Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
How to Lose Your License Without Really Trying
Careful about doling out glasses of spiked eggnog to
the college-aged kids in your family this Christmas. A glassful
could cost you your license, even if no one gets near a car.
North Carolina is taking bans on booze to a new level as part of a passel of legislation that also bans alcohol inhalers and changes requirements for ankle bracelets for boozers:
As of Saturday, people can lose their driver's licenses for providing alcohol to anyone under 21. The penalty is important because many underage drinkers get alcohol from friends or family members, said Craig Lloyd, the executive director of the North Carolina chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
The law means that, theoretically, parents could be punished for giving a glass of wine to their 20-year-old son or daughter, even if the 20-year-old never gets behind the wheel.
Lloyd said that's not excessive.
More on the excesses of Mothers Against Drunk Driving from our November print issue here.
|12.3.07 @ 3:43PM|#
In Judaism the blessing of wine (and at least sipping thereof)
is a normal Friday evening ritual. Most parents allow their
children a little sip, at least. There is no evidence it leads
either to alcoholism, or to drunk driving. But who cares?
I assume MADD is on the case and will be hauling all North
Carolinian Jews off to face a judge Saturday mornings.
Geez!
|12.3.07 @ 3:43PM|#
The best part of buying beer from my roommates is pocketing the
change. I'm basically paying my way through college with it.
I dread the day they figure out that a 6-pack doesn't cost $30
|12.3.07 @ 3:44PM|#
The downside is that doing it kind of makes me feel like Matthew McConaughey 's character from Dazed and Confused.
K.|12.3.07 @ 3:46PM|#
21 is a ridiculous age to start with. Here the legal drinking age is 18, and in practice, it's pretty much just a suggestion.
|12.3.07 @ 3:47PM|#
Things are crazy indeed when the moralistic laws of Texas look
sane compared to other states. In Texas, a parent can get their
children blotto if they want as long as they don't end up in the
emergency room.
The whole 21 drinking age makes me wonder if were backtracking on
lowering the age of majority to 18 back in the 70's. It seems to me
that the boomers are rethinking the entire project now that they
have kids as dumb and impulsive as they were.
|12.3.07 @ 3:48PM|#
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't North Carolina pioneer the
laws allowing police to permanently seize the cars of people
arrested for DUI's?
Fucking fascists! I'm afraid to go out anymore...
|12.3.07 @ 3:52PM|#
North Carolina also is the only state that I know of where you have to go to court (you can't waive your appearance) if you were going 10 over in a 65 (easy to do on 95) or 15 over anywhere. Of course if you pay a local lawyer to to waive your appearance for you then you don't have to show up.
drawnasunder|12.3.07 @ 3:53PM|#
I thought there was some kind of provision or blind spot allowing parents to give their own children alcohol (not others' kids, just their own). Now that I read what I just wrote I realize that is too reasonable to be true. So, there is absolutely no legal way for a minor to learn any kind of reasonable consumption habits until they're 21? Then its a free for all? Maybe there should be a starter license at 21 that allows a certain number of beers per night before they graduate to full alcohol rights at 25 or 30? Sounds like a plan!
|12.3.07 @ 3:56PM|#
How long until they arrest priests for giving mass to underaged
celebrants? Will MADD be staking out Lutheran churches? No more
wine at Bar Mitzvahs?
I have this sudden religious urge to whack a MADD member over the
head with a beer bottle...
|12.3.07 @ 3:59PM|#
I assume MADD is on the case and will be hauling all North
Carolinian Jews off to face a judge Saturday mornings.
First ya gotta find 'em. Jews comprise less than 0.5% of the NC
population.
|12.3.07 @ 4:02PM|#
As of Saturday, people can lose their driver's licenses for
providing alcohol to anyone under 21. The penalty is important
because many underage drinkers get alcohol from friends or family
members, said Craig Lloyd, the executive director of the North
Carolina chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
...Lloyd said that's not excessive.
It may be hard to believe, but I've been trying to cut down on
foul, mean spirited, obscene posts lately.
So____damned______hard_____sometimes.
Fuck it! Fuck MADD. Those pimples on the boil on the ass of a crack
whore, can take their insipid, puritan fellating, freedon hating
campaigns, roll them up really tight and insert them up their
collective ass sideways.
And now, back to the kinder, gentler J sub D.
|12.3.07 @ 4:03PM|#
North Carolina also is the only state that I know of where
you have to go to court (you can't waive your appearance) if you
were going 10 over in a 65 (easy to do on 95) or 15 over
anywhere.
When I was just a Taktito in high school, in Raleigh, I had to go
to court for a ticket. The offense?
Going 40 in a fucking 35!!!
Reinmoose|12.3.07 @ 4:06PM|#
This sort of thing makes me really think that society is hopeless, completely hopeless.
|12.3.07 @ 4:12PM|#
This sort of thing makes me really think that society is
hopeless, completely hopeless.
Yeah, reading H&R sometimes feels like finding out there's no
Santa.
It's good to know the truth, but you die a little inside...
LibertyPlease|12.3.07 @ 4:13PM|#
"America is at that akward stage. It's too late to work
within the system, but too early to start shooting the
bastards."
- Claire Wolfe
Reinmoose|12.3.07 @ 4:14PM|#
Taktix -
It's a lot like that, actually. Especially the Radley Balko
posts... damn those are depressing.
|12.3.07 @ 4:14PM|#
I make a motion to raise the legal age for joining the United States armed forces to 21, with nobody younger being grandfathered in.
Reinmoose|12.3.07 @ 4:17PM|#
I make a motion to cap the voting eligible age at 55, with nobody older being grandfathered in.
|12.3.07 @ 4:17PM|#
Goddamn it Taktix!! Whaddaya mean there is no Santa? Am I still
getting my home theater system with the KEF surround sound system
or not?!!
(I am! Tee-Hee!)
ed|12.3.07 @ 4:26PM|#
Yeah, reading H&R sometimes feels like finding out
there's no Santa
I often wonder why the editors here focus on all the depressing
stuff while rarely posting libertarian victories. The site often
has an air of snarky resignation, as if all is lost. The
Reason I subscribed to years ago was optimistic. What
happened?
LibertyPlease|12.3.07 @ 4:30PM|#
I often wonder why the editors here focus on all the depressing stuff while rarely posting libertarian victories.
Que?
|12.3.07 @ 4:32PM|#
Animal-rights activists supported those two laws, although
an official with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
said yesterday that she objects to the idea that certain animals,
such as police dogs, should be elevated above ordinary companion
animals.
"If somebody kills a police dog, yes, I'd like to see them charged
with a felony, but I'd also like to see anybody who kills an animal
be charged with a felony," said Stephanie Bell, the senior cruelty
case worker in PETA's cruelty investigations department, which
tracks state legislation.
Bell said that anyone who willfully kills an animal - which is
defined by state statute as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds
- should go to prison.
No comment
|12.3.07 @ 4:35PM|#
I often wonder why the editors here focus on all the
depressing stuff while rarely posting libertarian
victories.
Such as...?
|12.3.07 @ 4:41PM|#
The Reason I subscribed to years ago was optimistic. What
happened?
Three words:
George Dubya Bush
|12.3.07 @ 4:42PM|#
Up next: you must keep your alcohol in a locked vault if anyone under age 21 resides in or visits your home. Then later: you won't be given the combination to the vault; you'll have to call a member of MADD to come and unlock the vault after determining that no one under 21 will be present while you imbibe.
|12.3.07 @ 4:43PM|#
Up next: you must keep your alcohol in a locked vault if
anyone under age 21 resides in or visits your home. Then later: you
won't be given the combination to the vault; you'll have to call a
member of MADD to come and unlock the vault after determining that
no one under 21 will be present while you imbibe.
Just imagine, gangs of renegade safe-crackers, roaming the streets
with tommy guns...
paul|12.3.07 @ 4:48PM|#
DAMM!
http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/drunks-against-mad-mothers/
|12.3.07 @ 4:58PM|#
The whole age-based approach to alcohol control has never made
any sense to me. Most of our society's alcohol problems are caused
by the rowdy and disorderly conduct of intoxicated members of the
lower economic classes and illegal immigrants.
A better approach would be state issued alcohol purchase licenses,
which would be made available only to those responsible citizens
who could demonstrate income above $75,000 per year.
Nigel Watt|12.3.07 @ 5:06PM|#
I'm 18. At home in Texas, I regularly will have a glass of wine
with my parents, and they give restaurants permission to serve me
with them when we go out to eat.
At school in New York, I can't have a glass of wine at dinner with
my parents, but I can go to a frat and get wasted off of shitty
beer, if I wanted too.
|12.3.07 @ 5:06PM|#
Eggnog is fantastic. And now I have a craving for it. And it
isn't particularly good for you.
Darn you, KMW, and your link-to-an-article-about-eggnog-ness.
|12.3.07 @ 5:09PM|#
BTW, there was a study comparing patterns of alcoholism among
different cultures. It included a study of Irish and Italian
immigrants.
In both cultures, there was a lot of consumption of alcohol. The
Italians let their kids drink while young, but frowned on adult
drunkenness. Among the Irish, drinking alcohol was forbidden to
children, but adult drunkenness was tolerated.
The rate of alcoholism among the Irish is seven times the rate for
Italians.
|12.3.07 @ 5:27PM|#
Fucking North Carolina MADD Nazis. I *hate* North Carolina Nazis. If there were any justice in this world, someone would take a hammer to Craig Lloyd's balls.
|12.3.07 @ 5:38PM|#
Things are crazy indeed when the moralistic laws of Texas
look sane compared to other states.
Texas has a pretty hard-core "leave me alone" streak that is only
grudgingly giving way to nanny-staters of any political
persuasion.
Bell said that anyone who willfully kills an animal - which is
defined by state statute as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds
- should go to prison.
If she puts in an exception for killing animals in order to eat
them, we can talk.
|12.3.07 @ 5:49PM|#
The whole age-based approach to alcohol control has never
made any sense to me. Most of our society's alcohol problems are
caused by the rowdy and disorderly conduct of intoxicated members
of the lower economic classes and illegal immigrants.
A better approach would be state issued alcohol purchase licenses,
which would be made available only to those responsible citizens
who could demonstrate income above $75,000 per year.
Oh yes...wait, WHAT?
|12.3.07 @ 5:49PM|#
How long until they arrest priests for giving mass to
underaged celebrants?
I think you mean underaged *communicants*. The celebrant is the
priest.
|12.3.07 @ 5:50PM|#
"America is at that akward stage. It's too late to work
within the system, but too early to start shooting the
bastards."
Are you sure about that last part?
|12.3.07 @ 6:01PM|#
Three words:
George Dubya Bush
The theme of this decade for me thus far has been believing "Oh,
well, theres no way things can get screwed up even more"
and being proven wrong again and again.
|12.3.07 @ 6:10PM|#
I think you mean underaged *communicants*. The celebrant is
the priest.
I hope that both of them are celebrant. (get it? GETIT?)
|12.3.07 @ 6:16PM|#
"The rate of alcoholism among the Irish is seven times the rate
for Italians."
**HIC** And you needed to read a study for that conclusion?!?
**HIC**
Robert|12.3.07 @ 8:33PM|#
I often wonder why the editors here focus on all the depressing stuff while rarely posting libertarian victories.
Such as...?
RTFA. At the end it said they made it legal to have animals track a
caged rodent thru a tunnel.
LibertyPlease|12.3.07 @ 9:55PM|#
"America is at that akward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to start shooting the bastards."
Are you sure about that last part?
When it is time to start shooting those bastards,
this will make an excellent soundtrack.
|12.3.07 @ 10:29PM|#
Damm is right
http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/drunks-against-mad-mothers/
30 dead in Ohio in 2005.
How many prosecuted for the potential to harm unknown and
unknowable "victims" that year?
|12.3.07 @ 11:21PM|#
I'd be interested in seeing what would happen in a new era of
alcohol prohibition (that is what it's all about).
Last time it led to a boost in organized crime. But the government
now has enough resources to squash that before it takes off. OTOH,
the information and inexpensive technology now available to
individual 'moonshiners' could counteract that, making for some
wild times ahead.
LibertyPlease|12.3.07 @ 11:24PM|#
http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/drunks-against-mad-mothers/
MADD is evil, just fucking evil.
|12.3.07 @ 11:52PM|#
I think you mean underaged *communicants*. The celebrant is the priest.
Eh, what the heck do I know about Catholicism? I'm a Calvinist!
That's why I'm currently drinking a quart bottle of Sierra Nevada
Pale Ale. What am I celebrating? The fact that Calvin remains dead!
I suspect that we wouldn't have MADD or had prohibition, if only
Calvin drunk more. Geez, that man was so dry Luther used him to
stir martinis.
Kolohe|12.4.07 @ 3:49AM|#
the one thing i always wondered about calvinism, especially raised catholic, is what the heck is the point? if your predestined to either go to heaven or hell, what does it matter what you do with your life. at least luther had a point, that since the 16th century catholic leadership had been corrupted by power, just go around it, and you'll still be ok.
|12.4.07 @ 12:23PM|#
"""So, where are we on the Prohibition Clock? Anywhere near
midnight?"""
The hand will stop as 1 minute till. The government doesn't want
prohibition. It want to makes money from the penalties of use and
taxes. The same is being done on smokes. It's all about creating
new ways to produce revenue on legal products and expanding control
over the citizenry.
Prohibition is unAmerican, how many more constitutional amendments
do we need to prove it?
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245