Politics and liquor

[meanjoefan]

These days, I drink exclusively when I wish to get loaded, but--on principle--I'm deeply against the criminalization of ANY pleasurable vice, be it booze, drugs, gambling, prostitution, or whatever.

That said, I recall some pothead buddies telling me that Anheuser-Busch has been politically active in keeping pot illegal because they recognize a competito...um..."Are deeply committed to keeping America drug-free."

Is this just a bug A/B has up their collective ass, or does the alcohol industry in general find it in their self-interest to pursue such policies? Pete Coors is decidedly right-wing (seems my shop steward was always telling me not to drink Killian's due to some labor dispute), but since Coors was sold, I'm guessing this is now moot.

What are my choices? There's always local microbrweries--every microbrewer I've ever known was a big-time pothead--but what else? I'm not giving up the sauce over this, obv, but I'd be willing to make minor changes (don't drink that Bud swill if I can help it already.)

[gthevinoslinger]

i think you'll find that the macroswill brewers have the most at stake here. shwag dope can serve as competition for schwag beer (and cut down ngihtly consumption).

microbrewers like to cultivate an air of connoisseurship in all things, be that beer or primo bud. there's also the fact that, like you said, most of them are pot heads. if you get to know a microbrewer very well, i'll bet a very large percentage of them might let you taste their "very special brew."

[goofydoofus]

first of all A/B products are piss. though i buy it because it is cheep and it has alcohol in it. when i want to get drunk off beer ill reach for bud lite. however i do love a well hand crafted beer. anyway, i dont see your little boycott working but i think it is admirable to try and not drinking any AB swill. i dont think, unfortunately, we will see pot decriminalized or legalized on any sort of federal level in some time. and if you really enjoy a good beer try brewing your own.

[Barca]

Keep in mind that all businesses are evil, even the ones that do such wonderful, magical, seemingly altruistic things as provide us with the life-giving elixir, Boozahol. Macrobrews try and crush microbrews. They both try and stop the decriminialization of drugs. Liquor stores fight looser blue laws. The wineries fought for the illegalization of absinthe. Pro-marijuana groups fight to criminalize alcohol (read Frank's editorial in the current issue). Wholesalers fight online purchasing. Etc. etc. etc.

Everyone fights purely in their personal interest. That's why the Drunkard is the only group to whom one can swear fealty. Our interests are always synchronized, more booze, cheaper, available for purchase at all times by all people.

Educate Drunkard and non-Drunkard a like. In last November's elections many pro-drinking propositions were shot down all around the country. In Massachusetts the voters refused to allow supermarkets to sell Boozahol, thanks to huge investments by lying criminals who own liquor stores and one bullshit add by a lying highway patrolman.

Vigilance, perserverance, and constant Drunkenness are our only weapons. Use them wisely.


....and vote for Barack Obama

[goofydoofus]

....and vote for Barack Obama

i dont know what to think of him yet. is america ready for electing a non white president? or is he even ready for america? he has little experience but could that be an advantage? hes so new he has had less chance of getting deeply involved in some sort of scandal. and clinton. are we really for more clinton in the white house? bush clinton bush clinton; what is this? am i living in the movie groundhogs day? i dont know about barack obama, its still too early for me.

[JohnnyT]

Vigilance, perserverance, and constant Drunkenness are our only weapons. Use them wisely.

working on that one, even as i type this.

The Jameson 12 year old is gone. Now Im debating with myself.


Self: Should you crack open the Macallan 12 year old you got for your birthday?


Me: No, you've been saving that for a special ocacasion

Self: Is wedafternoon not a special ocasion?

Me: No.

this is an ongoing debate. we'll see who wins.

[Badfellow]

...Pro-marijuana groups fight to criminalize alcohol (read Frank's editorial in the current issue)...

Indeed. Listen to this idiocy...

"Marijuana vs. alcohol is the end game,” Steve Fox, SAFER’s Executive Director, wrote in an email to this magazine. “If you want to start the battle now, great.”

Fox must have gotten confused and smoked some crack instead. I don't even want to begin to catalogue the sheer number of flaws present in this moron's strategy. It would be MOST entertaining if Frank were to joust a bit of dialogue with this mental microbe.

[meanjoefan]

Yeah, I read the BS about potheads trying to bring their cause up by bringing the boozer's down...I think it's tragic that such a rift should exist between camps that seemingly should have a lot of synergy.

Been a blue-collar Democrat for most of my life, but I'm beginning to appreciate a Libertarian "get the gov't the FUCK out of my private life" attitude.

I just think banding together is apropriate. The buzzkills might currently be going after pot, cause it's the low-hanging fruit, but it's naiive to think they'll stop there. It's the whole "They came for the potheads, and I did not complain, because I was not a pothead," mentality.

'Nuff said.

[Smatter Noguts]

Beer was my gateway drug to Bourbon.

[Saturn]

....and vote for Barack Obama

This is wrong. Register as a republican and vote for Ron Paul in the primaries.

Texas Congressman Seeks Presidency

JOE STINEBAKER
AP
Friday, January 12, 2007

Rep. Ron Paul, the iconoclastic, nine-term lawmaker from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward a second, quixotic presidential bid _ this time as a Republican.

Paul filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money. In 1988, Paul was the Libertarian nominee for president and received more than 400,000 votes.

Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul's exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul's Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he's a long shot.

"There's no question that it's an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog," Snyder said. "But we think it's well worth doing and we'll let the voters decide."

Paul limits his view of the role of the federal government to those duties laid out in the Constitution. As a result, he sometimes casts votes at odds with his constituents and other Republicans.

He was one of a handful of Republicans to vote in 2002 against giving President Bush the authority to use military force in Iraq, contending that only Congress had the power to declare war. At times, he has voted against funds for the military.

Paul bills himself as "The Taxpayers' Best Friend," and is routinely ranked either first or second in the House by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government.

Not only is he the taxpayer's best friend, he's freedom's best friend. He gets highest rankings from Gunowners of America and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Just by looking at his stance on those two issues, you can see he is beyond the left/right paradigm. Dr. Ron Paul is so awesome, democratic AND republican politicians hate him. You might characterize him as a Constitutionalist, a Paleolibertarian and a true statesman. You will find no other candidate more concerned about the freedom of the common man and the sovereignty of this nation.

Look for yourself. Here's his voting record:
http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_catego ... d=BC031929

Here's an archive of his speeches and writings:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul-arch.html

And just to show his approach to deciding on the worthiness of legislation, take a look at his speech about the online gambling ban(keep in mind he thinks gambling is dumb):
http://lists.jammed.com/politech/2006/07/0003.html

Barack Obama voted for the Military Commissions Act which annihilates habeus corpus(do you even know what that means?) and retroactively protects the neocons from prosecution from warcrimes such as torture. He's a sellout. He sold out your right to a fair trial(or in fact, any sort of trial at all) right there and I'm appalled that people are even considering Obama to be a good presidential candidate. Don't vote for that piece of shit who doesn't care about your rights. This is why our country is in such a mess, because idiots vote according to the buzz the mass media feeds them and not on the issues, and this country has a whole helluvalotta idiots.

In all aspects other than melanin(nonfactor), Obama pales in comparison to Ron Paul.

[preston s. brooks]

In Massachusetts the voters refused to allow supermarkets to sell Boozahol, thanks to huge investments by lying criminals who own liquor stores and one bullshit add by a lying highway patrolman.

ill argue until im blue in the face with anyone who calls massachusetts a 'liberal' state or an enlightened place.

it is a f'ing police state.

they regulate everything right down to the gnat's ass here.

[Smatter Noguts]

Look.

Hookers sell pussy.
Dealers sell drugs and booze.
Governments sell protection.

A free man:

Finds a good woman.
Grows, brews, distills.
Owns firearms.

[greygoose]

....and vote for Barack Obama

This is wrong. Register as a republican and vote for Ron Paul in the primaries.

Texas Congressman Seeks Presidency

JOE STINEBAKER
AP
Friday, January 12, 2007

Rep. Ron Paul, the iconoclastic, nine-term lawmaker from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward a second, quixotic presidential bid _ this time as a Republican.

Paul filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money. In 1988, Paul was the Libertarian nominee for president and received more than 400,000 votes.

Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul's exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul's Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he's a long shot.

"There's no question that it's an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog," Snyder said. "But we think it's well worth doing and we'll let the voters decide."

Paul limits his view of the role of the federal government to those duties laid out in the Constitution. As a result, he sometimes casts votes at odds with his constituents and other Republicans.

He was one of a handful of Republicans to vote in 2002 against giving President Bush the authority to use military force in Iraq, contending that only Congress had the power to declare war. At times, he has voted against funds for the military.

Paul bills himself as "The Taxpayers' Best Friend," and is routinely ranked either first or second in the House by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government.

Not only is he the taxpayer's best friend, he's freedom's best friend. He gets highest rankings from Gunowners of America and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Just by looking at his stance on those two issues, you can see he is beyond the left/right paradigm. Dr. Ron Paul is so awesome, democratic AND republican politicians hate him. You might characterize him as a Constitutionalist, a Paleolibertarian and a true statesman. You will find no other candidate more concerned about the freedom of the common man and the sovereignty of this nation.

Look for yourself. Here's his voting record:
http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_catego ... d=BC031929

Here's an archive of his speeches and writings:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul-arch.html

And just to show his approach to deciding on the worthiness of legislation, take a look at his speech about the online gambling ban(keep in mind he thinks gambling is dumb):
http://lists.jammed.com/politech/2006/07/0003.html

Barack Obama voted for the Military Commissions Act which annihilates habeus corpus(do you even know what that means?) and retroactively protects the neocons from prosecution from warcrimes such as torture. He's a sellout. He sold out your right to a fair trial(or in fact, any sort of trial at all) right there and I'm appalled that people are even considering Obama to be a good presidential candidate. Don't vote for that piece of shit who doesn't care about your rights. This is why our country is in such a mess, because idiots vote according to the buzz the mass media feeds them and not on the issues, and this country has a whole helluvalotta idiots.

In all aspects other than melanin(nonfactor), Obama pales in comparison to Ron Paul.

Obama can dance better, though. So he's got that going for him, which must be nice.

[Savage]

Ru Paul is running for president?

[*****]

Ru Paul is running for president?

Yes, and his platform is shoes