wine on Sunday

[Thomas]

I suppose you all know about the STUPID legislation in NY that now allows liquor and wine shops to open on Sunday--provided we pick another day to close.

Turns out the State Liquor Ass...I mean Authorities, don't like the legislation, not because it is STUPID, but because it will mean more work for them to enforce. And so, with the ink on the legislation still wet, there is talk of it being changed to what it should have been in the first place--7 days a week.

It is all a plot, however, the first salvo in the wine-in-supermarket-law sought by big grocery chains. Until wine is given a 7-day sanction, supermarkets are uninterested in selling it, and until it is given the 7-day sanction, the SLA will not open it to supermarkets.

Oh yeah, in its infinite stupidity the legislature also placed a moratorium on new licenses. That was done to raise the value of licenses so that those retailers against Sunday sales (and there are many) would feel like they gained something. What the state lost is tax revenue by restricting new businesses from opening; what the state's resident's lost (especially the ones who were waiting for a new license) is the right to do business in this truly backward-thinking state, plus potential jobs.

Stay tuned. NY is still grappling with the concept of the evil juice being shipped across state lines.

It's enough to make me want to live in Iran again. At least there the government doesn't play games or lie--they just remove your liberty and tell you they are doing it.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 06-08-2003).]