- I could say that I’m surprised by the actions of Mindy Carder and Ashley Sprague of Beggs, Oklahoma - but I’d be lying. That two women living in a small town in rural Oklahoma have been arrested and charged with operating a sex ring involving underage boys is about as surprising as learning that someone in that same town also owns a John Deere hat. However, the details of this particular sex ring are disturbing because these two women appear to be such utter and complete scumbags. According to local police, the two women seduced the teenage boys using two things (other than sex) that are a given to hook teen boys: booze and the chronic. "In my 18 years of law enforcement this is one of the strangest cases that's unfolded,'" said Beggs Police Chief James Poulin. The case began when a father brought his 14-year-old son to the police station last week and the boy told police of his sexual relationship with Beggs. Acting on that information, police began investigating and found that this was much bigger than one woman committing statutory rape on one 14-year-old boy. "To me it's the same thing as prostitution. It was a big sex ring going on there and these kids knew, ‘Hey we can go have sex, get drugs, we can drink and smoke there without our parents even knowing,'" Poulin said. So Sprague and Beggs lured the boys to their house with the weed and beer, then proceeded to sleep with them and according to one report, possibly give the boys their very first STD. Poulin explains that one of the two scumbags/women, he didn’t say which one, is believed to have a sexually transmitted disease. Perhaps the one who has the STD can share it with the other now that both women are behind bars now in the Okmulgee County Jail. As many as 10 boys are believed to have been involved in the sex ring, although police are continuing to investigate and seek other potential victims to come forward. And why did Carder and Sprague commit these acts? “She said that it brought her back to her teenage years. And that she got 'that look,'" Poulin stated. “There's probably going to be more arrests. The more we learn, we're gonna come get ‘em. We are going to come get them.” So far, Carder has been charged with three counts of statutory rape and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, while Sprague is facing a one count of each of the same two offenses. Wish I could say this was a truly shocking story that I never saw coming, but I think we all know better………
- So the whole rampant-steroid-use-in-the-clubhouse-of-the-Red-Sox story might have more to it than originally thought. Come to find out that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz’s names appearing on that 2003 list of players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs when Major League Baseball was conducting survey testing to determine whether more widespread testing was needed wasn’t the whole story. We’ve since learned that ManRam, now with the L.A. Dodgers, and Ortiz, still with Boston, were under scrutiny by the Red Sox last year along with two former staffers the team believed may have supplied them with PEDs. It’s being reported that the team fired the two security staffers last summer after an investigation into steroid use. Jared Remy, the son of Red Sox television commentator Jerry Remy, and Nicholas Alex Cyr are the two former staffers in question and while both have admitted that they used steroids, both men denied any knowledge of drug use by players. The Red Sox admit to investigating Cyr and Remy but refuse to divulge any details of the investigation, labeling it confidential. Remy is speaking out about the matter and isn’t exactly painting the team in a glowing light. "They didn't ask much at all; they wanted to make it disappear," Jared Remy said. "I was never asked a question from anyone on the Red Sox -- not one. You would've thought they would've asked me something, you know?" The team may not have asked any questions of Remy, but maybe they felt they had all the information they needed after state police confiscated a vial of steroids from Cyr's car just before last year's All-Star break and Cyr told police he had bought the drug from Remy. However, MLB’s investigation of the matter failed to uncover where Remy had obtained the steroids, so I’m not sure how much weight that finding carries. Cyr’s mother said in an interview that in a meeting her son had with an MLB investigator, the official was interested only in whether high-profile members of the team had been using steroids. "That's all he wanted to know," Lindsey Cyr said. "He asked Alex if Alex had ever given any to Manny Ramirez, and he said absolutely not.'' So clearly the Red Sox weren’t surprised when ManRam and Big Papi’s names were revealed to be among the 104 players on that 2003 list and any actions indicating otherwise were an outright sham. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of this story…….
- The Judd Apatow comedy train still has some steam left in it, just not as much as Apatow, his cast, crew and studio were probably hoping for. Apatow’s latest flick, “Funny People,” led the weekend box office race with an estimated $23.4 million take, better than Apatow's The 40 Year-Old Virgin ($21.4 million) but far lower than the debut for "Knocked Up" ($30.7 million). Winning the earnings race for a weekend is nice, but that accomplishment seems a little less super when you consider that the take for “Funny People” represents the worst opening for a comedy for star Adam Sander since his 2000 bomb "Little Nicky.” Perhaps moviegoers were less excited to see a more serious, thoughtful Apatow flick and thus the bad turnout, I don’t know. Given that the movie was made on a $75 million budget, I’m guessing the studio wasn’t thrilled with the figure from its debut weekend. One film that is having a strong run despite no longer being new and fresh is "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which came in second with $17.7 million. With the boost of its debut on IMAX, every dork’s favorite teen wizard pushed his cumulative total to an impressive $255.5 million and counting. Finishing third for the weekend was "G-Force” with $17.1 million, providing further proof of America’s love affair with gun-toting guinea pigs. And proving that there are still plenty of women 18 to 49 out there who love dragging their unwilling significant others to the theater to see crappy romantic comedies, "The Ugly Truth" took in an additional $13 million for fourth place and a $54.5 million total thus far. The sci-fi family comedy "Aliens in the Attic" rounded out the top five with a modest $7.8 million haul.
One of the notable flops was the torture-centric flick "The Collector," which only managed to collect $3.6 million, good for 11th place. Some lesser-known films had successful weekends on a much smaller scale, as "Adam" ($16,566 per theater), vampire film "Thirst" ($13,793 per theater) and the documentary-esque "The Cove" ($13,600 per theater) all did well in the four theaters they played in. Overall, box office earnings were down a whopping 22 percent from last year, which tends to happen when you don’t have “The Dark Knight" to rely on. Apparently you have finally discovered that there are better things to do than spend time inside a theater watching a crappy summer movie, America, which gives me hope…….
- Is everyone else enjoy the new warmer, fuzzier, more embraceable Cuba as much as I am? Whereas in the old days Cuba was a totalitarian, Communist regime wherein citizens were routinely abused, deprived of their rights and strong-armed by a government that didn’t give a damn what they thought, these days Cuba is….well, a totalitarian, Communist regime wherein citizens were routinely abused, deprived of their rights and strong-armed by a government that didn’t give a damn what they think - but run by a different douche bag dictator. That new douche bag dictator is also known as Cuban President Raul Castro, brother of former douche bag dictator Fidel Castro (whose beard and debonair fashion sense I will always adore). With the United States and Cuba seemingly on the verge of taking significant steps forward in diplomatic relations, Raul Castro made a strong speech to his country’s parliament Saturday, warning that talks with the U.S. are one thing, but that political and regime change are not up for negotiation. "They didn't elect me president to restore capitalism in Cuba, nor to surrender the revolution," Castro declared. "I was elected to defend, maintain and continue perfecting socialism, not to destroy it.” Whoa there, Raul. I most definitely do not appreciate you associating my beloved “R” word - revolution - with that repressive regime of a Communist nation you’re running. Revolutions overthrow the type of government you run, they are not part of its operations. Then again, I didn’t hold out much hope for change when Fidel Castro ceded the presidency to Raul last year. After all, Fidel still has control of the Communist Party and it remains the only legal political party in Cuba. There just isn’t going to be any potential for change in your country when you have all of one legal political party. Thanks for the variety, Cuba! You couldn’t at least throw in an irrelevant, peripheral party like the Green Party or Libertarian Party just for the illusion of variety? And no, I also hold out no hope for change if the rumors are true that Fidel Castro will step down from his post as head of the Communist Party at the next Communist Party Congress (the single biggest party of the year in Cuba, Jaeger bombs all around!). The biggest upside if Fidel Castro does make an appearance to cede control of the party is that it will confirm that dude is in fact still alive. He has not appeared in public since abdominal surgery in 2006, so you never know. If he is alive, I wonder how he handled hearing his brother make a speech in which he actually called some of the measures taken by the Obama administration "positive.” Fidel Castro would rather tattoo the words “Capitalism Rules!” on his forehead than give a compliment to anything done by the U.S. Going forward, this stance of Cuba sticking to its old ways will be juxtaposed against the Obama administration’s insistence that it must see some policy changes from the island dictatorship before it makes further diplomatic concessions and the question becomes who will win the battle. Who knows, we could be headed for Cuban Missile Crisis 2: Castro’s Revenge………
- Could Skype be in danger of an early demise? A legal battle between the online communications system and Joltid, the company that created its technology, could shut Skype down for good. Joltid complains that Skype broke its licensing agreement to use the technology and is looking to terminate the existing licensing agreement. Online auction site eBay owns Skype now and according to the site, if Skype loses the right to use a key part of its software and can't create an adequate replacement, it could lose the ability to operate. "Skype's business as currently conducted would likely not be possible," eBay said in its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite this gloom-and-doom talk, don’t think that Skype is going away any time soon. Its more than 480 million registered users can continue to have video or telephone conversations online through its technology can continue to do so for the foreseeable future while this showdown in court plays out. Skype has battled back by filing suit against Joltid and saying it could not terminate the license agreement. This battle won't go to trial until June 2010, so clearly no one is in a hurry to duke this out in court. “Although Skype is confident of its legal position, as with any litigation, there is the possibility of an adverse result if the matter is not resolved through negotiation," eBay writes. "Skype has begun to develop alternative software to that licensed through Joltid. However, such software development may not be successful, may result in loss of functionality or customers even if successful, and will in any event be expensive.” In order to be fair and give Joltid its say, the company claims that Skype "accessed Joltid's source code and modified it -- Joltid then claimed a breach of license. Joltid is enforcing its rights in the courts. Like any member of the creative industries, Joltid will defend its innovations with determination." Of course, Skype denies any breach and so on we go through the roller coast of litigation fun that surely lurks ahead……..
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