Free Republic

California's smallest beer makers, including Stockton's Valley Brew, have become engaged in a political fight against industry giant Anheuser-Busch Co. The battle is being waged over souvenirs - specifically, the amount of money California law allows beer companies to spend on the trinkets they give away at bars and festivals. Anheuser-Busch is backing Assembly Bill 1245, authored by Rep. Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, which would allow beer companies to spend as much as $5 each on the promotional items they give away. The current law puts a 25-cent cap on the items, known in the industry as swag. A statewide coalition...

This is one of those things that seems to have fallen under the radar screen of most beer history geeks, a real shame, especially in a history-laden city like Chicago. The John Crerar Library at the University of Chicago is holding a special exhibit that “…explores the development of brewing, from the ancient Sumerians’ rice-based beverages to the rise and fall of the Chicago brewing industry.” The exhibit runs through March 31.

WASHINGTON - A battle is shaping up between conservatives who want to cut government spending and moderates seeking to protect education and health programs as House Republicans start acting on President Bush's proposed budget for next year. The conservative-dominated House Budget Committee was expected to act favorably Wednesday on a $2.8 trillion budget blueprint for the budget year that begins Oct. 1. Moderates already are demanding a rewrite to boost popular domestic programs. "I will not vote for a House budget resolution that would result in real cuts to critical federal investments in education, health care, housing veterans' services, social...

Gearing up for a prolonged fight with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa over control of public schools, Los Angeles Unified officials say they'll launch a public relations offensive to cast the often maligned district in a more favorable light. So far, Superintendent Roy Romer and other top district officials have not reacted to Villaraigosa's stepped-up pledges to wrest control of the nation's second-largest district from the seven-member school board, which except for a brief period has been dominated by candidates backed by and closely linked to unions. But behind the scenes, board members have urged Romer to spin the district's achievements more...

BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The 2005 International Beer Festival will combine Munich characteristics, according to the festival organizers. The festival will introduce a Munich beer tent. Both the inner side and outside decoration will display characteristics of the Munich Beer Festival, such as German-style wooden chairs, German cooks and German bands. The festival has already attracted 30 international and domestic beer manufacturers, with over 100 kinds of beer. The annual beer festival was launched in 1999 and moved from Beijing to Dalian in 2002. It has already become one of the most influential beer festivals in the world. The...

MEXICO CITY - U.S. Ambassador and Texas Republican star Tony Garza is marrying his very wealthy Mexican wife today — again — in a private ceremony at a piney woods lake resort to which Mexico City's elite retreat for weekends. Garza and Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala, a brewing and television magnate who reportedly is Mexico's wealthiest woman, were wed by the Roman Catholic Church in late February. Today's civil ceremony is for their union to be legal here. The ecstatic couple make clear that it's all about the love. But their marriage weds enormous wealth with political potential, making them a...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to overhaul the pension funds that 2.1 million California state employees have long depended on -- by converting the funds into plans resembling 401(k)s -- has teachers, firefighters and other workers suddenly worried about their retirement. Under the proposal, which is pitting the governor against government employee unions, Schwarzenegger wants to replace the nation's two largest public pension systems with private retirement plans similar to the 401(k)s popular with businesses. The proposal is designed in part to make up for the shortfall the pension funds have suffered in a struggling stock market. Because of...

It's 10:30 in the morning the day after Valentine's, and a brew pub owner, a brew-master, and a rabbi are sitting at a bar waiting for a pot to boil. More precisely, they're waiting for a couple of thousand gallons of water to boil in the cooking vat at the Ramapo Valley Brewery just across the state line in Suffern, N.Y.

<p>Exactly 10 years ago, the world stood by as a genocidal rampage by ethnic Hutus against ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda claimed as many as 800,000 lives. Now something similar may be unfolding in western Sudan, a region even more remote from the world's gaze. Will humanity bestir itself to act, or will history repeat itself?</p>