Category: Everything Else

Great News for Oenophiles

SCOTUS gets one right!

Wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, striking down laws banning a practice that has flourished because of the Internet and growing popularity of winery tours.

The 5-4 decision overturns laws in New York and Michigan, which supporters said were aimed at protecting local wineries and limiting underage drinkers from purchasing wine without showing proof of age. In all, 24 states have laws barring interstate shipments.

The court said the state bans are discriminatory and anticompetitive.

“States have broad power to regulate liquor,” Justice
Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. “This power, however, does not allow states to ban, or severely limit, the direct shipment of out-of-state wine while simultaneously authorizing direct shipment by in-state producers.”

Buh-Bye, Pensions, Thanks for Flying With Us

I’ve flown United Airlines quite a lot – as much as five times a year – for the past seven years. When it comes to providing the nonstop NYC – SFO flights that I want, at the times that I want, for a price I consider reasonable, they’ve consistantly met my requirements. Occasionally I’ve flown American or JetBlue, but they generally are less convenient and/or more expensive. United has been my airline of choice.

And now, United has dumped their employee pension plan as part of bankruptcy recovery plan. That’s a six BILLION dollar committment to employees, dumped off onto an underfunded Federal bailout organization. So retired United employees are potentially screwed, and we the taxpayer get to pay the bill.

Well, United, you’ve gone from being my airline of choice to my airline of last resort. That’s my response.

Wow

The European Parliament voted Wednesday in favor of an obligatory 48-hour maximum work week

Yes another reason I wish I was about 15 years younger and spoke more than one language. I can’t imagine the US enacting something like this.

Scopes Would Be Pissed

80 years after he went on trial for teaching evolution, John Scopes’ battle is being fought again in Kansas:

Eighty years after the first famed “Monkey Trial,” a second one was under way Thursday in Kansas, giving critics of evolution a forum for attacking the theory.

A State Board of Education subcommittee began four days of trial-like hearings on evolution, and witnesses were advocates of intelligent design, critics of evolution or both.

The entire board plans to consider changes in June to standards that determine how Kansas students are tested on science.