Separation Between Beer and State

Soooooo… I am not on Facebook so you have to endure this.  We have a lot of people in our country who fetishize our constitution and our founding fathers like it was a holy book and like they were holy men.  That is of course a misguided reinvention of the brilliant men who started our country.  They were rebels, they were elite, they were poor, they were rich, they came from all walks of white,  male life but the one thing they were united on was the principal of the separation between beer and state.  But now we have... this.

You know I am not a Bud drinker but it is an iconic brand.  Not just and iconic American Brand but primarily that but… but…

This just makes me so very, very sad.  I know that no publicity is bad publicity but this is just a bastardization of a brand and the fact that it is accomplished by a Brazil/Belgium run operation makes it even cheaper and dumber.  Where does pandering like this stop? I don't see them changing the name of SKOL to BRAZIL!

 

Perhaps they pay 100 Million dollar licensing fee to “The Donald” so they can really grab the media until November with, “TRUMP” and replace “E PLURBUS UNUM” with “MAKE BEER GREAT AGAIN”. 

 

Maybe InBev has plans for Stella Artois to have a black, yellow and red label and rename the beer WALLOON for some period!

 

“E PLUBUS UNUM”?  Out of many, one.  WTF? What does it have to do with Beer?  Is it a comment on the times?

 

Maybe, maybe, this would be cute to release for a week on July 4^th each year. 

 

This label does so many offensive things all at once.

 

“Indivisible since 1776”.  Really.  Tell that to the South which would desperately love to rise again.

 

“From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters this land was made for you and me”.  Woody Guthrie would have a gun in his mouth if he knew his revolutionary response to “God Bless America” was being bastardized for the sake a “Merica” beer campaign.

 

“Liberty and Justice For All”… I cannot even begin to start my rant against putting this on a beer label.  Never have we been closer to ignoring the “For All” portion and changing it to “For the Few”.

 

It just seems so wrong.  We do have a great country.  Budweiser is an iconic beer but I am only voting for politicians in the future who support the separation between beer and state.  Well, at least they have not tried to wrap their beer in the flag.


Never mind.

 

Keep Your Head Down? Really?

For whatever reason I have started to end phone conferences and emails to some people with the phrase “Keep Your Head Down”. I have no idea when I started to do this or why. I keep trying to stop but it just keeps fitting the situation no matter what I am writing or saying. It is, a little odd, even for me. For years I have been making fun of a classic local lawyer I have the pleasure of dealing with all the time named Vince Vogler.

For years Vince has been ending conversations with “Get To Work” or “Get back To Work” which tended to be great ways to end conversations. Vince is always good for a long and sometimes funny story normally relating back to the time when people used the word “mimeograph”. Anyway, you always know when your done with Vince because suddenly you hear “get back to work” and you know the call is over. This is handy.

I believe I started saying “keep your head down” meaning “stay out of trouble” or “don’t be noticed” or “stay off the radar screen”. All of this is pretty good advice. In fact it is REALLY good advice. All the time. People can never successfully play “whack a mole” with you if you keep your head down. If you do not stand out or say obnoxious things to people, they often will not have the need to take a shot at you. Obviously when people are shooting at you, “keep your head down” makes even more sense.

I came to realize though that if i was telling someone I needed some work out of them that “keep your head down” was an admonishment like “keep your nose to the grindstone”. Think about that one a little bit. But of course if you are working, your head is down. You are watching. You are also paying attention. Arguably, paying attention is a good thing.

It has also been advice I have heard myself... as a younger man, when i thought I was going to be an average golfer (I never quite made it there) but often when my slice would be the most pronounced or when I was busy watching my ball go into the lake my father in law or a similar figure of importance and sage would say, “keep your head down”. That is good advice. All the time when your swinging.

Like I said, I do not know how I started saying and typing this. It is trite, presumptuous and perhaps even a little...shallow. But until I can break myself of it. Keep you head down. And if you cannot keep your head down.... then get to work.