Samuel

I’m going to file my taxes today. It’s the first whole year I’ve worked a full time job after college. The pay is pretty lousy (neighborhood of $30,000 for a family of three) so I’m hoping to still get a quality size return. On the other hand, I’m not really sure what to expect at all.

I’m one of these crazy people who has always said that I relish the idea of paying for my fair share. I believe the government does important work (some of that work I myself actually do) and that it’s had it’s hands tied for too long by insane tax policy.

Like here in Oregon. We have a ‘citizen legislature’ that meets only every two years to set the budget for the coming biennium. They are in session right now and will be writing a budget that starts in July 2009 and goes through June 2011 based on budget projections that will be released next month.

Think about this for a second; we’re in the midst of a global economic crisis for which no one has an adequate explanation, much less a confident prediction of what’s going to happen next. Our legislators have been given the best information available to make a plan for the next two years, and once the plan is made we’re stuck with it. If there’s a shortfall, the Governor can make administrative cuts. If the economy does better than expected, the surpluses goes back to the taxpayers in the form of the Kicker.

What this means is that the legislature is going to make a worst case scenario crisis plan this summer, and if the recovery is better than expected we’re still going to have to live with the deep cuts they made to services like police, schools, roads, caregivers for seniors and people with disabilities, mental health care, and a thousand other essential functions that the state does every day without anyone even knowing that they’re doing it. If it’s worse, the governor will cut even deeper.

All of this is because the people of Oregon have been suckered by the siren song of so called citizen tax activists who are on an ideologically motivated mission to bankrupt the government. They don’t believe that government should be in the business of providing social services to people in need, and they are trying to destroy the government by cutting off it’s funding. These people call themselves patriots, but I say that they’re anti-government radicals who are trying to destroy our system.

Their plot is a brilliantly fiendish one. They never talk about destroying the government, beyond criticizing mythical sounding examples of government excess. Instead, they couch their argument in terms of the people being shouldered with an untenable tax burden. And we respond, because when it comes to the end of the year we are shocked by the price tag of all our payroll deductions from the year added up. Never mind that, in annual figures, taxes are one of our smallest expenses. dollar for dollar, our taxes (at least our state taxes) give us an enormous amount of value. Never mind that providing adequate services costs money.

In rich times, these anti-government radicals fight to cripple the government’s revenue stream so that in poor times like these the impact of crises is magnified. Well, I’m not fooled.

The truth is that paying taxes is patriotic, because taxes are what pays for our civil society. So today, as I set down to fill out forms and e-file, I’ll raise a glass to the government. Is it perfect? Is it completely efficient at all times? Is it without a single flaw to be held up to scorn? Absolutely not! But it’s the best government we’ve got, and it will only get better if we stop choking off it’s revenue flow. So here’s to paying taxes! Three cheers for taxes!

Hip hip! (Hurrah)

Hip hip! (Hurrah)

Hip hip! (Hurrah)

Dogfish Head 75 Minute Simulcask

I have a strong distaste for most kid’s music. I find it condescending and I think that second rate musicians often find themselves recording bad music for kids because they could get published recording real music for people. This offends me, in no small way, because I believe that children have every ounce of capacity they need to enjoy real music. So, when I make kids CDs I make them out of music that wasn’t designed for kids. Here’s the playlist for a new car CD I just burned for Arthur for a trip to Portland we’re leaving on in a few. A note to other parents; I have not vetted these songs for any small use of profanity or adult themes. In “Took A Trip On A Gemini Spacecraft” David Bowie says “I grabbed my space gun and I thought about you”. Yes, that is what he was talking about. This doesn’t bother me. If it bothers you, you should stay clear of this playlist. But none of the songs have refrains that I would not want to hear at the top of a two year olds lungs again, and again, and again.

I Love Rock and Roll Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Hound Dog Elvis Presley
Super Disco Breakin’ Beastie Boys
I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship David Bowie
Video Killed the Radio Star The Buggles
Golden Years David Bowie
Soul Bossa Nova Quincy Jones and His Orchestra
Big Rock Candy Mountain Harry McClintock
99 Luftballons Nena
I Can’t Explain The Who
The Unforgettable Fire U2
‘Ol ‘55 Tom Waits
Low Rider War
Mr_ Jones Talking Heads
I Missed The Bus Skankin’ Pickle
You Can Dance If You Want To Men at Work
Stomach Vs. Heart Barenaked Ladies
Turn The Wheel Hot Buttered Rum!
Over The Rainbow Johnny Mathis And Ray Charles
Good Golly Miss Molly C. C. R.
Let It Be The Beatles
Over to My House The Inkwell Rhythm Makers

Dogfish Head Indian Brown ale’s bottle bills it as “A clean, well-hopped brown ale with aromatic barley, caramelized brown sugar and whole-leaf Liberty & Goldings hops.” Beer Advocate goes on to say that it is;

A cross between a Scotch Ale, an I.P.A., and an American Brown, this beer is well-hopped and malty at the same time. It is brewed with Aromatic barley and caramelized brown sugar.

I found the Indian Brown Ale to be extremely approachable and drinkable, but with no shortage of personality. Like your buddy who is really down to earth except for some harmless conspiracy theories he believes in unquestioningly.

My first impression on pouring was that the beer was a lot darker than I’d imagined. It’s really deep red brown with a very attractive cream colored head of tiny little bubbles that dissipated fairly quickly and didn’t leave any lacing at all on the glass. The aroma was first a hit of alcoholic esters, fruity. Then some roasted notes. I found a little bit of herbal hops on the nose, but far less than I would imagine from a beer that says “well hopped” on the bottle.

The flavor is amazingly complex. The interplay between hop bitterness, alcoholic fruityness and warmth, roasted malt character, and a semisweet caramel backdrop makes this beer very interesting. While there is a lot happening in the flavor, it’s all subtle enough to keep your attention without being annoying or overbearing.

I know I’ve already mentioned it but halfway through the glass I was struck again by the wonderful smell. Caramel, liquor, malt, toasted roastedness. Really well balanced.

The mouthfeel is clean and dry, but big – bubbly and round. The beer fills the mouth and tickles the tongue. Hops stay on the pallate and the bitterness becomes very clear at the finish as the caramel dissipates. A wonderful roasted flavor as well, toasty.

I’d like more hops on the nose, maybe some dry hopping would benefit this beer. It’s a little higher alcohol content than the style calls for, which is okay by me but the hops don’t balance the bitterness as I would expect from a beer with “Indian” in the name. That said, this is a darned tasty beer and, in true Dogfish Head style it kept me interested throughout.

The last thing I want to do is something new. I’ve been toying with anthropomorphic reviews from the beginning with my “what shoes” question. This time, and probably continuing in the future, I’ve come up with a whole panel of anthropomorphic questions. If this beer were to come to life, what kind of person would it be?

It would drive a 1980s Mercedes Bio-diesel conversion with a very old ski rack on the roof.

For shoes it would wear those kind of light mens’ leather work shoes that slip on with bits of elastic. Like these.

It’s favorite album would be REM, Out of Time

For a pet it would keep an Old English Sheepdog

It’s ideal weather would be 45-50 degrees, light rain, some misty fog.

Crisis Precipitates Change

A Pantoum* By Samuel J. Rutledge

Who doesn’t want to get rich?
A million bucks sounds pretty good,
and we have a little something to invest.
What have we got to loose?

A million bucks sounds pretty good
and it’s so easy to ignore the obvious.
What have we got to loose?
Only our home and life savings.

And it’s so easy to ignore the obvious
until it all comes crashing down.
Only, our home and life savings
aren’t ours anymore.

Until it all comes crashing down
wealthy executives make off with life savings that
aren’t ours anymore.
They end up with taxpayer bailouts to boot.

Wealthy executives make off with life savings that
we unwittingly invested in their high flying schemes.
They end up with taxpayer bailouts to boot,
While we have to rent for the first time in 50 years.

We unwittingly invested in their high flying schemes
to take the money and run.
While we have to rent for the first time in 50 years
the house sits empty and growing mold.

To take the money and run;
The only rational answer.
The house sits empty and growing mold
and we’re heading for the hills.

The only rational answer
at times proceeds from desperation.
And we’re heading for the hills
because we don’t know what else to do.

At times, proceeds from desperation
provide the spark we need to learn a new way
because we don’t know what else to do.
We learn from gnarled handed wise ones.

Provide the spark we need to learn a new way!
True wealth only rises from land and labor.
We learn from gnarled handed wise ones,
loamy soil between their fingers.

True wealth only rises from land and labor.
Who doesn’t want to get rich
loamy soil between their fingers?
And we have a little something to invest.

* “The pantoum is a form of poetry similar to a villanelle. It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. This pattern continues for any number of stanzas, except for the final stanza, which differs in the repeating pattern. The first and third lines of the last stanza are the second and fourth of the penultimate; the first line of the poem is the last line of the final stanza, and the third line of the first stanza is the second of the final. Ideally, the meaning of lines shifts when they are repeated although the words remain exactly the same: this can be done by shifting punctuation, punning, or simply recontextualizing.”
- From Wikipedia

Recently, Arthur got himself a new toy. When he was very little, he did a little bit of work as a beautiful baby in some safety videos. His salary went into a special account for him, the idea being that we’d save it until he was an older kid. And most of it we are, but given the opportunity we had to tap it to get him one of these wonderful inventions. It’s called a balance bike or a running bike, and it’s made by the Strider Company. It’s a small bicycle with two wheels – no training wheels. It doesn’t have any pedals, but it does have an extra wide rear fork with grip tape so that a kid who gets going really fast has a place to put their feet up and coast. This way he can learn to balance on a bicycle gradually first, and add the extra complication of pedals later.

He loves it. It took a week or so to convince him that the bike was cook enough to be worth wearing the bike helmet (not a comfortable accessory, but an important one!) Once he was convinced to give it a try, he was sold. Now there is a daily bike ride at least around the block if not further afield. And he’s started getting going pretty quick. I’m going to start bringing wheels of my own here pretty soon just to keep up.

If you have a kid under 50 pounds, between 1 and 4, I highly recommend these balance bikes. They’re reasonably priced, and totally worth it. The local distributor is a friend of ours, so if you want to get in touch with her you can leave a comment here or fill out the contact form at the bottom of this (and every) page.

That boy totally takes after his daddy.

There is a whole class of businesses with balance sheets that dwarf the economies of all but the wealthiest nations. These companies are not only individually massive, they are also interconnected – when one goes down, it takes others with it. When these companies get into trouble, therefore, the governments of their host countries are compelled to intervene and prevent them from going under with massive injections of capitol and other sweet little bonuses. In other words, these companies can not fail because their host governments will not let them. They are “too big to fail.” The owners and executives of these companies are well aware of this situation, and are therefore much less risk averse than they would be if there was some legitimate threat of going out of business.

Now I’m no economist, but I have a layman’s understanding of how the theoretical free market works. Generally, we get the best goods and services at the lowest price in a free and open market because the providers of these services thrive while others fail and go out of business.

So, here is my question: in what way does the situation described in the first paragraph fit within the theory described in the second? My answer: in no way. We have built ourselves a system of perverse incentives where mega-companies are able to take enormous risks, reap huge profits, and pass their losses on to the public. And if we don’t play their game, they tell us, our prosperity will evaporate.

This sucks.

My experience of this phenomenal beer began with the bottle. The graphic design of the label is simple, elegant, and speaks volumes about what lies underneath. As I’ve undertaken this beer reviewing project, I’ve begun to recognize that presentation begins with a good looking bottle, and so I appreciate the effort that went into crafting this one. The top of the bottle is dipped in black sealing wax, much like the red wax you’d find sealing a bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon. It’s beautiful, and only slightly difficult to get through in order to reach the beer beneath.

The Abyss is an Imperial Stout by Deschutes Brewery. It is part of their reserve series, and I had a bottle from the 2008 vintage. It is labeled as 1% ABV, and its bottle claims that it is brewed with licorice and molasses, and that a third of the batch is aged in Oak and Oak Bourbon casks. The 22 Oz bottle I bought was at Sundance Market in Eugene, and I paid just under $10 for it.

Pouring this beer, I was struck immediately by its richness. It pours a deep brown black, so dark that it seems to absorb light. It’s thick, and the texture of the beer as it clung to the glass while I poured it led me to expect a sweet beer. The head with lustrous, and coffee with cream colored. It left beautiful brown lacing down the sides of the glass, not too thick but nonetheless pronounced.

The beer in the glass allowed no light to pass through. It was, indeed, a dark @$$ beer.

The aroma is complex, very alluring, seductive. If the aroma were a person, it would wear three inch black patent leather pumps, nothing ostentatious, but certainly elegant and a touch cocksure. The aroma begins with roasted malt as the first and dominating characteristic, giving way to molasses, bourbon, and maybe a hint of chocolate or coffee. The licorice advertised on the bottle is not at all evident in the smell of the beer.

The first hit of the flavor is that it’s much, much drier than I expected. From the look of the beer as it poured, I expected a cloying, sweet beer. I was surprised to find the fermentation to be nearly complete, and without a lot of esters or other strong reminders of a high temperature fermentation. It’s very clean. After getting over the initial shock, I find the flavor a bit astringent, and very warm. The 11% ABV is certainly apparent all the way into the stomach. This beer would be really comforting on a snowy day. The flavor is a little bitter – all from the roasted grain and the licorice root, no hop character I can perceive. The astringency seems to come from a combination of licorice root, oak barrel, and dark roasted barley. It is by no means overwhelming and is certainly not a liability. The molassas bitters show themselves in the aftertaste.

The mouth-feel is dry, bright, and very warm. It’s remarkably drinkable for an 11% beer: dangerously so. My one criticism is that as the glass progresses, the licorice seems to overtake some of the other flavors and interfere with the complexity. A friend assures me that after aging, this is less of a problem. The only issue I see here is how to exercise the willpower required to posses such a beautiful thing and allow it to age without breaking into it. I was able to finish a 22 of this in an evening, but any more than that would be a remarkable feat for anyone. Certainly not a session beer, but again, at 11% what would you expect? With a wonderfully complex flavor, this is a beer that is comfortable to sip slowly for a long, long time.

There is an MP3 in this post. Last night I went to see Hot Buttered Rum at the McDonald Theatre. They were opening for the Everyone Orchestra, but really I think they were the better act. They play progressive bluegrass, tinged with jazz rock / jam band aesthetics but by and large focused on Appalachian bluegrass roots. They’re based in San Francisco, but spend a lot of time touring the country in a Bio-Diesel Bus.

Here is a tune that I took from the free and band sanctioned Internet Archive (which I assume means that the recording is free to trade so long as I’m not making any money, which I’m (really) not) recorded January 9th of this year at the Filmore in SFO. They played this number last night , and once the second verse started and I recognized that it’s about Obama’s election, I was moved to tears (and crazy-jumping-up-and-down-dancing).

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I recommend going to their website and buying a lot of their music, and going to their shows whenever they pass through your area. This band is HOT!