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Nothing changes New Year's Day
by anna at 07:46 AM on December 31, 2004
Ah, New Year's Eve. And you know what that means: Police fanning out everywhere to set up their sobriety checkpoints. Which, like everything in this Orwellian nightmare we live in, is a misnomer. They aren't after people who are sober, they are after drunk drivers. And drunk drivers are a constituency, like smokers, with no effective lobby to stand up for their rights. Hence their position erodes by the day as their rights are snatched away.
The US Constitution, or whatever shred is left of it, prevents search and seizure of citizens without probable cause that a crime has been committed by that citizen. When cops set up a roadblock and check out the condition and aroma of every driver along a given stretch of roadway, they are violating that very provision of the Constitution. Now the mad mothers can shimmy and do biddy do wah all they want, but this isn't legal. Yet for some reason, probably strained and convoluted legal arguments, it continues unabated. I
'll be staying home, cowering. Happy new year.
comments (6)
I hear you Anna. It's one more thing I don't have to worry about now that Amy and I aren't drinking. That shit used to worry me.
by Ezy at December 31, 2004 12:11 PM
I like that the police do spot checks, it makes me feel better knowing idiots drink driving are being fined and carted to cells, rather than killing themselves or others. The police here will be too busy trying to keep order in the city centre to set up roadblocks... God I wish I were in London this year. Cream will be heaving. :(
Ah well I for one am going to get munted out of my tree. I'm gonna spectate as my extensive family ignite old feuds and stand with a genuine smirk on my face as cousins, aunts, uncles, and other kin slander one another as backs turn and booze flows. I love New Years eve! One of my better looking female cousins sporting future prospects in a pleasant teaching career has recently fallen pregnant to what can only be described as 'the ugliest man alive'. Needless to say certain uncles think this a violation of the promise they saw in their little niece and will be looking for blood. “Uh-lets geeeeet uh-ready to rumblllllleeeeeee!”
You can't get this kind of entertainment on PPV! Then it’ll be off to a club and to the scantily clad, binge drinking women, and the whistle inducing loud music. Woo hoo. I'll see you in the Oh Five gentlemen. ;) Remember Big Brother is watching.
by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at December 31, 2004 1:02 PM
Yeah on one level I think it's good they are hauling them off as it makes me feel safer. In fact, before I faced major jail time for another DWI I used to consider New Year's Eve amateur night. But all I'm saying is, at least in this country, it ain't legal. And I don't know why challenges to the practice are always dismissed. Maybe it's because drunk drivers (and smokers) are the lepers of our time.
Well we're entertaining nine tonight so I am off. Be safe.
by anna at December 31, 2004 5:58 PM
This just reminded me of something weird having to do with check-points. I have family who live in the middle of New Hampshire. Probably a good 4 hours from the Canadian border (at least). The last couple times I've been up there, I've been stopped at at border patrol check-point. What the fek is a border patrol check-point doing 200 miles away from the border?
Also, there is this thing they do in New York, maybe other big cities too - where they make you check open your bag as you leave the place. I'm thinking specifically of the NY Public Library and also the Best Buy on 23rd street. I suppose that is a voluntary search, and in the case of the Best Buy, not by the government, but it still makes me uncomfortable.
by mg at January 3, 2005 11:58 PM
I don't like them waving that weird wand at me all the time either. It always goes off, perhaps because I have metal hardware in my elbow or change in my pocket.
by Anna at January 6, 2005 6:04 PM
driving is a privilege. the public needs to be protected. been checked, survived. quitcherbitchin
by diogenes at December 28, 2005 7:49 PM