{"id":152,"date":"2009-01-25T21:53:11","date_gmt":"2009-01-25T21:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=152"},"modified":"2009-01-25T21:53:11","modified_gmt":"2009-01-25T21:53:11","slug":"il-reggio-marco-i-or-marco-piu-grande","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=152","title":{"rendered":"Il Reggio Marco I (or Marco Pi\u00f9 Grande)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u0426\u0430\u0440<\/span>, transliterated either as Tsar or Czar, holds the same etymology as Kaiser, which is ultimately derived from Caesar, or G. Iulius Caesar as he was known before Shakespeare\u2019s time. Truth be told\u2014I\u2019m just looking for a pretext to play with my Cyrillic fonts. Still, I often ponder how I would run things if I were Czar of the United States.<\/span><\/div>\n
For starters, I would immediately sever jurisdiction over alcohol from the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms<\/a>). With no apology either to the NRA or the nicotine mongers at Altria, R. J. Reynolds and even the pseudo-holistic Natural American Spirit, there is no parallel between alcohol consumption and their lethal products. As a most perspicacious commentator (whose name eludes me) <\/span>once noted, \u201cit is the abuse of alcohol that is harmful, whereas it is the mere use of tobacco that causes its toxic effects.\u201d To look at it from another perspective, the health benefits derived from moderate consumption of alcohol, and, in particular, wine, are well documented; try to cite any salubrious aspects to smoking. Or getting shot.<\/span><\/div>\n
As Czar of the United States, I also would have put a complete freeze on the stock markets the moment the Dow hit 12,000. No movement, no trading, no evaporation of $4 trillion in capitalization. Meanwhile, I\u2019d provide an opportunity for all the idle hedge fund managers, investment bankers, and stock brokers finally<\/span> to accomplish something of genuine value to society. A true derivative<\/span> of their worth, so to speak. Here is your hoe and your pail of asphalt. Imagine how pristine and pothole-free our city streets would be now!<\/span><\/div>\n
OK, so perhaps it\u2019s a bit hubristic to think I can run the entire country by fiat (after all, it\u2019s not like I\u2019m a 47-year-old neophyte)<\/span>. Maybe I should restrict my sights and simply aim to become Czar of California.<\/span><\/div>\n
If I were Czar of California, I would immediately take steps to liberate us from the hegemony of the federal government. Be that establishing California as an autonomous province, \u00e0 la Qu\u00e9bec, or outright seceding from the Union. Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, even both states of\u00a0Mexico\u2019s\u00a0Baja California would be more than welcome to join us (note that all these jurisdictions encompass significant wine-producing regions)<\/span>. On the other hand, Nevada would not be included, although I would annex all of the areas surrounding Lake Tahoe, even if it means ceding them Bakersfield as a quid pro quo<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
Think of this as the West Coast\u2019s risorgimento<\/a><\/span>, and I, its Garibaldi<\/a>. All I\u2019d ask for in compensation would be a homestead on Angel Island<\/a>. With WiFi access and 24 hour ferry service, of course.<\/span><\/div>\n
As Czar of California, I would immediately restore the drinking age to an appropriate 18. Furthermore, I\u2019d permit the service of wine at meals to minors at a family\u2019s discretion, whether it be at home or in a public dining establishment. Readers will note the corollary diminished rate of alcohol abuse among societies that already have established this practice.
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Again, I may be overreaching. Let\u2019s therefore limit my sights to becoming Czar of California\u2019s Alcoholic Beverage Control<\/a>. As an autocratic reformer, I\u2019d swiftly move to alter the hours alcoholic beverages can legally be served to 8 AM until 4 AM (as opposed to the current 6 AM-2 AM span)<\/span>. Where is the vibrancy of a cultural that has rolled up and is already beneath the bedsheets by the time Leno and Letterman begin their monologues? And do we really to have need folks pounding down boilermakers<\/a> at 7 in the morning?<\/span><\/div>\n
Another change I would implement would be to include all grape-based spirits within beer & wine licensing. So many of the wineries throughout the West Coast (Jepson<\/a><\/span>, Bonny Doon<\/a><\/span>, Germain-Robin<\/a><\/span>, Clear Creek<\/a><\/span>, Sonoma Valley Portworks<\/a><\/span>, St. George Spirits<\/a><\/span>, to name but a few)<\/span> make extraordinary alambic brandies<\/a>, eaux-de-vie and grappas\u2014it is a considerable shame that these products cannot be served alongside the wines of our region.<\/span><\/div>\n
Grappa<\/a>, which, like Your West Coast Oenophile<\/span>, is called Marc<\/span> by the French, is produced by one of the earliest codified sustainable practices<\/a>. The <\/a>vinaccia<\/span> <\/a>(pomace)<\/span> left over from the production of wine is fermented, then distilled to a level around 80\u00b0. Admittedly, grappa is an acquired taste, but it can be delightful as its production methods are laudable.!<\/span><\/div>\n
There is a bar in San Francisco\u2019s North Beach<\/a> district that does not realize that grappa is not the same as wine and pours a glass as such. As this erroneous practice is an indulgence in which I partake not infrequently, I will not name the establishment here, for fear that I might disabuse them of the notion. However, it is fair to say that two \u00a07 oz. glasses of grappa can give substance to any illusion (delusion?)<\/span> of grandeur or otherwise.
\n<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u0426\u0430\u0440, transliterated either as Tsar or Czar, holds the same etymology as Kaiser, which is ultimately derived from Caesar, or G. Iulius Caesar as he was known before Shakespeare\u2019s time. Truth be told\u2014I\u2019m just looking for a pretext to play with my Cyrillic fonts. Still, I often ponder how I would run things if I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}