Free Republic

Reporting from Kennett Square, Pa. - As he is quick to point out, President Obama is presiding over two wars, a sour economy and an epic fight to rework the nation's healthcare system. Now tack on a trio of state and local political races. With an off-year election fast approaching, Obama is stepping up his commitment to Democratic candidates in hopes that an infusion of campaign charisma might pump up turnout. What the party is finding, though, is that the electricity of 2008 is tough to recapture. Some Democratic candidates running for local office around the country call the phenomenon...

A bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover - by boosting the level of amines which clear the head, scientists have found. Researchers claim food also speeds up the metabolism helping the body get rid of the booze more quickly. Elin Roberts, of Newcastle University's Centre for Life said: "Food doesn't soak up the alcohol but it does increase your metabolism helping you deal with the after-effects of over indulgence. So food will often help you feel better. "Bread is high in carbohydrates and bacon is full of protein, which breaks down into amino acids. Your body needs these amino...

The Pittsburgh Public Schools will operate on a two-hour delay Monday because of the Super Bowl, Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said today.

Hung over? Try eggs, fries, cocoa ... Thursday, January 1, 2009 3:24 AM By Kevin Mayhood THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The cup of cures for your pounding head and queasy stomach runneth over. New Year's Day is a little late for a lecture on abstinence or moderation, and we won't go into the scientific intricacies of a hangover. Suffice it to say you're hurtin', so here are a few remedies that folks say work, at least for them. "Hot chocolate," said Laura Yazvac, a bartender at the Surly Girl Saloon in the Short North. "Chocolate milk is good for dehydration." Lactose-intolerant?...

The French call it "la gueule de bois," or wooden mouth. For Germans, it's "Kater," or a tomcat. Japanese know it as "futsukayoi," or "two-days drunk." But whatever the language and wherever it takes place, a hangover is the same: headache, nausea, shaking, blurred vision, biliousness, dry mouth... the list of evils is long. In Roman times, Pliny the Elder swore by raw owls' eggs. In Elizabethan England, a pair of eels suffocated in wine was touted as the trick. Green frogs were an acceptable substitute for those who were out of eels. In the 19th century, hungover chimney sweeps...

You’re probably wondering how I’ve been spending my time since the glorious victory of November 4. Truly, that was a night to remember, a well-deserved electoral thrashing of you wingnuts that couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of fascists. When Ohio went blue, and we knew it was over, my neighborhood here in Echo Park went bananas: spontaneously, we formed a conga line and, holding lighted candles and icy cervezas, snaked our way over to Sunset Boulevard near Dodger Stadium, where we worshipped the giant mural of The One — the one that says, simply, “Hope” — into the...

Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious wandering from the halls of sleep, but a summary, forcible ejection. He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider crab on the tarry shingle of the morning. The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again. A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse. His mouth had been used...

INDIANAPOLIS -- What could be better than free beer for the Super Bowl? How about having Super Bowl Monday off, too?

Experts on stand-by for Black Tuesday By Amy Iggulden and David Millward Last Updated: 2:25am GMT 02/01/2007 New Year hangovers have faded and the last of the Christmas turkey has been dispatched. But the true cost of this year's festive battle has yet to be counted. And the reckoning begins today — "Black Tuesday". As Britain returns to work after a fortnight of excess and enforced intimacy, armies of bank managers, divorce lawyers, debt counsellors, addiction experts, life coaches and car mechanics are braced to deal with the fall-out. Citizens' Advice Bureaux will receive the first of at least 1.4...

Acetaldehyde may be the culprit behind hangovers, according to new research from Japan. Alcohol consumption is an integral part of many cultures, not least the Japanese business culture, according to Masako Yokoyama of the Mitsukoshi Health and Welfare Foundation and colleagues. The problem many East Asians have in drinking alcohol is that their livers have a mutant form of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2), which in other people eliminates the acetaldehyde formed by ethanol metabolism, but often fails to do its job properly in East Asians, which means they suffer worse hangovers as this toxic compound stays in their system...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness. Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. His initial statement said: "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident."'Later, however, he issued a longer statement saying the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan on Tuesday to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis.Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes...

THE last time Nan Anane, a graphic designer in San Francisco, had one beer too many during a night out with friends, his first stop the next morning was to his local Mexican taqueria, where he ordered tostadas made with ceviche, uncooked fish cured with citrus juice. "It really brings me back from that headache and bodyache," he said. "Something about near-raw fish really breathes life back into you." Outer Mongolians are said to have feasted on pickled sheep eyeballs in tomato juice. Cattle ropers in the Old West supposedly sipped tea brewed from rabbit dung. Russians have been known...

A gene that helps fruit flies develop alcohol tolerance has been found – and named “hangover”. The gene also controls the flies’ response to stress, and the researchers say that a similar pathway linking alcohol tolerance and stress probably functions in humans. The findings may explain why people who have been in a stressful situation often have a blunted response to alcohol and may drink more to feel inebriated, experts say, putting them at greater risk of becoming addicted. Ulrike Heberlein at the University of California at San Francisco, US, and Henrike Scholz from the University of Würzburg in Germany,...

CHICAGO, IL, United States (UPI) -- To be hip in Chicago has reached the stage of laying out $135 for a single cocktail, or $700 for tea and cognac. Jen Hansen, spokeswoman for the Le Passage lounge said the expensive cocktail known as a Champs-d`Elysees is only ordered about once a month, but it`s on the menu for those who feel the need for it. The drink is made with Remy Martin Louis XIII cognac, Grand Marnier, orange juice and sour mix. It`s served in a crystal cognac glass rimmed with powdered sugar, and like McDonalds, the glass can be...

Several of my recent threads / comments have related to a DUI arrest I recently had. I will not defend that. One of the more interesting subjects which came up when I was in jail was whether you can be arrested for "drunk in public" when you are on your own property. My position is that this should not be possible. I like to sit out on my front porch, have a drink or three, and study my shubbery. I am not driving or doing anything else which I consider to be wrong. The overwhelming consensus among my cell-mates is...

ST. PETERSBURG, March 11 (Itar-Tass) -- The famous Russian St. Petersburg-based Baltika brewery is beginning beer shipments to Norway on Friday, its Director for exports Dmitry Kistev told Tass.He said exports to Norway will begin with a batch of 10,000 liters.Kistev said it was difficult to access the Norwegian market because of tough registration requirements and high taxes.Baltika beer will be sold only through the state-run Vinmonopolet retail network.The state monopoly conditioned the sale of Russian beer will begin in May.The Baltika beer will be cheaper than other imported beer.In 2004 the Baltika brewery sold a record of some two...

NEW ORLEANS - In one of those only-in-New Orleans stories, visitors who put back too many beers and hurricanes in the Big Easy have a remedy to help them shake off that dreaded New Year's hangover: Sara, the Recovery Concierge. Name your poison, Sara Baker has the medicine: Ginger-root tea and a po-boy roll breakfast for the mildly hung over, pain killers and caffeine for those who really got sloshed the night before. There's also potions, bath salts and steamed water to rehydrate the weary — along with sage advice on how to recuperate. "There are two standbys that I...

In the third day of a seemingly endless bachelor party in Cabo San Lucas last year, Hal Walker, 33, woke up with a set of classic symptoms. His head ached. Loud noises made him wince. Bright lights hurt his eyes. Mr. Walker's flight home from Mexico to Colorado, where he is now a co-owner of the Island Grill in Fort Collins, left at 8 a.m., and it was all he could do to get to the airport. "If you can find a remedy for hangovers, that would be great," he said, voicing a sentiment familiar to anyone who has imbibed...

Forget about the hair of the dog. The skin of a prickly pear cactus has been shown to reduce the suffering caused by a hangover. Volunteers who took an extract of the desert cactus Opuntia ficus indica, before a binge had fewer hangover symptoms than those who took a placebo, according to a study published yesterday by American researchers. The cactus, used in some folk medicines, could help cut the impact of hangovers, which affect the economy through low productivity and absenteeism, according to the study in The Archives of Internal Medicine. The suffering may be related to inflammation caused...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tequila, the distilled spirit that fueled a decades-old margarita craze in the United States, has landed squarely in the middle of a trade fight between Mexico City and Washington. Mexico is threatening to cut off all bulk exports of Tequila, claiming it needs to tighten quality controls on the gold-plated namebrand that is owned by the Mexican government and supposedly assures every bottle's high quality. If enacted, all Tequila would be bottled in Mexico. Mexico is the only nation that produces the alcohol made from fermented sap from the blue agave plant. But as is usually in...

Hangovers Emerge as Top Excuse for Skiving Workers LONDON (Reuters) - A third of British workers think it is acceptable to take a bogus day off sick, and the top reason for doing so is a hangover, according to a survey. Over 60 percent of respondents in the research released on Tuesday said they had "pulled a sickie" after hard drinking. Workers in Yorkshire, the Midlands, the southwest of England and Wales were more likely than the national average to use a hangover as a reason to call in sick. Scots and Londoners were least likely to let a hangover...