Alabama forced to drink watered down beer and now Senator Erwin is blocking attempts to change that:It's time for war. A war of words.
For those of you not following the Free the Hops legislation in Alabama, here's an overview:
Of the Top 100 beers of the World at BeerAdvocate.com, a renowned beer review site, 98 cannot be sold in this state. Why is our choice so limited?
Currently, Alabama is one of only three states in the country that limits alcohol by volume (ABV) for beer to only 6%, and the only state that limits beer containers to a size of no more than 1 pint (16 ounces).
Free The Hops drafted the Gourmet Beer Bill to modify existing laws to allow more specialty and gourmet beers in Alabama. Specifically, the Gourmet Beer Bill would raise the limit on ABV in beer to just below that of wine. Free The Hops presented the Gourmet Beer Bill to the Alabama Legislature in 2006 and 2007 and has presented it again for 2008.
Right now, the bill is being held up by one authoritarian imbecile in the State Senate. Here’s the scoop:
Republican State Senator Hank Erwin has been an outspoken opponent of this bill. Instead of letting it go to a vote, he places his moral code above the legislative process. Erwin has been filibustering the bill and plans to continue until this legislative season ends.
Erwin’s strange views on morality have already placed him in the national spotlight.
“New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness,” wrote Erwin about why Hurricane Katrina hit. “It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God.”
According to stories I’m hearing today, Senator Morality doesn’t mind breaking his word when it gives him political leverage. Two reliable sources close to the Free the Hops effort have relayed pretty much the same story to me. According to them, a Free the Hops lobbyist approached Erwin about not filibustering the bill. Erwin had a gun rights bill he was pushing and a deal was cut: Erwin wouldn’t filibuster the gourmet beer bill if the lobbyist would support the gun bill.
As I hear it, the lobbyist did push hard for the gun bill, but it failed anyway. Now Erwin isn’t holding up to his end of the bargain.
Here's the latest update from the Free the Hops blog:
We’re in limbo, waiting for Erwin to be persuaded not to filibuster, or for him to be out of the chamber. There’s really not much constructive updating I can do at this point.
The Senate will meet three days next week, then two days the following week and that will be the end of the session. So we have five more meeting days in which to get this done. Our fate is mostly out of all of our hands; it pretty much rests in the hands of one man who believes alcohol is evil and who fervently desires a return to Prohibition. A little luck or divine intervention would be really helpful at this point.
Right now, the only thing we can do is to contact Senator Erwin. He's been unresponsive to telephone calls and e-mails on the topic, but he's recently started a Twitter account. One way beer enthusiasts and freedom lovers can make our voices heard is to raise awareness of the issue and engage in verbal battle with Senator Erwin is through Twitter.
As a matter of fact, Senator Erwin has bragged on his Twitter account about filibustering the bill.
If you don't have a Twitter account, it's very easy to use. Simply sign up here and tweet away.
For those of you already tweeting (and the rest of you once you sign up), here are the necessary components your message should contain:
@SENATORERWIN #alpolitics #fth (insert your message here)
Here's a sample of an one possible message you can use:
@SENATORERWIN #alpolitics #fth Please let the Senate vote on Free the Hops
As I'll be updating this article from time to time indicating how many messages Senator Erwin has received, it's important that you include the information above in your tweet so I can tally the results.
Also, feel free to leave comments below about any new ideas, unique tweets, or other interesting information (such as the international tweets, the twitterer the farthest away from Alabama, the youngest or oldest twitter, etc.).
Let's keep is clean, but it's time for war. A war of words.
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