Wednesday, March 26, 2008

* Get Your Facts Straight, Westgard

Westgard said...> "Senator Heather Steans held a press conference yesterday to put the brakes on alcopops, a new kind of alcohol drink designed to draw in teenagers."
Senator Steans may well have held a press conference, but it sure wasn't about putting the breaks on Alcopops. Plus, there's nothing new about Alcopops. And reviewing all the media outlets, the press surely missed this news conference. It's no wonder Westgard isn't highly regarded in the field of lawyering.

* The bill Heather got handed to her, SB 2472, merely expands the definition of alcopop to include energy drinks, which makes it nothing more than a retread of SB1625, a bill sponsored by Senator Ronen and signed by 'Public Official A' last year. It prohibits the marketing of fruit flavored alcohol drinks to minors. Got it, Westgard? Nothing new. This is old stuff.

* This bill, in its original and amended form, like Kimberly Lightford's 'Moment of Silence', is a solution to a non-existent problem. At least according to the Federal Trade Commission, which investigated and found no evidence that the industry intentionally markets alcopops to minors.

Not convinced? Look at the price of Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard Lemonade and ask yourself, if you were a teenager with $10 budget for a Friday night, is this the booze you'd try to buy? No way. It's pricey. Like you, they'd go for the cheap stuff! Like Colt 45.

Blognotes: Sorry to burst your bubble, Senator Steans. What we really need is to put a break on stupid-ass bills like this and others that emanate from our dysfunctional legislature. The Tribune endorsement said you were smarter than this.

You want to address the real problem with under-age drinking? Make sure your kids don't have access to alcohol, fruit flavored or otherwise. That's what a good parent do.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

He's just plain crazy. Even though none of his commentors mention Don Gordon (his obsession), Tommy goes on a tirade about Don being a racist:

"I can understand being blinded by anger, but the fact remains that Gordon would have made a shitty alderman.

In the meantime, finding a solution to the Soo problem is more what I'm looking at. I think we can find something more effective and less draconian than moving out all the blacks and all the poor."

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
YourChicagoFriend said...

Sweet Jesus, the wheels are coming off that boy in a hurry.

He wrote a letter to the News Star complaining that Don Gordon was wrongly depicted as working hard to halt the North Shore School destruction and suggesting it was him who should get that credit.

Am I the only one picturing an angry little boy throwing a tantrum in front of his computer?

Craig Gernhardt said...

Tommy needs to stop hiding his true sexuality. Westgard should just come out of the closet and admit he's gay.

He wouldn't need hide Gay Chicago Magazine under his mattress anymore.

It'll do him a load of good. A lot of that anger would instantly go away.

YourChicagoFriend said...

He certainly does seem to have an unhealthy fixation on homosexuality.

Ron Paul said...

"Look at the price of Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard Lemonade and ask yourself, if you were a teenager with $10 budget for a Friday night, is this the booze you'd try to buy?"

A box of 24 Smirnoff Ice's retails for $11.99 in Champaign, Illinois.

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