Starting 2009 On The Right Note: Why We Drink: UPDATED

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It's my first entry of 2009. I could think of a hundred things to write about. Rational drinking is as good a subject as any. I've had plenty to say about it in the past year or so. (*1)

I bring this up not because I'm suffering a new-year's-eve hangover, but because I just read Lew Bryson's thoughtful essay on drinking over at his blog, Seen Through A Glass. So I turn this first entry of 2009 over to Lew. After all, what's the blogosphere for if not sharing, giving credit where credit is due, and informing and educating each other? (When you "borrow" from someone else's blog, you DO mention your source and provide a link back to that person, right? Right???)

UPDATE: Alan from The Good Beer Blog promptly weighed in on Lew's ruminations on drinking. Worth reading, if only because Alan, like me, is a contrarian and I can always count on him to balk at The Party Line. But I will add my two cents, prompted by this part of Alan's post:

I have found myself leaving sessions far earlier than others for some time now, finding the second half of the night far less interesting than the outset. And I try to make sure there are many non-drinking activities in the social calendar hopefully giving beer the place somewhere closer to a treat than a daily necessity.

I don't think Lew was advocating drinking to excess, or even making drink the center of one's life. Rather, I think he was expressing frustration at the notion that having a drink is the same thing as being a drunk.

It's not. I'm an upright, decent human being, and I consume alcohol every day: a drink before dinner, wine or beer with, and a tot of good brandy, porter, or, rye, or scotch about 9 pm. I defy anyone to prove that I'm a bad person because of it, or that I'm unproductive. And I can't remember the last time I was drunk. (I think it was during a trip to New York in 1990 or 1991.)

What I do favor, however, are sensible attitudes toward drink: Don't drink too much. But by god and goddamnit, part of a sensible attitude toward drink is perspective. Don't equate "having a drink" with being a drunk. (That's not what Alan was saying, by the way, so I'm not picking on him.) The idiots among us ("Oh, I don't drink. I don't need alcohol to have fun.") don't (or won't) understand that good alcohol tastes good, and things that taste good produce pleasure.

As does the aftermath: I enjoy eating the fine chocolate, good steak, or a juicy orange, but I also enjoy how I feel AFTER I've ingested them.

So I will continue to enjoy drink and the pleasure it brings, just as I enjoy my family, watching the birds, walking, my thrice-weekly swims, 'Battlestar Galactica," and fresh fruit. Ha! I promised myself my first post of 2009 would be concise and cogent. I sure blew that.

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*1: Find the "Categories" index. Click on "rational drinking." Or, read my US News & World Report op-ed piece from early December.

Just In Time For New Year's Eve: Getting The Blog Back To Normal -- And Stocking Your Home Bar

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I'm obsessive about saving, backing up, etc., and so I've been able to reconstitute some of the blog entries that got demolished in the Big Crash of '08. They're below, back-dated to their original posting dates. See here, here, and here.

Two shorter posts that vanished were holiday-connected, and so I'm reposting them in this entry: advice for the home bartender from Jacob Grier. Jacob, you may recall, is our resident drinks expert and, as important, our man-on-the-beat for cogent, up-to-the-minute rants-and-reporting about the nanny state. (*1)

For tips on bartending hardware, see Jacob's entry here. For his tips on the well-stocked bar, see this.

As I type this, it's December 30. You've still got time tomorrow to shop for tomorrow's celebration tomorrow.

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*1: Jacob is joined in these tasks by Jeffrey Morganthaler and the folk(s) at Cocktail Revolution.

Oldsters (Yes, I'm One) And Alcohol

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Hmmmmmm........ alcohol and "old" people. Good? Bad? You (apparently) be the judge. Worth reading.(*1)

While you're there, take a look at the rather horrifying story about why colonoscopies aren't what they're cracked up to be. (Odd coincidence that story: my husband just had one two weeks ago and I just scheduled my next one. Ugh.)

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*1: I love how the researchers and reporter define "older people" as over fifty. Hasn't anyone told them that fifty is the new thirty? I mean, do I look like an "old" person???? Don't answer that. (I'm fifty-five.)

How Do I Love Thee, Jay? Let Me Count The Ways

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I seriously love Jay Brooks. Good guy; great father; loving husband. Also smart guy with more energy than twenty people half his age. And thoughtful advocate of rational drinking who constantly finds the time and energy (in between family, job, etc.) to take on the dumbasses who perpetuate our sick attitudes toward alcohol. As in this.

Repeal 'Round The Internet -- Updated

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On the subject of repeal, there's much to enjoy and ponder out there today -- emphasis on the "much" part.

Among others: There's a fascinating op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal from Ethan Nadelmann, who calls for an end to the mostly lunatic war on drugs. I'm a 30-year advocate of legalizing "drugs." If nothing else, their purveyors ought to pay tax on their profits. The fact that the WSJ, about as mainstream as it gets, published Nadelmann's piece, gives me hope.

Jacob Grier has an essay-worth-reading at American Spectator. (He spent part of the day tending bar at a forum on repeal hosted by the Cato Institute.)

[Added Sunday, December 7]: Also worth reading: the essay by Radley Balko at Reason Online

. My pal Jay Brooks, a long-time, fearless,and tireless advocate of rational drinking, posted a rumination on alcohol and the meaning of repeal.

Also worth noting: Earlier today, reader Joe Figueiredo of Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania, sent me a message that's worth quoting in full:

I enjoyed reading your article about the Constitution and Prohibition. I read through the Constitution on a regular basis. I’m not so sure that there is the same support for the Constitution now as it was then. That’s one reason I became a member of the Constitution Party. Do they stand much of a chance in elections? Not much. However, there’s always hope and perhaps if politicians continue to violate it long enough, the people will revolt. Figuratively of course. People told me I’d be wasting my vote. But, the Constitution Party represents my values, so my vote isn’t wasted.

I have to admit: I didn't know there was a Constitution Party. You can learn more about it here. Anyway, this anniversary of repeal is a perfect example of what I love about life in these United States: the extraordinary diversity of opinions and our opportunities to express them.

Enjoy! (Tip o' the mug to Joe for allowing me to quote his message and for the info about the Constitution Party.)