BeerAdvocate overall review: B (797 reviews to date).

This Canadian ale (brewed by Unibroue with apple juice, coriander and curacao peels) tastes like green apples. The scent reminds me of green apples, and the ale is definitely tinged with the flavor. What makes this ale unique, however, is the aftertaste — which is eerily reminiscent of a sour apple Jolly Rancher. The beer (5.5 percent ABV) went down smoothly and felt light and crisp on the tongue, without any distracting bitterness. It may be an average fruit ale, however, except for that aftertaste — which, admittedly, is a matter of preference to which many beer connoisseurs may render a frown.

This ale, if served cold, may make for a refreshing pick-me-up on a warmer late-autumn day. In any case, I’d happily enjoy another.

Personal verdict: A-.

Today’s voyage into tobacco bliss came in the form of a Macanudo Cafe Crystal cigar. This robusto — measuring at 5.5 x 50 — comes with a Connecticut Shade wrapper and a binder from the Dominican Republic, with a filler blend of solid Dominican leaf.

With 22 reviews, the average opinion from Puff.com is 7.1 of 10. This mild cigar is easy on the palate, with a short ash. The cigar burned solidly and evenly, however, and remained consistent through the first 2/3s, after which the acridity started to increase. The smoke was as flavorful as one would expect from a mild blend, and cigar left no harsh aftertaste.

Overall impression: Highly favorable, 8 of 10.

BEER REVIEW: Samuel Smith’s, The Famous Taddy Porter

BeerAdvocate overall review: A- (942 reviews to date).

This beer is hands-down a solid, pleasurable pick. Brewed in England by Samuel Smith Old Brewery, this porter packs a smooth finish — graced by hints of creqmy caramel — without any harsh edge or unpleasant aftertaste. Even paired with a cigar, the beer held its own with a crisp flavor that paired well with a mild Macanudo. The amber-hued beverage had a pleasant, citrus scent without any overpowering hint of alcohol, and the bubbles were well-formed and consistent, providing a slightly fizzy palate.

This is the sort of beer I could drink one after another without a second thought.

Personal verdict: A.

• This weekend was fairly pleasant. Today was spent in the office, preparing catch-up reports and working down my personal queue of Service Desk tickets, and now I sit at Biggby drinking mocha and writing. Yesterday, I got a haircut, got a massage from the Chinese people, bought some specialty craft beer, and hung out with Rick and Sondra for a while.
• The truck is working well. I had to replace the alternator a week after getting it (the voltage regulator went out) but otherwise, things are good.
• I’ve been doing a bit more on the “casual social” scene, including coffee with Charlie and Jon.
• For reasons inexplicable, the Britney Spears song Everytime has been playing over and over and over in my head. I like it. Although the old Poison ballad Lay Your Body Down is growing on me too. But that prompts an observation: On my netbook, I have tracks on my playlists that I have no idea how they got there. Exhibit A: The Spears song. I never downloaded it, never ripped it, never even heard it (that I can recall) until it Exaile put it up in rotation. Curious.
• I am running the BOINC client on two computers and am donating unused CPU cycles to the Rosetta, SETI and Cosmology projects (these are distributed-computing projects that search for life-saving proteins, extraterrestrial intelligence, and evidence to prove theoretical models of the universe, respectively). I feel virtuous in my symbolism — now I know what it must be like to be a liberal who gets a little pang of self-worth every time he chucks something in the recycle bin instead of the trash.
• Work has been decent. Busy, but decent.
• I was notified that I was accepted into “phase 2″ (of two) evaluation for the about.com job. This part of the project involves taking the work I generated a month ago, in phase one, and putting it into a happy and cohesive structure. The about.com folks will then evaluate the structure for suitability and baseline competence. The section for which I’d be a guide is “media.” I am excited about the possibility.
• I think I’ve figured out what my new weekday routine will flow: Work to the gym to the coffee shop to write a minimum of two articles, then home. Of course, the fly in the ointment is the timing of the gym run: From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., the gym is an absolute madhouse. We shall see if I have the patience to maintain it; heaven knows my waistline could use some serious cardio.
• OK, wait. How the hell did a Dionne Warwick song get on my playlist??? </stream-of-consciousness>
• I’ve been watching True Blood … I like this show. A nice mix of blood, sex and political intrigue. It’s the only TV I watch nowadays.
• I have the opportunity, at the hospital, to join the Hospital Emergency Response Team. There’s some paperwork and required DHS courses to take, but it could be interesting. Will investigate.
• The front page of gillikinconsulting.com has changed. Not sure if I like it. I think I need to re-imagine the logo and focus areas and be more consistent about internal labeling.
• Currently reading Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman M.D. It’s a fascinating study of how people cope with long-term patterns of abuse that damage or destroy personalities — but, I recommend it for anyone, because there are a number of strategies outlined for dealing with complex post-traumatic stress disorder that could fruitfully be applied in other, less charged situations. Herman’s comments about perpetrators suggests a link to the blossoming literature in the Hannah Arendt vein of “the banality of evil.” Were I ever to finish my M.A., my emphasis would absolutely entail aspects of the genesis of moral evil and its passive acceptance within established social structures.

All for now.

The part of the book I most eagerly absorbed was its final four pages. After wrapping up in a general way his observations about the developments and shortcomings of twentieth-century moral philosophy, MacIntyre advances the somewhat complex position that neither relativism nor absolutism are tenable in contemporary discourse because trying to find a single and all-encompassing theory of ethics is a fool’s errand.

To some degree, MacIntyre’s observation — not unique to him, of course — that people generally don’t adhere to a single and self-consistent ethical paradigm but rather shift among approaches depending on the people and the situation, marks a burst of sanity within an academic tradition that, having failed to find the One Big Explanation for morality, seems by-and-large to have retreated to linguistic games.

MacIntyre fleshes out his argument in book length in After Virtue. Occasionally described as a bridge between Augustinianism and Thomism, MacIntyre reaches back to ancient Greece and its virtues and drops them, with some modification, within a framework most robustly articulated by the Scholastics. This includes, in particular, a willingness to add a healthy of dose of teleology to ethics.

Perhaps the major system-builders — Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Burke, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Moore — failed because they put their faith in reason, in the idea that ethics can be adequately described in logical terms. Perhaps it can; perhaps the right system-builder has yet to appear on the world stage. But perhaps the problem, as MacIntyre suggests, is that the entire effort is misguided. Perhaps ethics involves an interplay of sociology, biology, theology, and teleology that defies integration within a coherent and dogmatic theoretic structure.

I will not presume to level judgement about his position. But: It feels right.

So says President Barack Obama, in reference to the plans by an Islamic group to build a major mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center. Interesting perspective, that.

The response to the $100 million project sponsored by the Cordoba Initiative is depressing if only because of its banality: Lefties who ordinarily gloat at the erosion of the Judeo-Christian perspective in the public square nevertheless demand a mosque at Ground Zero to show how much America values religious pluralism, while conservatives who normally champion religious freedom demand that the mosque be suppressed or at least located elsewhere.

Both sides are wrong, and hypocritical. As usual.

Conservatives should know better than to impose a sectarian litmus test on the placement of mosques; building the facility a few blocks away from Ground Zero may be tacky, but it does not represent a threat to national security or to religious freedom, even if the project’s funders have shadowy ties to terrorism (hint: that’s what the FBI is for). Cries about the sensitivity of the “victims of 9/11″ ring hollow, as well — the dead have no feelings to offend, and in any case, appealing to victimhood is hardly a staple tactic of the Right’s playbook, and for good reason. I cannot adduce a single non-aesthetic conservative principle that should justify opposition to the Cordoba Initiative’s plan.

However, liberals who assert that permitting a mosque in that location is a sign of America’s robust religious tolerance are not fooling anyone. The Left leads the assault against religious freedom in America, through incremental restrictions against the public display of Judeo-Christian sensibilities in the public square. No serious person believes that liberals are unabashed proponents of religious expression: Look no further than the ongoing drama over the Christian Legal Society’s funding for proof. If anything, this situation is a sign that the Left’s embrace of non-Western diversity is genuinely as muddle-headed and chronically unserious as many conservatives feared — that liberals cannot distinguish between Islam as a religion and Islam as a culture, nor grasp that the Muslim world has no American-style “wall of separation” between religious faith and political authority that allows for the purely private religious belief characteristic of WASP social mores.

The one aspect of this situation that disturbs me the most isn’t the hypocrisy of it, however. Rather, it’s the unspoken assumption that the Cordoba Initiative’s plan somehow marks a referendum on America’s commitment to religious pluralism.

You hear it from Barack Obama. You hear it from New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. You hear it from New York governor David Patterson. The refrain is the same: We must permit the Cordoba Initiative to do exactly as it wishes, because any restrictions on mosque placement will necessarily imply that the last 221 years of the U.S. Constitution and its First Amendment protections will thereby be  irrevocably refuted. Or, in its more crude form: We must let them do as they want to show how tolerant we are.

Conservatives have missed the boat on picking up on the substantive argument, instead preferring by-and-large to offer twofold opposition on the grounds that, first, allowing a mosque at Ground Zero means the terrorists win, and second, that a mosque so close to the allegedly sacred ground of the Twin Towers constitutes a fresh trauma for the survivors of 9/11. Both claims are unadulterated nonsense. This is a logistics issue, not a political-philosophy dilemma.

The real problem here is the astonishing failure of leadership by New York city and state leaders. If we concede the Cordoba Initiative’s inherent right to build a mosque, and we accept that there is a legitimate perception problem (as well as public opposition) for a mosque at Ground Zero, then the solution is pretty simple: Let elected leaders apply the incentives and dis-incentives of government to “facilitate” the mosque somewhere else in New York. If they can do it to preserve spotted toads in California, why not a mosque in Manhattan?

I seriously doubt that New York under Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Pataki would have ceded its moral authority to a group of shadowy imams the same way that Bloomberg and Patterson have allowed. The fact that this is even an issue speaks volumes about the leadership ineptitude from city hall and from Albany. The reason that American religious pluralism has been so robust is because the state serves as an impartial referee among competing interests without giving any particular interest the right to make an absolute claim. We didn’t allow the Mormons to engage in polygamy, we don’t allow just anyone to smoke peyote, we don’t say that molesting kids is OK as long as it’s only in the confessional, and we don’t let soldiers suddenly decide, a week before they deploy, that they have a religious opposition to war. So why should government abdicate its power to influence the placement of the mosque on the flimsiest of religious-freedom grounds? It’s hard to say which is more breathtaking: The irrationality of the situation, or the incompetence or cowardice of those at the helm of the involved governments.

Let there be no mistake: The Cordoba Initiative should be allowed to build a mosque. Placing the mosque at Ground Zero is tacky and insensitive and will be a thorn in the community for many years to come. But this whole brouhaha is less a referendum on America’s commitment to religious freedom than an indictment on the failure of political leaders to respond with foresight and wisdom to an entirely foreseeable controversy.

Let us pray that New Yorkers wise up to the real problem.

Governor

The results from the AP:

Republican primary
5,715 of 5,732 precincts – 99 percent

Rick Snyder 379,245 – 36 percent ¶
Pete Hoekstra 278,584 – 27 percent ¶
Mike Cox 238,858 – 23 percent ¶
Mike Bouchard 126,807 – 12 percent ¶
Tom George 16,911 – 2 percent ¶

For the governor’s race, businessman and political neophyte Rick Snyder handily trounced the rest of the pack. Snyder’s candidacy is a curious one: A self-described “one tough nerd,” he was the president and COO of Gateway Computers and enjoys an admirable record as a business leader. Arguably, Snyder won because Hoekstra and Cox split the dedicated conservative/establishment vote. Regardless, the nerd gets his chance to pick up the party mantle.

From a purely political perspective, Snyder’s election is thrilling. He is not a hard-right Republican, and this is a good thing. I firmly believe that one of the most significant handicaps for the Michigan GOP is its slavish devotion to its country-club grandees — folks like the DeVos and Yob families, whose pocketbooks ensure compliance but whose social sensibilities are out-of-touch with a state that cares more about economic performance than contrived social mores. The Michigan GOP, like the Kent County GOP, is heavily influenced by the Ada-style country-club elitism that, despite its charms, is simply inconsistent with the culture of a state that remains “Reagan Democrat.” Perhaps Snyder’s candidacy will break open the state party to diverse voices and new faces.

Policy-wise, Snyder is growing on me. I had been an early Hoekstra supporter, and since I discounted Snyder’s potential, I paid him less heed than I should have. Snyder presents a solid pro-business plan for the state. He advocates policies that advance economic growth and more efficient state governance. You see much less by way of unnecessary grandstanding over touchstone cultural-conservative issues from him, and this is good. With Obama-style progressive Virg Bernero — darling of organized labor – as the Democratic nominee, keeping the argument solidly economic in this climate will likely work to Snyder’s benefit.

I dived a bit deeper into just one of Snyder’s points in his 10-point plan, giving a thorough reading into his healthcare white paper. I must admit — Snyder gets it right. Promoting medical homes for high-risk patients, emphasizing lifestyle modification to reduce the long-term cost of chronic illness, and managing Medicaid reimbursement rates will go a long way to fixing what ails Michigan’s creaky health care system. If Snyder can get MDCH to stop doing stupid things like simultaneously replacing both of its Medicaid eligibility systems with software solutions proven to fail in other states, we might be on to something.

Net result: I can stand up for Rick Snyder.

Congressional Races

CD2: Bill Huizenga barely squeaked out a primary win against Jay Riemersma. This is the seat vacated this cycle by U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, who stepped down to run for governor. Although this is a deep-red district, and Huizenga is running as a red-meat Republican, the primary race was surprisingly competitive.

CD3: Justin Amash, a 30-year-old state legislator, took this race with 40 percent of the vote. Amash beat veteran county lawmaker Steve Heacock and state Sen. Bill Hardiman, who took 28 and 26 percent, respectively. The seat is vacant this cycle because U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers is retiring. Amash benefited from the grown-up candidates splitting the serious vote, while the enthusiastic youngsters who listened to the vague promises and ultra-hard-right nostrums from the Amash campaign carried the day. Of course, it helps when the DeVos family bankrolls his federal race just as his parents bankrolled his state race. Among dedicated watchers of West Michigan politics, informal consensus is that Amash is something of a blank slate, like a Manchurian candidate sponsored by the Club for Growth; he is vague on specific policy and remains relatively unpolished, echoing hard-right pieties but lacking in the gravitas to be a major player in Washington. This fall will be fun: Amash will stand against Democrat Pat Miles. Miles, a local lawyer, is a bit more of a practical, middle-of-the-road Dem. In a district long-held by quiet moderates like Ehlers, Paul Henry, and Jerry Ford, it is an open question whether a firebrand conservative with relatively limited experience can persuasively carry the district. Conventional wisdom is that he wins in 2010 but will be vulnerable as his district trends slowly leftward thanks to changing demographics.

CD6: U.S. Rep. Fred Upton beat back a primary challenger, but the margin was surprisingly narrow; he won 57-43 despite his incumbency and absurd spending gap over his competitor.

CD7: Former U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg gets a rematch against the Democrat who displaced him in 2008, current U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer.

Analysis

The 2010 election cycle will be one for the history books — the spotlight will be on Congressional races, where the results will be largely viewed as a referendum on the Obama presidency and the stewardship of the Pelosi/Reid Congress. Pundits will therefore look to various competitive House and Senate races to the exclusion of most other campaigns — even to governorships, which are crucial this cycle because of decennial redistricting.

If the election were held today, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball suggests the GOP picks up 7 Senate seats, 32 House seats, and 6-7 governorships.

However, the real question for the GOP isn’t whether the House or Senate will be retaken or how many governorships it possesses. Rather, the party must focus on its message and its candidates. For every solid conservative with good credentials and a coherent program, there are candidates who have won primary challenges based solely on a populist message. These candidates may not be the best choice for the job — see “Amash,” above — but they won either because better candidates split the serious vote, or because voter anger propelled the “fresh voice” to victory.

For West Michigan, the election season will be competitive even though the certain races are foregone conclusions. We will see Huizenga and Amash in Congress, most likely. And barring poor performance or suprises this autumn, Rick Snyder will probably move into the governor’s mansion.

So yes, let’s focus on the elections. But the elections are going to change our political culture in ways it hasn’t been touched in a very long time, and this is the part of the equation that is the most interesting of all.

Let the election season begin!

• Last weekend, I purchased a Ford Ranger XLT from a guy in Grandville. The truck runs great and is in excellent condition (although it could use a new paint job). I am quite pleased with it, and since I paid cash I now own it outright with no ugly monthly payments except for insurance and fuel. And it gets excellent gas mileage — roughly 25 mpg for combined city/highway driving.
• On the social scene: Friday before last, I had a lovely dinner and drinks with Charlie at the Red Jet Cafe on Plainfield … this past Monday, I had dinner with Duane at the Woodland Mall food court … Tuesday I brought dinner to Ryan … Friday I enjoyed the seventh annual Evening of Fine Cinema, hosted by Sondra and Aaron at Sondra/Rick’s condo — the theme of the three movies was “Bad Romance” and the event was quite well executed … Saturday I went to Lansing for a lovely seafood dinner and adult beverages with Tony, Jen, Jon and Emilie; it was nice seeing them all again and I SWEAR it will not be two years before I see my favorite Novi couple again. I simply cannot bear PPQ’s ongoing disapproval.
• On the work scene: Things are rolling along. We are making decent progress at the hospital on Informatics development, which is good. And I’ve been doing a bit more writing than usual — a fair number of my recent articles (about 50 so far over the last two months, at $20 per article) are now live at the Small Business section of the Houston Chronicle’s chron.com site.  Here’s an example piece: Advantages & Disadvantages of a Divisional Organization Structure.
  
• On the physical scene: Weight continues to sloooooly come down. This week, I will start making regular trips to the gym again to run. The extra calorie burn from the aerobics will help, in addition to the slow decrease from diet alone. If I can get back into my 2005-2007 routine, I will be back at the 160-165 range I was at through most of 2006, by the end of December. That’s the goal; vitamin D may have kicked my ass, but my ass need not remain flabby now that the vitamin deficiency has been corrected.

All for now.

A few reflections and updates, in no particular order:

1. Technology. I continue to be frustrated by my lack of data synchronization across  platforms. My primary computer is an HP laptop, and my traveling machine is an Asus netbook. The laptop runs Windows 7 and Office 2010; the netbook runs Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS with Evolution as the default mail client. I lease a private Exchange server with SharePoint services, but Evolution cannot speak to Exchange 2007 or higher. I’m stuck in this horrid limbo where unless I wish to use a Web application for consistent PIM use (which, I really, really don’t — especially when I’m running the netbook offline), then I’m screwed. I have Hotmail, Gmail, a personal web host running Horde, a business Exchange server, and a BlackBerry that talks to the hospital.  And none of it will just work. As much as it pains me to say it, I may just wipe the netbook and install Windows 7 and Office 2010 and hope for adequate performance.
2. Writing. I am being evaluated for a position as the media guide for About.com. The position pays pretty well — a monthly stipend of $675 minimum for the first two years, with additional bonuses for increases in pageveiws — but I have to do a fair amount of work to be considered a finalist.  Today I wrote a 950-word article on branding strategies for newspapers, which was the first requested work product.  I should know more in a few weeks. Additionally, some of my DS work is now showing up on the Small Business section of the Houston Chronicle‘s chron.com.
3. Work. Hospital life is interesting. The transition into a pseudo-supervisory position has been successful so far, but a lot of work remains and we are likely going to have additional changes in staffing over the next six months that will color how things unfold.  On the bright side, I do have a nice new office with a door and my own pet giant orb weaver outside the window (I call her Bertha, and I would NOT want to be a fly on her web).
4. Friends. Social life has been somewhat sedate. Last Friday, I had a meeting with Alaric that transitioned to Cambridge House. It was quite nice chatting business while sipping a Johnnie Walker Blue, and I even had the high privilege of seeing the lovely and gracious Sondra again for the first time since the wedding reception.
5. Family. My brother is home from Iraq, although he is returning soon for a second year-long contract. Oh, and my mother’s kitchen renovation is moving along nicely. And Gradey had a nasty bacterial infection earlier this month.
6. School. People seem to be doing well in school.  Ryan and Jess are doing great in their classes this semester (and they both got solid A’s in anatomy!) and my mom rocked out her American Government class. Almost makes me want to go back to grad school.
7. Physical. My weight continues to be stable. I still think I’m about 40 pounds too heavy, but stability is good. I can go down from there.
8. Hair. I dyed my hair yesterday. I was going to have it done the last time I went in for a trim, but the stylist nearly decapitated me so THAT was out of the question. The last time I had color done, I went a few shades lighter than my natural brown. Unfortunately, some gray was appearing and the old color was fading and I though I looked like some sort of queer calico cat, so it was high time to fix it. I went darker this time, a deep oak brown, and I did it myself. And I didn’t even stain anything, woohoo.
9. Politics. I have been trading emails with a woman about the governor’s race, presumably off the “Vote Hoekstra” post (which was cross-posted to Red County). Interesting how diligent she has been in tracking down who supports whom. Speaking of the governor’s race, I still encourage support for Pete Hoekstra. Of all the candidates, I think he is the best choice for Michigan.
10. Transportation. Looks like I’ll be getting a new car, as soon as next weekend. That will be nice. I think I’m going to just buy something outright and avoid a payment, so I may go the “short-term beater” route for now.  I’m sort of in a bind, insofar as I am now expected to do a lot more traveling for the hospital (e.g., to Freemont) and can’t spend as much time in transit as I used to.

All for now.