No Beer for you.....

Now I am pissed off.... the Wisconsin Legislature... has done it again.  This time they are attacking.... get this (in Wisxonsin, no less)  BEER!  or more correctly, small brewers and breweries.  Ok, it gets complicated, but here is the nub, and I will also post a link.  There has been a 'Turf War' between Anheuser Busch and Miller Coors for beer distribution in Wisconsin... Miller-Coors was a big campaign contributor for Scott Walker.... Now there is proposed legislation that would significantly cripple the growing micro-brewing industry in Wisconsin.  You can read more HERE.  

THE REAL DEAL..... is that it would in essence hinder the growth of independent business... Wisconsin small Breweries.  Now it is just plain and simple a matter of a large mega-company trying to stifle any ANY competition.

Real American, huh?  That is Scott Walker's way of creating jobs, helping business grow..... shit&whisker!

I know I have waxed eloquent on this page of my love for  beer.  The truth is, about twenty years ago I had pretty much given up on drinking beer.... not that I had a problem...but more so... it just didn't taste good anymore.

And then, all across the country Small brewers started making good beer again... all grain, clean water, not additives... old styles revived... Pilsners, Porters, Stouts, IPA's, Ales, Stouts... IT WAS GREAT!  Good beer tastes great with good food.....fish, cheese, BBQ, b eef, pork, Mexican.... name it!!!

Now, craft beer, as it were, really has a small market share...but it was growing.  Brewpubs sprang up... often with attached restaurants... and it gave us  CHOICES!  well corporate greed knows no bounds.  At first the big three would buy up small breweries... or make partnership deals... Red Hook in Seattle, Goose Island in Illinois, Leinenkugels in Wisconsin.... to channel profits that had been siphoned away..... but that wasn't enough to satisfy the greed.  Nope.  Know the new 'rules' will not eliminate small breweries... but it sure will make it difficult to sell your brand.  It further inhibits current distributors from bringing in small brands from other states... Stone Brewing company and Dogfish Head are already gone from store shelves.

OK... I am just ranting.... but the real deal is..... this is just another measure to stifle... independence, entrepreneurship, innovation, and ...... jobs.  The current legislature does not have the individual in mind.....  they never have. Never will.  It is NOT about balancing a budget... never was.

just a poem today.....

Barking

The moon comes up.

The moon goes down.

This is to inform you

that I didn’t die young.

Age swept past me

but I caught up.

Spring has begun here and each day

brings new birds up from Mexico.

Yesterday I got a call from the outside

world but I said no in thunder.

I was a dog on a short chain

and now there’s no chain.

 

Jim Harrison

We won't get fooled again

ok.... been some strange days.
Nothing big, nothing specific..... just hacking at the tropical rhubarb of anxiety that is growing in the head, whacking at the emotional banana plants, stumbling over the rotting stumps of past bad decisions,  plus... I was accused, (slightly, perhaps in jest), of being a bigot.

So, here's the deal... the political thing has boiled itself down to a joke.  It just boggles me. The rhetoric is so banal and insensate that it makes me gag just thinking about it.  Who are these people....? ... and I just do not mean the politicians... all the commentary about them, and then the commentary about the commentary.  I won't comment about that.

I made contact, or rather he made contact with me, with someone from high school (screwy FB) who now sends me notes about people who have died in my old home town, religious tracts he thinks are relevant and republican-ish thoughts.
I can't begin to comment.

I think someone called me a bigot... I think... 'cause I looked through the comments and I didn't see a comment that anyone could have misunderstood.... but then, snark can cloud things.  At first I was a little upset, and even a little mad.... and then I just let it go. There are roads to walk today, and I am all out of peanut butter.. and mad just isn't working today.
That's my only comment.

So, no one has died... the politics suck, I am not a bigot... and if I have any prejudices isn't just that my chemicals get jostled around sometimes.... it's like getting gas... and it goes away.

 the thing of it is.... from the radio to the TV, from FB to Blogger... it just seems that everyone is apt to be telling me what to believe... and I don't believe me
all that much, so why should I believe them?

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

.... cause he ain't no wizard, and there ain't no yellow brick road.... and Dorothy never really left Kansas ...
and it ain't no deal.


leave a comment, eh!

as the years spin... by

The boy and I went to Ardy&Ed's for a burger and root beer yesterday.  I have been taking him there for twenty five years.  This year.... he took me.
Today we take him to Milwaukee for his flight back to Portland.  I miss him already.



So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through.      


Oh, well.

The revolution will not be on Fox .... RIP Gil Scott Heron 1952-2011

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
 

The revolutionThe revolution will be live.

but but but... it's all about balancing the budget....

..... and creating jobs......!!!!!

so.. "Wisco" is broke... we are broke, broke, broke, broke... ain't gotz no money.... nope... we gotzta cut cut cut.. teacher benefits, social services, public works.... cause we is broke, busted, and generally, money-wise, screwed, stewed and re-fried.............  so... the Wixconsick '
Republicans.... work on a voter registration bill.... work on a gun carry law (which requires no 'gun training)  and now they are hard at work.... on an IMMIGRATION BILL similar to the one in Arizona!!!
Yupperz, oh, and have we got immigration problems that need fixing!!!  Wowzers, do we ever!!! It's the Canadians, see, cause Wisco has a big problem with CANADA
and it is really really serious!!!
Why those Canadians, see, are building rafts made out of old maple syrup cans and just paddling across Lake Superior and taking Native Wisconnyites jobs..... which we ain't got, see, cause, we is broke broke broke &stuff.

Typical Canadian in Disguise

Frankly... I think them there Canadians is just here to steal our guns, see, or maybe our world champion football team... or else they are trying to illegally vote!


AND WE CANNOT HAVE THAT.....cause we are broke, see, and that is why I really really have to hand it to old Scott Walker, our beloved Governutz and his salty-toed minions for spending all of their time and attention and my money.... to balance the budget and keep those goddam Canadians up there where they belong and not down here doing what ever those goddam Canadians do when they are not watching Polar Bears screw or whacking baby seals with hockey sticks.!
Now, iffen you live here... you know we do not have immigration problems... see, Lake Michigan pretty much takes care of our eastern border, (except for the UP, and those folks have enought trouble going to Escanaba for a six pack, so it ain't no never mind if a few get south a bit... we just put 'em on a Greyhound and send 'em back... most are grateful for the help, cause they were too drunk to know where they were) and like I said, Lake Superior takes care of the Canadians, and the Mississippi rather keeps the Minnietosans where they belong..... our real problem... REAL Problem.... is

NASTY UNWANTED SPECIES

ILLINOIS......!!!!



.... YUPPERZ... now if the Wisconsin Luberlagisgaters were working on that problem, why gosh it would be all right.

See, I propose building this big honking wall at our southern border where the Illinois tourista class folks can just walk up, throw their tourista type dollars over the top and sigh, "I heard they have lakes full of fish up there; wish I could go up there and be throwing beer cans in the woods."


phew..... reading the news is tiring... and it's almost noon... I best be lining up for bar opening.  Have a good day and stuff.

I think I am going out for pancakes.

Found a screen shot of the tornado that hit my home town Sunday night. the damage there was significant, but not anywhere close to Joplin or LaCrosse or other cities. Couldn't find my sister for a couple of days and they have a huge old maple in their yard that I was concerned about...... if it falls... it falls on their house.  She is OK, theri house is ok....

but she is, as a retired teacher, very concerned about their household budget.... thinking of eliminating all 'social services' to her husband as a way to saving money.  I didn't ask further.

Boy Wonder is home for a week.... or at least he is about town, somewhere. Very hard to keep track of.  He is determined to see all of his college friends that are still here.... cause, gees, he hasn't seen some of them for MONTHS!  The other night we sat around at his mom's and were able to view all the "out takes" from the new internet commercial they are filming.  Rather reminded me of his grandfather showing old home movies.  I mean, it was good....... but how much of a 60 second commercial for a rubbish removal service can you watch?  Obviously....... he thinks you CAN spend hours doing so.  Slightly more interesting than watching CNN.

I think I'll go out for pancakes.