Well there is a new governor in the Peach State and so far it has been...hmmm...not very different. That is to be expected when you have a term-limited governor of one party is replaced by a new man from the same party. Considering our options, we came out better than we could have. So, no complaints so far.
The only thing making the news since the transfer of power, besides the silly amounts of snow, is the unprecedented attempt by government to, and you'll have to make sure you are sitting down on this one, try to let local governments govern themselves.
The decision is setting off protests, drawing more than a share of negative attention as Atlanta tries to trust places like Marietta, Rome, Augusta, Sycamore and Folkston with a referendum that would grant these same places to hold local referendums to decide on the most controversial of subjects - whether free adults should be allowed to purchase a legal product (a good bit of which is manufactured by Georgians in Georgia) every day of the week.
Why is this so controversial? Because the product is good ol' Demon Rum.
Georgia has long held on to a blue law, archaic and silly, that states that the sale of alcohol in stores is against illegal on Sunday. There are only two groups of people that still support this law. "Bootleggers" - people that sell on Sunday illegally, gaining sales as people travel from other locales to buy the stuff. The other group is a certain large religious organization that shall remain nameless so as to prevent the threats of bodily harm I receive when I mention them. I don't think it is a military secret but I'll go so far as to say it isn't the Methodists.
I'm still dumbfounded by the claims that have left us in this outdated quagmire for so long. There is no evidence that God disapproves of the consumption of alcohol. He even went so far as to include it in one of the holiest of Old Testament rituals, one that has carried over to this day in a different form. When Jesus passed the Passover cup to that first disciple, it was not full of Welch's or Juicy Juice.
I think what baffles me the most is that, in the locations that are going to pass Sunday sales, it is already legal to buy alcohol by the drink, just not in a package. What this means is that at 12 noon (the magic hour when the group ends their meetings) a person can commence drinking at a sports bar, taking in a ball game. A few hours later this person can leave their glass and get in their car to go home. But this same person is not allowed to buy a package of beverages and go home and drink. Does that make sense to anyone?
The thing in Georgia this year is that Nathan Deal has decided that free adults should be allowed to make decisions about this on a local level where Sonny Purdue believes that all Georgians should be held to his religious standards every Sunday. So we have Constitutional individual liberty replacing the equivalent of Sharia Law in Georgia. There is hope for our future.
There are many people who would wonder how someone who loves Southern culture and tradition is so excited about the ending of an era that is labeled as "Southern". I would answer that distilling and brewing have been a part pf southern Culture since before there was such a thing as Southern Culture. The fact that the region was settled by immigrants from places like Scotland that brought rich traditions with them, including whiskey, further stamps this in our culture. And nothing could be more Southern than local control.
So raise a glass to the referendum on referendums!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
"X" Marks the Spot
'Tis the season to be offended.
Let's face it, America today is infested by a big gaggle of crybabies that feels the overwhelming desire to keep thin skin, carry a chip on their shoulder, and be offended at the drop of a hat. One segment of this tribe is offended if you have a Jesus-centered display, the other segment is offended if you don't. We hear moans and groans about the political correctness or religiosity of statements like "Season's Greetings", "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Christmas". I can just see the hate and ire embedded in each of these horribly offensive statements and I know why you could equal each one to the good ol' one-fingered wave.
Frankly, I am offended that they are offended. Let's build a bridge and get over it.
That in mind, there is one particular offensive statement that I want to disarm right now. The dreaded, terrible, horrible one. The one that makes small children cry for their mommies and leaves grown men suffering mind-altering nightmares that sit up in bed with a scream and a cold sweat. That right, I mean that one the big one. The X--- one.
So why is it that we have "Xmas"? Where did it come from. Obviously, some liberal set out on a campaign to "x-out" Christ from Christmas. That is the only answer.
Or is it?
Let's try this one: The “X” in Xmas is in no way an attempt to eliminate Christ from Christmas. On the contrary, “Xmas” goes back several centuries in Church history and is even evident in many traditions and denominations of the Church today. Instead of being an English alphabet “x” the letter is actually a Greek letter Chi that is the first portion of the monogram of Christ as shown in the labarum – “Chi-Rho” – represented in the Greek “XP”. The Greek word “Χριστός” is the word we translate into English as “Christ”. So just as we might shorten the name Christopher to Chris we could also shorten Χριστός to X. And people have used this shortened version for several centuries – not as a substitution, but as a more familiar and casual expression.
Here is the funny part. This simple knowledge can allow one of the offended groups to drop the argument entirely. We can have some peace on Christmas (or Xmas) by just smiling when we see it, knowing what it means and knowing that if an ignorant person thinks they are trying to "x-out" Jesus, they are really just identifying Him in a more familiar and casual manner and that Christ is honored - what was meant for evil has been used for good.
I hope that you did not allow the beginning of this one offend you to the point of not reaching this far. I hope you find the meaning of Christmas in that Christ can for peace, good will toward men. Most of all I hope you have a blessed and holy Xmas.
Let's face it, America today is infested by a big gaggle of crybabies that feels the overwhelming desire to keep thin skin, carry a chip on their shoulder, and be offended at the drop of a hat. One segment of this tribe is offended if you have a Jesus-centered display, the other segment is offended if you don't. We hear moans and groans about the political correctness or religiosity of statements like "Season's Greetings", "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Christmas". I can just see the hate and ire embedded in each of these horribly offensive statements and I know why you could equal each one to the good ol' one-fingered wave.
Frankly, I am offended that they are offended. Let's build a bridge and get over it.
That in mind, there is one particular offensive statement that I want to disarm right now. The dreaded, terrible, horrible one. The one that makes small children cry for their mommies and leaves grown men suffering mind-altering nightmares that sit up in bed with a scream and a cold sweat. That right, I mean that one the big one. The X--- one.
So why is it that we have "Xmas"? Where did it come from. Obviously, some liberal set out on a campaign to "x-out" Christ from Christmas. That is the only answer.
Or is it?
Let's try this one: The “X” in Xmas is in no way an attempt to eliminate Christ from Christmas. On the contrary, “Xmas” goes back several centuries in Church history and is even evident in many traditions and denominations of the Church today. Instead of being an English alphabet “x” the letter is actually a Greek letter Chi that is the first portion of the monogram of Christ as shown in the labarum – “Chi-Rho” – represented in the Greek “XP”. The Greek word “Χριστός” is the word we translate into English as “Christ”. So just as we might shorten the name Christopher to Chris we could also shorten Χριστός to X. And people have used this shortened version for several centuries – not as a substitution, but as a more familiar and casual expression.
Here is the funny part. This simple knowledge can allow one of the offended groups to drop the argument entirely. We can have some peace on Christmas (or Xmas) by just smiling when we see it, knowing what it means and knowing that if an ignorant person thinks they are trying to "x-out" Jesus, they are really just identifying Him in a more familiar and casual manner and that Christ is honored - what was meant for evil has been used for good.
I hope that you did not allow the beginning of this one offend you to the point of not reaching this far. I hope you find the meaning of Christmas in that Christ can for peace, good will toward men. Most of all I hope you have a blessed and holy Xmas.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Fingers - Not just for the government.
A bit of a continuation. George Thorogood and Jim Beam are along for the ride. So pour you a couple of fingers of your own and enjoy!
So last time around Hamilton was hurling us toward Obama as if we'd been shot from a canon. It didn't happen overnight. It was a slow process.
Much of early America was settled by fine people from the lands we know as Ireland and Scotland. These people blessed us all with the delicacy that we call whiskey. And while whiskey comes in many varieties the people that were making it in the early days of America were a little more homogeneous. They were, as a general rule, an "I'll mind my business, you mind yours and we'll both give the government the finger" variety.
Well, Mr Hamilton could ill afford to have free men making free booze while he was in the midst of the greatest bait-and-switch in the history of Western Civilization. These guys were going to be an excellent way for him to set a precedent that Congress could tax free enterprise and therefore make it less free. So in 1790, barely a year after our new Federal Government took power, he began to lobby for an excise tax on domestically distilled spirits - essentially telling these rowdy guys, many of whom had fought King George because of taxes, that they had to pay the Feds if they were going to peddle their John Barleycorn.
The people most affected by this tax would be farmers that lived west of the Appalachians and used their excess corn to make whiskey to make their harvest profitable instead of just letting it rot and cutting their losses. These were small business people - the folks that are always hurt the most by tax hikes. And if the little guys suffer the big guys and the government reap the benefits. Did I mention that the nation's largest producer of whiskey during these times was a man named George Washington?
And so these farmers and distillers decided that if they could stand in a field against the world's most powerful empire, they could stand in a field to face the Johnny-come-latelys that were sending these tax bills. So these men started with Liberty Poles and militia groups and then began to escalate their grievances much as they had against the King just a few years earlier.
And then it came to a head. Just as George III before them, Hamilton and Washington nationalized the militia and then sent armed soldiers to force taxes on free men. And the very government "conceived in liberty" pulled the first of many armed robberies. The farmers backed down and the government got the cash. While violence was largely avoided, the point was made, "Question the authority of the Federal Government and, regardless of the Bill of Rights, we will shoot you.".
Hamilton began to centralize all fiscal policy and the economy and Washington was able to run off some of the competition. More power in the seat of government, less at the American dinner table.
As the whiskey issue progressed, the time would come that the industry became so regulated that there is actually a statute in the Federal Code of Regulations that governs the process and standards that have to be met to call a liquid substance "Bourbon" or "Whiskey" in the United States. It isn't just these two spirits but these are the pertinent ones. It's "Title 27 Part 5-21 & 22" for those curious enough to look.
And so came a important event in American History. Whiskey went underground and moved South. And the struggle was just beginning.
So last time around Hamilton was hurling us toward Obama as if we'd been shot from a canon. It didn't happen overnight. It was a slow process.
Much of early America was settled by fine people from the lands we know as Ireland and Scotland. These people blessed us all with the delicacy that we call whiskey. And while whiskey comes in many varieties the people that were making it in the early days of America were a little more homogeneous. They were, as a general rule, an "I'll mind my business, you mind yours and we'll both give the government the finger" variety.
Well, Mr Hamilton could ill afford to have free men making free booze while he was in the midst of the greatest bait-and-switch in the history of Western Civilization. These guys were going to be an excellent way for him to set a precedent that Congress could tax free enterprise and therefore make it less free. So in 1790, barely a year after our new Federal Government took power, he began to lobby for an excise tax on domestically distilled spirits - essentially telling these rowdy guys, many of whom had fought King George because of taxes, that they had to pay the Feds if they were going to peddle their John Barleycorn.
The people most affected by this tax would be farmers that lived west of the Appalachians and used their excess corn to make whiskey to make their harvest profitable instead of just letting it rot and cutting their losses. These were small business people - the folks that are always hurt the most by tax hikes. And if the little guys suffer the big guys and the government reap the benefits. Did I mention that the nation's largest producer of whiskey during these times was a man named George Washington?
And so these farmers and distillers decided that if they could stand in a field against the world's most powerful empire, they could stand in a field to face the Johnny-come-latelys that were sending these tax bills. So these men started with Liberty Poles and militia groups and then began to escalate their grievances much as they had against the King just a few years earlier.
And then it came to a head. Just as George III before them, Hamilton and Washington nationalized the militia and then sent armed soldiers to force taxes on free men. And the very government "conceived in liberty" pulled the first of many armed robberies. The farmers backed down and the government got the cash. While violence was largely avoided, the point was made, "Question the authority of the Federal Government and, regardless of the Bill of Rights, we will shoot you.".
Hamilton began to centralize all fiscal policy and the economy and Washington was able to run off some of the competition. More power in the seat of government, less at the American dinner table.
As the whiskey issue progressed, the time would come that the industry became so regulated that there is actually a statute in the Federal Code of Regulations that governs the process and standards that have to be met to call a liquid substance "Bourbon" or "Whiskey" in the United States. It isn't just these two spirits but these are the pertinent ones. It's "Title 27 Part 5-21 & 22" for those curious enough to look.
And so came a important event in American History. Whiskey went underground and moved South. And the struggle was just beginning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)