# Just when you think all those people that natter about conspiracies are loons, this pops up **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013 "2011-08-01T06:00:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/21 "2011-08-01T18:01:53Z")
This sounds to me sort of like people who complain about photoradar not being kosher; if you don’t speed, you don’t get tickets from photoradar. If he hadn’t driven after he’d been drinking, he wouldn’t have gotten a DUI. I’m not sure it’s more complicated than that. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/22 "2011-08-01T18:16:20Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > This sounds to me sort of like people who complain about photoradar not being kosher; if you don’t speed, you don’t get tickets from photoradar. If he hadn’t driven after he’d been drinking, he wouldn’t have gotten a DUI. I’m not sure it’s more complicated than that. I don’t think that’s the problem people are complaining about; it’s that the cops are allegedly encouraging people to break the law and cooperating with private parties, who had civil axes to grind, to do so. If you get caught by a photo radar, who encouraged you to speed? How did the cops do anything but set up a radar trap? ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/23 "2011-08-01T18:32:05Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > \ > > It appears - it’s disputed, but come on - that the police were in on it, which means the cops are participating in encouraging people to drive drunk just so they can arrest them, rather than expending their resources on, you know, catching people who would have been driving drunk anyway.\ I can just see the shitstorm that would happen if the dupe had struck and killed another driver while the cops were waiting to arrest him. “We knew he was drunk but we didn’t stop him from driving because we wanted to arrest him for DUI”. WTF. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/24 "2011-08-01T18:48:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It appears - it’s disputed, but come on - that the police were in on it, which means the cops are participating in encouraging people to drive drunk just so they can arrest them, rather than expending their resources on, you know, catching people who would have been driving drunk anyway. According to the story, the arresting officer was not in on the set-up. He was told by somebody he knew (a former cop who now worked for the detective agency) that a drunk guy was going to be driving through this intersection and he could catch him there. So while the cop probably had his suspicions about how his friend knew all this, he was not in a position where he could intervene beforehand and prevent the guy from drinking or getting behind the wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/25 "2011-08-01T19:03:03Z")
If so, then I don’t see how the cop is any more at fault than if he had been hanging out in a parking lot by a bar waiting to catch impaired people attempting to drive home. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/26 "2011-08-01T19:03:41Z")
You know, people should really know their place in their looks hierarchy. If you’re a 4 the odds are you may be able to get a 7. If you’re pulling two 10s then you should realize something is very fishy. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/27 "2011-08-01T19:07:12Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > This sounds to me sort of like people who complain about photoradar not being kosher; if you don’t speed, you don’t get tickets from photoradar. If he hadn’t driven after he’d been drinking, he wouldn’t have gotten a DUI. I’m not sure it’s more complicated than that. Not to hijack too much, I hope, but please tell me who you are referring to when you say “you” in this post. Are you talking about the driver who speeds, or the registered owner of the vehicle? Because photo radar systems typically send the speeding ticket to the registered owner of the vehicle, _who may or may not have been the driver who was speeding_. Now, even if that owner was not the driver that day, he/she now has a ticket in his/her name, and must take (major pain-in-the-ass) steps to clear his/her name. It’s guilty until proven innocent, and that sucks. \ ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/28 "2011-08-01T19:33:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Good point, but she got him drunk… _She_ got him drunk? Was he a child, incapable of informed consent? Was she the bartender that night? Did she hold him down and pour alcohol into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it? Was he strapped to a gurney and given an ethanol IV against his will? How, exactly, is she responsible for his intoxication? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/29 "2011-08-01T19:36:02Z")
It sort of sounds like it’s because she has breasts. Powerful things, these breasts. Pray that you too never fall afoul of ruffians armed with loaded breasts. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/30 "2011-08-01T20:15:22Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > And my Ex told the judge I drink eight liters of wine a day. 🙂 When would you have the time to do anything besides go pee? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/31 "2011-08-01T20:18:32Z")
What’s the conspiracy theory here? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/32 "2011-08-01T20:35:15Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > You know, people should really know their place in their looks hierarchy. If you’re a 4 the odds are you may be able to get a 7. If you’re pulling two 10s then you should realize something is very fishy. And then Kaley Cuoco dates Johnny Galecki and throws the whole system off. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/33 "2011-08-01T20:45:26Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > When would you have the time to do anything besides go pee? 😕 I don’t think I’d be able to find the bathroom or the third liter…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/34 "2011-08-01T23:24:51Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Just when you think all those people that natter about conspiracies are loons, this pops up] So this explains the Kennedy assassination and 9/11 too, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/35 "2011-08-01T23:52:07Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Honestly, I think we should give them an award. If you’re that dumb, you deserve a DUI. Seriously guys, your goal in life should be to be smarter than a pair of breasts. You have just invalidated my entire belief system. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/36 "2011-08-02T02:17:35Z")
I’m still disappointed the way the OP turned out. At first, I was sure the victim was going to wind up in a bathtub full of ice, with one kidney missing. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013/37 "2011-08-02T02:47:19Z")
“And prosecutors have also taken the extraordinary position that they will not stand in the way if Dutcher wants to withdraw his no contest plea – two years later – and ask a judge to wipe the crime from his record.” -This would be disgraceful if it happened. The matter of the police/ex-wife/P.I. is a seperate matter from this man’s decision to get behind the wheel of his car while inebriated. He is an adult, and his decisions should garner the respect, and consequences, that they thusly deserve. All this other stuff has no bearing on the bottom line. That DUI should most definitely stick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-all-those-people-that-natter-about-conspiracies-are-loons-this-pops-up/591013.md?page=1)