Welcome to the annual Wine/Harvest Fair issue of NorthBay biz magazine. This continues to be one of the favorite issues we publish all year. That shouldn’t be a surprising statement, since it’s in concert with what readers and advertisers have been telling us for years. For well over a decade—15 years, to be exact—NorthBay biz has been the official print publication of the Sonoma County Harvest Fair. Beginning on page 53, you’ll find the 2013 Harvest Fair schedule and guide of events to help you navigate your way around the fun. If you’ve never attended or haven’t gone in a while, make sure to attend this year. It’s a guaranteed good time.
As is our habit, this Wine/Harvest Fair issue is filled with fun, facts, figures and fancy. Beginning with the cover story’s exploration of the rise of food and wine pairing events, followed by profiles of wine leaders and progressing through Vineyard Vignettes and a lighthearted romp on the science and art of wine tasting, you’ll be informed while being entertained. Taken together, this issue explores both the lighter and more serious sides of growing grapes and making world-class wines in the North Bay. So, sit back, relax, pour yourself a glass of your favorite local wine and enjoy this special issue of NorthBay biz. Then go out and enjoy the Sonoma County Harvest Fair.
Normally, at this point in a special issue column, I try to lighten up and move away from my typical rants—you know the formula by now—criticisms about taxes, deficits, employment, special interests, the regulatory state, profligate spending and politicians in general, who put their own (party’s) interest before the interests of the public they’re supposed to be serving. And I’ll do so this time, after I vent about a recent front page, above the fold, headline that ran in a recent issue of The Press Democrat.
Here’s the headline: “Quest to Ban Blowers.” Pretty innocuous really, but when I read the headline I thought, wow, is this how far we’ve been dumbed down? With all that’s going on locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, is this story, another attempt by the nanny state to control every facet of our lives, really front page news? Then I thought about it some more and guess what—it is.
The effort to ban leaf blowers in the town of Sonoma exemplifies perfectly that nothing, no matter how small, is safe from the intrusive, wandering eye of government. Only politicians, innately blessed with the wisdom to know what’s best for their minions, have the “gift” that enables them to make judgments for us—always in our best interests—whether we agree with them or not. Everything from toilet paper to health care, and pretty soon everything in between, will be decided for us based on the whims (and ideology) of our electeds.
For a couple of hundred years, politicians understood they weren’t only elected by the people, but were actually supposed to work in their constituency’s best interest. You know the refrain, “by the people, for the people.” It’s been in the last 50 years or so that this equation has been turned upside down. I for one, and I believe millions of other citizens, don’t believe they work for, or are here to serve, politicians’ interests. Making laws, rules and regulations that only apply to us and not them is the most egregious expression of their disdain for the common folk. If Social Security isn’t good enough for them, it’s not good enough for us. If Obamacare is the panacea for the country’s health care woes, why doesn’t it cover all politicians too? Enough. I’m weary of being talked down to. I’m exhausted from being preached at with exalted pronouncements and promises that never quite come true.
Here’s my pronouncement to the politicians: Simply do your job in good faith and humility to become eligible to reenter the realm of what constitutes good governance. Stop reaching beyond what you were put into office to do. Stop trying to make every decision for me. Stop enriching yourself at the expense of the taxpayers, and America will respond by doing what it does best—thriving on individual effort and taking responsibility for the outcome. Guarantee equal opportunity for all and then get the hell out of the way.
OK, that just sort of came pouring out, the rant turning into a ramble. Maybe I should stop reading innocuous headlines.
As promised, we end on a lighter note. How about some great thoughts by an assortment of contemporary philosophers?
“As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind—every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.” —John Glenn
“When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a new wife.” —Prince Phillip
“Wood burns faster if you have to cut and chop it yourself.” —Harrison Ford
“Having more money doesn’t make you happier. I have $50 million but I’m just as happy as when I had $48 million.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger
“The best cure for sea sickness is to sit under a tree.” —Spike Milligan
“Lawyers believe a man is innocent until proven broke.” —Robin Hall
“Home cooking. Where many a man thinks his wife is.” —Jimmy Durante
“I don’t believe in astrology. I’m a Sagittarius and we’re very skeptical.” —Arthur C. Clarke
That’s it for now. Enjoy the Wine/Harvest Fair issue.
