Pity or disgust?
A rather sad event took place early Thursday morning adjacent to the US Capitol in Washington. Rep. Kennedy (son of Sen. Edward Ken, D-MA) of Rhode Island crashed his car into a barricade as he hurried back to work to not miss an important vote. Fortunately, he was not injured (nor, evidently, was the barricade damaged). Unfortunately, at 3 a.m., there was no vote schedule to take place (it occurred 6 hrs earlier). The congressman - according to the AP news reports - was under the influence of pain killer medication (probably similar to the same medications former OSU basketball coach Eddie Sutton was under when he caused a serious accident in Oklahoma two months ago). Everyone makes mistakes, but is this just a little crazy? In his own words:
"I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions," Kennedy said. "That's not how I want to live my life. And that's not how I want to represent the people of Rhode Island."Mr. Kennedy, I think the people of Rhode Island would prefer you not represent them inabsentia, either. I don't know whether to offer my pity or my disgust.
posted by Brad @ 4:03 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
There was an "article" on the evening news about "sleep driving" while under the influence of sleeping aids and other medications. There is an alarmingly high incidence rate of this, but it is not recorded for statistics, so we don't really know how prevalent this is. In every case of those caught, they indeed had no recollection of getting in their cars or where they were going, nor did they notice any damage they had done. I hadn't heard of Kennedy doing this, but hopefully his example will encourage Washington and the drug companies to look more closely at the side effects of their medicines, and for communities to start recording the statistics of this type of "driving under the influence."
Just to clarify, Kennedy should not be let off the hook, and checking himself into the Mayo clinic sounds like a good step forward.
I have heard of this sleep disorder. I hope I do not come down with it. In an unrelated incident, I woke suddenly last night at 2 a.m., only to find that my feet were on my pillow, and my face was 1/2 way off the end of my bed. (FYI, I was not in this awkward position when I went to sleep. Nor do I remember doing a 180 during the night. Yikes!)
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