for Hotwine, and all others

[Thomas]

Maybe we covered this before--don't recall. But I hear-tell that some Texas legislators are trying to push through a sizable excise tax increase on ONLY French wine.

First, it is stupid.

Second, it is selective and truly a disgusting practice that makes us look like Third World dictatorial traders.

Third, it likely would make Hotwine have to switch to beer.

But fear not; the legislators seem to think there is enough good Texas-produced wine to take up the slack. Ugh with politicians!

[hotwine]

Good grief, I hadn't heard of that hair-brained scheme before. But anything is possible when our legislature is in session (witness the national coverage of the yellow-bellied democrats hotfooting it to OK to avoid a vote on redistricting).

I plan to make the rounds today...still looking for '00 Bordeaux.

[winoweenie]

Some self-riteuous, self-promoting, well-meaning(maybe) politico looking fer' some of that free publicity no doubt. WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/frown.gif[/img]

[Innkeeper]

I guess Massachusetts is in a different country. At the end of our last trip our friend and I stopped by a French Bistro in Lenox, MA called Zinc. The date was April 24 when feelings were still running high around the country. They had nothing but French Wine in the house. I asked if they had lost any business lately. The answer was, "Non."

[Kcwhippet]

French wines are selling in our shop at least as well as before the threatened boycott.

[barnesy]

The people advocating boycotting French stuff don't consume french stuff, unless Natty Ice is french....

Barnesy

[Bucko]

Hell, Foodie, Hotsie doesn't drink anything but snake juice and panther piss -- taken bare handed from the critters in the Texican Tradition. Don't mess with Hotsie....

[quijote]

I don't think the legislators should stop at passing excise taxes on French wine; anything French should be taxed heavily. So, the next time someone invokes the social contract (Rousseau) or the legislative/executive/judicial trinity (Montesquieu), we should demand money!

In all honesty, don't such people realize that "red, white, and blue" are also colors on the French flag?! It does no one any good for our government to use a commodity such as wine in order to take some sort of revenge; all we're doing is hurting some of the best people in the world who have nothing to do with their government's policies.

[hotwine]

Panthers and snakes are wimps compared to a 2,000 lb Charolais bull, Buckster. I favor 100 proof bullspit, but holdin' him steady while he slobbers into a bucket is the hard part.

[Thomas]

Hotwine, bull's spit--yuch!

quijote, you are so right, but how would a politician justify his/her position without at least pandering to some group once a day. And I dare say, few in government display no sense of history because even fewer likely know much about it.

Oh, Hotwine, you earlier mentioned Democrats as potential culprits behind this legislative disgust. I follow no political party line because I have long since discovered that no party has a lock on pandering and ignorance. Party line thinking, to me, is the positive effect of manipulation by THEM! But I suspect that if you look closely into the matter, you might find Republicans fully behind such a law--it was a R in Congress that changed the name of the French Fries on the menu.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 05-16-2003).]

[hotwine]

Yeah, I know, the GOP seems to have an equal number of jerks. But the danged fools who fled to OK were all dems. They've been the majority in the state's congressional delegation for 130 years, but the GOP has won all recent state elections. We'd just like the congressional delegation to reflect reality. It's a pipe dream.

[Thomas]

Hotwine, there's politics, there's bad politics, there's pandering politics, and there's corrupt politics--and then, there's Texas politics-a species all its own!!!

[Botafogo]

But, then, there is LOUISIANA Politics! A state where the job of County Tax Auditor was a hereditary office until just recently. Where every candidate has a NUMBER as his official ballot designation (on the assumption that lots of illiterates vote and this is easier for them) followed by a nickname like "Skeeter" or "Coonass".

An absolutely true story that almost made me homesick was when, two or three years ago, an African American civil rights attourney ran for Attorney General and went to court for the right to use "Super N!##er" as his nome de chad abuse since the Cajuns routinely use "perjorative" and "ethnic" names as theirs. I think his name was something like Andrew Jackson or something as well, too funny!

And...don't forget...they manage to re-define Chickens as not being animals for purposes of animal cruelty laws in order to preserve the sacred Gentleman's sport of Cockfighting!

Les bonnes tons roulet, Roberto

[Thomas]

True enough Roberto, but even Lousiana can't top a state where legislators meet only on the fourth day of the seventh month in a year during a full moon eclipse of the sun, but it has to be raining that day. That's about how it works in Texas...

[Kcwhippet]

Ole SB must know Louisiana politics. He was there long enough to have studied as a chef under Paul Prudhomme.

[hotwine]

Foodie's got it right. Our esteemed legislature only meets for about three months every other year. That provision of the state constitution was an intended to limit lawmakers' opportunities to raise taxes, but about all it's done is ensure that all state legislation is equally rushed, and bad.

[wondersofwine]

Huey Long of Louisiana is quoted as having said "I deny the allegation and defy the alligators." Not a bad line.

[Botafogo]

And Uncle Eddie (Governor Edwards) once proclaimed that "the only thing that will keep me from re-election is if they catch me in bed with a dead girl or a live boy"!

Anyone catch that movie that Paul Newman did about Huey's lil bro' Earl Long? My favorite scene is when he shoots his lawnmower with a shotgun.