Tag Archives: Alcohol

41 Arguments Against the Drug War, by Laurence M. Vance

Posted on April 21, 2020 | Leave a comment

Why does the government prohibit some harmful substances but not others which may be even more harmful? From Laurence M. Vance at lewrockwell.com:

The popular website Eat This, Not That! recently ran an article titled “41 Ways Alcohol Ruins Your Health.”

Here is the article’s brief introduction:

If you like to have a drink once in a while, chances are you’re having a few more than usual, given the fact that we’re all self-isolating. But the reason why we’re self-isolating—to protect against the coronavirus—is all the more reason to drink less. You need your immune system at full strength to combat COVID-19. Read on to discover the ways alcohol ruins your health, and share this story with someone who needs to read it.

Then follows a list of 41 ways that alcohol ruins your health:

  1. Eating more
  2. Circulatory issues
  3. Seizures
  4. Dehydration
  5. Diabetes
  6. Ulcers
  7. Belly fat
  8. You’ll eat more sugar
  9. Cancer
  10. Dementia
  11. Muscle cramps
  12. Lower immune system
  13. Decreased fertility
  14. Mental decline
  15. Pancreatic pain
  16. Depression
  17. Increased obesity risk
  18. Stroke
  19. Heavy carb intake
  20. Bloating
  21. Inherited alcoholism
  22. Decreased kidney function
  23. Salty food cravings
  24. Muscle atrophy
  25. Nerve damage
  26. Medication complications
  27. Reduced sperm count
  28. Anemia
  29. GERD
  30. Gout
  31. Anxiety
  32. Increased breast cancer risk
  33. Insomnia
  34. High blood pressure
  35. Blood sugar spikes
  36. Increased heart attack risk
  37. Cirrhosis
  38. Drinking more than you intended
  39. Leaky gut
  40. Less sound sleep
  41. Exhaustion

Continue reading→

 

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Crime, Government

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Washington’s heavy-drinking ways in spotlight, by Reid Wilson

Posted on April 28, 2018 | 1 comment

There’s no mystery why Washington drinks a lot: to blot out the realization that they’re rotten people doing rotten things to the American public. From Reid Wilson at thehill.com:

President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs withdrew his name from consideration this week after a number of serious allegations were raised about his stewardship as White House physician, including that he drank on the job.

The allegations against Ronny Jackson of excessive drinking shine a light on a problem that, while not unique to Washington, is particularly acute in the nation’s capital.

 Washington, D.C., has the highest rates of binge and problem drinking in America.

It’s a booze problem fueled by a uniquely stressful environment where many of the corporate structures of accountability and oversight don’t exist.

From the executive branch to Capitol Hill, K Street lobbying firms to high-pressure newsrooms, free alcohol is easily accessible.

The days of the three-martini lunch may be gone, but they have been replaced by hard-partying nights filled with fundraisers, receptions or long bar tabs.

“There is just a strong push and culture of intoxication in D.C. It’s been like that for a long time,” said Kevin Sabet, who served in the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy in three different administrations. “It’s not a Republican or Democrat issue. It really cuts across all ideologies.”

This weekend, Washington’s political class will hobnob during at least 10 events surrounding the White House correspondents’ dinner, where the drinks flow freely. The most common complaint at the dinner itself is that empty wine bottles are not replaced with sufficient speed.

During the holiday season, it is possible to spend weeks in a row drinking free while hopping from reception to reception sponsored by all manner of corporations and interest groups.

Half a dozen current and former aides and members of Congress, all of whom asked for anonymity to shed light on an unsavory side of the culture within government, said a combination of factors contribute to a heavy-drinking environment: Members are away from their families for long stretches of time. Lobbyists and supplicants are eager to please, whether via campaign contributions or a cocktail. And few formal rules governing workplace environments exist in the halls of Congress, or in the White House.

To continue reading: Washington’s heavy-drinking ways in spotlight

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Posted in Collapse, Culture, Government

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Canary On The Bar Stool——Global Alcohol Sales Drop For First Time In 20 Years, by Alanna Petroff

Posted on May 15, 2016 | Leave a comment

You know things are getting bad when alcohol sales drop. From Alanna Petroff at CNN Money via davidstockmanscontracorner.com:

Global sales of alcohol fell in 2015 for the first time since market research firm Euromonitor International started keeping records in 2001.

In fact, you probably have to go back to the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s to find the last drop in worldwide consumption, Euromonitor’s alcoholic drinks analyst Spiros Malandrakis said.
While sales in dollar terms rose by about 2% in 2015, the overall volume of alcohol consumed dropped by 0.7%.

A slump in the economies of major emerging markets appears to be forcing drinkers to sober up.

China — which is the biggest guzzler in the globe by far — saw total consumption drop by 3.5% last year as its economy slowed. (That’s equivalent to Portugal and Chile going teetotal!)

Consumption in Brazil and eastern Europe fell by 2.5% and 4.9% respectively. Brazil is facing a severe economic slump and political crisis over corruption. Fighting between Ukraine and Russia has also hurt the industry in eastern Europe.

The alcohol industry has generally been seen as a safe bet for investors since people tend to drink in good times and bad. But things aren’t playing out that way now.

The once infinite growth narrative that used to exist proves to be not so infinite,” Malandrakis told CNNMoney.

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/canary-on-the-bar-stool-global-alcohol-sales-drop-for-first-time-in-20-years/

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Posted in Business, Economy, Uncategorized

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Time To BIN Our Government, by Karl Denninger

Posted on January 19, 2016 | Leave a comment

From Karl Denninger, on a guest post at theburningplatform.com:

From the NTSB comes their latest “Most Wanted List”, and it includes some doozies.

One of them is a desire for mandated collision-avoidance (e.g. automated braking, etc) technology in all cars and trucks. Like the previous airbag and ABS mandates this will drive up the cost of vehicles further, a price paid by everyone whether you happen to be attentive or not.

But it’s the booze demand — a drop from 0.08 to 0.05 BAC to define “drunk” — that got my dander up the most.

Here’s why.

An 0.05 standard would render most men legally intoxicated after two beers in a couple of hours. It would also render many women legally intoxicated after one drink, effectively making it impossible for a woman of light body mass and small size to consume any alcohol in a social setting where she might have to operate a vehicle.

The NTSB admits that they have no idea whether such a change in the law would actually reduce drunk-driving injuries and deaths at all, or if it would, by how much.

But let’s cut the crap — the NTSB lies about DUI to begin with. They claim that some 10,000 deaths and about 30% of all accidents “involve” someone who is “impaired.” But they don’t define “impaired” as legally intoxicated; any presence of alcohol is sufficient for said accident to count under their “rules” and what’s worse the person who had the alcohol in their system doesn’t have to have been at fault!
In other words if I go to the bar, have one beer, and on the way home a truck driver falls asleep at the wheel and rams my vehicle from behind, killing me, that counts as an “alcohol-impaired” fatality — even though (1) I was not at fault and (2) the person who was at fault had zero alcohol in their system. The accident is reported this way even if it was logistically impossible for me to evade the wreck (e.g. I’m stopped at a light with cross traffic in the intersection; there is literally nowhere for me to go even if I see it coming.)

Now 10,000 deaths a year, if they’re due to intoxicated driving (but they’re not; see the last two paragraphs) would be bad. The cost to society is terrible, say much less the cost to individual families and people.

But what is the cost of the DUI laws to society?

To continue reading: Time to BIN Our Government

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Posted in Government, Law

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