- All I can say for you, American soccer player Charlie Davies, is that I hope you’re telling the truth. There are no winners when a driver is pulled over because his or her car is going 125 mph, but in this case there is something of an exception. Davies has been fingered as the driver of a car stopped going 125 mph last weekend, as he and Jacques Faty, Davies’ teammate on the French club Sochaux, were headed to Paris in aty's Audi Q7 early in the morning on Oct. 3. The French gendarmerie's highway patrol section in the eastern city of Dole made the stop and Davies was cited for speeding. The offense was incredibly and egregiously bad because it came less than a year after Davies was involved in a car accident on Oct. 13, 2009 in Virginia that killed another passenger and left him severely hurt. He suffered two broken bones in his right leg, a broken and dislocated left elbow, a broken nose, forehead and eye socket, a ruptured bladder and bleeding on the brain in that crash, so the fact that he would be involved in another traffic misstep less than a year later…..unthinkable. That he would be the driver in such an instance was just jaw-droppingly offensive. How anyone could go through what he went through, nearly die and almost lose your soccer career in the process and then speed at such a reckless rate is mind-boggling. But days after the incident, Davies doubled back and claimed that he was not the driver but told French police he was in order to protect Faty,who asked him to switch places and tell police he was driving because Faty thought his license was still suspended from a previous speeding infraction. Faty, who backs Davies’ version of the night, said that he thought police would only fine Davies, but Faty feared he would be jailed. "That's not possible for me to go 120 mph on the road after an accident and think everything will be fine," Davies said. "If a kid survives such a serious accident and then almost exactly a year later is driving at a reckless speed, it's like, 'This can't be serious.' ... If someone has a second chance like I do, to take advantage of something like that, it's not something I could do. I learned too much from the whole experience to let something like that happen." Faty announced plans to meet with police this week and take responsibility for his actions, which could absolve Davies of blame or could be rejected by police if they elect to stick with their original stance. Faty’s version of the incident has him driving to Paris after Sochaux players were given four days off and Davies asking for a ride because he planned to fly back to Boston, where he played in college. Davies claimed that he doesn’t drive in France, thus his request for a ride. "Everything seemed fine. I knew he was driving a little fast but didn't know he was driving as fast as he was," Davies said. "Then I saw a blue flash from a police car." When they saw the flashing lights, the two men responded as most anyone in their position would - they freaked out. From there….."I asked Charlie to take my place," Faty said. "Charlie is an American, in France. I thought it would be easier." Because the windows of the vehicle were heavily tinted, police were unable to see the two men allegedly switching seats. "I was like, 'Jacques, I don't think I can do this.' He was like, 'No, trust me, it'll be easy. If you don't, I'll go to prison and you'll be stranded here,' " Davies said. Nothing like playing the, “Do what I say or I’ll go to jail and you’ll be stuck here waiting for a ride” card, Jacques. But this is one case where I’m hoping that a ridiculous story is true because if it’s not, Davies is an even bigger idiot than he appears to be right now………
- Now THAT is what I call a party. Central Washington University may never make the top party schools lists that Playboy and other publications compile each year, but don’t tell me that Oslyn, Wash. is not a place to go and find a bitchin’ party because you’re just wrong if you believe that. Go ahead and try to explain to me how a party that ends with 50 Central Washington University students and other teenagers involved in multiple drug and alcohol overdoses on a Friday night is anything other than the party of the year. Better still, this thing was so out of control that South Cle Elum police responded to a report of an assault and possible poisoning/overdose shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, which could not have been more than an hour after the party began. Everyone knows that no truly great party starts before 10 p.m. at the earliest, so this shindig could not have been going on long before the roof was blown right off. A party that has an assault victim being rushed off to Kittitas Valley Community Hospital, tipping off police to the location of the party and having officers break down the door in time to stop a possible sexual assault in progress is a freaking rager beyond description. Really, the only truly offensive part of the evening is the attempted sexual assault, because that just isn’t something to joke or laugh about. But officers finding several people in critical condition due to overdosing on an unknown substance would seem to indicate that there were some serious, hardcore drugs (bad Ecstasy?) being passed around. By night’s end, at least 11 people were transported and treated at Kittitas Valley Community Hospital while some others were transported to hospitals in Yakima for treatment. Thirty-five other partygoers were interviewed at the scene of the party and no less than six law enforcement or emergency agencies responded to the situation, including Central Washington University Police Department, Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office, Cle Elum Fire Department, Roslyn Fire Department, Kittitas County Hospital District 2 and Kittitas County Fire & Rescue. It’s going to be awfully difficult to top this rager, CWU students, but don’t let that stop you from trying……..
- I shouldn’t need to tell you this or explain for any reason why coups are awesome, but for any doubters out there, this next story should shut you up. When regional police in Ecuador are holding their country’s president hostage for 11 hours and talking during that time about offing their disliked leader, the debate about the goodness or badness of coups is over. Now, President Rafael Correa and his posse are pretty much the only ones calling Thursday's police uprising an attempted coup, but who cares? They’ve convinced Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, to support their theory and as someone who loves all forms of social dissidence, big and small, I’ll happily go along with it as well. Normally, it’s the police who are attempting to shut down and shut up those who would take it to the streets to voice their dissent with The Man, but in this instance it was law enforcement officers who marched to make their voices heard against government austerity measures they said would limit bonuses and compensation. Correa made the regrettable decision to attempt to meet with some of the protestors and soon found himself surrounded by an angry mob that was talking junk, roughing him up and turning an attempted negotiation into an uprising. At some point in the fray, a forward thinker in the crowd fired a tear gas canister at Correa and another hero in the crowd was seen on TV footage punching the president and trying to yank his gas mask off. Not many countries have citizens who actually make good on threats to assault their president with either fists or weapons, so much respect to Ecuador on that one. Correa was extricated from the melee and was taken to a hospital, where he was held until the military attacked the police and liberated him several hours later. According to the government, radio transmissions released by the Andes news outlet late Tuesday show police talking about offing Correa. "They should kill Correa so this will end," an unidentified man said on the recording. "Kill Correa and this demonstration will end." A second man on the recordings suggested that police wanted Correa to sign a decree guaranteeing unspecified benefits, but which likely refers to the austerity measures. That sounds an awful lot like blackmail…..and I love it. "The gentleman who is supposedly president will not leave without signing the attributions that correspond to the national police," the man says. "That gentleman has to assure our complete amnesty." A third man threatens Correa and mixes in a nice expletive to spice things up."Don't let that [expletive] leave," the man says. "First, he has to sign and then he can leave. If not, that [expletive] leaves dead." A total of 50 police officers have been arrested since the uprising/coup, some with connections to the Patriotic Society political party, led by former President Lucio Gutierrez. In the aftermath of the supposed coup, Ecuador’s government declared a one-week state of emergency Thursday afternoon and put the military in charge of security. The state of emergency was extended through this Friday, but that shouldn’t stop all you aspiring dissidents across Ecuador from mounting another challenge to The Man trying to hold you down………
- If nothing else, the name fits. Former Guns N' Roses guitarist and ex-Velvet Revolver member Slash has announced he is moving into filmmaking, launching a new production company called Slasher Films. Not surprisingly, Slash wants his studio to specialize in horror films. "I've always been a huge horror fan and creating films that take you back to the days where horror movies actually scared the hell out of you is something I've always wanted to do," he explained. "My audience is made up of young, edgy, discerning consumers, with an appetite for quality and a hint of anarchy." So what sort of horror movies does he want to churn out? After all, there are many options. You could make unneeded and unwanted sequels of old horror movies, you could go the torture porn route, you could be so over the top with blood and guts that the American Red Cross is the only logical promotional tie-in with your movie…..just to name a few. But according to Slash, the plan is to reach back in time and produce "edgy contemporary horror fare with a nod to the thrillers of the 1970s and 1980s.” Of course, one of the ultimate truisms in the world of fame is that athletes always want to be rappers or musicians, actors want to be athletes and musicians want to be either athletes or in the movie business. Basically, mastering one skill that makes them famous isn’t enough and they have dreams of fame in another field just like the rest of us. Slash wanting to make horror movies is no surprise in that respect and who knows, perhaps he’ll be good at it. Lord knows his films cannot be much worse than the cinematic drivel that the major studios are cranking out on a monthly basis these days. The first project for Slasher Films will be Nothing To Fear, a horror thriller about a small-town family haunted by a blood-sucking demon. Sounds like something Wes Craven would direct, no? So cue the cameras and let it roll, Slash………
- See what you’re doing not only to your own poor bodies, but to our nation and economy, FAT Americans? You’re dragging us all down with your flabby physique and that’s a problem. According to a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, loss of productivity due to obesity costs the United States at $73.1 billion per year. Why these hidden obesity costs? For one, obese people tend to be less productive than normal-weight people while at work. FAT people also take more sick days because, well, your body doesn’t function as well when carrying a 50 or 100 pounds of extra FAT and you’re simply more susceptible to illness. The study, led by Eric Finkelstein, deputy director for health services and systems research at Duke University and the National University of Singapore, factored in medical expenses, sick days and health-related productivity costs associated with obesity. Finkelstein and his team broke down the data and came to the conclusion that employers would benefit immensely by implementing health improvement programs for their employees. "Now that we've uncovered this sort of hidden cost, I think that it ups the ante for [employers] to think harder about what sort of interventions they want to implement," Finkelstein stated. This is not the first study to probe links between FAT people and their negative impact on businesses, but past studies have focused mainly on health-care costs and lost workdays. Very few have examined "presenteeism," or lost performance while at work. This study was based on data from a nationally representative survey on medical expenditures (2006 data) combined with data on absenteeism and presenteeism from the internet-based U.S. National Health and Wellness Survey (2008 data). In the interest of full disclosure, the research was funded by Allergan, Inc., a health-care company that makes LAP-BAND and other devices used in weight-loss surgeries, so it’s not exactly a philanthropic effort. The study itself set up controls for race, ethnicity, income, education levels, insurance coverage, marital status and smoking, after which researchers found significant costs of being obese. It’s no secret that health problems hurt productivity regardless of weight, but this study found that trend doubled with each increase from mild to moderate to extreme obesity. It was true for men and it was true for women, no exceptions. "As you increase in your BMI, there is just a tremendous increase in the impact of that obesity on work productivity," said Marco daCosta Di Bonaventura, the director of health economics and outcomes research at Kantar Health (a health-care consulting company) and a co-author of the study. As an example, men with BMIs of 30 to 34.9, the low end of the obese range, cost $1,143 more each per year in medical expenditures, missed workdays and lost productivity at work than normal-weight men. That figure jumped to $6,087 more for men with BMIs over 40. In a country where two-thirds of the population is either overweight or obese, this study is cause for major concern………
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