Fanatic Friday: Beer Edition

It's been a heavy week... so I thought we could wrap up the week with some lighter fare.

Image: Via The Catholic Jester's Instagram.

From Brewer magazine:

Nearly 100 years before Laverne and Shirley sang their way to work at the fictional Shotz Brewery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin was already a beer city.

Today, more than a half dozen new breweries are looking to re-ignite the notion, but this time as a craft beer city.

In a complete bit of happenstance, multiple breweries are either opening as start-ups, moving into the city from other places in Wisconsin or expanding with a taproom all this summer.

Those that are opening just this year include Good City, City Lights, Third Space and Urban Harvest. Moving into the area from other parts of the state are Black Husky (from Pembine) and MobCraft (from Madison). Those join recent openers from the last year or so in the area like Brenner, Company, District 14 and Enlightened. 

Read the article here. I'm particularly excited to try Good City Brewing , as it is only a couple blocks from my apartment. First day open is today! Photos of the space here.

Ten new breweries are expected to open in the Milwaukee area by the end of the year. 

Homeless men get a taste of Milwaukee's best restaurants

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Award-winning chef Justin Aprahamian and his staff decided that a hearty French cassoulet — a stew with meat and vegetables — was a good dish for his regulars on a December night.

These regulars weren't the 20 people who can fit in his upscale Sanford Restaurant near downtown Milwaukee, though. They were 86 men staying at Milwaukee's largest publicly funded homeless shelter, the Guest House.

"The men are so appreciative, that someone would take time out of their day and prepare this nice, quality meal," said Cindy Krahenbuhl, executive director of the Guest House, which also offers programs dealing with mental health, drug and alcohol issues.

A volunteer there who is also retired from the restaurant business, Dale Rhyan, came up with the idea about four years ago to approach restaurants for help after he noticed the men got only about a dozen meals a month — and those weren't particularly nutritious ones. The shelter has no budget for meals and relies completely on volunteers to make meals.

"So I thought, OK, this is by far the most important thing on the list, because food goes right to the brain," Rhyan said. "These guys need nutrition to get their lives back, and to be able to go out on the street, find work, and get their health back."

continue at Yahoo

HT Cream City Catholic

PLW: Milwaukee Police Department dispatcher berates pro-lifer for asking for assistance at Affiliated Medical Services

This evening, Milwaukee radio talk show host Mark Belling discussed the situation of the young girl held at Affiliated Medical Services last week against her will [Part 1 here and Part 2 here].

Belling obtained the audio of the phone call that Dan Miller (head of 40 Days for Life of Milwaukee and a witness) made to the Milwaukee Police Department, asking for police to investigate.

Listen to the audio of the MPD call here. You can hear the dispatcher berating Miller, supporting a mother’s “right” to force her daughter into the abortion facility, and completely ignoring the sexual abuse that occurred, resulting in the alleged pregnancy.

As Belling pointed out on his show, dispatchers are not supposed to judge the right or wrong of a situation; that’s what police officers are for.

Anne Schwartz, public relations manager for the Milwaukee Police Department, told Belling the MPD supported the decision the dispatcher made to ignore the volatile situation and not send out an officer.

Pro-lifers’ relationship with the MPD is somewhat precarious, given the arrest of James Marcou earlier this year and the ongoing federal lawsuit against the MPD

Pro-Life Wisconsin

Pro-abortion mayor of Milwaukee launches "Strong Baby" campaign

From Pro-Life Wisconsin:

As we’ve written before, infant mortality in the City of Milwaukee is among the highest in the nation; black infants are three times more likely to die than white infants.

To combat this alarming statistic, the City of Milwaukee has launched a “Strong Baby” initiative, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The winners of the Strong Baby casting call were breastfed, are up-to-date on immunizations and project “strong baby” qualities, city officials said.

The press conference was upbeat, celebrating healthy babies. But a somber mission was behind the message — that too many other babies in Milwaukee aren’t getting the same strong start. During the press conference, babies giggled and smiled while their mothers bounced them in their arms.

One baby, Madyson Dixon, blew kisses and waved as the mayor recited sobering statistics:

From 2005-2008 the city recorded 499 infant deaths, the mayor said [on average, in just one year, Milwaukee County residents account for 3,528 abortions, or roughly 43% of the state's total abortion figures]. For every 1,000 births, 11 infants died. Black infants were three times more likely to die than white infants [black infants are three times more likely to be aborted as well]. In 2009 an additional 122 infants died; a substantial portion of the deaths were preventable.

Little Madyson Dixon, in pigtails for the press conference, earlier charmed Murphy, the alderman, when he finished his comments. As Murphy turned to leave the podium, the baby blew him a kiss. He reached out for her hand and kissed it.

“This is the best press conference I’ve ever attended,” Murphy said, noting he and his wife five years ago adopted a child from China, and have been learning what it takes to be good parents.

Madyson started waving at six months, said her mother, Kia Brazil, and grandmother, Paula Young. She also loves to blow kisses, and can snap her fingers at 11 months.

The juxtaposition of happy, healthy babies behind a [pro-abortion] mayor reciting statistics about other babies dying was not lost on the parents of the Strong Baby campaign winners.

Apparently only the untimely deaths of “Every child a wanted child” are worthy of mourning. Unfortunately, for mothers and their children, missing from the MJS and the City’s information campaigns is something, anything, about the risks induced abortion has. One of the causes of infant death is preterm delivery. Abortions increase the risk of low birth weight in future pregnancies by a factor of three, and of premature birth by a factor of two.

But really... what do you expect from a city whose health department partners [PDF] with Planned Parenthood to do an AIDS fashion show?

The missing link is hardly a surprise though — the MJS never misses an opportunity to stump for Planned Parenthood, and Mayor Tom Barrett, a pro-abortion Catholic, is consistently endorsed by both Planned Parenthood and NARAL. Don’t women at least deserve the facts?

Outreach to women in crisis pregnancies continues

Due to the proceeds of a grant for outreach to women in crisis pregnancies, Pro-Life Wisconsin has placed “Pregnant? Need Help” posters on bus shelters in the City of Milwaukee (above). The same ads will also be running on City of Milwaukee buses.

The phone number on the advertisements directs women to a 24-hour crisis pregnancy counseling hotline.

Planned Parenthood facilities are within blocks of these ads.

Read more at Pro-Life Wisconsin.