lummi island wine tasting Aug 8-9 ’25
Hours this weekend:
4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
painting by Anne Gibert
This week’s wine tasting
Mas des Bressades Rosé ’24 France $14
Bright and refreshing classic Rhone blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvèdre, with splashes of Carignan and Cinsault; nice flavor balance of bright red fruit, wild herbs, and a vibrant, spicy finish.
Domaine de l’Amauve La Vigne de Louis France $15
Youthful nose offering freshly crushed berries, mild spices, and garrigue. Rounded and supple palate with fresh red berry flavours and a vibrant finish.
Brunelli Martoccia di Luca Rosso di Montalcino ’22 Italy $24
Classic, dignified structure with approachable, wonderfully bright fruit; bright nose of cranberry, cherry, and slate; smooth, integrated tannins, and thoughtful, composed finish.
Economics of the Heart: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
The basic idea of fair elections is for citizens to decide their government representatives in a way that gives all candidates an equal shot at being elected, and all voters a guarantee their votes will be counted correctly. Roosevelt’s New Deal brought us back from the Depression and created an American middle class where education, opportunity, and social stability became widely available…and synonymous with “America.”
However, since even before the New Deal, extraordinarily wealthy financio-political interests have been working together to bring an end to any thought of an “American middle class.” The century-old financier-entitled wet dream has long been to replace Constitutional government with an oligarchic autocracy controlled by their small cadre of multi-billionaire, white-supremacist, misogynistic, and sadistic white men who claim to be doing God’s work by making people miserable.
Which brings us to the John Birch Society. It was a surprise just now to learn that the real John Birch was actually a patriot who worked closely in military intelligence in China during WWII with iconic WWII hero Gen. Claire Chennault. Birch was grotesquely murdered by Chinese Communists while on a peaceful mission— definitely not a guy who would ever have had anything to do with the ultra-Right Society that bears his name.
No, the JBS was actually launched in 1958 by ultra-conservative businessman Robert Welch. The Wikipedia discussions of the values and goals of Welch’s JBS is an uncannily prescient description of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation/Federalist Society Plan to turn our country into Welch’s Nirvana and our Dystopian Nightmare.
That historical perspective fits pretty much everything we have been seeing since 2016. It also puts asterisks and exclamation points on the recent move by Texas House Republicans to further stack the election deck against Texas House Democrats for the next election...( let’s hope there actually is one and it’s actually fair…)
The recent inspiring argument from California Gov. Gavin Newsom for Democratic States to fight back with our own gerrymanders of Congressional districts to turn more of them blue in ’26 has sparked a growing and tangible realization that (duh!) Blue states could in fact take back the House by out-doing the Reds at their own game.
It’s not just a good idea; it’s a Long Overdue good idea!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
2072 Granger Way