Nation of Change: Lobby Responsibly

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nationofchange.org/lobby-responsibly-1338218108

The big beer brewers often admonish us imbibers of their products to "Drink Responsibly." Well, I say back to them: Lobby Responsibly.

In particular, I point to a disgusting binge of besotted lobbying by Anheuser-Busch and other beer barons this year in the Nebraska legislature. At issue was the town of Whiteclay, smack dab on the Nebraska-South Dakota border.

Although only about 10 people live there, it's home to four beer stores. Why? Because right across the state line is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux tribe, which has a devastating problem of alcohol addiction, combined with intractable poverty. The sale of alcohol is banned on the reservation.



Whiteclay exists solely so booze peddlers can profit from the Oglala tribe's miseries. They sell 4 million cans of beer a year to Pine Ridge residents, including high-alcohol malt liquor. So much for that "Drink Responsibly" slogan. One in four children on the reservation is born with fetal alcohol birth defects. The life expectancy of tribal members is less than 50 years.

FULL editorial at link.