Our Dwarfs Strike Again!!!

[winoweenie]

In their infinate wisdom our state legislators ( known in our local paper as the dwarfs) passed, unbeknowts to the costuinancy, a rider on a school funding bill lowering our legal BAC from .10 to .08. It went into effect over the labor day holiday and with vigorous enforcement. Our DUI arrests over the same holiday last year was 550+. They managed to haul in 770+ under the new law. Darnit Curmster, you warned me but I didn't pay attention. @$#$%)*&%#@@!. WW

[Bucko]

That is still higher than many foreign countries, France included. Don't like it, but it is pretty reasonable in the grand scheme of things.

[Thomas]

Oh no, Bucko, are going to get me started! If I agreed with Jerry on anything it was his wonderful libertine bent--give 'em .08 and soon it will be .06, and then .05, and on down until the jack-boots are ferreting out our stashes in the privacy of our homes.

[Bucko]

Hey, my mother wore jack-boots......

[winoweenie]

Foodie, Think Buck-snort is really thinking about the wonderful world of Drugs on the Info Channel. The insidious encroachment on our ( your ) private liberties by our keepers has become so monumental that, if you'haint payin' attention, you're gonna get
help going to the bathroom. I've lived all my life with a clear conscience, a dedication to fun and frivolity, a knowledge that I was smart enuf to plot my own life-style, choose my own friends, and decide when in the devil I was no longer in control of my facilities. Bucko, I'll bet you the best bottle in my cellar against the best in yours that I can pass ANY DARNED driving test in the world at .08 or .10. Differnt' strokes fer......WW

[Drew]

I'll take that bet and I'm not saying nuthen no mo on the subject....nutten!!

Drew

[Bucko]

That is exactly what a lot of drunk drivers have said, now they're dead..... FWIW.

[Cadell]

I hate to say it WW...but while I am most assuredly a God fearing man and love AZ, one of the problems with AZ has always been the battle between church(es) and the State with the State always eventually giving em somethin to get em off their backs....and it was only a matter of time once they got tobacco and smokers on the run, that they would turn to the drink next. And foodies right, they is just gonna try to take it down even more....

[Bucko]

I always had this argument with Curmy. I understand where he was coming from, but I am on the receiving end of the drunk drivers in the ER. I have seen a host of them with BACs of 0.8-1.0 swearing there were as sober as a church mouse. Sorry guys, but I left the ship on this one. Too many lives wasted for an irresponsible act.

[Thomas]

The point is, Bucko, that drunks will continue to drive drunk, no matter the BAC. Getting drunk is the problem, not having a couple of glasses of wine at dinner at a restaurant, which gets you dangerously close to the lower BAC.

[RAD]

My two cents--and Foodie, this may impact your thoughts as well, as you are here in Manhattan:

Like WW, I too have believed at times that I could drive fine after a couple of glasses of wine (don't know exactly this would do to my BAC, but I'm guessing in the .08 area). But the fact of the matter is, most people have no business drinking when they have to drive afterwards--this would apply to bars, restaurants, parties, etc. And for the record, I'm as guilty as anyone for doing this very thing.

But in Manhattan, this isn't a problem, as no one drives anywhere here--you either walk or take a taxi. Ergo, you can drink to your heart's content, assuming you can afford it, which is altogether a different matter.

As far as the "giving the devil a foothold" argument (i.e., now it's .10, then .08, then .06, etc.): this is spurious reasoning, at best. Even the most strident Libertarian would agree that anarchy isn't an option; ergo, laws need to exist--it's simply a matter of where to draw the line.

I'm with Bucko on this one (I think!) [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

RAD

[Bucko]

Never admit you are with me on anything -- they lock you up in a padded room.

I've seen videos of people doing skills tasks at various alcohol levels and also at various simulated diving depths (nitrogen effects on the brain). People thought they were doing very well, but the video clearly shows a different story.

I'll can buy 0.8% BAC. I think going lower may be overkill and I doubt that it will happen.

[Thomas]

Well, you can doubt it Bucko, but I never doubt, let me stop there...

[winoweenie]

Bucko, I witnessed and got into this when Curmy was the reighening moderator. I agree that driving drunk is not only stupid but dangerous. The one thing I can attest is that you are assuming all people are created equal in the manner and extent that alcohol will affect them. I know many people that are unstable at .04%. Bucko you and the Curmster went back and forth on the .10 vs the .08 % and don't really think anyone was a victor. The one thing that I took away from this argument was that, give a bueracrat an inch-poo and he'll latch onto the whole magilla. By-the-bye, I did the alcohol reaction test in Denver in 1984 and Drew, not being overly reactive, I was the only participant out of 26 drivers to pass. Goes back to the premise that not all men are not created....yadayadayada. As I approach the .10 it's apparent to me that I need to cease and desist. I do, and believe me at .08 I'm probably the most conservative driver in the west. Have yet to come close to a DUI and believe me, don't intend to give it a shot. Just think I know more about when I need help that my friends the dwarfs in the legislature. By the bye, the coalition that has initiated all of the anti-drinking legislation in Arizona is a nice lil' hodge-podge....Funded primarily by the Wholesalers, joined in the media by MADD, SADD, etc, and a whole litany of religious leaders from all the churches. A nice group of bed-fellers' EH!. What was the question? WW

[Bucko]

Same argument by the NRA -- let them take my AK-47 and they'll take everything. Well, guess what? I still have a gun safe full of guns and I have no fears that they are going to disappear.....

BuckBlaster

BTW, if you happen to see Osama bin Laden, tell him to drop by -- I'd like to show him my 7mm Rem Mag.....

[Innkeeper]

If our good friend hits the East Coast first, have the same gunpower here; loaded with 175gm soft points.

[winoweenie]

What the devil will showing him a 7mm remnant magazine do? He'll jes' sit on the floor and tear out all the nudie picherz. WW