Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Home, straight

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  • andrew r,

    yup as graeme says -

    land transport amendment act 2009 comes into force 1 december this year .
    goes like this -
    If an officer has 'good cause to suspect you are driving under the influence of a drug or durgs' ( eg he opens the door and the car reeks of pot, or you're weaving all over the place but pass a roadside screening test for alcohol) s/he will require you to undergo a roadside 'impairment test' .
    If you fail that test you will then be required to accompany back to the station (mandatory) for a blood test .
    If the result of that test turns positive for any controlled drug *no matter how little* you will be prosecuted as if you are a drunk driver - the penaltys on conviction are the same . It will be a defence to call medical evidence to show the drug which showed positive was administered on medical grounds .
    The concerning thing most immediately obvious is if you used cannabis a few days back - it will presumably still be in your blood stream , but clearly not affecting your driving at the relevant time - (although for some reason you did fail the 'roadside impairment test)you go down .
    gulp - I can see a heap of work here - want my card ??

    auckland • Since May 2007 • 100 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Having also had that experience, I agree with him, though I'm not sure that the conclusion follows.

    That's why I'm blaming homophobia (partially) for this. 'I think boys who grow up without fathers are significantly disadvantaged' does not lead in any way logically to 'gay people shouldn't be allowed to adopt'. It's like 'collect underpants, ???, profit!'

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    ..it is Friday. after all;

    A good Media 7 last night (and I second the comments about Marie McNicholas--we need more journos like her)--but the two radio guys were a waste of space. Don't they get more than enough time to stroke their egos on radio?

    My 16 year old daughter Catherine Rose will doubtless love the Peaches clip.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • vangam,

    Has the interview with McLelland on the TVNZondemand clip been removed? Every time I try to watch it it skips to part 3? I've tried to watch it 4 times - with the same result on each.

    Rangiora • Since Jun 2007 • 103 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    I can see exactly where Brian Edward's is coming from. His position is a personal one based on his life experience and as such it is one he has a perfect right to hold.

    Whether or not it is useful to extrapolate from his particular to the wider general debate on gay adoption is another question entirely.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    I can't figure out why the powers-that-be haven't used reaction time tests to determine driver impairment by any cause, alcohol, illegal or legal drugs, fatigue, dementia, stupidity, whatever. Even the simple ruler test will pick up that someone shouldn't be in control of a car. Dangle a 12" rule in front of the testee, with their finger and thumb ready to try to grab the rule as it is released. A drunk will be lucky to react in time to catch the rule at all.

    I don't want to understate the impact that most drugs, including alcohol have on driving. I don't want people on the road who have consumed any drug that affects their state of consciousness. But a very large number of fatal accidents involve lack of sleep as a sole or co-factor. 20 hours without sleep is about equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05.

    That man driving home after a night in the club is putting himself and others at risk, because he has taken a substance, and has not slept since the previous morning.

    Unfortunately, sleep deprivation has been chucked in the too-hard basket, as far as enforcement goes. There is simply no good way to test for it at the moment.

    The Victorian TAC does advertise very heavily on the issue, and ACC should too. The message also needs to be - if you're exhausted, take a taxi. I've driven home from the clubs a few times at 6am, and it's not something I'd recommend.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Why personal anecdotes are a dumb way to argue a point: I was infinitely happier after my parents split up and my father left, because he was either neglectful and infuriating at best or abusive at worst. Therefore, using Brian Edwards' Extremely Illogical Argument Generator, I believe that all heterosexual marriages which have one or more children should be compulsorily split up. You see, from my own experience, this proves that the children will be happier that way.

    Fucking ludicrous, in other words.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Danielle:

    Snap! On the basis of my experience as the child of an alcoholic mother (adroitly enabled by a conflict-shy husband in very deep denial), let me spin the Brian Edwards' Extremely Illogical Argument Generator and posit that people who drink should be sterilised and not allowed to marry -- let alone adopt, foster or have any contact with children whatsoever. Just as a precautionary measure, you understand.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Maybe some people need to learn how to cope with another point of view.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Maybe some people need to learn how to cope with another point of view.

    Dude, I *cope* with it fine. I just think it's fucking stupid as hell. Is that allowed?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Dude, I *cope* with it fine. I just think it's fucking stupid as hell. Is that allowed?

    Careful, Danielle, you're damaging your cause by being angry.

    I, of course, think the best adoptive parent for a baby is an invisible gay unicorn. There are, after all, no recorded examples at all of a child ever being abused by an invisible gay unicorn parent. It's another point of view! Learn to cope!

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    I just think it's fucking stupid as hell.

    Use of four letter words would seem indicate otherwise?

    Here is the problem I have. The argument seems to not that disagree with his point of view but that you seem to me to be demanding he not hold it all. That is what fucks ME off.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Thanks for the responces. I'm literally too tired to construct a coherent reply - I've been unsuccessfully trying for an hour - so I'll just make a couple of quick points.

    1) Homophobia is ugly, stupid, cowardly, and destructive.

    2) Edwards' position may be flawed (and probably is), but it's based on perceived harm reduction. The homophobia inherent in his argument is, I submit, at least debatable.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Brian Edwards' Extremely Illogical Argument Generator

    I don't there's an implicit rule that all personal experience must be taken as indicative of the general, but if all personal experience must be abandoned, then there hardly seems any point in thinking at all.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Edwards' position may be flawed (and probably is), but it's based on perceived harm reduction.

    3410, from what I've seen, ALL arguments against gay adoption are based on perceived harm reduction. The problem being that the perception of harm can be based on a homophobic position.

    So the question might become, if BE was pointed at the research I linked to on the previous page which shows no difference in outcomes for children of two-parent straight and two-parent gay households, would he change his mind?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Use of four letter words would seem indicate otherwise?

    Oh Jesus Christ. Really? I haven't had someone pull that shit on me online since the *1990s*. You're kidding, right?

    you seem to me to be demanding he not hold it all

    What *are* you on about? I'm saying his argument is stupid and illogical. He can hold it all he likes, and yet it will remain stupid and illogical forever and ever, amen.

    Careful, Danielle, you're damaging your cause by being angry.

    I'm glad you made that joke before someone actually said it seriously. :)

    Maybe I could be the Yappy Little Dog of Gay Adoption, like you're the Yappy Little Dog of Gay Marriage?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    I just think it's fucking stupid as hell.
    Use of four letter words would seem indicate otherwise?

    So Danielle should have said "I think it's fucking stupid as" ?
    Says the same really.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Maybe some people need to learn how to cope with another point of view.

    You first.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Maybe some people need to learn how to cope with another point of view.

    Tom: Oh, nuts. I can "cope" with other, and fundamentally disagreeable, points of view -- otherwise I'd have flounced out of PAS about five minutes after it went live. :)

    It's the ones that illogicallly and incoherently conflate the author's (admittedly sucky) childhood into a totally unrelated area of public policy while dog-whistling to some pretty noxious stereotypes about homosexuals that chap my arse.

    Oh, and could we have been spared the gay version of "How can I be racist, I have loads of black friends and love Motown" line straight from the De-Railing for Dummies playbook? Hey, cookie for Brian that he supported homosexual law reform before it was trendy. And I'm the last person to bitch about him being a fan of marriage equality. But when it come to this issue, he's just wrong on so many levels it beggars belief. That's my POV, can you cope?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Careful, Danielle, you're damaging your cause by being angry.

    I'm glad you made that joke before someone actually said it seriously. :)

    Only bloody just. I really think I deserve some kind of 'predicting the internet' prize for that.

    How depressing is it that the more cynical I become, the more often I'm right?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I, of course, think the best adoptive parent for a baby is an invisible gay unicorn.

    Oh, there you go trying to ram your politically correct invisible gay unicorn agenda down people's throats. Isn't anyone thinking about the children, and the threat of losing an eye on the invisible pointy bit? Or has that been the plan all along?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    *sigh*

    Yes, you guys are all right on this issue - 100% in fact!

    And you all wonder how it came to pass we got a government built on resentment of being patronised.

    Besides I am sure Brian Edwards doesn't need me to argue his corner for him.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    So let me get this right - people shouldn't condemn homophobia when it is based on a subjective experience of parental inadequacy ? because it is a diverse point of view ?

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Chukkkker,

    I just think it's fucking stupid as hell.

    Use of four letter words would seem indicate otherwise?

    Technically seven.

    Since Nov 2007 • 17 posts Report Reply

  • Helen Miller,

    Not only will scientists be deeply offended by the 'documentary', journalists should be also as this level of journalism and debate scrapes the barrel.
    My son has Down Syndrome and I have a M Sc (hons) . Russell your professionalism was a shining light in an otherwise disgraceful display of ignorance from TV 3.

    Grey Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 15 posts Report Reply

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