Matt Mauldin

Are you a citizen or a taxpayer?  The easy answer is “both,” but there has been a fundamental shift in the mindset of politicians over the past couple of decades that effects each and every one of us.

What shift?  “Citizen” is now considered a secondary classification by our nation’s leaders, and instead we are each primarily considered as a “taxpayer” by those in Washington.   This new classification effectively reduces us to a revenue center, a line item on the national budget.  All other rights, wishes, goals, dreams and actions are now swept aside with regards to how much money we can provide the government in taxes.

Let’s take a look:

Taxpayer…

someone who pays taxes

and

a person who is subject to, liable for, or pays tax as opposed to a nontaxpayer who is neither the subject nor the object of revenue laws

- Definitions of “taxpayer” on the Web provided by Google.

Citizenship…

carries with it both rights and responsibilities. “Active citizenship” is the philosophy that citizens should work towards the betterment of their community through economic participation, public service, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens.

- Definition of Citizenship, Wikipedia, 3-17-09

I don’t like being “subject to” or “liable for” anything not of my own choosing.  I choose pay my taxes, and consider that “economic participation” to “improve life for all citizens.”  Paying taxes is not my main purpose in this country, regardless of what our politicians might think.

The US Constitution has no provisions for a federal income tax.  In fact, the first income tax was levied in 1861 – almost 100 years into our country’s life – and it expired in 1872.  We didn’t have another income tax until 1913, and it took a Constitutional Amendment to make it so.

Since then, the federal income tax has slowly become both a crutch and a weapon.  Politicians either rely so heavily on taxes that they can’t see any greater good than merely writing a check, or they spend in ways to hurt their direct opponent or to hurt the opposite party.  (Again, I’m not siding with either party here, as both actively participate actively in these actions).  And all of these actions are taken without the consideration for the overall well-being of this country as a whole.

So although I choose to pay my taxes, I am a citizen first.  Like Arthur Godfrey said, “I’m proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money.”

In classic Saturday Night Live style, here’s a little making fun of the current guy.  I’m a fan of Roger Maynard.  This is a great one from him:

Popularity: 39% [?]

My friends tell me that I’m about as laid back as it gets.  But for this blog theme, I had to go over the top.  So here’s the new header and blog design – a full coat-of-arms type shield an “M” (for Matt), hard-rock style wings reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd or Aerosmith, and my name in a retro font highlighted across the top of the page.  All very tastefully done, of course.

Thanks to Fontspace for the free Hard Rock font.

The original blog theme was from Dezzain.  You can find the BoxTube Wordpress Theme here.

UPDATE!

So after just a couple of days with the blog design, I decided that my graphic design skills were easily eclipsed by a pre-made Wordpress template from Web2Feel.com.  So here it is.

I still did some custom work to keep the same social icons beneath each post (on the single post page), and I added the RSS feed and chicklets on the right column.

I also did a new type treatment on my name.  I used the  font Perspective Sans and some colors that matched this theme.  The font has a 115% vertical scale, a 110% horizontal scale, and tracking set at 32.  I also put a white stroke and a subtle drop shadow on the type.

Overall, I’m much happier and expect this theme to remain on MattMauldin.com for quite a while.

Popularity: 46% [?]

After four days of dealing with incompetent people at AT&T, U-verse is finally installed.  That’s right, four days.

I originally had an install date for Friday, March 6th from 8-10 am.  No install. I spent 2 hours on the phone and talked with 4 different people before getting my install rescheduled.

I called and rescheduled for Saturday from 2-4 pm. Again, no install.  I talked to two people on the phone for almost an hour before getting a re-schedule.

Called again and scheduled an install for Sunday.  The tech showed up at the wrong address, and then called.  They had the wrong address on my entire account!  So no install.  And I couldn’t get anyone on the phone that day.

Finally, Monday morning I was able to call and talk to a U-verse rep in my area who set everything up and got it handled.  The tech showed up at 3 pm and was done by 4:45.  Thank goodness.

But after that ordeal, I got three free months of programming, plus about $40 off each month for six months after I begin paying.  How about that!

So what did I learn?  If I want something done, I had better talk to someone from Texas.  The manager in the Arlington office for U-verse was awesome.  The rest of her company bumbled around over and over again, and she got it all done in less than a half of a day.  Thanks Lori.

Popularity: 25% [?]

I finally scheduled the switch from DirecTV to AT&T Uverse.  It will happen on Friday, March 6th which can’t come soon enough.  For the past two years I’ve been stuck with DirecTV at the house.  Man, that company sucks!

It started out OK, because they were really interested in getting my business.  But then they started adding on charges for additional boxes in the house.  And they were slow about getting the thing installed.  And once the service guy finally got there, he wanted to install new hardware in my walls because he wanted a “premium” connection or some crap like that.  I told him no, just plug the stupid thing in and hit “On”.

After about 2 hours, we finally got the TVs working and my phone starts ringing.  Every day for a freakin week someone from DirecTV called.

“Welcome!” – got that already from the sales person, the accounting person, and the install guy.

“Thank you for being a customer.” – that too.

“Are you satisfied?” – after 2 days? I guess so.

“What can we do to improve?”  – stop calling?

“I know you are a new customer, but do you want to buy this stuff too?” – no, if I wanted it I would have ordered it 48 hours ago!

Finally, after a week of calls, I get the “are you a happy customer” question again for the five dozenth time and I say “I’ve had a call every day for a week.  Quit it.”  The lady says “Well, you are just part of the DirecTV family now.”  And I respond “Lady, I don’t even talk to my blood relatives this often.  I sure don’t want to talk to you.”

So the call volume really dropped off after that.  But I still get a call once a month asking me to buy Cinemax and HBO.  Why? So I can see the same movie for three weeks at a time and pay you an extra $25 per month? No deal.  Of course, it takes about four “No deals” each phone call before my message hits home.  I really feel sorry for those telemarketers, because they are just trying to hit some quota or something.  Even their responses are read directly off some screen, and they all sound bored out of their mind, so I’m not mean to them.  But crap, quit calling!

Last year some time we had a big thunderstorm and our HD receiver went out.  I don’t know if it was lightening creating an electrical surge, or wind knocking out the power or what, but the HD receiver was a gonner.  So the next day I call direcTV and waste 30 minutes of my life on hold listening to their exciting upgrades for valued customers.   Hey DirecTV, hire some more bored telemarketers to answer my phone call!

Anyways, They want me to pay $300 for a new receiver, so what can I do?  I pay the thing and get it in the mail a few days later.  We’re back up and running.

Things went like that for the past few months, until we get a call last week from AT&T Uverse.  We decided to switch because it’ll consolidate a few utility bills for phone, internet and TV.  And in the long run we’ll be saving $30-40 a month.  Why not.

So today I call DirectTV (who sucks, by the way) to cancel my service.  They tell me that I will have to return all my boxes, which is fine.  But I tell the dude that I bought one of those for $300.  He says I paid that as a “lease agreement”.

What? B.S.  I told him it wasn’t explained to me.  I was told I had to “purchase” a new box.  And that’s what I did.  In fact, you want to know what else is crap?  DirecTV was screwing me from both ends because I paid the $300 lease, and then they charge me each month on my bill for 3 leased receivers.

This is a screenshot from my February bill.  They already charge me for each of the boxes I have in my house, so how can you call the $300 a lease fee when it’s already here and I pay it each month?  Bastards.

Of course, one of the $4.99 charges is credited back.  Of course it is!  They have to provide at least one box because you can’t just plug the satellite right into the TV!  Thanks for nothing.

There’s even a class-action lawsuit against DirecTV about this.

So at the end of my call today the guy said he was sorry I was cancelling and that if I ever wanted to reconnect, just call back.

That aint happening because…

DirecTV, You Suck!

Popularity: 53% [?]

Yesterday during lunch I went to grab the last two Dr Pepper bottles left in the fridge. But instead of two cold Dr Peppers, I get one cold Dr Pepper and one completely sealed yet empty Dr Pepper can.

Here’s a couple of photos:

Dr Pepper Empty

Sealed Top of Empty Dr Pepper

The can is completely empty.  You can’t tell that it’s empty by reading this, but you can see above that the can is sealed, and it’s light enough to balance on the end of a piece of copy paper.

I’m keeping it here on a shelf in my office if you ever have a chance to see it.  That is, I’ll have it here for a while, because this reminded me of a great flick, The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew.

This film has given me a purpose for the empty, sealed can.  I’m saving this can to get a free case of Dr Peppers next time I go to Dublin, TX. (It’s worth the wait because Dublin Dr Pepper is the best. Love that cane sugar.)  The only bad part is that I can’t get a mouse inside the can.

How, you ask?  Here you go:

For all you hoseheads, here’s how to get a two four of Dr Pepper, eh?

I doubt I’ll be getting a two four (a case, to those of us south of The Great White North) of Dr Pepper anytime soon.

Here’s the real bummer: between the wife and I, you can guess who got the full can.

Popularity: 15% [?]