lummi island wine tasting Aug 22-23 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
…Saturday afternoon ladies catching up…
This week’s wine tasting
Robert Hall Sauv Blanc ’22 CA $15
Refreshingly dry and light-bodied with aromas of green apple, citrus, and lemongrass, with bright,crisp, lively acidity.
Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti ’21 Italy $18
Ruby red with violet hue; elegant nose of rich plum and berry with notes of flowers and bark; palate of red cherry and red currants with a savory finish.
Rocks of Bawn Cab Sauv ’20 WA $20
Blend from several WA vineyards delivers bright fruit flavors, silky tannins, nice balance and intensity.
Economics of the Heart: The Republican Party: A Narrative of Good and Evil
Looking for inspiration for this week’s post, I first found that Texas Republicans have gone ahead with their plan to gerrymander Texas House districts yet again to take five more seats away from Democrats. If California voters authorize the highly publicized counter-gerrymander put on the upcoming special election proposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, it would certainly help to level the patently unfair playing field. If you click through the different red and blue states in this graphic, it looks as if there are very few other States that are both large enough and “gerrymandable” enough to make any difference.
More browsing suggested that the reason we are in this pickle in the first place is a Supreme Court decision six years ago (RUCHO ET AL . v. COMMON CAUSE) in which the Republican wing of the Roberts court “declared that federal judges could not review extreme partisan gerrymanders to determine if they violated constitutional rights.” Everybody who has been paying attention has known for many years now that the Roberts Court is the best Court that Big Money has been able to buy through the efforts of Leonard Leo’s billionaire-funded Federalist Society and their buddies at Heritage Foundation.
As we mentioned last week, these highly visible recent efforts by California Gov. Newsom have been evoking participation of voters across the country to fight for truth, fairness, and adherence to our laws and our country’s heritage. We can all feel it and get behind it.
More significantly and unexpectedly, today’s browsing came across a particularly interesting and somewhat obscure piece of scholarship on the history of the Republican Party. Published in 2020. and titled “The Republican Party: A Narrative of Good and Evil” it is a Master’s thesis by a student named Lawrence Cranor that explored the history of the Republican Party from Lincoln to the present. It serves as a great road map for how we got here.
Mr. Cranor explores in detail the party’s transformation since 1980 to a politics of self-righteous anger incessantly casting “blamable others” as the enemies of “ordinary” (white, Christian, male, working-class) people. Sound familiar? This has been The Schtick of right-wing radio and TV hosts since the 80’s, constantly stoking fear, anger, and violence, and now bringing us to the brink of full-on destruction of our democracy. The changes he noted just a few years ago detail the deliberate steps taken to bring us to our current existential crisis from the more traditional Republican policies of the Cold War before abandoning centrism in the 70’s and 80’s.
We have all lived through that transition, beginning with constant angry screeds from Gingrich in the early 90’s, putting the Republican Party on full-time attack mode for the first steal of the White House in 2000, and it has been getting worse ever since. Right here in Whatcom County one particularly inept Republican state representative took the State House floor in the late 90’s to rail against a proposal to teach some classes in Spanish in schools with heavy Hispanic enrollment, saying (I am not making this up!) “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!”
Seriously, spend some time with the above article.
So…we keep fighting!
lummi island wine tasting aug 15-16 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
…Good grief!…what are these bozos doing now…??
This week’s wine tasting
Domaine de l’Amauve La Daurèle, Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret ’23 France $21
Grenache blanc, clairette, viognier, & ugni blanc; expressive nose of white fruits, mirabelle plum, and acacia honey; soft on the palate with lively citrus flavors…yummy and very Food Versatile!
Decoy Red ’21 California $18
60% Cab, 40% Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah, and Cab; aromas of blackberry, plum, spice and savory herbs; fresh, rich, and savory on the palate with rich, silky tannins and a long, lush finish.
Edi Simcic Duet ’21 Slovenia $27
Merlot, Cab Sauv, Cab Franc; bold and compelling, with notes of chocolate, cherries, cheesecake, and coffee on silky tannins and a lush, ripe, fruit-full body that goes on and on.
Simcic’s vineyards and winery are in Slovenia near the Italian border. Father and son winemakers and their wines are highly regarded for the quality of their fruit and the craftsmanship of the wines. Only a stone’s throw from the Italian border, trade was closed until the collapse of the USSR. Simcic wines are imported by our friends at Small Vineyards in West Seattle, so we are long-time fans. The little video below gives a sense of the alpine locale.
Economics of the Heart: That Old 60’s Feeling…
In just the past few weeks the Project 2025 zeitgeist has been morphing us back to the sixties. We old-timers remember lots of 60’s linkages across society. The military was entrenched in the quagmire of the Vietnam War. Our nation was deeply wounded from the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK. LBJ’s Congress made huge strides in protecting voting rights and promoting desegregation. It was a vibrant, creative, expressive, and thoughtful time.
“Flower children” and protest songs became a fixture in San Francisco and across the country; joints and pipes were passed around in all kinds of settings, and was all done to the sounds and lyrics of the Beatles, Beach Boys, Linda, the Airplane, and more. There was turmoil, engagement, and challenging of social norms. It was a long time ago. And yet this moment feels a lot like Buffalo Springfield’s famous “protest” song, “For What It’s Worth.” lyrics video
For six months now we have watched the unfolding of the very well-publicized and detailed dystopian plan to end Constitutional democracy in the United States and replace it with an authoritarian, totalitarian oligarchy controlled by a handful of bazillionaires. Like hungry ghosts, these guys are cursed with insatiable appetites and throats that can only swallow a grain of rice at a time. The world’s oligarchs, elected Republicans, Project 2025 agents, and right-wing media personalities all fall into this realm. Their vast wealth does not alleviate either their constant need for more or the anger/frustration of never feeling satisfied.
Now, in just the past several weeks, our country teeters precariously around Maga’s wanton breaching of individual rights, “disappearing” of thousands of “illegal” immigrants to secret confinement in unknown locations, using military force against legal protesters in LA and DC, the ever-expanding web of lies about “the Epstein files”, and the increasing incoherence of the Tweetster. And just in the last week several very interesting things have happened that signify a “sea change” in both Maga policies and the kind of resistance they will be experiencing, especially across blue states.
It started with the already-highly-gerrymandered, Republican-controlled Texas House being pushed by slimeball Gov Abbott to even further gerrymander it to create five more Republican seats. In response the entire Democratic caucus of the Texas House left en masse to Indiana to prevent a quorum.
In response California Governor Gavin Newsom gave a long, widely broadcast interview with a merciless, globally circulated nyah-nyah-ing putdown of Maga and the Tweetster. Expressing outrage at the illegality and presumption of Abbott’s action, Newsom promised that if Abbott went through with his plan, Newsom would redistrict California to replace 5 Republican House seats with Democrats before the 2026 election. He urged other blue states to do the same with this widely circulated, Tweetster-imitating post:
“DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR ‘MAGA.’ THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN,”
Newsom’s position underlines the insanity of Democrats having toed the legal legislative limits for years as Republicans have been violating them wildly since ’87. Thus his position, coupled with the Texas Dems, with support from Indiana’s governor is serving as a potent catalyst for Democrats to take off the gloves and beat these bozos at their own game. And t triggered a nationwide mobilization of Blue state legislatures to follow California’s lead if Texas does not back down.
It feels really, really good to dig in and take a stand. Game on!
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!
lummi island wine tasting Aug 2-3 ’25
Hours this weekend:
4-6 pm Friday (more crowded!) & Saturday (less crowded!)
This week’s wine tasting
Harken Chardonnay ’23 California $15
Billed as the “return of oaky chardonnay,” these guys select fruit from scattered unnamed California vineyards. But the bad rep of “oaky chard” was from over-oaking crappy fruit, and this one is nicely balanced.
Wolftrap Red ’22 South Africa $14
Consistently appealing aromas and flavors of ripe plum, red currant, violets, Italian herbs and exotic spices; vibrant flavors of dark berries and spicy plum with hints of orange peel that linger on a juicy finish. Terrific value!
Pandemonium Cab ’21 California $24
From French Camp Vineyard high above Paso Robles, where hot days and cold nights produce flavorful layers of jammy black fruit, spicy aromas of leather and licorice, chalky tannins, and a well-rounded finish.
Economics of the Heart: Fascism Comes to America
In May of 2016, the Brookings Institute published a warning about the Tweetster’s candidacy. With surgical precision it identified him as a Fascist threat to our nation and laid out a remarkably prescient road map of what to expect, outlining in detail how similar figures (Hitler, Mussolini, Putin) have been able to transcend conventional politics by directly mobilizing a substantial population of followers with their outspoken disdain for the authority of the status quo.
In such circumstances, it suggests, the human race breaks down into groups of those who jump on the bandwagon, those who mumble and try not to make waves, and those who pretend it’s all just politics as usual. And of course, all of us who at some point in our lives took oaths to defend the Constitution and are still looking for ways to do so.
As regular watchers of Democracy Docket, we get daily updates on developments in many of the court cases brought against Project 2025’s ongoing assaults on our Constitutional rights. It is reassuring when such cases are either decided in favor of democracy or even delayed significantly in lower courts, as is the case for a huge majority of them. In the link above you will also find numerous ways to support its comprehensive efforts and add your effort to this vital cause.
The Carnegie Endowment, another source of democratic inspiration, noted in 2022 that “since the end of the Cold War, most democratic failure globally has been caused by elected governments using legal methods, such as gerrymandering and other technical rule changes” to achieve policies that willingly cripple democracy to ensure their side prevails by whatever means.
Indeed, it adds, “a paper classifying over 1,000 political parties, across 163 countries, by ideology and tactics, finds the current Republican Party far closer to authoritarian populist parties in Hungary and Turkey than to mainstream conservative parties in Germany or Canada.“
If we put these views together with the rising Maga Turmoil re the “Epstein Files,” we seem to be nearing a turning point as some Maggits are getting disillusioned, the Tweetster is getting more incoherent, the economy is faltering, and the discomforts of uncertainty and confusion are getting wearysome.
Signs of progress…
2072 Granger Way