Granny Geek

The Springfield Business Journal is reporting that Office Max will be closing soon. While we hate to see it go, is there any chance that a Whole Foods Market will take its place? Granny especially likes the cheese selections at Whole Foods in Dallas. The only Whole Foods in Missouri is in the St. Louis area.

Maybe we could petition for a Springfield location?

“Two-thirds of our Congress are carrying Communist cards.”

This caller also wants to bring back the House UnAmerican Activities Committee from the’50s.

Conspiracy theories abound in the Ozarks, and they have a voice on local talk radio.

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(Click to play)

By the way, the ACLU is not funded by the government. It is supported entirely by membership dues, gifts and grants. Not that the truth matters…

It’s Chinese New Year: the Year of the Dog.

Sounds appropriate, as the country seems to be going to the dogs these days. You’re a Dog if you were born in 1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, or 1994. If you’re a Dog, what kind of personality do you have?

The Dog is a giving, compassionate personality. He offers kind words, support and advice to friends and family. He is a listener, always available to lend an ear or a shoulder to a friend in need. Often Dogs know more about their friends than their friends know about them or even themselves! Dogs are incredibly attentive. Sometimes though, Dogs should pay more attention to their own needs. In private, many Dog people worry a lot.

What can we expect this year, according to Chinese legend?

The Dog is an ethical and idealistic sign, and the year that bears its name will also bring increased social awareness and interest in society’s less powerful members. Any tendencies to take, take, take will be replaced by a widespread sentiment of generosity and selflessness.

Well, now…wouldn’t THAT be nice?

Gong Xi Fa Cai, y’all!

Nothing’s new. The ACLU has been fighting for privacy rights for years. This case dates from the ’60s, when the FBI placed a recording device, without a court order, on a public telephone to catch a gambler. The Supreme Court ruled the recording was unconstitutional.

Currently, the ACLU is suing the National Security Agency for intercepting vast quantities of international telephone and Internet communications of innocent Americans without a warrant.

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Click to listen to this important case in which the ACLU played an important role.

BamBu is a Vietnamese restaurant in the Fremont Center at 1338 E. Battlefield (417-881-9881). It’s one of the few Asian restaurants in town that hasn’t gone Ozarkian. That means that the cook still uses authentic ingredients AND there’s no Springfield-style Cashew Chicken on the menu. Now, Granny has never eaten Springfield-style Cashew Chicken, but she’s read about it. It’s a local concoction of breaded and deep-fried chicken pieces that are served with a topping of brown gravy that’s been flavored with soy sauce (!). The crowning touch is a garnish of—you guessed it—cashew nuts.

BabBu still uses fresh, fresh, fresh, ingredients in its cooking: mint, parsley, chives, lime juice, cilantro. The Goi Cuon are fresh Spring Rolls: chopped, raw veggies wrapped in (edible) rice paper. They’re NOT fried.

Try a bowl of soup: a meal in itself. Our favorite is the Mi Do Bien, a combination of noodles and seafood.

YUM-O!

In Washington state, Microsoft and several other companies are backing a human rights measure that would add “sexual orientation” to a state law that already bans discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability, religion and marital status.

A local wingnut minister wants Christians everywhere to buy one or two shares of Microsoft and then sell all their shares on the same day, May 1.� He thinks this will bring Microsoft to its knees. Previously, the minister has (unsuccessfully) urged Christians to boycott Microsoft.

According to a report in the NY Times:

Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, said the stock-dumping plan had been part of his strategy all along.

”You got to find out how you affect a company,” Hutcherson said, conceding that it would be hard to get people to shun products from companies that dominate the marketplace as Microsoft and Boeing do.

He wants supporters to buy one or two shares over the next few months, then sell them May 1.

Americablog observes that the minister is “Not exactly a walking billboard for Intelligent Design.”

Granny wishes that people like the Reverend would just build a bridge and GET OVER IT!

Jill Carroll, a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, is being held hostage in Iraq. She seems to be a fine, young woman and a good reporter doing a dangerous job.

Locally, Mrs. McNasty phones a morning talk show on radio station KWTO AM in Springfield to complain that she is OFFENDED that the young reporter “doesn’t look like an American” because some photos show her wearing a black headscarf and robe.

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(Click to listen)

Will someone please tell me HOW DOES A “REAL” AMERICAN WOMAN DRESS? Would she be wearing jeans and a sweatshirt? Or a long blue skirt, white blouse and cap, like a Mennonite? Would she be wearing a sari…or, as an American of Arab descent in Detroit, hijab? A muu-muu? Or too-tight, polyester stretch pants and a faded T-shirt with “Maw Maw” scrawled across the front?

Mrs. McNasty’s idiocy is eclipsed by this caller, who has the solution for dealing with the hostage problem.
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(Click to listen)

Yes, it’s just another peaceful morning on talk radio in Springfield!