[elkfersupper]

Here we go.

[garyhope]

The DUI laws and so called war on drugs are great sources of revenue for all the fiefdoms in this country.

[Responsibility2nd]

Hooray for Texas in doing this. It can only save lives.

Next..... Texas needs to join most other normal states and pass checkpoint sobriety laws.

We are only 1 of 11 states that do not have DWI checkpoints.

No wonder our DWI fatalities are off the charts.

[eyedigress]

BTW they don’t even offer breathalyzers here. It’s blood or nothing, your call.

[dsc]

It’s not about DUI any more. It’s DADAAOA — driving after drinking any amount of alcohol.

Now, as I am diabetic, this doesn’t affect me directly, but I regard it as an unwarranted intrusion upon our freedoms. A person should be able to cruise down the street with the top down on a spring day drinking a bottle of beer if he dern well feels like it.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

And should you refuse to submit to this assault, what is the plan of escalating force and where does the officer draw the line?

Tazer?

Billy club headlock?

Bullet to the forehead?

Make no mistake, you, I, each and everyone of us is seen as property to be used by the state for whatever purpose it chooses.

There’s only one correct response to this and it’s unmentionable on this site and likely to get me banned if I do.

[airborne]

Lock me up, because there's no way in hell anybody's pulling me over and sticking me with a needle as part of a routine DUI stop.

I HATE NEEDLES!

[kublia khan]

The Law Enforcement Agency’s of this country are slowly disintegrating under the weight of Crony ism, Nepotism, Special interest influence pedaling, and Corruption. They are a perfect mirror of what is happening at every level of government in our once great nation. I read Gibbon’s “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire” at least once every two years the only thing that has ever changed is the depth of despair that I feel as I finish the last page and consider the destiny these United States seems to be so resolutely marching towards.

[StolarStorm]

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!!!!

And don't give me the old "if you aren't doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear garbage". I have a problem with my inner ear. Occasionally it goes wacky and I weave a little... then I pull over. I expect that I will be taken in under assumption of DUI due to this problem. And since it is my right not to take a breath test will refuse and then I will be strapped down and forced to give blood when I've done nothing wrong.

If it happens I will be suing the MADD freaks hard.

I am sick and tired of the assumption of guilt mentality sweeping the nation. I'm sick and tired of the fascism we are allowing to happen. Its scares the hell out of me.

[shield]

If you are going to drink...go to someplace like Vitamin Shoppe and buy SWEDISH BITTERS...take a good slug of it and wait 15 minutes. If you’ve got a breathalyzer check yourself...you should be in the legal limit range to drive. Swedish Bitters will sober you up fast.

[SouthTexas]

Simple solution, just keep your drunk ass at home.

[SomeCallMeTim]

As one who, once upon a time, was personally responsible for changes in the Texas DWI laws.... I’m not sure what I think about this. Anything that gets away from using the wholly unreliable Breathalyzer test, is probably a good thing.

When I BEGGED to have a blood test, I got smacked across the head.

I still don’t get why we can’t bring some sense into these laws... I propose, MANDATORY 5 year jail terms for anyone convicted of FIRST offense, BAC over 0.12%. Life terms for 2nd offense. Should never, ever hear of a 3rd or greater offense.

For 0.10% to 0.12%, you get a ticket, fine, and a night in jail.

Below that, you get no worse treatment than someone driving at the end of a graveyard shift.. or, eating a whopper. (ie: what you deserve, based on risk factors). Meaning, you get ticketed if you break a traffic law.

But then... that would solve the problem and reduce revenue... can’t have that.

[mtbopfuyn]

Egads! Not Texas! I’m all for throwing away the key on DUIs and I generally frown upon any sort of alcohol use but drawing blood is no where in there. That’s an invasion. If we really want to stop DUIs then appoint some judges who have a backbone and will sentence them to the max rather than patting them on the backs and sending them back out onto the roads.

[advertising guy]

easy law to defeat.............blood is not just booze levels....it is dna on a memoery bank.......that’s the hook and biscuit

[Rudder]

They should do this with smokers---forced test for nicotine.

What else? Oh yeah, a forced blood lipids test should be done on those suspected of binging at MacDonald's.

[Dubya]

Good for Texas. They are going to make it permanent in Tarrant County Texas.

[I_Like_Spam]

The world has sure changed from the world described in “Its a Wonderful Life”.

George Bailey gets lit up at a local bar, gets into his car and plows into a tree. The police officers stop and ask “Mr. Bailey, are you feeling ok, do you need a ride home?”.

It sure is a different life now, Bailey would have been in more trouble than he was in for allegedly embezzling a stinking $8000.

[Thoro]

With warrant in hand, a nurse whose salary is often paid by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD)

That strikes me as highly unethical and a conflict of interest.

I still say that we should enforce DUT checkpoints. That's Driving Under Tiredness for you all not up on your acronyms. If you've not had enough sleep, or are just not well rested, or even stressed out, it's clear that you don't have the attention span required to drive a car and thus must be sent to jail for a period of no less than 3 months, or at least long enough to test the strength of your civil morals. This is of course, after you've paid all the prerequisite fines to all township entities that have their hands in the DUT till......errr, I mean checkpoint.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

It’s amazing (and sickening) that many of the denizens of Free Republic would have such a taste for the old jackboot.

There is no slippery slope, there’s little left but freefall.

[Lancey Howard]

Good. Get drunks off the road.

[dragnet2]

Texas: Forced DUI Blood Draws Expand