WARNING: One of my pottymouth rants ahead.

First of all, I've got to tell you that I don't live within the city limits of Helena-West Helena, AR (thank God!), but it's the closest town of any size to us, so it's where we have go to shop, do our banking, and other stuff you need to visit a town for. What goes on there has a lot of effect on our lives out here in the county. Here's the deal,

Mayor J. Valley of Helena-West Helena, AR, during one of his lightening bolt whiffs of self-righteous, self-serving, wisdom, decided he was tired of hearing complaints about the housing conditions of the stray dogs collected by the city so he gives the order for them to be taken out and released in the St. Francis National Forrest which is out in the county. (near the swimming and boat ramp area).

When you view the video about his newsworthy actions, be on the look out for the lady who's standing on one of the city streets, many of those buildings on that street are empty and there are empty buildings all over the city, some of which might become suitable for renovation to become a shelter for those poor abandoned animals.

If you click to view one of the Mayor's blogs/websites, you'll see that he posted a slide show of the stray animal facilities in Forrest City, AR. (I don't quite understand why he did this, due to this being a city located along Interstate 40, and who's major income from tax revenues comes from travelers from across the U.S., which in no way compares to the lack of tax revenues Helena-West Helena will always have, (even though their sales tax rate is among the highest in the U.S.) Is Mayor Valley suggesting that his city should build such a facility? Are there funds left over for such a facility after the generous pay raise he asked for, and received, recently? If there are funds, is he willing to allow a facility to be built with them?

Hell yes the conditions these animals were being kept in were horrible, the cages were dirty, the animal's water was dirty. But, according to the Mayor, there were only about 13 animals in all, so WHY were the conditions so miserable? Seems to me, one person, spending an hour or so a day, could have cleaned the cages and made sure there was fresh food and water for these poor pups until arrangements could be made to better house them. (and by the way, the local Wal Mart donates all their food).

Anyway, I'm gonna let you folks click the links and read about all this for yourselves. It's sad, it's horrible, the man's an idiot and he deserves whatever he gets. I just hope he gets it in spades!

I'm Leaning Towards Balastic!

It seems that all I do lately is rant here. I'm not sure if the world and some of the people in it are being total assholes, or if I'm just a total asshole and I see the world and some of the people in it that way. Either way, I sure am getting pushed towards an agitated state much quicker these days.

I really do try, most days, to start out in a good mood, but somewhere along the way (usually within the first 30 minutes of awakening) it all goes to pot and there she blows.

My lastest rant concerns the doctor's appointment that James was supposed to have had at Pillow Clinic today. I called them early yesterday to see about getting him an appointment there after finding out that, our family doctor was out of town until Monday, the other doctor at his place was booked up, and the NP was only taking walk-ins (which would have meant sitting all day in the waiting room in order for her to spend 5 minutes glancing at his toe. He wanted to make sure his wound was clear of infection before the weekend when you can't find a smell of a doctor.)

When I called I told them he'd had a farm accident, which part of his body needed checking, what had happened, all the relevant personal information, and also told them that the visit would be billed to the farm's insurance company either through the general liability policy or worker's comp. She told me his appointment time was 2:oo p.m. and he would be seeing Jim.

We arrived a little early in case I needed to fill out any forms for James (I guess all the limping made his hand and arm tired), so I go up to reception and when they asked for insurance information I told them the name of the Insurance company and that it would be a workers comp claim. The woman looked at me and said,

"We don't see worker's comp patients.

I'm thinking, "¿qué la cogida?"

I asked her why we weren't informed of this when I'd called to set up the appointment and had TOLD them ALL of the information they would be needing.

She had no idea. (boy I'm becoming familiar with THAT reply)

I felt like a bum asking for a hand-out. I started to take James's insurance card out of my wallet, and my check book, but James shook his head and said we were leaving. As we walked out the door, I looked around their waiting room and saw that it was probably 90% full of Medicaid patients (don't ask me how I know, I just do, ok?). I know the paperwork and headache it entails to file a Medicaid claim, so what's up with them not "taking" a patient who's bill would be paid by worker's comp? Do the worker's comp insurance companies take a long time to pay or something? (and the government doesn't?) Do worker's comp patients have leprosy?