enthalpy

Tuesday, March 31, 2009


Let's say you're driving down the street, minding your own business and not doing anything wrong. Suddenly, you are stopped by police, searched for a substance that's totally legal, then required by the authorities to prove your innocence. Sound like Nazi Germany? Nope, Texas' new sobriety checkpoints.
Drivers in urban cities and counties could be stopped and checked for their sobriety at police checkpoints under a bill tentatively passed Monday by the Texas Senate.

The vote was 21-10 with six Republican and four Democratic senators voting no. A 1994 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling outlawed sobriety checkpoints, but said the Legislature could make them legal.

The checkpoints would be publicized to deter people from drinking and driving, said bill sponsor Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. He estimated that the drop in drunken driving would save 300 lives each year in Texas, which leads the nation in alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
I know the SCOTUS has upheld these damn things for a long time, but it doesn't sound like America to me where you have to answer to authorities for absolutely no reason, then provide evidence of your own innocence.



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