Alcohol Nanny Breathalyzers

American Spectator ^ | 07 aug 07 | Eric Peters

[rellimpank]

"Pre-emptive war" got us into a real mess in Iraq. So maybe we ought to think twice before adopting similar measures when it comes to traffic law. Specifically, when it comes to an idea floated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to require that all new cars be fitted with an ignition interlock that can detect alcohol in the driver's system -- and shut the car down if it does.

Several large automakers (including GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda) also support the idea -- and are working on ways to get these things into new cars, maybe within the next two or three years, if not sooner.

Sounds OK in principle -- sort of like the idea of liberating Iraq. The devil's in the details, though.

[Quix]

The topic is about what is happening in our society that will cause companies to design their products for the lowest common denominator. I do not drive after consuming alcoholic beverages, why should I have to pay an additional price to purchase a vehicle because there are other idiots that will? Let them pay the additional price for the equipment.

= = =

I think that’s a horrid development, too.

I still think the country would be much better off with 90% less lawyers. And only 2 or 3 in each legislative house at all levels of government.

I actually deplore the Feds getting involved in anything but defense and trade issues beyond our border—in broad stroke ways.

I think everything else should have been left to the States as the Constitution insisted.

I think the free market is a wonderful thing and quite robust if the traitorous, monopolizing, globalist international conglomerates could be kept in check.

Alas, it’s not to be this side of eternity.

But the biggest problem is in the heart of man. No law can make-up sufficiently for that problem.

I don’t really want breathalyzers in every auto. I actually hate BIG BROTHER fiercely.

But I do like to provoke thought about the problems of alcohol abuse. The problems are so widespread to such destructiveness . . . every opportunity to raise awareness is worth taking, imho.

I do think that irresponsible people mostly have themselves to thank when some social institution starts placing limits on their behavior. Blaming society for saying ENOUGH ALREADY YET is more than a little late and more than a little ill-placed blame.

The blame should have been directed at their individual mirrors long before that late date in the dynamics of things.

The lowest common denominator thing is horrid. Have long railed against it. Hard to get around the social compulsion to operate on that basis.

I grew up in an era and a region where a man’s word was his bond. That’s long gone. Dad has been taken to the cleaners by wealthy selfish arrogant big cats and their shady lawyers repeatedly. Promises were broken; commitments were forgotten and flushed.

Shoot, I remember when the grade school play ground had a huge old tree/log for us to climb all over . . . It, of course got removed later on as too dangerous.

Shoot—life is about bumps and scrapes and even some broken bones. Sure, help those who can’t pay get fixed up. But leave the lawyers out of it. Sheesh.

And suing because of someone being offended by some remark. What idiocy.

/rant

[cva66snipe]

When I was in the Navy {when I did the biggest portion of my drinking} you could drink as much as you wished only off duty and off ship. But your conduct was expected to be controlled no excuse. That was in the mid-late 1970's. The Navy had treatment programs and used a drug called anti-Buse I think was the name. Those in treatment were required to take it and if you took a drink you got sick as a dog so I'm told. I had a few guys in my division who had to take it.

One smart thing the Navy did do was having the bars on base. Most who did drink usually walked to and from the ship to the club. The walk was generally far enough to where you had a good time lapse between last drink and getting back to the ship. In Norfolk 1970's there wasn't that many places to drink. Overseas was a different matter.

The Navy during that time also returned to a Liberty Pass type of system. If you were a known problem drinker your liberty was pulled till behavior changed. Odd enough the entire Engineering Department on my ship nearly lost Liberty in 1979 for the duration of a cruise over a few rowdy persons in a bar. A lot of guys had their cards pulled over that. I always got to leave the ship but I stayed out of bars for the most part.

I had one blackout and never let myself get to that point again. It was the result of ignorance and involved a stupid dare with Jack Daniels and a shot glass. I walked back to the ship before passing out. That did not happen again. A cruise and a half working liberty boat crew gave me my fill of dealing with belligerent drunks. BTW that was usually about 1-2 persons out of over 5000 onboard who ended up tied down inside a wire mesh stretcher cage to get them back to the ship. Not a bad average all things considered.

Well back to the subject of the thread. I do not believe for one moment the intent of putting breath alcohol devices in cars is out of anyones concern for the person drinking nor even the ones they may harm. It is strictly a monetary measure driven by insurance companies like most of the other Nanny Laws. They could care less if you drank two fifths a night and killed your family in a drunken rage as long as no insurance claims were involved.

M.A.D.D. one of the primary backers it seems is their useful idiot and they play on the emotions of the membership by manipulating them to getting desired results. They used Soccer moms to get the child seats from hell.

Don't you find it rather odd that for all our woes one specific special interest group has managed to get government to provide all the answers they request? All of it starts out as a voluntary so called good idea and withing a couple of years becomes mandatory law. When seat belts came out use was on a volunteer basis. Then came the seatbelt laws but a ticket could only be written during a stop for other offenses. Now they have seat belt road blocks. My state has a two strike license revoke law for seatbelts. Now how does that effect my driving skills? It doesn't. It is government over stepping into private matters to protect corporate profit loss. Don't get me wrong I think they are a great invention. But mandatory?

I am among the few who can not wear a seatbelt/shoulder restraint due to medical condition. I can't wear a suit and tie either nor button the top two buttons on a shirt. For liability reasons the doctors will not sign a waiver for me not to use a seat belt. Every day I now break the law. What's worse even if I don't drive I still break the law or inflict that upon the driver as they are mandatory.

Even the medication I take was almost taken off the market because some persons liked to abuse it usually with alcohol. Many doctors now due to public ignorance and media hype are scared to death to prescribe it. The drug is Xanax.

All that just because a few alcoholic movie stars used the drug with their booze binges. As for me I can not function without the drug as it allows me dull my sensory system to a functional level I can tolerate and control my seizure activity. When will enough be enough?

[Quix]

Thanks for your vulnerable sharing.

One size rarely fits all.

It is still true that seat belt laws have saved lots of lives. Those lives were worth saving.

In terms of your illness . . . PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

get a copy of A MORE EXCELLENT WAY by Henry Wright.

He’s become a very respected researcher who’s seen thousands of folks recovered from incurable diseases. In many such diseases, the medical community across the country send him their worst, most hopeless cases. And, if they follow his instructions, they get totally healed.

Wouldn’t hurt to check him out, anyway. Warning, the book is a thick one, paperback.

When large systems of any kind—especially evil, greedy power mongering globalist feds—try to solve human problems, many individuals will get ground up ruthlessly in the system.

Scripture says the letter of the law kills but the spirit brings liberty. Certainly that’s true.

Laws are rarely designed to increase individual liberty and wholeness. They are designed to conform the masses. . . . to restrict the worst behaviors of the most rebellious . . . and thereby, limit increasingly the options of all.

Bureaucracies are inherently limiting, self-perpetuating, self-aggrandizing, greedy, restrictive, smothering, narrow, restrictive, increasingly dumb-ing down to the lowest common denominator etc.

The best one can hope for is individuals of good heartedness in positions of power in the bureaucracies bringing some semblance of sanity back to reality—but that’s a rarity, too.

A 2nd best is throwing the whole system overboard and starting over with a far greater individual freedom focus. That’s historically very rare on the latter point. Most governments have a compulsion toward enslaving the serfs worse even than we have now. Certainly globalism will be worse.

[cva66snipe]

My disorder I can live with it was the figuring out what it actually was that nearly did me in LOL.. It's a form of sensory processing disorder related to Inner Ear to brain processing and eyes to brain processing. Too much of the wrong audio or visual stimulation and my body and brain reacts in kind by what is referred to as this

Stimulus-sensitive myoclonus is triggered by a variety of external events, including noise, movement, and light. Surprise may increase the sensitivity of the patient.

Myoclonic seizures are not epileptic but rather in my case severe upper torso spasms. The Xanax reduces the activity. SSRI's antidepressants which they insisted I use for several years because Big Insurance said so made those impulses not only more frequent but more enhanced as well. Gee just what I was needing LOL. It's treatable but non curable and never fatal.

The human brain is capable of many things which is why we don't die sooner I suppose LOL. This is no joke though what I am about to describe. The involuntary portion of the brain is quite capable of taking over many task not normally preformed by it such as driving.

The few of us who realize we have this condition can experience a weird situation at any given moment. I have been on a city street I knew like the back of my hand and had no idea where I was, whereI was going, how long I'd been there, etc. The first experience scared the living daylights out of me as I thought it was a stroke. I was doing 75 MPH on an interstate. It lasted about 20 minutes or so. My wife noticed me acting weird and scream what's wrong. She was helpless to do anything. This has happened maybe 5-7 times since 1994 to me. I've learned how to head it off is why it hasn't happened more.

Doctors who do not know and understand what they are seeing will likely call it Panic Attacks. But there is no Panic except a healthy fear and a realist realization something is going wrong which it actually is. It's not a phobia which is what one type of Panic Attacks are. My only fear is heights and for a very good reason.

Anyway I learned quick to pull over and pop a Xanax under my tongue and wait for it to work. I've learned if I go shopping or driving in heavy traffic etc to take an extra dosage. But I understand how the medication is to be taken. Very small but consistent in the blood stream dosages works. Two stronger pills per day do not.

Now I think you can see why doctors will not sign my seatbelt waiver. In an emergency my reactions and driving skills become pin point accurate. Many firemen and paramedics have a form of this disorder and that is what allows them to react the way they do. They are attracted to the job because the job provides an adrenalin balance.

The original cause was sinus allergies most likely. Sinus allergies can do Vestibular System damage. Very few doctors today recognize Vestibular Disorders as being the primary cause of Anxiety Disorders. Yet when I was growing up almost every GP knew how an Inner Ear infection could wreak havoc on a person.

The disorder makes having anything near my neck a trigger. The whole mess started out as being what felt like a lump in my throat a choking sensation. When seat belts came out they were just that. Now they are one piece units which includes a shoulder harness which is what I object to wearing. Now you can understand why I can not pass a FST. My eye muscle coordination since childhood has been poor. Thus my fear of heights. I stay off roofs and ladders these days. It is so poor I did two years in rehab to learn to live with it. That was in the early 70's at about 13 years old. I am also single eye functional. Yet I passed to military entrance physicals and not even they caught it LOL. I can not use both eyes at once.

I've lived with it for 50 years but it became a disabling problem in 1994 and so I retired. In my line of work I was a danger to myself and others and I knew it. I was a maintenance mechanic and boiler operator at the time but at one time I was a OTR truck driver. I did that yet I had zero depth perception. I learned to compensate in rehab. Power poles and yellow lines are how I judge distances when driving.

I know if my condition worsens I will have to surrender my drivers license and that isn't an issue with me. I'll do it without being asked or forced. As long as the seizures stay above my elbows I'm fine. If my insurance company actually understood what was wrong they would likely cancel me even though I have had no wrecks as a result of it. They just see a General Anxiety Disorder diagnoses and are happy with it. Likely figure I'm too scared to leave the house LOL.

My wife is not physically able to drive {an incomplete quadriplegic} so the driving is left up to me. My doctors have no issues with me driving though. They encourage me to do what I can do to stay active. I'm safer with it because I know there is a problem. Many more persons who have this do not know they have it.

[Quix]

Prayers for both of you.

Henry Wright . . . you might be surprised the rare diseases that have been cured. I don’t know about your’s specifically but I have confidence it could be.

Sounds like you’ve made successful accomodations such as are available.

Am quite familiar with serious sinus problems lifelong.

Blessings,

[Eric Blair 2084]

You're not a bad guy. You mean well. That is all that matters. As long as progressives like you had good intentions, everything else can be forgiven.

Let's go out and have a few beers at the local smoke free bar and put our differences behind us.

[Quix]

I’ve been a fierce conservative all my life—even as a teen in the 60’s.

I was for Goldwater.

BTW, I think the “Secular Progressives” should be called

Secular Regressives for taking us all the way back to Soddom and Gomorah.

Cheers and the best to you.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Peace be with you.

[elkfersupper]

The day you start answering to me instead of to God . . .

God created steak, alcohol and tobacco; yet hates his other creations to avail themselves of these things.

Interesting.

[Quix]

And also with you.

Please be assured . . . I deplore Federal interventions in private lives.

And too often, States are not that much better, though usually at the demands of the Feds.

Certainly any voting or lobbying would be away from such intrusions.

However, I do advocate fairly strongly personal responsibility . . . and for the most hideous abuses of other innocents, severe penalties . . . . especially after 2-3 tries at significantly well constructed ed, therapy and rehab—which I think should always involve intense group work.

I do appreciate your kind posts and attitude. Thanks tons.

[Quix]

I’m not sure we have sufficient common vocabulary or experience to be able to communicate meaningfully.

[Quix]

I’m not sure we have sufficient common vocabulary or experience to be able to communicate meaningfully.

[elkfersupper]

I’m not sure we have sufficient common vocabulary or experience to be able to communicate meaningfully.

You are probably correct

I am a 5th-generation (at least-verified) free-market capitalist freedom-lover.

[Quix]

I’m Cherokee, German, Scottish, English . . .

All my relatives in the SW have been fiercely independent capitalists for a very long time. Most are true, blue Texans.

I suspect I’m more conservative than you are.

[webstersII]

“That’s a bogus argument. “

Why? From what you said earlier, if you aren’t doing anything wrong, then you don’t have anything to worry about.

[elkfersupper]

I suspect I’m more conservative than you are.

That's a rather remarkable statement, considering you have been tarred and feathered by conservatives on this one thread now for.......how many days?

[Quix]

I’m persistently UNderwhelmed

with the usually wholesale brazenly INACCURATE assessments of my person by such characters of such perspectives on these threads.

But, given their attitudes about other things . . . I shouldn’t be that surprised at how absolutely horrid a psychologist they make, each of them, to a person. Gets to be ridiculously funny.

Wonderful perceptiveness it’s NOT an example of! LOL.

ASSumptions certainly seem to take the place of facts, truth, logic, reason etc.

And harsh, viscious, assaultive personal attacks seem to be the rule, the norm.

Fascinating.

Ah, well, it makes it easier to fiesty-ly make thought-provoking statements in reply.

[Eric Blair 2084]

BTW, didn’t Jesus drink wine?

[Quix]

Of course He did.

Grape juice was not pasturized until the modern era.

Many Christians are off the wall silly about that issue.

[Madame Dufarge]

You do realize that you're trying to inject logic into an argument with someone who apparently thinks The X-Files is a documentary, don't you?