Monday, July 08, 2002

Last weekend I bought a six-pack of Czechvar, which its label says is "the special name" of "the golden original," "the world-famous beer produced by the renowned brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic."  For "special name" read "U.S. alias after 60 years of trademark battles with Anheuser-Busch," and for Ceske Budejovice read the German town name of Budweis — the Czechvar brewery identified only as B.B.N.P. on the label is Budweiser Budvar National Corp., and its lager is the brewing-method archetype of Americans' favorite brand of what William Least Heat Moon memorably called "wet air." The taste?  To quote Protz on Beer: "Czech Budweiser Budvar has rich, creamy malt, vanilla, and gentle hop aroma and palate, with a hint of apple fruit from the house yeast.  American Budweiser, served ice cold, has no discernible aroma or flavor." 9:10:21 PM    commentplace ()

Pay no attention to that frat boy behind the curtain: Doc links to a column by the most venerable vet of the White House press, Helen Thomas, about how George W. Bush is acting as an imperial president, sneering in the faces of America's allies, "chipping away at our privacy and civil liberties" with measures that recall "Russia's infamous gulags" (such as the satanically misnamed USA PATRIOT Act, now formally protested by at least seven cities in California, Massachusetts — pinko liberal states, you say? — and Michigan and North Carolina), and generally "due for a reality check ... Someday he is going to try to give a war and nobody is going to come." Meanwhile, Cursor notes Canada's National Post's Matt Welch about the global feeling that Dubya is losing the benefit of the doubt with each protectionist, poll-driven, downright Clintonian maneuver he makes, as well as the S.F. Chronicle's David Lazarus's brief but spellbinding recap of 41's son's incredibly fortunate business career and its eerie echoes in today's insider-trading, accounting-scam scandals.  Tomorrow's ultra-tough speech about corporate wrongdoers will be hypocrisy for the history books. 8:46:45 PM    commentplace ()