I, now, would like to point out that both of her choices came from designers who are NOT white and are most definitely talented. Frankly, I believe her choices had nothing to do with race. They had everything to do with what she felt was right for her and the occasions. As is her right and responsibility.

Now, I would respectfully ask that 1) the Black Artists Association calm down and take a longer term view and 2) that Michelle Malkin get a better class of commenter. While I believe #2 is impossible based upon the author, I believe #1 is not only possible but probable if they would simply take a breath and realize that there is plenty of time and countless occasions for the First Lady to showcase black artists not only in fashion but in all the different categories of art. Four years, people! Let’s not get bitchy two weeks in! She could have picked Ralph Lauren, fergawdsake!

That said, I would respectfully request that Washington wines be served at the next state function. I get it, DiFi had control of the inauguration so CA got the alcohol spotlight. As the second largest producer of domestic fine wine, Washington deserves a nod and a pour. Cheers!

UPDATE: While I do not agree with calling out Michelle Obama on her designer choices, I definitely do not believe that it is death threat worthy!

George W. Bush wants healthcare workers (including anyone, even a receptionist booking appointments) to be able to deny you healthcare based upon their religious/moral/ethical beliefs. Not on your need or legally protected right but their beliefs. I (and the readers of this blog) am well aware that states already provide for this in the case of pharmacists, doctors and nurses. Now the Bushman wants to extend this to any employee of a healthcare company and not require the individual to declare their objection prior to hiring/scheduling/working.

My real point here is with everything this healthcare system already does to deny healthcare to those who need it, why is our government working to provide new ways to disenfranchise those who need it? But when the Republican candidtate doesn’t believe that pregnancy is really dangerous, are any of us really surprised?

I don’t really see anyone actively pursuing “green” as a strategy for selling wine in the state of Washington. In the November 2008 issue of Wine Business Monthly the “Direct to Consumer” offering is about teaching tasting room staff how to speak on issues of sustainability to enhance the visitor’s experience and make them feel even better about buying the wine. Whether it is pesticides, water conservation, migrant labor or fuel efficiency, the article argues that the staff interfacing with customers should be able to speak intelligently on the topic. I would argue that a winery’s PR and marketing should speak intelligently on the topic as well. If you can make your customer not only like your product but feel good about themselves for buying it, you have a customer for life. California wineries are taking this issue on and even have a conference. At which a California winery was awarded the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award. C’mon Gregoire, you’re not going to let the opportunity to promote a $3 billion state industry pass you by, right?

So, now we get to where the rubber hits the road – you and me aka – the consumer. What are we going to do to promote greener purchases beyond taking our shopping home in cloth bags? If you live in the state of Washington and drink wine from any further away than Oregon or the Okananagan Valley, you are not drinking green. If you are drinking from Europe or South Africa you need to rethink your priorities. Hey, I get it. I love a great Bordeaux, Nebbiolo, Rioja and even a Stellenbosch Pinotage but I would rather spend my carbon going to those places and drinking locally while I am there. Being on the left coast makes wines from Chile, Australia and New Zealand not exactly green, but greener than European wines; the opposite is true for our friends and family on the East coast. It is actually greener for them to drink the wines of Europe than California or Washington. A greater reliance on rail transportation over trucking and air might help balance that out but I am no transport specialist.

Oh, and if you live in a state that has a wine region, support it. Visit wineries, buy the wine in your local store, sign up for the club if you like their product. Buying direct ensures more profit for the winery and helps them to thrive so you can keep buying local and being green.

Now is where I tell you to get your nose out of the air and seriously consider alternative packaging. Twist top and artificial “cork” wines have less spoilage than traditional cork wines. The condition of the cork tells you the wine has survived its shipment and storage – that’s it. You still have to taste the wine in order to truly determine that it is in the condition the winemaker wanted it to be when it is served. So can all the silly cork rituals and taste the damn wine already. The fact that a cork can be a major failure point in packaging should be enough to move people away from its use. Unfortunately, the wine snobs of the world continue to vocally prefer cork thus promoting the continuing depletion of cork trees and the reluctance of wineries to move away from its use.

Another thing that needs to be seriously evaluated is the glass bottle. It’s heavy and cheaper to make from new material than from recycled. Not all wine regions have a good source for recycled material bottles (and by good I mean one that is local, competitively priced and with consistently high quality) so it undermines the purpose of paying more for recycled material and then burning a lot of fossil fuel to put it in the winery.

I think consumers need to seriously consider “the box.” After all when wine was first produced they put it into clay jars that were sealed with less appealing things than a cork. A 3 liter box of wine weighs the same as a 750 ml glass bottle of wine and all of its materials are recyclable. “Box” and TetraPak containers are completely capable of protecting wine without imparting any foreign taste to the wine. There are many quality producers of recycled material box components and shipping the packaging is significantly cheaper than shipping empty glass bottles. Yes, losing the bottle means losing the ritual and romance of opening a bottle of wine. Decant it, light some candles and get over yourself.

I doubt that we will see any winery anywhere in the next year announce that they are switching to all box or TetraPak containers. But if a winery was to announce to its club members that they will be doing exclusive alternative packaging vintages I would be interested to see the reaction. If you love wine and you love the planet, perhaps you can give up the bottle.

So go drink some local wine (if you are in a western state without a resident wine industry Washington wine counts as local) and make your voice heard on issues of sustainability in the wine industry. Here are a few of my local favorites:

Sleight of Hand Cellars – Spellbinder is a great red blend for $18
DaMa Wines – Their Riesling is a lovely little prize at $16
Ash Hollow – The Somana is a great white blend at $20
Spring Valley Vineyards – Their Nina Lee (100% Syrah) is one of my favorites and my go to gift wine – $50
Cullin Hills Winery – Thanks to Nabil at Seattle Wine Co for turning me on to their Viognier (sold out)

Cheers!

I am cautiously hopeful with the slight majority for Democrats in Congress and the lame duck status of The Idiot. I am unsure this means we can immediately restore the foundation of democracy – the right to challenge detention by the government. When Congress originally passed the Military Commissions Act, I got a bit maudlin here. Rather than jump for joy I want to see what The Idiot’s Minions and Congress are going to do about this latest slap from The Supremes.

And lest any of you fence-sitters out there think that The Supremes are not a compelling reason to vote against McSame, here is how the vote broke down:

Affirmed the Military Commissions Act
Roberts (GWB)
Scalia (RR)
Thomas (GHWB)
Alito (GWB)

Overturned the Military Commissions Act
Stevens (Ford)
Kennedy (RR)
Bader Ginsburg (WJC)
Souter (GHWB)
Breyer (WJC)

McSame has said that he will nominate justices in the mold of Roberts and Alito. Bader Ginsburg and Stevens are the oldest justices currently serving and we can’t afford to give McSame the opportunity to solidify a far-right majority on the court.

Will Congress get rid of the law? Will the Dems cave into the manipulations of The Idiot’s Minions? Stay tuned…

Let me qualify all of this to say that I am an Edwards supporter. His “Two Americas” theme resonated with me so deeply on so many levels that in my head I amended it to “Many Americas.” We are a country of many different classes, races, cultures and sexes/orientation. All of these vying for a piece of the fabled American pie only to be disappointed with the measly little crumbs of patronizing lip service.

I became politically aware with Ronald Reagan, Abortion Rights, AIDS, Lyndon LaRouche and Immigrant Amnesty in Southern California. I was 13 in 1980 in a private Catholic school, a bit of a rebel and watching my family unit disintegrate in divorce. I watched my mom work three jobs while my dad went to Hawaii on vacation. I watched fear of and hate for people who were different and dying become accepted and expected. I cast my first vote in a presidential campaign in 1988 for Michael Dukakis (really against GHWB) and spent the next four years horrified by things like the Savings and Loan Scandal, the first Gulf War and the invasion of Panama. While I am not a member of the Democratic Party, I have never voted for a Republican. I have always been an issues voter and they land in two categories – my right to dominion over my body and the protection of civil rights.

Now, reading that paragraph most people would come to the conclusion that I would be a supporter of Clinton. Nope. She voted to give The Idiot the authorization for preemptive strike and never admitted personal culpability. I don’t trust her to not hold on to the expanded powers of the presidency that were manufactured by the current administration. IMO she is too much of a centrist (like her husband) to really bring the fight to the right (beyond pointing the finger of conspiracy) and too beholden to corporate interests to want to. The fact that she is a woman never made it into my mind as a factor either for or against her – I simply didn’t think it mattered. I wasn’t surprised that it became a huge crutch for the MSM and the right-wing noise machine to exploit. I was disappointed to hear the same “stories” perpetuated on the left – “the nag,” “the cleavage,” “the husband.” It wasn’t until today, hearing her concession speech that I realized how much I care about a female becoming president of the United States someday.

Lines like this got me in the gut as it was designed to do:

To all those women in their 80s and their 90s born before women could vote who cast their votes for our campaign. I’ve told you before about Florence Steen of South Dakota, who was 88 years old, and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot. She passed away soon after, and under state law, her ballot didn’t count. But her daughter later told a reporter, “My dad’s an ornery old cowboy, and he didn’t like it when he heard mom’s vote wouldn’t be counted. I don’t think he had voted in 20 years. But he voted in place of my mom.”

Bob and I got to talking about it. It is embarrassing and shameful that the US has not had a female or minority executive (pres or veep) when you can point to a lot of other countries who have beat “our great democracy” to both the race and/or gender barriers. I am not going to make a lot of gender-based arguments about why a female would be a good/better/best choice. Frankly, I don’t think the sex of a candidate matters. However, I do believe that a lot of qualified, talented and ambitious women have been overlooked and flat-out discouraged because of their sex. It will take the concerted effort of women across the country to raise additional well qualified, female candidates, again and again until one finally manages to win the nomination and the office. This country needs to grow up and stop thinking like a straight adolescent with his first Playboy® magazine. I am not sure how long this is going to take but I am willing to believe it can happen in my lifetime.

As for the BS about voting for McCain…

First, read this from Tbogg and if you are a supporter of Clinton, you are not going to easily vote for a man who can do that. If you care at all about controlling your reproductive rights (male or female) you will not vote for a man who has this kind of record. If you care about healthcare, veterans’ rights, the economy and Iraq you are not going to toss your support for Clinton out the window for a man whose record and intent is diametrically opposed to your former candidate. So, time to grow up and suck it up, boys and girls. We can still make history here and start the long, difficult clean up after this tragic 8 year frat party.

UPDATE: Don’t just take my word for it! Go see Christy!

The pardon you gave, this time, was not yours to give.
They call it due process and some people are overdue…
Said they were going to slap his wrists and retire him with $850,000
And America was shocked! America leads the world in shocks…
The man who tried to steal America is not in jail…
The poor and ignorant go to jail, while the rich go to San Clemente…
and pardon us, while we get sick…
we have an understanding of Karma; what goes around, comes around…

And here we are looking at the long job ahead of cleaning up after the “national tragedy” that has been the Bush administration and its adventures to enrich the corporate class. Illegal wiretaps, the suspension of habeas corpus, the lies and fabrications to start an unnecessary war, the abandonment of a just military action, the sell-out of Americans to a system that crushes those without the cash to pay their way. How did we come back to this?  Did we just get fat and happy, losing our way?  Were we hijacked, hoodwinked or harrassed into letting go of our rights?

Will the Bush Administration ever really be held accountable for the damage it has wrought on our system, nation and reputation?  Will they pay for the hundreds of thousands of lives they have destroyed with their “pre-emptive strike” foreign policy?  When will we see the full impact of their ruinous fiscal policies?

The answer of course, is no, the administration will never truly be held accountable.  They will trot out all of the same old tired reasons used to send Nixon to San Clemente.  National security, health, etc. The MSM and their corporate ownership structure will ensure the short term legacy of this administration and the political wonks and bureaucrats will wrap the rest in the ponderous obscurity of the archives.  And the Democratic candidate that will succeed him will inherit a system so fundametally broken that he will be lucky to escape the worst of what Jimmy Carter had to deal with during his years in office.  Stagflation, anyone?

My country no longer recognizes my rights.
I am no longer under the rule of law.
I am no longer innocent until proven guilty.

I am one finger away from being a terrorist.
I am one finger away from being raped and tortured.
I am one finger away from becoming the enemy they fear.

I am afraid, but I will not cower.
I am enraged, but I will not strike.
I will speak my truth with pixel, voice and vote.

I hope that you will all continue to do the same, Terry

Tomorrow the Family Research Council is hosting another Value Voters Summit in DC and sporting a roster of conservative politicians and pundits that could make some nauseous watching their heads spin.  It includes the Kansas Attorney General, Phill Kline, who wants to invade the privacy of women in order to shut down Planned Parenthood and other low-cost reproductive health providers. There are bigger names in politics attending including Alberto “whatever the prez wants” Gonzales and Newt “I have another revolution left” Gingrich.

They are gearing up for the last month of mid-terms and laying the groundwork for ‘08.  It will be interesting to see what “distractions” they rig up to provide the sub-plot for fear and war.  I imagine the same-old “issues” will be easy for them to recycle. If anybody sees transcripts or some other content from the events, I would love to get the links.  See, I have this idea for a daily calendar – Hate and the hating haters… 

UPDATE Apparently they won’t sink to any level:

From the New York Times:

Even in this crowd of nearly 2,000 Christian conservative activists, some balked at one tactic recommended to turn out church voters. In a workshop, Connie Marshner, a veteran organizer, distributed a step-by-step guide that recommended obtaining church directories and posing as a nonpartisan pollster to ask people how they planned to vote. “Hello, I am with ABC polls,” a suggested script began. 

Some attendees complained that the script seemed deceptive, Ms. Marshner said in an interview afterward. She said that such disguised calls were a common campaign tactic, that it was just a suggested script and that she never recommended answering a direct question with a lie. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, who played host to the conference, said he was “upset” to learn of her instructions and condemned any deception. 

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the liberal group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the tactic “disgraceful” and “a desecration of the church.” 

“seemed deceptive?”  Ya think?  But notice it took a liberal to take them to task while good old Tony was simply “upset.”  Upset at the tactic or that it was being reported on in the Times?

Anyone who has been reading this blog long enough already knows that I skirt the edge of professional paranoid.  However, I think I may have hit upon the true reason that I never receive good (or even halfway decent) customer service – I have a low “lifetime value” as a customer.  In fact, I probably cause most of my vendors to lose money in maintaining me as a customer.

As a professional marketer, I almost never respond to direct mail or other advertisements in a vendor’s attempt to upsell me to a more expensive item or service.  Rather, I spend a few minutes dissecting the piece for its relative merits and faults before I toss it away.  But this Lifetime Customer Value thing is big business and I think it is undermining the very thing it was originally designed to support – personalized service.  When 1-to-1 marketing was first promoted, it focused on how to increase the value of your customer base by serving or anticipating their needs better.  Now it is about culling the fattest calves from the herd and sh*tting on the rest.

The vendors that provide me with truly personal service I reward with not only my loyalty but with referrals and testimonials.  The ones that treat me like a number and a set of behaviors I ditch at the first opportunity and steer people away from every chance I get.  I realize that it is unfashionable to have customer service agents that actually care about resolving a customer’s issue or speak English as a first language.  And until we as consumers rise up as one and slay the evil market whores vote with our dollars on a large scale we will have to yell and throw stupendous verbal fits in order to get our lifetime value returned.