Well, the Massachusetts Senate and House came to an agreement, and will vote on the “Casino Bill” tomorrow before going on recess until Jan. If they approve it, the next step will be sending it along to Gov. Deval Patrick for approval. However:
“Lawmakers release final version of casino bill, House and Senate votes expected tomorrow”
By Noah Bierman on Boston.com
I think it’s time to call it. There will be no Christmas Happy Hour in Massachusetts this year, children.
The cracks started to show about two weeks ago when the Happy Hour Amendment’s main supporter, Republican State Senator Robert Hedlund, changed his mind and decided to abandon the proposal, since he doubted it would ever pass the Democratic-controlled government of Massachusetts. Now, he’s calling for the state beverage commission, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Comission (ABCC) to look into some of their flawed regulations over the next year.
As usual, Massachusetts has shown itself to be a completely childish and Puritanical state, keeping the traditions of almost 400 years’ worth of of immaturity. With the local and regional craft beer industries BOOMING (there were about eight new MA craft breweries started in 2011 alone) a reintroduction of happy hour would pump untold dollars into the economy. No matter what the economic climate, people will always buy booze. However, the liberal scare tactics of “If we have happy hour, EVERYONE WILL DIE!!!” seemed to work, as the legislature fears more drunk driving deaths. If that’s the case, why isn’t anyone doing anything about the state of the Southeast Expressway after closing on a Saturday night? It’s like Mario Kart out there. But… if we don’t have happy hour, then there shouldn’t be any drunk drivers EVER! Happy hour is the cause of drunk driving, so we can’t have that!
Massachusetts: grow the hell up.