Big Apple Bureaucrat Wants Mandatory Breathalyzers for Motorists

NYS Assemblyman demonstrates what can happen when 'average' citizens drink alcohol excessively. Ironically, he seems to assume most New Yorkers are already hardcore alcoholics, otherwise, he wouldn't be proposing mandatory breathalyzers be installed in their automobiles.

The last time we heard from Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn), he was desperately trying to ban the use of salt in New York restaurants, followed by getting drunk to the point of vomiting on ‘Four Loko’ to prove why it also needs to be banned. Now, Ortiz wants to install breathalyzers in every New Yorker’s automobile by 2015.

Plain and simple, Ortiz does not trust New Yorkers to drink responsibly. Instead of targeting his efforts, state resources and millions in taxpayer dollars on keeping unrepentant alcoholics and repeat offenders off the roads, he prefers punishing responsible drivers and drinkers with Big Brother technology that has a zero tolerance policy towards alcohol and their use of personal judgment.

Read the text of Ortiz’ re-introduced bill and let us know what you think about his efforts to force New Yorkers to submit to breathalyzers every time they get behind the wheel.

Texas Bureaucrats Target Responsible Drinkers

"Let's flip to see who's gonna get a DWAI tonight."

Responsible adults in Texas who self-limit their alcohol consumption to 1 drink at restaurants and bars before getting behind the wheel are being targeted by nanny state bureaucrats who say that’s one drink too many. If the proposed offense of “driving with impaired ability” (DWAI) garners enough support, the state will have what is shaping-up to be a zero tolerance policy towards alcohol consumption by responsible drivers.

DWAI would target drivers whose blood-alcohol content is between 0.05 and 0.07, reports the Austin-American Statesman. Currently, motorists are charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) if they meet or exceed a 0.08 level.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said the new DWAI offense, in addition to DWI, “would give prosecutors and judges and juries another tool to use” to implement their agenda that’s endorsed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Katherine Prescott, former president of MADD is fond of saying, “[T]here is no safe blood alcohol, and for that reason responsible drinking means no drinking and driving.”

Agree or disagree with Texas bureaucrats wanting a companion to the existing DWI law that stands to target responsible adults who’ve consumed a single drink while enjoying a meal at a restaurant?

Share your thoughts with Police Chief Art Acevedo on his Facebook page.

On the Front Lines

July 2, 2010

House Committee Considers ‘Historic’ Nanny State Nutrition Bill
FoodSafetyNews.com; July 2, 2010
“The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act, an $8 billion initiative, would boost funding and set nutritional standards for food sold in schools … ‘There is no better investment–no better stimulus to our economy–than feeding this nation’s children healthy and well,’ said well-known chef and Top Chef host, Tom Colicchio before Congress yesterday.”

UK: Teachers Raid and Rate Kids’ Lunchboxes
Daily Mail (UK); July 2, 2010
“[Teachers] secretly photographed pupils’ packed lunches over six months and analysed the contents. Staff awarded marks to the food and then showed their findings to outraged parents, offering them advice on how to improve nutrition.”

Brits Warned Listening to Sports Radio as Lethal as Driving Drunk
Sky.com; July 2, 2010
“As Britain enjoys a feast of summer sport, motorists are being warned that listening to matches on the radio may be as dangerous as drink-driving.”

School District Sued for Banning Bibles on Religious Freedom Day
FOXNews.com; July 2, 2010
“For years, the Collier County school district allowed a local Christian organization, World Changers of Florida, to distribute free Bibles to interested students during off-school hours on January 16 for Religious Freedom Day. Now the group is filing suit after being told by the school board that it can no longer distribute the Bibles on campus because they do not provide any educational benefit to the students.”

County’s Proposed “Dangerous Weapons” Ban Angers Sportsmen
Globe Gazette (Iowa); July 2, 2010
Having a six-inch long knife in your fishing tackle box while parked in the county courthouse parking lot could land you in a heap of legal trouble.

The Tyranny of the Anti-Junk Food Crusade
National Center for Policy Analysis; July 2, 2010
“The United Kingdom’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) claims that junk food is responsible for 40,000 deaths a year. However, the evidence on which this claim is made is highly dubious, says Rob Lyons, deputy editor of Spiked.”

Rusty Old Military Top Brass Urge Congress to Ban Junk Food in U.S. Schools
MissionReadiness.org; July 1, 2010
“Representing more than 150 retired U.S. admirals and generals across the country, a retired U.S. Army Major General from California told a Congressional panel today that child obesity rates are so high they pose a threat to national security.”

Global ‘Warming’ Advocates Plug Going Dark to Save Energy
EurekAlert.com; June 30, 2010
While scientists are giddy about the green benefits to Mother Earth from turning-off lights, they neglect to address the dangers associated with doing so, namely, tripping, falling, slipping and potentially getting mugged or raped in a dark alley.

Flawed Yale Study On Junk Food Promotes Policy Without Evidence
Jim Prevor’s Perishable Pundit; June 29, 2010
“The ‘study’ is really a hack job to promote a particular policy outcome. The researchers take these 40 kids and leap to a conclusion that literally has nothing to do with the research. The researchers proclaim a policy outcome that could not be drawn from the research no matter what the results. The researchers proclaim: ‘These findings suggest that the use of licensed characters to advertise junk food to children should be restricted.'”

Feds’ Anti-drunk Driving Gadget Would Render Everyone Wasted

Rep. Sarbanes ponders how to protect responsible citizens from themselves

Personal responsibility just got thrown out the window — again — thanks to a nanny state congressman with hopes of saving ourselves and others from — you guessed it — us!

Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) on Thursday, June 10, successfully attached an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 that would “authorize $8 million in annual funding for five years for the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) program.”

The DADSS technology proposed in the ROADS SAFE amendment will likely lead to alcohol-sensing devices becoming mandatory factory-installed equipment on all automobiles within the next five-to-ten years, reports a Dallas, Texas CBS News affiliate.

“Several devices are being tested, including skin sensors,” CBS-11 revealed. “Just by touching the steering wheel or gear shift, the vehicle could conceivably determine the driver’s blood-alcohol level. Other ideas include installing sensors above the driver’s head or head rest that could test perspiration and breath samples.”

It probably will not surprise anyone to learn that federally subsidized and bailed-out General Motors is a chief supporter of the overbearing and intrusive Sarbanes amendment.

The American Beverage Institute (ABI), which represents over 8,000 American restaurants, is actively lobbying against the Sarbanes’ attempt to mandate alcohol detection devices in automobiles. A strong proponent of “hundreds of pieces of legislation to apprehend drunk drivers, increase penalties for those convicted, and continue to search for innovative new ways to combat the problem,” ABI expressed strong concern about developers of the devices intentionally designing them to render almost all drivers who’ve consumed a glass of wine or beer ‘over the limit.’

“For legal, liability, and even physiological reasons, in-car alcohol detectors would have to be set below the legal limit – most likely around 0.03-0.04. The head of the research project that this bill seeks to fund has even admitted that the devices would be set below the legal limit,” an ABI press release states. “This would effectively eliminate Americans’ ability to have a glass of wine with dinner, a beer at a ball game, or a champagne toast at a wedding and drive home.”

ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell noted that countless responsible drivers would be unable to start their cars if Sarbanes’ proposed alcohol sensors became standard equipment, especially if they’re pre-set to levels well below the legal drinking blood alcohol level.

“Everyone opposes drunk driving, but putting alcohol detectors in all cars as standard equipment—set well below .08—would make all driving Americans guilty until proven innocent every time they started their cars,” Longwell said. “Alcohol detection technology is a great way to keep hard core drunk drivers—those who cause the vast majority of alcohol-impaired fatalities—from being able to start their cars while drunk. But we shouldn’t be developing this technology with the aim of putting it in everyone’s car.”

Had enough of big government trying to protect you and others from yourself? Join the Nanny State Liberation Front on Facebook and promote the value of personal responsibility over government dependancy.