lummi island wine tasting aug 12-13 ’22
Community Meet and Greet
Susan Hutton, the new Executive Director of the Lummi Island Heritage Trust, will be at the shop from 4-6 on Friday. She has taken over the position recently vacated by Becca Rettmer, who served as Director for much of its 25-year history. This will be a great opportunity for Susan to meet more of the community and talk about new directions for the Trust. Even if you don’t order bread this week please stop by and say hello to Susan and take a few minutes to get to know her!
Hours this weekend: 4-6pm both Friday and Saturday
The wine shop will be open this weekend as usual from 4-6 Friday and Saturday. Covid continues to be a threat, even for those fully vaccinated. Limited outdoor seating is available on the deck for those who wish to stay outside.
At this stage of the pandemic in our region, anyone can be a carrier, so though overall risks are low, we all must manage risk to ourselves and others in our own way. You are welcome to wear a mask , stay outside, or otherwise distance as additional precautions to protect yourself and others. For our part, we will continue taking basic precautions in the wine shop: windows open, air filter operating, outside seating options. We do continue to request that the unvaxed remain outside for tasting.
Btw, the forecast is for sunny, comfortable (70°) weather both Friday and Saturday.
Bread Pickup This Week
Buckwheat Rye – First, fresh milled buckwheat and rye flours are soaked for 8 hours without yeast in a method known as an autolyse. This allows what little gluten these grains contain to start developing enzymes before the final mix – which is then fermented overnight in the refrigerator. The buckwheat-rye soaker is mixed with bread flour, salt and yeast and a bit of honey. Goes well with all sorts of meats and cheese – $5/loaf
Sweet Corn & Dried Cranberry – Made with polenta and bread flour, then enriched with milk, butter and honey for a soft and tender crumb, then loaded up with dried cranberries. Has great corn flavor but is not a traditional quick cornbread. A delicious bread that makes great toast – $5/loaf
and mmm, pastry this week…
Black Sesame & Candied Lemon Brioche: A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with fresh lemon zest and candied lemon and as if that wasn’t enough, topped with a black sesame streusel before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like?! – 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Tre Donne Roero Arneis ’20 Italy $20
photo courtesy asiaimportnews.com
The revered Italian wine region of Piedmont (i.e., ‘foot of the mountain’) lies in the NW corner of Italy, in the foothills of the French and Swiss Alps to the west and north. The geography makes for the serendipitous combination of warm days and cool nights that make perfect conditions for wine grapes. The Roero region is just north of the iconic Barolo and Barbaresco regions, which produce some of Italy’s most prestigious wines.
White wines from Roero must contain at least 95% Arneis, and reds must contain at least 95% Nebbiolo. The sandy clay soils make for a nuanced, medium-bodied Arneis with aromas and flavors of pear, apricot, and white blossoms. With roots diving deep into layers of tufo clay, the 35-year-old vines at Tre Donne yield a wide array of complex aromas and flavors, from prominent stone fruits and piercing minerality to subtle layers of quince, mushroom, and lemon verbena. It’s easy to like!
Read more and even more...
Economics of the Heart: Signs of Actual Progress!
The past week has brought a number of encouraging signs, rare and welcome experiences after the wearying and wearing twin challenges of the last few years, Covid and Trumpism– one a disease of the body, one a disease of the body politic. Both have taken tremendous and lasting tolls, and both still linger as mortal threats.
The first good news is that after many years of effort by our community and our representatives at the local, county, state, and federal level, the USDOT (thanks, Pete!) has awarded Whatcom County $25M for our ferry replacement project! This would not have happened without the considerable effort of many in our local and extended community over the past decade: ferry Captains and crew, County Public Works and Council, LIFAC (Ferry Advisory Committee), our State and Federal legislators, our Governor, DOT Secretary Buttigieg, and many others who played vital roles in getting us this far. So it’s a very Big Deal and a huge relief to have this funding come through as our trusty Whatcom Chief gets increasingly crotchety in her old age.
The plan on the table is for a 34-car ferry to replace the Chief, which was designed 60 years ago as a 16-car vessel but which, as everyone knows has operated for decades as a 20-car vessel, bumper to bumper, door to door, day after day. The next boat will likely have walkable space all around each vehicle…quite extravagant, even a bit agoraphobic, perhaps..? Another possible stumbling block could be that the $25 million in the original rough proposal is now $37 million in current dollars, so it is likely there will be a two years of further tweaking before the final design is approved. Some of us who will remain unnamed for the moment have been pushing for a smaller, more energy-efficient vessel; given that the 34-car design would now cost another $10 million, there are likely to be numerous trade-offs before a final design is reached. This moment is for savoring the green light to move ahead with the project. It’s a Big Deal for all of us.
The proposed new ferry (after considerable arm -twisting) is a diesel-electric hybrid design, not the diesel-only originally proposed. Also, for six decades the ferry has berthed at the Island at night, and all the crew have been island residents. Therefore, because the new vessel will have to recharge overnight on the Island, an essential component of island infrastructure will involve a charging/energy storage station. At LIFAC’s urging, the County has also approved a Shore Power Study in the near term to explore and evaluate various recharge options.
Over the last twenty years there has been a great deal of research across the globe into replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy resources. One of the key infrastructure challenges has been how to make renewable energy resources reliable and predictable. After all, the great convenience of fossil fuels is you can use it whenever you want. But sun, wind, waves and currents are more fickle, so a great deal of global research has explored ways to gather and store energy from renewables while the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, the waves are crashing, the tide is changing, and then draw from it as necessary, the renewable equivalent of “starting the engine.” This, in turn, has led to substantial improvements in the capacity and efficiency of energy storage systems.
These lines of inquiry have been productive enough that it now makes sense for communities like our little island to start planning how to use microgrids, solar panels, windmills, waterfalls, waves, and tidal energy– whatever is locally available– to gather and store clean energy to run not only the next ferry, but also our homes and other infrastructure as well. It is now looking entirely feasible for a place like Lummi Island to become energy independent, with every property both generating energy for and using energy from interconnected community sources.
Including generating power for the next ferry!
This Week’s Tasting $10
Tre Donne Roero Arneis ’20 Italy $20
Pale golden yellow; soft aromas of orange blossom, honeysuckle, nectarine, and lemon verbena; flavors of pear, peach, quince, and green apple; enduring minerality and balanced acidity.
La Atalaya del Camino ’19 Spain $13
Intense aromas, fruit, and elegance on the nose with a distinct spiciness and a touch of floral notes. Rich and meaty structure, with rich dark fruits and hints of spice. Smooth and pleasant long finish.
Sineann Oregon Pinot Noir ’19 Oregon $30
Aromas of deep dark fruits lead to a juicy, vibrant palate with notes of black cherry, black raspberry, fig, baking spice and fresh plum, and layered fruit flavors, finishing with supple, textured tannins and a lingering, complex finish.
lummi island wine tasting aug 5-6 ’22
Hours this weekend: 4-6pm both Friday and Saturday
We are back from our trip so this weekend we will be open again as usual from 4-6 Fri-Sat. Covid continues to be a threat, even for those fully vaccinated. Limited outdoor seating is available on the deck for those who wish to stay outside.
At this stage of the pandemic in our region, anyone can be a carrier, so though overall risks are low, we all must manage risk to ourselves and others in our own way. You are welcome to wear a mask , stay outside, or otherwise distance as additional precautions to protect yourself and others. For our part, we will continue taking basic precautions in the wine shop: windows open, air filter operating, outside seating options. We do continue to request that the unvaxed remain outside for tasting.
Fyi, the forecast is for warm, sunny, comfortable (72°) weather all weekend…!
Bread Pickup This Week
Levain w/ Dried Cherries and Pecans – a levain is made the night before final mixing of the dough using a sourdough starter. This allows the fermentation process to start and the gluten to start developing. The final dough is made with the levain, bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and then loaded up with dried cherries and toasted pecans. A nice rustic loaf that goes well with meats and cheese – – $5/loaf
Pan de Cioccolate – A delicious chocolate artisan bread that isn’t an enriched sweet pastry dough with lots of eggs, butter and sugar. Rather this bread is a rich chocolate bread made with a levain, bread flour and fresh milled rye flour, honey for sweetness, vanilla and plenty of dark chocolate. Makes fabulous toast, even better french toast – $5/loaf
and mmm, pastry this week…!
Pain aux Raisin– Made with the same laminated dough as croissants. The dough is rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with a mix of golden raisins and dried cranberries that have been soaked in sugar syrup. Rolled up and sliced before baking. – 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Seghesio Zinfandel ’19 California $23
The Seghesio family has been growing zinfandel grapes in Sonoma for 125 years, possibly starting with cuttings from closely related primitivo vines from southern Italy. Zinfandel from the region has built a reputation for big, fruit-forward red wines that coat the palate and fill the senses with their flavors and aromas. Over the decades the winery has developed numerous single-vineyard labels, each with its own special characteristics.
As is the case for many top wineries, selected portions of the juice that doesn’t make the cut for single-vineyard bottling are blended to make this annual blend, which is predictably delicious and enticing in its own way. From year to year it reliably delivers a delicious zinfandel at a modest price.
The Economics of the Heart: Still on Track for Corporate Feudalism
Today we are inviting your attention to a compelling preview in today’s WaPo of Dana Milbank’s forthcoming book, The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party . Milbank supports our longstanding hypothesis that the Republican attack on democracy began in earnest with the 1994 House Speakership of Newt Gingrich, with his nonstop anger, lies, accusations, blaming, belittling, and race-baiting to stoke fear and anger against Democrats among white, fundamentalist, rural Americans. The article shows with a detailed timeline that political antipathy in America is not something that arrived with Donald Trump. On the contrary, it is the path that set the stage for a Donald Trump.
Milbank lays out a detailed timeline of the evolution of the movement through the Clinton years, into the “tea party” years, the full-on racist anti-Obama years, and the current election-denial years. As Milbank points out, “the problem isn’t primarily polarization. The problem is that one of our two major political parties has ceased good-faith participation in the democratic process… Republicans became Destructionists: They destroyed truth, they destroyed decency, they destroyed patriotism, they destroyed national unity, they destroyed racial progress, they destroyed their own party, and they are well on their way to destroying the world’s oldest democracy.”
The fact is that this Repupli-Fascist movement is now mature, wealthy, and in full charge of many state governments and much of our Federal infrastructure. In a few short months there will be another national election to determine the division of power in Congress for the next two years. While the efforts by many Red states to rig their elections “legally” to assure lasting majorities are flagrant violations of Constitutional principles, they still stand as formidable obstacles to fairness and justice. Of course, recent events have also shown that their white, fundamentalist, Christian views also control much of the Federal Court as well.
There is one tiny glimmer of hope in recent news from Kansas (we’re not making this up!). The defeat of a proposal to change the State Constitution to ban abortion was soundly defeated in this week’s election by a massive and surprising voter turnout. At the same time the latest polls from 538 are showing that the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the MCSC (Mostly Catholic Supreme Court) seems to have ignited a revolution of sorts among women across the country. Because similar feelings exist among women in All the red states, many state poll results are shifting toward blue because of this one issue. To which we can only whisper, “let it be…”
This Week’s $5 Tasting
Natura Rose ’21 Chile $12
Cold-soaked before pressing and cold-fermented on the skins to develop rich and nuanced aromas and flavors of grassy lime, tropical fruits, and lychee, with a crisp, lingering finish.
Domaine de l’Amauve La Daurèle, Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret ’18 France $17
Grenache blanc, clairette, viognier, & ugni blanc; expressive nose of white fruits, Mirabelle plum, and acacia honey; soft on the palate with lively citrus flavors…a particular favorite!
Seghesio Zinfandel ’19 California $23
Aromas of deep dark fruits lead to a juicy, vibrant palate with notes of black cherry, black raspberry, fig, baking spice and fresh plum, and layered fruit flavors, finishing with supple, textured tannins and a lingering, complex finish.
lummi island wine tasting july 22-23 ’22
Hours this weekend: 4-6pm both Friday and Saturday
This weekend we will be open as usual from 4-6 Fri-Sat, with limited outdoor seating available on the deck for those who wish to stay outside.
Covid cases remain low at about 2 per 1000, considerably lower than chances of getting the annual flu. You are welcome to wear masks and/or stay outside as additional precautions to protect yourself and others. For our part, we will continue taking basic precautions in the wine shop: windows open, air filter operating, outside seating options. We do continue to request that the unvaxed remain outside for tasting.
Fyi, the forecast is for warm sunny weather all weekend…
Bread Pickup This Week
Pain au Levain – Made with a nice mix of bread flour and freshly milled whole wheat and rye flours. After building the sourdough and mixing the final dough it gets a long cool overnight ferment in the refrigerator. This really allows the flavor to develop in this bread. – $5/loaf
Cinnamon Raisin – Fermented overnight with a poolish of bread and fresh milled rye flour before mixing with bread flour and freshly milled whole wheat as well as rolled oats. Some honey for sweetness, a little milk for a tender crumb and loaded with raisins and a healthy dose of cinnamon. The cinnamon is mixed into the dough and flavors the entire bread for a hearty rustic loaf. – $5/loaf
and mmm, pastry this week…!
Individual Cinnamon Rolls –Made with a rich sweet roll dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. The dough is rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Then rolled up and sliced into individual rolls for baking. And boy are they delicious! – 2/$5.
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Parducci Small Lot Petite Sirah ’20 Mendocino $15
Parducci Winery is the oldest winery in Mendocino County, founded in 1921 during Prohibition by Tuscan immigrant Adolph Parducci. His first vineyards were of petite sirah, and his old “home ranch vineyard” is still making wine from that signature Petite Sirah. The winery prospered and stayed in the family until 2004, when it was sold to a group of native Mendocino investors with lengthy vineyard and winery management experience. They have been making a concerted effort to manage the vineyards sustainably and symbiotically with the regional environment. watch video
Petite Sirah is a distinct grape variety developed from Syrah and Peloursin around 1850 in France. Peloursin is now quite rare, but is occasionally found in blends from some older vineyards in California.
Tasting notes: Rich and full-bodied, with dense blueberry and cocoa flavors and tongue-coating and lingering soft tannins that extend the saturated fruit flavors on the finish.
The Economics of the Heart: An Ongoing Civil War
Forbes.com, american-flag-on-cracked-background
Every once in a while we read something that unexpectedly pulls several seemingly unrelated issues into such a compelling systemic context that we have something of a “Eureka!” moment. That happened this week while reading an interview from last March with Barbara Walter, a political scientist at UCSD, who recently published a fascinating and timely book: How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them.
Over the decades political scientists have collected lots of data about revolutions and tested lots of models in search of a set of variables that could best predict them. In 1994 the CIA started a think tank called the Political Instability Task Force to identify effective metrics to assess a society’s likelihood of civil war. Over time the group has examined some 250 historical instances of acute instability between 1955 and 2002, assessed some thirty different factors as possible predictors, and found only two that had significant predictive value.
The first factor is a nation’s degree of anocracy, its tendency to be autocratic or democratic. Scores ranged from -10 for a completely autocratic state like North Korea to +10 for a completely democratic state like Denmark or Canada. Most countries are somewhere in between. The US is currently at a +5, down from the +10 it had enjoyed since the scale was invented. Countries in the ambiguous zone between -5 and +5 have significant and conflicting elements of both and are therefore considered at higher risk for revolution than either stable democracies or stable autocracies.
The second factor is whether the current dominant organizing principle in the society is based on ideology (values) or identity (religion, ethnicity, race). While ideological differences lend themselves well to democratic compromise, identity differences are much more likely to lead to animosity, tribalism, and even civil war.
In the interview Professor Walter relates a story of how her father, a young German boy during the Nazi years, before emigrating to the US in the 50’s, became very agitated about the Trump candidacy and election in 2016, seeing in his politics many parallels to the Nazi brown-shirts of his childhood: twisting facts, denigrating minorities and immigrants, and undermining dissent.
There have always been political differences in American politics, but compromises have led to deals, public business has been conducted, and the government has been stable. The eye-opening takeaway from the author’s observations is that the political battle that has been going on in our country since about 1992 has never been just a simple clash of liberal and conservative values. It began in the 90’s with Gingrich’s open warfare against the Clinton White House in particular and Congressional Democrats in general. It started becoming less and less about ideas and values and more and more about identity.
That was accelerated by populist response to the Obama Presidency, which in turn led to the election of some 87 “Tea Party” Republicans in 2010 who espoused the extreme views of the Koch brothers and its lobbying arm ALEC. Most of them came from such heavily gerrymandered conservative districts they were largely guaranteed election, unless they lost a primary to a candidate further to their Right. With no incentive to move toward the center for reelection, they have have increasingly refused to compromise on any issue rather than give Democrats a “win” on anything– quite willing to let their constituents suffer rather than compromise.
It is difficult to see anything positive coming from the increased militancy of the Right, spotlighted spectacularly by the recent authoritarian Supreme Court decisions to overturn Roe v. Wade and to forbid the EPA from regulating carbon emissions. Our nation seems to be nearing a turning point: The party’s long-term viability may be in doubt if a strategy of mindless, implacable obstruction endangers the stability and prosperity of the country, causing too many voters to consider it an existential threat. Cynical political realism, if nothing else, suggests that the Republican Party can’t carry on forever as a permanent revolution. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/12/04/tea-party-trumpism-conservatives-populism/)
This Week’s $5 Tasting
La Vielle Ferme Rosé ’20 France $11
Classic and tasty blend of grenache, syrah, and cinsault from northern Provence; fruity, dry, crisp, delicious, and smooth, all at a bargain price!
The Wolftrap Syrah Mourvèdre Viognier ’18 South Africa $12
Aromas of ripe plums, red currants, violets, Italian herbs and exotic spices lead to vibrant flavors of darker berries and spicy plum with hints of orange peel that linger on a juicy finish.
Parducci Small Lot Petite Sirah ’20 Mendocino $15
Rich, dark, and full-bodied wine with dense blueberry and cocoa flavors, and tongue-coating, lingering soft tannins that give pleasing length to the saturated fruit flavors on the finish.
lummi island wine tasting july 15-16 ’22
Special Event Friday!
In addition to regular bread pickup this Friday, we are also hosting an informal meet and greet for two candidates for our local legislative district. The event will be outside in the midst of bread pickup. A similar event a few weeks ago added at most a dozen people to our regular bread pickup and wine tasting visitors.
Hours this weekend: 4-6pm both Friday and Saturday
This weekend we will be open as usual from 4-6 Fri-Sat, with limited outdoor seating available on the deck for those who wish to stay outside.
Covid cases remain low at about 2 per 1000, considerably lower than chances of getting the annual flu. However, the Beach Store cafe is closed this weekend due to an outbreak from last weekend, so caution is still very much appropriate.
We will continue taking basic precautions in the wine shop: windows open, air filter operating, outside seating options. We do continue to request that the unvaxed remain outside for tasting. Fyi, the forecast is for some sun Friday and clouds (no rain!) Saturday.
Bread Pickup This Week
Poolish Ale – the preferment here is also a poolish, made with bread flour, a bit of yeast and a nice ale beer for the liquid and fermented overnight. Mixed the next day with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. This makes a great all around bread with a nice crisp crust – $5/loaf
Buckwheat Walnut & Honey – A flavorful artisan bread made with a poolish preferment, fresh milled buckwheat, and bread flour. Though buckwheat contains no gluten, this bread is not gluten free as it also includes bread flour made from wheat. Buckwheat has an earthy flavor that in this bread is balanced with a little honey and toasted walnut; goes well with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
and mmm, pastry this week…
Traditional Croissants – Made with two preferments, a sourdough levain and a prefermented dough – aka “old dough” where a portion of the flour, water, salt and yeast is fermented overnight. The final dough is then made with more flour, butter, milk and sugar, laminated with more butter before being cut and shaped into traditional french croissants. –2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: la Roque Pic St. Loup Rouge ’17 France $19
The “Pic” in the small French wine region of Pic St. Loup is a 640-meter (2000 ft.) “Tooth” of granite that dominates the view for miles in every direction– powerful, beautiful, vaguely remote, and iconic. It looms over a collection of very special, well-drained, limestone-rich vineyards. About an hour north of Montpellier on the Mediterranean coast to the south, it features hot days, but is also far enough north to have Atlantic-influenced cool nights that induce slow, full ripening.
The wines from Pic St. Loup must be predominantly syrah, grenache, and mourvedre (as in nearby Southern Rhone) and fairly consistently have a certain gravitas. The vines must be at least six years old (not the usual three) before considered mature enough for making red wines, but are perfect for making excellent rosé! Vineyards are scattered among rugged terrain that slopes up from the Mediterranean. Atlantic influences make the local climate cooler and wetter than elsewhere in Languedoc.
Wines from this little region typically share an earthy complexity accented by spicy, herbal aromas and flavors of the wild aromatic herbs that flourish in the area, commonly known as “garrigue.” Pic St. Loup reds typically show bold, spicy, and earthy complexity, deeper color and depth of flavor, and more elegance and refinement than wines from the hotter Languedoc plains to the south.
The Economics of the Heart: Prevalent Majoritarian Prejudice
http://static.wixstatic.com/media
Last week we mused on the Supreme Court’s recent reversal of a pregnant woman’s right to choose whether to give birth from an unintended pregnancy. We implied this Court is “Talibanesque,” a metaphorical reference to the political reality in Afghanistan that women have no rights except those specifically given them by the Koran.
An old friend found the metaphor, um, hyperbolic and sent us a thoughtfully scolding note. Curiously, he also expressed a confidence that those same Red states with extreme penalties would soon change their laws to make family planning legal again under reasonable conditions, no big deal. Seems at best like a long, cruel, sadistic slog to wind up where we started… “Well, Gromit, I guess that worked out about as well as could be expected!”
As Attorney General Merrick Garland put it, “The Supreme Court has eliminated an established right that has been an essential component of women’s liberty for half a century and safeguarded their ability to participate fully and equally in society.
The present Ultra-conservative Court majority, ruthlessly constructed by Gollum wannabe and lookalike Mitch McConnell (My Pweshish…!) has finally negated over a century of precedent with the their special brand of “interpretivism:” if the founders didn’t say it explicitly, there is no Constitutional allowance for it unless Congress puts it in a statute.
The alternative to interpretivism is textualism. Yes, yes, it Is confusing, but the textualists, according to influential legal scholar John Hart Ely, recognized that the Founders deliberately left certain things ambiguous for Supreme Courts of posterity to sort out. The “clause-bound” interpretivists, (aka originalists) he argued, had neither the imagination nor the principles the Court must have to balance majority governance with protection of minority rights. That could only happen when the interpretivist view was tempered by the textualist view, making it responsive to the changing wishes of a popular majority. see more
The takeaway is that the present Court majority are interpretivists, relying on their own interpretations of written law. They are also almost all Catholics who have been taught that abortion is a Mortal Sin. By implication, for you non-Catholics, if they allow abortion to exist, they could spend Eternity in Hell. So it seems entirely reasonable to be concerned about their, you know, Objectivity.
The Warren Court, which made the Roe v. Wade decision, was Ely’s perfect example of what the Court should do: “structure decision processes to ensure everyone’s interests will be represented, and apply those decisions in a way that cannot be manipulated to reintroduce in practice the sort of discrimination that is impermissible in theory.” “The Constitution,” he wrote, “has proceeded from the sensible assumption that an effective majority will not unreasonably threaten its own rights, and has sought to assure that such a majority cannot systematically treat others less well than it treats itself.”
Ely thought it was the continuing function of the Courts to balance power and justice between majority and minority in order to sustain democracy that marked the work of the Warren Court through broadened access to the processes and bounty of representative government…Insofar as political officials had chosen to provide or protect X for some people (generally people like themselves), they had better make sure that everyone was being similarly accommodated or be prepared to explain pretty convincingly why not.
This is the very kind of balancing thinking that the current Supremes have just thrown away, demonstrating that Ely was hopelessly optimistic. Today’s Justices do not qualify as either interpretivists or textualists. Rather, they have shown themselves to be self-interested, religious, and political, and NOT, like the Warren Court, equally protective of the rights of the majority and the minority.
This Week’s $5 Tasting
Bodega Garzon Albarino ’19 Uruguay $15
Pale yellow with greenish reflections, this Albariño is intense in the nose, with peach and citrus notes. The freshness and minerality mid-palate is superb, with remarkable acidity and a round, crisp finish.
MAN Vintners Pinotage ’18 South Africa $11
Pleasing character with aromas of mocha and dark coffee beans accented by red berries, nutmeg, and vanilla spice; pairs well with spicy or gamy dishes. Dark berries, plum and a smoke on the nose. Rustic yet silky and juicy, with wild cherry flavors, smooth tannins and well-controlled acidity and good intensity to the plum and mocha flavors.
Chateau la Roque Rouge ’17 France $19
65% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre. A lithe and expressive red, with fine balance and well-structured flavors of dried cherry, plum, and boysenberry, featuring hints of tarragon and cream on the finish.
2072 Granger Way