Is this constitutional?

Hmm...

Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said.

The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.

"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."

She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.

I'm all for the spirit of this idea. I think it's atrocious that we lose as many people to drunken mistakes, including drunk driving, drownings, abuse, and much more.

However, I don't think it's our government's prerogative to crash private businesses to look for drunk people. Once that person hits a public sidewalk, they're fair game. But to encroach on the rights of citizens in a private establishment - that's just wrong.

Double standard

If a man decides to violate a girl under 18 and the public finds out, it's a horrible crime that results in a few years in jail. If a woman does the same thing to a boy under 18, no one cares.

Or maybe it's just because of her looks.

Either way, it's wrong. This teacher took advantage of a 14-year-old student, and is walking away without so much as jail time, just because the boy won't testify. I guarantee the same standard wouldn't be applied to a similar case with a man.

And by the way, it's not a scandal. It's rape. At least one former prosecutor noted that. She also notes this:

"And, frankly, I think it sends a message that we have a two-tiered justice system, that if you're cute, if you have influence of any kind, you get a walk. Because the people who aren't cute, who are doing these things to kids, they're actually behind bars."

Murphy also sees a kind of reverse sexism at work: "Male teachers raping their 14-year-old students, lots of them are behind bars, because that's exactly where they belong."

She is sharply critical of the prosecutor, saying he's to blame for the charges being dropped and, "The judge here is the hero. The judge said, 'I'm not going to accept a plea bargain where she gets a complete pass.' The prosecutor then just said, 'Well, I'm going to drop the charges.' He has to accept responsibility and, frankly, he should hang his head in shame."

Not good

Many conservatives point to "gay marriage" as something that would be the ultimate sign of the fall of our society into moral degradation.

Not me. Many of those "conservatives" are simply hypocrites. They talk a good game, but the fact is they pick and choose what parts of "morality" they want to believe in. They don't think guys should be able to marry guys because they think it's perverted and immoral, but they don't adhere to that high moral standard in other areas of life. They get wasted on the weekends, watch porn on the weeknights, and are all around moral degenerates.

This post began as a criticism of the recent signing of "The Simpsons" to two more seasons. I began thinking of the many "conservatives" who love to watch Homer drink himself silly, Bart mouth off to his parents and show utter disregard for any authority, and more. I've only seen a few portions of a few episodes, so I'm not an expert on what all "more" entails. All I know is that the little I've seen has been enough to make me turn the channel.

I'm not suggesting that I'm a supreme moral being who everyone else should admire and look up to. I'm suggesting that "social conservatives" quit pretending to be something they're not. I hate to see hypocrisy in people. If you're against gay marriage, be against it. But don't pretend it's because you're taking some moral high road. All you're doing with that argument is helping the liberals make their claim (and justly so) that your words don't match your actions.