Paul Bucher Needs a Drink

This column in the Washington Post RE: parents serving their own (and other peoples') children alcohol in supervised situations (and the undeserved legal hassle they can expect as a result) has generated plenty of interesting commentary; I won't try to top the posts on Reason's Hit & Run and Obsidian Wings.

However, as I'm always on the lookout for the local angle, I would like to point out that, of all the cretinous busybodies in the original article, the biggest asshole appears to be a Wisconsinite:

"The Virginia case mentioned above is troubling for another reason: The cops raided that home without a search warrant. This is becoming more and more common in jurisdictions with particularly militant approaches to underage drinking. A prosecutor in Wisconsin popularized the practice in the late 1990s when he authorized deputies to enter private residences without warrants, 'by force, if necessary,' when there was the slightest suspicion of underage drinking. For such 'innovative' approaches, Paul Bucher won plaudits from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which awarded him a place in the 'Prosecutors as Partners' honor roll on the MADD Web site."

Emphasis mine. Man, this Paul Bucher guy sounds like a serious asshole. What else is he up to, I wonder?

Apparently he plans to run for state Attorney General - lovely.

He opposes current AG Peg Lautenschlager's endorsement of a recent ACLU suit against the state of Wisconsin which demands that the state pay domestic partner benefits for state employees. He does? Oh yes he does. Apparently he thinks that "[t]he State’s taxpayers actually had a right to expect that the Attorney General would represent the interests of the majority of the citizens of this state. Is that too much to ask?" I'm sure that his position is solely motivated by concerns for legal propriety and is in no way designed to court the votes of empty-headed homophobes.

And, finally, he has a blog. The 'comments' function seems to be disabled for some reason; I'm sure its purely accidental, as any aspiring public official would surely welcome the input of his potential consistuants. I'd put him up on the blogroll but, gosh, I think I've just about run out of room.

In closing, let me quote my favorite passage from the mysterious von's post on Obsidian Wings; surely, it would be a dereliction of duty for an alcohol-themed blog to not highlight these words:

"...America remains utterly wacked-out about alcohol.  If ever a nation needed a stiff drink, this one does.  It will not be the end of the world if your teenage kid has a beer in your presence; nor will Western Civilization (further) decline as a result of a couple of Zimas at a slumber party.

"Since I realize that our peculiar brand of neo-Puritanism is totally the fault of my Protestant forefathers, I'd like to offer the following on behalf of my people:

"Sorry."

What he said.