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Is Wisconsin drunk?

The NYT shocks the world with a devasting exposé of our dissolute Wisconsin culture:

[P]lenty of Wisconsin people say they need to make no apologies for their fondness for drinking.

?I work 70, 80 hours a week, and sometimes I just want to relax,? said Luke Gersich, 31, an engineering technician, who drank a Miller as he watched the Monday Night Football game at Wile-e?s tavern. On a weeknight, he said he might drink seven or eight beers. On a weekend, it might be closer to 12.

In Wisconsin, people often say, there is always a bar around the next corner. But drinking is scarcely limited to taverns. A Friday fish fry at a Wisconsin church will almost surely include beer. The state counts some 5,000 holders of liquor licenses, the most per capita of any state, said Peter Madland, the executive director of the Tavern League of Wisconsin.

Don't forget the Rathskeller!

?We?re not ashamed of it,? Mr. Madland said. He said anti-alcohol campaigns were efforts to ?demonize? people who simply liked to kick back and relax with some drinks.

?It?s gotten to the point where people are afraid to have a couple of beers after work and drive home, for fear they?ll be labeled a criminal,? he said. ?At lunch, people are afraid if they order a beer someone will think they have a drinking problem.?...

As for allowing minors to drink in bars with their parents, Mr. Schneider said the law simply allowed for parents to educate and supervise the youthful drinking. ?If they?re going to drink anyhow,? said [State Representative Marlin] Schneider, Democrat of Wisconsin Rapids, ?it?s better to do it with the parents than to sneak around.?...

In [bar-owner Mike] Whaley?s view, the bar can be a suitable place for families to gather, especially when the beloved Green Bay Packers are on the television. ?On game days, a buddy of mine will come to the bar with his 2-year-old, his 8-year-old and his 10-year-old,? Mr. Whaley said. ?He might get a little drunk. But his wife just has a few cocktails. It?s no big deal. Everybody has a good time.?

You can always collect hilarious quotes about drinking. People who drink lose track of how much and of how much looks like way too much to people who don't drink.

IN THE COMMENTS: Ron said:

Without naming posts, mind....has Althouse ever blogged drunk?

No, name the posts! That's the interesting question. While I deny ever blogging -- or vlogging -- drunk (though I almost always have a glass of wine in the evening), I'd like to know, which posts seem most explicable on theory that I was drunk.

Full post as published by Althouse on November 16, 2008 (boomark / email).