City Council Moves to Ban Malt Beverages
Now that all of NYC’s major problems have been addressed and solved, the Health Department is urging the City Council to outlaw TOTALLY LEGAL malt beverages like Smirnoff Ice, Barcadi Breezer, and other flavored, alcohol-infused products that are commonly referred to as “alcopop.” I’d love to write this off as political bluster, but they were able to ban Four Loko with little resistance and have made cigarettes virtually illegal, while also setting their sights on sugary drinks and salt. C’mon people, there has to be more ways to baby-proof adult society. What other widely available items should be prohibited?
by Bucky Turco on May 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Editor-in-Chief:
Those dollar a slice pizza shops are next…
Isn't everything TOTALLY LEGAL until it's outlawed?
Who the fuck drinks shit anyway? No adult should be complaining about this unless they are a degenerate, manufacturers of that shit, or jumping on a bandwagon.
Who the fuck defends overreaching governmental intrusion by referencing their own tastes in beverages?
I do. If you’re dumb enough to drink that shit you need the government’s direction. Much like cigarettes.
The government sucks cus they don’t pay for your health care and they suck because they don’t let you make bad health decisions. Which one is it? Not to mention the predatory nature of those brands’ marketing. Oh yeah, this is just a blog…you don’t have to deal with issues intelligently. My bad.
Exactly. Cars are also dangerous. BAN!
It's thanks to people like you that NYC is quickly turning into a nanny state dystopia akin to Singapore. Your kind of thinking is why the TSA is molesting law-abiding citizens exercising their right to travel. It's also why marijuana, the safest drug, is illegal and why the Federal Government sees nothing wrong with dictating who you can and can't marry.
You sound like a bored teenager who has yet to learn enough about the world to understand why what the city government is doing is very wrong. Or you're just a reactionary troll.
Oh, okay. You're one of those.
Didn't see this comment before I replied above.
I hope you do understand that the reason healthcare in this country is so expensive and why it's virtually impossible to buy your own health insurance is because insurance companies engage in predatory and monopolistic activity to keep prices high (i.e. not being able to buy health insurance across state lines). You should also note that the current healthcare reform act (known among some as Obamacare) is really just a way for the Federal Government to put more of citizens' money in the insurance companies' coffers. Very few issues are as cut and dry as the tea party and their ilk make them out to be. I urge you to start thinking for yourself instead of parroting slack-jawed talking points.
On to the marketing campaigns of the brands in question. I never thought them to be predatory in any way. Just run of the mill alcoholic beverage advertising. You can make the "predatory" argument with tobacco manufacturers, but I'm afraid here your argument doesn't hold any weight.
How's that for "dealing with issues intelligently"? If blogs are so bad, stop reading and commenting on them and go back to reading the Post and The Smoking Gun.
Surgery is potentially deadly. Let's outlaw that too.
You equivocate surgery to drinking? You equivocate current marijuana law with a ban on alcohol marketed to children? Gay marriage?! Wow. Look up “slippery slope fallacy.” And if you’ve actually been places (like you allude) you may notice that liquor stores that sell this shit are disproportinately in poor hoods (predatory?) And what does my argument have to do with why we don’t have healthcare? (your best red herring right there…and i’m glad to serve as your soapbox.) And lastly, you don’t know me from a whole in the wall, so don’t front like you got me pegged. Fool.
Clearly my reference to surgery was a joke. Please acquire a sense of humor.
The point of my reply above was to say that your attitude of encouraging the government to regulate every small thing they deem dangerous or unhealthy is what allows the political environment in which marijuana still remains illegal, the War on Drugs ruins lives and costs billions, the TSA infringes on our rights, and federal and state lawmakers use their religious views to dictate the private lives of citizens.
You can find these malt beverage brands in fancy supermarkets in Chelsea and Tribeca, as well as at bodegas in Crown Heights. The advertising, including print, outdoor and TV, that these brands engage in does not in any way target children. Please explain, with examples, how it does so.
Healthcare: Because you mentioned it, I was pointing out to you that health insurance companies AND Obama's healthcare reform bill are BOTH inadequate and serve to enrich large insurance corporations at the expense of citizens and our nation's economic output. Therefore, it is not a case of us whining that the government sucks because it doesn't pay for healthcare or let us make poor health decisions. Government's job is not to dictate what you can and can't do to your own health. It's job is to protect your person and property from those who want to do you harm. Fraud, monopolistic business practices and and collusion (what the healthcare companies engage in) is something the government should and has in the past dealt with.
Thanks for this, I didn't have the energy or motivation to explain the absurdity of his position, there's so much fundaMENTALLY wrong with it.
Baltimore, Philly, DC are all cities near you that will allow you to contextualize my argument regarding the effects of those brands. My position is the government should let me grow my own weed and tobacco and distill my own liquor. But if I was to do so, and begin to capitalize on it, in a fashion that was destructive to society it should stop me.