Carol Emert in the SF Chronicle talks to some "Languedoc liberals" in French-wine drinkers weigh in on war drumbeats. (They sure love that drum don't they?)
France staunchly opposes a war with Iraq.One can't help but wish that M Loewenberg has acquired a Peugot to go with his new house. I wonder if they make Peugot limousines? We wouldn't want Teddy to be discommoded.
Anti-French sentiment spawns calls to boycott French goods.
How do Bay Area residents respond?
"I will deliberately go out of my way to buy French wine, and lots of other French stuff, just to piss off the Republicans," says Ted Loewenberg of San Francisco.
Loewenberg and his family recently purchased a house in France, "and I'm mighty glad we did," he says.
Call them the "Languedoc liberals" -- that's the form the Bay Area's "latte liberals" are taking at dinnertime these days, just to spite Dennis Hastert and his ilk.
The vitriol inspired Stripe Demarest, a Livermore freelance writer, to uncork a fruity red Caves des Papes from the Rhone Valley a couple of weekends ago, which she and her partner, Elizabeth Gilliam, enjoyed with some homemade portobello-ricotta ravioli.Saffron Stripe alert!
Until recently, the couple purchased wine without regard to the country of origin. Now they buy only French.
"We'd really hoped up to this point that (geopolitical events) would turn around of their own accord, but now we feel we have to do even small things to say we don't think this (war) is a great idea," says Demarest.
Tod Brilliant of Roshambo Winery & Gallery in Healdsburg is the first to admit that anti-war activism "might be a case of preaching to the choir."Ah, the renowned North Bay Bohemian - you really can't make this stuff up.
But that hasn't stopped Brilliant and his wife Naomi, who founded Roshambo in 1998, from running anti-war ads in the North Bay Bohemian newspaper. and Wine Country This Week magazine.
I hope these members of the drone class have laid on some "grief counselors" for when the rocket goes up.
