Yeah, okay, the panty comment was over the line. Sorry.:redface: This was starting to sound like the disagreements I'd had with a local talk radio personality/baptist preacher whose leading the charge to make our county dry. Can't defend a rational position without him calling you an alcoholic and bringing up the two girls who were killed on their way to church by a drunk.
A lot of issues get demagogued. Used to be that CO2 was the food of life. Now it "pollutes the air we breath and the water we drink." Cigarette smoking kills 50,000 people a year! Except they don't mention it's going to kill you when your 72. The oil spill in the Gulf is going to end life as we know it. This issue is demagogued too. I detest demagoguery, as well as hyperbole.
Before I was commissioned in the Marine Corps, we had to go through a course called Navy Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Program. It was based on science and actually equipped us with valuable knowledge to navigate the work-hard, play-hard drinking culture of the USMC. I remember the chart from which I got my "rule of thumb." So, I know if I'm going to the O'club for four hours, I know I'd better not have more than three or four beers. This is where the demagoguery begins: "Oh, you're a drunk driver! Boo! Boo!" But the reality is that I'd barely register on a breathalyzer due to the good ole liver metabolizing the alcohol at the rate of about 1 oz of C2H5OH per hour. A standard beer has about .3 oz of C2H5OH, so the safety factor is built in. So, actually the three beers would be metabolized in one hour on average, although I would hate the bloated feeling.
The menace to society is not the boater who has a few beers while out fishing (I personally drink only Gatorade when out on the boat). Nor is it the driver who has two glasses of wine with dinner. It's the 23 year old fool who does tequila shots or funnelates beer all night then thinks it's a good idea to drive, much less drive 100 mph down Hwy 98.
But in a society that can't tell the difference between an honor student bringing a cough drop to school and a drug dealer bringing X, I would expect this black-and-white, no-shades-of-grey mentality.
