From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
It's After 5am. Let's Pop A Cold One.
If anyone's gonna get tax breaks, I say let it be these folks:
Portland's own. Very tasty.
The Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act or Small BREW Act, [is designed to] stimulate regional economies nationwide with a reduction in the excise tax on each barrel of beer brewed by small brewers. Senator Angus King (I-ME) is an original cosponsor of this bill which would change the threshold definition of a small brewer to better reflect modern production.
“Maine is home to an incredible array of small, independent craft brewers that deliver world-class products and quality jobs,” Senator King said. “By reducing the tax burden on our brewers, this important piece of legislation will give them a vital boost and enable them to further invest in their businesses and our communities---a winning combination that will create jobs in Maine and across the nation.” … There are now more than 3,200 small and independent breweries in the United States, with approximately 1.5 more opening every day, according to the Brewers Association.
An economic impact study by then-Harvard University’s Dr. John Friedman (now at Brown University) found that the bill would generate $183.1 million in economic activity in the first year and almost $1.04 billion over five years and would also create nearly 5,230 jobs in just the first year.
In addition to both of Maine's senators, it's got a foamy head of cosponsors, including Tammy Baldwin, Mazie Hirono, Bernie Sanders, Tom Carper, Barbara Mikulski (please don’t go!!!) and Jeff Merkley. Sounds good to me.
But as nice as tax breaks sound, how 'bout everyone in America get a raise instead? Then we can all buy more craft beer!
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Note: Bill O'Reilly caught in another war zone lie after claims that he covered the annual "Running of the Brides" wedding gown sale at Filene's Basement in the 1980s turn out to be fabricated. Film at 11.
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10 Days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til oral arguments in the Supreme Court on Obamacare:
1
Days 'til
SXSW in Austin:
10
Percent of Americans who say it was a mistake for Republicans to give Benjamin Netanyahu a campaign-season open microphone in front of Congress, going against 239 years of diplomatic protocol:
48%
Percent who are cool with it:
30%
(Source: NBC News/WSJ poll)
Cost of a 20mg Lipitor pill in the U.S. and Canada, respectively:
$4.55 / $1.45
(Source:
The Portland Press Herald)
Value of the Maine lobster catch in 2014, up 79 cents per pound from last year:
$456 million
(Source: Maine Dept. of Marine Resources)
Percent chance that Taco Bell and Cap'n Crunch have
teamed up to create a thing you swallow to make your pancreas cry:
100%
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
Obama unilaterally BROKE THE LAW BY WRITING IMMIGRATION LAW. This man has broken his oath so many times. He thinks the constitution is a set of suggestions instead of laws to live by. He should be in jail----------the communist
---Commenter ComeOutFromUnderOurBeds at Fox Nation
Hillary mamma said fat drunk and stupid I no way to go through life,,,i did pretty well.....bur thud
---Commenter berlakabob at Fox Nation
All together now: 1…2…3…
Classy!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Remember that guy whose photo showing him treating his dog's arthritis with hydrotherapy in lake Superior went viral? Two years after Schoep died, John Unger got himself a Bear.
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Limbaugh will flee the U.S.
in this hovercraft golf cart.
CHEERS to March! Highlights of the month that will soon erupt into
madness: Coming in like a lion, full moon Thursday, Daylight Saving Time, International Women's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Worship of Tools Day (not sure if they mean the screwdriver or the Ted Cruz variety), Something-on-a-Stick Day, the infamous Ides, Spring arrives on the same day as a total solar eclipse…and then, lord willing, going out like a lamb. But what makes this month truly noteworthy is the fact that this Sunday is the day Rush Limbaugh swore he would
gather his belongings and move to Costa Rica if the Affordable Care Act was fully implemented. I want to get him a special send-off gift. Anyone know what kind of wine goes best with crow?
Three years later...no boom.
JEERS to a speech that will live in infamy. As much as we're looking forward to many of the March highlights above, this is one we're not. In keeping with their tradition of ruining everything, Republicans have heaved two centuries of diplomatic protocol
over the balcony by inviting Israeli neocon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give a speech to a joint session of Congress with a dual purpose: as a live advertisement for his reelection campaign that's going somewhat poorly, and derailing U.S. peace talks with Iran that are going somewhat goodly. We'll be told for the umpteenth time that time has run out, the fuse is lit, the evildoers are evildoing, the smoking gun looks like a mushroom cloud, and
ALUMINUM TUBES!!! So, basically, George W. Bush with better grammar and just as much credibility.
CHEERS to bustin' outta this taco stand. 179 years ago this week, the Republic of Texas---bless their ten-gallon hearts---formally declared its independence from Mexico. Then, 25 years to the day later, Texas joined the Confederacy after declaring independence from the Union. Today, tea party types there, including actual elected officials, talk openly about re-declaring independence from the United States. (Their motto: If at first you do secede, try try again.) If it happens as fast as they want it to, all I can say is, good luck getting that Keystone pipeline approved, you smartass foreigners.
Winning: The Bush Way
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JEERS to taking your ball and going home. I found this little tidbit in the C&J archives, and it's a reminder that with George W. Jeb the early favorite to win the GOP nomination next year, we'd be wise to remember that the Bush family is made up of
vicious bastards:
As a boy in Maine, ["Georgie" W. Bush] was the oldest of many cousins and would set the rules for summer games at the family compound. “If he was losing he’d change the rules---or take the ball and leave,” one cousin told me. Then there was the time when, as a new kid, just up from Texas at his prep school Andover, Bush was tripped and mocked early in an intramural soccer match. He waited for a chance to exact revenge---then blindsided his foe so viciously he nearly broke the boy’s ankle. “He spent that match angling to take me out,” said the Andover alum, now a successful businessman. “And he did.”
Three words for the Bush Gang's rivals during the primary debates: wear bubble wrap.
True Fact: southern Ohioans talk funny.
CHEERS to the swingiest swing state in all of Swingdom. I was hatched in Mount Vernon, Ohio in August of 1964, and that makes me a dyed-in-the-wool Buckeye. So it goes without saying that this week I'm wishing a happy birthday to my
home state---212 years young. Seven mostly-crappy presidents from Ohio were elected, and you all wisely stopped nominating us after Harding kicked the bucket. It's the only state whose flag is a pennant. And we're the proud birthplace of Steven Spielberg, Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Annie Oakley, Orville Wright, Clark Gable, Gloria Steinem and
one or two others. Oh, and in the interest of fairness I should also mention that Nebraska was admitted to the union this week in 1867. For their 148th birthday, they got an extra-special gift:
gay marriage. Sorry, haters: no returns.
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Four years ago in C&J: March 3, 2011
CHEERS to fourteen more days of FABULOUS RICHES! The Senate, bless their ch'chingin' little hearts, voted to keep the republic awash in money for two more weeks. So now, instead of the government being non-functional due to a lack of money, the government will continue to be non-functional due to it being the government. [4/3/15 Update: Now we're passing funding bills in one week increments. Wrong direction.]
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And just one more…
We get over a thousand
channels with that thing.
CHEERS to the (mostly-)patient patient. When last we posted C&J Friday night, our lab-mix Haley had successfully undergone
major knee surgery and was spending the night at the dogspital. We picked her up Saturday, took a really deep breath, and began what will be "two months of absolute rest while her bone heals." I'm happy to report that we're all adjusting pretty well. Haley spends the day in her cage, which is in the same room where I write C&J. Evenings she's on her bed in the living room while we channel- and internet-surf. And at night she gets a sedative and sleeps with us on our modified, low-to-the-ground bed (mattress only---we jettisoned the box spring and the frame). She rarely needs to wear her "cone of shame" because she, astonishingly, doesn't pay much attention to the 2" sewed-up incision. She doesn’t mind the occasional ice pack. And she's adjusted well to the fact that I have to carry her 50-pound cuddly-ass self down 18 stairs to go outside to pee and walk around a bit (supported by a sling under her belly). I'll post more on her progress as time goes on, but for now I'll end with this: if there's any aspect of her puppy training that we're grateful for two years later during this delicate recovery, it would be working with her day after day to instinctively obey the commands "lie down" and "stay." It makes things a
lot easier versus having to keep her physically restrained all the time. Commands also come in handy with our cat, by the way. She has totally mastered "disregard our commands" and "give owners evil eye until fed."
Have a nice Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Washington wants Obamacare. The people want Cheers and Jeers. Washington wants amnesty. The people want Cheers and Jeers."
---Ted Cruz
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