Free Republic

While the American people are being hit with new ObamaCare taxes, and the ObamaDeficit is climbing through the roof and will pass 20 trillion dollars before long, there’s always plenty of sweetheart deals and pork to be found. 1. Hollywood. Celebrities flocked to Obama and the industry poured millions into his campaign. Payday comes in the form of an extension of the Special Expensing Rules which allow Hollywood productions to deduct 15 to 20 million dollars. That’s pretty generous considering that companies that manufacture medical devices are being hit with a tax. But who really needs pacemakers anyway when you’ve...

To life, love and a legendary privateer’s lost fleet. U.S. archaeologists are continuing their search for real-life buccaneer Captain Henry Morgan’s lost fleet after the discovery of six cannons, a 17th century wooden shipwreck and even a barrel that may very well contain rum. Yo, ho ho indeed. Aptly backed by the Captain Morgan rum brand, a team of leading archaeologists led by Frederick “Fritz” Hanselmann of Texas State University hope to unlock the myth and mysteries of one of history’s most iconic sea captains. “We’re interested in telling the true story of Henry Morgan,” Hanselmann, who is a director...

It’s Puerto Rico in 1960, and Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp, actually playing the young Hunter S. Thompson) makes his reeling, booze-soaked arrival to work at the local newspaper. Various gringo residents, from his beyond-cynical editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins) to the paper’s photographer Bob (Michael Rispoli), who becomes his roommate, and ruthless big-shot land developer Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart) try to school him in the island ways to his advantage. But Kemp has always unsteadily made his own choices, while scrabbling to find his true voice as a real writer, as well as love in the form of Sanderson’s tempting girlfriend, Chenault...

<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Navy has dropped dismissal proceedings against a South Carolina-based sailor who was charged with unprofessional conduct after he was found in the same bed with another male sailor, a spokesman said Friday.</p> <p>The Navy no longer has a dismissal case against Petty Officer Stephen Jones, said spokesman Thomas Dougan, who wouldn't discuss any details.</p>

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Police say a New York woman shared rum with two teenagers who helped her shovel snow. White Plains public safety police commissioner, David Chong, says the boys' parents called police after the teens came home in a "highly intoxicated state" Monday. The boys are 17 and 18. New York's legal drinking age is 21...

Virtually everything today is in one way or another a potential danger to U.S. national security. There are foreign terrorists, of course. Beyond that authorities cite drug cartels, downturns in the economy, espionage, street gangs, counterfeit goods, right-wing militias, left-wing environmentalists and the multiple personalities of Mother Nature. Beautiful Caribbean locales, on the other hand, face their own hazards. For the Virgin Islands, one of several U.S. territories many Americans forget have deep historical, political and economic ties to the mainland, it’s apparently adult beverages and “Puerto Rican terrorists” that together form a feasible threat. First, background. The story begins...

TO HOLD YOU FOREVER you just want me to hold you to keep on holding you so that you keep my fingers locked around you never letting me go of my fingers to play with words and write some lines some sense some cynical some classic some sad and some stupid and my thoughts you smudge them with deft ease and i turn blind to all that's floating around me the evening skirts in shades of black and bouncing babes with gym-shaped legs low-fat low-carb arms and most of it my fingers locked around you when all they want is...

Jamaican authorities placed Kingston under a state of emergency and urged people to leave the city’s roughest neighbourhoods overnight, as police clashed with armed gangs over the possible extradition of a drug suspect to the United States. A police officer and a civilian were wounded by gunfire in street clashes and three police stations came under attack in the city, while women and children were told to evacuate. One police station was set ablaze after police abandoned it ran out of bullets, police said. Authorities alleged that gunmen from various communities across the Caribbean country of 2.8 million had joined...

Captain Morgan is packing his bags and moving to the U.S. Virgin Islands — a relocation that is making waves from Puerto Rico to Washington and riling some Central Florida politicians. Diageo, a British liquor conglomerate that owns the popular spiced-rum brand, was lured to the Virgin Islands by up to $2.7 billion in rebates over 30 years on the excise taxes that the company pays to import the rum onto the mainland. The company also will move into a new $165 million distillery and get a 90 percent income-tax break. The deal dismayed another U.S. territory, Puerto Rico, which...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Vandals threw a rum bottle at a mosque in the first attack on a Muslim house of worship after almost a dozen similar assaults on churches in Malaysia the past week, police said Saturday. Police have dismissed the attacks as vandalism, but they have caused disquiet in multiracial Malaysia and raised fears of more widespread religious tensions. One Sikh temple and 11 churches have been hit _ most of them with molotov cocktails _ since Jan. 8. One church was partially gutted, though the others sustained only minor damages. No arrests have been made. (snip) Abu...

The bad blood continues to ferment between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands over rum taxes, as the two territories vie for perks to lure the lucrative industry. In the latest round, the U.S. Virgin Islands is accusing Puerto Rico and its backers of spreading “misinformation” related to a recent move by liquor company Diageo to open a rum plant in the Virgin Islands. Diageo, which owns Captain Morgan, is ending a long-standing relationship with Puerto Rico’s Destilería Serrallés. In a Nov. 13 letter to House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), Gov. John deJongh of the Virgin...

Your humble correspondent has just returned from the Caribbean paradise of Culebra. Politics were far from my mind as I snorkled the Culebran reefs. However, on my way home, I picked up a copy of the Puerto Rico Daily Sun in the western outskirts of San Juan and a certain story by Robert Friedman of their Washington, D.C. bureau caught my eye because it had the word "rum" in the title: "Debate heats up in D.C. over rum rebate." As a lover of that delightful beverage, I naturally scanned the story which, much to my amusement, illustrated the state of...

Lawmakers lean on Pelosi and Rangel as controversy mounts over taxes on rumBy Susan Crabtree - 11/12/09 06:00 AM ET The tug-of-war between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands over rum taxes has grown more intense in the wake of House passage of the healthcare bill. Puerto Rico’s top supporters in the lower chamber this week fired off letters to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) imploring them to turn their attention to the dispute between the two island territories. The members who signed the letter to Rangel were Puerto Rico Resident...

Deal has U.S. taxpayers subsidizing British distillery on St. Croixby Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten/Los Angeles Times Tuesday September 08, 2009, 6:00 AM With little fanfare, a deal is moving forward to direct billions in U.S. tax dollars to an unlikely beneficiary -- the giant British liquor producer that makes Captain Morgan rum. Under the agreement, Diageo of London will receive tax credits and other benefits worth $2.7 billion over 30 years, including the entire $165 million cost of building a state-of-the-art distillery on the island of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory. Virgin Islands officials say...

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum. With little fanfare, a deal is moving forward to direct billions in U.S. tax dollars to an unlikely beneficiary -- the giant British liquor producer that makes Captain Morgan rum. Under the agreement, London-based Diageo PLC will receive tax credits and other benefits worth $2.7 billion over 30 years, including the entire $165 million cost of building a state-of-the-art distillery on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Virgin Islands officials say the arrangement complies with the letter and spirit of tax law and will help the islands' sagging economy. The...

Among the expected glories of the Constitution, next to the abolition of Slavery was that of Rum. --George Clymer Fifteen men on a dead man's chestö Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the restö Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! --Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island There's naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion. --Lord Byron

If you didn't before, you sure do now. That's why he's got that grin on his face. It's not rum in the Captain's barrel, you see. It's your booty. According to Bloomberg.com, Diageo Plc, the maker of Captain Morgan rum, was essentially given... wait for it... $2.7 billion in tax incentives to move its production from Puerto Rico to the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). That's a lot of other people's money to be rearranging like barstools on our Titanic of an economy. WHAT'S A PIRATE'S FAVORITE LAW? TAaaRrrP. The article notes that USVI Governor John deJongh, Jr. had no idea...

Right now I have a nice little buzz going with a glass of Flor de Caña extra dry rum so I want to share this music VIDEO with you. It is the Andrews Sisters singing "Rum and Coca Cola" from 1945. The song is especially enjoyable if you are drinking rum as I am doing right now. Of course, Flor de Caña is much too good to dilute with Coca Cola but I still like it as the best rum drinking song ever. Some great images of rum brands in this video and it will definitely make you CRAVE...

MIAMI -- Bacardi said its 151-proof rum was not the cause of burns suffered by three women who sued the spirits company and alleged that their injuries were caused when a bottle used to pour shots turned into a "flame thrower." Bacardi, in a motion to dismiss the women's' lawsuits, said their injuries were caused after a bartender poured rubbing alcohol on the bar of the "Secrets" adult club and ignited it as part of a promotion for flaming drinks in 2002. Quoting from Miami-Dade County police and fire reports, the company said another drunken patron placed a paper menu...

Havana Club, the rum that evokes memories of toasts at glittery hot spots in pre-Castro Cuba, is coming this week to Florida bars, liquor stores and hotels. Coming on the heels of a favorable ruling in a decade-long legal battle with French liquor giant Pernod Ricard and the Cuban government, Miami-based Bacardi U.S.A. is relaunching the Havana Club brand as a super-premium rum selling for $19.99 a bottle.Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office deemed the Havana Club trademark held by Cubaexport ``cancelled/expired.''Bringing Havana Club back to the United States is particularly gratifying for Ramon Arechabala. His family created the...

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine website reported. According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out. The website said that the body of the man had been shipped back from Jamaica 20 years...

Drinkers shock at body in rum barrel From correspondents in Budapest 04may06 HUNGARIAN builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine website reported. According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out. The website said that the body of the...

Tue 14 Dec 2004 5:55pm (UK) 'Bullying' commander ordered off his warshipBy Becky Barrow (Filed: 14/12/2004) A Royal Navy commander has been ordered off his warship in a highly unusual move following allegations of bullying and intimidation. The Ministry of Defence confirmed last night that Commander David Axon was told to leave his ship, Somerset, at Gibraltar and return immediately to Britain rather than complete the journey back from Iraq aboard the ship. Cmdr Axon The spokesman said Cmdr Axon had been told to leave the ship as a result of "an equal opportunities investigation following a complaint from a...

You guys are always good for sign content. I'll hold it and let you know what happens!

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- President Fidel Castro fell, possibly breaking his leg, after giving a graduation speech Wednesday in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara. Sending a buzz through the crowd, the 78-year-old leader appeared to trip as he was walking away from the podium. In an effort to calm the crowd, Castro took the microphone after a few minutes, saying: "Just so that there won't be any speculation, it seems that I broke my knee." He apologized for any concerns he may have caused for those who care about him and then joked how his spill was likely...

TAMPA — Two women in the their 60s say they used kindness, food and rum to subdue a shotgun-wielding man who broke into their house. Police eventually came and arrested a 52-year-old man after he became groggy from the liquor and passed out. Cathy Ord and Rose Bucher said they tried to make friends with the man after he burst in through a kitchen window toting a sawed-off shotgun Tuesday night. They made him a ham sandwich, gave him a bottle of rum and suggested he take a shower. “We just treated him with kindness,” said Bucher, 63. The intruder...

Some little known American Naval history... [About consumables.] The U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) as a combat vessel carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. Shecarried no evaporators. However, let it be noted that according to her log, "On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum." Her mission: "To destroy and harass English...

January 15, 2003 11:45 … and the Privateer Option against al Qaeda By Robert G. Williscroft Roaming the oceans of the world, ranging in size from a small freighter to several of the largest container ships afloat, 20 to 30 vessels owned or controlled by Osama bin Laden are plying the world's trade routes, biding their time, waiting for the right moment. The right moment … to launch another major terrorist attack. Sailing under flags of convenience, these ships move men and materials from port to port, distributing al Qaeda resources to where they are needed next. By flying the...