In February, Delaware County statehouse Rep. Steve Barrar was leafing through the New York Post, the conservative Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid. When he read a column by Steve Dunleavy, his blood began to boil. Dunleavy was filing his story from the American cemetery in Normandy as the French delegation to the U.N. was blocking America’s attempt to get U.N. authorization for its proposed invasion of Iraq. "I want to kick the collective butts [sic] of France," Dunleavy wrote.

Barrar did too. Forsaking his usual Republican free-market inclinations, Barrar drafted a resolution asking the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (LCB) to ban the sale of French wine in state liquor stores. In the numerous "whereas" sections explaining the rationale behind the boycott, Barrar refers not just to France's foreign policy but to specific snubs of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, including the opposition to the extradition of wanted murderer Ira Einhorn and its honoring of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Center City Representative Babette Josephs alerted restaurateurs in her district by mail. Because of the concentration of French restaurants in the district, she explained, "the impact of this resolution on our community would be catastrophic."

One recipient of the Josephs mailing, restaurant-supply business owner Helen London, decided to e-mail Barrar personally. Using the salutation "Yo Rep. Barrar," London berated the legislator, arguing that France's national health care and education systems give Americans a lot to envy the French for, but disagreeing with George W. Bush is not one of them. London concludes, "Normally my letters to elected officials are more eloquent and diplomatic, but your proposal precludes it. It is moronic."

Barrar, who has a staff at his beck and call to send form letters from Harrisburg, replied personally to London's e-mail. "Normally I would not answer a stupid letter like this but I could not resist," Barrar wrote. "If you have so much contempt for the American way of life and feel National [sic] socialism is for you get a plane ticket and go to France."

London then forwarded Barrar's letter to Governor Rendell's office and got a brief response reading, "Thank you for writing via the Internet -- we are sorry to learn of this incident."

According to Ken Snyder at the governor's press office, Rendell opposes the resolution and believes that Pennsylvanians should make up their own minds on whether to buy French products. "It's awfully presumptuous to assume that all Pennsylvanians are so frustrated that they should no longer be allowed to drink French wine," Snyder says.

Since resolutions are nonbinding recommendations, they do not go to the governor for a signature or veto. Rep. Barrar vows that even though the proposal is nonbinding, he will "try to hold the LCB's feet to the fire."

LCB chairman Jonathan Newman opposes the resolution. "I am personally dismayed at the French government for their lack of support for the United States," Newman said in a prepared statement, "however, as chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board I do not believe we should be dictating to our customers which wines they should or should not drink. Free market forces should prevail. If our customers voluntarily opt not to purchase French wine, there will certainly not be additional stocking of inventory." According to LCB statistics, state stores sold roughly 180,000 cases of French wine last year, about 3 percent of their total wine sales. Nearly 50 percent of LCB wine comes from California.

According to Steve Miskin, a staffer in majority leader John Perzel's office, the wine resolution is not yet scheduled for a vote.

Get Your Peace On

Philadelphia peace activists are still hard at work at home and in Iraq. Antiwar protesters plan to hold a vigil on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Lockheed Martin management and data systems headquarters in King of Prussia. Activist Theresa Camerota, who plans to take part, calls the defense manufacturer "the folks who’ve brought you "shock and awe.’"

Another protest is scheduled for Sun., March 30 at 2 p.m. Activists will gather at Penn's Landing near Chestnut Street and march past Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell to the federal courthouse at Sixth and Market. The protest is being organized by the Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network (PRAWN).

Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way Collective, a Christian co-op in Kensington, is currently in Iraq as a member of the Iraqi Peace Team. The peace organization runs the website www.electronicIraq.net, which gives news updates on the war as seen from Baghdad. Claiborne appears on the site blowing bubbles for the children at a birthday party for an Iraqi youngster.