lummi island wine tasting oct 8-9
Current Covid Protocols
Forecast is for little sun on Friday, and a bit of rain on Saturday, but definitely getting cooler. After some rumination, we will experiment with indoor tasting on both Friday and Saturday from 4-6 pm to see if it is feasible in what we hope are the waning months of Covid lockdown.
— You must have completed a full Covid vaccination sequence to participate;
— We ask all to maintain mindful social distance from people outside your regular “neighborhood pods.”
Friday Bread
Each Sunday bread offerings for the coming Friday are emailed to the mailing list by Island Bakery. Orders returned by the 5 pm Tuesday deadline are baked and available for pickup each Friday at the wine shop from 4:00 – 5:30 pm.
Over the years the bakery has established a rotating list of several dozen breads and pastries from which two different artisan breads and a pastry are selected each week.
If you would like to be on the bread order mailing list, click on the Contact Us link at the top of the page and fill out the form.
This week’s deliveries:
Semolina w/ Fennel & Raisins – A levain bread made with bread flour, semolina and some fresh milled whole wheat. A little butter for a tender crumb and fennel seeds and golden raisins round out the flavors. These flavors go really well with meats and cheese, but it also makes pretty darn good toast – $5/loaf
Whole Wheat Levain – Made with a sourdough starter built up over several days before a levain is made and fermented overnight to start fermentation and gluten development. The bread is made with levain and bread flour and about 25% fresh milled whole wheat for a ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Cinnamon Rolls – Made with a rich dough of eggs, butter, and sugar, rolled out, spread with pastry cream, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Then rolled up and sliced into individual rolls for baking and topped with a yummy cream cheese glaze. Delicious!! – 2/$5
Wine of the Week: Ad Lucem Daystar Syrah Red Willow ’15 Oregon $34
For those of you (98%…?) who never took Latin, the rough translation of “Ad Lucem” is “Toward the Light.” It is also one of several labels used by Oregon wine industry pioneer Jerry Owen of Lady Hill Winery, who was a founding partner in the well-respected Owen Roe winery in 1999. Lady Hill Winery is across the road from Champoeg State Park in the northern Willamette Valley in Oregon, where his ancestors settled in 1850.
Jerry uses the Ad Lucem label for his Rhone varietals (grenache, syrah, mourvedre); Lady Hill for Bordeaux varietals (cab, cab franc, merlot, malbec), and Procedo for his “super-Tuscan” blends of Bordeaux and Italian varietals.
We have made it something of a habit to visit the winery whenever we bivouac at this very pleasant State Park, and have found it a pleasant destination with memorable wines and enjoyable conversations with staff and visitors. He has offered to drive up some weekend and pour some of his wines for all of us, and we hope we can make that happen when Covid allows.
The Economics of the Heart: Irreconcilable Differences
A recent column in the New York Times by Thomas Edsall explores this question: “Just who believes the claim that Donald Trump won in 2020 and that the election was stolen from him? Who are these tens of millions of Americans, and what draws them into this web of delusion?” The story then traces numerous statistical studies showing:
- They are disproportionately white, Republican, older, less educated, more conservative, and more religious-right;
- 60% agree that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background;”
- Regardless of age, 69% of white Republicans were likely to agree that “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump;”
- American right-wing organizations constituted 66 percent of all attacks and plots in the U.S. in 2019 and over 90 percent in 2020;
- They prefer an anti-egalitarian, anti-intellectual, group-based hierarchical social structure and the use of aggressive force to maintain it.
Psychologically, they feel dissed by the intellectual/liberal left, and identification with authoritarian groups provides a vicarious sense that their lives and opinions matter. The War on Facts is therefore thought to be driven by the rift between the intellectual left and the populist/anti-intellectual right.
This ties in with our observation that American conservative media has played a deliberate role in fostering distrust and disrespect for the political Left for a generation. Beginning with the FCC’s opening of public airwaves to unbridled political “hyperbole” in the late 80’s- early 90’s, launching Limbaugh, O’Reilly, and countless other “talk show hosts” on a targeted crusade to build distrust and even hatred of “liberal elites.” By 1995, Newt Gingrich had jumped on the same bandwagon and deeply damaged most remaining vestiges of political collegiality in Congress.
Since then the divergence of underlying values between parties has only gotten worse over time: Bush v. Gore–> tax cuts for the rich; 911; Iraq and Afghan invasions; Guantanamo; Abu Graib; extreme rendition; water boarding; ’04 election–> more tax cuts for the rich; economic collapse of ’08; stonewalling of Obama’s Supreme Court nomination…we could go on and on. There is a litany of some thirty years of increasing disrespect for the rights of individuals and deference to the interests of the rich and powerful. That our nation suddenly appears to be on the threshold of dissolution evokes a deep sense of Grief and Hopelessness.
Like any economic system, any representative government requires a set of common values, a set of rules, and will in the people to maintain and follow them. The scary prospect of the moment is that Republicans and Democrats may no longer have a “close enough” set of values to be able to make the compromises necessary to maintain a truly representative government. Given the nearly universal movements in Red-State legislatures to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters, it has become clear that without a new Voting Rights Act the electoral playing field will be heavily tilted to the Right just as the World squares off against the overwhelming forces of climate change and the increasing poverty, starvation, desertification, flooding, migrations, and war they will cause.
This week’s $5 tasting:
Casal Garcia Vinho Verde Portugal $10
A light wine that is marked by its beautiful citric colors and incredible freshness with with soft aromas of tropical fruits and citrus. A very balanced wine that finishes with a refreshing, crisp, and harmonious finish.
Olim Bauda La Villa Barbera d’Asti ’17 Italy $14
Aromas and flavors of dark, rich red berries and currants; rich, ripe style with lots of up-front fruit and beautiful cleansing acidity.
Ad Lucem Daystar Syrah Red Willow ’15 Oregon $34
Subtle vanilla and mulled plum meld with ripe berries, rich, blackberry liquor and intricate barrel spices. Red and black fruits lead the weighted, lingering mouthfeel and sweet, juicy finish. Rich and balanced, a beautiful wine at its peak.
lummi island wine tasting oct 1-2 ’21
Current Covid Protocols
This weekend’s forecast is for relatively dry weather, maybe even a little sun, so we will have outside tasting as an option both Friday and Saturday.
We tried a little indoor tasting last Friday, and people were having such a good time that some degree of Covid mindfulness was lost for a bit.
We will try it again this weekend by being open for wine tasting and sales Friday and Saturday from 4-6pm, with the following guidelines:
- You must have completed a full Covid vaccination protocol to participate;
- We ask all to maintain appropriate social distancing from people outside your regular “neighborhood pods.”
Friday Bread
Each Friday Island Bakery delivers fresh bread ordered by customer email earlier in the week. Each Sunday offerings for the coming Friday are emailed to the mailing list. Orders must be returned by 5 pm on Tuesday for pickup at the wine shop the following Friday from 4-5:30.
Over the years the bakery has established a rotating list of several dozen breads and pastries from which are selected two different artisan breads and a pastry each week.
If you would like to be on the bread order mailing list, click on the Contact Us link at the top of the page and fill out the form.
This week’s pickup:
Breton – Incorporates the flavors of the french Brittany region. Bread flour and fresh milled buckwheat and rye make for interesting flavor and the salt is sel gris -the grey salt from the region that brings more mineral flavors to this bread. Goes great with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
Spelt Levain – Spelt is an ancient grain with a nutty, slightly sweet flavor; it has gluten but it isn’t as strong as in modern wheat. This bread is made with a levain before the final dough is mixed with traditional bread flour, spelt flour, fresh milled whole spelt and rye. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Traditional Croissants – Made with two preferments, a levain as well as “old dough” where a portion of the flour, water, salt and yeast has been fermented overnight. The final dough is then made with more flour, butter, milk and sugar, and laminated with more butter before being cut and shaped into traditional french croissants. – 2/$5
Wine of the Week: Betz Clos de Betz ’08 Washington $45 Parker 95 pts
Rooting around in the cellar for wines to pour this weekend we discovered a nearly full case of 2008 Betz Clos de Betz , and knowing how carefully Betz wines were made, this one is probably just starting to hit its stride.
We have probably mentioned in earlier posts that winery founder and long-time winemaker Bob Betz has such a deep affection for French wines that he modeled many of his blends after the style of particular French wine regions.
For example, Clos de Betz is his take on Right Bank Bordeaux, a Merlot-dominant blend with other Bordeaux varietals Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot. This contrasts with his Pere de Famille, styled after Left Bank Bordeaux blends in which Cab Sauv is the dominant grape.
Washington merlot often features an unusually weighty richness, lush fruit, and an elegant tannic structure with great aging potential (like, right now it should be just about optimal!), and this wine is a great example.
The Economics of the Heart: Humanism at the Crossroads
It’s been a rough bunch of years for virtues like ethics, kindness, humility, caring, and wisdom. A long forty years ago American politics took a sharp turn to the Right when Reagan began dismantling the New Deal. Safety nets were put in storage while the poor, the sick, the mentally ill, and the homeless were left to fend for themselves, and the money saved quickly started funneling into the bank accounts of the wealthy. The investor class became the new Feudal Lords and amassed great fortunes while multitudes in the middle class saw their real wealth and wages stagnate for an entire generation.
It became common practice over those forty years for Republican administrations to begin each legislative cycle by cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans while increasing government spending on war materials and subsidies to private industry. The results are all around us in the form of climate change, widespread poverty, and worn-out dwellings, roads, bridges, railroads, and utility grids.
Republicans have never understood the difference between economics and finance. Finance is the process of borrowing the resources of others to pay for something for you. Economics is the process of determining whether something is worth doing in the first place, not because it is or is not “profitable,” but because the overall benefits to society exceed the costs. Finance is about maximizing net monetary benefits for lenders; economics is about maximizing net social benefits for Everyone, including concern for equity among winners and losers and the health of the planet.
To digress for a moment, last week we were coming home from a dog walk when Ulee’s leash came unfastened, and with high enthusiasm he took off into the woods after a deer. His barks grew fainter as they got further away. Then I heard other dogs barking as well. Time passed and he didn’t come back. We went looking, no luck. I worried in particular that he might have gotten into a fight with a couple of mean dogs down the street (long story).
Anyway, I walked home, got the car and made a patrol of the area. No sign of him. As I got back in the car, I was suddenly hit with a sense of Hopeless Dread and burst into deep, sobbing, wailing tears. In that moment I really believed he was not going to come back, and it was deeply heartbreaking. I knew it was irrational, that most likely he would be home when I got there. And he was! But that didn’t stop me from doing the same thing then, with a big hug from Pat and a furry snuggle with Ulee.
My takeaway from that experience is that we have all been under a Lot of stress from the exhausting combination of four years of the Daily Chaos of the Tweetster, almost two years of Covid isolation and anxiety, and nearly one year (and counting) of the attack on the Capitol and the subsequent Big Lie.
Now, TODAY, as in this very day, September 30, 2021, a political battle has been joined in our Nation’s capitol for the Future of Life in our country in particular and on our fragile planet Earth in general. At this moment, the outcome rests on the whims of a couple of nominally Democratic Senators whose egos may turn them Republican at the last minute and scuttle both bills, opening the door for a New Republican Fascism from which this fragile and intricately interdependent world will never recover.
There’s a LOT at stake; may Wisdom prevail.
This week’s $5 tasting:
Betz Clos de Betz ’08 Washington $45
66% Merlot, 25% Cab Sauv, 9% Petit Verdot. Tight and precise, with sharply defined edges. Expressive nose of pain grille, graphite, Asian spices, with hints of balsamic, black currant, and blackberry; superb concentration, complexity, layers of fruit, and a lengthy finish. Parker 95 pts
Olim Bauda La Villa Barbera d’Asti ’17 Italy $14
Aromas and flavors of dark, rich red berries and currants; rich, ripe style with lots of up-front fruit and beautiful cleansing acidity.
Maryhill Viognier ’18 Washington $14
Carefully picked and slowly pressed to extract vibrant aromas of melon, pear, and apricot with traces of pineapple and grapefruit, continuing into a sensational and crisp fruit finish.
lummi island wine tasting sept 24-25 ’21
Current Covid Protocols
Attendance has been sparse the past two weekends due to annual ferry drydock as well as Covid. Lots of folks leave the island, others hole up, and last Friday’s freak windstorm kept people hunkered down at home. So it has been quiet and low-key around the wine shop, which is just fine during Covid.
This weekend’s forecast is for nice weather, so we will have outside tasting as an option both Friday and Saturday. We will be open for wine tasting and sales Friday and Saturday from 4-6pm, with the following guidelines:
- You must have completed a full Covid vaccination protocol to participate;
- We ask all to maintain appropriate social distancing from people outside your regular “neighborhood pod.”
Friday Bread
Each Friday Island Bakery delivers fresh bread ordered by customer email earlier in the week. Each Sunday offerings for the coming Friday are emailed to the mailing list. Orders must be returned by 5 pm on Tuesday for pickup at the wine shop the following Friday from 4-5:30.
Over the years the bakery has established a rotating list of several dozen breads and pastries from which are selected two different artisan breads and a pastry each week.
If you would like to be on the bread order mailing list, click on the Contact Us link at the top of the page and fill out the form.
This week’s pickup:
Multi Grain Levain – Made with a sourdough culture and a flavorful mix of bread flour with fresh milled whole wheat and rye flours as well. A nice mixture of flax, sesame sunflower and pumpkin seeds and rolled oats add great flavor and crunch. And just a little honey for some sweetness. A great all around bread that is full of flavor – $5/loaf
Polenta Levain –Also made from a levain of bread flour with polenta added in the final dough mix for a nice rustic loaf with great corn flavor. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Brioche Tarts au Sucre – otherwise known as brioche sugar tarts. A rich brioche dough full of eggs and butter is rolled into a round tart and topped with more eggs, cream, butter and sugar. – 2/$5
Wine of the Week: The Wolftrap Syrah Mourvèdre Viognier ’19 South Africa $11
Boekenhoutskloof farm was established in 1776. Located in the furthest corner of the beautiful Franschhoek Wine Valley of South Africa, about 50 km east of the Cape of Good Hope.
The farm’s name means “ravine of the Boekenhout” (pronounced Book-n-Howed), which is an indigenous Cape Beech tree greatly prized for furniture making. In 1993 the farm and homestead were bought and restored and a new vineyard planting programme was established that now includes Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Semillon and Viognier.
When the farm was founded, the Franschhoek valley was far wilder than it is today. Though the mountains are still alive with indigenous animals, including the majestic leopard, the only evidence that wolves once roamed here is an ancient wolf trap found long ago. This wine was named in homage to the mysteries and legends of days gone by.
Most of the Syrah in The Wolftrap comes from the Swartland region (photo, left), where it develops its robust character and elegant aromas of violets and ripe plums, accentuating its spicy, peppery profile while retaining the juicy, fruity character which is its hallmark. The Mourvèdre, also from the Swartland, lends a red fruit character and smoky body while the dash of Viognier brings perfume and vibrancy to the blend and makes for a rustic Rhône-style blend that seriously over-delivers for its $11 price point.
The Economics of the Heart: The Plot Thickens
Politicians have always done a dance with the truth. To some degree the art of tactical deception is part of being human, the product of millions of years of primate evolution. As social animals, everything we do has consequences for our relative position in a tribal hierarchy, well-being, and survival.
Experiments have shown that we humans begin learning to lie as toddlers, and get better at it as we age. In one experiment, children were asked to guess the identity of a hidden toy. When left unsupervised for a few minutes, 30% of two-year-olds cheated by finding the toy and lying about it, increasing to 80% for eight-year olds. And not only was deception more common among older kids– they had also gotten more skilled and subtle at it. Whether we call it Charm or a con game, we all try to highlight our skills and divert attention from our weaknesses, to cozy up to power and oil the wheels of our own progress.
To some degree, politics and wealth are the Major Leagues of social hierarchy…yup, Money and Position. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t always been Rules. As economic philosopher Joan Robinson reminded us, every economic system requires a set of values, a set of rules, and a will in the people to carry them out. By implication, of course, we are in Real Trouble when we find ourselves in a society that does not agree on either a set of values or on a set of rules. What then?
In the 1930’s, shaken to its economic foundations by the Great Depression, the United States, under the leadership of FDR, instituted a new set of economic rules. The New Deal was a major reorganization of the nation’s economic structure. It established the first economic safety nets in the form of Social Security, a progressive income tax , and government-funded public works projects. The goal was to get more people housed, fed, and employed. Under the new Keynesian economic theory, the injection of more spending would create demand for products and services, creating more demand, and so on through a Multiplier effect.
As we all know, this Keynesian set of policies, together with the increased economic demands of WWII, fired up the US economy and kept it going until the election of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency in 1980. Beginning with their idiotic notion of “supply side” economics, Reagan Republicans committed themselves to dismantling the apparatus of the New Deal by lowering tax rates on the wealthy and corporations, gutting low income safety nets and industrial regulation…you know, the Whole Catastrophe.
Even so, there was a measure of formality and collegiality in Congress and State Legislatures until the ascension of Newt Gingrich to House Speaker in the mid-nineties, and everything changed, perhaps best summed up by a local state legislator of the era who, speaking on the topic of allowing some grade school classes to be taught in Spanish, referred to the Bible and said “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!”
Fast forward to Today and the stunning revelations from the new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa on the details of Tweetster and company’s attempted coup against the United States after losing the election last November. All the evidence has pointed to this since the Muller investigation began. Woodward and Costa have gathered together a stunning documentation of a complex conspiracy of Congressional Republicans and other Trump loyalists to overturn the election results.
This time, we think, the facts will win the day. But we also remember that the facts have not counted for much since 2016. They didn’t count in the Muller hearings, or the Kavanaugh hearings, or the First impeachment, or the Second Impeachment.
Let’s not mince words: we are talking about Treason here: a deliberate conspiracy to overthrow the results of the 2020 Presidential election and install the Loser. Most of the Republicans in Congress and the Senate are co-conspirators.
So, no, we do NOT agree on a set of values or a set of rules. And we are still in a pandemic. And Global Warming is huffing and puffing at the front door AND the back door. Where’s that corkscrew…?
This week’s $5 tasting:
Marchetti Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico ’19 Italy $14
Verdicchio/ Malvasia blend using only free-run juice; pale straw color with green overtones; intense bouquet of citrus, lemon zest, and floral notes,with complex fruity character, and crisp, well-balanced palate.
The Wolftrap Syrah Mourvèdre Viognier ’18 South Africa $11
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.
Jordanov Vranec ’15 Macedonia $12
Aromas of ripe berries with notes of clove, nutmeg and cardamom. In the mouth it is full bodied with ripe dark fruit and hints of herbs with a noticeable dark chocolate edge on the well-structured finish. Enjoy with cheese, beef or lamb dishes or grilled sausages
lummi island wine tasting sept 17-18 ’21
Current Covid Protocols
The highly contagious Covid Delta variant continues to infect thousands of Americans, including vaccinated people, who may have no symptoms and no awareness if they/we are carriers. Here in Whatcom County, over 90% of residents over 65 (most of our regulars!) have been completely vaccinated so far. Nevertheless, right now Covid cases and hospitalizations in our area are higher than during the previous peak last February.
Because our car ferry will be in drydock for the next three weekends, we will be open for wine tasting and sales Friday and Saturday from 4-6pm. And, because heavy rain is expected, we will return to our indoor tasting format:
- You must have completed a full Covid vaccination protocol to participate;
- We ask everyone to maintain appropriate social distancing from people outside your regular “neighborhood pod.”
Friday Bread
Each Friday Island Bakery delivers fresh bread ordered by customer email earlier in the week. Each Sunday offerings for the coming Friday are emailed to the mailing list. Orders must be returned by 5 pm on Tuesday for pickup at the wine shop the following Friday from 4-5:30.
Over the years the bakery has established a rotating list of several dozen breads and pastries from which are selected two different artisan breads and a pastry each week.
If you would like to be on the bread order mailing list, click on the Contact Us link at the top of the page and fill out the form.
This week’s pickup:
Sesame Semolina – Uses a sponge pre-ferment before mixing the final dough, made with semolina and bread flour as well as a soaker of cornmeal, millet and sesame seeds, with a little olive oil to round out the flavor and tenderize the crumb. The finished dough is rolled in more sesame seeds before baking, resulting in a bread with a lot of great flavors – $5/loaf
Black Pepper Walnut- Made with a nice mix of bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A fair amount of black pepper and toasted walnuts give this bread great flavor with a distinct peppery bite. Excellent paired with all sorts of meats and cheese…and wine, of course! – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Cruffins – A cross between a muffin and croissant developed by the Bakehouse in San Francisco. This version is made with puff pastry instead of croissant dough, for a different kind of Delicious! The pastry is rolled out, spread with sugar, cinnamon and a bit of cardamom before rolling up, sliced, and baked in muffin tins. Makes a delightful, crisp, crunchy, buttery, sugary pastry. – 2/$5
Wine of the Week: Bonanza Cabernet Sauvignon California $21
Bonanza is an excellent example of a primary difference between Old World and New World wine sensibility. Across Europe, where wine production goes back to Roman times in many places, the history of wine is completely intertwined with regional geography, geology, climate, food, music, and art. They are inseparable elements of regional identity.
In the New World, (North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to various degrees), the subcultures of invading Europeans quickly displaced the thousand year old cultural traditions of indigenous Native Americans. In the American melting pot, these cultural fragments have overlapped each other for mere hundreds of years, not the thousands of the Old World.
We can taste the foods of scores of cultures in “American” restaurants. In the five-century old melting pot of the New World, many immigrant traditions coexist in a broad and highly varied cultural landscape in which the economic development interests of profit- oriented capitalism have replaced the long-term resource allocation time horizon of traditional, interdependent cultures with short-term, exploitive profit motivation.
This distinction is exemplified by this week’s Wine of the Week, because it does not come from any particular place. Rather, it is an artifact of widespread transfer of ownership of prime vineyards from family-owned and operated “artisan” wineries to corporate conglomerates which bought these prime vineyard sites and their trademark names from families who have no heir to take on the commitment of running the family winery. You don’t find many fourth and fifth generation winemakers in the New World.
Bonanza is a brand established by Chuck Wagner, whose parents pioneered the elevation of Napa Valley as The Place to grow the best cabernet grapes in the world with their development of the Caymus winery in the early seventies. For many years it has been regarded as perhaps the first “collectible” Napa cab, and its price and value soared. Many, many other families followed suit. Those that started early got by on a lot of hard work, but in recent decades prime vineyards and wineries were bought by conglomerate corporations. While Mr. Wagner grew up in a very successful family estate winery (grew its own grapes), his firm (and others like it) now control enough vineyards across California (and many brand names) that they can blend wines from many different vineyards and different vintages into a consistent wine product from year to year.
On the one hand, Bonanza is a very tasty wine that most of you will enjoy, and it makes a certain economic sense for an entrepreneur to find ways to minimize risk.
Mr. Wagner says on the bottle: “Casting aside the boundaries of individual appellations or vintages, we have greater freedom to make good wine.” Drop by and see what you think!
The Economics of the Heart: Why Trickle-Down Has Never Worked
Here we are eight months into the Biden Administration. The good news is that President Joe Biden is an honest, decent, hard-working, dedicated, and politically experienced man who earns our respect every time he opens his mouth. Over and over he chooses being Real over being Political. He is as politically experienced as it is possible to be, and he has maintained wide respect. He has suffered enormous personal losses and made them resources for empathy when others suffer.
Our nation and the world stand not at a crossroads, but an an Abyss of human making. After a hundred years of unbridled industrial resource consumption powered by fossil fuels and the externalization of the corporate costs of environmental destruction onto the long-term ability of Our Planet to maintain life, we find ourselves within a very few years of crossing a Line of No Return with climate change.
In the entire world, the only human beings who refuse to accept that this is happening are Republicans. They have no interest in resource allocation for the common good, no awareness that their failure to take action will trigger massive Extinction of all life on Earth, not just for a while, but Forever. WTF is Wrong with these people?
Thermodynamics, population, and economics form an interactive System. Everything that happens in one realm has consequences for the other two. Most simply,
- More people => more demand for energy => more greenhouse gases => more heat trapped in atmosphere => hotter climate
— By the way, at some point in the melting of permafrost as the polar regions warm, HUGE amounts of methane will be released from the decaying of the ancient plants and animals frozen in the tundra. The last time this happened (about 50 million years ago) there was only a fraction of the greenhouse gases we already have in our atmosphere.
Now, back to Trickle-down. Republicans have been claiming for the past sixty years that the answer to every problem is cutting taxes so people will have more money to spend as they choose, not as The Government chooses. Republicans have Never meant All people would get the same amount or same percentage. For every Republican President in the last fifty years, the first order of business has been a massive tax cut for the wealthy. The idea is that giving more money to the Investor class will increase investment in infrastructure, innovation, technology…hell, Everyone will be better off!
Sadly, that has Never happened. Rather, because Republicans typically lower federal taxes and at the same time increase federal spending they incur a double deficit. That’s why Bush I lost re-election– he had promised “no new taxes” but in fact raised them (the responsible thing to do, actually) and lost a bunch of his John Birch Society supporters to Ross Perot. And it’s why the end of Bush II’s administration caused a profound recession (no, it really qualified as a Depression) that left millions without homes or jobs. (We aren’t even going to talk about “the former guy,” which was more of the same.
Now we have Republicans in the Senate playing the same card they played against Obama when he had to get the country out of the Depression they left him.
Charlie Brown expressed our feeling best when he leaned his forehead against a tree, muttering, ” I can’t stand it!”
This week’s $5 tasting:
Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino ’18 Italy $14
Pale golden-tinged straw color; botanical herbs and white stone fruit on the nose and palate, with good length and freshness, finishing clean and medium-long, pairing well with everything from salad to pasta to fish and savory meat dishes.
Perazzeta Sara Rosso ’15 Italy $12
90% Sangiovese, 10% Ciliegiolo from the Tuscan south; bright and full-bodied with cherry, crisp acidity, and tantalizing earth tones make this pretty wine a winner with savory dishes.
Bonanza Cabernet Sauvignon California $21
Opens with scents of currants, dried roses, grape pomace and fresh tilled soil; nose shows notes of smoked meat, along with blueberries and blackberries, vanilla and toast. Silky tannins and striking smoothness.
2072 Granger Way