Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

When we show up, we win.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let me file that under fuck it.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

In my day, never was longer.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

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Open thread

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You’re all such good cooks you probably already planned and shopped for the Fourth of July, but here’s union-made you can buy:

Hot dogs
• Ball Park
• Boar’s Head
• Foster Farms
• Hebrew National
• Hofmann
• Oscar Mayer
• Hormel
Sausages:
• Farmland
• Koegel’s
• Gianelli (UFCW)
• Kroger brand (UFCW)
Condiments:
• French’s and Guldens Mustard (UFCW)
• Heinz Ketchup and Catsup (UFCW)
• Lucky Whip
• Hidden Valley Ranch
Buns:
• Sara Lee (UFCW)
• Oroweat
• Arnold
• Stroehmann
Soda & Bottled Water:
• Barq’s Rootbeer, Coke , and Sprite products (UFCW)
• Pepsi
• American Springs and Poland Springs Water (UFCW)
• Pocono Northern Fall’s Water
Beer:
• Bud Light (UFCW)
• Budweiser
• Michelob
• Miller
• Milwaukee’s Best
• Rolling Rock
• Goose Island
Snacks & Desserts:
• Breyers & Good Humor Ice Cream (UFCW)
• Flips pretzels
• Frito-Lay Chips
Supplies:
• Solo cups
• Weber Q grills
• Igloo coolers

I didn’t know this:

EAT UNION!! the fabulous burgers at WENDYS are made by members of UFCW Local 1776 in Pennsylvania for 11 states. Lots of Wendy’s foods are unionmade, the rolls, the fries, the CHILI!, sooo you need a quick bite head to WENDYS!! — with Ufcw SnackUnion.

More beer

Reader Interactions

166Comments

  2. 2.

    srv

    Hmmm. You micro-brewer drinkers must all hate America. I guess that’s why Tim stopped doing the Friday Beer thing.

  3. 3.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Actually, I’m about to run out to get burger meat. Spent most of the day dealing with my locavore box. Seriously considering getting another freezer.

    I’m seeing new spam at my honeypot email addresses: advertisements for weight loss drugs with a return name (but not address) of Fox News Network. Someone is finally cashing in on the Fox News fans’ well-known gullibility.

  4. 4.

    The Other Chuck

    Beer:
    • Bud Light (UFCW)
    • Budweiser
    • Michelob
    • Miller
    • Milwaukee’s Best
    • Rolling Rock
    • Goose Island

    Is there anything I can actually drink? Actually, I’ve never heard of Goose Island, so maybe that’s ok. And Rolling Rock is at least drinkable, as is fresh badger bile next to Milwaukee’s Best.

  5. 5.

    gbear

    What are the Koch products that we should avoid at all cost? I can’t remember what paper products they make.

  6. 6.

    The Other Chuck

    @gbear: Georgia Pacific.

    No idea if Kimberly Clark is any better though, but at least it wouldn’t enrich those two.

  7. 7.

    mistermix

    That beer list is brutal. But Genesee brewery does a lot of contract brewing – I don’t know if they still brew Sam Adams, but they used to.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    @gbear:

    I hate that about them, that they aren’t associated with any consumer brand.

    Clever, those Koch bros. :)

  10. 10.

    max

    You’re all such good cooks you probably already planned and shopped for the Fourth of July

    It’s a Thursday and probably a rainy one – probably gonna watch the The Wire and keep the dogs from freaking out about the fireworks explosions.

    Hot dogs
    • Ball Park
    • Boar’s Head
    • Foster Farms
    • Hebrew National
    • Hofmann
    • Oscar Mayer
    • Hormel

    I’ve been tending to switch to Nathan’s over Hebrew National (my go-to for a coupla decades) – izzat unionized? Please say yes.

    max
    [‘Will forward list.’]

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    Interestingly, Wendy’s just discontinued chili in Malaysia. I found out a couple of weeks ago that it’s been replaced with chicken rendang and rice — as if any sane Malaysian would want an American fast food chain’s attempt at Malaysian food.

  12. 12.

    BGinCHI

    But Kay, you forgot to mention what kind of union-made fireworks you can get to blow your fingers off with!

  18. 18.

    The Other Chuck

    @Amir Khalid: I’d imagine that the recipe didn’t come from their Ohio corporate HQ, so it’s probably fine enough by local standards.

  20. 20.

    JPL

    @The Other Chuck: Anne added a link to a larger list of beers. Do you like O’Doul’s?

    There will be few outdoor bbq’s lit in the Atlanta area tomorrow. I’ll probably do hot dogs and hamburgers on Sunday.

  21. 21.

    Violet

    @NickT: What in the world? Those shirtless guys look like they were clipped from a video game from about 2001.

  22. 22.

    Linnaeus

    @Yatsuno:

    My dad drinks Canuckstani beers. I’m pretty sure they’re unionised.

    Yes, at least the larger Canadian brewers, e.g., Molson, Labatt, Moosehead, are. Although Molson merged with Coors, so there’s that.

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    Glad to hear about Rolling Rock, although Yuengling is my favorite inexpensive brew.

    Great idea about supporting union-made products.

    I grimace now when I pass the handsome Brawny man. (Koch Brothers! Georgia Pacific product!) Never again.

    Did they ever get Buycott app up and running? (Smartphone app that tells who owns the companies whose products you purchase — or would choose not to.)

  24. 24.

    MikeJ

    Full Sail Brewing in Hood river OR is employee owned, and I think New Belgium of Colorado is too.

  25. 25.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Those are some companies I wouldn’t have expected. Coke, Frito-Lay and Budweiser are unionized? Well, there’s my good news for the day, I guess.

  26. 26.

    Trollhattan

    @Violet:

    They seem like a perfect match, don’t they? Was despairing for humanity when I read the initial story last week, so this is the best possible outcome.

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    @srv:

    You micro-brewer drinkers must all hate America.

    Yeah, the guys at New Belgium are a bunch of Socialists. They aren’t union; they’re employee owned.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    Will be grilling tonight. Tomorrow will probably be an exciting day of figuring out why a gate isn’t working properly and taking down some banana trees that are starting to be a problem with an electrical wire. Woo hoo. Friday is a work day, so Thursday is a school night.

  29. 29.

    Gus

    I have a close friend who works at a local craft brewery. I don’t think he’s union, but he’s not complaining, and I like the beer they make, unlike the list above (with the exception of a few Goose Island beers).

  30. 30.

    Trollhattan

    @MikeJ:

    Thus, COMMIE!

    Surveying the beer landscape we’re in a land of riches compared to the desert of five, ten and especially twenty years ago. One rabidly anti-union brewery I knew of back in the day was Coors, and I have no idea about whatever megacorporation owns them now. But it’s moot because we don’t have to drink any of that crap ever again (except at the occasional ballgame in less-enlightened parks).

  32. 32.

    BGinCHI

    @Gus: Goose Island got bought out, though they still make a few decent things (in comparison to macro brews).

  34. 34.

    Violet

    @Elizabelle:

    Did they ever get Buycott app up and running? (Smartphone app that tells who owns the companies whose products you purchase — or would choose not to.)

    Apparently it’s up and running now. See this article for a video of it being used. Buycott website.

  36. 36.

    Arclite

    The thing is, none of those beers are GOOD beers.

    Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Deschutes, Fat Tire, Rogue, etc. etc. Let me know if any of these are union made and I’ll choose one.

  38. 38.

    Linnaeus

    @BGinCHI:

    I thought they were still owned by the fascist Coors family. No?

    Coors and Molson merged in 2005. The families share control of the company.

  39. 39.

    Trollhattan

    @BGinCHI:

    Per the, er, always or nearly always right Wikipedia.

    “The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world’s seventh-largest[1] brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States.[2] Coors is also renowned for operating the Golden, Colorado brewery, the largest single brewery facility in the world.”

    I don’t know what autonomy they may still have in Colorado WRT their workforce and unionization.

  40. 40.

    Violet

    @Arclite: Fat Tire is from the New Belgium Brewing Company. Apparently they are eco-friendly and employee-owned.

    Edit: From their FAQ:

    Are you owned by a larger brewery or company?
    This question comes up a lot actually…. we say all the time that New Belgium Brewing is Employee Owned, but there are definitely rumors out there that one of the larger brewers are actually pulling the strings here. We can say with confidence that New Belgium Brewing is not owned or even controlled in any way by a larger company. Our shares of New Belgium are 100% privately held by our current co-workers that work every day laboring to make the best beer in the world.We hope you enjoy our passion!

    Link: newbelgium.com/brewery/faq.aspx

  43. 43.

    LanceThruster

    13 companies with the worst record for supporting Israel’s apartheid policies:

    1) General Electric
    2) Caterpillar
    3) The Home Depot
    4) The Limited
    5) Starbucks
    6) McDonald’s
    7) Estée Lauder
    8) L’Oréal
    9) Delta Galil
    10) Marks & Spencer
    11) Sara Lee
    12) Coca-Cola
    13) Intel

  44. 44.

    BGinCHI

    @MikeJ: Wow. That huge factory is still there in Golden.

    I wouldn’t piss on the Coors family if they were all on fire.

  45. 45.

    pacem appellant

    @The Other Chuck: My problem as well. I prefer microbrew (being a left-coasty and all), but I guess that’s hard to unionize.I don’t think I could even drink Rolling Rock. Is there union bottled water?

  47. 47.

    BGinCHI

    @MikeJ: I’m dying to get out there and fish, which I usually do every year (in the OR coastal rivers). Not this year or last though.

    Be careful or I may show up on your doorstep with a packed bag.

  48. 48.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Arclite: Hey! C’mon! Its got my Olde English 800, and my rock-solid stand-by beers, Rolling Rock and Miller Genuine Draft. Now, granted they aren’t the hoppy beer-snob holier-than-thou beverages – that’s not the point.

  51. 51.

    PsiFighter37

    I see there’s talk of beer. Yum.

    PF37 +3 (2 Hennepins + 1 Troegenator)

  53. 53.

    Heliopause

    Beer:
    • Bud Light (UFCW)
    • Budweiser
    • Michelob
    • Miller
    • Milwaukee’s Best
    • Rolling Rock
    • Goose Island

    I’m all for supporting unions but, sorry, I draw the line at purchasing and drinking urine.

    As an alternative to the above swill try googling something like “worker owned craft brewery” or similar and see if anything that comes up is available in your area. I see New Belgium and Full Sail on page one of the results and both of those are available in my area.

  54. 54.

    BGinCHI

    @Heliopause: I’d be shocked if bearded hipster craft brewers were treating their employees like shit. Seriously, I would.

    The dudes and gals who are remaking beer and spirits are going to save this country one delicious drink at a time.

    I love wine but it’s mostly produced (owned by, that is) by rich dicks.

  55. 55.

    burnspbesq

    If all I’m allowed to eat is union-made food, I’ll look like a marathon runner in a month. There is nothing on that list worth eating.

  56. 56.

    FlipYrWhig

    @BGinCHI: If not piss, how about Coors beer? Then it’s like Homer Simpson’s riddle about God microwaving a burrito so hot not even He could eat it.

  57. 57.

    Trollhattan

    @Violet:

    They seem to be a fantastic little company–passionate about their product, progressive about their employees and aggressively green. Damn hipsters. :-)

    Also, too, for anybody who only knows them from Fat Trire, try their other offerings, especially the Belgians (duh). Fat Tire is their least interesting beer.

  58. 58.

    Suzanne

    Wow, that beer list is all horse piss.

    I like the stuff from the Alaskan Brewing Company. Employee-owned?

    The younguns in my office want me to try a “beer-rita”. I can’t decide if that’s alchemy or a combo so weird, it’s like ice cream and hot sauce (or orgasmic birth). I suppose I must investigate for myself.

  60. 60.

    Violet

    @burnspbesq: I was thinking the same thing. There’s a lot of crap on that list. I guess that’s what people normally eat for picnics and barbecues, but…ugh.

    I’m sure I’m one of those elitists, but I grow as much of my own food as I can and supplement from local suppliers and other green, organic, humane providers. There’s a lot to think about when you choose your food–union is one thing, but treating the environment right is another, so is locally grown to support your own community and so forth. Hopefully the people who treat the environment right are also treating people right, but there’s no guarantee.

  63. 63.

    PurpleGirl

    @NickT: Construction workers are sexy, gorgeous hunks. Wanna party?

    From the TMP article and the author: fiction romance novel.
    Since when is a novel not fiction.

  64. 64.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Thanks Kay! Did you see that a number of the groups the IRS looked at share counsel, PR firms and office space? Reported by that notoriously liberal rag on the river in Cincinnati. Office space is of course in the heart of the district of the AOS. It would be interesting to see how far, exactly from his local office.

  65. 65.

    Trollhattan

    @BGinCHI:

    Have to challenge you on that one. I know plenty of vintners who are the furthest thing from rich dicks. I’m also within easy drive of a thousand wineries, so have an advantage on the topic.

    Mind, there are a shitton of wineries run by prototypical Silicon Valley stock option refugees, the aphorism being “A winery is a great way to make a small fortune…out of a large one.”

  66. 66.

    Mandalay

    Poor Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell! He only did one thing wrong: he got caught…

    Williams has showered the governor and first family with tens of thousands in gifts beyond the $108,000 in cash and free airfare donated to McDonnell’s political action committee and campaign. According to people familiar with the probes, the gifts include use of a vacation home, a shopping spree in New York for first lady Maureen McDonnell and a $15,000 check to cover catering costs at the June, 2011 wedding of the McDonnells’ daughter, Cailin.

    The wedding check was not declared on the governor’s statements of economic interest because the governor said it was a gift to his daughter. Nor was a $6,500 men’s Rolex watch that Williams procured for Maureen McDonnell, who gave it to her husband as a gift in 2011. The governor has refused to say whether he knew the watch was a gift from Williams.

    timesdispatch.com/news/latest-news/washington-lawyer-flood-counsels-mcdonnell-on-probe/article_bd183…

    That should put an end to that vile misogynist’s 2016 presidential run.

  67. 67.

    Botsplainer

    Milwaukee’s Best?

    Best what? Farts that smell like burning tires? Gut cutting heartburn? Painful diarrhea?

  69. 69.

    Violet

    @Suzanne: I didn’t know what a beer-rita was, so I googled. If this is what it is, it could be pretty good. Sounds like the old lime-in-Corona taken to eleven by adding tequila.

  70. 70.

    The Other Chuck

    Just about anything from Deschutes, Flying Dog, or Dogfish Head is awesome. Dogfish Head’s latest is called Sixty One (apparently it’s their 61st variety) and it’s freakin amazing.

  73. 73.

    PsiFighter37

    @Heliopause: Don’t hate on Goose Island – their beers have varying degrees of quality, but I do like their IPAs.

    Agreed, though, that the rest of them blow chunks. Give me craft brews any time, thank you very much.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @gbear

    What are the Koch products that we should avoid at all cost? I can’t remember what paper products they make.

    Georgia-Pacific paper goods:

    Brawny
    Angel Soft
    Mardi Gras
    Quilted Northern
    Dixie
    Sparkle
    Vanity Fair

  75. 75.

    PsiFighter37

    @The Other Chuck: Never had Deschutes, but the other 2 are very good indeed. I really like the super-high ABV beers Dogfishhead puts out – in particular the King Midas beer and the beer aged in Peruvian oak that is thousands of years old.

  77. 77.

    Suzanne

    @Violet: It sounds like it is either stone-cold awesome sauce or is totally vile. No in-between.

    The first time someone told me what a Carbomb was, I thought it sounded nasty. I was WRONG. Deliciously wrong.

  78. 78.

    Mike E

    Yay for Ballpark turkey dogs! Those beers make me sad, though it is summer and PBR/lemonade shandies are what I drink in a pinch. Sam Adams makes a nice shandy when mixed w/lemonade. Too.

  79. 79.

    Arclite

    @Violet: I drink Fat Tire every chance I get (which is only when I visit Cali. They don’t import it to Hawaii). And I get most of the others too. I just can’t stand the mega beers, even if they are union.

    @ Trollhattan: I always get their variety pack.

  80. 80.

    Shakezula

    Thanks for this list. By some fluke, the only things we have not on one of these lists is our beer, but our beer is courtesy of a couple of local breweries. (I don’t think I am an official “Beer Snob,” it’s just the stuff out of the small concerns is … good.)

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @burnspbesq:

    If all I’m allowed to eat is union-made food

    It’s not mandatory, burns. Yet.

    A lot of people around here are UFCW. Frozen Specialties. Doesn’t that sound yummy?

  85. 85.

    BGinCHI

    @Trollhattan: Me too, but I said “mostly.” In craft beer it’s almost all seat of the pants stuff.

    I know quite a few wine folks as well, from poor to middling to rich asshole oil money.

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    @PurpleGirl

    Since when is a novel not fiction.

    At least since the label ‘non-fiction novel’ was pinned on Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    @Violet:

    Thank you re buycott. (Missed your post cause I was googling for it.)

    I don’t even have Angry Birds on my iPhone. Shall try to remember my password and add buycott.

    A little tech challenged here.

    I blame the Yuengling.

  91. 91.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Violet: Those are some of the Village People, right? The Construction Worker, the Hockey Player, and the Chippendale’s Librarian. Right?

    Given the publisher, several men and no women on the cover signals only one thing.

    I’m surprised the article didn’t mention that she has a number of books out from another small ebook press. This is the only one that screams gay, though.

    Poser covers are common on small press ebooks. She says she pulled it when the contract ran out after eight years, so 2001 isn’t that far off.

    And yes, most Poser covers suck. They are sometimes terrifying bad. (Language at links may not be SFW.)

  94. 94.

    Trollhattan

    Speaking of the Koch bros….

    A two-year study by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, released today, illustrates what might be one of the reasons why he had to take this circuitous route. Fossil fuel magnates Charles and David Koch have, through Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group they back, succeeded in persuading many members of Congress to sign a little-known pledge in which they have promised to vote against legislation relating to climate change unless it is accompanied by an equivalent amount of tax cuts. Since most solutions to the problem of greenhouse-gas emissions require costs to the polluters and the public, the pledge essentially commits those who sign to it to vote against nearly any meaningful bill regarding global warning, and acts as yet another roadblock to action.

    Why do the Koch brothers hate Americaevery human not a Koch?

    newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/07/the-kochs-and-the-action-on-global-warming.html

  99. 99.

    IowaOldLady

    We’re spending the long weekend at my brother’s house on a lake in Brainerd MN. I expect there will be beer and much good food.

  100. 100.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Suzanne: At our local SW joint, it’s a frozen margarita with a beer bottle f top down in it. Never tried it. I get a blue curacao tinted margarita up, and Mr. Q. gets Macallan.

    I guess we’re kinda regulars as the bartender just brings our drinks when we sit down. One night he had them waiting when we walked in – the owner said “did Bella call?” and the bartender said “I saw her walking up through the window.”

  106. 106.

    Roger Moore

    @Trollhattan:

    Fat Tire is their least interesting beer.

    Which is exactly why it’s their most popular. The more interesting a beer is, the fewer but more passionate its drinkers tend to be. I’m considering going to Santa Rosa next February so I can try Pliny the Younger.

  107. 107.

    JPL

    @Suzanne: My son and his SO are flying to Phoenix tonight to visit with friends. Really, who doesn’t want to spend the 4th in Phoenix.

  108. 108.

    NickT

    @Violet:

    I never knew Legolas was bi. I always assumed he was a straight-arrow man-on-dwarf (elf-on-dwarf?) kinda guy.

  111. 111.

    Arclite

    @Violet: Yeah, and the craft beers here are actually pretty good. Kona Brewery makes some good stuff, and Maui Brewing makes a good coconut porter. There’s even a decent Belgian-style ale: Hawai’i Nui Brewing Southern Cross Belgian Style Double Red Ale.

  113. 113.

    Trollhattan

    @Roger Moore:

    Have had Pliny the Elder on tap and in bottle, but have never even SEEN the Younger, much less tried it. As you suggest, a pilgrimage is required and even then there are no guarantees. (Much waiting on line only to be told, “Oh, the cat’s got it. Come back tomorrow.”)

    Am informed there are only-at-the-brewery Sierra Nevada special brews that would make the angels weep, with their holy deliciousness.

  116. 116.

    Violet

    @NickT: Maybe the cover is from his younger days? You know, experimentation.

    @NickT: Now I can’t unsee that! I don’t think it’s Nooners, though. I think it’s McMegan. Can we just add a few kitchen implements in the background?

  117. 117.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Beer:
    • Bud Light (UFCW)
    • Budweiser
    • Michelob
    • Miller
    • Milwaukee’s Best
    • Rolling Rock
    • Goose Island

    No wonder the country’s so anti-union.

  119. 119.

    bemused

    @NotMax:

    What about store brand paper products? I buy Target Up & Up but have no clue who actually manufactures it.

  122. 122.

    The Other Chuck

    @PsiFighter37: Deschutes Black Butte Porter is second to none, and the Obsidian Stout is quite awesome. Not sure I’d want either a porter or stout on a hot summer day tho. Their other brews aren’t so mind-blowing in my opinion, but they’re all pretty darn good — the IPA is hoppy but not a bitter hop bomb like so many are making them nowadays.

    Midas Touch is nummy nummy nummy and kicks like a mule. Kinda hits the wallet hard too, tho since I started buying St Bernardus, I guess it’s pretty cheap in comparison :)

  124. 124.

    Roger Moore

    @Trollhattan:
    Pliny the Elder is about the only beer that will make me stop reading the menu and say I’m sure I know what I want. I can only imagine how good Pliny the Younger must be, so I think it might actually be worth a pilgrimage. Of course I also have friends and family in the Bay Area, so it wouldn’t be exclusively about the beer.

  125. 125.

    Elizabelle

    @Violet:

    How unsexy. I think big guy’s shoulder is dislocated.

    What is with the (badly!!) computer generated art on these covers?

    The books are like fetish objects.

  127. 127.

    RandomMonster

    I think the only beer I would drink on that list is the Steelhead IPA made by Mad River. But it IS one of my favorite beers!

  128. 128.

    Served

    @catclub:

    That’s an Illinois thing! Schock was making noise about running for Governor, and our very own Billionaire Fool (Bruce Rauner) set up groups and ads to preemptively smear Schock. It’s well-known that he was behind them, but never confirmed.

  129. 129.

    Violet

    OT, but check out what Assad said about what’s going on in Egypt:

    Syrian president Bashar Assad has spoken up about the political upheaval in Egypt. He sees it as a blow to “political Islam”, Reuters reports:

    “Whoever brings religion to use in politics or in favour of one group at the expense of another will fall anywhere in the world,” Assad was quoted as telling the official Thawra newspaper, according to an official Facebook page.
    “The summary of what is happening in Egypt is the fall of what is called political Islam.”

    Of course our own teabagger Christianists are nothing like that.

  130. 130.

    The Other Chuck

    @Violet:

    “The summary of what is happening in Egypt is the fall of what is called political Islam.”

    Says the Mayor of Damascus while his regime is worn away by Hezbollah-backed militants funded by a state that, what’s that? It’s a theocracy? Yes, he’s crushed a significant chunk of the rebellion, but he still seems to be planning his triumphal celebrations a tad prematurely.

  131. 131.

    Betty Cracker

    @bemused: I don’t know about that particular brand, but I bet the Kochs have their tentacles on many private-label paper product brands, just because they own such a huge chunk of the pulp industry. That’s what originally inspired me to download Buycott.

  133. 133.

    David in NY

    That businessweek link above says that Bud Light is the No. 1 selling beer in the country. Explains pretty much everything, and it ain’t the unions’ fault.

  134. 134.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Am informed there are only-at-the-brewery Sierra Nevada special brews that would make the angels weep, with their holy deliciousness.

    @Trollhattan: Before they got sold and went mass market in the early 1990s, any Sierra Nevada brew would make an angel weep. Haven’t run into beer that good since, actually. Yeast on the bottom of the bottle. Yum.

  135. 135.

    Thlayli

    I remember someone posting on a blog once that we should boycott Coors Light because its owner was a wingnut asshole.

    My response was “I don’t drink Coors Light because it sucks. Does that help?”

  136. 136.

    PsiFighter37

    @The Other Chuck: There was a pretty good article in NYT 2-3 weeks ago that chronicled how boxed in the folks in Syria are. It’s not even that the Alawites themselves have any great love for Assad, but the minorities now all think they are on the butcher block if he falls.

    That’s become a total fucking mess, and sending weapons to them of any kind other than water pistols is a bad fucking idea. I think Obama knows this, but he said stupid shit about red lines. Dumb move.

  137. 137.

    PsiFighter37

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: If you’re looking to light yourself up like a Christmas tree, you should try Hoptimum. It’s probably the hoppiest beer I’ve ever had, but I was in such a good place once I finished the bottle.

  138. 138.

    Trollhattan

    @Roger Moore:

    Of course I also have friends and family in the Bay Area, so it wouldn’t be exclusively about the beer.

    Remember: that’s your story and you’re stickin’ to it.

  140. 140.

    JCT

    @PsiFighter37: That was a great article – sent it to my oldest in grad school pursing islamic studies, she commented that they did a good job with a nearly impenetrable subject.

    I’ve become hooked on local breweries here in Tucson – will hopefully get home from this trip to pick up a growler of Dragoon for the 4th.

  142. 142.

    srv

    @Roger Moore: Oh, here’s libertarianish Lagunitas guy calling fowl on socalist New Belgium:

    “The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will consider almost $9 million in staggered incentive payments to New Belgium Brewing,” Magee writes. “This is your tax money being diverted to a wealthy company. We are becoming the people we set out NOT to be. No incentives for us in IL.’
    …
    Here is what Magee said on financing in April:

    “My peer brewers…it’s kind of a corporate approach to running a business. You got to know that they went deeply into the public trough to fund the brewing operation which I could never do in a million years. What that yielded were state employment grants, tax deferments and special dispensation of cash. If anyone reads the papers, it is a pretty dry trough. So what’s a f&^$*#@ rich business like those doing that for rather than just bearing their own weight and bringing value to a community?”

    He went on to say in that interview that he didn’t even have “a little” trouble in recently attaining private financing for Lagunitas’ brewing operations.

    Later on Wednesday, Magee tweeted, “In my mind this is how capitalism works-the government stays out and risk takers take risks. Any brewer that big has a bank. We are not socalists.”

    Good thing I don’t like that New Belgium stuff and can drink a Real Americans beer.

    (although I’m Russian River all the way, in fact, it and Blind Pig are what’s for late brunch at the Toronado today)

  143. 143.

    PsiFighter37

    @srv: Gotta say that Lagunitas does some real cool limited edition stuff. Love the recent ones (Lagunitas Sucks, Shut-Down Investigation Ale) that have come out. I can leave the regular stuff they put out for the most part, but I’m a big fan of these.

  144. 144.

    JGabriel

    Thlayli:

    I remember someone posting on a blog once that we should boycott Coors Light because its owner was a wingnut asshole.

    My response was “I don’t drink Coors Light because it sucks. Does that help?”

    That’s like the Reese’s Cups of protest: Two Great Reasons That Go Great Together, for the Price of One Boycott!

  146. 146.

    Trollhattan

    @PsiFighter37:

    They manage to put out the funniest writing to ever appear on a beer label/carton/truck, even if some of it is three-point type. Driving directions to the brewery printed on the case bottom are especially hilarious.

    Didn’t know they were in a slapfight with New Belgian. Takes all kinds, but mostly sounds jealous.

  147. 147.

    Howard Beale IV

    Whoopsie…Murdoch knew about the bribing going on at his newspapers:

    At long last we now have indisputable evidence that Rupert Murdoch knew about the culture of criminality at his newspapers. Murdoch himself telling his Sun journalists that he knew.

    In a blockbuster report, the UK site ExaroNews obtained a secret recording of Murdoch’s visit to his beleaguered paper at the height of the police investigation into wrongdoing there. It’s fair to say Murdoch is going to have some major headaches from this one.

    RM: We’re talking about payments for news tips from cops: that’s been going on a hundred years, absolutely. You didn’t instigate it….

    I remember when I first bought the News of the World, the first day I went to the office… and there was a big wall-safe… And I said, “What’s that for?”

    And they said, “We keep some cash in there.”

    And I said, “What for?”

    They said, “Well, sometimes the editor needs some on a Saturday night for powerful friends. And sometimes the chairman [the late Sir William Carr] is doing badly at the tables, (laughter) and he helps himself…”
    This outs Murdoch lying that he didn’t know about his newspapers bribing public officials for news until an internal investigation in the wake of the Milly Dowling scandal uncovered it. That’s not shocking. What’s truly stunning is that he would say it to a room full of journalists—each of whom has recording equipment at the ready

  148. 148.

    sparrow

    @Violet: I visited that brewery and it is AWESOME. They are very eco-friendly, and buy every employee a bike on some anniversary (first, maybe?) and encourage biking to work. Really beautiful building as well for tastings…

  149. 149.

    Amir Khalid

    @mainmati:
    True. It’s not so much about an Ohioan version of chicken rendang, it’s more about the American fast-food approach to making it. Then again, I once tried satay at a local restaurant in Framingham, Massachusetts, and that wasn’t so great either.

  150. 150.

    joel hanes

    Unfortunately, Johnsonville sausages are made by a corporation that strongly supports Wisconsin Governor Dead-eyes Walker. I’ve sent them a strongly worded letter, and have quit buying them (no great sacrifice here in Silicon Valley, where we have Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats and Wursthaus, but a really painful one back home in Iowa)

    And Koch Bros make the Angel Soft toilet paper that I prefer; I’ve switched to something else.

  151. 151.

    BGinCHI

    @joel hanes: If Johnsonville are the best sausages you can find in Iowa, you aren’t trying hard enough. There are more hogs than people. Deploy the Google.

  156. 156.

    RandomMonster

    @srv: New Belgium is way boring to my tastes. The Lagunitas folks know their way with hops.

  157. 157.

    AHH onna Droid

    Thank u Kay. I am going to share this list at work. Re employee owned, long history with labor movement yet frowned on in printing, dunno why.

  158. 158.

    AHH onna Droid

    @joel hanes: Angel Soft is shit for environment too. Ask fsp forestry geeks for details.

    Me, I buy Scott tissue and butt wipes.

  161. 161.

    Kay

    @AHH onna Droid:

    I did campaign finance filing for a statehouse candidate in 2012 and he was a labor candidate so I had to.pick up “buy union” quick around them.

    At one point this really nice older man,an active Democrat, put candy out at one of our booths. It was non-union candy! I wasn’t even there, had nothing to do with the candy and I got like 11
    emails. HUGE scandal :)

  162. 162.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    Koegel’s are union made hot dogs, too! Flint and all that, ya know…

  163. 163.

    chicodude

    @Arclite: I live in Chico, where the Sierra Nevada Brewery is and while they are not unionized, they really don’t need to be. I know several people that work there and they get paid well and have great benefits. I would love to work for them myself.

    You can drink a Sierra Nevada with no qualms.

  165. 165.

    Tripod

    Progressive betters give momentary pretense to giving a fuck about organized labor.

    Conspicuous consumption prevails.

    W00T!

  166. 166.

    ThresherK

    Looking for recommended natural-casing frankfurters. I’m in CT.

    Because later in July we’re inviting over the folks hosting the pool party we’re going to today.

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