Friday

BYCU

I love stories like these: Beer gardens fare well: Alcohol sales an 'awesome' addition to state fair.

It's the same old story: A traditionally-dry venue decides to allow a moderate amount of alcohol in a family environment, people enjoy it, nothing goes wrong. The puritans--and those indelibly marked with the puritan mindset, even though they don't recognize it as such--would have us believe that alcohol always introduces a dark element, when it's really just the opposite: alcohol is a great light. Of course, it can become a source of darkness, but so can every good thing on this earth. That's no reason to ban it from public consumption. As Chesterton liked to observe: Make it plentiful, make it public, make it ordinary. And the abuse that goes on in private will dwindle.

And speaking of public consumption: I've been doing a lot of it. Scheske Open golf outing yesterday, Scheske Open Eve the day before that, my niece's rehearsal dinner tonight, my niece's wedding tomorrow. Gird thyself, liver!