Question of the Day: Terrorists

Are all terrorists treated equal by the media?

Christian Terrorist = Militia

Muslim Terrorist = Islamofascist terrorists bent on destroying our freedoms and converting your children.

Guess not.

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WTF is a Hutaree??

I can't find much more on the interwebs about this, but it looks like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided a Christian Militia camp here in Adrian, Michigan.

From the article:

A Christian militia group was a target of at least one of a series of weekend raids the FBI conducted in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, a Michigan militia leader says.
The FBI said Sunday that it had conducted raids in the three states, resulting in at least three arrests. Federal warrants were sealed, but a federal law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said some of those arrested face gun charges and officials are pursuing other suspects. Some of the suspects were expected in court Monday.

This group is called Hutaree. I looked everywhere on Teh Google, and the only thing I could find regarding just what a Hutaree is I found on their website. It is apparently a Christian warrior.

On its website, Hutaree quotes several Bible passages and states: "We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ. ... Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."

Find their website here. Big fun.

Maybe more links later if more develops about why the feds raided this enclave.

***UPDATE***

Thanks to an astute reader at another site I frequent, here's more to the story.

It turns out that these Hutaree members wished to kill cops. In fact, they went as far as to create a plan to:
--kill a cop by luring them in with a fake 9-1-1 call
--sneak to the funeral
--blow up home-made bombs at the funeral to kill even more cops.

Why?

After such attacks, the group allegedly planned to retreat to "rally points" protected by trip-wired improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, for what they expected would become a violent standoff with law enforcement personnel.

[...]

According to investigators, the Hutaree view local, state, and federal law enforcement personnel as a "brotherhood" and an enemy, and planned to attack them as part of an armed struggle against the U.S. government.

Sigh...

***UPDATE***

One more link chock-full of info, including what the fundamentalist extremists were just indicted with in Detroit today.

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Health Care Reform and the Constitution

Opponents of health care reform have indicated that the proposed Bill is unConstitutional or that portions of it are, specifically the part that madates that people get coverage. Some states have indicated that they will sue and I have seen plenty of comments from pundits, politicians, and assorted others that are trying to convince me of the unfairness and offensiveness of this Bill. Some are unable to articulate any specific reason as to how it offends the Constitution, while others suggest that health care does not fall under one of the enumerated powers and therefore the feds lack the authority to implement this kind of plan. Supporters claim that it falls under the broad federal area of Interstate Commerce.

I recall a lecture from Con Law I where we were discussing Interstate Commerce and the various cases that led up to our current understanding. This was pre-Raich, mind you, and I asked the professor what exactly qualifies as "interstate commerce". His answer (I am paraphrasing here) was that it was pretty damn near anything the government wanted to call interstate commerce. Understanding this, I had serious doubts as to any court challenge of the individual mandate part of HCR. Orin Kerr over at Volokh, who is way more of Constitutional expert that I am, agrees and points out the odds of a successful challenge:

With all this blogging here at the VC about whether the courts will invalidate the individual mandate as exceeding Congress’s Article I authority, I thought I would add my two cents by estimating the odds of that happening. In my view, there is a less than 1% chance that courts will invalidate the individual mandate as exceeding Congress’s Article I power. I tend to doubt the issue will get to the Supreme Court: The circuits will be splitless, I expect, and the Supreme Court will decline to hear the case. In the unlikely event a split arises and the Court does take it, I would expect a 9–0 (or possibly 8–1) vote to uphold the individual mandate.

He has some other points to make about what he thinks about the mandate and modern incarnation of IC. I tend to mostly agree with him, though I can see the logic behind the mandate. What are your thoughts?

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Utopias

Tonight, I had the distinct pleasure and privilege of attending a rare Sam Adams Utopias tasting.
For those of you who don't know, Utopias is a beer from the Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) that pushes the limits of what a beer is. For instance, Jim Koch (founder of Sam Adams), entered Utopias into a French cognac competition. In the blind taste-test, Sam Adams won. Jim Koch got up to accept the award...and admitted Utopias is beer, not liquor. He was nearly boo'ed off the stage. But that's how American brewers roll; we take your little drink and make it ours. We own it.

I believe the abv is in the ballpark of 27%, making the beer 54-proof. 54 proof beer. Not to be trifled with.

Some of the beer in Utopias has been aged for 13 or more years. Jim has been thinking about Utopias for a long time. What is so awesome about it is that Jim's vision is to provide an after-dinner cognac-style drink that's fermented as a beer instead of distilled like a liquor, and he wanted to provide one of the highest quality. A drink as sought-after as the best of the world's cognacs and ports. And by all means, as evidenced by his cognac award (for beer! ha!!), he has done it. Each Utopias is a new beer blended with previous batches until it achieves the exact flavor profile Koch is after.

This is a rare opportunity indeed. Nation-wide distribution of Utopias is a mere 8,000 bottles (roughly wine or cognac bottle sized). And tonight, Mrs. Smitty and I were among a mere 12 people who got to sample from 2 vintages; 2005 and 2009. The tasting was conducted at Dusty's Tap Room in Meridian Twp. (Haslett/Okemos for the yokels), and also included sampling from the Sam Adams 2007 Triple Bock.
Let's get down to business.

The 2005 Utopias was astounding. I actually lose vocabulary over how amazing this beer is. The first words that come to mind are maple syrup. Huge maple syrup aroma (though, to be fair, not a drop of actual maple syrup is used to make this beer) and taste. Big, thick, syrupy body. Not a single hint of CO2 (way too much alcohol and protein for fizz to survive!). White Oak, sherry and vanilla finish this sticky-sweet beer. This one was Mrs. Smitty's favorite.

A brief note on Mrs. Smitty: all I did at about lunch time was text-message Mrs. Smitty and tell her there were 4 spots still open at Dusty's for tonight's Utopias tasting. An hour later, I got a text back saying that she found a sitter and that I better make sure there were 2 spots still left. Mrs. Smitty wanted to go as bad as I did, and enjoyed it every bit as much, carrying-on an in-depth conversation with the Sam Adams rep about flavor profiles.
I won. The rest of you can go home.

Anyway, Utopias 2009 was a completely different beer. None of the maple syrup was present, and it was a few shades deeper amber than the 2005. This one was grainy on the nose, reminding you more than the 2005 that the 2009's progenitor is still indeed beer. Chocolate, slight coffee and a classic cognac oakiness round-out the 2009. Mrs. Smitty liked it less (and by less, she meant "I like double chocolate chip cookies less than I like double chocolate chocolate chip cookies") than the '05, and I personally liked both for completely different reasons. One is beer that tastes like a wholly different drink and the other is beer that nods towards beer but is still...not beer in its taste and complexity.

The '07 triple bock was equally delicious if not quite as ground-breaking. It still had traditional bock characteristics (grain, chocolate, full body), but was still a step above anything I have ever experienced as a bock. Deep plums, prunes, dried cherries and dark chocolate make this beer into another after-dinner libation. Unlike most bocks and doppelbocks, I don't see monks using this as food during lent lest they sleep for 40 days!

All in all, this is a night to remember. I am thrilled I got to be a part of it and I look forward to future tasting adventures at Dusty's.

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Healthcare Passes!

In watching the coverage of the passage of this bill, I was struck by a few things. Pelosi is a terrible public speaker or maybe she was excited/drunk/tired. I heard her stumble over word after word and it was painful to watch. More importantly, I saw how unprecedented this was. Voting by party is not all that uncommon, but most bills of this stature have some degree of support from the other party. When Medicare was passed under the Johnson administration, there was bipartisan support. This bill was not bipartisan at all. This was 100% Obama and most of the Democrats.

If this legislation is successful and achieves what it is supposed to achieve, then the Democrats can take all of the credit. If it fails, then they will have a difficult time. If this does well, Republicans will not have much to say since many were vocal critics and had nothing but doom and gloom predictions. Personally, I am cautiously optimistic. The bill doesn't have everything I would have wanted, but it is mostly good. While I think we have a good system right now, I think we are close to having one that is not good. Healthcare and insurance costs are going up much faster than people's wages and I don't see how we can sustain a system like this for very long.

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Again

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You Know What Day It Is...

Today, the High Holy Day of the Most Extreme Magnitude for Around the Keg. On this day...be safe, but Do It Right.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

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