No Sunday Morning Libations For Kure Beach

In a bonehead move Kure Beach has denied Sunday morning alcohol sales. We knew somewhere in North Carolina a governing body would stand on religious principal and the evils of alcohol, but I wouldn’t have suspected it to be a tourist area. It is their prerogative to decide if Sunday morning sales should be allowed to happen, but it is ridiculous to put it in a religious context. Someone should remind them religious organizations meet all the time, not just on Sunday morning. The mayor, Craig Bloszinsky, cited traffic getting worse in town if alcohol sales were to occur beginning at 10am. I guess Craig has realized what I learned long ago, they only put those fish symbols on the back of cars who cannot drive in the first place. I think they have a meeting at church to decide who gets a fish and who doesn’t and they want the highest possible visibility so it goes on the car who drives the worst and is most likely to draw attention to the symbol. I’m kidding of course, but to say it will add to traffic is quite short sighted. People having a bloody with 10am brunch are not apt to get sloshed by noon when the neighborhood churches typically let out. Anyway, I know where I won’t be visiting when planning my next vacation if that is the attitude of Kure Beach. Sounds like they didn’t want visitors there in the first place.

Happy 4th of July!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Sunday Morning Drinking – Almost

You may or may not have heard Senate Bill 155, the Brunch Bill, has been sent to Governor Cooper to be signed. This bill was actually entitled ABC Omnibus Legislation and made several changes to the law including the definition of Homebrew. Assuming he signs it quickly that does not mean you get to run out and have a bloody the following Sunday morning. In fact now you will have to wait for your city or perhaps county to allow those sales. Yep, it may be quite some time before you actually can have a Sunday morning libation in a restaurant or bar depending upon when the governing body for each area meets to allow or disallow those sales. I suspect you will be walking into a small town restaurant next year on a Sunday morning and order that mimosa only to be told the town has still not approved those sales. I’m all for big government allowing small cities and towns to be the master of their fate, but I’m also for uniformity, especially when it comes to alcohol. I should be able to expect the same rules in each and every place where it is sold in NC. Anyway, the bill has passed and soon enough the larger cities will jump on the bandwagon. No more waiting until noon to head out to Sunday brunch. Now I can thrown on a hat and have some hair of the dog first thing in the morning.

There are many other tweaks to the law in the bill. The text is available here.

NCGA House Alcohol Beverage Control Committee

You know how they say a picture is worth 1,000 words. How about several photos which demonstrate a point. I got to wondering the House ABC Committee and their decision to gut House Bill 500 and why that might have happened. Then I took a few minutes and looked at the campaign contributions they have received from the NC Wine & Beer Wholesalers and it paints a picture of pay to play politics. Take a gander at the screen shots below and see if you come to the same conclusion.

It should be noted a few are not in the pocket of the NC Wine & Beer Wholesalers, but it should be obvious a majority of the committee are on Tim Kent’s payroll through campaign contributions.

Brunch Anyone – S155

On Wednesday Senate Bill 155 was introduced and while I wish it was more encompassing, it is nice someone finally realized there is no reason to wait until noon to have a bloody mary at brunch on Sunday. This bill addresses two things, one of which is the silly rule to only allow alcohol sales at restaurants after noon on Sunday. The second is to allow off-premise free tastings for those holding a distillery permit. Where it falls short is not allowing alcohol sales in retail stores until noon. I’m not saying everyone needs to have a drink at 10am on Sunday, but how about you are heading to lunch with friends and forgot to grab the wine on Saturday before lunch on Sunday. Now you run to the store to quickly pick up a red for the event and are told you need to wait until noon. Why do I need to wait until noon exactly? Because someone feels my ability to purchase alcohol should be based on their religious convictions? That’s a special kind of stupid considering all the various religions and when they have services. Are we to continue to cowtail to the prohibitionists or can we all agree it is 2017 and the chances of someone getting all liquored up and going to church service is not going to change with a change in the laws. This bill is on the right track, but let’s complete the circle and send a message to people like Rev. Mark Creech that his skewed sense of values is not that of the majority of NC.

Celebrating Five Years

Today is the fifth anniversary for the blog. When it started 1,827 posts ago the direction was unclear and with this post once again the direction is a bit of a mystery. Trying to post daily has proven difficult when a fresh topic idea isn’t forthcoming, for that reason the plan is to only post when there is something relevant or fun to say. That might be a reminder of a particular day to celebrate a drink or beverage of a discourse on how ignorant a politician is on the topic of alcohol or firearms. The goal will be for topics to concentrate on firearms and fermentation only occasionally coloring outside the lines. Thank you to everyone who receive the blog via email and to those who visit regularly to read what we have to say.

Cheers to you all!

Which Constitutional Rights Should Require ID?

I had an interesting discussion yesterday with someone who tried to read words into my statements which were not there and made false comments so I ended our conversation before it lost civility. It was regarding voting and my comment was we should show proof of identity. Currently in NC you can look up any registered voter and you could take that information to a polling place during the elections, say the name, confirm the address, and vote. We had an ID law in place which was deemed by some court somewhere unconstitutional and struck down. I don’t actually remember the reasons why it didn’t pass muster, but I believe providing proof of identity should occur prior to voting. It could be an ID card or heck just a thumbprint on an electronic reader. If my cell phone can pickup my print to let me in the phone then one should be able to setup a voter identification app to do the same at the polling station.

All this got me thinking which rights require an ID already and if one constitutional right requires it why would it not apply to all of them? Certainly for the Second Amendment the laws nationwide involve an ID, so there’s one. I would think the Fourth would involve an ID to be sure when a warrant is served they have the right person. Probably the Sixth and Seventh, again to have the right person which leads into the Eighth. The Eighteenth took away our rights to alcoholic beverages and the Twenty-first brought back that right and last time I checked an ID is required for anyone who appears to be younger than the drinking age. In fact several places require ID no matter what your age. Without going through them all it would make sense to me that the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth should all require an ID since so many others do already. I read that 7% of the voting age population is without an ID. That equates to around 16 million US citizens who have no form of ID. I have no problem at all with us finding a means to get any registered voter a valid ID for voting purposes. Even if it cost an average of $25 per person to carry out and all 16 million took advantage of the program our total out of pocket would be $400 million which is a drop in the bucket of Federal spending. My suspicion is most of the 16 million are not registered to vote in the first place and so they don’t vote anyway even when an ID is not required. I still cannot wrap my brain around the position requiring proof of identity is a burden and will reduce voter turnout. The only thing reducing voter turnout was two candidates which were difficult to like.

Upcoming Fifth Anniversary

On February 12 the blog will turn five. We generate about 1,000 new views per month and 135 people following our mindless banter. Every comment is considered and we appreciate you taking the time to read about whatever happens to come to mind that day. We may decide to post less frequent and with more focus after the 12th because some days it is difficult to find an interesting topic while other days it is difficult to stop typing. So if you start to see less posts do not become alarmed, we’ll post when we have something to say as opposed to saying something daily.

What To Choose To Celebrate The Life Of Someone Who Tried To Bogart Your Alcohol?

It has been an incredibly tough week. On Thursday we lost our cat of 18 years and it broke my heart. The week prior our other cat had gone missing and we received a call about him yesterday. We brought him home and laid him to rest. He was such a sweet soul, but no matter what drink I brought out he would try to snag a taste. I never let him get into the glass, but he appeared to want to taste it all. He was more dog than cat and would come on command and would allow you to pet endlessly. There was no part of that cat which was off limits for a rub and he was a social butterfly visiting everyone in the neighborhood. He will be remembered forever and we miss him desperately. I am so glad for the time we spent together and wish it could have lasted much, much longer. Rest in peace sweet boy.

What To Choose To Celebrate The Life Of A Teetotaler?

Recently lost a friend who did not drink and absolutely could not stand the smell of any alcohol. If he came close when I was having a drink he would turn up his nose and walk away. So what libation do you choose to celebrate and toast the life of someone who did not drink? I looked in the liquor cabinet a long time last night trying to decide and finally settled on something which I like and would enjoy because he loved nothing more than seeing me happy and spending time with me. In case you didn’t pick up on it the friend was our cat. We had him 18 years and he was a joy and brought enrichment to our lives. I’ll remember him forever and even though he would turn up his nose at whatever alcohol I happened to have in my glass he was an awesome cat and I miss him tremendously. Whoever said a dog is man’s best friend never owned a cat!