Today's Random News

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sleeve

I represented a guy a couple of years ago. Very conservative guy, military, law and order, big time Republican. He's the type of guy who posts very hostile stuff about liberals and criminals and illegal immigrants on Facebook. Big personal responsibility type of guy.

Well, he came down to Tucson and got arrested for DUI. Alcohol concentration above the legal limit, about a 0.11 or 0.12. Failed field sobriety tests, the works. As you can probably imagine, a DUI conviction would cause him some pretty huge problems. Possibly jeopardize his continued military career, possible discharge, driver's license suspension, ignition interlock, you name it.

So we went to trial and beat the case. Found not guilty. Happy ending for him, he goes on to live his life and speak out against liberals.

What's my point? It's very easy to say this stuff online and condemn people. Lock them all up! Throw away the key! Send them to prison for twenty years! Send them away for life! And then it happens to you. You're driving home and you see that little flashing red and blue light in the corner of your eye, like Walter White in that last episode of Breaking Bad. You show up to court and find out that your entire life is going to be affected by this one misjudgment. Or all of this happens to your wife or your father or your mother and you experience it all by proxy.

It's a lot easier than you might think for this kind of thing to happen to you. There but for the grace of God, etc. etc. And if it does, you'll be glad this whole American legal system exists.

---

I've never driven drunk in my life.

Congrats!

In other news, I have an extra kidney. Turns out I don't really need it. Why the fuck do I have this thing? I never drink and I hate sugary snacks. I'm getting rid of it. How much do you think I can sell it for?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sleeve

Congrats!

---

But if I do and I wipe out a family, I'll be sure to give you call!

Great! Just wait at the scene for the ambulance. You'll probably find me chasing it!

With the exception of Dole, how many of us can say they've never had a couple of drinks, and then got behind the wheel? I think it's much more common amongst the older of us than the younger. For many, many years, drunk driving wasn't really a crime. At worst, a cop would take you in to sleep it off. At best, he'd follow you home. Hell, that even happened to me once. I got pulled over three streets from my house. Cop said I was swerving over the middle line, and for whatever reason, he let me go. It's fairly recently (last 30 years) that drunk drivers really became the pariahs that they are now.
Most of the time, we don't feel as impaired as we actually are. No one gets in their car and thinks to themselves, "I'm drunk as fuck, Imma drive anyway."
I think by definition, if one is impaired or under the influence, then they can't reasonably be found to have deprived indifference.
What happened to those people is awful, and the defendants certainly deserve punishment. But not a murder charge.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sleeve

Great! Just wait at the scene for the ambulance. You'll probably find me chasing it!

---

Seriously, though, I do get the overall point you're making, despite not agreeing with it 100%.

I took my first field sobriety test last May. When asked how much I had to drink, I said "four whiskeys and four beers." He asked when my first (10:30pm) and last (1:45/15 mins ago) were, then asked me to step out and take the test.

I passed. It was nerve racking as Hell. And I would have certainly failed a breathalyzer, but he chose not to give one and just told me to go straight home and do not drink anymore.

I haven't got behind a wheel more than two drinks deep since.

The only time I ever got a sobriety test was when my passenger was so drunk that you could smell him from 20 paces.

I have driven boozed when I was younger. If I had killed anyone while doing so then, yes, my life would have been destroyed for making one bad decision. Kind of like the person I killed, or their family. I don't have any sympathy for this because it's a choice. Nobody is forcing your drunk ass behind the wheel. If you make a shit choice, and someone dies because of it you should probably spend the rest of your life in jail.

Millions of pro-lifers agree.