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.”
Reason to Love Atrios
He quotes Gilbert & Sullivan’s Ruddigore!
Meet The Fosters!
Right after Scott and I came back from New York, we attended a training class at the SF SPCA in order to become kitten foster parents. I’ve missed working at the SPCA. Although I don’t really have the time to commit to doing the on-site socialization and adoption counseling regularly right now, I still love working with kittens and want to help out where I can. Fostering seemed like a good solution.
And today we got the call. Could I come down and pick up two kittens who needed a foster home for the next two weeks or so? Of course we could. So until they grow to be 2 pounds in weight, we’re fostering two little tabby girls: Pansy and Marcy. Here they are!
Pansy is an outgoing, high-energy kitty:
Marcy is shyer but very, very cute:
The other kitties are adapting well to the newcomers. Gimi in particular is fascinated with them. It’s amazing that this time last year, he was about that size too.
They’re kept in a cage both for their own safety and for the safety of our cats; the kittens are still quite young (approximately six weeks), fragile, and have not completed their vaccinations. Also, they could potentially be carrying illnesses that can pass to our cats. In fact, we should be keeping them in a room away from the other cats here but need to shovel out some space in the office before we can do that.
Rest assured that we are taking the girls out of the cage for playtime and cuddling quite regularly.
I’m sure I’ll be posting more pictures over the next 2 weeks!
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.
Dennis Prager is Clueless About The Jews
I’d go into a long list of reasons why this article is completely full of sh*t, but I have a paper to write today. However, I can’t resist this one appalling tidbit:
Were Jews true to their mission, they would stand alongside Christians who work to bring the Torah’s values to the world
In other words, not helping the people who think you’re doomed to hell because you don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus is somehow against the mission of Judaism.
I call it self-preservation, thank you very much.