Wow, even Minnesotan columnists are chiming in on Wisconsin’s upcoming smoking ban and the surrounding controversy ... about a year too late. The statewide smoking ban will go into effect on July 5 – you can still smoke on Independence Day, w00t! – but Riley Worth of Minn.’s Albert Lea Tribune just penned a column about an anti-smoking ban beer coaster we saw in Prairie du Chien (click on the image to view a larger version). He does not like the beer coaster. In particular, he doesn’t like the back of the coaster which asks you to call upon your legislator to stop the ban.

To be completely clear, I think the beer coaster is funny, and I think the columnist is a raging dork. I understand if you feel smoking needs to be banned from private property because you’d like to promote safe working conditions, but it’s a moot point, man. Do some research. He says ...

• What I’m not so impressed with is their plea via beer coaster art to pick up a phone and call a legislator and say the following: “Please help promote lung cancer and poor health, especially among employees who are forced to inhale other people’s bad habit all day so ‘mom and pop’ can keep the bar next to my house, across the street from the school open.”... C’mon, Wisconsinites. You’re smarter than this. Minnesota and Iowa are already on board with promoting safer workplaces for those who support their families by working in bars ... Join forces with the right side of history. Keep smoking outdoors.

The guy appears to think that one bar's beer coasters speak for the entire state. But what sticks out to me is the idea that things are so different in Minnesota. I stumble across this concept everywhere – it’s bigger than the smoking ban issue. He spends a large chunk of his column on the Ultimate Power enjoyed by Wisconsin's Tavern League and about how many bars we have. Yes, Wisconsin has a lot of bars, but that doesn’t mean Minnesota lacks a pretty healthy drinking culture of its own. As far as culture is concerned, I don’t think much changes when you cross the Mississippi River. It’s all midwestern, and it’s all awesome.

My own (completely scientific) research (that you can totally quote) shows that a ginormous chunk of Minnesota’s population of very fine people just LOVES to drink and smoke, while a much, much smaller portion spends 99-100% of its free time smugly guffawing at whatever snooze-inducing verbiage happens to be drooling from Garrison Keillor’s blubbly lower lip.

Guess which group likes to point out how many bars we have in Wisconsin.