did they continue to foolishly enter into “treaties” with Native Europeans? Thank (the Great White) God we know how to honor the red man better than those ungrateful indigenous savages.
In a resolution presented to the U. of I. board of trustees, the university president and the chancellor, the tribe called for the university to "cease use of this mascot."
The "Oglala regalia is being misused to represent 'Chief Illiniwek,'" and is a "disrespectful representation" of the people of the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshaw and Wea nations, according to the resolution. "The antics of persons playing 'Chief Illiniwek' perpetuates a degrading racial stereotype that reflects negatively on all American Indian people."
The regalia itself is not even like that worn by the tribe Chief Illiniwek is supposed to have come from, said Malvin Young Bear, cultural liaison to Vice President William Brewer of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
The use of the costume by Chief Illiniwek is insulting to the tribe, particularly because the ceremonial dress "was a significant honor to wear," Young Bear added.
Danielle Godard - All Headline News Staff WriterI’m always skeptical about alleged miraculous cures that for whatever reason are being ignored because the inventor is being persecuted or whatever. But even if this isn’t the whole story (and it may well be for all I know) it’s certainly true that Big Parma is primarily seeking profits not cures. Sorry, it’s what business do. If the drug makers can’t make money, there is no incentive for them to pursue it. I’ve heard this is why there have not been any new malaria drugs marketed in decades, because only poor people need it and they can’t pay. The same goes for drugs that might treat rare diseases; there just wouldn’t be enough people buying them.
Edmonton, AB (AHN) - It is expected there would be no problems securing funding to explore a drug that could shrink cancerous tumors and has no side-effects in humans, but University of Alberta researcher Evangelos Michelakis has hit a stalemate with the private sector who would normally fund such a venture.
Michelakis' drug is none other than dichloroacetate (DCA), a drug which cannot be patented and costs pennies to make.
It's no wonder he can't secure the $400-600 million needed to conduct human trials with the medicine - the drug doesn't have the potential to make enough money.
Michelakis told reporters they will be applying to public agencies for funding, as pharmaceuticals are reluctant to pick up the drug.
At roughly $2 a dose, there isn't much chance to make a billion on the cancer treatment over the long term.
Bush’s 2007 budget proposed cutting funding for the National Cancer Institute by $40 million.
There were 1,267 deaths on Illinois roads last year [2006]. That's down nearly 100 deaths from 2005 and the lowest total since 1,065 people died in 1924.1924? There were over a thousand traffics deaths in Illinois in 1924? Considering the speeds of the vehicles of that era (or lack thereof) and the much smaller population, that’s a rather remarkable number. Driving was REALLY dangerous back then. I suppose it was attributable to lack of seatbelts, poor roads, limited traffic control devices and lax traffic laws in general. You know, all that fascist, government-trying-to-control-your-life stuff.
That’s me on the right in case you were wondering.
Comet McNaught is no longer visible from the northern hemisphere, but it should remain a spectacular fixture in sunset skies of the south for weeks to come.Hope you got a chance to see it while it was here. Days of cloudy weather prevented us a last glimpse.
…it really does seem as if our media is unaware that in addition to an impending Democratic primary there's also a Republican one.Well, that’s because the Democratic bench is full and rather impressive. The Republicans have what, John McCain? The media have a short any shallow attention span.
Who knew you could die from drinking too much water and not going to the bathroom?Well, ummmm, I thought everyone did. Sometimes (just sometimes!) I’m wrong.
When Obama formally announces his candidacy, he plans to do it here in Springfield. But where? It would be great if it were outdoors or in some large venue where we could all go and see him kick off what could be a historic bid for the presidency. Maybe in front of Union Station? But there would need to be an indoor Plan B in case of bad weather.
Say Obama goes all the way and is elected president in 2008. Who will Gov. Blagojevich appoint to serve out Obama’s term? Who will run for the seat in 2010?
Obama needs to work on his “Uhs”. Eric Zorn has more.
I did not know this: “…Democratic presidential nominee Adlai E. Stevenson, a governor of Illinois who lost to Republican Dwight Eisenhower, had his national campaign headquarters in Springfield.” Obama’s headquarters will be in Chicago.
If Obama is elected, it will be the first time in my life I’ll be older than the President of the United States. What a drag it is getting old.Update: Obama just another Jerry Brown?
[New Haven ] Mayor John DeStefano Jr., advocating for his city, backs the Lassens and their claims.
"We are even the birthplace of George Bush who wants people to think he's from Texas," the mayor said. "So yes, the hamburger is as much a New Haven original as President Bush. Get over it, Texas."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama is preparing to file the necessaryNow let’s see if the press can stop confusing him with Osama.
paperwork to create a committee to explore a bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, according to a source close to Obama and a local Chicago broadcast news report.
"It's going to come this week," a source close to Obama, D-Illinois, told CNN.
Chicago television station WMAQ, citing sources "who work for Senator Obama," also reported the exploratory committee papers will be filed by the end of the week and that Obama could make a campaign visit to Iowa this weekend.
Rep. John Shimkus (R-What Interns?) was a big believer of term limits when it was advantageous to do so (i.e. to get elected). He even promised to quit after six terms. But as we all know, he changed his mind when he discovered he was way too valuable to leave. A class act.
In a recent survey of college students on U.S. civic literacy, more than 81 percent knew that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was expressing hope for "racial justice and brotherhood" in his historic "I Have a Dream" speech.OK, but how many adults who get a holiday from work really care that much about why they’re getting the day off?
That's the good news.
Most of the rest surveyed thought King was advocating the abolition of slavery.
The findings indicate that years of efforts by primary and secondary schools to steep young people in the basics of the civil rights leader's life and activities have resulted in a mixed bag. Most college students know who he is -- even if they're not quite clear on what he worked to achieve.
[snip]
The recent survey of college students, conducted by the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy for the nonprofit Intercollegiate Studies Institute, suggests that schools are not doing as much as they could to go beyond a cursory history lesson. More than 14,000 college freshmen and seniors at 50 colleges and universities earned an average score of 53.2 percent in the survey.
Many of the 10 federal holidays have become little more than days off school or work, even if they are dedicated to significant Americans, such as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Many people have no idea what Labor Day commemorates, educators say.
"Honestly, I never knew what Veterans Day was until last year," said Taneisha Rodney, 14, a ninth-grader at William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts in Northeast Washington.
"Koke Mill is no longer an oil and chip road," said Joyner's attorney, Gordon Gates. "R-3 is usually going to be single-family with duplexes on the edge.Not that the statement is false in relation to the subject at hand (the development of teh intersection of Iles and Koke Mill), but not all of Koke Mll is “no longer an oil and chip road”. North of Old Jack it’s still a country road with not so much as a center stripe. The section between Old Jack and Washington continues to grow with a new development going in even as I type.
The dance flick "Stomp the Yard" was a step ahead of the competition at the box office, debuting as the No. 1 weekend movie with $22 million.Thank God we were saved from all that here.
Starring Columbus Short as a raw but talented dancer at the center of a step competition between rival college fraternities, the Sony Screen Gems movie knocked off 20th Century Fox's "Night at the Museum," which had been the top film for three straight weekends.
We’ve Been Looking For You!The mailer also has the defunct Springfield store’s address printed on it.
We mailed you a $10 No Strings Attached Certificate a few weeks ago. We’ve been waiting patiently, but we don’t think you’ve been by Ned Kelly’s Steakhouse.
Well, just in case you can’t find it, here’s another chance to come back.
This special offer expires Jan 28, 2007.
Observers around the world are reporting that Comet McNaught is now visible in broad daylight. The comet is very close to the sun, so it is tricky to find. If you want to try, here's how to do it: Go outside and stand in the shadow of a building so that the glare of the sun is blocked out. Make a fist and hold it at arm's length. The comet is about one fist-width east of the sun.This assumes, of course, we ever see the sky again around here.
This weekend is a special time for Comet McNaught because it is making its closest approach to the sun. Solar heat causes the comet to vaporize furiously and brighten to daytime visibility. McNaught is now the brightest comet in more than 40 years, and it may become the brightest in centuries.Picture by Thorsten Boeckel of Bavaria, Germany (via Spaceweather.com)
This is the price we pay for El Nino and/or global warming. In a "normal" year this would likely just be a bit of snow.URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
200 PM
CST FRI JAN 12 2007
...SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE THIS WEEKEND...
.A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST HALF OF ILLINOIS THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON...BECOMING STATIONARY SOUTH OF THE OHIO RIVER BY SATURDAY MORNING. WAVES OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE ALONG THIS FRONT...AND WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OFPRECIPITATION ACROSS CENTRAL ILLINOIS THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
ALTHOUGH COLD AIR WILL BE FOUND AT THE SURFACE...MUCH WARMER CONDITIONS ALOFT WILL RESULT IN THE PRECIPITATION PRIMARILY BEING IN THE FORM OF FREEZING RAIN. SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LIKELY FROM THIS SYSTEM...WITH THE THICKEST ICE IN AREAS FROM SPRINGFIELD SOUTHWESTWARD.
TRAVEL CONDITIONS THIS WEEKEND WILL BE EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS ACROSSMUCH OF THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
At one point Gates, just three weeks on the job, told lawmakers, "I would confess I'm no expert on Iraq." Later, asked about reaching the right balance between American and Iraqi forces, he told the panel he was "no expert on military matters."Whaaaaaaaat?
The two companies have been battling for a century over Budweiser and other trade names, such as Budvar. Currently, they are involved in some 40 lawsuits worldwide.Well some good news: peace is in the air:
Budejovicky Budvar was founded in 1895 in Ceske Budejovice – called Budweis by the German-speaking people that populated the area at the time. Beer has been brewed there since 1265.The founders of Anheuser-Busch used the name Budweiser for their product because it was well-known in their German homeland. A brewery in St. Louis began producing Budweiser, America's first national beer brand, in 1876.
Since 2001, Budvar has been exporting lager to the U.S. under the name Czechvar.
Jan 8, 2007 - After nearly a century of disagreements in certain parts of the world over rights to the Budweiser name for their beers, Anheuser-Busch and Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar have formed a historic alliance in which Anheuser-Busch will become the U.S. importer of Czechvar Premium Czech Lager, the two brewers announced in a press release Monday.Sadly, not all the news is good for Anheuser-Busch:The agreement gives Czechvar, previously sold in 30 states by Distinguished Brands, access to A-B's wide-reaching U.S. distribution network. It gives Anheuser-Busch another European import in high-end beer category, part of a strategy that led to alliances with Grolsch, Tiger, Kirin and most recently InBev, which added Stella Artois, Beck's, Bass Pale Ale and other beers to its import portfolio.
STRASBOURG, France – American brewer Anheuser-Busch cannot sell beer under the brand name Budweiser in Portugal, the highest chamber of Europe's human rights court ruled Thursday, in the latest round of a global legal battle between theWhy don’t these two companies just suit-up, get on the field and play a special Bud Bowl for the rights to world distribution of Bud?
U.S. beer giant and Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar.The U.S. brewery lost its fight against a 2001 decision by Portugal's Supreme Court, which ruled that Budejovicky Budvar had the right to use the brand name under a 1986 treaty between the Czech Republic and Portugal.
State Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, announced Thursday he will sponsor a bill creating a statewide indoor smoking ban.It remains to be seen if this thing has enough support to get passed but if lawmakers hear from enough constituents in favor of the measure, just maybe it will become law. I’m sure the tobacco addict lobby is already gearing up for a fight.
The bill would, with exceptions for some home-based businesses, ban smoking in
workplaces and all indoor public places.
If the bill passes, Illinois would join 16 other states, including California, New York and Ohio, that have smoking bans.
Legislative leaders and the governor reacted cautiously to the measure, one of the first bills to be introduced in the newly minted General Assembly. The offices of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) said they wanted to see the legislation first.I assume that would be true of the Springfield ban as well.
[snip]
Cullerton said the legislation as proposed would take effect on Jan. 1, 2008, and would supercede the recently passed Chicago ordinance that gives city bars until July 2008 to implement the ban.
Steve Riedl, executive director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, said a statewide ban would provide little assistance to businesses suffering under local bans. Bars, fraternal organizations and bowling alleys have seen average revenue losses of 40 percent under current bans, he said.Death delayed is death denied I always say. And what will happen to the all-powerful Barrel Head under this ban? Will it explode like a Death Star at the hands of Luke Skywalker? And will smoking addicts continue their pouting protest by going to Missouri for a beer? So many ramifications.
"The death is delayed," Riedl said. "They will keep the doors open just a couple more months. It only slightly puts off the inevitable demise of their businesses."
Oh of course not, it has NOTHING to do with race. No, you just don't want to attract "that audience". Besides, everyone knows anything young and black = gang violence.Fearful of attracting more gang violence to its movie theaters, Springfield's Kerasotes Theatres will not open "Stomp the Yard," a film about black college students in a dancing competition.
Kerasotes Theatres' company chairman and CEO Tony Kerasotes called the decision a safety consideration in the wake of a Christmas Day shooting at the chain's Parkway Pointe location.
"I chose to err on the side of caution and in the interest of safety and chose not to open the film in Springfield this week," Kerasotes said Wednesday. "I was fearful the movie could become the occasion for more gang violence, because I felt certain it would draw that audience."
Asked if the decision was a question of race, Kerasotes said: "You could phrase the question that way, but to me, it's a question of gangs. It's about gangs. It's not about race."
Comet McNaught has continued to brighten as it approaches the sun and it is now the brightest comet in 30 years. For observers in the northern Hemisphere, tonight is probably the best time to see it: Go outside this evening and face the sunset. A clear view of the western horizon is essential, because the comet hangs very low. As the twilight fades to black, it should become visible to the naked eye. Observers say it's a fantastic sight through binoculars.It should be clear enough here this evening to see something. The sun sets at 4:53 today.
In the days ahead, Comet McNaught will pass the sun and emerge in good position for southern hemisphere viewing later this month. Meanwhile, solar heating will continue to puff up the comet, causing it to brighten even more. It could become one of the brightest comets in centuries, visible even in daylit skies.
Gift certificates purchased before the closing of Ned Kelly’s Steakhouse in Springfield can be redeemed at remaining outlets in Bloomington and Peoria, company representatives said Tuesday.Sure, I’ve been wanting to drive up to Bloomington to eat at a chain restaurant because you just can’t do that here. Sorry, but the company should be offering mail-in refunds especially since they closed the Springfield store without notice. I wonder if the employees got any notice. I bet not. Apparently their webmaster wasn’t told either as Springfield is still listed as a restaurant location.
In the summer of 1976, the summer I turned 16, I was with my family visiting friends on the southern New Jersey coast. I got up one morning and I was informed by one of our hosts, a kid a couple years younger then me, that he had just seen on TV that the Viking probe on Mars had found life! It was a fact, he assured me. Well, in the pre-internet, pre-CNN days, such things weren't always instantly verifiable.WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have found alien microbes on the Red Planet and inadvertently killed them, a scientist is theorizing.
The Viking space probes of 1976-77 were looking for the wrong kind of life, so they didn't recognize it, a geology professor at Washington State University said.
And remember that guy in Utah that moved out of his apartment last year and left 70,000 Coors Light empties behind? Maybe he was intending to leave his damage deposit in recyclable aluminum.
Thing is, if you drink too much you may pass out and this can lead to mysterious assemblages of empties on or near your person. Watch out for that.
Remember, give a hoot and don’t pollute – even if your already polluted.
Oh, man -- first CNN, now Yahoo News. As you know, CNN has apologized to Barack Obama for putting his name on a picture of Osama Bin Laden. Now Yahoo News has committed the opposite blunder: On their photo page, the caption on their photo of Obama reads, "Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida."Ooops sorry, tee-hee, tee-hee. Assholes.
“I do believe this issue isn’t going to be around in 2008. I think it’s going to either tip into civil war … ” He breaks off, as if not wanting to rehearse the handful of other unattractive possibilities. “Listen,” he says, “I believe in prayer. I pray every night.” And that’s where he leaves his discussion of the war this morning: at the kneeling rail.Talk about wishful thinking. Does he know that the primaries begin in a year? Not an issue????
