Jever is a town in northern Germany, home to the Friesian Brewery. They have been around since 1848 and brew a pilsener called Jever. I found Jever, while sitting on a balcony in Hamburg overlooking a farmer’s market, to be slightly sweet and pretty bitter–a contrast both crisp and refreshing. The beer itself is gold and clear, with a silght amber tint. The beer has a medium body with light carbonation, giving it a very liquid sensation.

embarked on this little mental exercise: “imagine the world without google.” The freaky part was when I moved from going forward to backward. When I came out of my space-out I shuddered.

It’s amazing, the spin that can be put onto an observation. With the ‘just sixteen little words’ stance, the right-wing spin has been that ‘oh, how can you point to those sixteen words and say that we went to war based on them?’ It’s really frustrating to see people gettting sucked into the sixteen words argument, because that’s not what it’s about at all. This particular statement is more a fulcrum than a lever.

Pretty informative LA Times article takes a freaky twist at the end. Read it to the end. Or just skip to the end, but the rest is good too. via Atrios.

Sean over at Ojingo Blog has written a nice bit on My Presidential Life. It’s a good little piece, and I’m particularly pleased because it seems partially inspired by my come again? post. yay. Oh…and we appear to be having a bit ‘o trouble with the anchor links so you may need to scroll down a bit to get to his…it was on the 15th. Update: permalinks happy now. No scrolling necessary!

Just got word that Ashcroft is paying a sneaky sneaky surprise visit to Puddletown, probably to buy some grass. Here’s the scoop: John Ashcroft will be in Portland tomorrow. [US Attorney General John] Ashcroft also plans to meet with the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force and hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. in the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, Duckett said. That’s the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse at 1000 SW Third Avenue in downtown Portland.

It is little known that the Bush family refrigerator holds the key to many pieces of neocon poilicy. On a small cream-colored magnet decorated by hand with a rainbow, above a photo of the girls, are the words, “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, cherish it, if it doesn’t it was never meant to be.” There you have it, the Bush economic and environmental policies. “What about foreign policy?

Emma has posted an interesting bit on Oregon’s refusing of federal assistance in a few areas…to the tune of twenty-some million. The problem has to do with our legislature being bull-headed egomaniacs who are oblivious to the problems in the state. But read the article, it’s much more eloquent than that, and pretty brief too. You can get a few details at The Oregon Blog, which left my head spinning. There’s some business about the Republican from Lake Oswego and how he feels bad about how the national gumment has gone haywire with spending and doesn’t want to impose on them for a few buck here and there to create jobs and alleviate pain for some people who need it.

This is probably out there already, but I have to use the voice that I have to warn people. Some sick bastard is poisoning dogs at Laurelhurst Park by leaving poisoned meat in the bushes. If you have a dog, beware. As a dog-lover and companion, all I can say is that death is too good for this person or group. Update: here is KOIN’s story.