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The New Old Way to Tote Your Beer
At Bierkraft in Park Slope, Brooklyn, customers bring their own growlers and fill them with fresh draft beer. They drink it there, or take it out.

By ROBERT SIMONSON
Published: January 26, 2010

BY midafternoon on a recent Saturday, Bierkraft, the beer emporium and grocery on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was half-filled with customers, many of them parents with babies or toddlers in tow. They were browsing the more than 1,000 varieties of bottled beer or surveying the listing of selections available on the 13 taps and 3 cask lines. Some carried a good-sized satchel.

Let’s see. A satchel for carrying a 64 oz glass vessel for beer called a growler. The author of the piece casually inquires if the parents with ‘babies or toddlers in tow’ are carrying this satchel as a diaper bag. Another inquiry came to mind.

Is there something odd or troubling about parents packin’ up the kids and a half-gallon container then heading for the local beer garden? Oh yes, drink it there or take it out. While I have been in places where the take it out part would be a problem, legally, there remains the good judgment part. Why are the kids going with ya to slosh beer? C’mon, a half-gallon container. We’re not talkin’ sippin’ here.

Am I too old-fashioned or is there a problem with this? You might think the half-gallon growler was being shared with others. But when the article reports couples have his and her’s growlers polite distribution seems unlikely.

Okay, in defense of this arrangement to swill it is nothing new. When Sunday was largely a time to first attend church followed by family or community activities on the day of rest similar situations developed like the Saturday story above. Consider the church picnic or local baseball game or family get together where libations were also in attendance.

Maybe it’s nothing. But it just struck me as a bad idea. Not the growler part but the parents, kids AND growler part. You tell me. Is this much ado about nothing?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

In his own words at his own ‘unveiling’ of the iPad Jobs calls the iPad’more intimate’ than a laptop and ‘more capable’ than an iPhone. That translates to an item targeting the ultimate couch potato whose sedentary lifestyle does not even allow for the minimal effort required to operate a pc or mac. At the same time he disses his own iPhone as even less capable than this offering.

What more do you need to understand our technology wasteland?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

When’s the last time a politician gave us what we wanted? When’s the last time your boss gave you what you wanted? To be fair, when’s the last time an employee gave you what you wanted? And finally, how often have you purchased a product or service that really impressed you in terms of utility, overall value and price or affordability?

In the ‘tech’ world there never seems to be a shortage of those willing to buy whatever is offered. Neither does there seem to be a lack of those willing to applaud the debut of each new item touted by vendors like Microsoft and Apple. This time a mild rant is presented on Apple’s latest ‘thing.’ The iPad has the same naming convention allowing a previous Apple bash on this blog indicating the ‘i’ in iPhone is for idiot.

The same applies for the iPad. Without benefit of manufactured memory this blogger’s own recalls a brief visit to Apple dot com to obtain an official press release. Would have dealt with images but Apple’s paranoia made that option excessively annoying as well. So the use of an earlier technology that has remarkable similarities to the iPad is the substitute.

Apple dot com listed a price of $499 for the iPad versus those near $700 at various sources around the net. The 500 dollar price may have been a bare bones version. And there were availability questions which caused some laughter. More laughter was generated by the details about what the fine device can do, or not. These debuts are so silly and the response to them equally bizarre it is all one can do to remain silent observing such nonsense.

Beyond the fact that this is another ‘device’ what the hell is so different about this one from all the others over decades? Oh sure, we’ve seen dial up move to broadband like they couldn’t have done that sooner. Oh my, we have wireless, sort of. The only reason there has been massive increases in memory and storage is to accommodate no technical advancements nor real reasons to purchase additional or replacement devices. Tech is stagnant.

Apple you are no more impressive than that other outfit…. Microsoft. Although you produce funnier advertisements. Speaking of humor, here’s someone else’s reaction to the news.

Tabula Rasa: Apple’s Press Release, Before the Editing
Genius Knows No Bounds
By Peter Jeffrey

For Immediate Release. (Apple employees: Thanks for keeping it under wraps. You may reclaim your first-born sons before the close of business Friday.)

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 27 — Apple Inc. announced today a revolutionary new tablet computer offering live HDTV, 3D movie downloads, 4G broadband Internet access from anywhere on Earth or low orbit, interactive multilingual color e-books, e-newspapers, e-magazines, an e-sense of purpose in life and e-anything else we have to do to blast our “competitors” back to the Sprocket Age.

And here’s a link to the Apple iPad press release, really.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

We found $900 billion to $1.5 trillion worth of ways to trim the fat marbled throughout government. And these are items that government officials say should be cut. Government officials whose salaries are paid for with taxpayer dollars are spending their days telling taxpayers how the government can cut waste.

But instead of cutting $1.5 trillion, the government now wants to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion to pay its bills. If it passes, the national debt would reach $14.3 trillion, equal to the size of the U.S. economy

It would be fair to say that the analysis referenced above is not something new. Even within the article the author points to earlier work included in this report. But that in no way suggests the ideas are not common sense and useful. What it does suggest is related to the first paragraph from the Fox Business excerpt. Politicians often talk about cutting spending and waste but rarely doing anything about it. When they do reduce spending or waste little time elapses before those savings are cancelled out by new spending and waste.

Much of the money to be saved in the report above deals with government infrastructure. The same infrastructure that porkulus proponents suggested spending more of your money on to produce make work jobs. Granted, those infrastructure targets were partly roads and transportation. But rather than using more tax dollars to pay for it they could have sold some of this infrastructure (in the report) and have sort of a win/win.

But the sad part is that did not happen and the first quarter of the porkulus package went to education and Medicaid expenditures. The education part was to keep ‘programs’ and ’staff’ meaning a payoff to the NEA. But I digress.

Read the article above and mention it to your elected reps. Then ask them why they cannot propose such things. You can interrupt their response by informing them that is a rhetorical question.

Both major parties are of course guilty of this sin of omission.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

The president will try to add clarity in his speech, White House aides said. He will call for a freeze on federal discretionary spending, tax relief targeting middle-income Americans, regulating the financial-services industry and remaking the nation’s immigration laws.

He may also help provide a way to move forward with the signature issue of his first year, an overhaul of the health- care system, which represents about 17 percent of the economy.

The Presidents’ ‘freeze’ proposal is a mere $250 billion over ten years. Over that much time there is little chance POLS won’t find a way to end it and continue to borrow, increase deficits and national debt.

If the President succeeds in providing a middle-class tax cut and passing health related legislation the two will cancel each other out at best. And at worst the tax cut will be outpaced by increased health care taxes and costs that it won’t matter.

With other financial matters as well as immigration it is clear the Obamanation agenda will not change. In keeping with his campaign mode style and community organizing tactics this state of the union message will be more of the same. Proving once again there is no hope and there will be no change from the White House with the current US President.

President Barack Obama will propose extending through 2010 a temporary tax incentive that encourages businesses to accelerate purchases of equipment, an administration official said.

Certainly lowering taxes is a good thing. But tax incentives can be as problematic as any other tax situation. Dangle a carrot that rewards participants with tax breaks to do the government’s bidding. That’s not a good idea. Just reduce taxes for everyone. That’s a job creator and boost for the economy.

President Barack Obama will give $8 billion in economic stimulus money to 13 U.S. rail corridors tomorrow, mostly for high-speed passenger service, an administration official said.

Yup, don’t forget to put pork in your state of the union speech Mr President. High speed rail is nothing more than another earmark and pork barrel spending and a misuse of taxpayer funds. If high speed rail is such a good idea, how come it hasn’t happened yet in the private sector and won’t happen without misusing taxpayer money?

No hope, no change, nothing new, just more campaigning from a President whose failed agenda has been seen for what it is even by those who voted for him. And he has had plenty of help advancing his failed agenda from liberal POLS and RINOs in Congress.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

What a strange coincidence that a story about Hannah Giles partner in exposing ACORN corruption would appear the day of or day after this blog publishes a post (or more correctly, a video and link) advocating for Giles defense fund regarding legal action against her based on their earlier documentary film.

Federal officials accused four men, including a conservative activist, of posing as telephone repairmen to tamper with phones at the New Orleans offices of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu.

Why would James O’Keefe and three others be interested in Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA)?

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reports:

What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform?

Here’s a case study.

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

Landrieu would be the recipient of what amounts to a payoff (bribe) for her healthcare vote in the form of $100 million, taxpayer dollars, for increased Medicaid coverage for Louisiana. This is exactly the same kind of payoff offered to Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) for the state of Nebraska.

So what’s the deal? First, Hannah Giles is not involved in this story other than to mention she and O’Keefe put together the documentary exposing ACORN corruption which everyone should be familiar with by now. Second, this blogger still enthusiastically supports Giles and O’Keefe for their ACORN documentary and equally objects to Congress giving any more money to ACORN. Third, who knows what O’Keefe was thinking on this latest story but it changes nothing about the earlier documentary.

Finally, you are still encouraged to defend Hannah Giles as indicated in the previous post. You can do so by following the link provided in that post. As the sole statement in that post suggests, if you have money for Haiti you have money for Hannah. Send a few bucks to help her out. She did a fine job exposing ACORN for what it is….. corrupt. And there is no reason to think she had anything to do with O’Keefe going off the reservation. If that is in fact what happened. But the report from WSJ seems to suggest no one is denying what took place at Landrieu’s offices regarding O’Keefe and three others.

Defend Hannah Giles

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Defend Hannah Giles (click here)

If you have money $$ for Haiti you have money $$ for Hannah

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Every politician invokes the use of ’spin’ to some degree and with some frequency during their their term or terms in office. That is the essence of politics. And that is the dominant feature which cripples effective governance. Political games are often defended as a ncessary evil in government and public affairs. Of couse, politicians and those who craft strategy are the only ones who subscribe to that philosphy. And it is responsible for Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts special election held last week.

But politicians and community organizers are addicted to that unfortunate part of the process. Enter President Barack Obama. Defined by supporters, of which there are less these days, as the consummate campaigner President Obama is once again embracing that which had served him well in getting elected. Even though it is largely responsible for his falling approval rating, failing agenda, dismal first year in office and party prospects in 2010.

White House officials say they understand why emotions are running high. The president’s top political aide says President Obama has had to take unpopular action to deal with an economic crisis far worse than anyone expected when he took office.

David Axelrod says he warned the president early on that his public approval ratings were likely to drop. “I said to him a year ago, Mr. President your numbers are going to be considerably worse a year from now than they are today because you can not govern in an economy like this without great disaffection,” he said.

Axelrod told the ABC television program This Week that he believes the president did the right thing. “I have no regrets about that. I think history will look back and say the President of the United States met his responsibilities,” he said.

Someone is smoking crack if they think reaction to Obama’s agenda is due to ‘an economic crisis far worse than anyone expected when he took office.’ Or have they forgotten all the Bush bashing in his last year of office over the ‘worst financial crisis since the Great Depression’?

Of course Axlerod suggests what history will say about Obama. There is nothing he can point to currently putting the President in a favorable light. The same goes for the President and the Democratic party’s agenda. Nothing positive is promised until years in the future with the expectation it can be passed and the sham will not be noticed for years.

With all this President Obama continues the spin strategy of politics.

Going into year two, political strategists expect the president to re-center himself Wednesday as a hard-fighting, bank-busting, Obama-on-your-side jobs president, while acknowledging the hiccups in getting to this point.

At the State of the Union, the state of the presidency may be the question that most needs answering.

“It’s going to be jobs, jobs, jobs. Economy, economy, economy,” said Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. “Year two’s gonna be this guy.”

And when that doesn’t work it will be some other guy. The never ending campaign continues.

Now, he is taking a more populist approach - focusing on the day-to-day issues that create money woes for many families.

He says it is part of an effort to show the administration cares about workers who are struggling to pay their bills or have anxieties about losing their jobs.

An entire year goes by before the tranformational President of hope and change recognizes the economy and jobs are the largest concern for voters. How reassuring.

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will propose a three-year freeze on federal spending outside of national security to save an estimated $250 billion over a decade as part of an effort to rein in record deficits, administration officials said.

Let’s see. Push a New Deal, eighty year liberal pursuit of the nanny state holy grail of government-run healthcare at 2 1/2 trillion dollars and then suggest a pultry $250 billion savings over the same time period as a new agenda strategy. It is remarkable his ratings are quoted at only down to about 50%. There must be a considerable number of people in favor of more job killing entitlements.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Since Obama pledged a zero tolerance policy toward invasive species in the Great Lakes, Cox said the president has left the door to the lakes wide open, potentially hurting Michigan jobs and the economy. “His indifference is stunning,” Cox said.

A crisis the Obama administration is letting go to waste much to the chagrin of other liberals like Governor Granholm in the third world state of Michigan.  Maybe Rahmbo ‘deadfish’ Emanuel should be the point man on the carp crisis. Invasive species are a problem but they may also be an example of larger problems in the US.  POLS and public officials appear to be clueless on how to handle problem solving.  The recurring theme is the nanny state mantra demanding someone else make the problem go away.

Yo, Governor Granholm, besides destroying your state’s economy was there no way you could solve your fish problem before this?  What did you do to address the problem before this news item put it out there for all to read?

Gee, maybe anthropogenic global warming is not the biggest eco problem for liberals.  Perhaps it comes in the form of a big fish that eats a lot.  The growth of government, spending and deficits does not appear to have been the great problem solving tool liberals suggest.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

BEIJING (Reuters) - China urged other powers on Tuesday to show more flexibility in dealing with Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, playing down prospects of sanctions after six countries met to discuss the standoff.

While Western powers have looked to further sanctions against Iran over its rejection of a U.N. plan to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, Russia and now especially China have resisted such steps and called for more negotiations.

How about this for a conspiracy theory? China and Russia have ties with Iran. They could care less if the US or its allies view Iranian nukes as a problem. China is hell bent on being a dominate force on the planet and has achieved much in that regard. Russia has lamented the fall of the Soviet Union since it happened and Putin is determined to regain that status as a world power.

Imagine Russia wants to relive the Missiles of October scenario from 1962 and allow Iran to be their proxy and provoke a nuclear standoff or worse, launch a strike against Israel? Israel may well be able to react in advance and preempt a first strike. Add to that any reaction that would come from China and others with nuke capability and Armageddon is poised to occur as the end of the Mayan calendar approaches in 2012. Coincidentally, the year President Obama is up for re-election and the VPOTUS warning of a test shows up late.

Even without the conspiracy theory, the so-called international community continues its impotent policy toward the current nuclear threat.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Nothing like a football reference in politics on a weekend featuring NFL playoff games. But President Obama’s agenda and current bashing of the banking industry has little to do with playoffs and everything to do with games, political games.

Obama’s Lead Blocker on Wall Street

The two men first met in December 2006 in the New York office of billionaire investor George Soros. Mr. Wolf was a newcomer to elite Democratic donor circles. Then-Sen. Obama, still months from launching his bid for the White House, was desperate to raise campaign cash on Wall Street.

Here’s a link with a brief description of Robert Wolf from UBS, the company that returned the topic of Swiss bank accounts to a prominent status in the news.

Robert Wolf WG ‘84 and UBS AG for a quick review of the company history.

Imagine that, President Obama, George Soros, UBS, Robert Wolf and Swiss bank accounts. What could be wrong?

Other reports in the news support the notion the Obama administration and their agenda is coming apart and they know it.

Reporting from Washington - President Obama, allowing that he has run into a “buzz saw,” today carried his pitch for economic revival, healthcare and an agenda now threatened by political upheaval to battleground Ohio.

Defeats in numerous elections around the country including New Jersey, Virginia and most recently Massachusetts have POTUS and VPOTUS hot on the campaign trail when they should be leading the country out of a weak economy.

President Barack Obama is slated to appear in the Tampa Bay area on Thursday, one day after the State of the Union address and nearly one year after he pitched his economic stimulus plan in Florida.

Vice President Joe Biden, who visited Miami Saturday to show the administration’s commitment to Haiti’s recovery, is scheduled to join the president.

In a midterm election year the White House demonstrates more concern about losing seats than addressing the nation’s top issues. Campaign stops to repeat speeches on an agenda already rejected by the public and pathetic emotional appeals about Haiti in order to ‘never let a crisis go to waster’.

Some politicians simply never get it or refuse to admit they’re wrong.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Coakley will rightly get most of the blame should Brown actually pull off what once seemed to be an impossible victory. Yet much of the responsibility will have to rest with Barack Obama, who has guided his party so poorly that it is having trouble making an appeal to voters in Massachusetts.

To put it bluntly, the Obama White House has been politically inept in the last year. It has made serious miscalculations, and today it is paying a price.

The link above makes a good case for how the Obama administration cultivated the landscape allowing Scott Brown to harvest a strategy for victory in Massachusetts. And since Martha Coakley supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential campaign you have to wonder if Barry from DC allowed that to influence his response to this potentially devastating loss for his agenda.

One year into a four year term and that nasty tendency of liberals snatching defeat from the jaws of victory rears its ugly but welcome head again. Sound bites proliferating since Brown’s victory suggest the Dems will continue their pusuit of defeat in 2010. That may be rewarding for the American public as many incumbents may fall if they don’t retire first. Both major political parties run the risk of not learning lessons from public outrage. And term limits in the form of elections might usher in a new era in US policy and politics.

Good stuff.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

….the anniversary of President Obama’s Inaugural, and it’s worth recalling the extraordinary political opportunity he had a year ago. An anxious country was looking for leadership amid a recession, and Democrats had huge majorities and faced a dispirited, unpopular GOP. With monetary policy stimulus already flowing, Democrats were poised to get the political credit for the inevitable economic recovery.

Twelve months later, Mr. Obama’s approval rating has fallen further and faster than any recent President’s, Congress is despised, the public mood has shifted sharply to the right on the role of government…

A report from WSJ before the results of the Taxachusetts special election to fill the vacancy left by Ted Kennedy is linked above and points to what still rings true after Scott Brown won.

What has been discussed since the ‘little known’ Republican state legislator became the first GOP Senator from MA in decades is what it may mean. Some are concerned he will represent another moderate or RINO from the Northeast like Snowe or Collins. Others say that beyond confirming the voting public is angry at the White House and Congress this election is not a game changer. And this blog suggested in a forum entry on this site that Scott Brown’s victory is less than a two year window for the GOP to hold a typically blue state seat.

What appears to be the most significant lesson of this event may fall on deaf ears within the GOP. Contrary to some reactions this event does not guarantee anything for conservatives and even less for the GOP. For some in the GOP to accept this as a vindication of criticism toward them, think again. The Republican party still has much to do to prove they are worthy of victories in the 2010 midterms.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

In the latest of a series of real and symbolic blows to the American left, Air America Radio, launched as the liberal answer to conservative talk radio, has announced that it will cease operations this week and declare bankruptcy.

Need anyone say more? It’s tempting, but no.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

In a recent post (rant) published on this blog the target was telecom and electronics in general and specifically wireless communications e.g., cell phones and the lack of attention paid to voice service. Just as vendors ignore recent revelations of hacking encryption techniques that expose vulnerabilities customer service has been largely ignored with Google’s launch of Nexus One as the excerpt and link below indicate. But also in the previous rant on this blog the notion that fools rush in explains why the lack of due diligence by those purchasing the latest and greatest allows vendors to be so arrogant.

Customers who have already bought the Nexus One—especially an unlocked one at full price for $529—feel they should be able to call a customer support line instead of waiting on Google to respond via e-mail, whenever that may be. Google has said that it may take days to answer inquiries online, but that’s not fast enough for dissatisfied customers.

Having a small percentage of the consuming public display the gotta have it mentality in years past served the rest of us well. It was like sending up a test balloon to see if new technology delivered. But over time that small group has become large contributing to the proliferation of poor products and services.

In spite of all that Nexus One has going for it, not everything is perfect. As of this writing, there are no accessories, yet. Even though the phone supports what seems to be very robust car and home docks, there are no signs of them being sold. There’s nary a shipping screen cover or silicone case, if such things are important to you. All you have is the micro USB connector and a 3.5mm headphone jack. And for the money, Google could definitely have included a much bigger microSD card than 4GB. Even the Droid came with a 16GB card

Just a day apart the articles referenced above from Ars Technica act like good cop, bad cop. Pan the customer service and then extoll the virtues of Nexus One with a muted discussion of its shortcomings. For the price, none of those problems should exist. But again, since fools rush in, there is no pressure for vendors to offer value for the money.

News Analysis: Google is one of the most respected and admired brands in the computer industry. But glaring problems with the early stages of the Nexus One smartphone rollout betray a lack of careful planning as well as a lack of experience in handling the introduction of a major new mobile hardware product.

The appraisal by Eweek is not as soft as Ars Technica. And it includes a ten point list suggesting how this will hurt Google. Too bad it is not likely to alter the habits of the gotta have it folks that allow this situation to exist in the first place.

Google’s Nexus One phone may have been one of the most anticipated devices of the last few weeks. But since the smartphone’s launch last Tuesday, it has left a string of unhappy customers in its wake.

Nexus One has been plagued by consumer complaints including spotty 3G connectivity, a high early termination fee, poor customer support from Google and problems with the touchscreen.

The review from Wired is on point as well. And it is a reminder about this blog’s continuous and primary complaint about wireless voice services. They take a back seat to all other features offered by cell phone vendors. We all get geeky from time to time but the fact remains a cell phone is exactly that. A cell phone first where voice communication should be the first priority. And ti should not cost hundreds of dollars to get one.

Can’t exit this post without a comment on the evil tech empire to compare and contrast. The Consumer Electronics Show was held again this year and apparently the current Darth Vader of IT, Steve Ballmer picked up where Bill Gates left off.

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 6, the tech world was expecting something major.

Just about every announcement Ballmer made during his keynote involved relatively minor product upgrades.

The lemmings still flock to Microsoft. And in fairness to MS, you can now find them flocking to Google and most other vendors as well. Will it ever stop?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com