MADD rep opposes Obama/Crowley/Gates “beer summit” because it sends “the wrong message to the millions of young people who saw the president drinking on TV.”
Lawn chair wars. No idea if this is authentic, but it’s funny.
Man helps goose and her goslings cross highway, gets hit with jaywalking ticket.
Montgomery County, Maryland has settled with a Kenyan woman who was subjected to a wrong door raid in 2006 for $30,000. This is the case where the county initially offered free movie passes as compensation. Though the raid happened three years ago, the settlement comes just a little over a month after the raid was written up in the local media. Funny how that works.
Finally, some good fucking news.
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TheAgitator.com
I wish someone from the White House would publicly respond to MADD and say, “If you noticed, the President wasn’t driving. So you shouldn’t care.”
I agree the beer summit did send a bad message. Now millions of youths will be duped into believing that Bud Light is beer.
I’m glad MADD made that statement. It’s further evidence that the organization has been seized by puritans who have abandoned the original mission to raise awareness of the dangers of drunk driving, instead adopting the mission to save people from the drink.
I’ll let superpoop do the talking.
http://www.superpoop.com/080309/health-care-thing.jpg
Followup on the goose whisperer: 6 months probation and court costs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080301154.html
MADD has fallen to what I call ‘the rule of political organizations.’ Its nothing formal, and please tell me if someone has considered this before.
In any case, all political organizations eventual fall to no longer push their agenda, but instead to keep themselves alive. When MADD was originally established, they had an agenda. This agenda was met, but if MADD was dissolved, many people would no longer have a job. So, in order to keep the organization running, they had to hold a more extreme position, just to justify their existence.
This has happened with PETA, Greenpeace (the founder now HATES it), MADD, etc. I dont know if this has any scientific backing, but when the organization becomes a political force, power-hungry people will seek to head it, just for the political power, rather then the principled agenda the organization was founded on.
Also, I am reminded of when MADD called me, asking for a donation, and I gave the lady a nice ranting, asking her to defend pulling people out of bars and giving them tickets for public drunkeness (happened in VA) (a policy MADD has encouraged)
She didnt. I asked her how she felt about working for an organization that promoted this violent activity. She hung up on me :(
owell.
From the goose crossing story:
“We can appreciate the citizens’ response and compassion for wildlife,” Officer Don Gotthardt said. “But a more prudent response would be to pull off the road and use their cellphone. Call the police, and have them respond.”
And risk a beating/tasering/arrest over some geese? Officer Gotthardt seems to be a little disconnected from reality: calling the police is not a prudent thing to do and the police have no appreciation for or understanding of “compassion.”
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like many groups dedicated to saving people from evil, MADD is confusing alcohol (the substance) with abuse (the act). What started as a crusade against an act, ultimately became a crusade against a thing. The same thing occurred with guns, porn, large sums of cash, cold medication, many raw chemicals, violent video games, lots of stuff you might carry onto a commercial airplane, sex toys (in Alabama and other states), tobacco, and drug paraphernalia. The list is probably endless.
It works this way. Supposing you are an activist group. Once there are laws that punish the activity you’re opposed to, your work is done, so you think to yourself, “Fuck! What do I do now?”. The answer, of course, is to start campaigning to eliminate things that lead to the behavior you’re opposed to. Without alcohol, there would be no drunk driving. Without guns, there would be no shootings. Without certain chemicals (precursors), there would be no synthetic recreational drugs. Without violent video games, there would be few Columbine style shootings. This is a natural expansion of the concept that people are compelled to do bad things by outside influences. They’re victims of these bad things.
The key factor that allows this style of crusade to prosper is a complete lack of skepticism on the part of the public. They tend to equate non-profit to good. When they see a crusade, they extrapolate backwards and assume there must be a problem to be solved by the crusade. A lot of crusades are sanctioned by the government which gives them legitimacy because people view government as benevolent toward the population. Also, people have bought into the concept that they are not responsible for their own actions.
This could lead me right into a spiel about the related topic that coercing moral behavior instills morals, but I’ll spare you that speech.
It’s only 9:30 in the morning and already MAD (Mothers Against Drinking) make me want a beer.
It really is time for MADD to change it’s name. They have become a temperance movement with government support.
I recently received an email with a picture from the old temperance movement that had a bunch of ugly women on it with the caption “lips that touch alcohol will never touch ours”. I remember thinking, “done!, where’s my beer?”. That picture is what comes to mind now anytime I see the letters “MADD”.
Seeing our pres drink a beer has been about the only thing I agree with about him.
I don’t know what this says about how my brain was wired, but when I read Radley’s description of the last item my first reaction was that it was good news about — well, you know….
JP, you must be a member of DAMM (Drunks Against Madd Mothers).
Great news about cussing. Especially as pain medication is becomes harder to get because of government controls.
Now that I think of it, the idea that cussing might actually have therapeutic benefits might make government want to control that too (I mean even more than they do now).
Wouldn’t a better phrasing be “Finally, some fucking good news.” I thought the link would lead to news about a move to legalize prostitution in all 50 states.
re: Geese.
I hope he appeals. From a strictly highway safety perspective, he saw a hazard in the road, and worked to safely remove that hazard. At his own risk, he made the road safer for other drivers.
He was a good samaritan, and should be applauded for his actions, not punished.
Euler beat me to it. Budd Light??? What was he thinking?
I’d have ordered Guinness.
The good samaritan’s goose is cooked.
There is nothing that our government will not eventually be willing to sacrifice for the good of cars. No freedom, no decency, no kindness.
Cars had to slow down for five seconds. That cannot be tolerated.
I’d actually be somewhat interested in the legal history of how human beings were driven off the roadway in favor of cars. It seems perfectly natural to us now, but there had to be a time when it was novel. After all, everyone is supposed to have equal access to the roads, but at some point we decided that car drivers were superior to everyone else, and all others could be forced off the roads for their convenience. I wonder how that played out in the beginning.
#6 justaguy
MADD has fallen to what I call ‘the rule of political organizations.’ Its nothing formal, and please tell me if someone has considered this before.
In any case, all political organizations eventual fall to no longer push their agenda, but instead to keep themselves alive.
Hmmm… My apologies. I should have read your post before I posted. I think I basically repeated what you already said.
#13 – MDGuy, I’ll drink to that! :)
Damn typos. In #19, my comment was only the last paragraph. The first two were part of the quote.
“We can appreciate the citizens’ response and compassion for wildlife,” Officer Don Gotthardt said. “But a more prudent response would be to pull off the road and use their cellphone. Call the police, and have them respond.”
Riiiiight. Because only a professional government employee has the skills and training necessary to cross a street. Explain to me how we’re not a police state again?
Lawn Chair Wars: Reminds me of your battle with a certain freak blogger. You need to come up with yourown “chair art” to drive him over the edge. It would not be that hard given his temperment.
#6
“MADD has fallen to what I call ‘the rule of political organizations.’ ”
This sounds a lot like Jerry Pournelle’s “Iron Law of Bureaucracy”.
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/archives2/archives2view/view408.html#Iron
The Goose story is a prime example why we cannot tolerate officers lying in court.
Was the cop telling the truth? Or just making it look good so he can get to arrest someone? We have no idea. No witnesses seem to have been interviewed… it comes down to the stories of the two men:
Goose Wisperer: “I stopped traffic with one hand, and waved the Geese along with the other”
Cop: “He chased the geese across a busy highway, cars had to slam on their brakes.”
I have to side with Goose Wisperer, if you see a guy and a gaggle of geese on the meridian, you will slow down. Well, people with driving skills will, anyway.
So! Canada Geese are federally protected, huh? I should trick some into living in my yard so that when the SWAT team raids my house by accident and shoots them, they get raped in federal court.
Obama is going to turn all the teenagers into drunk drivers just like GWB turned all the teenagers before into Republicans.
What’s funny about the MADD thing is that just the other day I was wondering who was going to get their panties in a bunch about the prez drinking alcohol. Shame on me for not guessing MADD.
#17 | Cornellian – I agree, but can you imagine the outrage if he had drunk a (GASP!) foreign-made beer? I’m sure there were several committee meetings to decide on Bud Light, and I’m sure there will be some donations rolling in from St. Louis, MO.
The whole thing, including even the thought of Bud Light, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Brevity is the essence of wit. So I shall say this:
FUCK. MADD.
@27
I thought bud was a foreign beer. Wernt they bought out by the belgians or something?
Mattocracy#26
ROTFL!
Hi justaguy (#29),
Yes, they are owned by InBev now. But dagummit, Budweiser just FEELS American, don’t it? ;-)
I knew someone would catch me on that!
justaguy: your rule is why I don’t give money to the ACLU anymore, and will never give money to the NRA, despite my agreeing in priciple with their missions. They exist to exist and do nothing to further their causes.
Having lived for many years in areas heavily populated with geese, I think they are despicable creatures, but they aren’t stupid. They’ve been crossing roads for decades with very few casualties, they don’t need his help. All he did was create a hazard in the road.
But hey, I get it; the police and government are bad, so what he did must have been good.
The Goose Crossing
If you read the article regarding the court date the Officer states that he was there and witnessed the Goose crossing. If that’s the case why are they telling the poor guy he needed to call the police? Why didn’t the Officer just get off his ass and help the
guy get the geese across the street, or was he trying to pad his ticket book for the day?
Somehow I suspect padding the ticket book was in effect.
I actually agree with Chance. Geese turn lawns and parked cars into shit and scare my dog.
#11, here you go: http://imgur.com/Yxo33.jpg. I updated that iconic picture for modern times.
Would not geese crossing the road unescorted have created a hazard, possibly causing an accident? Also, since Canadian Geese are indeed protected, you could certainly be prosecuted for injuring or killing one.
Just remember, everything is illegal!
From the story about the man cited for escorting geese across a highway:
“But a more prudent response would be to pull off the road and use their cellphone. Call the police, and have them respond.”
ROFLMFAO!!! I wonder what the police response would have been?
Gooseycide! UCMTSU.
Radley has it phrased right. The word FUCK is versatile, and has more power when used as the adjective that is closest to the noun. NEWS is the noun, GOOD is the adjective, so FUCKING must be closest to NEWS, thus good fucking news. Also makes it more fun that it has a double meaning!
The Obama Administration … sponsored by Bud Light.
I feel prophetic.
A few days ago I posted Candy Lightner’s (Founder of MADD) lament as she witnessed what had happened to her once
respectable agency.
“I formed MADD in order to get the drunkest drivers off the road, not to form an anti-drinking movement.”
MADD=”Mission Creep”in living color!
That statement from MADD reminds me of the absurd statements from PETA. Soon no one will take them seriously.
Drunk driving laws are an attempt at prior restraint.
A person may be intoxicated and yet have complete control of the vehicle, especially an experienced drinker of large stature at 0.08%. There are other behaviors which can cause loss of control of the vehicle (cell phone use until recently, conversing with a passenger, arguing with a passenger, eating, drinking, smoking, changing the radio station, reading a map, putting on makeup, etc.). None of those activities are primarily illegal.
The only crime in driving drunk is actually losing control of the vehicle. This is a fact. How you feel about it does not change the fact. Drunk driving laws make potential criminals out of individuals otherwise completely in control, which chills freedom of action and acts as prior restraint, which of course is the idea.
Drunk driving laws other than those that punish actual criminal conduct like careless or reckless driving or worse are antithetical to a free society.
It is interesting that such Constitutional subversions as DUI checkpoints and drunk driving laws are among the most common and pernicious attacks on freedom in America.
#31 At least AB is honest and puts a picture of the brewery (a Clydesdale) on the bottle/can.
As far as the goose thing, it does not surprise me that this was a Fairfax County cop. The entire department is full of gun-grabbing turds who get of on humiliating non cops. This cops is still an asstard in training. Give him a few years and he’ll be choking paramedics and framing innocent people for his traffic accidents with the best of them.
Excellent response by the ABI.
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august032009/abi_madd_8-3-09.php
I’m fucking MADD!
What the hell is wrong with people?
# Cynical in LA,
At 0.08 you will still know what you are doing but your reactions are significantly slower. The slowing down of reactions happens no matter how accustmed you are to alcohol. If no emegency occurs you will get home safely but your ability to respond to an emergency is reduced even though you could not be described as drunk.
The spirit of Carrie Nation must be reveling in whatever afterlife location it’s in.
funny cartoon in re biergarten summit here:
http://elserracho.tumblr.com/