lummi island wine tasting dec 5-6 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
painting by Anne Gibert
This Week’s Wine Tasting
Marchetti Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico ’22 Italy $14
Verdicchio/Malvasia blend from free-run juice; pale straw-green color; intense bouquet of citrus and lemon zest, complex fruity character, and crisp, well-balanced palate.
Perrin CdR Rouge Réserve ’20 France $16
Fresh, bright and fleshy GSM Rhone blend shows peppery aromas and flavors of black cherry and raspberry, finishing warm and long. Excellent value!
Domaine Chibaou Surnaturel Merlot ’20 France $22
Aromas of black fruits, strawberries, and caramel; rich and concentrated, balanced and elegant.
Economics of the Heart: Enough of the People Enough of the Time…
Sure, they look tough… but they don’t pack the gear!
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
The familiar American myth is that Abraham Lincoln said these wise lines in various places at various times with various wordings.
So it is curiously disappointing to learn that rigorous research concludes that the idea has been around since long before Lincoln, with numerous similar wordings, (including Dubya’s memorable “fool me once shame on you; fool me twice..um..fool me….well, you can’t fool me again!” The point still holds: when facts contradict what politicians have been telling us, they have been lying and it’s time for them to go!
Now a year into the 2024 coup, everyone can see very clearly the blatant corruption and sadistic cruelty of the Project 2025 assault on our 250-yr old democracy. For most of the year, Congressional Republicans have been largely silent and unavailable for comment, making this the most unproductive Congress in history, aka “most Oval Office genuflections in a single year.”
It’s been a long, horrifying year of Congressional rubber-stamping of the Tweetster’s long list of breathtakingly incompetent Cabinet appointees, Musk’s DOGE publicizing of confidential federal records, and Project 2025’s methodical destruction of American democracy.
At the same time, the venerable White House is being ripped to pieces and cheapened to the Tweetster’s tasteless “standards.” Congressional Republicans remain silent and subdued as he cedes Ukraine to Putin, and nod off in their chairs as he hands over our most advanced weapons systems to ruthless Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman (the guy who brought us 9/11 and the brutal murder of Jamal Kashoggi.) Folks, this isn’t a Congress; it’s a retirement home for empty suits.
The sadistic cruelty of Congressional Republicans’ failure to protect our institutions, our people, our Constitution, and their own oaths of office are exacerbated even further by the daily, nation-wide brutality of thousands of armed, masked, warrantless ICE agents. Each day, under orders from Steven Miller, they deliberately violate the Constitutional rights of thousands of legal immigrants and asylum seekers, create chaos across the country (even Lummi Island*) and defy state and federal laws with adolescent impunity.
However, we are seeing many encouraging signs of growing public resistance to the ongoing lies, the corruption, the looting, the cruelty, and the widespread violations of local, state, federal, and international laws by administration officials. These include the illegal murders of scores of unknown, unnamed boat crews by US armed aircraft in neutral waters by American ships and aircraft and their intention to eliminate federal support for the needy altogether in 2027.
Recent polls, election results, and increasing nationwide resistance from lower courts, state governors, AG’s, legislatures, and public events all show growing commitment to preserve our Constitutional rights. These include the calling out of federal overreach by state and local authorities, consistent lower court nixing of unjustifiable/illegal charges against targeted individuals or groups, recent election victories for the rule of law, and increasing political activity of younger voters, including NYC mayor, New Jersey and Virginia governors, and CA Prop 50.
* Last spring some 34 Mexican-origin roofers who regularly worked here on LI were swept up across the County by ICE and “disappeared”)
lummi island wine tasting nov 28-29 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
We will be Open Friday and Saturday from 4-6 for wine tasting as usual for anyone so inclined. 🙂
As these shorter, darker, wetter, and gloomier November days keep reminding us, we are less than a month away from Winter Solstice, aka the annual Peak of Gloom, which we curiously celebrate as “Thanksgiving.” It’s a time for warm gatherings, good food with friends, and cozy fires.
This Week’s Wine Tasting
Chapoutier Belleruche Blanc ’23 France $14
Delicious blend of grenache blanc and roussanne; fragrant and perfumed with a light, grilled-lemon note over ripe melon, and a lingering palate of rich white peach.
Argento Malbec ’22 Argentina $13
From organically grown grapes; deep purple hue; inviting aromas of red berries and flowers, and flavors of plum and sweet blackberry; finishes with ripe, balanced tannins– way over-delivers for its modest price.
Jordanov Vranec ’20 Macedonia $18
Aromas of ripe berries with notes of clove, nutmeg and cardamom; full bodied with ripe dark fruit and hints of herbs and dark chocolate on the well-structured finish.
Economics of the Heart: Toward the New Republican Feudalism
courtesy lumenlearning.com
Supposedly Republicans know everything there is to know about wealth and money. They are famous for reducing every complex issue to its ‘bottom line,” i.e. how much profit does it make for them and their cronies in the top .01%?
Curiously, Republicans have thought this way for over a hundred years without learning anything about economics. In particular, they have managed ignore the central importance of the “circular flow” of resources, goods, and services among actual living human beings. The ONLY measure that counts is their profit. Ah, the allure of the feudal manor.
For example, among their many economic idiocies is the notion that “workers” should be paid the absolute minimum for their time and expertise, while management should be paid according to the sales somehow “generated” in their part of the organization.
As Marx observed, every worker adds value to production not only by their skills and expertise, but also by their spending, which generates income for other sellers, which allows them to acquire more resources, make more products and services, and yes, more profit. It is a false sort of “thrift” to suppose that paying workers less than the value they add is going to make the Big Pie any bigger, because everyone is part of the Circular Flow.
Over the past forty years the ownership of wealth in the United States has been increasingly concentrated in the hands of .01% of the population, who invest it in their next profiteering scheme, for which they earn for themselves even more net worth.
The net effect is that vast portions of the population are priced out of essential life-sustaining markets like food, clothing, and shelter. We see this very clearly in the recent deep cuts to school lunch subsidies, increases in homelessness, rising health care costs.
Even more idiotic are Project 2025 threats to cut social security payments to the millions of people who paid into it for decades. As Poirot might say, “No, no, no, mes amis, this reneging on a system that has delivered for Americans for nearly a hundred years is just plain stealing.
What all this constitutes is a giant step back into the Manor System of the feudal Middle Ages, wherein the feudal lords who owned everything hired serfs and villeins by allowing them to live in their manor fiefdoms in exchange for work. They weren’t slaves exactly, nor were they free to come and go as they pleased. Read more.
lummi island wine tasting nov 21-22 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
November sun!
rare glimpse of sunshine on
late November leaves… 🙂
This Week’s Wine Tasting
MAN Chenin Blanc ’22 South Africa $14
Free-run juice preserves a crisp, clean, natural character; light, bright flavors of quince, pear, and pineapple, palate of fresh stonefruit and apple, and a round, soothing mouthfeel.
MAN Vintners Pinotage ’22 South Africa $14
Aromas of dark coffee beans, red berries, nutmeg, and vanilla spice turning to dark berries and smoky plum; rustic yet silky and juicy, with smooth tannins, balanced acidity, and comforting intensity.
Wolftrap Red ’21 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. (read more)
Lunetta Prosecco Italy $14
Pale straw color with greenish reflections, and fine perlage; fragrant, with enticing aromas of apple and peach; refreshing, dry, and harmonious, with crisp fruit flavors and a clean finish.
Economics of the Heart: America’s Closeout Sale
F-35 stealth fighter/bomber
When you think about it, it’s not all that surprising that the self-absorbed billionaires who have taken over the US government think of our entire country as just another profit center. From their point of view it makes no sense at all to squander resources keeping anyone alive who isn’t contributing at least as much value to the bottom line as it costs to hire them.
After all, this is the way feudalism worked for centuries. The powerful made the rules and the serfs did their bidding just to stay alive. Even so, every regional warlord had to maintain an army to protect his lands from neighboring kings and their armies, and the middle ages were filled with savagery and brutality. As the old story goes:
Get off this land. Whose land is it..?
It’s MY land. Where did you get it?
From my father. Where did he get it?
From his father. And where did HE get it…?
He fought for it. Well, then…I’ll fight YOU for it.
Over the last two thousand years human beings have tried out countless socioeconomic government structures before the United States became the first nation founded on the quaint principle that “all men are created equal,” designing an interdependent governmental structure specifically to keep government power under the will of the people.
For the last ten months our current “federal government” has been following the detailed blueprint of Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 by systematically dismantling the Constitutional checks and balances that that have made this nation a global leader for 250 years. They are systematically replacing it with an authoritarian state that they seem to imagine: 1) will somehow survive as a fundamentalist White Christian oligarchy-against-women while systematically abandoning our traditional principles and the global leadership and respect they have engendered.
Seriously, make no mistake! This precise moment in history could well be our last chance to circle the wagons and fight back with everything we have left as a society. In particular, the recent meeting between the disintegating-before-our-very-eyes Tweetster and the gruelingly smarmy Saudi monarch represents the crossing of a roaring Rubicon that must be stopped immediately!!
The photo above is of the Lockheed-Martin F-35 stealth fighter/bomber, specifically designed to be electronically invisible. Btw, our military has not been using “airplanes” for a long time. On the contrary, every military aircraft represents a complex bundle of weapons, capabilities, and electronics generally referred to as a weapons system, with an extensive spec sheet of strategically important top secret capabilities.
Do not doubt for a moment that selling such cutting edge weapons systems to any other nation than long- trusted allies would instantly compromise all of those capabilities, negate their strategic advantages, and expose our country and its global interests to enemies across the world. For more on this topic, take a look at former VP Pence security advisor Olivia Troye’s assessment.
The recent unity shown by Congress in releasing the Epstein files suggests that Republicans might be crawling out of their 10-month hibernation and thinking, hmm, maybe things are not going quite the way they imagined. Meanwhile growing pushback about rising prices, together with increasing ICE domestic terrorism against Latino immigrants, has propelled a massive shift of Hispanic voters back to Democrats.
CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION:
PLEASE call/write your members of Congress immediately and urge them to kibosh the sale of sophisticated weaponry like the F-35 to Saudi Arabia or any other countries with whom we do not hold long-standing, proven alliances.
lummi island wine tasting nov 14-15 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
click link for larger image!!
the view a gentleman sees from Mike & Diane’s privy…
This Week’s Wine Tasting
McManis Chardonnay ’23 CA $14
Lush and inviting with pure fruit flavors, voluptuous palate of peach, apricot, vibrant citrus, and melon and an easy, creamy texture with hints of vanilla and a smooth, lingering finish.
Phantom Red Blend ’20 WA $17
Petite Sirah/Zin blend delivers rich velvety palate of dark blackberry and boysenberry with peppery notes, balanced structure w/ tantalizing layers of baking spice and plush tannins…a consistent local favorite!
Marchetti Villa Bonomi Conero Riserva ’19 Italy $27
100% Sangiovese from Montepulciano, aged 16 mos. in barriques and 12 mos. in bottle; big, age-worthy wine with intense floral bouquet, nuanced flavors; ripe, pleasing tannins, and satisfying finish.
Lovo Fior d’Arancio Sparkling Moscato ’18 Italy $15
A rare clone of Moscato with an unmistakable citrus scent from nearby orange groves; a great holiday dessert wine with refined bubbles, beautiful, pearlescent color, and maybe a dessert all by itself!
Economics of the Heart: Fighting Back
This week we celebrate some shifts in the balance of power in the ongoing battle to save American Democracy. Today’s article in Salon by Heather Parton is particularly hopeful, documenting a number of encouraging political shifts over the last several weeks. In particular she traces a direct line of cause and effect between the most-recent-of-many Texas gerrymanders of its legislature to gain 5 more House seats in ’26 and a significant string of recent Maga setbacks around the country.
Interestingly, these pushbacks around the country began with the group exodus of Texas House Democrats’ out of the state (many to Illinois) to prevent a legislative quorum on yet another illegal Republican gerrymander. They received a warm welcome from Illinois Gov. Pritzger and “brought national attention to the Machiavellian tactics the GOP was employing to maintain its congressional majority in 2026. “That effort ignited a state-by-state battle that just may end up backfiring on the Republicans.”
The patently illegal actions of Texas Gov. Abbott and the subsequent publicity around the Texas House members’ unavailability set wheels of outrage in motion around the country and have already led to redistricting decisions in several swing states. Dave Wasserman, an electoral expert at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, noted on X that “between OH, KS, CA, VA and now this huge win in UT, Democrats have quietly strung together an impressive streak of victories over the past few weeks that have, surprisingly, pushed the mid-decade redistricting war closer to a draw.” See also: New Texas maps:
Party affiliations are in flux around the country. Many Hispanics who turned to Maga early on and now see immigrants like themselves being stripped of their rights, brutalized, deported, and worse by ICE, are turning back to Blue, and not likely to be switching back any time soon. That’s a substantial demographic block snubbed by Maga.
At the same time the millions of protesters who turned out for the No Kings March demonstrated national solidarity and commitment, and federal courts have been drawing firmer lines around the civil rights of both citizens and immigrants. Pressures are mounting to rein in the ongoing brutality and lack of accountability of ICE, and resistance is growing among veterans against the growing use of US military force against civilians, and the brutal bombings and murders of scores of unknown occupants of unidentified small vessels in international waters is in gross violation of international law and a dishonor to our country.
The rapidly emerging picture is that every day more people are waking up to the economic, environmental, and social disruption being caused by Project 2025’s brutal war on individual rights.
All this chaos is unfolding, of course, just as the mysterious Epstein files are being released. If they yield any actual facts we might find a few Republicans quietly start tiptoeing away from the Tweetster.
2072 Granger Way