Greasing the wheels

I came across this article while wasting some time this afternoon. The gist of it is that the fine lawmakers in Texas are trying to bring the ultimate 'buzzkill' to thousands of 'will-be' drinkers on their inaugural night.

Sec. 106.031. SALE OR SERVICE OF ALCOHOL TO PERSON ON PERSON'S 21ST BIRTHDAY. (a) The holder of a license or permit that allows the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption commits an offense if, on the licensed or permitted premises, the license or permit holder with criminal negligence sells, serves, dispenses, or delivers an alcoholic beverage to a person on the date
of the person's 21st birthday before:
(1) 7 a.m. if the person's birthday occurs on a day
other than Sunday; or
(2) noon if the person's birthday occurs on Sunday.

This is not all that surprising and in all reality will do very little to combat the intended target. The simple truth is that the birthday boy is going to go over to a friends' house and get loaded there, then hit the bars the next night with precious little more knowledge of how to properly drink...But he will be damn good at playing 'Quarters'.

There were a couple of notes of interest:

"The alcohol lobby, itself, just wine, beer and hard liquor companies, spent between $1 and $2 million on 61 lobbyists here in the state of Texas. So that's about two lobbyists for every senator here in the state of Texas," Wheat said."

Texas is an awfully large state after all so it would stand to reason that they need a gang of lobbyists to get things done. And looking at the numbers, and just running with the average of $1.5M, that comes to just under $25,000 per Lobby-dude. Good work if you can get it, I guess.

And then the kicker:

"The fact of the matter is that alcohol is the lubricant of diplomacy in this town and around the world," Wheat said."

Right on, right on...