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South Carolina Lets Bars Use Larger Bottles

The END IS NIGH!!!

I fear for the death of the greatest mixed drink in the entire world. One so potent and luxurious that comparing it to ambrosia is not credit enough. This drink is the rum-runner available exclusively at Drunken Jack's in Murrells Inlet, S.C.

One drink will get you tipsy and two will send you to another world. The secret: 4 1.7 oz. bottles and South Carolina's old bottle law that prohibited the free pour. That law is now dead and I fear the greatest drink in the world may have died with it. Here's to praying that Jack's sticks with what has made their rum-runners so great for almost 22 years.

South Carolina Lets Bars Use Larger Bottles - New York Times

Culture Wars: A Dubious Debate

This is a little something I posted on a BBS after getting fed up with about a zillion threads on what causes homosexuality. I really like it so I thought I'd post it here as well. America is spending way too much time on a debate that is simply irrelevant to the actual issue of rights. It's an informal rant but I thought it was a pretty good one anyway :-)
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I say that the debate of whether or not homosexuality is a lifestyle choice or genetic is irrelevant to how citizens are treated under the law. The debate is an unneccessary distraction in regards to civil treatmet and rights. Non-land owners were denied the vote (civil rights) because they were white non-land owners not because of their genetic status.

The debate over choice versus genetics is one firmly rooted in proving correct or incorrect certain religious ideas that are centered around Abrahamic laws and religious offshoots with both sides attempting to prove God's law.

If it is genetic it is supposed that certain religious interpretations must be re-evaluated or disregarded --giving homosexuals the power to enter into Christianity (and other religions) as a full citizen or to disregard it completely on the theological grounds that a perfect Creator created homosexuals.

If it is a choice certain strands of Christianity and other religious groups can claim that it is immoral and against nature.

However, the laws of a secular nation are not in place to legislate morality especially from religious grounds. Rather they are in place to protect, provide and promote the blessings of citizenship and rights among its citizens. Therefore, the debate of causality is irrelevant to the function and garuntees of law. If society wishes to protect itself from things it deems harmful to society that is one thing but to deem something harmful based solely on morality tied to religious sensibilities is offensive to the form and function of government.

Discrimination and denial of rights by the government does not have to be genetic to be real and/or unconstitutional. Such is the case with people with disabilities and those that are discriminated against based on creed.

Protesting the Protestors: Free Speech paid for by freerepublic.com

Of all of the many surprises American politics has seen since the 2000 Election, 9/11, and the beginning of the Iraq war none has been more puzzling to me than counter-protests. My first thought was, "You mean they are rallying to support the status quo? Isn't protest by its very nature designed to --I don't know maybe protest something? Isn't it means of addressing grievances the disenfranchised have with current political policies they disagree with?"

"No," I was told. "They are protesting the protestor."

"Huh? You mean Americans are protesting Americans excercising free speech?"

"Yup," my friend replied.

What impetus gave rise to this phenomenon? Why now rather than at other times in American history? Afterall, we've been through much more divisive times than now. The answer is that these counter-protests are far from being spontaneous concerned citizens that want their point of view heard. Rather, in a show reminiscent of China, North Korea, or Stalin's Russia, they are highly organized, corporate, and party sponsored demonstrations designed to convey an image to middle America. An image of all American patriotism and apple pie neatly wrapped and delivered by "rational" and "concerned" conservatives fighting to support our troops and our President against the ne'er do wells of the left that wish to see America fall and it is all brought to you by freerepublic.com.

These counter-protestors remind us that our troops are fighting a war on terror to garuntee our freedoms and that anyone that disagrees with policy should think twice before excercising that freedom. So shut up and be greatful that you still have freedom.

EXCERPT:

Iraq Supporters to Rebut Anti-War Rallies

By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Sunday, September 25, 2005; 5:06 AM

WASHINGTON -- Military families and other defenders of the war in Iraq were claiming their turn to demonstrate, responding to a huge war protest with a rally of their own on the National Mall.

Organizers hoped to draw several thousand people to their noontime event near the National Air and Space Museum. They acknowledged the rally would be much smaller than Saturday's anti-war protest in Washington but said their message would not be overshadowed.


"People have been fired up over the past month, especially military family members, and they want to be heard," said Kristinn Taylor, a leader of FreeRepublic.com, one of the sponsors of Sunday's event.

The pro-military rally was billed by organizers as a time to honor the troops fighting "the war on terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world."

On Saturday, crowds opposed to the war in Iraq surged past the White House in the largest anti-war protest in the nation's capital since the U.S. invasion. The rally stretched through the day and night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the National Mall.

Link to Full Story

Mercenaries in New Orleans

In an appalling misuse of private security and public funds FEMA and the Homeland Security Department were busy not organizing the National Guard and Relief Efforts but negotiating with private and mostly Foreign Mercenaries for use on civilians as well as on the public streets of New Orleans.

Once again instead of using and organizing the immense amount of volunteers from around the US and world, global material aid offers, and already established local, state, and federal agencies with experience, the Bush Administration chose to concentrate on securing contracts for cronies and campaign donors with the end result being a disaster for country and civilians on the ground. Blackwater had no problem getting through while the Red Cross was told to stay away and not give food and water to Katrina's victims "so as not to encourage them to stay," in what was left in the city.

How long before the Bush Administration suggests the dissolution of FEMA and the National Guard for help in disasters in favor of private security firms like these and points to their own mismanagement of resources as proof that private industry is needed to do the job?

Link to The Nation's Article, "Blackwater Down."


Blackwater USA's PR photos on relief for the Gulf Coast.

An Act of God, An Act of Men, and A Reckoning

Why was Bush's response so slow and his image so poor in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? According to The Australian LINK Karl Rove also known as, "'BUSH'S brain' was missing when floodwaters swamped New Orleans."

The article states that Rove was MIA for the first 36 hours of the disaster and relief due to being hospitalized for kidney stones and that, "Once his condition improved, it was Mr Rove who urged the President, against the advice of White House economists, to spend $US200billion ($260billion) to rebuild the stricken city "higher and better", as Mr Bush went on to promise."

Rove's importance to the administration was underscored in not only the poor handling of the disaster but also stated directly by prominent Neoconservative and GOP supporter Bill Kristol who said, "He was out of commission for 24 to 36 hours and he's indispensable. It's a thin White House and it's not a good thing that the Government could become paralysed for a day."

However, tension between the GOP's more mainstream conservative values that emphasize domestic issues over foreign policy and the foreign policy obsession of the neocons was also shown by Kristol's comments regarding Bush's speech on the rebuilding of New Orleans:

"I hope he hasn't talked himself into believing that his legacy will depend on this. The truth is Bush's legacy will be determined by Iraq."

Kristol's emphasis on Iraq leads one to wonder about whether or not there is widening rift between the Bush Administration and the Neoconservatives that have set American policy since 9/11. The Bush Adminstration is now being offered an opportunity to leave a legacy of rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and helping America along with an excuse to leave Iraq gracefully with the declaration of "Democracy Accomplished." The offer on the table also comes with the ability to continue the profiteering of Bush Administration favored corporations like Halliburton without the need for private security firms or an unpopular war.

However, Neocons who favor the expansion of "Democracy" and "American Values" through any means necessary may find their pro-war agenda and plans for expansion into Iran and around the Middle East thwarted by the unforeseen boon to Energy and Construction Firms that have profited from Iraq but at substantial cost to their image and employees' lives. A reckoning between Karl Rove and Neoconservatives may well be at hand.

Rove showing his indispensability via his absence in the first hours, may well have saved himself from becoming the "Sacrificial Lamb" of the Administration in the Plame Leak Probe that is expected to come to a head in the coming weeks. However, the threat Rove's redirection of resources poses to the Neocon agenda in Iraq and Iran may well lead the Neoconservative's to try and help the prosecution's case in burying Rove and replacing him with a more "Neocon friendly" adviser to the President. The wild card of course is Hurricane Rita which may cause enough damage to the already ravaged Gulf Coast that the Neoconservative agenda is stopped by simply not having enough money to pursue it.