Almost TGIF

Good article from The Guardian, "UK and US must admit defeat and leave Iraq, says British general." Short but sweet. Here's an excerpt:

General Rose is a former SAS commander and head of UN forces in Bosnia. Last year, he called for Tony Blair to be impeached for going to war on "false pretences". He has written a book, entitled Washington's War, which compares the Iraqi rebels to George Washington's irregular forces in the American war of independence.

When he was asked if he thought the Iraqi insurgents were right to try to force the US-led coalition out, he replied: "Yes I do. As Lord Chatham [the politician William Pitt, the Elder, who, in the second half of the 18th century called for a cessation of hostilities in the colonies and favoured American resistance to the British Stamp Act] said, 'if I was an American - as I am an Englishman - as long as one Englishman remained on American native soil, I would never, never, never lay down my arms'. The Iraqi insurgents feel exactly the same way. I don't excuse them for some of the terrible things they do, but I do understand why they are resisting the Americans."

(I wonder what they mean by "irregular forces." Did they consider them something like terrorists?)

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Well, I'm glad Stephanie Miller and crew are back in California, for their own sakes. I taped part of yesterday's CNN show and watched it last night. I noticed that Stephanie threw up in her mouth at one point. (The camera quickly turned away.) (If you blinked you'd have missed it.) This is something Stephanie jokes about on her show. Actually it's common for vocal entertainers like opera singers and, apparently, talk radio stars. I watched the tape again tonite and didn't notice it (and I was looking for it).

I listened to part of the radio show this morning and they were all glad to be back, although Jim Ward was late (they said he'd spent the night with "Prince Valium"). Who could blame him.

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Recently a generic became available for my high blood pressure medicine (Norvasc). I thought I would start getting a break on my co-pay, which was $30/month for the Norvasc. (The usual co-pay for generics is $10.) It turns out that under my health plan (which I don't fault), the generic is in the same category as Norvasc was, so my co-pay is still $30. (I called the insurance company about this.) I figured I might as well get the real Norvasc then, if I'm still going to be paying $30. Well, now that the generic has come out (apparently priced in the same range as the brand name), the price of Norvasc has gone up, making the co-pay for that even higher. What a racket! Sounds like collusion or price-fixing something. I think this is a pretty good illustration, in microcosm, of how health costs soar. I think co-pays for necessary drugs are stupid anyway (they didn't use to have co-pays), and I, the consumer, am essentially stiffed while the drug companies make out like bandits. [See an earlier blog about insurance co-pays.]

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Well, I can officially pronounce my cold over. The last throes of it have been a sinus condition, which may or may not have been related. (I assume it was, but then again, we just moved into a newly refurbished space at work and maybe I was having a reaction to the dust and the chemical residue in the new materials.) I don't recall ever having a sinus condition like that. (I won't get into the details.)