After writing this post, I visited the Pepsico website to share my feelings directly with the company. I received the following e-mail response:

Dear James,

In marketing our products, we always aim to convey a message of youthful spirit and optimism. As you can imagine, we try to make full use of events and venues from which we can reach the largest number of potential consumers with our message. For instance, Pepsi was widely visible at the New Year’s Eve celebrations in New York’s Times Square, and we currently are gearing up for our much-anticipated television advertising during the Super Bowl.

The inauguration of a president is another such event that engages a large number of people, both attending in Washington, D.C. as well as watching from living rooms around the world.

Our advertising initiatives coinciding with the inauguration reflect the hope shared by Americans of all political persuasions that our new president will succeed in meeting the serious challenges facing our country and our world. I can assure you that our marketing focus is set on reaching consumers to highlight our portfolio of beverages and snacks, and not the agenda of any political party.

Thanks for allowing us to share this information with you.

Clearly, this is a baloney response cooked up by the Marketing Department, which was, no doubt, reviewed by the communications department and the law department.

I see that Ed Morrissey of Hot Air got the same response, and he raised all the right questions, which I shall not repeat here.

Pepsi’s corporate response notwithstanding, Pepsi remains on my Shit List.

Two members of The One’s political base share their deep thoughts.

The choice for this evening was either blogging, or going out to dinner and drinking LOTS of wine at one of our favorite Northern Italian Bistros with the Bodyguard and the Deckmistress.

Dinner and LOTS of wine won.

Later………

Let me get this straight. So, now we have a two guys who don’t pay their taxes. One guy heads the committee that writes the tax laws and the other guy is going to be appointed to head the agency whose mission to it is to see that everyone pays his or her taxes.

Welcome to the National Laughing Academy that is the United States Government.

Update: Doug Ross takes a look at some of the other members of the Washington Laughing Academy, including Rose Law Firm Partner, Futures Trader, First Lady, Senator Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

I don’t feel like blogging, nor would I have much of anything interesting (and certainly nothing humorous) to say if I did feel like blogging. Frankly, I am still bummed out by the events of yesterday, from the fawning slobberfest on display at mainstream media outlets (which carried through to today) to the hate-filled and thoroughly hateful behavior on the part of the “progressive” left towards the outgoing President.

The fact is that the new President has never advanced a single policy with which I agree. More to the point, I vehemently disagree with every damned thing he has in mind for the country. Every Goddamned thing. Still, when it is eventually time for The One to leave office (assuming there’s anything left of the country when that happens), I wouldn’t think of behaving toward him as the animals did toward President Bush.

I’ll snap out of it; I just don’t know when.

Thank you, President Bush.

That is all.

It is impossible to read any media, listen to any media or watch any media without being bombarded with stories about Obama Stuff. It’s frankly exhausting. I don’t remember anything in my lifetime that has rivaled this, with possible exception of the invention of the Hula Hoop or the appearance of the Beatles. In both instances, the country went positively nuts.

I was a young boy when the Hula Hoop dominated the media, and I was a teen-ager when the Beatles descended upon the U.S. I admit it. I was absolutely caught up in both.

Now that I’m all grown up, I know that the Hula Hoop was silly and the Beatles, despite their great music, were just four regular guys from Liverpool who were in the right place at the right time to enable them to catch the brass ring.

So now I’m faced with tomorrow – the Inauguration. On one hand, it marks a peaceful transfer of power, which is, or ought to be, the envy of the world. I’m proud of that. On the other hand, tomorrow is sort of like the Hula Hoop and the Beatles lunacy, except that what happens on the day after tomorrow is deadly serious, and it scares the shit out of me.

Sometimes it ain’t easy being a grownup.

Have you seen this?

I cannot help but wonder if the marketing geniuses at Pepsi realize that 58 million people did NOT vote for The One and do not buy into his “Hope and Change” baloney. I wonder if the same marketing geniuses realize that many of those 58 million people used to drink Pepsi, but now will not spend one dime on the stuff.

I am one such person.

This is a photo of the thermometer I took this morning at the House by the Parkway. The temperature had warmed up a couple degrees by the time I thought about taking the picture with Mr. Cell phone. I hope to remember to take another picture of the same thermometer in August when it tickles 100 degrees.

As is often heard around here, “We love the changing of the seasons.” Today – not so much.

My daughter and my son-in-law, knowing what tickles my fancy and knowing what always fits, for Christmas bought me a variety of most-excellent bourbons. One such bourbon is Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Whiskey.

Let me tell you: this is one fine drink. Like all liquor that can call itself “bourbon,” Bulleit is comprised of at least 51% corn. What makes Bulleit different from the rest of the bourbons is the heavy dose of rye grain that finds its way into the mix, which was formulated from a recipe created before the Civil War.

I will spare you the “oaky … and hint of vanilla” baloney to simply say the stuff tastes great. I have drunk it only neat, but I’m sure it would stand up very well to ice (clear cubes only, of course — assuming you wish to be civilized)..

Finally, a word about the bottle. What’s not to like? It looks like a bottle one would find in the Gem Saloon in Deadwood, complete with a cork, which in a pinch, could be removed with one’s teeth.

There aren’t many better things in life than a bottle of kickass bourbon on a Friday night, especially on a Friday night when the temperature outside is in the single digits.

Here’s to ya!