irish minister's raw garlic habit (link)
11.3.09 - bbc news

i have to be straight with y'all. i enjoy some nefarious tasting snacks. i've downed my fair share of crab chips, have been known to down mass quantities of hostess sno balls & am totally cool with anchovies. you'd think it'd have a negative impact on my breath, but other than occasional cigarette breath, i feel that i'm generally pretty make out worthy & that's not even taking my skillz into account! take that odd, smelly snacks. you are no match for the power of breath enhancing technology!

apparently, i'm not the only irish guy who enjoys weird snacks though. according to bbc news, brian lenihan jr (the irish finance minister) has a predilection for tasty tasty garlic. dude snacks on the stuff like he's popping m&m's. in 2008, david mcwilliams (an economist/tv personality) met lenihan & after the minister "pulled a bulb of garlic out of his pocket and started to peel it," he explained to mcwilliams "that the garlic gave him strength and kept him healthy and alert." the minister of state confirmed that lenihan "constantly chews garlic." then he made a comment about wanting to suck the reporters blood. actually, i made that last part up, so let's just pretend that it was "off the record."

i guess lenihan's read up on the benefits of garlic. the bbc explains that garlic contains a number of vitamins & good junk, but before they get to that they go into a bunch of historical reasons why it's all cool if lenihan's munching on garlic 24/7. first off, we know he's not a vampire. second, roman soldiers, greek athletes & the schlubs building the pyramids loved the bulb. those dudes got shit done ancient style! then there's the vitamin stuff. it strikes me as an odd half-hearted attempt to show that lenihan's not completely bonkers, but i'm going to let it slide this time. as long as lenihan doesn't try to make out with me, i say let him be.