Just days after Michael Jackson referred to wine as "Jesus Juice," Los Angeles-based CBS News producer Bruce Rheins and his wife, actress-writer-producer (and fine art model) Dawn Westlake, apparently filed a patent trademark application on the name. At the time, Rheins' bureau was covering the Jackson child molestation case. The anti-liberal media activist site Newsbusters.org posted an item yesterday that took the we're outraged tack, and today The Smoking Gun put up the couple's application and logo for the Rheins-Westlake Winery. The couple has been seeking a vintner-partner "with a sense of humor, but a seriously good line of wines." On his personal website, Rheins makes no mention of the winery but suggests that he takes some pleasure in getting people riled up: "I am a producer for a major American television news organization. So while it means I get to travel around and see some cool stuff, it also means nobody likes me and everyone thinks I am purposely biased against them. Yet they sure watch my work closely, to make sure I don't upset their world view. I take comfort in this inadvertent power I seem to have in their lives." The trademark application is apparently still pending.
