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 | OTB 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 | OTB 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 | OTB 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 | OTB 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 | OTB 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 | OTB 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 | OTB 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 | OTB on May 5, 2008 08:48
What Makes Someone an Elitist?
The rule of thumb for American politics in the media appears to be classifying politicians as being on the "beer-track" or "wine-track", or, in the alternative Hillary Clinton formation, "Starbucks vs. Dunkin' Donuts". In other words, if you prefer wine over beer or Starbucks over Dunkin' Donuts, then you are an "elitist", and if not, you're just a "regular ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 14, 2008 14:32
Hitchens Calls Sully ‘Lesbian’
A Media Matters report of remarks made by Christopher Hitchens in a weekend television debate with Andrew Sullivan is getting some blogospheric attention. On the April 5 edition of MSNBC's Tim Russert, Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens debated the significance for Sen. Barack Obama of comments made by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright about a trip Wright took with Louis Farrakhan ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 8, 2008 07:45
