My favorite beers tend to be more malty than hoppy. I am not a fan of IPAs but love Porters and Stouts. I can do an Imperial Hopped Pilsner like My Antonia from Dogfish Head though. For beers in the non-dark family, I go more for Pale Ales or regular Ales.
That being said, the best beers in America are still produced by microbreweries. Sometimes they do produce beers that are too "interesting" but they make some really damn good variety as well.
Agreed. Israel will be helped by people who stand strong against Hamas and Hezbollah and tell other Arabian governments, Israel exists (deal with it) but also people who recognize the plight of the Palestinians.
Israel needs a working two-state solution. The Settlements need to go away. The hard-right also need to be told that the Palestinians deserve their own state and to deal with it.
Wow your parents sound to be the opposite of mine.
I come from a long-line of New York liberal and Democratic Jews. My mom moved out to the Bay Area (after wanting to live in Northern Cal for 40 years) and she loves how liberal everyone is out here. She gushes about how she likes having friends that are more liberal than she is. My dad and brothers are also not Republican. My grandparents were ardent New Dealers* and at least one of my great-grandparents voted for Eugene Victor Debs.
I am kind of curious about the 20-25 percent of American Jews who vote Republican. Do they find frustrating to be a minority within a minority? What do they think of how most American Jews are still very proud Democratic Party supporters and liberals?
*My mom tells me two stories about this. One involves my grandfather being very upset at Adlai Stevenson losing and losing twice! The other is that both my maternal grandparents were very upset when Nassau County renamed Salisbury Park to Eisenhower Park. Nassau County was very Republican then and my mom reported that the rename left my parents feeling isolated and alienated as Democrats.
This is true. There is a guy at my coffeeshop that I have a good relationship with, we talk a bit a few days a week.
He considers himself to be a center-left moderate but clearly has some ideas that border on the not so moderate. He is very much against the Fed (I am not) and once told me how he thinks it is controlled by Rockfellers/Rothchilds. I quickly changed the subject.
Yet he is also a very smart, educated guy.
Everyone has their own crazy and illogical beliefs.
I went to law school with a woman who seems very smart. She attended Princeton as an undergrad and was the head of the environmental law society for a while.
She is a 9/11 truther and posts about it on every anniversary on facebook. I saw it for the first time this year.
I must say that I felt a bit disappointed when I saw this.
How can Jews be a thumb in the eye of secular statism? Almost 80 percent of American Jews are very liberal and pretty secular as things go especially compared to Evangelicals.
I'm a liberal but I don't think the GOP is going anywhere.
You are right that they are might be dying a slow demographic death but it is a very slow death. One that could last my entire lifetime or more.
I grew up in a Congressional district that is as blue as they get. Most of my friends are young, educational professionals who are proud Democratic voters. However as Tod noted in his Value Voters summit posts, there are a lot of young people who are very right-wing. Some will leave, many will not. Recently, a home-schooler came out with a book in which he proclaims "Shock! shock!" at how much sex happened at Yale while he was a student at said Ivy League.
To be fair, Bloomberg only became a Republican because he knew that there was a snowball's chance in hell of him winning the Democratic nod. NYC Democratic politics is still very much a bottom up kind of thing. You start at the ground and work your way up.
There is also nothing in Bloomberg's record that would make the national Republican party happy even when he had an R next to his name.
I applaud and thank you for going and reporting so I don't have to. I think I would have stormed out after a minute. Possibly less.
Some thoughts and observations:
1. There is no contradiction between Evangelical Christianity and their support for Israel. In their worldview, Israel needs to be reborn and the second Temple rebuilt before Christ can return and the events in Revelations can take place. My general thoughts on this as a liberal Jewish supporter of Israel are "With friends like Michelle Bachmann, Israel does not need Hamas." I also think that the alliance between Jewish neocons and Christian Evangelicals has to be one of the most cynical in political history. I would love to see Bill Kristol's inner-thoughts on Christian Evangelicals. I imagine it is not pretty or kind.
2. I think you hit the nail on the head for different language. I have no idea what conservatives mean when they talk about freedom and liberty. Their definition is not anything that I can recognize as a liberal. Also how are they supposed to accomplish all their far reaching social policy ideas with a "small government"?
Interestingly, as an arts and humanities person, I am largely a conservative/skeptic when it comes to technology.
Not in the anti-Vaccine kind of way but I don't think we are properly analyzing how technological change and automation are hurting people. We can't make jobs redundant and then moralize when people don't have money to pay the bills.
I am also a bit cynical on kickstarter. Largely because of the tyranny of popularity and how it might damage truly challenging art. Kickstarter is not going to crowdsource Two or Three Things I Know About Her
I mean it as an endearing joke as proud resident of San Francisco and the Bay Area* and a fan of the city of Cambridge. I know many residents who use those terms with equal endearment. And I am a rather liberal person.
*Though I will always be a New Yorker in my heart.
The statement was callous and I apologize. But this is a tricky issue and I don't think we should have a risk free military.
I will be very scared for the time when nations can conduct wars remotely via drones.
It is horrible that hundreds and thousands of young men and women can be sent to harm's way at the whims and fancies of their elders. Most of whom are chickenhawks but I think that this is one of the few things that keeps war from getting out of hand. Combat should be difficult and bloody and make us think twice about fighting. Drones do not do that. Drones remove the very real, human cost to war. They getting close to the precipice of Orwellian thoughts of "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace" and "Two Minutes of Hate"
Yes a ground invasion would lead to many more U.S. deaths and there will be many more Americans who lose loved ones. This is sad, there is no doubt about it but I think fewer civilians would be put in harm's way. A properly trained soldier is still a human being. They might react under stress and make mistakes but they can also make judgment calls and differentiate between civilian and combatant.
The real issue is that we should not really be having a lot of these "wars" in the first place.
I am not an isolationist but we need a foreign policy that is based a lot less on military action and we need to end the perpetual war of the last 11 years.
Does the US really need to go after every Jihadi?
And how about the children killed by drones? Did those civilians do anything to deserve death? The answer is no. When you enlist for military service, there is a chance of being sent to combat and killed. This is just the nature of the beast. If you don't want that risk, don't sign up. We have a volunteer military.
The Middle East Civilians did not sign up for anything especially the children.
I don't want soldiers to die but the lives of non-combatants are important. We can't tell them tough luck.
And by very blue I mean places in the Bay Area like San Francisco and the People's Republic of Berkeley. Possibly the People's Republic of Cambridge. Not New York City districts.
I agree that drones are the genie in the bottle and are not going back in.
Drones are massively unpopular. The problem is that the alternative to drones would also be massively unpopular.
All in all, military issues are a great failure of Democracy. IIRC, there is large bipartisan support for massive reductions in military spending. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents support cutting the military budget by anywhere between 40-60 percent. Yet, the Republicans always seem willing to raise the defense budget and everyone else is too scared to make this a talking point. Maybe a few Democrats in very blue districts* would make it an issue but not much beyond that.
This is another reason for needing severe campaign finance reform. It is clear that the lobbying money of the Defense Industry wins above all. One can also be cynical and argue that the military has also become an employeer of semi-last resort for many young people. It is probably better to enlist than have a life in fast food service be your only option. Though the military promises to give skills to many people and probably does not. This American Life did a story about life on an aircraft carrier many years ago. One of the people they interviewed had a job of just servicing the vending machines on the aircraft carriers. That is all he did for 12 hours, fill up vending machines with snacks and soft drinks. What skills is he developing? What is he going to do once his service is up?
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Wait… aren’t the men on the right supposed to be the manly men?”
My favorite beers tend to be more malty than hoppy. I am not a fan of IPAs but love Porters and Stouts. I can do an Imperial Hopped Pilsner like My Antonia from Dogfish Head though. For beers in the non-dark family, I go more for Pale Ales or regular Ales.
That being said, the best beers in America are still produced by microbreweries. Sometimes they do produce beers that are too "interesting" but they make some really damn good variety as well.
On “A Heretic’s Pilgrimage: My Journey to the 2012 Values Voter Summit”
I don't understand the cult of Ayn Rand. I was bored 10 pages into the Fountainhead and never tried again.
"
I am on a work computer with disabled sound. No Ramones for me until late tonight.
Speaking on semi-relevance, Bonzo Goes to Bitburg (not the song you linked to I know) is one of my favorite Ramones song.
"
Agreed. Israel will be helped by people who stand strong against Hamas and Hezbollah and tell other Arabian governments, Israel exists (deal with it) but also people who recognize the plight of the Palestinians.
Israel needs a working two-state solution. The Settlements need to go away. The hard-right also need to be told that the Palestinians deserve their own state and to deal with it.
"
I can't quite tell who this is a response to.
Are you disagreeing with me or Pinky?
"
Wow your parents sound to be the opposite of mine.
I come from a long-line of New York liberal and Democratic Jews. My mom moved out to the Bay Area (after wanting to live in Northern Cal for 40 years) and she loves how liberal everyone is out here. She gushes about how she likes having friends that are more liberal than she is. My dad and brothers are also not Republican. My grandparents were ardent New Dealers* and at least one of my great-grandparents voted for Eugene Victor Debs.
I am kind of curious about the 20-25 percent of American Jews who vote Republican. Do they find frustrating to be a minority within a minority? What do they think of how most American Jews are still very proud Democratic Party supporters and liberals?
*My mom tells me two stories about this. One involves my grandfather being very upset at Adlai Stevenson losing and losing twice! The other is that both my maternal grandparents were very upset when Nassau County renamed Salisbury Park to Eisenhower Park. Nassau County was very Republican then and my mom reported that the rename left my parents feeling isolated and alienated as Democrats.
"
This is true. There is a guy at my coffeeshop that I have a good relationship with, we talk a bit a few days a week.
He considers himself to be a center-left moderate but clearly has some ideas that border on the not so moderate. He is very much against the Fed (I am not) and once told me how he thinks it is controlled by Rockfellers/Rothchilds. I quickly changed the subject.
Yet he is also a very smart, educated guy.
Everyone has their own crazy and illogical beliefs.
"
I went to law school with a woman who seems very smart. She attended Princeton as an undergrad and was the head of the environmental law society for a while.
She is a 9/11 truther and posts about it on every anniversary on facebook. I saw it for the first time this year.
I must say that I felt a bit disappointed when I saw this.
"
And I still think the neocons think in their heads about how they are playing the Evangelicals for fools.
"
How can Jews be a thumb in the eye of secular statism? Almost 80 percent of American Jews are very liberal and pretty secular as things go especially compared to Evangelicals.
Eric Cantor is an exception, not a rule.
"
Orange County engineers seem to be very Republican. Bay Area and Seattle engineers not so much.
On “Mugged By Their Own Narrative”
I'm a liberal but I don't think the GOP is going anywhere.
You are right that they are might be dying a slow demographic death but it is a very slow death. One that could last my entire lifetime or more.
I grew up in a Congressional district that is as blue as they get. Most of my friends are young, educational professionals who are proud Democratic voters. However as Tod noted in his Value Voters summit posts, there are a lot of young people who are very right-wing. Some will leave, many will not. Recently, a home-schooler came out with a book in which he proclaims "Shock! shock!" at how much sex happened at Yale while he was a student at said Ivy League.
"
To be fair, Bloomberg only became a Republican because he knew that there was a snowball's chance in hell of him winning the Democratic nod. NYC Democratic politics is still very much a bottom up kind of thing. You start at the ground and work your way up.
There is also nothing in Bloomberg's record that would make the national Republican party happy even when he had an R next to his name.
On “Voting Part II: Vote Like No One’s Watching”
I am going to just sign on to this in concurrence.
On “A Heretic’s Pilgrimage: My Journey to the 2012 Values Voter Summit”
I applaud and thank you for going and reporting so I don't have to. I think I would have stormed out after a minute. Possibly less.
Some thoughts and observations:
1. There is no contradiction between Evangelical Christianity and their support for Israel. In their worldview, Israel needs to be reborn and the second Temple rebuilt before Christ can return and the events in Revelations can take place. My general thoughts on this as a liberal Jewish supporter of Israel are "With friends like Michelle Bachmann, Israel does not need Hamas." I also think that the alliance between Jewish neocons and Christian Evangelicals has to be one of the most cynical in political history. I would love to see Bill Kristol's inner-thoughts on Christian Evangelicals. I imagine it is not pretty or kind.
2. I think you hit the nail on the head for different language. I have no idea what conservatives mean when they talk about freedom and liberty. Their definition is not anything that I can recognize as a liberal. Also how are they supposed to accomplish all their far reaching social policy ideas with a "small government"?
On “Resistance is Futile…Our Culture Will Adapt to Service Us…”
Interestingly, as an arts and humanities person, I am largely a conservative/skeptic when it comes to technology.
Not in the anti-Vaccine kind of way but I don't think we are properly analyzing how technological change and automation are hurting people. We can't make jobs redundant and then moralize when people don't have money to pay the bills.
I am also a bit cynical on kickstarter. Largely because of the tyranny of popularity and how it might damage truly challenging art. Kickstarter is not going to crowdsource Two or Three Things I Know About Her
"
And thanks for the compliment!!
"
Jokes are not funny when you have to telegraph that they are jokes.
"
I wasn't here then. He could have been. I have no idea.
"
I also was not here during the time of Cheeks. I gathered from Erik's thread that he was a super-right wing troll.
I can guarantee that I am no troll and no right-winger.
I like the parts of Berkeley and Cambridge that earn it that nickname very much and would not trade them for all the stars in the universe.
"
I mean it as an endearing joke as proud resident of San Francisco and the Bay Area* and a fan of the city of Cambridge. I know many residents who use those terms with equal endearment. And I am a rather liberal person.
*Though I will always be a New Yorker in my heart.
"
The statement was callous and I apologize. But this is a tricky issue and I don't think we should have a risk free military.
I will be very scared for the time when nations can conduct wars remotely via drones.
It is horrible that hundreds and thousands of young men and women can be sent to harm's way at the whims and fancies of their elders. Most of whom are chickenhawks but I think that this is one of the few things that keeps war from getting out of hand. Combat should be difficult and bloody and make us think twice about fighting. Drones do not do that. Drones remove the very real, human cost to war. They getting close to the precipice of Orwellian thoughts of "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace" and "Two Minutes of Hate"
Yes a ground invasion would lead to many more U.S. deaths and there will be many more Americans who lose loved ones. This is sad, there is no doubt about it but I think fewer civilians would be put in harm's way. A properly trained soldier is still a human being. They might react under stress and make mistakes but they can also make judgment calls and differentiate between civilian and combatant.
Hopefully.
"
The real issue is that we should not really be having a lot of these "wars" in the first place.
I am not an isolationist but we need a foreign policy that is based a lot less on military action and we need to end the perpetual war of the last 11 years.
Does the US really need to go after every Jihadi?
And how about the children killed by drones? Did those civilians do anything to deserve death? The answer is no. When you enlist for military service, there is a chance of being sent to combat and killed. This is just the nature of the beast. If you don't want that risk, don't sign up. We have a volunteer military.
The Middle East Civilians did not sign up for anything especially the children.
I don't want soldiers to die but the lives of non-combatants are important. We can't tell them tough luck.
"
And by very blue I mean places in the Bay Area like San Francisco and the People's Republic of Berkeley. Possibly the People's Republic of Cambridge. Not New York City districts.
"
I agree that drones are the genie in the bottle and are not going back in.
Drones are massively unpopular. The problem is that the alternative to drones would also be massively unpopular.
All in all, military issues are a great failure of Democracy. IIRC, there is large bipartisan support for massive reductions in military spending. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents support cutting the military budget by anywhere between 40-60 percent. Yet, the Republicans always seem willing to raise the defense budget and everyone else is too scared to make this a talking point. Maybe a few Democrats in very blue districts* would make it an issue but not much beyond that.
This is another reason for needing severe campaign finance reform. It is clear that the lobbying money of the Defense Industry wins above all. One can also be cynical and argue that the military has also become an employeer of semi-last resort for many young people. It is probably better to enlist than have a life in fast food service be your only option. Though the military promises to give skills to many people and probably does not. This American Life did a story about life on an aircraft carrier many years ago. One of the people they interviewed had a job of just servicing the vending machines on the aircraft carriers. That is all he did for 12 hours, fill up vending machines with snacks and soft drinks. What skills is he developing? What is he going to do once his service is up?
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.