We went out Friday night with Flo´s brother Niki and his friend Malte for some beers. He took us to the Gröninger brauhaus, a quaint and beautiful ´brewpub´ across the avenue from the famed Chilehaus (for its architecture…it has nothing to do with the chiles I thought). The brauhaus is just under ground level, darkly lit by candles and yellow lamps. We felt fortunate to get a seat immediately on a Friday night. We walked past huge copper brewing eqipment to our seats.

We sat and the waitress asked if we would like beers, to which the four of us replied in the affirmative in varying degrees of Deutsch. I was surprised when she walked away and returned shortly with four .2 liter steins. Gröninger only comes in one flavor, even when it comes in two. The Gröninger Pils is very good, a light and rich German Pilsener, not heavy on the hops, but its mellow bitter melds wonderfully with the golden malt. They are proud of the natural cloudiness of their beer, which I attribute to its not being filtered, but really couldn´t explain for sure.

I was ill the first few days here…I guess a relapse of my previous cold brought on by not enough sleep and recycled air on the airplane…the lady next to me was such an active sleeper, ugh. But I just slept a whole lot and got past it, though the daytrip to Bremen was not so fun because of it. I hid out in a church and tried to rest until it closed, wandered about and fell asleep on a park bench in a light rain, then found my way into a cafe or two for shelter until the ride showed up.

It´s been good times and good beers so far here in Germany. Internet access has been sporadic so I (obviously) haven´t been running the travel log I´d hoped for. Plus I can´t seem to upload fotos so those won´t be online till I get home. Last evening I got to go to soccer practice with Flo and his team. It was much fun, and good to see that they aren´t so different than here in the states, wasting no time in getting to drinking and smoking afterwards.

I don’t know if he is guilty or innocent. Never did. Never met the guy, don’t really care to. But. It is not okay to arrest somebody and detain them without charges in the manner in which he has been detained. A solid month of solitary confinement without charges being brought up. Not okay. Maybe he’s guilty. These tactics are the antithesis of American civil rights, and should not be practiced against a citizen of this country.

I’ll be in Germany for awhile, so expect sporadic posts. I’d like to put something up daily in a travel log effort, but we’ll see what happens. Leaving tomorrow, woohoo!

Howard Dean is coming to Portland. I don’t have too many details at the moment, but he’s scheduled to arrive on 5/12. The good folks of the Meetup are planning to get out there and show support in an effort to get a bit of press coverage for him. This is a great way to build the grassroots movement, so if you can be there, do it. I don’t have a time for his arrival yet, but I’ll find out and post that.

La Cruda is located in SE Portland, near the hipster node 26th and Clinton. It does hold up the credo of the neighborhood with its tasty margaritas (not as cheap as they seem like they are) and late night menu. They serve food till midnite on Thurs-Sat (and maybe the others too). The food is pretty tasty. Good quality ingredients, marinated and grilled meats, and a salsa bar with a decent range of salsas but far too small of cups (the kind that a friggin chip doesn’t fit into) to carry it in, make this a marginal recommendation.

The IRS has identified the working poor’s Earned Income Credit as an area of fraud they need to address promptly (NYT link, requires free registration, props Nader). This tax credit has been instrumental in raising a vast number of families above the poverty level. Now many of these families will be required to furnish proof of eligibility in a manner likely to make obtaining the dollars too difficult for many properly eligible families.

Now the war is over and the reconstruction has begun. This is what all the corruption has been building up to. The emotional charge is less fiery now. The USA’s middle finger is still pointed at the rest of the world. Campaign contributors are realizing the value of their investments in reconstruction contracts and tax cuts. The Democrats are still holed up. We confuse victory for justification. Never forget the wrongness of this war.