So without government subsidies, if we had an airline industry at all, it would probably be a low capacity system of small 1930s-size craft providing point-to-point service.

Not that that would be a bad thing.

It’s not the airlines responsibility to fend off attacks by the myriad of enemies the U.S. makes with its total inability to leave any part of the world untouched by its incessant bullying and self-serving support for corrupt regimes.

Airlines are commerce. Commerce doesn’t make the world less safe. Governments do that.

Some quaint habit of thought makes it hard to keep up.

And what’s the first thing Congress did after 9/11?

It indemnified the airlines from any financial liability for their mistakes.

Also, while I agree market forces are usually the best way to make things more efficient, but haven’t the airlines been bailed out and supported by the government for years? Only recently have I heard of major closures, so it really isn’t accurate to say that low fares are a result of the market. If the market were really working, many more airlines would have went out of business a long time ago, and fares would be much higher than they are now.

Even if you’re right about only 20% disabling the interlock, those 20% are going to be mostly the drunks that were the whole point of the exercise.

3. Unintended Consequences
– Are there ways in which the device could impact safe
driving attitudes, habits, & behaviors in the future?

In other words: You’re kidding yourself if you think it’s just going to be alcohol detection.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=51612463&blogID=408568232

http://www.myspace.com/chadpolenz

(1) My friend is authorized to have a copy of the music, and

(2) As such, I am authorized to supply him with one.

Under a reasonable fair-use interpretation, I would be authorized to produce a copy under those narrow circumstances, and my friend would be authorized to receive it.

The situation would be different, however, if I had no reason to believe that my friend already had a copy in any form whatsoever. In that case, I could no longer claim that I had inherited any sort of ‘implicit permission’. Even if my friend happened to have a legal right to the music, I could not claim that I was acting in furtherance of that right if I didn’t know about it.

And yet Canada has been privatized for 12 years and it’s working fine.

As an electronics engineer, I see a lucrative opportunity here.

BTW, I am not sympathetic to illegally copying music, but there is still an obligation to prove an actual violation has taken place before enforcing punishment. If the law doesn’t say making it available is the specific crime, then that should not be punished. If the crime is copying, then they should have to prove copying.

So if they’re going to mandate their use in all cars they’ll also have to implement an expensive and inconvenient inspection system, or everyone will just disable the fucker. Just what I need… another reason to have to go to the DMV.

I’m sure my local bookseller would be quite happy to get the dollars I would have spent at Best Buy.