Some may want to respond to this:

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/app...601160312/1636

This idea is officially goofy, lads






That Wisconsin has an official state beverage (milk) and a designated domestic animal that produces it (the dairy cow) and even an official wild animal (the whitetail deer, which we kill by the millions) and symbol of peace (the mourning dove, ditto) is kind of understandable.



Most of us even can accept the official fish (the muskellunge) and animal (badger, which is a wild animal but not to be confused with the official wild animal) and bird (robin) even if we're a little skeptical of the official rock (red granite) or dog (American water spaniel, which most of us have never laid eyes on.)



But when lawmakers felt the need to name an official soil in 1983, more than a few of us raised our eyebrows. Antigo silt loam made the grade, though, so now we can celebrate our dirt. And a couple of years later, our respected solons reached back eons to find an official fossil, the trilobite.



Heck, we've even got an official mythological beast, the Hodag.



But our illustrious lawmakers aren't finished yet. Soon, we'll be worse than a bowl game or race car, with state-sanctioning of everything with any sort of a Wisconsin connection -- or no connection whatsoever.



Witness the latest debacle, the effort to designate an official state tartan plaid, brought to us by the fine clan of ... Jeskewitz?



Tartan plaid designs traditionally are used to designate affiliation with a particular Scottish clan. No matter that Wisconsin isn't exactly populated by folks longing for the peat bogs of their homeland.



State Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz thinks we need one, and she's even got a plan. The plaid will be a weave of yellow, representing our cheese and beer, green for the Northwoods pines, blue for our 15,000 lakes and red for the University of Wisconsin.



And she's not kidding around. A legislative committee held an official hearing on the official state tartan this week.



"I think it's pretty," Jeskewitz said, displaying a sample of the fabric.



The lawmaker said she introduced her bill at the request of Milwaukee's St. Andrews Society, a clan that venerates the heritage of its members.



Secretary Dave Berger told the Associated Press he envisions curling teams making uniforms from the tartan and citizens proudly wearing arm patches made of the fabric.



In a state that recognizes its more universal heritage by wearing foam rubber cheese on our noggins, anything's possible. But plaid patches? Really?



We suppose legislators could be considering far more harmful laws. Any time they spend discussing plaid is time they could have devoted to vilifying homosexuals, protecting negligent doctors from lawsuits or arming all and sundry.



No harm can come of it, really. We'll just add it to the growing list, right next to the state mineral (galena) and insect (honeybee.)

But if Jim Doyle shows up at the official signing wearing a kilt, we're outta there.
....