Not too long ago, in an effort to save a little money, LM and I put ourselves together into a "family" cell phone plan. Needless to say, I was a little surprised to find out that it's costing us more than two individual plans. (And stuck in a 2 year contract, too.) Sure, I could've added up all the little fees that I was expected to pay, but they were spread out all over the forms, nowhere close to being on the same page. (I did the account changes online on the horribly sluggish Verizon site, so my patience was already thin.)

It got me thinking about how my old $40 phone plan somehow cost me $55, and how cable and internet access prices (beyond introductory rates) are nowhere to be found most of the time. It's pretty much impossible to know how much telecommunications services cost, so it's impossible to comparison shop.

If we're supposed to have a free-market telecommunications system, we seriously need new telecom laws to dictate some pricing honesty.

Fun with Photoshop:

My "Economic Stimulus" check was direct-deposited into my bank account to save the expense of mailing it to me. And then they mail me a letter to tell me that they've direct-deposited the check. Yeah.

(Damn, we've been slackers here. I guess we should work on that.)

After seeing this story, I was left wondering if the IRS will also go after all those churches that had pro-war sermons. There were quite a few, as I remember.

I've always based my criticisms of Sen. Conrad Burns strictly on policy and my own interactions with him, but once in a while, it's nice to see something shallow and mean-spirited.

Conrad Burns in action on Youtube!

Last week, a political ad started airing, taking aim at John Tester, Democrat candidate running against Sen. Conrad Burns. Anybody who's read this site regularly knows how much I can't stand Sen. Burns, so it probably isn't any surprise that the ad bothered me. It was an obvious piece of fiction, where a barber claims that Mr. Tester came in, and somebody shut him up with the standard accusation of liberalism.

It only took a day for a counter ad by the state Democratic party to state that the original ad was fiction, but the original kept playing for several days. It got pretty comical after a while.

It might be a bit of a touchy subject, but I have something on my mind.

I was always taught that Judge Not Lest You Be Judged and Love Your Neighbor As Yourself were some of the core tenants of Christianity. Lately though, when the subject of homosexuality comes up, many Christian turn into spiteful jerks. Click to read more!

Thanks to the efforts of The Montana Sedition Project, Governor Schweitzer has signed posthumus pardons for 78 people, originally convicted almost 90 years ago of criticizing the actions of their government.

I could probably go on about how we should learn from history, but I'm sure the lesson is obvious.

I got yet another letter from Sen. Burns. I send one email and I'm stuck on his mailing list forever.

This time, he's announcing the introduction of the Gasoline Consumer Anti-Price-Gouging Protection Act. Whether or not that bill does any good remains to be seen, but the fact that it's coming from someone declared by Time Magazine as one of America's worst Senators sure doesn't help.

Or at least my vote.

I recieved a lovely letter today from Sen. Conrad Burns (R, MT). He wanted to remind me, in this time of the filing of tax returns, all he's done to reduce my tax burden...