Granny Rant
Friday, November 28, 2003
::: Baghdad Donkeys ... Al Qaeda Operatives? :::
In recent weeks, Guerrilla Donkeys have come under greater scrutiny in George Bush's
War On Terror.
U. S. Troops are being accused of "species profiling" and donkeys are being subjected
to unlawful search and seizure. Granny suspects this new outrage to be the result of
the latest amendment to the "Animal Patriot Act."
Gas station owners are refusing to sell them fuel. Donkeys are being searched
for weapons ... no lawyer (except with taping of privileged conversations
between a donkey and his lawyer), no phone call to family, no charges filed for
months and brutal animal cruelty ... donkeys have been heard braying into the
Cuban night!
What a shame to dash donkey hopes for a new, democratic Iraq delivered
by the heroic American liberators. It is a disgrace, and I, for one will be writing
my Congressman!
[...]
The animals salivate and wheeze with exhaustion as they pull their owners and heavy loads across the potholed streets of the Iraqi capital in a desperate search for kerosene.
[...]
"When they see us ride by, they call us terrorists. They accuse us of being Saddam's guerrillas and causing all of the security problems in Iraq," Hikmat Sabeeh said.
"We had nothing to do with the rocket attacks."
[...]
Ali Kathim woke up two days after the rocket attacks to find his donkey was missing.
"My friends said they saw the Americans take my donkey away," he said. "I have not been able to work for four days. I just sit around. I don't know if I will get the donkey back."
[...]
There is a chill in the Baghdad air as many suspect some donkeys are being
transported to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation. All of Baghdad is in a
chaotic frenzy with concern for these gentle, innocent "illegal combatants."
[...]
"When they see us ride by, they call us terrorists. They accuse us of being Saddam's guerrillas and causing all of the security problems in Iraq," Hikmat Sabeeh said.
[...]
A dark shadow is creeping across Iraq as a new terror is whispered on the wind.
[...]
Donkeys are not alone. Horses also face new checks.
[...]
*******************************************************************
Oh no, Mr. Bill, not horses too!
OK, if the clown car slows down by any appreciable margin, I suggest you bail.
I know I plan to do so. An now for something completely different:
"She'll be comin 'round the mountain .... here she comes, here she comes."
Thursday, November 27, 2003
::: Bush Eats Turkey With The Troops :::
Apparently President Bush took the time to plan and execute a surprise trip
to Iraq to visit the troops there. After convincing everyone he would be at
home in Crawford, Tx. with his family for Thanksgiving, he sneaked out of
town, boarded Air Force One, made a "no lights" landing at the airport in
Baghdad. His trip was an absolute secret to all but a few and I am sure the
Secret Service had a hissy fit (southernism) when they were told.
When Paul Bremer was finishing his speech to a group of approximately
600 troops, they kept the tease going by attempting to find a more senior
person to "read" the President's remarks to the troops. After saying, Let's
see if there is anyone more senior back behind the curtain to read this."
(Paraphrasing) George Bush stepped out in military duds and the troops
went wild. Bush was seen on the TV coverage serving and eating a meal
with the troops and they were estatic to have the Commander-In-Chief at
their side.
As most know who read my tirades, Bush is not one of my favorite people.
But I must say this was a stroke of genius on his part and actually did
involve some risk to President Bush.
I am sure most will call it a stunt, political or otherwise, but I for one still
feel he deserves an atta-boy on this one.
The explosive response from the troops when they saw him was well
worth whatever political mileage he will gain.
Bravo Dubya!
::: And What About ??? A few "Down The Rabbit Hole" Inquiries :::
Ok, so who is going to be arrested in the Valerie Plame outing?
Who made all that $$$ on insider trading on 9-11???
Who is Buzz Krongard???
Who had dinner with the brother of John Hinkley when the attempt was made to off Reagan???
Why are NO Enron Executives in Jail?
Why are Democrats lying down with the dogs in the White House?
Status quo ... business as usual? Ha, my warning is Americans
are finally waking up. I just hope it is not too late.
TinFoil Hats On: Why Can I NOT Find The Boeing
More questions later... gotta hurry ... yum Turkey and all the fixins
Happy Thanksgiving ... Granny
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
:::::::: Well Shut My Southern Mouth :::::::::
::: Democrats Fold, Medicare Sham Passes :::
Granny is shocked and awed at the sight of Democrats, tails between
their legs, voting "aye" to the most hideous piece of legislation I've
seen come down the Repub pike.
One of the first things a thinking person would notice was the actual
height of the stack of paper representing the bill, approximately one
foot high and delivered for consideration a mere 4 days ago. Plus,
from what I heard on TV (CSpan) only two Democrats were allowed to
participate in the Conference construction of this weighty tome.
Everyone who has read this pile of cobbled gobbeldy gook ...
raise your hand.
Then there is the provision prohibiting Medicare from negotiation with
drug manufacturers on cost ... Preposterous!
Oh, and the "25% Discount Card" supposedly coming right away for
seniors. Discount from where? If they cannot negotiate
costs, who will deliver this discount? And for the first time tonight
on Lou Dobbs I heard the words "seniors will be able to BUY a
discount card."
Name one group backing the Medicare Bill who will not
benefit financially by its passage.
Granny is pretty hot, but is also down again with a stupid bug.
I am sure Bush or Ashcroft beamed it over on me. Guess I had better
shut up.
Here is a bit of chit chat on the subject: Bitter Pills
Good Night ... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Saturday, November 15, 2003
::: More From Wired on Black Box Voting Machine Scandal :::
These guys are really scary ... how can we avoid these
Diebold Fraud Machines?
Two articles from Wired Mag:
Suspect Code Used In State Votes
E-Vote Firm's Bill Comes Due
::: A Couple of Shamey, Shameys :::
Uh ... on Dubya being worried sick over the California Wildfires...
Trial By Fire
Seems the Environmental Rapist in the White House strikes again ... in
the form of the "Healthy Forests Initiative."
[...]
Further, in pursuit of your safety, Congress has caved in to George W. Bush's "Healthy Forests Initiative." The Senate approved a deal brokered by Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, former timber industry lobbyist, which allows logging interests to "thin" 20 million acres of public lands -- for your safety, of course. Again, the "free market" gets its legislation and its profits, while the community gets lip service. The fact is that, as "free marketeers," the logging companies are in it for the profit, and since deadwood and scrub-brush don't sell very well down at the Home Depot, the substances that provided the very fuel for the wildfires will remain the problem of the state. The lumber that can be sold will be taken out by the "free marketeers."
[...]
*******************************************************
Bush's Top Gun Stunt --- the COST to taxpayers.
[...]
Bush's "top gun" landing on the aircraft carrier was scripted down to the last second. An advance team spent days on the ship preparing for the event. And when Bush finally arrived, he brought an entourage of 75-100 people with him. The carrier had to stay out at sea an extra day so that Bush could do a "sleep over" with the troops. Not only did this delay their reunions with their loved ones an extra day, but it cost taxpayers a cool $3.3 million (the cost of keeping a carrier task force afloat for one day).
[...]
I say we take the $3.3 Million out of Bush's campaign $$ ... or his butt will do.
Then, there is this bit of absurdity ....
[...]
Just last week, President Bush tried to explain the relationship between progress in Iraq and the mounting U.S. casualties. "There are terrorists in Iraq," Bush said, "who are willing to kill anybody in order to stop our progress. The more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react." At some point - and that point may be right around now -- Bush's logic falls apart. The notion that more attacks on U.S. troops is a sign of "success" surely can't be sustained for more than a very, very short run, assuming that the argument has been thought through at all by Bush and his PR "spin" machine.
[...]
And .... Bush's recent comments on the soldiers military spirit being,
"a lot better than you'd probably think."
Just check out the Stars and Stripes article "The Ground Truth."
Half of the soldiers polled said morale was low, they claim they are
inadequately trained and they do not plan to re-enlist and then
there was that notice on the Pentagon's website (now removed,
I've heard) calling for young men and women over the age of 18
to re-staff county Draft Boards. The Pentagon's response was to
assert the boards needed to be staffed because ... well ... they
just re-staff them when staff leaves.
Duh ... Message from Pentagon, Tell those stupid Ordinary Fodder
Units anything to shut them up.
Oh, and here is an interesting factoid re the number of wounded soldiers
[...]
In the numbers game played by politicians, the wounded and non-combat casualties get discounted and ignored. The Pentagon has been reporting only the combat casualties- not deaths from accidents, friendly fire, and suicide.
The Pentagon has held off on reporting the number of wounded soldiers, creating a major gap in reporting on the war. In late October, Stars and Stripes reported that the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany had treated 7,381 wounded American soldiers.
[...]
Just to be sure no one missed it ... there have been 7,381 American soldiers wounded in Iraq.
My comment to the Pentagon would be the same as the comment made by the
lady tobacco farmer from my post, "Granny's Gone Insane"
Ok, gotta go feed cats on one fat dog and .... husband too!
Reminds me of my recent poster, "Husband and Cat Missing. Reward for Cat."
::: Lessons From The Blackout :::
[...] ...Policy change by the Environmental Protection Agency that lawyers
at the agency say will lead it to drop investigations of 50 power plants for
Clean Air Act violations.
Elliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York is demanding EPA turn over all
documents from an investigation into EPA rule change that will lead to the
agency dropping investigations of 50 power plants for Clean Air Act violations.
Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, calls for Judiciary Committee hearings.
Senator Charles Schumer, D-New York, wants inspector general to investigate
whether EPA exceeded its authority.
"I am concerned that E.P.A. has basically announced to the power industry
that it can now pollute with impunity," Mr. Schumer said.
Wow, and now there is something new called New Source Review.
Enforcement lawyers at the agency say they were told this week that it would
pursue investigations only if it could prove that plants were in violation of new,
more lenient standard that the agency issued last month under the so-called
New Source Review program.
Under the old rules, plants that were modernized in ways that increased
harmful emissions generally had to install more pollution controls. Under
the new rules, any renovation costing no more than one-fifth of a power-
generating unit's value would be exempted from the requirement for new
pollution-control devices.
The utility industry and the Bush administration have argued that the
old rules were too costly and inefficient and that the new rules and
other proposed changes will reduce pollutants.
Agency lawyers and environmental groups say that the new standard
would shield almost all of the plants under investigation. The lawyers
said the decision would undermine investigations that had already found
serious violations at the 50 plants, which are owned by 10 different
companies. They said the change could also jeopardize inquiries involving
at least 50 more plants.
::: Granny's Gone Insane :::
Just thought I would check in ...
Am not really dead as some have suspected ...
But ... Tenncare is trying to kill us at the pharmacy! Tenncare has a new "save money" program ... (wow...another set of absurd rules obviously thought up late at night in smoke filled rooms ... the smoke having a peculiar odor) whereby they are instituting a new PDL (Preferred Drug List) so every other claim is denied ...
At that point we have to enter secret codes on secret lines of the SIG (instruction) fields and provide a 3 day supply to the patient, then print out that rejection, stamp it PDL, fax it to the doctor and wait for the patient to explode when we tell them about it.
If the doctor says ... do not change in response to Tenncare's preferred drug (yep, the state is now prescribing drugs), we wait for the customer to return (naturally we must keep track of these responses from the doctors) and dispense the remainder of the prescription, inserting another secret code that tells Tenncare the doctor would prefer Tenncare did not practice medicine on their patient.
If the doctor is OK with the drug selection suggested by Tenncare, we make a new Rx and try to explain to the patient why their pill is blue instead of green.
Tenncare decided to institute this brilliant plan in three stages. One list of drugs came out on October 15th (blood pressure, cholesterol, heart meds, etc). the next comes out November 15th (today and thank God I am not there) and includes drugs near and dear to the patients hearts -- narcotics, i.e. Oxycontin, Duragesic Patches and Actiq Suckers are removed. I truly hate to imagine what they must be going through at the store today, but Monday will be a Super Hell Day, another group of drugs will be implemented December 15th (list not out yet, but I suspect some of the more expensive antibiotics as well a expensive chemo blood builders (Procrit), Enbrel for arthritis, maybe Betaserons.
But this group ... the narcs ... is the one we have been dreading. If the patients taking the drugs are in dire need of them for cancer, etc, this is a terrible shame. Oxycontin is especially great for pain because it is time released and contains not Tylenol. When patients take something containing Tylenol (Percocet is one) and the dosage has to be increased, that delivers more and more Tylenol and it is toxic in large doses ... liver and kidney damage. If they are addicts, they will raise hell, perhaps wait outside the store and attack us, come into the store brandishing weapons, call and whine and cry, and are generally unable to grasp the work "no" in reference to their drugs. If they are selling them (quite profitable) they are sick to death with worry on whether they will lose their house or car.
So ... there you have the gist of it ...
Other than that... everything has been peachy.
Oh.... one more horrid thing I heard on the news ... missed the name of the state and the ins program, but I suspect it is a state program such as Tenncare ... now get this!!!
In an attempt to save money on drugs dispensed for seniors, they have sent letters stating they plan the recoup the dollar amounts spent on seniors by charging it to their estates.
As one of the customers at the store (a crusty former tobacco grower .. the lady of the house) exclaimed when I told here what I had heard ... "Well, they can kiss my ass and bark at the hole." I swear I burst out laughing so hard I had to go in the office to get a grip. She was still cursing all the way out to her truck!
Gran, who is not sorry one bit for the bad language
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
::: Rumors Of Granny's Demise ... Well, You Know The Rest :::
So where have I been? Oh, around!
Actually, I have been under the weather a bit, but that is not it ...
Actually, I have had the creeping LAZEE SICKNESS, but that is not it ...
Actually, we are very, very busy at the Pharmacy, but that is not it ...
Actually, it is all the changes in Tenncare and the rude customers
who DO NOT UNDERSTAND!, but that is not it ...
Actually, I have been so engrossed in politics, I have not had time, but that is not it ...
(You knew that was a blatant LIE .. am in training for the Bush White House)
Ok, so I have been doing a bit of spring ... ooopps .... fall cleaning, petting my
Cats and THE Dog ... (Never forget ... Cats Rule!
Have also been reading like a maniac and watching the going's one in DC.
Geeze those guys are crazy tha n a shithouse rat. I mean, has anybody ever in
their entire life heard so much incredible idiocy frothing from the mouths of the
leaders of these United States.
And Dybya!!! Right back out on the trail, blathering all the same horse hockey ...
what? does he really think the majority of us are buying it?
Oh yeah, the "serious discussions" over the military draft are surfacing ... of
course with most pretending it is a new idea and not the same ole
Military Draft Bill
I like this part best ...
*****************
Specifically, the bill mandates a national service obligation for every U.S. citizen and permanent resident, aged 18-26. To that end, the legislation authorizes the President to establish both the number of people to be selected for military service and the means of selection. Additionally, the measure requires those not selected specifically for military service to perform their national service obligation in a civilian capacity for at least two years. Under the bill, deferments for education will be permitted only through high school graduation.
And ... there are lots of interesting, but depressing goodies on Hollings Home Page
Public Debt To The Penny
as of 11|06|03
$6,871,432,391,769.13
Increase in Federal Debt
since end of FY 2003 (9|30|03):
$88,201,329,025.51
Gross Federal Deficit in FY 2003:
$554,995,097,146.46
source: Bureau of Public Debt
*************************
Wow ... Make me wanna go Hmmmm .... And to remind everyone
to return to the Project For the New American Century
and read up on Rebuilding America's Defenses
These guys are really on the long hard slog to accomplish
all those super ideals listed in the above document.
And ... (last one) Lots of interesting stuff on the desire to police the
Internet ... Security Systems Standards and Certification Act
Pay Attention .... Yes/No??
Saturday, November 01, 2003
::: Terrorists Just Desperate :::
"Thanks to some philosophy President Bush shared the
other day, I realized I've been looking at this whole Iraq
thing bass-ackwards."
The more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react,” the zen President said. “The more progress we make on the ground, the more free the Iraqis become, the more electricity is available, the more kids that are going to school, the more desperate these killers become, because they can’t stand the thought of a free society.”
Ding, ding, ding – of course that’s right.
[...]
Pretty great article! Just goes to show America knows
how to do the foreign policy thingie. Yep, guys, cheer
up. Just think how bad it would be if we caught Saddam
& OBL.
We also better hope we don’t nab Osama. The minute that guy gets plunked into a dungeon in Gitmo, forget about it. That will be proof positive that al Qaeda is so confident that our war on terror is terrible that they’ll let us capture their fearless leader as a taunt and a distraction. You see the logic here? If I were to bump into Osama at Starbucks this afternoon, it would be my duty to buy him a latte and a Halloween mask and send him back into hiding. Same with Mullah Omar. And all those weapons of mass destruction.
This kind of geopolitical theory isn’t just for foreign stuff. Take the California wildfires. Sure, they’re a short-term inconvenience. But in a year everything will be fine even though hundreds of thousands acres were scorched a little bit. It just proves that God wants us to drill for oil in the wilds of Alaska because it’s just not a big deal. In fact, all this smoke and pollution is just a reminder that smoke and pollution are a part of nature and all this EPA stuff is just mumbo-jumbo.
[...]
Wow .... thanks ... now even Granny is onboard.
::: Memo From George Dubya :::
Hmmmm.... it is difficult to steal posts when you are dealing with computer people, so
I will just have to refer you to South Knox Bubba to read the Memo.
::: Red Roses & Blood :::
40 Years After Shots In Dallas
From Love Field to Dealey Plaza, Nellie Connally, now 84, wife of
John Connally, then governor of Texas, recounts the events of
November 22, 1963 in her memoir entitled "From Love Field."
Written by Mickey Herskowitz, her story was first scrawled out 10
days after the 1963 events for grandchildren yet unborn and that
has now been published as a memoir after she rediscovered
the narrative in 1996 in a long-forgotten desk drawer.
"I can't believe it's been 40 years," she says, "nor can I believe that I'm the last person living that was in the back of that car"
[...]
It was an ebullient Mrs. Connally who gushed, "Mr. President, you certainly can't say that Dallas doesn't love you" ... perhaps the last words Kennedy ever heard.
After shots rang out ... and Mrs. Connally is adamant that three bullets, not two as officially established, found their mark ... the president was dead, her husband gravely wounded as she struggled to stanch his blood, and the course of history forever altered.
[...]
The Kennedys and the Connallys hit it off well, she said, "a happy foursome, that beautiful morning," as she wrote in her original notes. "I had my yellow roses in my arms and Jackie had her red roses in hers." Both women, near disastrously, had turned up in pink.
[...]
At Parkland Hospital, Mr. Connally, though only semiconscious, heaved himself out of the way so medics could get the president out of the car, she said. Inside the hospital she succumbed to flashes of resentment.
"I was just afraid that the president was in the other room, that all the doctors were with him," she admitted. She found she was wrong, that her husband was being attended to as well, but it was not clear whether he would survive.
