[Atlas Sneezed]

"He did intend to kill. He intentionally got himself drunk and high on drugs and then intentionally got behind the wheel of a car. He intentionally put himself in a situation to take the life of another human being. No matter how you cut it, it is murder."

You fail to distinguish between the dangerous fool who thinks: "I can get home safely when drunk, since I have done it hundreds of times," and the madman who thinks: "I am going to drive my car across that center line and try to squash that oncoming motorcyclist."

Both are criminal, but there is an important moral distinction in mental states. Moral principles of criminal justice put important weight on mental state, and not just outcomes.

[cgordon]

And you fail to realize that anyone who drinks to the point of drunkenness and then adds drugs on top of it IS a dangerous fool - with NO morals to speak of. There is no moral difference in either of the cases you speak of - "I can get home safely when drunk, since I have done it hundreds of times," and "I am going to drive my car across that center line and try to squash that oncoming motorcyclist." BOTH are intentional and both are done by dangerous fools.