History Repeating Itself?

So the 75th anniversary of the return of legal beer has been on my mind lately. (Obviously, given that I've actually gotten off my ass to blog about it....)

But of course that means that the Great Depression has also been on my mind. The beer bill signed by FDR in March 1933 was, after all, intended as an economic stimulus package: breweries would get back in business and hire more workers. The Treasury would tax beer at five dollars a barrel, and that money would help pay for other back-to-work projects.

But the beer bill was just one part of the plan to repair the economy. On March 12, 1933, for example, FDR asked all banks to close for a brief "holiday." The goal was to stop the panic and the "bank runs" while Congress and the Federal Reserve shored up the nation's money supply. (If you've seen the movie "It's A Wonderful Life," you know what a bank run is.)

Anyway -- seventy-five years later, here we are approaching panic mode, with the Fed stepping in with moves and money designed to stop the panic and prevent full-blown economic disaster.

Will we end up where Americans were seventy-five years ago? Unemployment rates of one-third. Millions of foreclosures and bankruptcies? Homeless people on the road or camped out under bridges? Back in 1933 and 1934, Congress created mechanisms to prevent a repeat of that disaster: federal home loan programs, the FDIC, Social Security (which originated as a way to keep paychecks flowing even when people couldn't work).

In theory, those programs, most of which still exist, were designed to protect the economy. Whether they will or not is a question no one can yet answer.

But we don't have one thing Americans had back then: leadership in the form of a strong, focused, inspiring president. In fact we've got a president who didn't know, until someone told him, that gasoline was inching toward four dollars a gallon. a president who thinks the war in Afghanistan is "romantic."

Right now, we all need to work together, avoid panic, and hang in there. But it's hard to do that when there's no one guiding the ship. So here we are all, seventy-five years after the worst economic depression in our history, once again afloat on a sea of uncertainty, fear, and near-panic. But there ain't no captain guiding this ship.

Hang on to your hats and your loved ones. This could get ugly.

Beer is Bad for Science?

According to a recent study, the more beer a scientist drinks, the less productive he/she will be, at least as measured by the number of papers he/she publishes.

(Scientists, especially ones at universities, publish the results of their research in scientific journals. The more papers someone publishes, the better his/her professional reputation. In theory, at any rate.)

You can read about this, um, earth-shattering revelation here in the New York Times.

It's worth reading this, however, for a counter-view. Maybe the important conclusion is that beer isn't a brain enhancer?

Out of Commission -- Again

Not that I'm the most regular blogger in the world -- but entries will likely be more sparse than usual in the next week or so. Tomorrow (Feb. 13), I'm going under again so that the surgeon can "manipulate" my arm.

This is doctor-speak for: "The surgery didn't quite work the way I had hoped, so I'm going to knock you out and pull, push, twist, and otherwise yank your arm into full range of motion." All I have to say is: thank god for anesthesia. (When he told me this a few days back, he said "Well, I could do it right now here in the office, but the nurses object to the screaming." Ho. Ho. Ho.)

So.......... I won't be doing much typing the next week or so. If nothing else, because I'll be going to physical therapy every day for the next two weeks. This is my last chance to regain full use of my arm. If it doesn't work --- well ..... I'm going to be like Scarlett and worry about that later. Here's hoping.

Beer and Women

Catching up with Stan's blog: a few days ago, he commented on a recent wave of writing-about-women-and-beer (that's my abbreviated version of his content). Worth visiting to see his comments and links to others'.

I'll just add: ain't nuthin' new under the sun. Since beer came back 74.5 years ago (the 75th anniversary is coming up in April), brewers have wrestled with the women-and-beer problem: Market to women-as-the-household's-main-shopper? Market to women-as-women? Market beer-with-food and thus to the people who do most of the household cooking? Sell the beer in seven-ounce-cans? (Idea being that women have smaller stomachs...) Sell the stuff in pink cartons? (One brewer tried that in the 1950s; the carton was shaped and designed like a small gift, complete with printed ribbons. So cute....)

Many brewers in the 1930s hosted cooking demonstrations and luncheons in department stores, hoping to persuade women that beer was dignified, wholesome, and fashionable. Others touted beer's virtues as a hair conditioner, hoping that women would buy one six-pack for the bathroom and one for the frig.

And of course the whole "low calorie" thing began life in the 1930s as a way to persuade women that beer was not fattening.

So the brewers really have been there, done that. But mostly what they've done is market beer to (very) young men, and do so using tits and tanktops. And the reason they've done so is because Americans infantalize drinking. And as long as that remains true, well, I doubt marketing -- for or to women or anyone else -- will change much. But we can hope.

The Morning After

Well, so much for all of that. There were nearly 600 people at my caucus, well over the 200 or so who were there four years ago.

Sadly, my guy (Biden) was not viable so I had to make an agonizing decision about what to do next. My heart was with Obama, but my head knew this one fact: There is no dirt left for the Republicans to dig up on Hillary Clinton. But Obama? He's still relatively unknown and they could, as one of my neighbors said last night, slice him into hash during a general election.

Plus, I'm worried that he'll get elected and pull a Jimmy Carter "El Foldo." That he won't be up to the task. Whatever other complaints I have about Clinton, I KNOW she can do the job. So I leaned toward Clinton, except for one other thing: The annoying precinct captain who was there working the floor on her behalf.

I had three complaints:

1. her bullying tactics. The assumption at a caucus is that people arrive with a game plan in hand, and campaign representatives don't start wooing people until after the first division. Then, if a candidate isn't viable, candidate reps can start trying to persuade the non-viables to join their camp. Not this woman. She was in people's faces before they even got in the door. And she was loud. So loud, that I discovered, by over-hearing her hectoring a young kid.....

2. .... that she wasn't even an Iowan! She was a New Yorker. Which means she shouldn't have been serving as a precinct captain and she was supposed to leave the floor and stand in the observers' corner.

3. She kept referring to "the Clintons." In the plural. I got news for her: only one Clinton is running for office. So thanks to this loud out-of-stater, I am wondering what kind of campaign Hillary Clinton is really running. Worrisome. But in the end, my two fears (see above) won out and I stood for Clinton.

Which, in the bright light of the sunny winter morning, I now regret. But whaddya gonna do? I am also sad that a decent, honorable man like Joe Biden never stood a chance. It's baffling. On the other hand, it was nice to know that there WERE so many great choices. So it's on to New Hampshire, and may John McCain win there. Seriously. Huckabee's been scaring the shit out of me since he first moved on to my radar last July.

With those dimples and doe-eyes, and "aw shucks" charm, he could easily win a general election. Now THAT is a scary proposition!

Here In Iowa.............

....... politics are, well, what we're doing. Or at least what my house is doing. And talking. And thinking. And watching. Random observations after spending the past month trying to make up my mind who I'll stand for on Thursday night:

1. The media are annoying. They spend all day, every day following candidates around, so, no surprise, they've heard the speech and the questions and they're bored. So they spend the events talking to each other or talking on their phones. If you're unlucky enough to be in the back where they are, lotsa luck trying to hear the candidates. I went to an Obama event Sunday, and mostly what I heard were two cameramen one-upping each other about their equipment.

2. Tim Russert is one of the exceptions to the above. He's so unassuming that he goes almost (but not quite) unnoticed. He leans against a wall and watches the candidate as if he, too, were trying desperately to make up his mind. Doesn't talk; doesn't check his cell or blackberry incessantly. Just watches and listens.

3. Andrea Mitchell doesn't stop talking.

4. The phone calls are maddening beyond words. On Friday, December 28, we got fifteen calls. On Saturday, December 29, we turned off each phone's ringer and turned the volume down on the answering machine. Relief. Should have done it a month ago.

5. The TV talking heads make caucusing sound so......... complicated. It's not. Plus they keep yammering on about how if your candidate isn't viable, one representative from each of the other groups will come and try to persuade you to join their. I'm here to tell you: that doesn't happen. I've gone to every caucus since the first one in 1972. I've never supported a viable candidate, and I've never had someone from another group try to woo me. The assumption is that everyone has a second choice and they'll just wander over to that group on their own. Or, as I often do, the non-viables will sit out the proceedings.

6. The weather sucks and I wish we could do this in February or March.

7. Why why why do we have to do that on a weeknight? Why the HELL can't we do this on Saturday? (Yeah, okay, I know the answer: it's because the candidates want one last weekend in New Hampshire. Where the weather is no doubt just as shitty.)

8. It matters. And it's thrilling. I go to an event and see other ordinary people like myself listening and thinking as if it's the last chance we'll ever get in our lives. People ask great questions and the candidates (mostly) work hard to provide thoughtful answers.

9. We appreciate how hard these candidates work. And it IS hard work. They may appear at four or five events every day. They get up early , stay up late, and travel hundreds of miles each day. And did I mention how crappy the weather is?

10. Listen to the TV or read the paper and it sounds and reads as if only three Democrats are running. There are actually six. Two of whom (Dodd and Biden) deserve a hell of a lot more attention than they're getting. It's a bit heart-breaking to see such smart, dedicated, thoughtful men be so utterly ignored.

11. Don't believe the numbers. According to today's NY Times, 750 people showed up for Clinton event today here in Ames. I was there. There weren't that many people. 400, maybe. 750? No.

12. Bill Clinton could talk someone into believing in the Easter Bunny. He's smartand perhaps the finest public speaker I've ever heard. I suffered Hillary-passion for three days after hearing him. Happily, I'm old and cynical and eventually I came to my senses. (Don't get me wrong. She's also VERY smart and immensely capable and would make a great president. I just don't think she can win in November.)

13. Joe Biden is perhaps the most sincere politician I've ever heard. I get the distinct impression that he's decided that life is too short for bullshit, posturing, and posing.

14. And that's why on January 3rd, I will stand for Biden. He probably won't be viable, but in my heart I think he's the best person for the job. I think ALL the Democrats would do a fine job, even a superb job (okay, maybe that's going a bit far). But Joe Biden has an incredible grasp on how things connect. He gets how soil chemistry, health care, nuclear power, the situation in Pakistan, and university research are all connected to each other. He gets it. He gets me on January 3rd.