Taxes are Hidden to Protect the Guilty - From US

One word: Disgusting!

Why do I feel that word is apropos? Because it is. It just is.

I am catching up on bills today. My bride is with her Dad who is in hospice after having a stroke, and she would usually do it while I'm at work. Well, I'm not at work because I had bladder surgery last week, and instead of healing right, I'm still bleeding, so am at home "resting"...

In any case, I am a nerd, spending an unusual amount of time with my phalanges hovering and jerking over a digital input mechanism. Yes, I live with my computer, or in this case, a Dell M90 (yes, it's pretty awesome, and it was a gift! which is the best kind of awesome - and I want a motorcycle and pickup truck next...).

The point of that was to help me lead into this: I got online to check on everything I could about the bills I was going to pay.

What we do, or rather the services we offer at http://ourldsfamily.com cost us money. I'm only going to write about our internet bill today.

For us, internet and phone are the same thing because our internet is DSL and goes over our phone line, so I go to Centurylink's website. They have online chat. I got busy chatting to someone named Brandi. She helped me figure out that I don't want them as my ISP. I knew that already but she didn't. XMission has been incredible for years.

The point is, she found that I was paying $8.98/mo for long distance. I don't need no stinking long distance for my land line, and haven't for years. Cell phones are great. Plus, I thought they took that off my bill years ago!

Yes, I'm ticked off. At Myself! Dorknoided freak-a-zoid.

So Brandi, who is now my friend, removed it for me. During that process I had to tell her more than I figured I ought to because to start the chat I had to tell her everything necessary for her to know I owned the account. After I had given her everything, including my blood type, she told me "there is a one-time charge to make this change. It's required by the federal government. It's $5.50. It will appear on your next bill."

What!?!? Are you serious? I have to PAY A NEW TAX to have long distance removed? What in the world for? (imagine you can hear the sound of crickets)

Oh yes. I know. Because they can, and we are too stupid to fight them about it.

Well, someone better fight. If someone doesn't get this sort of thing stopped, there's going to be blood in the streets.

The government figured out long, long ago that if they hide the taxes, we won't cry. They were right. Now there are little taxes, conveniently called "one time fees" hidden in everything we do, including removing an extra charge from our phone bill.

Currently, the United States (and every other industrialized country in the world) is peopled by a bunch of dunderheaded morons who couldn't fill a teacup if their combined IQs were added together and converted into rat urine.

Yes, I'm Karl.

Yes, I'm annoyed today.
PS. I didn't give Brandi my blood type. She already has her own. No really...