Drinking Culture

<img width='190' height='276' border='0' hspace='5' align='left' src='http://www.sarpysam.com/sarpysam/uploads/whiskey.jpg' alt='' /><a href="http://www.mtpolitics.net/" target="_new">Craig</a> on occasion talks about the "drinking culture" here in Montana. I never completely agreed with his assessment of the situation or completely understood it until now. Thanks to <acronym title="<a href="http://governor.mt.gov/governor/govbio.asp">Gov. Brian Schweitzer</a>">The Second Coming</acronym>, or so his disciples think of him, I now understand what Craig means.<br />n<br />n<blockquote><a href="http://governor.mt.gov/governor/govbio.asp">Gov. Brian Schweitzer</a> hand-delivered a new liquor license to the owner of the landmark M&M Cigar Store on Thursday, and used bolt cutters to snip the chain that has held the saloon's doors shut for nearly two years. <br />n<br />n"It's great to have it open again," Schweitzer said after throwing back a shot of scotch. "May she never close."</blockquote><br />n<br />nLiquor is so important in our state the <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/03/12/build/state/48-gov-bar.inc" target="_new">Governor</a> goes to open the bar up. I understand the "drinking culture" now.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Schweitzer, recalling a breakfast at the M&M a few years earlier, talked about the unique nature of both the bar and its patrons. <br />n<br />n"There were folks that were dropping their whiskeys into their beers, and it was 10 o'clock in the morning," he said.</blockquote><br />n<br />n{sarcastic}What a wonderful image and message <acronym title="<a href="http://governor.mt.gov/governor/govbio.asp">Gov. Brian Schweitzer</a>">The Second Coming</acronym> is sending to the world and our own children, that hard drinking at 10 o'clock in the morning is a wonderful and accepted thing in the state of Montana. Is he going to endorse driving drunk next?{/sarcastic}<br />n<br />nThe liquor license could have easily been mailed to the owner, why was it necessary to hand deliver it? Publicity. Publicity for the Montana's "drinking culture." How sad the Governor thinks this is appropriate. The further we get along in his reign the more I wonder about his moral character and is it appropriate for us in Montana. I sure don't think so.<br />n<br />n<b>The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves. Leon Trotsky</b>