Manly Thoughts
If you haven't been reading MANzine this week, here's what you've missed: Can a Real Man Drive a Minivan? (James Joyner) - Despite what the advertisements may tell you, manhood has little to do with what kind of cigarettes you smoke, what car you drive, or how white your shirts could be. Emergency Flank Steak (Stephen Green) - What do you reach ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 29, 2009 09:22
Martini and Steak
A while back, in response to a snark from Andrew Exum, I noted that, "As to the side issue of whether the combination of a martini and a steak makes for a good meal, it undoubtedly does. However, I prefer to have the martini (or perhaps two) ahead of the meal and then switch to wine to better enjoy the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 3, 2009 11:50
It’s Got Cheesecake Right in the Name!
Since obesity has somehow become our unofficial theme this morning, I'd be remiss not to mention Ezra Klein's observations about trying to eat healthy at Cheesecake Factory. On first glance, I would have figure the salmon for the lightest entree, followed by the chicken piccata, the carbonara, and the crispy beef. Not so. The salmon weighs in at 1,673 calories -- ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 16, 2009 09:45
Drinking Wine
Patrick Appel titles a post "How to Drink Wine," providing only a link labeled "A guide." I'm pretty sure I know how to drink wine (pour into glass, invert slightly ...) but am intrigued and click through to find Aaron Potts' "How to Drink Wine Like an Expert." I drink quite a bit of wine but am far from expert, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 24, 2009 06:23
Taxing Beer to Pay Doctors
USA Today reports on a proposal circulating in the Senate Finance Committee to fund health care through sin taxes on booze. Beer taxes would go up by 48 cents a six-pack, wine taxes would rise by 49 cents per bottle, and the tax on hard liquor would increase by 40 cents per fifth. Proceeds from the new taxes would help cover ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 21, 2009 07:38
Obama Gutting the Military?
Andrew Exum has "a policy whereby when someone is criticized by name, they have the right to post a response." Having yesterday taken exception to a WSJ editorial by AEI's Thomas Donnelly and Gary Schmitt arguing that Obama and Gates are "gutting the military" and received a lengthy email response from Donnelly, he reprints it today. Not only is Exum's "right ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 9, 2009 10:32
Extreme Beer
[caption id="attachment_28211" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Gordon Biersch Somerfest pints"][/caption] Burkhard Bilger explores the rise of craft beers for The New Yorker. “When you’re trying to create new brewing techniques and beer styles, you have to have a certain recklessness,” Jim Koch, whose Boston Beer Company brews Samuel Adams, and who coined the term “extreme beer,” told me. “Sam has that. He’s fearless, but ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 3, 2008 12:20
Presidential Succession Crisis?
Bruce Ackerman has read a novel and heard unsubstantiated rumors and from these concocted a Constitutional crisis which he's convinced the folks at Slate to publish. New Yorker writer Jane Mayer's new book, The Dark Side, opens with a shocker. Apparently sometime in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan issued a "secret executive order" that in the event of the death of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 15, 2008 18:04
Anheuser-Busch Sold for $50 Billion
Anheuser-Busch agreed to sell to Belgium's InBev last night, demonstrating that all the howls about American pride were mere haggling over price. All it took was raising the offer to $70 per share from $65 per share -- "a 27 percent premium over Anheuser's record-high stock price in October 2002" -- and giving a Busch a seat on ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 14, 2008 06:32
No Beer, No Civilization (Updated)
George Will has been at the top of the pundit game for so long that you'd think he'd have joined a sizable number of his peers in seemingly dusting off one of their stock columns every week. Not so. Will's latest installment is on the virtues of beer. "The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 10, 2008 12:11
A Difference, Not a Defect
In reference to James' post below, it's worth pointing out that a biological cause for homosexuality does not, in any sense of the word, make for a birth defect, and we should be careful how we define the phrase. Calling homosexuality a "birth defect" (as some will no doubt begin to do so), implies that homosexuality causes some interference ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 19, 2008 13:05
Summer Drink List
James Poulous and Rod Dreher weigh in with their recommended adult libations for the summertime. Not surprisingly, since these things are mostly a matter of personal taste, there's significant disagreement in the lists. Poulous touts the wonders of Red Stripe, Jamaica's national beer, while Dreher advises readers to eschew brew altogether and stick to wheat beers if they can not. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 29, 2008 11:03
LifeLock Pitchman Has Identity Stolen
ID protection Guru Todd Davis is being sued for fraud. Todd Davis has dared criminals for two years to try stealing his identity: Ads for his fraud-prevention company, LifeLock, even offer his Social Security number next to his smiling mug. Now, Lifelock customers in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia are suing Davis, claiming his service didn't work as promised and he ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 22, 2008 12:21
Robert Mondavi Dies at 94
California wine impresario Robert Mondavi has died at the ripe old age of 94. Robert Mondavi, the man hailed as the ambassador of the Napa Valley and the godfather of California wine, no longer owned a winery when he died today at his home in Yountville at the age of 94. The winery that bears his name is now part of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 16, 2008 17:36
Baghdad Luxury Hotels and Condos
The Pentagon is backing a massive development project financed by Marriott and others to gentrify Baghdad. Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad. That's all part of a five-year development "dream list" — or what some dub an ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 5, 2008 08:48
