two wrongs don’t make a right
t says: I came across this story the other day, and it worries me:
On one hand, it’s not exactly clear if the man whose wine was seized was turning a profit from selling the alcohol or how much volume he was moving; that’s a pretty damn big list of wines he was offering, which suggests to me that he’s a little more guilty than the article leads us to believe. But that also doesn’t exonerate the crappy state of PA who went “undercover” to nab him – boy am I glad they caught him – he was probably defrauding the state of hundreds (!!!) of dollars … that was an excellent use of resources … I’d hate to have wasted that manpower on catching “traditional” bad guys like drug dealers. It’s also funny that the police can’t sell the wine, either; meaning they’re not going to even be able to profit from their efforts … but of course, given how they’ve treated the wine (moving it in freezing temperatures, storing it at room temperatures) no one would buy it.
One thing this story did do is make me wonder at what point was what he did considered illegal:
— finding wines across state lines, bringing them into this state, and selling them for a profit: definitely illegal
— finding wines across state lines, bringing them into this state, in small [legal] quantities for personal consumption: definitely legal
— finding wines across state lines, bringing them into this state, in small [legal] quantities to share at a BYO dinner: definitely legal
— finding wines across state lines, bringing them into this state, in small [legal] quantities to share at a BYO dinner that your friends who then “chip in for” … ?legal/illegal?
— finding wines across state lines, bringing them into this state, in small [legal] quantities that you give to your friends as a gift: sounds legal
— finding wines across state lines, bringing them into this state, in small [legal] quantities that you split the cost with your friends … ?legal/illegal?
— does it matter how many friends?
— does it matter how much wine?
— does it matter what the ABV is per wine?
— does it matter if the wine could have been found in a state store?
As a wine lover stuck in PA, this story makes me sad …
… unless of course the guy was actually just operating a wine store out of his basement … in which case, yes, seize it all and burn it … if I can’t have nice wine, no one can.
after dinner sneeze 
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