Er-Ah, Stoned Again!

See my entry on this from a week or two ago. Her whole damn family got involved in a PR campaign saying there were NO DRUGS OR ALCOHOL involved. Well guess what? That's called LYING. Now we're up to "there were no OTHER drugs or alcohol" involved. Next she'll have her whole family challenging the fact that Ambien is actually a drug.

Basically this ditz is so out of it she doesn't know what she's taking, then she says she might have taken the wrong thing, then she didn't take anything, and THEN she gave a whole diatribe about her doctor telling her it was probably a seizure from an old head injury. Usually when I get caught and I'm stoned I say "the jig is up." Not Ms. Richie Rich. Anything but taking responsibility for driving around stoned and not knowing what she's doing. She's a MENACE II SOCIETY.

I am getting a head injury just reading through this crap. They need to put her UNDER the jail. She tried to get this case decided in the press, and drum up sympathy for herself, and NOW WHAT? Hey she was on drugs. The cop and the truck driver were right. She was STONED OFF HER ASS. What a SHOCK! A KENNEDY, stoned. Who could believe that?

If I got in this mess they would be working on seizing my car and busting my chops nine ways to Sunday. I will hold my breath and wait for her to own up to her bullshit. I wonder if she's going to try to stick with the head injury story in light of the blood test that shows she was STONED OFF HER ASS. I could type that all day.

STONED OFF HER ASS. Man that feels good.

Kerry Kennedy had a generic version of the potent prescription sleep aid Ambien in her system after she struck a tractor-trailer while driving erratically on a Westchester County highway this month, court papers filed on Wednesday said.

Final toxicology results showed that no other drugs or alcohol were in Ms. Kennedy’s blood or urine, a deposition submitted to the court by prosecutors said.

Ms. Kennedy, the former wife of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, had told the police after she had been stopped that she takes the drug Synthroid every morning at 7:30 for a thyroid condition, and on occasion, she takes Ambien to help her sleep.

She is facing a misdemeanor charge of driving with ability impaired by drugs and has pleaded not guilty.

Ms. Kennedy was arrested on July 13 after she swerved into a tractor-trailer on Interstate 684 and continued driving, exiting the highway just after 8 a.m. Officer Joel Thomas of the North Castle police found a dazed and disoriented Ms. Kennedy behind the wheel of her damaged 2008 Lexus, with the engine running and a flat tire. A witness reported that Ms. Kennedy left the accident scene, court papers said.

Officer Thomas said Ms. Kennedy was “swaying” and exhibited impaired speech. She told the police she felt dizzy and had no memory of a collision, court documents show.

Zolpidem, a hypnotic and sedative class drug prescribed by physicians to treat temporary insomnia, has been known to cause strange, though rare, side effects. The reported problems include sleepwalking, short-term amnesia and “sleep-driving” — driving while not fully awake, according to a guide approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Ms. Kennedy told the officer that the two medications were “next to each other on her counter, and it is possible she took the sleep medication instead of the thyroid medication,” according to the papers filed by the Westchester district attorney, Janet DiFiore.

The toxicology tests, administered nearly five hours after the accident, showed that Ms. Kennedy, 52, had evidence of zolpidem, the chemical found in Ambien and other sleep aids, in her system.

The amount of zolpidem detected in Ms. Kennedy’s blood — 14 nanograms per milliliter — is low, said David M. Benjamin, a clinical pharmacologist and forensic toxicologist based in Massachusetts. Dr. Benjamin said it would be difficult, based on the level alone, to pinpoint when she took the zolpidem.

Ms. Kennedy had also made the suggestion, based on neurological testing performed by her own doctors, that the collision resulted from a possible partial seizure caused by a long-ago head injury.

[New York Times]

Skip To The Next One

This is one thing I've always loved about the car business. They live in the future. There's a very simple reason for this. You can go over to a Ford dealer and buy a 2013 Ford Escape right now, and drive it over to your friend's house and show off.

"Lookee here. I got the NEW Ford Escape. 2013 model. It's great. I'm AHEAD OF THE CURVE. I'm into next year's model already. Yeeeee-hah!"

Three points. Number one, it's an aptly named car. It's called an Escape because you need to know how to get the fuck out of there when it catches on fire.

And two, now that they've screwed up the 2013 version, why don't they just press on with their marketing? Ford should just SKIP 2013 and move ahead and start making 2014 Ford Escapes, and the idiots that buy them now can feel even MORE ahead of the curve and increase their bragging rights. If there are indeed any bragging rights involved in buying a car that is spontaneously combustible.

Third, finally, this isn't even the first recall of these rolling bombs. They don't brake either, the carpet gets in the way. It's an UNSTOPPABLE rolling bomb. More like a military assault vehicle of some kind as opposed to a wholesome SUV that transports a family while destroying what remains of our atmosphere. What's a catchy slogan for all this? "American engineering - second to all."

Ford Motor Co. is telling owners of one version of the brand-new Ford Escape not to drive the SUVs until dealers can fix fuel lines that can crack and spill gasoline, causing engine fires.

The company issued the unusual warning on Thursday and said it is recalling 2013 Escapes equipped with 1.6-liter four-cylinder engines. Dealers will pick up the Escapes and drop off a loaner car that customers can use until the repairs are finished. The company is hoping to ship parts and get all the SUVs repaired in the next two weeks.

Ford says it has three reports of fires: two at the factory and one while a customer was driving an Escape. No one has been injured.

The recall affects 11,500 Escapes in the U.S. and Canada. Only 4,800 have been sold to customers. The rest are on dealer lots and will be fixed before they are sold, spokeswoman Marcey Zwiebel said. "We are obviously taking very quick action in the interest of our customers' safety," she said.

Escapes powered by other engines are not affected, nor are other Ford models with 1.6-liter engines, Zwiebel said.

This is the second recall of the redesigned Escape, which went on sale in June. On Saturday, the company said it would recall more than 10,000 Escapes to fix carpet padding that could interfere with braking. Problems often crop up when new vehicles are introduced, even though automakers have improved quality in recent years.

The new Escape is among Ford's top-selling vehicles. People bought 28,500 last month, up 28 percent from June 2011.

[Associated Press]

Er Ah, Oops

Good to know that she wasn't messed up on alcohol or drugs, but what are the other alternative explanations? She may have taken Ambien. She doesn't know if that's what she took. So she wakes up in the morning and she doesn't know what pill she's taking and she took the wrong one and drove into a truck and then drove away. Hmmmmm. Well what a RELIEF that she wasn't on alcohol or drugs. Some people would say Ambien is a drug? But her family says there were no drugs or alcohol WHATSOVER in her system. Does her family know more than she does about what she's doing? SHE said she may have taken Ambien. We're up to toxicology now and we'll see where that goes. Maybe her family keeps her locked up and when she gets out she makes up stories about taking Ambien? That could be it.

According to the doctor quoted below by the time they tested her the Ambien could have been totally out of her system so we'll never know.

What if she didn't take any Ambien and she's just a bad driver? What if she didn't take any Ambien and she was pissed and decided to hit the truck on purpose? This could be the perfect cover story for a female suburban Rambo, wreaking havoc on the highways in a reincarnation of Thelma from "Thelma and Louise." In the end of the movie they drove the car into a canyon and they both probably died.

I wonder how the truck driver feels reading this. "Oh, Ambien. I understand. Be careful now, y'hear! Get along little doggies." Probably just a nice benevolent guy.

In my time I've seen so many of these Kennedys arrested it's not even news anymore. Getting arrested is like a rite of passage for these people, and I've never heard of ANY of them going to jail. If I got caught in a bind like this I don't think my family would be issuing any supporting statements. I'm just an average Joe. With a lower overall family percentage arrest rate than the Kennedys, who are rich and have every advantage in life. There I said it.

New questions are being raised about the sleeping pill Ambien after Kerry Kennedy, the ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, may have been under the influence of the sleeping aid when she was involved in a crash with a tractor-trailer on a New York highway and left the scene.

Kennedy was arrested and charged with driving while impaired Friday. She is due in court Tuesday.

ABC News has learned that Kennedy told police she may have taken Ambien sometime Friday morning, but doesn't remember for sure. But her family said in a statement released to ABC News that there were no drugs involved.

"Kerry Kennedy voluntarily took breathalyzer, blood and urine tests -- all of which showed no drugs or alcohol whatsoever in her system. The charges were filed before the test results were available," the Kennedy family said in a statement released Friday.

The results of Kennedy's toxicology tests are still pending. But legal analysts say whatever they show could play a big role in her defense.

"Ambien has a short half life, so by the time she went to the hospital and by the time her blood was analyzed, the drug actually could have disappeared from her system," criminal defense attorney Dana Cole said.

There have been previous complaints about Ambien lulling people into trance-like state.

Last year, 60 million Americans were prescribed a sleeping aid.

But for a drug that's supposed to help you sleep, it's amazing how active you can be and not know it.

There are numerous claims of "sleep driving" by people who took the drug.

A woman learned she was "sleep cooking" and even fried an egg, while another woman woke up and found out she wasn't even home.

Kerry Kennedy's cousin, former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed into a barrier near Capitol Hill, saying he had been disoriented after taking Ambien.

The details of Friday's accident don't fit Kennedy's public image -- a mother of three who has no known history of substance abuse.

"I seriously doubt that she'll be looking at any jail. She's looking at a fine and probably some sort of drug or alcohol program that she'll need to attend," Cole said.

[ABC News]

Nobody Goes There Anymore, It's Too Crowded

This is a great statement on America. McDonald's finished last in customer satisfaction based on this survey. They serve 68 million customers a day. What's wrong with this picture? Is it masochism? Americans flock to places they hate? Are we a country of whiners? What would happen if the customer satisfaction score went down and the number of customers went up? Would they invest money in improving their facilities and service or would they release a swarm of cockroaches to piss people off even more? It's almost a reverse marketing model.

I think McDonald's is doing well because people are going broke and Macky Ds is the best they can do. As long as America keeps failing their business should be good. They could probably increase profits by NOT spending the $1.5 billion on WiFi and this other crap. Just hire some recently laid off surly types and they're all set.

Over the past two years McDonald's stock has jumped from $70 to $90 a share. The message from Wall Street to McDonald's management is clear, "everything you're doing is just great. Screw 'em." In a related note, ALL of my kids hate clowns, and they love McDonald's anyway. People love...what they hate! Clear as mud.

Guess many McDonald's customers aren't lovin' it. McDonald's finished last in a ranking of its restaurant peers in a report released Tuesday by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Fast food restaurants Papa John's, Subway and Taco Bell all scored better than the burger giant. Among restaurants specializing in burgers, Wendy's led the pack, followed by Burger King.

The ranking isn't new territory for McDonald's, which serves 68 million customers per day. Except for 2009, when McDonald's edged ahead of of KFC and Burger King by a percentage point, McDonald's has consistently placed last in the ranking since 1995.

But Mickey D's is steadily improving. Its 73 percent satisfaction score in 2012 is a substantial gain from its all-time low of 59 percent in 2000.

McDonald's issued a statement in response to the findings: "At McDonald’s, customer satisfaction has, and continues to be, a top priority. We take all customer feedback seriously. Our internal and third-party research shows that we continue to make progress in satisfying our customers. Business results also reinforce this. In fact, the producers of the American Customer Satisfaction index said that McDonald’s customer satisfaction is at an all-time high. Still, we know we can do more by continuing to offer our customers great value, menu variety and a positive service experience every time they visit our restaurants.”

The company plans to spend $1.5 billion this year to make over its restaurants with more comfortable seating, WiFi, and McTV, reports Forbes. Recent menu changes have included smoothies, oatmeal, and bakery items. In May, McDonald's announced plans to stop buying pork from farms using gestation stalls that confine animals during the breeding and post-birth processes, a move the Humane Society of the United States considered a victory. And there is, of course, their latest claim that nothing on the menu is "unhealthy."

[Shine from yahoo!]

Shame Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

First off, how can a guy who has a hairdo like this talk about anyone else being ashamed?

It's a shame Trump didn't run, because then people would have a reason to listen to The Braying Oracle and really evaluate what he said. As it stands, I can't understand why his opinion has any value whatsoever. Without Palin he's nothing.

Trump is also oblivious to the fact that he's insulting most of America and its government. The Health Care bill passed through the legislature, and now it's survived the challenge to its legality or Constitution-ality or whatever, and these guys are still beefing and crying. If the Republicans are re-energized by this, good for them! If you re-energize an idiot you have a re-generized idiot. I'm looking forward to seeing that.

Why should Trump care about this? He has all the health insurance he needs. Does he look in the mirror? That should be more of a priority. A guy who has run casinos into bankruptcy is calling Judge Roberts a dummy. Fix your hair! OMG!

Mitt Romney will benefit from the Supreme Court health-care ruling, though Chief Justice John Roberts should be "ashamed" of his role in the decision, businessman Donald Trump told CNBC.

The conservative jurist provided the deciding vote in a 5-4 ruling that said the health-care plan's individual mandate, which requires Americans to have health insurance, passed constitutional muster.

While the decision allows the Affordable Care Act to go into law, Trump said the ultimate winner could be President Barack Obama's Republican challenger Romney.

"This was a big one," Trump said during his weekly "Squawk Box" appearance Tuesday. "This energized the Republican Party like never before. I think it's going to maybe elect Mitt Romney."

As for Roberts, who ruled with the majority that the individual mandate is constitutional so long as it's considered a tax rather than a penalty, Trump had harsh words.

"John Roberts should be ashamed of himself," he said. "He's looking like a dummy. His decision was not written by the supposedly smart man he is .... The decision makes no sense."

Trump speculated that Roberts sided with the court's liberal justices in an effort to appease the Washington establishment by giving "a Georgetown-type of opinion."

"Now they love him in Washington," Trump said. "That's probably what he wanted. I think that's the sole reason he did it."

[CNBC]