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A group of suspected smugglers are to go on trial for pumping thousands of litres of cheap Russian vodka into the European Union through an underwater pipeline. The accused built a 2-kilometre pipeline through a reservoir that marks the Russian-Estonian border, and managed to pump 6,200 litres of spirits across before getting caught.

Chelsea Clinton. The former First Daughter is also starting a master's program at Columbia, majoring in public health policy, according to a source.

Two lanes of southbound U.S. Highway 101 in Sunnyvale reopened at about 9:15 a.m., following a crash in which a big rig transporting vodka overturned and spilled the product onto the roadway, city spokesman John Pilger said. The big rig overturned shortly before 8 a.m. at North Mathilda Avenue, spilling vodka and fuel and temporarily closing all southbound lanes. Emergency personnel have extricated the driver of the big rig, but Pilger did not know the driver's condition. The left two lanes on the southbound side have reopened, but authorities are advising commuters to take alternate routes if possible, as traffic...

Every nation could be described as a manifestation of a unique trait of character and most countries furthermore nurture, give emphasize to and celebrate this national identity of theirs. Some examples of such key national characters (please DO comment if you feel inclined to); USA: Liberty Italy: Creativity France: Refinement India: Spirituality Germany: Self-discipline Finland: "Sisu" (a Finnish term meaning "To have guts") Britain: Elevatedness Denmark: "Hygge" (a Danish word meaning "Good-naturedness", of mind as well as of deed) Spain: Passion China: Cultivation Russia: Chaos - just joking, I would actually say "Heart" (in the sense of having a big...

Updated: May 30, 2008 06:44 PM EDT Reporting from KTVQ in Billings Chelsea Clinton told supporters in Billings that the country needs to do more with gun control laws, during the final visit on her two day tour campaigning on her mother's behalf in the Magic City. During a question and answer session before seniors and other supporters at the Yellowstone County Council on Aging Office Friday morning, Chelsea said, "We also need to do more with gun control. And my mom supports- naturally what she supported in New York. Which is: we have different gun control laws in New...

Text size – + Chelsea Clinton sends a Mother's Day tribute With Mother's Day on Sunday and with a campaign on the ropes, Hillary Clinton today released a video featuring her daughter Chelsea that makes public for the first time some family snapshots of Chelsea growing up. It also features some very personal feelings from a former first daughter whose privacy the Clintons have tried to protect ever since their days in the White House, but who has taken on a more public role in recent weeks stumping for her mother. "I’d like to tell you about my mom," an...

Chelsea Clinton suggested Tuesday that she doesn't believe voters should consider how her mother responded to Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky when making judgments about her character. Clinton has repeatedly refused to discuss the issue when campaigning for her mother, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, calling questions about the Lewinsky matter none of the public's business. But speaking Tuesday at Duke University, she answered a question from a student who said the issue was important for voters who wanted to assess the character of candidates in the race. "I agree that character is very important,"...

Rendell joins Chelsea Clinton for 'gay pub crawl' in Phillyby BRETT LIEBERMAN, Of The Patriot-News Saturday April 19, 2008, 4:22 PM Christopher Murray embraces Chelsea Clinton Friday night when the former first daughter campaigned with Gov. Ed Rendell and actor Rob Reiner during a pub crawl of gay bars in Philadelphia. They loved her hair; they smacked her butt; they hooted and hugged Friday night as Chelsea Clinton hit Philadelphia for what campaign aides called a "gay pub crawl." BRETT LIEBERMAN, The Patriot-News "Chelsea, the gays love you!" Jeff Guaracino, 35, shouted as the former first daughter took the stage...

I was supposed to ask her questions like "where are you most likely to disagree with your mom or your dad?" or "did you ever call your mom at 3 am and how did she react?" But all I could think of was that: "I am...standing in front of Hill and Bill's kid...in a red Mary Kay Cosmetics Collection dress...I'd just bought that day at the Goodwill...how weird is that?" Yes, Chelsea Clinton made it to the infamous "Red Dress" Party. Not to be confused with that other annual "Red Dress" fundraiser, this is the "Red Dress Party," a mondo-alcohol-fueled...

"Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., greets supporters outside the National Constitution Center before a debate between Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen., Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Philadelphia."

An organization fighting illegal immigration has launched a boycott of Absolut vodka after the Swedish company ran an ad showing large areas of the U.S. as part of Mexico. A map in the ad depicts Mexico owning California, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and other U.S. territory, with the slogan, “In an Absolut World,” and panders to the “separatist” movement among Mexicans, according to the National Illegal Immigration Boycott Coalition (NIIBC). “There is a rapidly growing separatist movement in the United States that is being fueled by illegal immigration across our southern border with Mexico,” the group said in a...

Long live the glorious comrades at Absolut Vodka who have joined the progressive cause of humiliating Yankee imperialists by creating an ad with the map of the United States that would please the most radical members of Atzlan, La Raza, and Mecha. The ad was part of a new campaign with pictures of various pipe dreams accompanied by the slogan "In an Absolut World," which is translated from Swedish as "when pigs fly," "when the hell freezes over," or "in the Progressive World of Next Tuesday," whichever comes first. We immediately decided to join the struggle and throw a few...

In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican-America War (1846-1848). With the signing of this treaty, the United States gained control of what was to become the Golden West, including California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of Colorado and New Mexico. Today, SKYY® Vodka, the number-one vodka produced in the United States, spoke out against suggestions by Absolut® Vodka to disregard that treaty, as well as the joining of Texas to the Union in 1845, as depicted in Absolut’s recent advertising. “Like SKYY Vodka, the residents of states like California, Texas and Arizona are exceptionally proud of...

By Matt Sanchez © 2008 In an attempt to be "edgy," the Absolut Vodka manufacturer created an ad that hearkened back to the first Mexican Empire and included much of what is indisputably the United States of America. The ad (seen at right) placed California, Colorado and Texas in Montezuma's Revenge territory, which would be a disaster for the average human smuggler; could you imagine having to cross Texas on foot just to get a decent job or drink clean water?

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The distillers of Sweden's Absolut vodka have withdrawn an advertisement run in Mexico that angered many U.S. citizens by idealizing an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as Mexican. ADVERTISEMENT The billboard ad has the slogan "In an Absolut World" slapped over a pre-1848 map showing California, Arizona and other U.S. states as Mexican territory. Those states were carved out of what had been Mexican lands until that year. Although it was not shown in the United States, U.S. media outlets picked up on the ad, and after a barrage of complaints,...

MEXICO CITY -- The latest advertising campaign in Mexico from Swedish vodka maker Absolut seemed to push all the right buttons south of the U.S. border, but it ruffled a few feathers in El Norte. As word of the campaign spread across the border, primarily via the Internet, some in the United States began giving the campaign a much more hostile reception. The colorful ad, created by the Teran\TBWA agency and the vodka maker, is a sight gag depicting what a map of North America might look like "In an Absolut world," i.e., a perfect one. It shows the Mexican...

I got a note from Mr. Moran, the PR guy at Absolut. It reads" "The ad has been down -- have you not seen the Pears ad in its place?" Jeffrey A. Moran Corporate and Brand Communications The Absolut Spirits Co., Inc. 401 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 CONTACT email: jeffrey.moran@absolut.com direct dial: +1 212.641.8720 main: +1 212.641.8700 fax: +1 212.641.8703 mobile: +1 917.609.2463

Check out this ad in a Mexican magazine named "Quien" from this month: http://lauramartinez.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/imagenfinal.jpg I like Absolut vodkas, but I won't buy them anymore. They've got competition in the regular and flavored markets, and the competition will benefit from this idiocy. Maybe I'll buy some Kalashnikov vodka instead: http://www.vodkakalashnikov.com/home.htm

Time-Warner: Vodka Ad Campaign Reconquers California for Mexico Warner Todd Huston April 3, 2008 Taking the Reconquista concept all the way to the end, Absolut Vodka launched an ad campaign that appears on billboards and at least one magazine that features a map of the western U.S. and Mexico with nearly the entire west coast appearing as a part of Mexico. This ad appears in Quien Magazine, which is owned by Time Warner and also appears on billboards in Mexico. Quien claims a "total audience" of 513,000 readers in Mexico and the southwestern U.S. The map covers what used to...

For those of you who want to let the Absolut Vodka people know how disgusted you are by their appallingly offensive Mexican marketing campaign, here is a list of e-mail addresses for people at Absolut who ought to hear from you: Ketil.Eriksen@absolut.se - Ketil Eriksen, President V&S ABSOLUT Spirits Anna.malmhake@absolut.se - Anna Malmhake, Global Brand Director, V&S ABSOLUT Spirits tim.murphy@absolut.com - Tim Murphy, VP Marketing, Absolut Spirits Company, Inc. jeffrey.moran@absolut.com - Jeffrey Moran, Director of Public Relations and Events, Absolut Spirits Company, Inc. karl-johan.bogefors@absolut.se - Karl-Johan Bogefors, Global PR Manager, V&S ABSOLUT Spirits

<p>Advertisement appeared in Quien magazine, in Mexico City, and billboards.</p>

Taking the Reconquista concept all the way to the end, Absolut Vodka launched an ad campaign that appears on billboards and at least one magazine that features a map of the western U.S. and Mexico with nearly the entire west coast appearing as a part of Mexico. This ad appears in Quien Magazine, which is owned by Time Warner and also appears on billboards in Mexico. Quien claims a "total audience" of 513,000 readers in Mexico and the southwestern U.S. The map covers what used to be Mexico's claimed borders before our 1846 war with them from which the U.S....

Bacon-flavored Vodka Posted by Scaramouch on January 27, 2008. A few days ago I bookmarked a recipe for Bacon-Flavored vodka to try making, but in the last few days, the site has gone dark. Luckily, Google still has a cache of the page, so before it gets lost forever, I thought I'd rerpoduce it here to add to our growing list of bacon-themed ingestibles. Bacon VodkaMakes up one pint Fry up three strips of bacon Add cooked bacon to a clean pint sized mason jar. Trim the ends of the bacon if they are too tall to fit in the...

The question was one she had heard before, but this time it was asked in downright hostile terms. “Has your mother shown any remorse for the fact that her vote cost Iraqis a million of their lives?” a student asked Chelsea Clinton on Monday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Clinton replied: “She cast a vote based on the best available evidence. Perhaps you had clairvoyance then, and that’s extraordinary.”

On a congressional trip to Estonia, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton astonished her traveling companions by suggesting the group do what one does in the Baltics: hold a vodka-drinking contest! Delighted, the leader of the overseas delegation, Sen. John McCain, quickly agreed, the NEW YORK TIMES is planning to report on Saturday. The after-dinner game went so well -- memories are a bit hazy on who drank how much -- that McCain later told people how unexpectedly fun he found Clinton to be. TIMES reporter Anne Kornblut has filed a story on the curious relationship between Hillary and John McCain. "One...

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- A Baptist minister has been charged in Tennessee with indecent exposure and driving under the influence. Police said 58-year-old Tommy Tester of Bristol, Va., was wearing a skirt when he was arrested last week after allegedly relieving himself in front of children at a car wash. A report also accuses Tester of offering police officers oral sex and says an open bottle of vodka and empty oxycodone prescription bottle was found in his car when Tester was arrested Friday. Authorities identified Tester as the minister of Gospel Baptist Church in Bristol and an employee of Christian...

Sweden is set to begin its sale of state-owned wine and spirits manufacturer, Vin & Sprit. The government said it would contact all interested parties over the course of the day before beginning an auction process, Minister for Financial Markets Mats Odell announced at a press conference on Tuesday morning. "We are now coming to the end of the preparatory phase and the beginning of a more active phase. We expect a transaction to be made public next year," sad Odell. The minister said that the government had decided to conduct the sale in the form of a bidding process...

DOCTORS used a case of vodka to help save an Italian tourist being treated for poisoning in a Queensland hospital. And hospital authorities later proved very understanding about the booze bill. The 24-year-old man was brought to Mackay Base Hospital, in north Queensland, two months ago after he had ingested a large amount of the poisonous substance ethylene glycol, found in antifreeze, which can cause renal failure and is often fatal. In details just released by the hospital, Dr Pascal Gelperowicz, who led the man's treatment with Dr Todd Fraser, said the man was unconscious on arrival and his treatment...

Two young women tried to set fire to a pornographic video shop in Malmö on Thursday night, police have said. The women, 23 and 26, were arrested at 12:45 am near the shop on Bergsgatan in the city. "They were outside the shop, and set fire to a phone book. They also tried to set fire to an antenna cable that led into the video store," said police spokesman Lars-Håkan Lindholm to The Local. As well as housing the porn shop, the block housed a number of apartments. Police were called to the scene by someone who saw what the...

Nearly 260 vodka brands were introduced in the U.S. from 2001 to 2006, according to market research firm Adams Beverage Group. "Swathed in purple glass, illuminated in pink, or infused with flavors like cherry vanilla, vodkas now account for about a quarter of all new hard-liquor brands, more than any other spirit," reports The Wall Street Journal. The Stiletto is an aficionado of vodka martinis, so she has strong opinions about her spirit of choice:† The finest vodkas are distilled from wheat. Only a peasant would drink a potato vodka, like Chopin.† Unless vodka is going to be used for...

A spirited war: The search for the real vodka By Dan Bilefsky / International Herald Tribune Published: November 23, 2006 RIGA, Latvia: Polish lore has it that vodka was distilled from coal during Communist times after efforts to use chickens backfired. In Sweden, vodka was once produced from paper-mill residue. But vodka purists of today have little patience for alternative ingredients. "Real vodka can only be made from grain or potatoes," says Rolands Gulbis, head of Latvijas Balzams, the largest vodka distiller in the Baltics, whose vodka making tradition dates to 1900 when Czar Nicholas II of Russia built a...

Championing the cause of 'real' vodka by Thijs Papot 24-10-2006 When should a bottle of spirits be labelled vodka, and when not? European Union agriculture ministers are to address this issue and examine whether or not there's a need for a clear definition of what goes into making 'true' vodka. But there's also division in the EU as to whether protectionism isn't the real motive for this debate. "Vodka is a misunderstood drink," says potato vodka producer Tadeusz Dorda, "Because vodka really does have taste, character and an aroma, depending on the type of potato and the time of year."...

HILLARY CLINTON, MCCAIN HELD VODKA-DRINKING CONTEST Fri Jul 28 2006 19:19:50 ET On a congressional trip to Estonia, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton astonished her traveling companions by suggesting the group do what one does in the Baltics: hold a vodka-drinking contest! Delighted, the leader of the overseas delegation, Sen. John McCain, quickly agreed, the NEW YORK TIMES is planning to report on Saturday. The after-dinner game went so well -- memories are a bit hazy on who drank how much. McCain later told people how unexpectedly fun he found Hillary to be. TIMES reporter Anne Kornblut has filed a story...

On a congressional trip to Estonia, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton astonished her traveling companions by suggesting the group do what one does in the Baltics: hold a vodka-drinking contest! Delighted, the leader of the overseas delegation, Sen. John McCain, quickly agreed, the NEW YORK TIMES is planning to report on Saturday. The after-dinner game went so well -- memories are a bit hazy on who drank how much -- that McCain later told people how unexpectedly fun he found Clinton to be. TIMES reporter Anne Kornblut has filed a story on the curious relationship between Hillary and John McCain. "One...

BUYING whiskey in Moscow has become mission impossible. Shelves once full of imported wine have been swept clear. Could vodka, Russia's national drink, be next? Famed for their hard drinking, Russians are facing the country's worst alcohol shortage in 20 years. Not since Mikhail Gorbachev tried to crack down on alcoholism by curbing vodka sales has there been such a crisis. This time the drought is the result of a bureaucratic bungle. The aim was to stamp out bootleg alcohol, which can poison or even kill, but anti-counterfeiting measures have had unforeseen effects. 1 July, a day that has come...

15 Years After Being Deposed From Power, Former Leader Discusses Russia, U.S. Mikhail Gorbachev is generally regarded as the man who broke down the "iron curtain" that separated the communist world from the West and thawed the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Now, 15 years after a coup removed him from power and the Soviet Union dissolved, he has some stern words for the United States, whose relationship with Russia has soured lately. "We have made some mistakes," he said, referring to recent attacks on Russia's democracy. "So what? Please don't put even more obstacles...

Squabbling over what ingredients can be used to make true vodka threatens to hold up European Commission proposals to tighten the definition of spirit drinks. Calls to restrict the raw materials that can be used to make vodka would damage Europe's vodka trade, said the European Vodka Alliance this week. It is an issue threatening to cause full-scale rows between several EU member states, as new proposals for defining spirit drinks work their way through the EU machine. Poland has led a delegation including Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states and Germany, demanding that true vodka could only be made from...

See for example this thread first. Tell me how much work it must take To attain 60-proof -- IN A LAKE? If this is your wish "To drink like a fish" This water, your thirst it will slake!

Malfunctioning distillery turns lake into vodka. According to specialist analysis, the Bracholinskie lake in Wielkopolska is filled with alcohol. The concentration of alcohol in the water amounts to 30% in some places. The phenomenon is a result of a technical problem in the nearby vodka production plant. "Our alcohol measuring equipment is not wrong. It recorded a level of 30%. There is vodka in this lake," stated chemist Robert Wilczynski. The news about the free vodka in the lake spread fast and attracted a number of farmers from nearby villages who arrived at the lake to take as much vodka...

Vodka makes Russia work By Joseph Tartakovsky 05/15/2006 In the fall of 1977, the state vodka monopoly of the Polish People's Republic filed suit in an international trade court claiming that vodka had first been distilled in Poland. For this reason, it argued, only Polish firms had the right to sell the clear alcohol in foreign markets under the name "vodka." An incredulous Soviet Ministry of Trade initially ignored this as a joke. But it was a particularly pernicious joke, touching the tender parts of the Russian soul, not to mention Warsaw Pact solidarity, so the ministry grudgingly asked the...

The first one to feel the bite of pure alcohol on his tongue was probably an Arab alchemist of the eighth century, living in the area of present-day Morocco. Vodka, which in some of its forms comes very close to being an almost purely alcoholic brew, appeared in Europe later – we know that alcohol was being distilled from wine in Italy by the 11th century. It was called spiritus vini or "spirit of wine." The 13th-century alchemist Arnaud de Villeneuve of Montpelier wrote that it "strengthens the body and lengthens life." Because of this belief in the blessings of...

Poland and Hungary are quarrelling over the definition of vodka. For the Poles vodka is “an alcoholic beverage derived from cereals or potatoes.” Historically vodka is a colourless liquor made from grain. Traditionally it was made in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and Scandinavia. However, the fact that potato vodka is also considered to be vodka, though potatoes were only introduced in these regions in the 18th century, indicates, according to some, that vodka can also be distilled from other products than grain or potatoes

27/02/2006 - 2:45:55 PM Smirnoff back in the family The story of Smirnoff vodka took a new twist today when it was re-united with the name of the legendary Smirnov family after a gap of nearly 90 years. Drinks giant Diageo has signed a joint venture with the maker of Smirnov, which uses original recipes created by imperial vodka supplier Pyotr Smirnov, who died in 1898. The split happened when one of Pyotr’s sons – Vladimir Smirnov – fled Russia following the Soviet revolution. He established Smirnoff in Paris using the Francophone spelling of his name and the business developed...

High-end vodka is keeping spirits up By Nora FitzGerald International Herald Tribune FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006 MOSCOW People thought it couldn't be done. The idea of renting Liberty Island in New York Harbor for a bling and borscht party to introduce a Russian vodka seemed too absurd. But Roustam Tariko, 44, a Russian tycoon who made his initial fortune in importing and banking, not only got permission, he also spent more than $3 million, inviting more than 1,000 people to the September event and feeding them Beluga caviar, blinis, quail eggs and, of course, red borscht - all washed down...

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russians could suffer a shortage of their national tipple next week because a bureaucratic mix-up has brought every vodka distillery in the country to a halt, producers say. Distillers have been waiting since January 1 for tax authorities to send them new excise stamps -- the anti-counterfeit stickers that by law must be attached to every bottle of vodka. "We are selling vodka left over from last year but those stocks are getting smaller all the time," said Vera Bragina, a spokeswoman for Russia's Smirnov Trading House. "The situation is pretty much under control but if...

Get ready for the next Russian revolution Drinkers unite! Bureaucratic snafu may cut off supply of vodka Updated: 4:20 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2006 MOSCOW - Russians could suffer a shortage of their national tipple next week because a bureaucratic mix-up has brought every vodka distillery in the country to a halt, producers said Friday. Distillers have been waiting since Jan. 1 for tax authorities to send them new excise stamps — the anti-counterfeit stickers that by law must be attached to every bottle of vodka. “We are selling vodka left over from last year, but those stocks are getting...

RETIRED Russian president Boris Yeltsin will celebrate his 75th birthday today at a Kremlin function expected to include former US and German leaders Bill Clinton and Helmut Kohl. Yeltsin, who received messages of congratulations from Russian Patriarch Alexy II and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, spoke again before the occasion of his hopes as he steered Russia out of the Soviet era. "I wanted people to become free and happy," the ex-president said. Born in Siberia in 1931, Mr Yeltsin dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991 and founded modern Russia. But most Russians still view his presidency in a negative light,...

Indian elephants preparing to perform in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator are drinking daily doses of vodka to help them survive temperatures as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius, a media report said. The elephants are working for the Moscow State Circus, which on Sunday plans to hold its first show in Mongolia in 25 years, the UB Post newspaper said in a report posted on its website. The elephants had to travel on trucks from Moscow to Ulan Bator because they were too large to be transported by rail with the rest of the circus. To help the...

This old chestnut has been doing the rounds of the Net for some time and in places it is showing its age. We have taken the liberty of adding a few glosses (for which we asked a furriner who's been here over 20 years and is therefore probably guilty of most of the behaviour being lampooned). 1. You rummage through your plastic bag collection to see which ones you should keep to take to the store and which can be sacrificed to garbage. Apparently the plastic bags - formerly free, now costing about EUR 0.10-0.15 - supplied by Finnish shopkeepers...