The Wine Commonsewer

Open The Bottle Tonight

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Tonight is the Tenth Annual Open The Bottle Night, a special evening set aside to open the one bottle that you've put off opening until the time is just right. Except it never is. The right time.
 
It doesn't have to expensive or exotic, but there should be a tale of how it came to be yours or why you picked this particular wine. This is the bottle you can't quite bring yourself to open for just a plain Saturday night on the couch with a  Blockbuster movie. It may be the bottle that you meant to open for New Years Eve and St Val's Day, but didn't. It probably cost more than you typically spend and it'll age well into the next decade, which explains some of your reluctance to pop the cork. But you should.

Just Do It!

Even more fun? Invite a few friends to join you to break bread and share stories.

What bottle will you open?

Gentle Reader Del Mar Dave plans to uncork a 1998 Chateau Pichon-Longueville.

TWC has narrowed the selection to two candidates:

2002 Franciscan Meritage
2003 Kief-Joshua Cabernet Sauvignon

More here.

Want to tell your story?

Email:

OTBN AT Winecommonsewer.com

As Always,

TWC

Dogbert on the Bailout

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

El Jeronimo de Crow always maintained that the funnies weren't funny and that's why he skipped the color section of the Sunday rag. Some truth in that but Dilbert is often the exception.

As Ever,

TWC

Tip of the glass to RM in MA

Bumper Sticker Protests

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

To avoid obscene hand gestures (or gunshots) from annoyed taxpayers, the proper message probably should be Honk if I'm paying your mortgage, but you get the drift. Too bad the Tennessee Republican Party didn't speak up last fall. I take that back, maybe they did. I dunno.

As Ever,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Ben S

The Nanny State AND Microsoft Too

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

As many of you know, TWC ditched Vista Business 64 and went back to XP Pro. Although XP isn't without flaws, I've never looked back. Each time I log onto Mrs TWC's laptop I reach around and pat myself on the back for my stroke of genius.

That said, Microsoft began nagging me about a week ago:

I have never used MS Outlook Express (ever) and, accordingly, there are no messages there to compact.

Secondarily, with 338 Gigabytes of free space I don't have a need to free up disk space.

Now I'm going to waste some time figuring out how to rid my machine of this plague. Course, I keep reminding myself that Vista has pretty much perfected the art of naggery and that crap like this is a small price to pay to be free of Redmond's nanny.

As Ever,

TWC

Taxpayer Funded Private Party at the House of Blues Cost One Hundred Grand

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Leaving aside questions of politics, morality, and economics, this is EXACTLY why the government has no business bailing out banks (or anyone else) with money hijacked from the taxpayers under the threat of jail time for non-payment.

The entertainment Web site TMZ broke the story Tuesday that Northern Trust of Chicago, which got $1.5 billion in bailout money and then laid off 450 workers, flew hundreds of clients and employees to Los Angeles last week and treated them to four days of posh hotel rooms, salmon and filet mignon dinners, music concerts, a PGA golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club with Mercedes shuttle rides and Tiffany swag bags.

Aside from that there was the private party at the House of Blues with Sheryl Crow, plus the Chicago and Earth, Wind, & Fire concerts.

And don't think this is just a question of proper oversight. It isn't. This behavior is as predictable as it is appalling. 

Your Tax Dollars At Work

As Ever,

TWC 

Tip of the glass to JC Bowman

Will Rogers on Taxes

The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.

Taxpayers Are Also Entitled To Chuck Rangel's Tax Penalty Immunity

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Lots of chatter lately about President O'Blama's cabinet picks and their singular apathy toward paying the taxes that the rest of us are expected to cough up.

Treasury Secretary Geithner failed to pay self-employment taxes on consulting income he earned while working with the International Monetary Fund. Apparently, IRS discovered the omission and dinged him for some of it. He didn't voluntarily pay the rest of the oversight ($34,000.00) until the President tapped him for the nomination as Secretary of the Treasury.

Senior adviser David Axelrod said Geithner made a common mistake in not paying his self-employment taxes for money he earned from 2001 to 2004 while working for the IMF.....

Presumably, Secretary Geithner isn't working with a seasonal hire at H&R Block  who hadn't heard about that rule. The rest of us have long been aware that a 1099 issued for services rendered to the IMF (or anyone else) is subject to self-employment taxes, which is what social security tax is known as when it is levied upon the self-employed.

Interestingly enough, Secretary Geithner's $34,000.00 check didn't include interest or penalties that would have totaled an additional $17,000.00 (approximately).

For those who don't know, although the IRS sometimes waives penalties for good cause, the IRS *NEVER* waives interest on back taxes. The sole exception is when a taxpayer settles with IRS under the terms of an Offer in Compromise. Keep in mind, however, that the IRS never agrees to an OIC unless it believes there is little chance to collect the full amount.

Once they become aware of back taxes, IRS has ten years to collect. If a commoner has a good job, is aging into her peak earning years, has other assets such as a home, 401(k) (I guess that's a 201(k) these days), stocks, bonds, investments, retirement accounts, rental property, or piles of gold in the basement, the IRS will not settle for cents on the dollar nor will they waive interest on the unpaid tax.

Long way around the barn to say that Texas Congressman John Carter didn't think it was right for public officials to get out of paying penalties and interest that the rest of us had to pay. But instead of agitating for a penalty assessment against the Secretary, John Carter introduced legislation that would ensure that.....

All U.S. taxpayers would enjoy the same immunity from IRS penalties and interest as House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.....

Absolutely!

Whole thing here.

As Ever,

TWC

2005 Earthquake Cabernet Sauvignon

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Guest blogging this gorgeous Saturday morning in the southland is Milton W, who seems rather enthralled with his new wine de jour. Without further nonsense, I'll turn the mike over to Milton......

After several hours of avoiding Muggles last evening, Milton returned home to a bottle of Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that I've been touting for a while now, and it is very good.

Wanting a bit more, we popped the cork on a 2005 Earthquake Cabernet Sauvignon. By comparison, the Educated Guess is almost forgettable. The Earthquake? A ten on the Richter scale!

Scents of Coffee, Tobacco, Cherry and Dark chocolate hit your nose and pallet, bringing layers of Cassis, Spice, Plum and Blackberry. Yummy. It will only get better as time passes.

This wine will stand well on it's own, or pair with one of TWC famous Mesquite Grilled Ribeyes.

TWC's Notes Follow: Michael & David are the same two brothers who market 7 Deadly Zins. They describe the Earthquake Cabernet as having.....an attractive bouquet of vanilla, violets and menthol. Upfront cherry notes, though a tasty vanilla-mocha flavor combination captures the palate. Tannins kick in by way of the finish.

Earthquake is a Lodi wine and is so named to commemorate the planting of the winery's original Zinfandel vineyard at about the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Lodi has been better known for jug wines and most people are surprised to learn that Lodi growers produce more of California's so-called premium wine grapes than any other appellation, including Napa Valley. You'll find the Earthquake Cabernet priced from $17.00-$26.00.

UPDATE: Probably should mention that the wine is one of Rick H's dreaded alcohol bombs. 

TWC wishes to thank Milton for his kind words and his appearance here today.

As Ever,

TWC

Girlie Man Signs Thirteen Billion Dollar Tax Increase

Gentle Readers of Californicate,

Your fate has been sealed as has the fate of anyone who purchases goods or services from California business. That would include my favorite consumer good, red wine.

It isn't a secret that state spending has increased by 40% since Schwarzzengroper took office. Apparently the governor's economic illiteracy knows no bounds as he refers to the tax increase as the responsible thing to do.

Rather than approaching this unprecedented crisis with gimmicks and temporary solutions, we took the difficult but responsible steps to address our entire $42 billion budget deficit and pass historic bipartisan reform measures.

It doesn't occur to him or the legislature to simply cut spending to the level it was the day the governor took office. The state functioned fine on that amount of revenue, just four short years ago.

What this tax increase means to the taxpayers is simple:

• A 14% increase in the state sales tax (one percentage point rise to 8.25% plus local levies which translate into as much as 10% in some jurisdictions)
• A 100% increase in the car license tax (TWC's politically incorrect truck license will rise from $265.00 to about $570.00--Per Year)
• A one quarter of a percentage point surcharge on all tax brackets (if you are in the 6% tax bracket, you are now in the 6.25% tax bracket).

Just for a frame of reference, so you can know how high taxes are in this state,  a married couple with $56,000.00 in salaries, using the standard deduction, is in the 6% tax bracket.

Bloomberg story here.

As Ever,

TWC

Should Five Percent Appear Too Small

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Can't see the video? It's right here.

As Ever,

TWC