Forbidden Sacramental Wine and Madonna of the Hamptons

The flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing, and fancy galleries in the Hamptons are debuting photo exhibits featuring Madonna half-naked with a riding crop. Ah, spring.

And what would go better with the aforementioned photo than a glass of vino and a cheese tray? Absolutely nothing, thought 67-year-old Vered Gallery owner Ruth Kalb. The East Hampton police thought otherwise, dropping in for a routine inspection, liquor confiscation, and a good handcuffing. (No, not by Madonna.)

"It's going to take a lot more than that for me to stop doing what I'm doing," told The New York Post.

Like everyone's favorite Mennonite raw milk rebel, Kalb could have gotten a permit, but didn't, and doesn't think she has anything to apologize for.

There a nice snooty weekend home Jets and Sharks aspect to the story as well, with the Southampton cops talking trash about the East Hampton cops' overreaction.

Read more under the New York Postalicious headline "Booze & Hisses."

Via reason contributor Todd Seavey, who writes that this is the kind of incident that "should just cut across ideological divides and unite everyone not simply in thinking 'That sounds excessive' but in thinking 'Government is complete bullshit, and we were not born to be slaves to these uniform-wearing goons.'"