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60 Minutes, 11.29.09 November 29, 2009 3:27 PM
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Rooney Not Negative? November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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The Great Explorer, Part 2 November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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The Great Explorer, Part 1 November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Congo's Gold November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Web Extra: Greed and Chaos November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Web Extra: A Blind Eye November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Web Extra: Uranium for Sale November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Web Extra: Echoes of the Past November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Web Extra: Finding Titanic November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Web Extra: Trapped! November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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Web Extra: PT-109 November 29, 2009 1:16 PM
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60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll November 30, 2009 1:40 AM
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Preview: The Great Explorer November 25, 2009 9:20 AM
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Preview: Congo Gold November 25, 2009 9:06 AM
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Preview: Bob Ballard November 25, 2009 7:30 AM
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Rooney on Thanksgiving November 22, 2009 10:25 AM
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60 Minutes, 11.22.09 November 22, 2009 10:45 AM
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James Cameron's Avatar November 22, 2009 10:15 AM
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Maziar Bahari: Witness November 22, 2009 10:07 AM
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See all 127 CommentsOn the flip side, you're also talking about a limo. CBS did not bring up this point at all. Did the limo contribute to the child's death? Was the child properly restrained? You're talking about a vehicle that is designed to encourages unrestrained use inside the vehicle. If the family had chosen to drive home in a standard vehicle with proper safety restraints, would Katie be alive today? Putting her into the limo likely contributed just as much to her death as the impact from the drunk driver's vehicle. I'd like to see statistical data on limo crashes and how many end up in death. I think this would tell the tale. The limo driver, on the other hand, was likely properly restrained. So, his death should be the one that hinges the case and not necessarily the child's death just strictly due to a limo's unsafe design.
Kathleen Rice's arguments are all about tougher sentences, not about stopping drunk driving. She improperly believes that tougher sentences will reduce or stop drunk driving. It won't. This is a false argument. People will still continue to drive drunk even if the sentence were increased to the death penalty. If you truly want to stop drunk driving, then you need to take alcoholic beverages off the market. We've already tried that once and it failed. The only other way is through technological measures in vehicles (i.e., breathalizer tests or blood alcohol tests) that prevent the vehicle from starting if under the influence. Also, licenses should be revoked at the first instance of drunk driving. This is a penalty that carries weight. If you don't have a license, it makes life extremely difficult in so many ways. But, taking a way a license will just mean people will drive without a license (and likely may still drive drunk).
The most effective way to stop people driving drunk is to take alcohol off the market. Increasing penalties won't deter the behavior in determined individuals. Stiffer sentences means we end up with more people in prison hanging off taxpayer dollars for longer periods. That also doesn't help our economy or our society.
On the other hand, I worry about my own children making such a mistake and I hope I've taught them to do the right thing by not drinking and driving. That young man took that child's life into his own hands that night when he got behind the wheel and now he'll pay the rest of his life for that mistake.
Was it murder? Picture that child the night of the accident and now picture that it being your own child in your arms and answer that question yourself.
It's a lose - lose situation. The madness has to stop and accountability has to begin somewhere.
Drunken driving is a scourge on society, incalculably costly in human suffering and financial loss.
Society is rightly alarmed at the loss of 5,000 military persons in a war, especially when that war is judged needless. Every month at least 1,000 persons die from this "behavior" on the roads. Thousands more are maimed and crippled. Perhaps your segment on Sunday can provoke a national discussion and reform, What do you want to come from this program??
The government of the people, by the people, and for the people has been replaced by the government VERSUS the people; and the "Newspeak" created by them is altering the language to be used against us!
Kathleen Rice is yet another single-issue, power-mongering politico. She is using fear, anguish and vengeance to push her agenda to re-define murder to fit her particular cause. And with the unbridled license afforded a prosecutor's office in obtaining indictments from a "grand" jury (no opposing arguments are allowed) she is free to present anything she likes (pertinent or not) to achieve her goal. No wonder famed litigator, Gerry Spence, once noted that a grand jury could "indict a ham sandwich" if it wanted to.
Lastly, though, let's follow Ms. Rice's agenda to its logical conclusion-- if death-related DUI is universally accepted as murder, then every person- EVERY PERSON- ever accused of DUI could also be indicted for attempted murder! Sounds more like the reign of Prince John than the U.S.A... and as if our prisons weren't over-filled already.
When justice FOR ALL and mercy are absent from our court system, only the unjust and the merciless shall prevail.
Be afraid, America! Be very afraid!
MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers)
WENT TO A PARTY MOM
I went to a party,
And remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I had a sprite instead.
I felt proud of myself,
The way you said I would
That I didn?t drink and drive,
Though some friends said I should.
I made a healthy choice,
And your advice to me was right.
The party finally ended,
And the kids drove out of sight.
I got into my car,
Sure to get home in one piece.
I never knew what was coming, Mom,
Something I expected least.
Now I?m lying on the pavement,
And I hear the policeman say,
The kid that caused this wreck was drunk,
Mom, his voice seems far away.
My own blood?s all around me,
As I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedic say,
This girl is going to die.
I?m sure the guy had no idea,
While he was flying high.
Because he chose to drink and drive,
Now I would have to die.
So why do people do it, Mom
Knowing that it ruins lives?
And now the pain is cutting me,
Like a hundred stabbing knives.
Tell sister not to be afraid, Mom
Tell daddy to be brave.
And when I go to heaven,
Put ?Mommy?s Girl? on my grave.
Someone should have taught him,
That it?s wrong to drink and drive.
Maybe if his parents had,
I?d still be alive.
My breath is getting shorter,
Mom I?m getting really scared
These are my final moments,
And I?m so unprepared.
I wish that you could hold me Mom,
As I lie here and die.
I wish that I could say, ?I love you, Mom!?
So I love you and good-bye.
Read it a weep people - I wonder how you will react if it was one of your own!
Maria
MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers)
WENT TO A PARTY MOM
I went to a party,
And remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I had a sprite instead.
I felt proud of myself,
The way you said I would
That I didn?t drink and drive,
Though some friends said I should.
I made a healthy choice,
And your advice to me was right.
The party finally ended,
And the kids drove out of sight.
I got into my car,
Sure to get home in one piece.
I never knew what was coming, Mom,
Something I expected least.
Now I?m lying on the pavement,
And I hear the policeman say,
The kid that caused this wreck was drunk,
Mom, his voice seems far away.
My own blood?s all around me,
As I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedic say,
This girl is going to die.
I?m sure the guy had no idea,
While he was flying high.
Because he chose to drink and drive,
Now I would have to die.
So why do people do it, Mom
Knowing that it ruins lives?
And now the pain is cutting me,
Like a hundred stabbing knives.
Tell sister not to be afraid, Mom
Tell daddy to be brave.
And when I go to heaven,
Put ?Mommy?s Girl? on my grave.
Someone should have taught him,
That it?s wrong to drink and drive.
Maybe if his parents had,
I?d still be alive.
My breath is getting shorter,
Mom I?m getting really scared
These are my final moments,
And I?m so unprepared.
I wish that you could hold me Mom,
As I lie here and die.
I wish that I could say, ?I love you, Mom!?
So I love you and good-bye.
Read it a weep people - I wonder how you will react if it was one of your own!
Maria
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