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You know, there was a time when MADD did a lot of good. Now, they’re just a bunch of hens trying to prevent everyone from having a good time:
Amtrak is trying to gin up new business by offering $100 in free alcohol to customers on some overnight trains.
The national passenger rail company is making the unusual offer to promote a new high-end service being offered on a trial basis for certain sleeper car trips. …
Mothers Against Drunk Driving questioned whether $100 in free alcohol was too much.
“This sounds like a lot of credit toward possible overindulging,” said MADD spokeswoman Misty Moyse.
But no one will be driving. I mean, it’s not like they load you up and let your drive the damn train. Should change the name to Mothers Against Drinking. This is similar to some gun control groups. They started out with a semi-noteworthy cause (background checks) and quickly bastardized them into a desire for total bans. Now, they just bleat.
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:50 am
Yes and no. People on airlines aren’t driving either, but there seems to be more and more incidents where someone (like REM’s Peter Buck) drinks too much and causes a ruckus.
Too, there’s a difference between Amtrak letting people drink versus encouraging drinking with free booze.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:01 am
People do that at bars, restaurants, football games, and their homes too. So, are they Mothers Against Drinking To Excess And Making An Ass Of Yourself In Public? MADTEAMAAOYIP would be hard to pronounce.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:09 am
I don’t drink, and I would not be interested in going from point A to point B on a rolling frat party.
Nonetheless, it’s none of MADD’s business if no one is driving.
I think that this, too, if where the free market will help decide whether Amtrak’s dumb idea is a good one from a business perspective.
I have spent a lot of time for many years trying to help people who have drinking problems, and that kind of help is achieved on an individual level when someone wants it.
Drunk driving is an important problem.
You would think that MADD would want to focus on it exclusively.
I think that Amtrak should instead offer $100 in ammo.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:15 am
Man, where can I make some Amtrack reservations? I love
boozetrains.August 3rd, 2007 at 9:18 am
I’m with Ahab. Sounds friggin fun.
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:01 am
MADD is a neo-prohibitionist organization whose aim is the end of all alcohol consumption, public and private, period. Do not buy any of their lies.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
CTD beat me to it. Neoprohibitionists one and all.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Nawww, nothing as noble as all that. This is simply about face time in the media, which is about the salaries of the paid permanent staff of MADD. You have to admit, getting paid to nag and advocate for control over the lives of others is a Hell of a lot easier than having to get a real job where you must be productive to make a living.
Face time=continued salary: that’s the whole equation.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:19 pm
If Amtrak wants new business, they should try having their trains run on time, and maybe frequently enough to be actually useful.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Happy hour on a train on the way home from work? It’s saving the planet. Think of all the cars it would get off the road. We have to get onboard. For the children.
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:01 pm
No doubt they are neo-prohibitionists, cloaked in the veil of moral superiority. I don’t doubt many of them have long lasting grief at the loss of a family member or friend, but nor do I doubt that, as has been mentioned above-its also about salaries and publicity.
I remember a few years ago they wanted to pressure local grocery and convenience stores to stop selling ‘cold’ beer. Fortunately that nanny state shit didn’t take.
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Proud member of DAMM, Drinkers Against Mad Mothers!
August 3rd, 2007 at 5:44 pm
I’ve been an engineer for almost 10 years and not once have I got to drive the train.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Not quite.
I’m a member of MADD because my dad was killed by a drunk driver. The organization helped me navigate through my grief and the court system.
While many in the group are perhaps prohibitionist, most who I have met personally have not been. And I certainly am not!!
So don’t lump us all together…especially not the dumb ones with the more balanced, smarter ones.
August 4th, 2007 at 2:31 am
I believe that at least some, if not all, of their leadership has admitted that they want to get those breathalizer ignition interlocks that convicted drunk drivers now have to use in many states put on ALL cars.
Bunch of obnoxious nannyists. Who, BTW, get government funding to lobby the government.
And if they were really serious, maybe they’d come here to WA to get our Legislature serious about giving repeat DUI offenders some real serious jail time. Seattle lost two cops this year to repeat DUIs out on parole after short sentences.