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No! Shame! – He got drunk, swore, smashed a tree – he is ashamed to look people in the face (1958, N. Velezheva, N. Kuzovkin).

How about forcing the manufacturers of alcoholic beverages to include graphic images of victims of alcohol-related fatal auto accidents on every purchase of a six-pack of beer, bottle of wine, or liquor? Or horrible graphic images of alcohol-related diseased kidneys or livers?Graphic images of victims of alcohol-related violence, disease, and auto accidents included along with every television advertisement?Including such horrible graphic images would tell the "other side" of the effects of the consumption of alcoholic beverages that Budweiser, and other well known sponsors of sporting events, deliberately do not address in their advertising. But that would sure make the booze lobby upset.The federal anti-smoking campaign wants to...

Like many states, Virginia has long had a concealed-carry law, one that permits citizens to carry concealed weapons upon securing a permit from the state. However, for a long time there was a glaring exception to the law: Concealed-carry permit holders were not permitted to carry their weapons into restaurants or bars that served liquor. This meant that people with concealed weapons either had to leave their guns at home or in their car or ignore the law and hope they didn’t get caught. About a year ago, the law was changed. People can now carry concealed weapons into restaurants...

If you live in Michigan, you can’t order online from wine retailers in other states, at least not if you want the wine shipped to your door. But action this Election Day far off in Washington State may send tremors across America by cracking open the anti-consumer, anti-competitive alcohol regulations there. Entrenched interests — particularly alcohol wholesalers — appear frightful that they will be the ones to suffer from government withdrawal from the industry. But if enthusiasm for such freedom becomes contagious and spreads to other states, consumers will reap the benefits. Washington state’s initiative strikes at the heart of...

‘Food Day’ was earlier this week, an event sponsored by The Center For Science In The Public Interest (CSPI). To celebrate the CSPI released their ‘Terrible Ten’ food list. It seems fitting that this list was released just before Halloween, as it makes ‘monsters’ out of food. “Vending machines dispensing soft drinks and candy are the ubiquitous, mute, metallic monsters that promote unhealthy diets 24/7”, according to the list. Even Toucan Sam is among CSPI’s list of terrors, “Kellogg’s Froot Loops, a fruit-less sugary cereal gussied up with synthetic dyes, is one of a host of junk foods marketed heavily...

You can watch the full video at the link, but I'll summarize: Under-age teens have figured out that they can soak Gummi candy (bears, worms, LifeSavers, whatever) in vodka, and then carry the candy into school, sporting events, movies, etc. The knowledge is spreading quickly through social networking like Facebook. Left overnight, the gelatin in the candy can soak up a lot of liquid. Since vodka doesn't have much of an odor, you have to eat the candy or smell it carefully to realize it has been soaked in liquor.

CUDAHY - Under Wisconsin’s new concealed carry law, people who have permits could carry guns into taverns like as long as they’re not drinking. That has bar owners across the state weighing whether they want to rely on customers to monitor themselves, come November 1 when the law takes effect. Bob Hoefs has been in the bar business for four years, long enough to know he doesn’t want weapons where he works. “My clientele, I tend to believe wouldn’t be carrying them to begin with, said Hoefs. He plans to post signs outside his bar banning weapons inside, come Nov....

For decades, Jack Daniel's whiskey has celebrated its small Tennessee hometown of Lynchburg with folksy, black-and-white advertisements urging folks to slow down and have a sip. Now local officials want the maker of the world's top-selling whiskey to pay a bigger bar tab as they struggle with their budget. How does up to $5 million sound? A measure approved by the Moore County Council asks the Tennessee legislature to authorize a local referendum on whether the distillery should pay that much in new taxes on the 500,000 barrels it fills with whiskey each year.

Some of them were 15... some 12 years old Does their cruelty know NO limit? Be warned, these repulsive images  are not for the faint-of-heart: ______________________________________________ Sick bas-----s! 'Risky Whiskey' smuggling video/more at Reaganite Republican _____________________________________________ WarNet.ws   h/t Speedunque

Police said a Louisville man drove his car into a ditch and then told officers he only had "two pizzas to drink" for lunch. According to arrest records, Louisville police were dispatched to a vehicle in a ditch at the intersection of La Costa Road and Stonybrook Drive about 10 p.m. Saturday. Police said when officers arrived, an off-duty St. Matthews police officer was talking to the driver, 68-year-old Donn Adams. Adams seemed confused and disoriented, police said, and told officers he only had two pizzas to drink for lunch. Officers asked Adams if he was under the influence of...

Midnight on St Mary Street in Cardiff and everything is exactly as expected. Half a dozen young women slump in a gutter, men urinate outside a health-food shop and, as hordes stagger between nightclubs, someone lifts up a blow-up doll with a sex toy protruding out of it. The street smells of urine and lager, police struggle to break up a fight outside the Walkabout bar and a paramedic bundles a comatose girl on to a wheelchair. But it's a quiet night for 20-year-old Naomi Jenkins. She has 'only' drunk three shots of peach schnapps, cider and three shots of...

EXCLUSIVE: You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States. -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City. -- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama. -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges,...

Fans of documentary-maker Ken Burns (“The Civil War,” “Baseball”) are already looking forward to his newest work, “Prohibition,” scheduled for release Oct. 2. Alas, though prohibition was repealed nearly 80 years ago, Michigan still suffers a hangover in the form of a sour regulatory mash that drinks in too many consumer dollars for too little return. As viewers enjoy the new Burns documentary, they may want to brush up on Prohibition’s legacy in the Great Lake State with some useful Mackinac Center publications on the subject. Indeed, a prerequisite for Professor Burns’ “course” might be a Mackinac Center video called...

For an issue that’s usually relegated to a few paragraphs in history books, Prohibition sure has become a hot topic on TV. The 18th Amendment — that “Noble Experiment” that turned out to be one of the country’s biggest civic failures — is the subject of a fascinating new documentary by Ken Burns. “Prohibition” chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of a constitutional amendment that tried to legislate human behavior and, along the way, unleashed a slew of unintended consequences. The first episode of Burns’ three-part series debuts on PBS Sunday, the same night HBO’s hit series “Boardwalk Empire” airs...

Nearly 80 years after prohibition ended, the temperance movement in the United States continues to thrive in the form of state-run liquor stores which attempt to limit consumption of liquor through price manipulation. Yet while last century's temperance movement sought to protect women and children from “the drink,” those who defend government-controlled liquor sales today aren’t quite so altruistic. Their concern is state tax revenues and government jobs. Currently, 19 jurisdictions (18 states and one county) use government monopolies to control how alcohol is sold. The degree of monopolization varies — most states allow wine and beer to be sold...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Drinking alcohol in moderate quantities can reduce the risk of asthma, according to Danish researchers. The study, which will be presented today (25 September 2011) at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Amsterdam, found that drinking 1-6 units of alcohol a week could reduce the risk of developing the condition. The research examined 19,349 twins between the ages of 12 and 41 yrs of age. All participants completed a questionnaire at the start and end of the study to compare alcohol intake with the risk of developing asthma over 8 yrs. The results showed that the...

Good morning and welcome to Summit Up, the world's only daily column that is going to use this teeny, tiny space to talk about a huge, but under-acknowledged local problem: moose alcoholism. As you can see from the disturbing photo above, this is a growing issue in our community, with moose practically dropping everything to chase down Coors trucks and other such madness. We can no longer look the other way. But our concern is not only for the well being of our local fauna — we can't have our moose developing hangovers or liver disease — but also for...

A drunken elk desperate for just one more mouthful of fermenting apples lost its balance in the attempt, leaving it stuck in an apple tree in western Sweden. When Per Johansson of Särö, south of Gothenburg, returned home from work on Tuesday it was dark outside and the rain was coming down hard. Suddenly Johansson heard a bellowing noise from the garden next door. “I thought at first that someone was having a laugh. Then I went over to take a look and spotted an elk stuck in an apple tree with only one leg left on the ground,” Johansson...

The Memphis District Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed suit against the Old Dominion Freight Line trucking company contending that its policy against hiring alcoholics to drive their trucks violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Katharine Kores, director of the EEOC’s Memphis District Office, maintains that “alcoholism is a disability. As such, it cannot be used as a reason for barring a person from employment.” To counter the company’s claim that putting an alcoholic behind the wheel of a 40-ton truck would be unsafe, the EEOC’s suit argues that “there are other ways the firm can promote...

A Drink a Day May Keep Alzheimer's Away Fran Lowry   August 26, 2011 — Light to moderate drinking seems to reduce the risk for dementia and cognitive decline, according to a new study published in the August issue of Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. A meta-analysis of 143 studies on the effects of alcohol on the brain showed that moderate drinking, defined as no more than 2 drinks a day for a man and no more than 1 drink a day for a woman, reduced the risk for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia by 23%. "It doesn't seem...