Sorry for Lack of Posts -- Working On A NEW SITE

I am switching over to a .com and am cramming "WordPress" in ... so if any of you have Verizon and know WordPress well, I would love to connect with you once in a while... most of my questions are dumb ones, for example: I asked a question that the answer ended up being "religiopoloiticaltalk.com" DUH!

At any rate, my new site's URL is:

• http://religiopoliticaltalk.com

The banner photo has some history to it, simply click on the Marines and you will be taken to it. My thinking is I am planting a "flag" here at this URL and will do so in a more professional way than I have before (at least in the layout and usability of the site). I will transfer over time some key articles and posts I did that I think stand out and bring info to the reader that I think is a must... so some older posts that some may have read here may pop up over there. 

The search tool and categories will be more user friendly... I am [again] trying to learn how to use WordPress... I am getting "WordPress for Dummies" today. So bear with me guys and gals... and I hope you enjoy the Mr.T Stain Glass -- I like it... "FOOL!"

Human Sacrifices -- Eastern Religion

Kali

Three Indian men were arrested for killing and beheading a man. The head for adorned with flowers and was thought to be part of a human sacrifice to the goddess Kali.

Digital Journal reported:

Police in Eastern India have arrested three men in connection to a beheading that is thought to be part of a human sacrifice to the goddess Kali.

The nude, decapitated body of a male factory worker was found in a section of a temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali in West Bengal, India. His head was smeared with red vermilion and had flowers and incense sticks surrounding it.

“Three men, all in their late 30s, have been arrested in connection with the beheading, District police chief Rabindranath Mukherjee told Sky News.

Two of the arrested men work in a factory where the victim once worked and the third man was a local laborer.

“We heard that incidents of human sacrifice by tantriks in different temples of the goddess Kali in Birbhum were common over a century ago,” a priest named Utpal Bhattacharya said.

The priest went on to explain that the Birbhum district of West Bengal is considered a center of energy and power in Hindu mythology.

In March, a married couple in Western India were arrested for allegedly killing five young boys after a mystic told them it would help the wife conceive.

And in September last year, police in Northern India arrested four people after a nine-year-old boy was kidnapped and murdered in a case of suspected human sacrifice.

Healing in the Name of Death

[ReligionNewsBlog Import]

OREGON CITY — Clackamas County District Attorney John Foote kept his promise to reach out to an Oregon City church whose members have been prosecuted for failing to provide adequate medical care for their children.

Foote sent a letter last week to 415 families who belong to the Followers of Christ Church. The church has a long tradition of using faith healing rather than mainstream medical treatment, sometimes with fatal consequences.

“As a starting point towards a possible dialogue between the church and law enforcement, let me ask the following question: Is there an opportunity for us to agree under what circumstances parents should take their children to a doctor or hospital for appropriate medical care?” Foote wrote.

“Our goal would be to try and find ways to make sure that children of the church are safe and receive appropriate medical care. We would work with you to make that happen,” the letter said.

It is hard to say how many church members would be open to using doctors. Current and former members have said seeking medical treatment shows a lack of faith. An attorney representing the church did not return a call to his office on Tuesday.

[...]

Foote said he was reluctant to talk about the letter. “The letter was not intended as a public act. It was intended as a private communication. The real conversation should go on in private,” Foote said Tuesday.
[...more...]

- Source / Full Story: district attorney reaches out to families in faith-healing church, Steve Mayes, The Oregonian, Apr. 20, 2010 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

BoooYa! Bill O'Reilly Deconstructs the Rev. Al Sharpton's Assertion

 NewsBusters h/t

See previous post:

• Rush & Beck on Dem Hypocrisy and Supposed Threats to Them vs. Threats to Republicans 

 

Some Muslim News

A couple of stories from Politically Incorrect

Ban on Child Marriage Deemed Un-Islamic

The paedophilic zealots of the Prophet can breathe more easily now. Islam consitently resists modern trends and holds fast to the tradition of marrying little girls. Islamic clergy declared lately that a ban on child marriage is un-Islamic and an endorsement for apostates. [mehr]

Public Hostility to Jews in Norway

Hostility to Jews in Scandinavia is becoming ever more menacing with the swelling of the Muslim population there (PI reported). Only around 1,300 Norwegians are of Jewish faith (in contrast to 150,000 Muslims), however they are seen as the root of all evil, and therefore they are mortally threatened, as even the report on Deutschlandfunkreveals. Above all, Jewish schoolchildren are becoming victims of discrimination, racism, threats, harassments and mobbing. [mehr] now

Suing ObamaCare -- Hail Mary (State Count Up To 14)

Red Eye "Fascist Shoot" -- Jesse James & Mistress News ((M-Rating))

Drudge Headlines

OPEN MIC: Biden to Obama: 'This is a big f**king deal'...
FLASHBACK: Obama promises 'public will have FIVE DAYS to look at every bill that lands on my desk'...
OBAMA SIGNS MASSIVE HEALTHCARE BILL AFTER 36 HOURS...
12 States File Lawsuits Against Mandatory Insurance...
CBS: Pelosi's favorability ratings 11%, Reid at 8%...
Uninsured: 'Going to be like Christmas... It's going to be great. You know, no worries about the bills'...
IBD: 20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Freedoms...
IRS Needs Additional $10 BILLION to Be the Nation's Health Enforcer...
NEXT: After health, Dems zero in on 'global warming'...
CNN Poll: Majority disapprove of Obama for first time...
Tea partiers vow revenge...

Jesse James Cheated on Sandra Bullock -- What An Ass! (I Am Commenting On Jesse James, Not On His Mistress)

UPDATE: I found out through a friend that another close friend told a story of being on the set of a Sandra Bullock film and her proclivity of making "sex toys" out of a guy or two on set while with Jesse... in fact her assistant used to keep Jesse away for a few day period to ensure secrecy.  

So maybe Jesse was getting back at her? If a guy were to make a statement about cheating on a gal who has herself cheated on him for years with many people, this gal (below) would be about the loudest statement one could make. She's pretty, and very noticeable. Who knows. They're all nuts!

Disgraceful... especially after this wonderful, heartfelt shout-out to Jesse (begins at 1:13):

First Report from Washington State on Euthanasia

Imported Article from OneNewsNow entitled, "Problems accompany legal euthanasia":

Assisted suicide has been legal for a year in Washington, and the state health department has issued its first report.

During the first year, 63 people requested and received lethal prescriptions to kill themselves. 47 have since died, while 36 are confirmed to have used the poison to accomplish it. Although 79 percent suffered from cancer, few cited pain as the reason for seeking end of life treatment as the main concern was the cost for alternate treatment.

"What is and has been the reality of this [is] that when you transform assisted suicide into a medical treatment, it makes it just like every other medical treatment, except it's lots cheaper. And people begin to see it as a benefit for the family," comments Rita Marker, attorney and president of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (ITF).

Many of the patients had insurance, but Marker says that means nothing. It does, however, serve as a reminder of an Oregon cancer victim whose treatment was rejected by her insurance. She was told, though, that they would cover her drugs for assisted suicide. The report shows there are too many unknowns, and the possibility of murder is an example.

"After that individual got the prescription, we don't know if once they got it home they put it into the medicine cabinet and then decided, 'I don't think I'll take this' and then whether someone else thinking maybe it would be a good idea for them to take it, mixed it into their food," the ITF president poses. "There's no way of knowing."

There is an open chance for elder abuse, but no way to track it or prosecute those responsible since the law requires prosecutors to treat the death as natural.

(source for the following) ....Elder abuse takes many forms, but the ultimate elder abuse is the act of killing a vulnerable dependent person. This ultimate abuse will appear as merciful but will often be cold, calculated killing, just like the many studies are beginning to show is true today.

Link to articles concerning elder abuse:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-486031/Drugged-oblivion-The-shocking-truth-elderly-treated-care-homes.html

http://www.justicenewsflash.com/2009/01/07/72-yearold-minnesota-man-starves-death-nursing-home-family-files-lawsuit_20090107555.html

http://www.bellinghamherald.com:80/102/story/744497.html

http://www.wyff4.com:80/news/18433023/detail.html

 ============================================================

Washington State "Death with Dignity" Statistics are Consistent with Elder Abuse; No Recourse for Elders.

 ....According to the report, lethal prescriptions intended to kill people were dispensed to 63 individuals. The majority were 65 years old or older, and educated. Nearly half had private insurance. These factors are consistent with their being individuals with money. Older people with money are prime targets of abuse. See Met Life Study on Elder abuse at: http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-study-broken-trust-elders-family-finances.pdf

According to the report, 23% took this step due a concern about being a "burden." This is a marker of possible abuse because the person was pressured to feel that way.

Washington's Act is, regardless, coercive: An heir who will benefit from the death, is allowed to help the person sign up for the lethal dose; there is no requirement of consent at the time of death. See: Margaret Dore, "Death with Dignity: What do we Tell our Clients?," Washington State Bar News, July 2009. http://wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/jul-09+deathwithdignity.htm .

After the death, even prosecutors are required to treat the death (voluntary or not) as "Natural." http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/forms/MEsAndCoroners.pdf. Elders abused by the Act have no recourse.

St. Patrick's Day In Uganda

APA-Kampala(Uganda) Ugandans will on Wednesday, March 17 mark ten years since a religious cult in Western Uganda caused death of over 1000 followers.

The cult, known as Restoration of the ten commandments was led by a former school teacher and church leader, Joseph Kibwetere with the help of a priest, Dominic Kataribaabo and a former bar maid Cledonia Mwerinde.

The cult based in Kanungu district near Uganda’s south western border with Eastern DR Congo, is said to have locked the believers in a huge church hall before using petrol to set it on fire.

The cult leaders had been preaching the end of the world come the year 2000 and had convinced the believers to give up all their possessions as they awaited the second coming of Jesus....

...(read more -- original source)...

The Two Americans Gunned Down In Broad Daylight In Juarez, Mexico, Was A Result Of The City's Ruthless Drug Wars

An Arizona City Forbids In-Home Bible Studies -- Bad Law Alert

This will undoubtedly be yet another out of the myriad of wins for "our side." But it takes MONEY!

Banished! City forbids Bible studies in homes

'This letter will serve as a 10-day written notice to quit such use'

The city of Gilbert, Ariz., has ordered a group of seven adults to stop gathering for Bible studies in a private home because such meetings are forbidden by the city's zoning codes. 

The issue was brought to a head when city officials wrote a letter to a pastor and his wife informing them they had 10 days to quit having the meetings in their private home. 

The ban, however, prompted a response from the Alliance Defense Fund, which filed an appeal with the city as the first step in its campaign to overturn a provision it describes as illegal. 

"The interpretation and enforcement of the town's code is clearly unconstitutional, " said Daniel Blomberg, a member of the litigation team for ADF. "It bans 200,000 Gilbert residents from meeting in their private homes for organized religious purposes – an activity encouraged in the Bible, practiced for thousands of years, and protected by the First Amendment."

The appeal was filed on behalf of the members, all seven, of the Oasis of Truth Church. 

Pastor Joe Sutherland had been told in a letter from code compliance officer Steve Wallace that the people were not allowed to meet in a home for church activities under the city's Land Development Code. 

There had been no complaints about the meetings, which had been rotating among members' homes before the officer wrote the letter and ordered the group to "terminate all religious meetings … regardless of their size, nature or frequency," because he noticed signs about the meetings. 

The town interprets its law so that "churches within its borders cannot have any home meetings of any size, including Bible studies, three-person church leadership meetings and potluck dinners," ADF said. 

A city letter confirmed, "Given that the church is considered to be religious assembly, and given the LDC provisions prohibiting that use on Local streets without Use Permits and prohibiting it in single family residential structures, it follows that the church meetings cannot be held in the home." 

"The assembly activities associated with the church, including Bible studies, church leadership meetings and church fellowship activities are not permitted," wrote Mike Milillo, the city's senior planner. 

"This ban is defended based upon traffic, parking, and building safety concerns. However, nothing in its zoning code prevents weekly Cub Scouts meetings, Monday Night Football parties with numerous attendees or large business parties from being held on a regular basis in private homes," the ADF said.

 ...(read more)...

UPDATE: Officials in an Arizona city where workers recently told members of a small church they are not allowed to hold Bible studies in a home and then backed up the warning with an official opinion from the city planner – an issue on which WND reported – say they now hope to make changes that will allow such religious activity.

Tom Hanks vs. BlackFive Commentary - Some Great Insights on Hanks Liberalism

I imported this with the hopes that people will include in their daily diet a weekly stop over at BlackFive, not to mention that for those who so not understand what Tom Hanks did over the past two-weeks... here you go. Tom is simply wrong, and people like Don Imus has every right to call him a "Panty-wearing Liberal Dickweed"!

Tom Hanks should stick to making films 

Posted By McQ

I'm not going to go on a rant about Tom Hanks recent remarks about why we fought the Japanese during WWII, but I do have a comment or two to make.  He said:

Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?

It is easy to make ignorant statements like that when you decide you need to make a political point. We see it everyday in the three-ring circus we call politics. Bending history to fit your ideological point of view is nothing new and there's certainly nothing so special about Tom Hanks that he's somehow above such nonsense. But he ought to know better, especially after making this new HBO miniseries about the Pacific war. 

My dad served in the Army for 36 years and was on Saipan, Leyte and Okinawa. Unlike Hanks, he actually fought the Japanese in some very tough battles - especially the last one. He never talked about it much when I was a kid, although when old friends would stop by at the posts where we were assigned, I'd hear some of the stories by getting myself in an unobserved position in the next room and quietly listening.

I don't remember he or any of his friends ever reflecting the sort of attitude Hanks would have us to believe was prevalent then.  Sure, they referred to them as "Japs", but not because they thought it was derrogatory or because they believed them to be "different", but because, well, that's what they were.  The story I remember most concerned his time on Saipan.  As he told the story you could tell the memory had an effect on him.  He told about Japanese families - women, kids - jumping off a cliff to avoid capture ("Suicide cliff" in Saipan). You could tell he thought it was awful and it was clear in the telling that the memory was vivid.  They'd brought in Japanese speakers to try to talk the families out of jumping, but the indoctrination and the culture were so strong that they jumped anyway. 

If you want to "annihilate" someone, you don't make that sort of effort to save them.  If you consider them as "different" in the way Hanks intimates, such things wouldn't shake you as it obviously did my father and those he had served with.

He said that the only Japanese captives they ever took were those who'd been either knocked unconscious before capture or were so badly wounded they couldn't avoid it.  Certainly they were "different" in the sense that their honor and culture called upon them to do things American culture would never call on its soldiers to do. But that didn't make them less than human to my father. He certainly wasn't at all pleased with the way the Japanese treated prisoners of war and held a hell of grudge about that. But I got the impression that he considered the Japanese barbaric because of that, not less than human.  He held them responsible for that conduct because they were human beings.  And after the war, we shocked them with the most humane occupation imaginable and the rebuilding of their nation.

The reason my dad and hundreds of thousands of other Americans fought the Japanese wasn't because they were racially "different" or worshiped a different god.  Nor did they do it with the aim of "annihilating" them.  It was because the had attacked the United States, were the enemy and that enemy had to be defeated.  Period.  My father and his comrades would have fought the Germans with the same ferocity they fought the Japanese had they been in Europe.

Tom Hanks is a fine actor and an excellent film maker.  But he should stick with what he knows.  Deciding how those fighting the Japanese thought of  their enemy isn't one of them.  Making a film about them doesn't suddenly make him some sort of expert in that regard either.  And, pretending to know what motivates those of us who fight our enemies of today is just as mistaken.

A New Video On Ergun Caner Lies -- When Will Liberty University Wise Up?!? Just Because A Muslim Is Pointing This Out Doesn't Mean Its Not True

(Original Post)

(Red Eye Added) Great Question About Massa from HotAir About "Junk" -- per Washington Times & Glenn Beck, Text Messages

Washington Times

Mr. Beck homed in. "Are there Tiger Woods phone calls that are going to happen, or text messages?"

In the show's most newsworthy moment, Mr. Massa said frankly of his interactions with staff members: "I'm sure there are text messages because we bantered back and forth all the time." 

Text messages!

 

Does climbing into a guy’s bunk and tickling his junk while he fends you off count as a “tickle-fight”?

According to Peter Clarke, a Navy shipmate, Massa was notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates. He tells the story of his friend Stuart Borsch, with whom Massa shared a hotel room while on leave during the first Gulf War. “Stuart’s at the edge of the bed,” Clarke says Borsch told him at the time, “and [Massa] starts massaging him. Massa said, ‘You’ll have to get one of my special massages.’ He called them ‘Massa Massages.’” Ron Moss, a Navy shipmate and Borsch’s roommate, confirmed that Borsch told him this story at the time.

Borsch, now a history professor at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, didn’t addresss that specific incident, but did confirm to me in an email that he was groped by Massa: “In 1990, aboard the U.S.S. Jouett, I was awakened when a senior officer, Lt. Commander Massa, seemed to be groping me. (I was a lieutenant at the time.) I believe he may have been drinking. I shouted at him and he left. I mentioned the incident to several other officers. I did not officially report it.”

Clarke says that Massa’s roommate, Tom Maxfield was also assaulted. “Tom lived on upper bunk,” Clarke say. “When you’re on ship, you’re almost exhausted 24-7. So a lot of times you sleep with your uniform on. Tom and Massa shared a stateroom together. Massa climbed up on the top of his bunk, which is hard to do–you never crawl up on somebody else’s bunk. He wakes up to Massa undoing his pants trying to snorkel him.” Ron Moss also confirmed hearing this story from Maxfield. Maxfield did [not] return calls and messages left for him–I’ll update if he does.

Why waste a post on this when, thanks to yesterday’s fiasco, this guy’s credibility is already destroyed? Three reasons. One: The snorkeling euphemism deserves a link, damn it. Two: I linked that Bob Lonsberry piece reciting the allegations against Massa during his naval career several times and figured you guys might want to compare and contrast. Lonsberry’s account is strikingly similar to what the Atlantic heard — except that the Atlantic notably now has people willing to go on the record. And three: To no one’s surprise, because of Massa’s resignation, the less-than-worthless House ethics committee has ended its investigation into his alleged misconduct. Barring a sexual harassment lawsuit by one of his victims, the only justice this guy’s going to get is from reporters. The Atlantic is the beginning but probably not the end.

(HotAir, "New details emerge: How Massa tried to, er, 'snorkel' his Navy shipmates")

Odd News Stories: Stabbing With a Meat Thermometer, Gay Porn Star Tazed, and World Bank Computer Game

CA Sen. Roy Ashburn: "I'm Gay" – And Stand By My Anti-Gay Votes

(Layla Corey h/t)

COMING OUT

I am gay. Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long. But I am gay, but it is something that is personal and I don't believe — I felt with my heart being gay … did not effect, would not effect how I do my job. What happened through my own actions the other night changed all that.

ON HIS VOTING RECORD

My votes reflect the wishes of the people in my district. And I have always felt tha tmy faith and allegiance was to the people there in the district, my constituents. So as each of these individual measure came before the legislature, I cast "no" votes. … I cherish the fact that we have a remarkable system of government, and that system of government provides for representatives elected by the people to go to the legislative bodies, whether it be Washington D.C. or Sacramento, and cast votes on behalf of the people, not my own point of view, not my own internal conflict, certainly to use my best judgment, but to vote as my constituents would have me vote. There's never been a doubt in my mind on the position of the vast majority of the people in my district, the 18th senatorial district, on these different issues. I voted as I felt I should on behalf of the people who elected me.

Read more: 

• "I'm Gay and I Stand By My Anti-Gay Votes;" 
• see also, "Homosexuals Against Same-Sex Marriage"

Paso Robles - The Not So Secret Spot... Anymore

The Daily News ran a wonderfully rich and vibrant story on one of my wife and I's favorite getaways, Paso Robles. There is an "E-Edition" of the Daily News to subscribe to if you are not in the Los Angela's areas. Here it is:

Paso Robles: The best wine region you may not know

PASO ROBLES - The February issue of a respected wine industry trade publication gives only one of the world's wines both a rarefied 98 score and the top spot in the "highly recommended" section.

Near perfection came from Saxum, a well-regarded but obscure winery in Paso Robles, a one-time California cow town becoming a superior wine-producing region known by few non-aficionados outside the state.

 

Located on California's Central Coast, the Paso Robles viticultural area's consistent quality and relatively moderate land prices have combined for phenomenal growth.

In fewer than 20 years, the number of wineries has grown from 30 to 250 and counting, plus at least 600 hopefuls making boutique bottles at custom crush co-ops to hawk at restaurants and local wine bars.

Esteemed reviewer Robert Parker has said the region of rolling, oak-studded hills holds California's greatest potential. Winemakers swear by a climate and limestone-infused soils that mimic the southern Rhone region of France.

Most are family operations that make fewer than 5,000 cases a year, which make them impossible for distributors seeking consistent availability to market nationally. Saxum bottles fewer than 3,000 cases and its wine club has a wait list. (The winery's 2007 James Berryhill that earned Wine Spectator's 98 - and 100 from Parker in October - sells for $67, compared with $375 for a French 98 in the same issue.)

"The reason people don't know Paso is because they don't see it in the marketplace. Maybe 20 are distributed now; it would help the region to have more," said Deborah Baldwin, co-owner of Justin Wine Co., founded in 1981 when there were seven wineries in the region.

Hugging the coast midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the 666,618 acres of the Paso Robles Viticulture Area is California's largest - three times the size of Napa. It comprises just more than half of the Central Coast wine region that stretches 250 miles from San Francisco to Santa Barbara.

Grapes have grown there since the Mission padres settled in the late 1700s. In the 1980s, the flat and sprawling east side became home to large commercial wineries such as Eberle and Meridian and later Gallo, Robert Mondavi and Kendall-Jackson farming 25,000 acres. But the cooler west side, where 5,000 acres are planted across hilly terrain, is where winemakers are scoring with critics.

With a production of 70,000 cases, Justin has tallied international accolades and become the region's vaunted behemoth and image maker: its 1994 Isosceles, the iconic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, was named "Best Blended Wine in the World" at the London International Wine & Spirit Competition. Wine Spectator named its 1997 Isosceles No. 6 in the world.

There is a wait for Isosceles reserve, but prices range from just more than $60 for Isosceles to $18.50 for the winery's screw top "Orphan" blend of leftover juices from the hand-harvested single vintage.

Justin draws 40,000 visitors a year, many of whom meander the wine trails to discover a new favorite or obscure winemaker. Or, not obscure: Miss America 1957 Marian McKnight owns Carmody McKnight with her husband. Former NFL defensive back Terry Hoage produces 2,100 cases of Rhone-inspired wines nearby.

"We realize we're all in this together," says Justin Baldwin, who believes the success of one increases exposure and recognition for the others.

Paso Robles has half as many wineries as Napa, but like Napa its climate includes coastal breezes and stifling inland valley heat. The wine boom and influx of oenophiles have transformed downtown Paso from an ag town of 18,000 in 1990 to a bustling tourist mecca of 30,000 with a lineup of sophisticated restaurants lacking in other cities its size.

"The wine here just kicks butt," says Bruce Davison, visiting Gray Wolf with his wife, Genevieve, from Los Angeles, three hours away by car.

In a state known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, the new crop of vintners in Paso Robles are self-described "Rhone Rangers," plumbing limestone soils of the Pacific Plate with Syrah, Grenache and Mouvedre vines from the southern Rhone region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

The terroir is so similar, when wine importer Robert Haas went looking with the sixth generation of France's Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel fame for a New World site, their four-year search ended in 1989 at a 120-acre site west of Paso Robles.

For their Tablas Creek they imported clones of the French winery's prized 13 varietals that could be legally blended into Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines (today the number is 20), and pioneered the organic growing movement.

Growing organically "is an important part of making wines that reflect place," said Jason Haas, Robert's son and general manager.

As if on cue he bent over to pick a lady bug from a clover leaf in a vineyard of Grenache Blanc.

Relatively affordable land prices made it possible for Rich Hartenberger, a former hospital bedding salesman from Chicago, to own Midnight Cellars with his family. They're just over the hill from the ultramodern winery of Ron and Marilyn Denner of the Ditch Witch fortune.

Most hand-craft their wines with small staffs, so odds are tasting-room visitors will be served by the owner/winemaker.

"You can walk in any time and see me here," said former environmental attorney Jeff Pipes, who with his wife, Florence Wong, has created at Pipestone Vineyards a 10-acre organic, solar-powered feng shui paradise that he plows with a team of draft horses.

Napa prices for land and the best wines are beyond many peoples' reach. But Paso is much more approachable, Justin's Deborah Baldwin says.

"The winemakers here today didn't come here with an attitude," Baldwin said. "Will it stay that way forever, I don't know."

8-Year Prison Term for Stealing $4 Bag of Cheese

This is a tough call. Maybe the judge knows how violent this ex-con can be and he doesn't want someone getting hurt on his watch? I have to tell you, if I knew I was going to get this amount of time for such a cheesy offense, I would have taken something other than a  bag of Tillamook shredded cheese! Some aged Gouda perhaps, how about some Parmigiano Reggiano:

A Yolo County judge on Monday sentenced a man who walked out of a store with a package of cheese in his trousers to seven years and eight months in prison.

Prosecutors had originally sought a life sentence for Robert Ferguson under the state's "three strikes" law. They dropped that bid last month, saying a psychological report had convinced them that a life sentence wasn't warranted....

....No weapons or injuries were associated with his crimes, Brushia told the judge....

When it came time to sentence Ferguson on Monday, Judge Warriner chose a middle ground. He accepted a probation department recommendation to disregard the prior strikes and to sentence Ferguson to the upper term for petty theft with priors.

The judge gave Ferguson 825 days of credit for his time in jail awaiting trial and said Ferguson would be required to serve half his sentence in prison. He will be eligible for parole in less than three years.

...(read more)...