Hard times driving Russians not to drink

From the Telegraph:

With retailers struggling to find credit and ordinary Russians being forced to change their spending, a vast lake of undrunk vodka is accumulating in distilleries across Russia.

Official statistics indicate a collapse in demand for vodka over the past two months. November inventories of unsold vodka stock have risen to 82 million litres, a 600 per cent increase from 2007, according to the National Alcohol Association. >

What I need is a much bigger refrigerator.

Burned by the book

Welcome to the sunburned version of "Idiot Politician of the Week". My famous last words yesterday before taking my son to soccer camp? "Maybe I should get some sun screen."

But as red as I am, Vladimir Putin still has me beat. The ex-KGB member and current Prime Minister of Russia asks the question, "How can one be such a shining example of democracy at home and a frightening monster abroad?" Gee, maybe if you weren't such a frightening monster at home you could be a frightening monster abroad, too. How are Chechnya and Georgia coming along?

There's no fool like an old fool, and former JFK speechwriter Ted Sorensen is older and more foolish than ever. Sorensen believes Barack Obama is the spiritual heir to the assassinated president. Is that before or after Obama promises to pay any price and bear any burden for freedom? Considering that John Kennedy campaigned on "a missile gap", had a war record, and cut taxes after coming into office, it's hard to believe I haven't seen the similarities before. Who knew that Barack Obama was secretly a rich white guy with a string of mistresses and a desire to invade Cuba?

Speaking of the old and the foolish, former Senator George McGovern is showing that wonderful political acumen that helped him lose 49 states. First he claimed he had more foreign policy expertise than Senator McCain. Some day we might actually see it. Then he attacked Senator McCain's war record. Is this really where the Democrats want to go?

But having the idiot book thrown back at him this week is former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. Either he's just sold out and cashing in, ruining his reputation, or he had no courage of his convictions while working in the White House. Either way, even the leftists aren't cutting him a break, demanding he donate the money from his book to charity. Bob Dole was right when he said if you want a friend in Washington DC, buy a dog. Oh yeah, Bob Dole kicked McClellan, too. So this week we're awarding a special Idiot Politician of the Week Piggy Bank prize to Scott McClellan. He now has a place to keep his thirty pieces of silver.

I guess dissenting Chinese and Tibetans don't count

Former President Jimmy Carter explains why he would not support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics:

As president, Carter led the boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. "That was a totally different experience in 1980, when the Soviet Union had brutally invaded and killed thousands and thousands of people," he said, rejecting the idea of boycotting the Beijing games to protest China's crackdown in Tibet. He did not address whether just the opening ceremonies should be boycotted.

So you see, because the Communists don't have to invade to continue to be repressive towards their own people and the Tibetans, not too mention other Asian ethnic minorities within their borders, it doesn't really count.

We got some flyin' to do

For some reason, this popped into my head today.

Boris Yeltsin, RIP

If there are two pictures we should remember of the fall of Communism in Russia, the first would have to be Boris Yeltsin climbing the tank outside the Kremlin to thwart the coup by Communist hardliners.
The second picture would have to be Yeltsin deposing Gorbachev and overthrowing Communism.

Unfortunately, undoing 70 years of Leninist ideology justifying Soviet-style oligarchy proved to be too much for one man. If there was any hope that Russia would adopt western style democracy, those hopes were diminished when Yeltsin ordered the shelling of the Russian Parliament. Yeltsin's handpicked successor is doing his part to end those hopes and return Russia to autocratic rule.

But Yeltsin's impact on the world will be long felt outside of Russia. No longer is Russia the occupying power in Eastern Europe, nor is it a threat and rival to the United States as it was during the Cold War.

For one college student in 1990, it was a mixture of joy and frustration to look at a bookshelf full of works on Soviet foreign policy and Soviet politics and to know that after four years of a college education the world had irrevocably changed.

Today Russia is building the world's longest tunnel to connect the United States and Russia across the Bering Strait to bring oil to North America. The world has changed, and changed for the better.

When his country called, Yeltsin risked his life to bring his people more freedom and opportunity than they had for over 73 years. Few men respond so admirably to their nation's call. He should be remembered fondly as a patriot and a man who helped bring peace between East and West. Let everyone here at the Pub raise a toast to the man and his memory (Stolichnaya Vodka, of course). May he rest in peace.

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