While I don't enjoy seeing you die the way the Christians do....

...I do take particular joy in this, from the New York Times:

Pharmacists say they have been losing money under Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, and they have taken their concerns to the White House, forcing the administration to confront political problems caused by the rocky start of the program.


In a meeting last week with Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, the druggists said many independent pharmacies might have to shut their doors because they were not being paid adequately or promptly under Medicare. In the last two months, they said, pharmacists have given away millions of dollars' worth of medications for which Medicare drug plans should have paid.

The pharmacists who visited the White House were all from Texas. Several have close ties to Mr. Rove and President Bush. But their concerns are shared by retail pharmacists across the country, who said that Medicare drug plans were paying them less than it cost to fill prescriptions for the beneficiaries.

Now these guys probably are losing big bucks giving away meds the feds should have been paying for, I've been doing it myself (fortunately I work for a company that makes a fucbillion dollars a second & can afford to ride out this fed screwing), and they are probably getting paid less that it costs them to fill some of these Medicare Rx's, as insurance reimbursements to pharmacies have been getting squeezed for years, the biggest reason your friendly corner drugstore is going the way of the dinosaur. So why on earth would I take delight in the financial suffering of my fellow members of the profession? Karma baby....this whole Medicare Part D(isater) is karma coming around and smacking these boys in the face. I'll elaborate:

Most pharmacists are pansy products of privilege, who have never faced any adversity in their life, & think just because they were able to memorize a shitload and a half of information to get through pharmacy school and land a good paying job, then there is no reason why everyone can't do the same. This makes them good Republicans, who as a party can't understand why everyone on earth can't be in the 90th percentile. Because of this, Republicans & (most)Pharmacists love to look down on and screw people lower on the societal food chain than them. (most) Pharmacists HATE Medicaid customers, you should hear the comments they won't say to your face poor people. (I on the other hand, while I hate a lot of customers for a lot of reasons, never have a quarrel with how money ends up in my pocket. I'm fully aware that I am a welfare queen, that the money the state spends to take care of the health needs of the poor flows into my paycheck.) Now, here's the thing; while (most) pharmacists think of themselves as among the elite of society, playing with their online brokerage accounts and relaxing in their McMansions, the people who live in the REAL mansions and have a REAL broker managing a hedge fund on their speed dial have decided it's the pharmacists turn for a screwing. The Republicans who wrote this Medicare Part D(isaster) bill bent over backwards to make sure Big Pharma....Pfizer, Merck, Glaxo Smith Kline and the bunch, would not see 1 cent of their enormous profits jeopardized with this plan, so bend over you Republican voting pharmacist stooge, and grab your ankles for the benefit of your social betters....but hey.....you've been so loyal to us in the past, we'll give you a few minutes face time with an aide to the President....hopefully so you'll continue to be stupid enough to let us screw you again in the future.....:)

Oh....and the prescriptions those boys are complaining about, where we end up giving meds to the patient so they don't die, those are more than likely for what they call "dual eligible" patients. Meaning the feds took over responsibility for drug coverage for people that had both Medicaid and Medicare coverage, and have promptly fucked it up. So it's the Medicaid people that (most)pharmacists hate so much that are the vehicle that the Republicans are using to screw 'em.....gotta love it when the karma works out so perfectly.....

What Do You Suppose The Pope Has On His Ipod?

From the Catholic News Service:

Pope Benedict XVI recently visited the Vatican Radio headquarters to celebrate the station's 75th anniversary, where the employees presented him with a white iPod nano with "To His Holiness, Benedict XVI" engraved on the back.


So I'm thinking.....and I have absolutely nothing to back this up.....ABBA.

I don't know why, but I can totally see the Pope, in his little Pope hat, dancing around the chambers of the Vatican, singing to no one in particular.....

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen

Maybe it's time for me to get to bed....

Can't Get Those Amputees Off My Mind.....

....so I remember hearing about this a couple years ago, and was thinking of it again during the middle of a particularly suck-ass workday. From Reuters:

A disabled Mississippi man said he was planning to amputate his feet with a home-made guillotine and broadcast the procedure live on the Internet to raise money for new prosthetic legs.

Paul Morgan, a 33-year-old student who was paralyzed below the knees after falling out of a truck in 1986, seized upon the idea after his insurance company refused to pay to have his lower legs amputated and fitted with titanium prosthetic devices.

The sane among you might be asking "Why on earth would my pharmacist be thinking of a lunatic in Mississippi who wants to cut off his feet while he's filling my prescription?" Fair enough question, with a simple answer. I hate you, remember? And when I originally heard about this guy's plan I remember doing the math with the number of subscribers he was hoping to get and realizing it would have grossed about $2 million bucks, enough to throw somewhere at 5% interest, buy a prosthesis, never have to see you or any other freaky customer ever again, and have $100,000k to work with every year. (Unfortunately it didn't work out for the guy from Mississippi. According to my Google search just now on the topic, only about 20 people signed up. No word on if his insurance company ever changed it's mind.)


And as evidence that my plan was feasible I submit this, from ABC News:

Feb. 20, 2005 — In June 2003, Army Capt. David Rozelle lost his right foot in a land mine explosion in Iraq.

After intensive physical therapy, watching the birth of his son and even participating in the New York City Marathon, Rozelle is returning to the war zone as commander of an armored cavalry troop. He'll be the first amputee in recent military history to return to the battlefield where he was injured.

So I'm thinking there's a lot of upside potential to this amputation business. Not only could it get me out of a lifetime of customer hell, maybe we could start some sort of proactive amputation of soldiers before they were deployed to one of Mr. Bush's current or future wars. It would make them smaller targets, send battlefield casualty rates through the floor, and save the country millions I bet. Better living through fewer limbs.....

So I'm searching myself.....

....actually searching *for* myself....my blog....here on blogger.com and I come across this:

"Rx Radio Live by America's Pharmacist Kemi Olunloyo Lane Pharm.D This is the weblog for the upcoming show RX Radio. The show is based out of Atlanta, Georgia and it's a call in show where you can ask me a question. There are several issues in today's pharmaceutical world from drug recalls to side effects to insurance issues and both compliance and abuse issues"


Let's hope for the sake of her radio career that her spoken English isn't nearly as awkward as her written words. That's just painful to read.



"Stay tuned as I will be on the air doing what I do best in my life! Counseling patients at the Pharmacy."


So I suppose professionally I would be this woman's evil twin. If I ever thought what I do best in life is answering the old folks questions as to Meatmusil Vs. Citrucel, I think I would kill myself.


She has this to say about a recent episode of "Desperate Housewives":

"The truth is that we do not kill people on purpose because of trying to win the love of someone else's spouse."

Uh.....yeah.....thanks for clearing that up there Kemi...cause you know.....I've had 5 or 6 people worried over the course of my career that I was the one who killed their spouse because I was hot for them. IT'S A TV SHOW YOU FUCKING NERD!!!!!!

Do you see now why I don't hang out with the people I work with?


So if you want the scoop on how to keep yourself pooping on a regular schedule, by all means tune in to Kemi on 1010 WGUN there in Atlanta. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing other things with my Saturday nights.


Oh...and in Kemi's profile she lists her favorite book as the "Holy" Bible....Jihadist alert. You've been warned.

Jihad Report Part II

....so if they can't kill you, they at least want to make sure you're barefoot, pregnant, and out of the job market so you won't compete with them. From The Center For American Progress:

FDA PLAYING POLITICS WITH 'PLAN B': Internal documents made public by Rep. Harry Waxman (D-CA) yesterday have raised new questions about the Bush administration's refusal to allow over-the-counter sales of the emergency contraceptive known as "Plan B." The documents show that, in February 2004, policymakers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found no problem allowing the so-called morning-after pill to be sold without a prescription to women of all ages. Yet 18 months later, former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford cited concerns about selling the drug to younger teens

Well that's nice......we can't go around selling drugs to teens that might hurt them. It's good that the FDA goes the extra mile to protect our nations youth.

Except that they don't. Here's a bit from the official prescribing info from Paxil, an antidepressant prescribed almost 14 million times last year:

Suicidality in Children and Adolescents

Antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in short-term studies in children and adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of PAXIL or any other antidepressant in a child or adolescent must balance this risk with the clinical need. Patients who are started on therapy should be observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior. Families and caregivers should be advised of the need for close observation and communication with the prescriber. PAXIL is not approved for use in pediatric patients.

Consumer groups had to fight the FDA like hell to get that warning put in the prescribing info. The best studies seem to point to a tripling of the risk of suicide in adolescents taking paxil and other drugs in its class (known as SSRI inhibitors), and here's the kicker, they show no noticeable antidepressant effect in this group. Yet there's nothing stopping any doctor in the country from putting your maladjusted 14 year old kid (and what 14 year old kid *isn't* maladjusted?) on some Paxil and never mentioning any of this to you.....

Oh...and there's no evidence that the morning after pill has a greater side effect profile in women under 18 than adults. None.


And if they were telling the truth.....that the reason they won't put Plan B over the counter is this great concern that younger women might get this med that hasn't been shown to be safe for them (even though it has)....I would direct their attention to any of the OVER THE COUNTER nicotine replacement products on the market. Send your kid into the store to buy one of them. It won't happen, since they're kept behind the counter to keep people under 18 from them. So the infastructure to keep OTC meds from kids is already in place. (Why we want children under 18 to keep smoking is beyond me, but that's for another post)

So there you have it. Right wing America, full of shit.

Jihad Report.....

*sigh*....when I signed up for my little blogspot account. I thought it would be a way to have some fun blowing off steam, and you know, somebody might even enjoy reading a particular passage or two about a wacky customer. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be posting things like this, but I can't close my eyes and make it go away......

Go buy this month's New Yorker. Read the article about how the American Taliban wants you to DIE if you engage in pre-marital sex. Think I'm being hyperbolic? What would you call this? From the Blog of "Time" magazine's Andrew Sullivan:

"In the latest New Yorker, Michael Specter has a positively chilling story on how theoconservatives and Christianists have waged a quiet war against some critical vaccines, especially against Human papillomavirus or HPV. A vaccine exists against this virus that would drastically reduce the numbers of cervix cancer cases. The religious right opposes it as a mandatory childhood vaccination, because it removes a disincentive to having sex:

"Religious conservatives are unapologetic; not only do they believe that mass use of an HPV vaccine or the availability of emergency contraception will encourage adolescents to engage in unacceptable sexual behavior; some have even stated that they would feel similarly about an H.I.V. vaccine, if one became available. 'We would have to look at that closely,' Reginald Finger, an evangelical Christian and a former medical adviser to the conservative political organization Focus on the Family, said. 'With any vaccine for H.I.V., disinhibition' - a medical term for the absence of fear - 'would certainly be a factor, and it is something we will have to pay attention to with a great deal of care.' Finger sits on the Centers for Disease Control's Immunization Committee, which makes those recommendations."

Read some Q&A with the author of the piece here

Are you getting this? THEY WANT YOU TO DIE OF CANCER AND AIDS IF YOU ENGAGE IN SEXUAL BEHAVIOR THAT IN THEIR OPINION IS UNACCEPTABLE.

And you put them in charge America....because you hated people different from you. You hate Arabs....you hate Mexicans....and boy oh boy do you hate the gays & lesbians. So you put the American Taliban in charge because you thought they would keep the people different from you down. Well guess what? Unless you're a virgin they're coming after you now. And while I should get some sort of satisfaction in seeing you on their hit list, I don't. I don't want you to die. They say they come from the culture of life, and I call myself the drugnazi. And I'm the one who doesn't want you to die.

I need to step away from the computer for awhile.......

Sensing A Chance to Cash In Here.......

From the Blog of the AFL-CIO:


"We know Wal-Mart has no shame. And here’s more confirmation.

Apparently New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro is working on a story detailing the corporate behemouth’s attempts to buy good PR by paying bloggers to write sympathetically about the world’s largest employer of low-wage workers."


Sweet. OK.....um.....Wal Mart rocks because.....um......hmmm....well I hated K-mart, and they've pretty much handed the blue-light special originator's ass to them on a platter. And....uh......all those sweatshops that churn out crap for the Behemouth of Bentonville are a good thing....because....uh..... otherwise all those little bastards who work there might be in school, where they might learn things like accounting......accounting FRAUD that is. So by keeping them working 20 hours a day, Wal Mart is making sure we will never again see the working people of America lose their retirement savings by being duped by an unscrupulous employer such as Enron. So there you go....Wal Mart. Protecting the working people of the USA.

Man, that was the best I could do, do I get a check?

Quick Hit Of Customer Wisdom......

............upon being rung up, Mr. Genius asks...."Oh...so it's $19.98 even?"

No, it's $19.98 and 42 cents......

Jesus I need a day off.

Joint Prosperity In Stupidity......me and Gillette

......are people really stupid enough to go out and buy a razor with 5 blades? *Sigh*....I've been working with the general public long enough now that I should know the answer.....a resounding yes, of course, because the commercial on the TV told them to. I came across one of these commercials the other day during one of my increasingly infrequent forays into the wasteland of the boob tube. Said something about the "innovate technology" combined with a "unique idea." What kind of new technology do you need to put five blades in plastic cartridges that you didn't need to put in 4? And as far as a "unique idea" take a look here: this is an article from the satire website/paper The Onion about Gillette's plan to do just this..... dated February 18th 2004! What was so ridiculous it was the basis for satire a little over a year ago has become today's business plan. It must be incredibly hard to be a comedy writer these days, when real events are ripping off your best material. While I'm on the subject, I also remember what was *supposed* to be a fictional story in the Onion about a man who didn't know when he could take down the American Flag he put on his house after 9/11 without seeming too unpatriotic being repeated almost verbatim..........in NEWSWEEK a few weeks later. I'm not kidding. I wish I was.

The gullibility of the American public shall translate into dollars in my pockets and retirement plan however, as a good chunk of the business this crap idea will generate will happen at my employer....who......*come a little closer, I'll have to whisper this*........makes way more money off a big health and beauty aid product launch like this than any blockbuster $150 per month prescription drug. I know it hurts ya to shell out the big bucks for your Nexium and/or Lipitor, but the very fact you hate buying them means we have to keep profit margins slim on those products. When you come clamoring in for a 5 blade razor though, convinced it's the only thing standing between you and all night orgies with supermodels, well then........the profit margin gets a little fatter.....suckers......going now to work on some innovative technology that'll let my put 6 blades on a stick.......

Bill Gates Finds a $100 Bill In The Street......

....do you suppose he stops to pick it up? I say he does, because he has so much fucking money, a figure so unfathomably huge, that no human mind, even his, can really comprehend just how much it is. So even though he earns 10 times as much from windows royalties in the time it takes him to stoop over and put the Benjamin in his wallet...I say yeah.....he does it.

So if you're a guy.....a hetero guy who likes boobies.....and Lived in Canada of Massachusetts or somewhere where it was legal....would you marry Bill Gates knowing that at some point you could get a divorce and take half of everything he owns? I'm not quite sure.....except that I like boobies....

How did people get police help in the days before telephones?


Strange what thoughts can go through your mind while you're filling prescriptions......