What’s All This Then!

…that’s what the eBay auction read. Shipping was $3000. Otherwise, a great deal, don’t you think? Maybe this is why eBay is changing their fee plan. They worried about the fact the number of people using eBay has stagnated. Hmmmmm … could it be that finding great deals on eBay are becoming as rare as finding cheap lawyers in the phone book? Over the past couple of years, I’ve found better deals locally (with sales taxes included) than I have at this once money-saving auction site. Could eBay’s rate increase signal their decline?

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Curious about what happens when you publish your inner thoughts to the Internet world? Wonder how people learn about your latest work? And how do spammers fit into the scheme of things? Wired Magazine has this interesting animated article on their site about the life cycle of a blog post. Enjoy!

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I guess you could vote for the one who promises the least. That’s the one who will be the least disappointing. But that ain’t goin’ happen. If we got a dollar for every promise offer, we’d all be rich. In any case, are you a tad confused by which politicians reflects your interests? Go to electoralcompass.com, answer a few questions and get an idea of where you stand politically as well as which politician is closest to your beliefs. Personally, I recommend not voting for politicians … it only encourages them!

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If you read my previous post, “How To Have the Government Pay You Money”, before Sunday evening, I should tell you that I’ve changed it. In the morning, I wrote it out of frustration. By Sunday night, I rewrote it and added some humor. Sorry about that. I should have released it after a day of reflection. Still, if you read it earlier, did I make it better?

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… sort of. What happens when the government owes you your overpaid tax money and they don’t get it to you in a timely manner? No, your congressional representative does not send you flowers and a thank you note. Better yet, you’re entitled to interest on your money. According to the internal revenue service’s “Notice 746″, they are supposed to pay you interest at the same rate as they charge when you don’t surrender your money to them in a timely manner. The rate, compounded daily, varies from year-to-year. Over the past decade, it’s been between 4 and 8%. But what the rules say and what the irs does aren’t necessarily the same thing. Surprised?

Back in 2001, the irs made a slight mistake and took $12,000 more from me than they should have. Thank goodness, they are so conscientious about righting wrongs. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been fighting to get it back ever since. Oh what! Yes, I have! You would think that the interest on this financial faux pas would be a good chunk of change (almost $6,000 by my calculations). Instead, last month I finally received a check as an interest payment for … wait for it … almost $600. Yesterday, I received another letter from the IRS. But instead of another check for interest or the rest of the money they still owe me or a dinner invitation, they graciously had sent a 1099 form. In other words, they want me to declare the $600 as income so they can tax that as well. It’s as if they said, “Sorry about holding onto your money for so long and making it difficult to get back. But you know that pittance we sent to you last month? We want some of it back! Got to pay off that trillion dollar deficit somehow.”

You know, if I had put that $12,000 in a bank at 3% interest back in 2001, I would’ve earned over $2700 by now. In that case, I could understand the government wanting to take its cut of my money. Yet, how can they take money that they owed me to begin with? It’s not like I willingly gave the irs $12,000 to hold for me as an investment. (And I’ve made some bad investment decisions in the past.) So I don’t understand how the scenario is even possible. The worst part about all of this? I don’t really seem to have any recourse in this matter … unless somebody out there knows otherwise. Maybe I’ll get luck and they’ll put me on the “Jelly of the Month” club — this month’s flavor: KY.

Yes, I know ‘irs’ is supposed to be capitalized. I tend to capitalize what I respect…

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Thinking about a visit to our neighbors to the north? I’m assuming that you live in the ol’ US of A and we’re talking about Canada. Otherwise, we’re talking about my nosy neighbors and not really worth a trip up the street.

I just wanted to warn you. Canada has made great use of its complete and unrestricted access to the American criminal database. To preserve Canadian national purity, anyone listed in that comprehensive database is not allowed to cross into the Great White North. Did you scalp tickets to a hockey games? Had a DUI thirty years ago? Regardless of how minor the offense or how long ago a youthful transgression took place, you ain’t makin’ a trip over that ther’ border.

It doesn’t help that America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Either we are a bunch of sleazy, lawbreaking animals or we live in a nation full of burdensome, nitpicking laws. Not that Canada is without their share of idiotic laws. But for some reason, American border policy isn’t as restrictive on our Canadian visitors. But being an American can mean a sneeze in the wrong city and you’ll wind up as a legal statistic in the criminal database of a ‘free’ country.

I guess it could be worse. Imagine being a friendly Canadian visiting the wonders of the US. One jaywalking conviction and you’re stuck with here with the rest of us lawless Americans. How scary would that be, eh?

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Non Sequitur is another of my favorite comic strips. The author, Wiley Miller, has won several literary awards for insightfully hitting the proverbial nail on the head. Such as he did today:

If the comic isn’t readable, please click on it for a more legible picture.

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Thanks to another one of Lynne’s timely posts, I’m able to do something about scrapers — those lazy, scum-of-the-blogsphere bloggers who have nothing better to do but steal your content for their sites. Today, I installed a WordPress plug-in called RSS footer. This plug-in from “SEO Blog” allows you to add automatically a line to each of your posts in your feed, along with link back to your blog. Theoretically, when a lowlife scraper takes your content, it will give credit to you as the rightful author.

This is step one. Next, I need to add a copyright tag line on my posts. Something else to do….

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Have you been hearing the news that doctors can become better surgeons by playing games on Nintendo’s Wii before an operation? You have to dig a little deeper into the story to learn that the study was done using virtual operations. Yes, thanks to “Marble Mania”, all the virtual patients lived and are awaiting their virtual bills.

More amazing is that this study has made a tremendous impression in the medical field. It’s reported that hospitals are seriously considering the purchase of $250 Wii systems instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars for traditional training equipment. Nintendo is even in talks to develop games specially for surgeons. I give this hoopla a few months before someone in accounting decides to go even cheaper. Yes, just a few months before they start buying $15 “Operation” games for medical training…

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A couple of posts ago, I drew a quick cartoon and put it on this blog. Today, I worked with a online cartoon creator at ToonDoo.com to create this simple explanation of the government’s stimulus package. It would have been quicker for me to draw, but ToonDoo might entertain your inner child. It has a several characters to choose from but is limited in the types of eyes, mouths and hair for your character. ToonDoo gives regular html and flash object code to embed your cartoon. I’ve included both version of the cartoon to see how well they show up. While this post loaded well under Internet Explorer, I couldn’t get the flash viewer to behave in my Firefox browser. So I added the “Kimili Flash Embed for WordPress” plugin. Now the flash player seems to be working well in Firefox. Just put your mouse cursor over the cartoon to control which panel is displayed. Let me know if you have any problems view them.

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This verse came to mind when I saw how Team Sandtastic, known for their fantastic beach creations, created sandy head shots of the republican candidates at Mytle Beach, South Carolina. I can’t think of a more fitting political statement — sandy promises that easily wash away.

Team Sandtastic plans to begin work on a similar sculpture of the democratic debaters. Even if these incredible sand artists don’t give equal time to the Donkey party, you know that, just like their republican counterparts, you can’t take the democratic candidates for granite either …

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Well, the news is out that Google has done yet another ranking analysis of sites. They have deemed to dropped this blog by another point to 2. Since there aren’t any paid postings here, it can only be my fault. I haven’t blogged constantly enough to win the hearts, minds and links of high ranking readers. And I haven’t gone out begging for links either. Sorry about that. Say, buddy, can you spare a link?

In news more important than Google, an all-points-bulletin has been issued for 1970s wrestling star, Bad Luck. Some may remember Bad Luck for his outrageous antics such running into the ring naked as a form of intimidation. He was forced to retire in 1979 after getting tangled in the ropes and nearly castrating himself. Recently, 64 year old Bad Luck has been surprising shoppers by running naked through various malls in America. (Not exactly running; more like a labored trot.) According to one eye witness, it was the worst streak of Bad Luck that they had ever experienced in a long time ….

simulated police sketch

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When the neighborhood’s pit bull attacks an innocent resident, the dog is put down relatively quick. We can’t have the safety of the neighborhood at risk now can we? Yet, when that vicious pit bull is a government agency, the neighborhood is pretty much left at risk. After all, your neighbors elected the representatives who ‘own’ that reckless animal. Such a dangerous creature must be the will of the people.

This is an update to a post I did almost a year ago about my dealing with that vicious of all pit bulls, the irs. I can’t believe that almost 12 months have passed since I finally had to ask for help from my Senator, Richard Burr, to get my money returned from the Federal government. You would think that proof of a $17,000 error in my favor would be quickly remedied. But not when the irs has a death grip on your money.

Now I realize that Senator Burr is only one person out of a gaggle of Congressional members. Since I haven’t had the pleasure of dealing with Senator Burr directly, I don’t know how he feels about his tax-taking agency. But I do know that he has great people on his staff to represent him. In the beginning, I dealt with a most wonderful woman of his office, Libby. Sadly, she passed away a few months ago after battling cancer. I regret that I didn’t have the opportunity to know her better. I will miss her pleasant voice and upbeat attitude. Her replacement, Garth, was a no-nonsense professional. Through Libby’s prior efforts and his work, I was able to deal with the Taxpayer Advocacy representative, Tammy. Thanks to them, the irs made a partial refund last month. At the same time, (for reasons that I didn’t pry into) Garth was replaced by another aide, Brandi. Hopefully, she’ll be able to finally straighten out this five year nightmare.

I could have done so many positive things had I received all my money back in 2003. I could have done many good things had I received my money last year. Still, I am thankful to Senator Burr’s office for getting this fiasco resolved as far as they have. But I think that the congressional ‘pit bull’ needs more than a swat on the nose for the wounds that it has inflicted. If we mess up, we get hit with interest and penalties at rates that make credit card companies envious. Conveniently, the government doesn’t worry about reciprocating for their errors. After all, they just be representin’ will of da peoples, dawg …. was that gangsta or gangster? At this point, I think that it is more of the latter…

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The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas never fails to bring out the latest cool gadgets. The one that got my attention this year was a taser holster with a MP3 player. Just what every law enforcement officer needs — background music while they collar that perp. You can almost hear the notes of “Shock the Monkey”, “Charge”, “Electric Avenue” or even “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” as high-voltage justice is passionately served on the bad guys.

I’m not saying that a few on the police force get carried away with their tasers. Although I did hear about one weary, hen-pecked officer. When his vain, nagging wife say him one time too many, “Could I look any more stunning!”, he showed her how … ZZZZZZZZttt!

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I enjoy writing for PayU2Blog. They give me a target phrase and link. All I have to do is come up with a post using the phrase. I love the challenge of composing something unexpected, something that might cause the reader to click on the link in spite of themselves. Yesterday, when I wrote on “wedding rings”, I didn’t expect the post to take a life of its own. What started as a couple of sentence turned into something more. So my question to you is this: what do you think? I’m wondering if I got too carried away with this post. Could anyone enjoy this entry? What could I have done to make it a more readable post? Was the humor accessible? Should I even blog to begin with? I’m just looking for some constructive criticism. Yes, encouraging words are helpful too. But do you really want to encourage me into writing more?

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