Is Biden's daughter's drug habits news worthy

[hokie1]

The children and relatives of politicians have been catching the news for years.
Billy Carter and drinking
Ferraro's son arrested for selling drugs
Bush's daughters drinking
Palin's daughter and pregnancy

Now it's Biden's daughter and snorting cocaine

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03282009/news/nationalnews/friend_of_bidens_daughter_shopping_tape__161772.htm"

Just because Biden helped make cocaine and smoking crack mandatory jail sentences, is this newsworthy. Personally I think all of the above listed items are just as much yellow rag journalism as is this latest item.

 

[ultimablah]

People care enough for it to make the news.

Therefore, it's newsworthy.

Ah, modern journalism...

 

[Alfi]

A "friend" of Vice President Joseph Biden's daughter, Ashley, is attempting to hawk a videotape that he claims shows her snorting cocaine at a house party this month in Delaware.

Nice friend. :uhh: A house party is private and therefore not news, as apposed to, (as example only) a DUI that is public.

 

[isabelle]

In his book Obama publically admits to doing this drug, and it seemed to be common knowledge that W had done so as well (there are some audio tapes, but just like his national guard service the issue has never been resolved afaik).

As much as it disappointments me that it is normal and acceptable for presidents to do hard drugs, and support hypocritical drug laws, I don't see why we should then care if the daughter of the vice president does so as well.

As for a comparison with the Bush daughters, I would like to see this as excuse for the media to compare and contrast the medical facts about the brain damage that results from cocaine and / or binge drinking. I think most college students (the ones who need this info) would be surprised to learn that both drugs can be quite damaging in a short time, and that there are scenarios where the effect of alcohol is more damaging in the long term.

 

[Cyrus]

Damn, cocane. That's some serious stuff.

 

[isabelle]

Damn, cocane. That's some serious stuff.

Haha, that sounds like a line in an Eric Clapton song...

Edit: weird coincedence, I went to listen to Eric's song and from the youtube comments I found out and then confirmed that today, March 30th, is Clapton's birthday.

 

[LowlyPion]

Nice friend. :uhh: A house party is private and therefore not news, as apposed to, (as example only) a DUI that is public.

Here's the NYPost article about the tape.

It seems that the guy was looking for $2M for the tape, but will now take $400,000. He also claims that he has some other juicy details he's willing to share if the price is right. Apparently he has a criminal record already, not exactly star witness material I'd say.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/0328200..._of_bidens_daughter_shopping_tape__161772.htm

 

[hokie1]

Although a house party is private, in this case it involves illegal activity. Also, she does not care about being filmed. The owner of the photos or videos is the person behind the camera.

 

[Woody101]

Always remember that your transgressions of yesterday could be on youtube tomorrow.

Isabelle you are right on target I have always maintained that the only difference between hard drugs and alcohol is that alcohol is legal.

As far as if Biden's daughter's alleged drug use is news worthy, I think that the media tends to sensationalize the trivial while ignoring the real issues. If the allegation is really true you have to question the intelligence of the young lady. Do you really want to let someone film you committing a felony?

 

[russ_watters]

In his book Obama publically admits to doing this drug, and it seemed to be common knowledge that W had done so as well (there are some audio tapes, but just like his national guard service the issue has never been resolved afaik).

As much as it disappointments me that it is normal and acceptable for presidents to do hard drugs, and support hypocritical drug laws, I don't see why we should then care if the daughter of the vice president does so as well.

It is quite a recent phenomena where it has become acceptible. It started with Clinton and his half-admission about smoking pot. It was a big issue in the campaign at the time.

Now a lot of this probably has to do with the time period people grew up in. Before the 1960s, drugs were not very big or accepted in the US. Now we have Presidents and voters who are products of that first generation of drug users.

 

[Pengwuino]

Just because Biden helped make cocaine and smoking crack mandatory jail sentences, is this newsworthy. Personally I think all of the above listed items are just as much yellow rag journalism as is this latest item.

I personally think Biden's daughter should be kicked out of office because of this.

Oh wait...

 

[chemisttree]

Isabelle you are right on target I have always maintained that the only difference between hard drugs and alcohol is that alcohol is legal.

HUH? Are you serious?

 

[russ_watters]

There are some decent arguments to be made about pot not being more serious than alcohol, but hard drugs like coke (really bad) and crack (even worse) are in a different league altogether.

 

[Oscar Wilde]

Yes I would hardly rate crystal meth and alcohol on the same level.

On a different note, I do not understand why politicians' family members are such hot topics. Quite honestly, unless it affects their (politicians) performance in office, I do not care about the lives of Bristol Palin, Ashley Biden, or anyone else.

 

[drankin]

Yes I would hardly rate crystal meth and alcohol on the same level.

On a different note, I do not understand why politicians' family members are such hot topics. Quite honestly, unless it affects their (politicians) performance in office, I do not care about the lives of Bristol Palin, Ashley Biden, or anyone else.

It comes down to character and leadership. If a parent runs a good household and instills good values in their children it tends to reflect in their childrens behaviour, generally (there are always exceptions). If so and so preaches x and their children behave in y, then the parents character tends to be suspect. Not always fairly but it's how we make tend to make judgements.

 

[mgb_phys]

It comes down to character and leadership. If a parent runs a good household and instills good values in their children it tends to reflect in their childrens behaviour, ... If so and so preaches x and their children behave in y, then the parents character tends to be suspect.

I think the children share some of the blame. They have just as long to train the parents as the parents have with them.
Babies manage to train the parents to feed and clean them on demand at all hours of the day and night so if children can't train their parents to be responsible members of society then I think it reflects badly on them.

 

[Cyrus]

It comes down to character and leadership. If a parent runs a good household and instills good values in their children it tends to reflect in their childrens behaviour, generally (there are always exceptions). If so and so preaches x and their children behave in y, then the parents character tends to be suspect. Not always fairly but it's how we make tend to make judgements.

I think that's true to a certain degree. Here, his daughter is 27 years old. Her doing coke at that age looks very, very bad in comparison to Palins young (and stupid) daughter getting kocked up. However, what makes Palin look bad is the fact that she's all against abortion and how teen pregnancy can be avoided by good family values. Obviously, they lack them. The same can be said of Bidens daughter though. And given her age, throw the book at her. She isn't a stupid teen like palins daughter, she's a stupid adult - which is worse.

 

[WhoWee]

If it was a sex tape...would it be news? Is the "evidence" strong enough to indict her? The PRESS didn't care that Obama said he "dabbled in drugs"...whatever that means?

The VP can't control (and shouldn't be held accountable for) what a 20 something does at a party. The story got 15 minutes...she needs to stay off the future campaign trail...now move along.

If it happens again...have Hillary tell her publicly that she needs to stop funding the Mexican drug cartels.

There are much bigger problems in the world.

 

[drankin]

If it was a sex tape...would it be news? Is the "evidence" strong enough to indict her? The PRESS didn't care that Obama said he "dabbled in drugs"...whatever that means?

The VP can't control (and shouldn't be held accountable for) what a 20 something does at a party. The story got 15 minutes...she needs to stay off the future campaign trail...now move along.

If it happens again...have Hillary tell her publicly that she needs to stop funding the Mexican drug cartels.

There are much bigger problems in the world.

Exactly, we have much bigger problems in the world. Do we want people of bad character making decisions concerning these problems? That's the dirt the media is throwing out there. If that's the worst thing, something no longer in Mr Biden's scope of responsibility, then we would like to think that he doesn't have some leadership detriments that will show up while he is in office (it's a stretch but the media doesn't care). As far as newsworthy, not so much, but for tabloids? They love this stuff.

 

[LowlyPion]

Exactly, we have much bigger problems in the world. Do we want people of bad character making decisions concerning these problems?

Fortunately we've dumped the last bad batch out of office.

 

[drankin]

Fortunately we've dumped the last bad batch out of office.

Whether we replaced the last batch with an equally bad batch is the topic of another thread. On that note, we are in the process of throwing an incredible amount of money into the recession furnace and increasing our occupation of another ME country. Different faces, same MO. But, more newsworthy.

 

[SticksandStones]

Who the **** cares, it isn't hurting anyone but her.

 

[WhoWee]

Fortunately we've dumped the last bad batch out of office.

Hopefully the next election will dump the REALLY bad ones out of Congress...Dodd...Frank...(dare to dream) Pelosi...

 

[Woody101]

HUH? Are you serious?

Yes I am serious. Both are addictive, both are mood altering chemicals. Cocaine is a stimulant, but all the opium family are central nervous system depressants. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressants.

 

[chemisttree]

Yes I am serious. Both are addictive, both are mood altering chemicals. Cocaine is a stimulant, but all the opium family are central nervous system depressants. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressants.

So I guess caffeine and theobromine are in that class as well. Both are addictive and mood altering chemicals.

Wait a minute! I'll bet Biden's daughter just looooves mocha in her espresso! What a dopehead...

Sheesh! Democrats...

 

[Woody101]

So I guess caffeine and theobromine are in that class as well. Both are addictive and mood altering chemicals.

Wait a minute! I'll bet Biden's daughter just looooves mocha in her espresso! What a dopehead...

Sheesh! Democrats...

Why is it that people have to take things to the point of rediculous to try to prove their point. In Today's Rapid City Journal there is an article where a drunk driver with 3 previous DWI's was sentenced to 7 years in prison for a hit and run accident where he ran down two people and killed them both. Never seen a driver on coffee do that. Did those deaths get attributed to alcohol, nope they are traffic accident deaths.

This moron was so wasted he didn't know he had hit someone till the next morning when he saw the goo and gore all over his windshield. What's the chances of that happening with a cup of latte?

Go to any Indian Reservation and see the effects of alcohol and tell me that you would get the same results with coffee.

Before you classify me as one of those bleeding heart liberals I am a Republican. I feel that it is your right to fry your brain with what ever you choose. Just stay the hell home and don't drive when you do.

We tried prohibition with booze and it didn't work so we are trying it with drugs and that isn't working either. What was it Einstein said something about it is insanity to do the same thing and expect different results. The "war on drugs" is a farce! We spend billions on a feel good project that is only stopping about 10% of what is coming in and as far as I know has not decreased the demand at all. How long do you think any of you would last at your current job if you were 10% effective?

All this has made me thirsty, I am off to Starbucks.

 

[chemisttree]

Heh, heh, heh. And if I don't miss my guess you are going to have a shot of chocolate in that caffeine...

Who's being ridiculous? I'm serious too! (I'll have what you're drinkin'!)

BTW I was assuming that Biden's daughter was a Dem. (as if it matters...)

 

[russ_watters]

Yes I am serious. Both are addictive, both are mood altering chemicals. Cocaine is a stimulant, but all the opium family are central nervous system depressants. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressants.

You can list the traits, but just because they share the traits, that doesn't mean they share them equally. That's a pretty basic logical fallacy that would allow you to throw sugar and chocolate into the same category!

The level of addictiveness, level of mood alteration, and level of damage are just not comparable. In particular, alcohol is not inherrently chemically addictive. Certain people are succeptible to alcohol addiction via genetic defect, but that disease does not affect a large part of the population (9% according to the wiki). That is stakly different from hard drugs (or even nicotine or caffiene, for that matter), which can cause chemical addiction in virtually everyone who uses them.

Alcohol also has a safe dosage, so use does not automatically imply misuse or any negative consequences at all. Hard drugs do not have dosage levels where they have limited physiological effects (that, of course, would defeat the purpose for taking them).

Why is it that people have to take things to the point of rediculous to try to prove their point.

It helps to point out the logical flaw and rediculousness of the claim to push it to it's logical extent. You are the one who is broadening the definitions and criteria to the point of uselessness in order to include alcohol in the same category as hard drugs. By broadening it further, chemisttree emphasizes the logical flaw and forces you to (traps you into) address[ing] it. Ie, now that you acknowledge that broadening the criteria too far results in rediculousness, you should make an attempt to justify why your broadening of the criteria doesn't also result in rediculousness.

 

[mgb_phys]

That is stakly different from hard drugs

Hard drugs is a political not a medical term.
Did cannabis suddenly become more dangerous when it was upgraded from class c to class B?
Why is MDMA class A when it is safer than horse riding?

 

[russ_watters]

mgb_phys, please note that your examples do not match ours. No one here has called pot or x "hard drugs" and the term is only being used for convenience: I was very specific about what the real differences are between the drugs I was discussing. That's the point and arguing with the usage of the word "hard drugs" doesn't address the point at all - especially since you aren't using it the way I used it, you are creating a strawman.

 

[chemisttree]

Hard drugs is a political not a medical term.
Did cannabis suddenly become more dangerous when it was upgraded from class c to class B?

Yes it did become more dangerous.

Nationally, skunk smokers are ending up ill in hospital in record numbers, with admissions soaring 73 per cent. The number of adults recorded as suffering mental illness as a result of cannabis use has risen sharply from 430 in 1996 to 743 in 2006.

The government data shows how the damaging effects of the drug have swept across England. Hospital hotspots for cannabis abuse include Manchester, London, Cheshire and Merseyside.

And, as the debate over the drug's dangers continues, figures released by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Abuse (NTA) show that more than 24,500 people are in drug treatment programmes for cannabis – the highest ever.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/mental-illness-soars-in-uks-skunk-hotspots-397449.html

Why is MDMA class A when it is safer than horse riding?

Because the criteria for classification as a Class A drug have less to do with death rates and more to do with the fact that when it was classified as Class A, it had no medicinal use and was believed to be a hallucinogen like LSD.

 

[mheslep]

Yes I am serious. Both are addictive,

Like a BB air-gun and a 38 calibre pistol are both lethal weapons.

 

[Proton Soup]

a social worker for a Delaware child-welfare agency

yeah, it might be newsworthy.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Why is MDMA class A when it is safer than horse riding?

Because the criteria for classification as a Class A drug have less to do with death rates and more to do with the fact that when it was classified as Class A, it had no medicinal use and was believed to be a hallucinogen like LSD.

And its fairly commonly used as a date rape drug.

 

[Woody101]

You can list the traits, but just because they share the traits, that doesn't mean they share them equally. That's a pretty basic logical fallacy that would allow you to throw sugar and chocolate into the same category!

The level of addictiveness, level of mood alteration, and level of damage are just not comparable. In particular, alcohol is not inherrently chemically addictive. Certain people are succeptible to alcohol addiction via genetic defect, but that disease does not affect a large part of the population (9% according to the wiki). That is stakly different from hard drugs (or even nicotine or caffiene, for that matter), which can cause chemical addiction in virtually everyone who uses them.

Alcohol also has a safe dosage, so use does not automatically imply misuse or any negative consequences at all. Hard drugs do not have dosage levels where they have limited physiological effects (that, of course, would defeat the purpose for taking them).
It helps to point out the logical flaw and rediculousness of the claim to push it to it's logical extent. You are the one who is broadening the definitions and criteria to the point of uselessness in order to include alcohol in the same category as hard drugs. By broadening it further, chemisttree emphasizes the logical flaw and forces you to (traps you into) address[ing] it. Ie, now that you acknowledge that broadening the criteria too far results in rediculousness, you should make an attempt to justify why your broadening of the criteria doesn't also result in rediculousness.

Wow only 9% of the population is genetically predispositioned to becoming an alcoholic, I just checked the population of the U.S. and as of July 08 it was 303,524,640 and 9% of that is a bit over 37 million, quite an insignificant number indeed. One does not have to be an alcoholic to abuse alcohol unfortunately. In Rapid City, SD they have arrested over 300 for DUI since the first of the year. That is about 3 a day. I am sure that many of them were not alcoholics but that makes little difference.

I spent 30 years in management and safety in the trucking industry and I cleaned up over 100 truck wrecks, 10 of them were fatals with a total of 14 fatalities. Every one of those 10 fatals involved alcohol. In one instance our driver was drunk in 7 it was drunk drivers hittng our trucks and in two instances it was people under the influence using our trucks as a means of suicide. One by throwing himself under the wheels as the truck pulled away from a cafe and another where a young lady, under the influence, had a fight with her boyfriend, demanded that he stop and let her out. When he did, she ran out into the freeway and stood in front of our truck. Our driver tried to stop and tried to evade her but she moved back in front of the truck. I doubt seriously that you can get the same results with coffee or chocolate.

Just a thought but if alcohol is not addictive, why did so many people risk fines and jail to drink it during prohibition when they could have just drank coffee or ate a Hershey Bar.

In my previous post I said the guy who hit and killed 2 people got 7 years, I was wrong he only got 4.