Yet another reason to Escape to Wisconsin. Just don’t drive yourself home after.

Pay attention, President Obama: this is a pass-the-budget scare tactic:

Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes -- a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.

In the days leading up to the shutdown, thousands of outlets scrambled to renew their state-issued liquor purchasing cards. Many of them did not make it.

Now, with no end in sight to the shutdown, they face a summer of fast-dwindling alcohol supplies and a bottom line that looks increasingly bleak.

If that was happening in Wisconsin, we’d have the deal done by bartime. Or we’d be stocking up and looking for the most convenient way to get across state lines and back. Y’know, just in case.

Speaking of which, we’d better get going on those refugee camps. Something tells me we’re gonna need more porta potties.



UPDATE – Other than that, it doesn’t look like MN’s government shutdown is having much effect. Better cancel those refugee camps.

More:

Miller Time in Minnesota is over -- until lawmakers reach a budget deal.

The state's government shutdown, now in its 13th day, will soon force MillerCoors to pull its beer from Minnesota liquor stores, bars and restaurants. A state official says the law requires the company to stop selling products like Coors Light, Miller Lite and Blue Moon imminently.

…(Department of Public Safety spokesman Doug) Neville says MillerCoors must remove the beer because they did not renew their brand label registration with the state before the shutdown began. By law, brewers must renew those registrations -- which show the label on each brand of beer -- every three years.

The company tried to renew in mid-June, but the process got delayed when they wrote a check for too much money. Green said they sent in a new check, which the state received on June 27, but nonetheless got a letter three days later saying their brand licenses had expired.

They got denied because their check was too big? What kind of whacked-out bureaucracy do they have in Minnesota?

Correction: what kind of whacked-out bureaucracy did they have in Minnesota. Used the wrong tense.