It Always Is

Shorter Michael Goldfarb: The fact that there are so many Democrats in the Senate is good news for Republicans.

Safer Cigarettes

Since we seem to be on a vice kick today, yes, the 800 people who die in fires started by cigarettes pales in comparison to the number of premature deaths due to smoking generally. I believe the proper Nudge/Tipping Point proposal to reduce smoking rates is to regulate the amount of nicotine in cigarettes so that they're less addictive. No, it will not stop addiction, but it will at least make a substantial dent in the number of regular smokers. This is the impetus behind Democratic efforts since the late Clinton era to give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco sales. However, such authority currently requires an act of Congress.

This will still be a tall order for the 111th Congress. The good news is that Orrin Hatch is happy to go to war against Big Tobacco; if he can corral the remaining Mormon Republicans (Bennett and Crapo) that will help. The bad news is that three Democratic Senators--Mark Warner, Jim Webb, and Kay Hagan--represent heavy tobacco producing states. In addition I'm not sure how folks like Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Max Baucus feel this vote. The really bad news is that Mitch McConnell is the Senate Minority Leader; in addition to being little more than a shill for large corporate interests, Kentucky is also a tobacco producing state (the state legislature passed a ban on bans, preventing cities from enacting indoor smoking bans). This means that Hatch et al. would not just be going to war with Big Tobacco, but also with the leaders of their own party (in the House, Minority leader John Boehner smokes, and Minority Whip Eric Cantor represents Virginia.). Given the umpteen other fights pending in the next two years this may also fall by the wayside, unless it becomes part of the mammoth health care deal.

The Republican Party As A Disembodied Butt

You occasionally hear people calling what's left of a Republican Party after its moderates are defeated a "rump". If anybody knows what the etymology of this term is, I'd be curious to hear. My guess is that the metaphor involves butchering or some such -- maybe the rump of an animal is usually left over after they chop off the other parts that people want more? In any event, I'm sort of amused to think of the contemporary GOP as a disembodied butt.

Oppose Bacardi's Cuba Policy With Flor de Caña

As this blog has recently received much drinking-related traffic, courtesy of the good Matthew Yglesias, I'll put up another drinking-related post.

A while ago I was looking to try a non-Bacardi rum, in part because Bacardi is run by Cuban exiles who give big money to Republicans so that we can have cruel and pointless sanctions on Cuba. (Charles Kuffner has a post that deals with some of this.) So I tried Flor de Caña, the Nicaraguan rum pictured on the right, and it proved to be cheaper and better. I particularly recommend the 4 year gold rum, which I got for $12 a fifth a couple days ago in Maryland where I'm hanging out with my friends. It's got a fairly rich flavor, makes a good rum and coke, and I sometimes drink it straight up or on the rocks. The clear version is pretty good too.

Update: Jan's interesting comments below, on Reagan blocking Flor de Caña importation to hurt the leftist Sandinista government, have been relayed to the happy friends currently drinking it around me.

The Magic Of Pre-Hydration

For my last couple semesters as a grad student teaching classes at Texas, I would always find some excuse to tell the students about how important it is to drink plenty of water before you go out for a big night of drinking. And while this isn't a drinking blog, it's such an important piece of advice that utilitarianism compels me to share it with you. All the other drinkers who have woken up so far in this house are hung over from New Year's Eve, while I'm feeling chipper and ready to go after guzzling more booze than they did. From about 5 to 9 PM last night I had a glass of water near me at all times, and I drank a big gulp of it whenever I noticed that it was there. Such is the secret of my powers.