Buy me a drink?

Subject: Buy me a drink?
From: GUEST,Jenna B.
Date: 31 May 01 - 06:20 PM

Is there anyone from Austin, TX who's over 21 and can buy me a drink. I'm 19 and love to party but it seems like all the bars here know my face and won't serve me anymore, even with fake ID. I NEED a drink.

Jenna B.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: mousethief
Date: 31 May 01 - 06:22 PM

Time to join AA, sweetie. Yer dad kicked the habit. You can too.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: DougR
Date: 31 May 01 - 06:22 PM

Hmmm. Why don't you ask Chelsea to buy you one, Jenna?

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: mousethief
Date: 31 May 01 - 06:27 PM

There you go, Doug, dragging in Chelsea where she's irrelevant.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: mousethief
Date: 31 May 01 - 06:31 PM

The Chelsea Clinton parallel is completely empty. The "leave Chelsea alone" thing came about in part from Rush Limbaugh calling her "The Whitehouse dog." She wasn't breaking any laws. She was being viciously torn apart by the conservative press for no other reason than their hatred of the Clintons.

In contrast, Jenna Bush was breaking the law, and, further, involved in an alcohol-related crime. Coming from a family infamous for its substance-abuse problems, that is noteworthy in and of itself. It would be like Ted Kennedy's daughter driving drunk. Hardly comparable to the "crime" Chelsea Clinton committed: that of being born to parents despised by the Righteous Right.

To compare the press's treatment of the Chelsea to the press's treatment of Jenna is quite disingenuous if not downright absurd.

Alex

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Gary T
Date: 31 May 01 - 07:43 PM

No argument with your points, Alex, but I interpreted DougR's remark as a jest, meant to be as absurd as the opening post.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: DougR
Date: 31 May 01 - 08:23 PM

Thank you Gary T. Anyway, Alex, you just assumed I meant Chelsea Clinton. I was referring to Chelsea Pussywillow, who is a student at the University of Texas from my hometown. Jeeze ...sensitive.

DougR

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 01 - 08:40 PM

PUSSYwillow????!!!!

She first cousin to Missus Galore of 007 fame?

A

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 31 May 01 - 08:48 PM

And there I was , getting nostalgic about Oscar Brown Jr.!

Regards

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: CarolC
Date: 31 May 01 - 09:02 PM

Has anyone besides me noticed what an uncanny resemblance the young Jenna and Barbara Bush have to Trisha and Julie Nixon? I'm not being sarcastic. I really mean it.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: DougR
Date: 31 May 01 - 10:41 PM

Amos, I think they are third cousins.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 01 - 11:02 PM

I offered to buy Spaw a drink awhile back, and it turns out he prefers to drink water! What an obliging guy, eh?

- LH

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: GUEST,UB Dan
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 08:48 AM

WHAT!?! A college student under the legal drinking age trying to get a beer!! I can't believe it...shocking. Well, now nobody will ever hire them...and as Alex points out this reflects badly on their parents.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 08:50 AM

What were the Secret Service men doing? Surely the twins have minders? From the UK press the two Bush girls sound like a couple of "goers" who'd be welcome on any Club 18-30 holiday! US drink laws seem strange to the US but then ours seem strange to mainland Europeans!
Stin i yassas
RtS

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 10:05 AM

Roger,

Good point!

And what about the proprietor; all those funny looking fellows in their Brooks Brother suits loitering around while the young lady conducts her nefarious purchase raised nary an eyebrow?

Or, perhaps she ditched them which would conjur much more intrique.

Could her behavior make her a target for terrorists?

What could terrorits accomplish with the capture of a President's daughter?

Gets alot more serious just beneath the surface.

Could be the free press thing works!

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 01:02 PM

Move to the UK where you only need be 18 !!!!

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: DougR
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 01:11 PM

A news story in the newspaper this morning quoted someone from the Secret Service as saying, it is not their job to discipline those they protect, or words to that effect.

DougR

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: mousethief
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 01:14 PM

Hard to argue with that, Doug.

Alex

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: lady penelope
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 02:19 PM

Jeez, don't american teenagers know how to do their own home brew? Am I just being too english? There always seems to be this almost "rite of passage" thingy about american teenagers buying beer under age. You need ID cards and have strange ideas about being over 21 to be able to buy alcohol, but the obvious answer never seems to be raised! I dunno. At school there always seemed to be someone brewing something. And there's always the obvious answer for a member of the first family......GET THE SECURITY GUARD TO GET IT!!!!!!! You have staff and just don't seem to know how to use them! I'll have to send Parker over to instruct you. Tsk tsk.

TTFN M'Lady P.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Kim C
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 02:22 PM

Being 19 never stopped me from much of anything.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Hollowfox
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 04:19 PM

Lady P's right, Jenna. Check at the library to see if there's an age requirement for homebrewing. Then get your kitchen clean (or the stuff won't turn into beer), and (assuming it's legal and aboveboard) go have fun.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 04:30 PM

And the pig got up and slowly walked away!

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: mousethief
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 05:22 PM

Don't listen to them, Jenna. You have a problem. Get help.

Alex

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Hollowfox
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 05:27 PM

On second thought, if this thread isn't a joke, mousethief is right.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: DougR
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 05:31 PM

Sounds to me as though she is just an irresponsible nineteen year old who should have realized she lives in a glass house, and should show more respect for her parents. I've been to the White House, but I don't remember seeing a woodshed out back.

DougR

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 06:05 PM

She has 2 now, got a second one trying to order a maragarita in a restaurant........She better wake up and realize she does live in a glass house for at least 4 years. Sucks, but there it is.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: mousethief
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 06:22 PM

She only has to wait 2 years, cos she's 19 now.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Midchuck
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 08:57 PM

Anyone who is being pompous about these girls' drinking under age, and who, him/herself, ever had a drink of alcohol - even one - even in his/her own house - before being of drinking age is a - how can I latinize it so I won't be accused of vulgarity? - a copulating anal posterior orifice...

IMHO, of course.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 09:01 PM

I know that, Midchuck, but the fact remains that it IS illegal and she is living in a Glass House. (Our daughter had to do 30 hrs of CS, $100 fine, $75 counseling fee, and $100 Alcohol Victims Impact panel because she was holding a beer for a busy person--breathalyzer was 0, but she recived a Minor in Possession)

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: SeanM
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 09:18 PM

I think I must have read the same quotes from Secret Service over this issue that were quoted above...

It's a case of an indiscretion that can't really be helped from their end. If they stop the 'First Children', they're overstepping their bounds and run the risk of being disciplined. If they step in and stop things (i.e., spot the beer and take it away from her), then they're granting "special priveleges" that aren't given to other 'minors'. If they stand back and let it happen, they're attacked for not doing anything.

Let 'er get 'er lumps. She's not harming anyone in the process, is in a warped way doing more for bringing the inconsistencies in the age/vice laws than anyone has for years (although I'd imagine she rather would prefer not getting caught), and she's providing debate fodder for the "alcoholism can be taught to your children" crowd.

Hey... that's actually a serious idea...

Bush could score some MAJOR PR points by stating that he understands what his daughter is going through, supports her fully and is there for her as a father, and then ice it by throwing some sort of bone to the AA/Alanon lobbies...

But as also pointed out - underage drinking was almost a 'rite of passage' amongst almost everyone I know. People who don't drink at all now that they're adults still 'snuck a beer' when in school, because it was forbidden.

M

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Midchuck
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 09:20 PM

Yes, it's illegal. Many laws are idiotic, but that one is more so than most. I don't think any other nation in the world, where drinking is legal at all, has a 21-year old drinking age. Our kids can go into combat and get their guts shot out for the greater glory of their country when they're 18, but they can't have a beer? And this is The Law, so it must be immutable because Our Leaders never make mistakes? Lord, if you're there, give me the strength not to be excessively sarcastic...

And the girl didn't run for office. And she didn't have any say in whether her old man did. Neither did the rest of us, dammit.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: SeanM
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 09:37 PM

In the military's somewhat lackluster defense, I WILL say that during my time at the Recruit Training Center Command down in San Diego, the on-base bars had a policy whereby 18 year old military personnel could purchase wine and beer, and drink in the bar.

I've heard that this has changed, but I can personally attest to the policy having been in place in 1991, when I was training at the facility.

M

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: DougR
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 12:38 PM

I think it was a mistake to move the drinking age to 21 from 18, myself. The head of MAAD successfuly led a campaign several years ago that raised the age, and that's the law here.

I don't think that the fact that Jenna tried to order a beer means that she is on the path to alcoholic destruction, though. It's not unusual for one that age to try to sneak a drink. But, as so many have pointed out, her situation is different from the average. She simply can't get by with it. Too many people monitoring her (read:press).

I also believe, though, that she should receive the same treatment as any other 19 year old would receive had he/she broken that law. No special treatment.

DougR

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: mousethief
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 01:01 PM

Is she really so stupid that she doesn't realize there are secret service agents following her around? That every bartender in Austin knows her mug and her age from the media? That she lives in a glass house?

Either she is inconceivably stupid, or she is doing this on purpose for some reason of her own.

Alex

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 01:08 PM

Once I was a student attending UTexas in the dim, dear days not quite beyond recall. No one paid attention to UT underage drinkers then. I support the liberal Demos and am anti-Bush but I am appalled by the press and public who won't let the girls blend in with the gang. Fifty or more years ago, the only consequence was a warning and the press wasn't interested.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: lady penelope
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 01:25 PM

Mousethief, you may have hit the nail on the head, maybe she did it BECAUSE she lives in a glass house! Who's to say things are "hunkey dorey" with the Bush family? I know I was a right cow when I was a teenager / young woman. In a way her dad's given her the perfect weapon to play "family sniping" with.

TTFN M'Lady P.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: Bert
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 08:14 PM

I must agree with those who think that it is a stupid law. I think that is also unconstitutional.
Age discriminated prohibition. Just include another year to the ban, say 37, to see how it is just age discrimination.

Alex, I don't think that she was being stupid, after all legend has it that her daddy got off scot free for using nose candy when he was a young un. She probably thought that her family's position would give her a similar kind of immunity.

Subject: RE: Buy me a drink?
From: GUEST,willie-o
Date: 03 Jun 01 - 10:46 AM

Some interesting side effects here: current story at salon.com points out that Jenna had another "minor with alcohol" brush with the law when she was 16, so the Margarita is possibly her 3rd offense. (the detailed record is sealed on the first one but the sentencing judge must take it into account).

Why must da judge take it into account? Because Gov GW Bush, before that first youthful folly, passed a 3 strikes law that mandated jail time for third-offense minors-possessing-alcohol.

Think that'll happen? Lets just wait and see...

w-o