Beer Drinkers And Peace Makers

Once again, there is nothing beer cannot do:

Wisconsonites are united, even in times like this, by many things, including a love of University of Wisconsin, Madison, athletics and the program's strutting mascot Bucky the Badger; a devotion to the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers NFL football team; and, of course, a love of beer, brought to the state by its German settlers and honed by brewers whose names are part of American history: Pabst, Schlitz, Miller and Blatz.

So when the opposing rallies ended here on Saturday, many of the demonstrators retired to the numerous bars in the Capitol's shadow, like The Old Fashioned Tavern & Restaurant, with its 50 beers on tap -- all from Wisconsin -- and another 100 in bottles, 99 of them from the Badger state. The one other, from neighboring Minnesota, is listed under imports.

Over pints of Evil Doppleganger Double Mai Bock and Lost Lake Pilsner, knots of demonstrators debated the questions that have galvanized union employees across the country and brought the business of the state legislature to a standstill. Is Walker's proposal part of the Republican's effort to put the state's finances in order, a repudiation of the state's long history of progressive politics, or the latest example of that tradition?

Zog Begolli, a 23-year-old bill opponent, met four bill supporters at the Old Fashioned when they helped him get a drink at the crowded bar. "They allowed me to get closer so I could order a beer," Begolli said.

"Beer is something we can all agree on," said Randy Otto, 59, from Lake Mills, one of the bill supporters who let Begolli squeeze in.

"I was outnumbered," Begolli said. "But the conversation was civil."

Who knows, maybe this is what the Middle East has been missing...