A drunk driving case prompts a judge to call for sports franchises to sever their relationship with alcohol companies. Question for the judge: Who elected you the nation’s social arbiter?
Judge John Burlew is sticking his nose into coroporate operations because a Cincinnati Bengals linebacker was suspended for drug use and for driving while intoxicated. The judge in appalled at the hypocrisy of the team owners because, as he prissily notes, the National Football League reaps billions from alcohol advertising. How he links a drunk driver being disciplined by his employer to commercial agreements between corporations is incomprehensible unless one is aware that the law, like every other facet of society, is subservient to special interests that have declared war on consumer choice. No smoking, No drinking and No eating the wrong things. The list is growing as is the power of the groups that have made it their business to alter behavior from top to bottom.
The judge says the league should stop selling beer at stadiums and stop advertising alcohol products if it is serious about fighting alcohol abuse. The NFL, someone should remind this zealous judge, is serious about its bottom line. It is serious about getting fans into the stadiums and turning into the televised games. It is serious about keeping its team members out of trouble. It is interested in turning a profit. It doesn’t exist to "fight alcohol abuse." The NFL will, of course, not tell the judge to stick to the law and keep out of its business. It will instead hem and haw and donate some bucks to alcohol control groups. It will continue to advertise booze until the day arrives that anti-alcohol’s clout grows to such an extent that its deals with Big Booze are ended by law, just as it was with Big Tobacco.
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