Wine Tasting in DTLA

My cousin texted me and said that on Wednesday there is wine tasting in Downtown LA at 7th and Figueroa, and I should look into it. So I did. The host was Summer Taste Downtown LA. The price included benefit to T.J. Martell Foundation and Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Wine, raising funds for a charity, a social event, all sounded good to me. I invited my cousin and a friend to join me.

When I first walked down to the front table, they asked me to sign a release form - fair enough since I wasn't driving, none of us were planning on losing our faculties and we had all had dinner before the event. After trying at least one sample from each table, I thought the wines were decent.

I'm not a wine connoisseur or a snob, but my taste buds recommend that if you ever want a fantastic glass of wine and get a chance to travel, try Saint-Émilion in France; even the least expensive wine from there tastes great. Here the appetizers were mediocre: two kinds of cheeses, crackers and chocolate. They even had popcorn, but wine and popcorn? Hmmmm…not exactly my cup of tea.

The event was for a good cause, the atmosphere warm, the crowd friendly and the people working there wonderful and helpful. I think this is a fun event everyone should try at least once. So cheers and here are a few more photos.

Who Are the Terrorists? The NATO or the Afghans?

Imagine that you are an 11-year-old in Afghanistan with hardly any food, water or warm clothing. You have to somehow survive the freezing temperatures. You go looking for firewood with your friends and siblings to keep warm. Then the foreign forces invading your country start shooting and killing your friends and siblings because they think you’re nothing but insurgents. And when the world find out about it, all you get is “Sorry but we made a mistake.”

A mistake is rear-ending another car because you weren’t paying attention. A mistake is filing an insurance file in an accounts receivable file because your mind was preoccupied with something else. Killing 9 children is not a mistake, it is an unforgivable atrocity. But you see, these children were Afghans and nobody cares. If they were westerners, we would have never heard the end of it.

Moreover, I was astonished by the idiotic response from NATO:

Gen. David Petraeus said Disciplinary action, if warranted, would be taken. But we all know that this is a bogus statement as Petraeus is well known in the US as General Betray Us of the Bush Administration.

Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez said "we acknowledge we have to do better," was yet another stupid response. It's like saying “Sorry we killed your children but we’ll try to do better next time and kill 8 instaed of 9.”

What’s terrifying is that prior to this 65 civilians were killed by NATO.

I’m told to be an optimist, don’t be a pessimist. But how is this possible? Am I to shut my eyes to all the cruelty around me? Is this attitude really real? Yes, I can sit in my comfortable well-stocked and well-heated home and shut myself from all the bad news. But then, I would be living in an illusion. And if I choose not to live in an illusion, how is it possible for me not to be affected by so many stories alike, especially when I know that the reason behind these so-called “mistakes” is a corporate thirst for greed and power. 

This story about the murder of Afghan children will hunt me for years to come. And I can’t help but think that we live in a cold heartless world. Earlier, I was skimming an article in a magazine about how to live a very long life and I found myself wondering whatever for?