Posts filed under 'politics'
July 30th, 2009
Granted, I only clicked through a few of the 15.6 million hits I discovered this morning when I googled “Obama and Gates and beer” (without the quote marks).
But I didn’t see one commenting on the tastes of the beers the trio will down today at the White House in the let’s-all-get-along-like-ebony-and-ivory-summit-to-diffuse-the-racial-profiling/cop-profiling/presidential-comment-stupidity hubbub.
Obama reportedly wants Bud Light; Harvard University professor Henry Gates, maybe Red Stripe; and police Sgt. James Crowley, Blue Moon.
Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images in the Los Angeles Times
These are reportedly the beers of choice, from left, of Police Sgt. James Crowley, President Obama and professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Well, unlike my colleague Kevin Haas, who in GO tomorrow writes about his high-fivin’ reasons for not drinking, I do drink beer. And I especially like the way Blue Moon tastes. It has a more pronounced orange flavor than other beers. I drink it when I’m especially hungry; it’s like eating a piece of dense bread from your local bakery.
I like an occasional Red Stripe, a Jamaican brew. It has a sharp bitterness at first taste, but that taste doesn’t hang around. And the beer is light enough. But I’m at a loss of words to nicely describe Bud Light, other than it is light-tasting. The only time, and not ever very often, that I drink it is when the only other option is Miller Lite.
Actually, I usually drink Corona, mostly because it’s lighter than Blue Moon and Blue Moon isn’t as available at eateries and bars.
Which beers do you like, and why? Post your comments.
If you had to choose among these three beers (and you didn't have to pay to drink it), which would prefer?
July 8th, 2009
AND THE WINNING COUPLE IN THE ONLINE VOTING IS: Laura Gibbs and Joe Sosnowski with 62 percent of the 762,405 votes cast. Congrats, and we’ll see you Saturday night at the Burpee for the real competition, where audience applause determines the winner.
- Kimberly Nelson (WQRF-39 anchor) and Dave Syverson, state senator 251,742 33% of all votes
- Alice Barr, WIFR-23 reporter, and Joe Bruscato, Winnebago County states attorney 40,404 5% of all votes
- Laura Gibbs, 13 News Today anchor, and Joe Sosnowski, Rockford first-ward alderman 470,259 62% of all votes
Total Votes: 762,405
(The following ran in this space before voting ended at 5 p.m. July 16.)
Vote for your favorite couple in Dancing with the TV Divas, Rockford’s Original Charity Dance Contest.
The competition is part of the Bone Soiree — A Continental Evening at Burpee July 18. The event is a fundraiser at and for the Burpee Museum of Natural History. Online voting is just for fun.
See Sen. Dave Syverson/Kimberly Nelson dance.
See State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato/Alice Barr dance.
See Alderman Joe Sosnowski/Laura Gibbs dance.
June 8th, 2009
I haven’t seen any of the TV newscasts that Euna Lee or Laura Ling have done any reporting for. They are the two American journalists that North Korea just sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. The Associated Press said they were reporting on trafficking of North Korean women when they were charged after allegedly setting foot on North Korean soil.
But I was stunned a year or so ago when watching a report about North Korea that Ling’s sister, Lisa Ling, did for the National Geographic channel. The documentary revolves around a Nepalese doctor who brought his team and equipment into North Korea to perform cataract operations on blind North Koreans, and in the process, teach North Korean doctors the procedure. A news team posed as part of the medical team. I was unaware until I saw the show how intense the brutality, isolationism and ubiquitous worshop of leader Kim Jong Il. is in North Korea.
My eyes were opened similar to those of Keith Thode of Detroit sawa, based on his comments in this Amazon.com review: “It’s hard to imagine a society so repressed and isolated where you and your entire extended family can be placed in prison for life merely for questioning the ‘Dear Leader (Kim Jong Il).”
And, I too, wonder about the methods Lisa Ling and her crew used, as is Aloysius Oneill of Vienna, Va., in her comments: “Like some other reviewers, though, I am troubled by the pretenses under which the National Geographic crew and the Nepalese medical team may have gained entry to North Korea. If any of the various North Korean security services came to believe that local intermediaries of those American and Nepalese visitors were either duped or were engaging in any kind of subterfuge regarding the outsiders and their plans, those North Koreans — and their families — would be (or already are) in grave danger. Even unwittingly contributing to a story that would be seen as criticizing the Kim cult of personality could have severe consequences for North Korean medical personnel and others who helped the visitors. It would be reprehensible if National Geographic took chances with other people’s lives to get an eye-catching story.”
Did any of you see National Geographic’s “Inside North Korea”? What did you think about it?
May 28th, 2009
Obama’s Supreme Court nominee’s name is pronounced SOAN-ya so-”toe”-my-YOR, though some right-wingers don’t like the way Sonia Sotomayor pronounces her own name.
Did we have trouble pronouncing the name of the Justice she is tagged to replace? Did we call David Souter, David Sow-ter? Now we all know it’s SOO’-tur. But how many of us have uttered his name in the past several years, before Obama’s nomination of Sotomayor this week?
May 12th, 2009
The top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, was forced out Monday in an abrupt shake-up intended to bring a more aggressive and innovative approach to a worsening seven-year war, according to this New York Times story.
The move reflects a belief that the war in Afghanistan, waged against an increasingly strong Taliban and its supporters across a rugged, sprawling country, is growing ever more complex. He is to be replaced by Lt. Gen. StanleyA. McChrystal, who served in Afghanistan as chief of staff of military operations in 2001 and 2002 and recently ran all commando operations in Iraq.
The change in direction reminds me of when James Loomis was replaced in 2002 by Bob O’Brien at what is now being called the Chicago Rockford International Airport. The airport board wanted a new director to embrace bringing passenger service back to the airport, instead of sticking with the status quo of focusing on cargo services.
Over the years, O’Brien has been enthusiastically bringing passengers to the Rockford airport.
Let’s hope the generals shake-up accomplishes the results Obama and the Defense Department want for the U.S.
February 26th, 2009
‘Liberal bias?’ Indiana University professors find network TV election coverage favors Republicans, according to this Indiana University study.
“We don’t think this is journalists conspiring to favor Republicans. We think they’re just so beat up and tired of being accused of a liberal bias that they unknowingly give Republicans the benefit in coverage,” said associate professor Maria Elizabeth Grabe.
January 27th, 2009
Of those responding to a question at AOL.com about Obama picking an Arab network to air his first format TV interview, 52 percent said they were bothered by that vs. 36 percent who said it was fine by them.
January 22nd, 2009
Got an e-mail this morning about Scriptapalooza, an 11-year-old annual screenwriting competition.
It piqued my interest, because I used the “palooza” suffix in this story that appeared in today’s paper about “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” which I’ll participate in at the Coronado Jan. 29. I end the story with this sentence: “That’s B-l-a-g-o-j-e-v-i-c-h, as in the man behind C-o-r-r-u-p-t-a-p-a-l-o-o-z-a.”
The Phrase Finder says Rube Goldberg had a cartoon character named “Lala Palooza” in the 1930s, but the word is older than that. The etymology is uncertain. The “American Heritage Dictionary” says a lollapalooza is: “something outstanding of its kind”, but after the Lollapalooza music tour, it’s usually used as a suffix to indicate an extravaganza of some sort. (Hockey-palooza, Bingo-palooza, etc.)”
Care to share any local or worldwide “paloozas” you’ve heard or made up?
How ’bout WallStreetJournal-is-noticing-Rockford-in-a-not-so-flattering-way-palooza. Or Where-does-the-Rockford-teachers’-union-stand-on-the-Rockford-charter-schools-palooza. Or Protect-us-from-embarrassing-the-police-palooza.
January 21st, 2009
Watched some of the Neighborhood Ball on TV last night. What a star-studded affair, with everyone from Beyonce to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Then this morning, I heard some editor-type being interviewed on Today, and I appreciated her observance of the difference between former President Clinton and new President Obama with regard to Hollywood. She said Clinton was infatuated with Hollywood stars and that Hollywood stars are infatuated with Obama. Big difference.
And speaking of DiCaprio, did I mishear him when he introduced Vice President Joe Biden? I thought DiCaprio said something like “Gerald” Biden.
January 19th, 2009
What Recession? The $170 Million Inauguration
Obama’s Inauguration Has Been Financed Partially by Bailed-Out Wall Street Executives
according to this abc news report.
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