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If blood tests aren’t reliable what does thet say about breath?Ofcourse,he was only at .08,which I consider way to low but I’m sure he would nail others to the wall.We need to rid the law of BAC limits and punish the deed.
They need to tread carefully with that proposed “three hour rule” for flight delays on the tarmac. I’ve been on a couple of flights before that left out of JFK that had me stuck for 3+ hours due to normal JFK traffic, and a bunch of 2+ hour delays as well. Rule should be four hours, or at least not apply if there’s an active runway.
From the airplane article:
“Some of the largest corporations on the planet, for whom government involvement in free markets is anathema, overwhelmingly have concluded that legislation is the best choice after 10 years of shattered promises of self-policing by airlines”
They’re missing the point, or perhaps deliberately misstating it, as is usual when the media presents a dichotomy between “free market” and “regulated” rather than talking about simply changing an already-existing regulatory scheme. The problem here, as usual, is not a lack of regulation. Regulations already exist: it is illegal to exit a plane without the airline’s permission. If somebody held on a plane could pop the emergency escape and leave if held for hours without offer of other egress, without fear of getting arrested or worse by airport security, then this problem would go away very quickly.
Charged with DWI, a Pennsylvania prosecutor argues that blood-alcohol tests aren’t reliable.
Here is waiting for a defense statement like this:
“I know this from my long experience successfully prosecuting hundreds of DWI cases.”
Maybe they should have shoved a tube up that prosecutors cock to make sure he wasn’t drunk.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. A trillion dollars seems like a lot, but a billion dollars used to be a lot once, too. Just sit tight and a trillion dollars will eventually be pocket change and there will be web pages called “What does a gazillion batillion dubillion dollars look like?” Except it will be in Chinese, our new language.
I’ve been giving ‘em hell on the Shreveport Times article about the death penalty. It is supposed to the the first in a series.
I mentioned Radley and of course some jackass-redneck-wanna-lawyer had to start bashing Radley’s ‘liberalism’…well here is what HE wrote under the name “courtman”:
“You need a better source for your viewpoint than Radley Balko. He is the head of the liberals, argues for which ever side makes the best press, wants to do away with drug laws and LWOP and is in favor of early release. The man is very liberal and touts his postion of being excerpted by MS Supreme Court. Actually they read a piece about him during a case. He is also the one that sought to get a 13 yr old multiple murderer released.
Is this really the type person you want to look up to?”
WHAT A JERK!
So c’mon people…comment there and give me some reinforcement!
I am under the pseudonym gadget73156
Also sign my petition to help bring Hayne and West to justice and innocent people their true justice:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/25939.html
This might be an effective method: Send a message to the terminal that you plan to execute a member of the crew every half hour until they let you off the plane.
Call me intolerant, but just because a big corporation is doing it with the sanction of the government, doesn’t mean it’s not kidnapping. Escape is not just ok, it’s a moral obligation. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
How do you run over a fire hose that’s putting out a fire in a burning car……twice?
I’m thinking if the breathalyzer were unreliable in this case it was in favor of the defendant.
@6
The late great physicist Richard Feynman had a good joke/observation during a lecture. Retrieved verbatim thanks to the amazing intertubes (and Tyler Cowen, naturally):
“There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.”
@ Judi,
But if that journalist had read all of Radley’s posts about healthcare, than he’d see him as a fellow conservative ally. My newest pet peeve is how so many people out there will take one person’s position on one issue and just write them off as liberal or conservative. Liberals all think we’re conservatives and vice versa. I’ll take you up on your request to email the Shreveport Times. I’m not sure how a conservative (I’m assuming this person probably is) can argue that keeping innocent people from being murdered is a “weak on crime” and by extension, a liberal position.
What is this person’s name?
Confirmation bias is a bitch, isn’t it.
Gabriel said pretty much exactly what I was going to.
It drives me crazy that people can look at an industry as insanely hyper-regulated as the airlines and conclude that they are somehow unregulated, and that’s what’s causing these problems.
How about Charlie Sheen’s just released 20 minute interview with President Obama on 9/11 conspiracy. He’s got balls
http://www.prisonplanet.com/twenty-minutes-with-the-president.html
“Police stopped Brotzman, who failed three field sobriety tests and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.08, the threshold in Pennsylvania.”
He failed three sobriety tests with a BAC of only 0.08%?
This guy should not be driving, drunk or sober.
On a recent flight from Florida to Kentucky on Allegiant Airlines, we ran into bad weather. We had to circle for a while (1/2 Hour maybe) but then the plane needed to be refueled because they didn’t think the weather would clear fast enough. So we flew to Huntington West Virginia where were told we would have to sit and wait until the weather cleared. About 15 minutes later the captain came on and said that we could go inside the terminal to use the rest rooms and raid the three vending machines. (Huntington airport is tiny) We weren’t allowed past security but at least we had decent restrooms and room to breathe. We were there over an hour. My point is that these long delays inside the plane don’t have to happen. If you know you’ve got three hours to wait (and the airlines know) before you can take off, airlines shouldn’t board the plane!!! How hard is it to figure out? Besides they could lower their fees because they wouldn’t have to waste fuel and employees time while they wait. I have often thought about invoicing airlines and doctors and whoever else makes me wait an ordinate amount of time. My time on earth is just as valuable as theirs. Kudos to Allegiant by the way.
Me either. I probably couldn’t have passed a field sobriety test even in my prime. Hell, I can’t even say the alphabet forwards if it weren’t for the little tune that goes with it.
Personally, I think anyone who is told by the state to obediently stand with arms outstretched and then touch his nose (assuming Simon Says) has a patriotic duty to kick the officer as hard as he can right in the nuts.
#3,
Agree. But the sentence fragment is so amazing it needs to be repeated:
“Some of the largest corporations on the planet, for whom government involvement in free markets is anathema…”
If Austrian economics had a Bulwer-Lytton contest, that would win every year.
ME — The issue with “don’t board the plane” (when it comes to an anticipated traffic-related delay) is that they need the gate for the next arriving plane that’s going to be coming in.
Look. These long weather-related delays are ridiculous, and the airlines should certainly do something about it. But a few hours on the tarmac waiting to take off on a busy night at a large airport is something completely different, IMO.
DaveG:
“Author’s Note: What you have just read didn’t actually happen… yet.
This is an open letter to the President requesting a new investigation. “
Radley, does this create an appeal issue for those convicted by this Prosecutor? Sounds like an argument your favorite prosecutor Patterico would come up with.
Dave, when I was a kid and getting pulled over by the hick cops every other day, I made it a point learn the alphabet BACKWARDS. I mean, whatever, yeah go ahead and kick the cop in the nuts and see how far that gets you. My way was a bit more subtle, if only a snide chickenshit form of kowtowing, but I always got a laugh out of the cop when I asked him, “you want I should recite the alphabet forward or backwards?”
Funny, they never asked me to recite it backwards. Probably because the dumbfucks wouldn’t have known if I had made a mistake.
Andrew S.: The issue with “don’t board the plane” (when it comes to an anticipated traffic-related delay) is that they need the gate for the next arriving plane that’s going to be coming in.
So… Park the plane that won’t be allowed to take off anyway, somewhere that isn’t the terminal. Off load the incoming plane. Move that plane off the terminal to be fuelled and flushed. Bring in the next group. Start calling other airports to let them know things are moving slowly through wherever, and they should delay sending planes there. Call the airplanes themselves, and tell them to slow down a bit, to make the congestion ease up.
“Passengers, we’ve slowed the plane down because Blah-Blah Airport currently running three hours behind on departures. We’ll be getting in an hour later than planned. We apologize to those of you who have Blah Blah as a final destination, and would like to re-assure the rest of our passengers that they will not miss their connecting flights, in spite of this delay. Thank you for choosing Not-Asshole Air.”
Seriously, this is a problem computers should be able to solve.
Seriously, this is a problem computers should be able to solve.
Sure, but you won’t like how they solve it.
As much as I detest the DUI laws in this country, I have no sympathy for this asshole. How many times has he been on the other side of the railroad?
DUI is akin to being put on the sex offender registry. Try getting a job with no driver’s license and having that shit pop-up on a background check.
Mattocracy, the pseudonym the guy uses on the articles comments is ‘courtman’. He claims his majot was law and his minor was theology and wanted to get into a pissing contest with me not only about the DP but how God avocates execution, etc…
Read from the beginning of the comments to better understand this jerk, if you will.
Thanx in advance!
Should have read ‘major’ not majot…my God it’s Monday all over again.
I’m surprised you seem enthusiastic about passing another government law regulating an industry. According to classical libertarianism, you should simply choose another airline or another mode of transportation and the magic of the market will correct the problem in no time. The power is in your checkbook, no?
Well Mattocracy…Looks like the ‘comments’ section was not for the ‘weak at heart’. Can’t find ANY comments now unless it’s a temporary ‘glitch’. Hmm?
You don’t really know much about “classical libertarianism,” then.
First, FAA regs govern when planes can take off, land, and taxi back to the terminal. Much of the problem lies with how airports are regulated. Which is why it’ll take an act of Congress to change the problem.
But even if that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t be okay with, say, a taxi cab company detaining you in the backseat of a cab for six hours, either. Buying an airplane ticket doesn’t mean you agree to be held hostage in a hot metal tube with no food or water and unsanitary conditions for as long as the airline wishes to keep you there.
N.B. — it’s classical liberalism, moneyfortaco.
No taco for you. Keep the change.
@ #4 and #5:
Martin and Mattocracy are on to something. How about legislation that requires all aspiring prosecutors be subjected to the legal system? Saddle ‘em with a “simple” DUI charge and advise them that the job is theirs ONLY if they can get out of it with an acquittal. And they must play by the rules as set out by SCOTUS; no right to a jury trial, a contempt charge if they dare question the reliability of breathalyzers, and no protection against self-incrimination.
I’m really all talk and no action. Not a big fan of martyrdom, although I’m hypocritically known to encourage it in others.
Haha!