EDITORIAL: Official State Editorial
Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Lawmakers did have enough sense to kill Senate Bill 6, sponsored by New Orleans Sen. Edwin Murray, that sought to make the 170-year-old Sazerac the official state cocktail. Unfortunately, it wasn't because they wanted to abstain from designating things as official. That would have been a good reason. Instead, opponents of the measure were worried that having an official Louisiana cocktail would give the rest of the nation the impression that Louisianians like to drink.

Thank goodness we dodged that bullet.

But shouldn't they also worry that having an official state fossil might make the rest of the nation think we're nerds? Or that having so many official state things might make us look obsessive-compulsive?

If lawmakers are weary of merely adding to the catalog of Louisianadom, though, they can jump on another bill sponsored by Rep. Monica that seeks to designate the entire state of Louisiana as "the Hollywood of the South." That's what House Bill 489 would accomplish, although it's hard to see why anyone would care. Tax credits, not a nickname, have already drawn the film industry here.

Perhaps naming official items should itself be recognized as the state's Official Legislative Time-Waster. Or the Legislature could designate an official state board game -- not Trivial Pursuit but Sorry!