It Is Time to Talk about Government

Okay, Okay, I know I have lost most of the readers, but it is time to talk about government. Those who know me know that I think our government is broken since the coup of 2000 by James Baker and the U.S. Supreme Court who then handed the reins (reins and reigns, notice how similar these two words are?) of government over to Dick Cheney. There is much that I can say about that, but I want to relate a more personal story. About the time that we taxpayers were to receive our stimulus checks (gas money to be ultimately pocketed by Cheney, Bush, and the oil crowd), J and I received a $4 Treasury Warrant from the U.S. Treasury. No letter of explanation, just 4$. You can imagine my dismay and the thoughts that rambled around my head. I took the warrant to our trusty tax accountant (Bruce) who looked up the records as to what overpayment we might have made on taxes. None! Just as he knew because he had prepared the taxes. He said, "You really did not get any letter of explanation!?" "No," was my reply. But I did get two letters of explanation about the stimulus check we were about to receive which really ticked me off because the government was spending $141 million of our tax payers' money to tell us something that any ignoramus that had a heartbeat would know from all the discussion in the news media and general water cooler talk. Bruce checked the schedule and said, "Well, your $1200 warrant is being sent out today. You should receive it in 2-3 days." He was right on. "So," I says, "What do I do with this $4 warrant?" He told me to spend it. So I did. I have no idea why I got that four dollars and hope the government does not come after me for bamboozling them out of their four dollars.

Now the other part of the story. Because I had made too much money in 2007 by teaching at Fruitland High School for two hours a day, I had to give part of the Social Security money back. I was good with that and went in to the Social Security Office in Ontario, OR, to notify them immediately the month that I went over. I got lectured about not telling them that I would go over last January at the beginning of the year. I told them that I did not know if I was going to teach another year at that time, but Esmerelda (the clerk at the desk) thought it was a pretty lame excuse for not doing my duty. I showed her what I owed and suggested that the next check be for $900 + rather than the full $1315 that I should get. She said okay. Alright. That seemed okay, since I had the month before had a letter from the SSI that they were going to deduct $2200+ from my credit card account to recover what they had overpaid me. God! What a mess. This misunderstanding came about because Esmerelda did not understand the nature of teacher's contracts and could not fathom a contract running from Sept.--August. All contracts according to her ran from Jan.-Dec. and I was not going to get away with lying to her about that. So the next month (Nov, 2007) I am expecting a check for $900+. I get no check at all. Back to Esmerelda, who at this time is being referred to by me as "That Bitch." (behind her back, you understand) I ask her why I did not get a check as we seemed to have agreed upon and she said that the SSI does not issue partial checks. It is either none or all. I explained that policy was cheating me of $333 and I had a print out of the exact mathematics of the issue. I gave her the printout. I had used the SSI website which had my exact problem figured out with different numbers. She allowed that there was no such problem like that on the website. I gave her the URL for the website and that really drew a scowl. I said, "Is there someone here that I can appeal your decistion to?" Her answer, "NO! and it will do you no good to appeal out of the office. I am following SSI policy."

So I get on the phone the next day (that can be a real circus of waiting and waiting or being told that the lines are too busy to take calls) and talked to a lady who said I could appeal the decision and sent me a form to do so. Five days later I have the form. I fill it out, but the envelope that was sent with the form was addressed to the Ontario, OR. Oooops! I sent the form and waited a month for a reply. I can imagine that Esmeralda tore the form up and trashed it. She really does not like me and I am such a nice guy. A real enigmatic person this Esmeralda. I call the Social Security hotline again and say it has now been a month and I have not heard about my appeal. "Oh, that my take a few months" I call a month later, "Oh, you haven't heard, well, that might take another month." I tried the next month and the month after that, but neither time could I get person. I was just told that the lines were busy and I should try calling at another time. I think that is the automatic response when the caller ID kicks in that the caller is a "crackpot."

Meanwhile, I told Bruce about my issues with the Social Security Office and about That Bitch. He says, "Do you know who the clerk is?" I told him that her name is Esmerelda. He told me that he has a client whose handicapped daughter is entitled to SSI assistance, but Esmerelda blocked his claim and he has not been able to get an appeal. Something always goes wrong with paper work in Ontario.

So, I am looking at my online bank account today and see that I have a $334 deposit by the SSI. I can't believe it. It just showed up and a dollar extra to boot. No explanation! No eating crow! Just my $334. I am happy and I hope That Bitch got fired!!!! But the system ultimately did work. Wow!

A very nice lady (Chariman of District Nine Democratic Party) called me last night and tried her best to talk me into running for a House of Representatives seat challenging the incumbent who is the Speaker of the Idaho House. I very nicely told her that I could not do that. I ran in 1980 and lost by 152 votes in an election where 10,00o votes were cast. But, runnnig campaigns is expensive and in our area of Idaho the voters don't elect Democrats or moderate Republicans, so I just could not be talked into wasting my money or valuable fishing and hunting time. The worse case scenario would be that I might get elected and I really don't like Conservative Republicans (they lie and cheat, really) and would have to serve in the legislature with them.

I have some work to do on the pond,
Papa Coyote loves you all.