And now our sales rep in Texas wants me to cold call one of the people there to seal the invitation for a presentation I didn't want to do in the first place. Obviously, she doesn't know about my resentment of the whole marketing/sales thing I've been dragged into, but does she really think someone in editorial with no experience at this is the best person for the job?

not really pro anything

It's so much easier to say "This person/government program/tax SUCKS!" than it is to say "This whatever SUCKS and here's how I can make it better/replace it."

My experience with, well, not really audited, but I'll say IRS difficulties turned out surprisingly well. They pointed out I made a mistake and I owned about $1000 or something. After reviewing everything I mailed back that I didn't make the mistake they said, but in my review I discovered that I had overreported some income and they owed me $90. After a few weeks, I got a check for $90 and that was that.

It's so much easier to say "This person/government program/tax SUCKS!"

They don't even seemed to get that specific. About the only message I've heard is that government spends too much and taxes are too high. Well, what is the government spending too much money on and which taxes are too high?

The government is spending too much on anything which doesn't directly benefit ME. Taxes on ME are too high.

Gud, I don't suppose you'd be willing to do our taxes for us, would you?

My parents are in a IRS loop from taxes from a few years ago. They've fixed it and paid (it was a crazy error,) and then the IRS figured out it owed them some money, but it got tangled up and everyone is being as helpful as they can, but it is this whole byzantine mess where the right can't figure out it has a left and keeps coming after them. Because of it, they've been audited every year since.

But they aren't flying planes into buildings.

Which reminds me, need to do my taxes soon.

Right, Scrappy.

I'm not sure what to make of the Tea Party movement. They seem to be anti-Obama, but not really pro anything.

I think that's why I didn't get a particularly Tea Party (it irks me to call them that because it disrespects those original Bostonians) vibe; it lacked any anti-Obama angle.

The government is spending too much on anything which doesn't directly benefit ME. Taxes on ME are too high.

Yeah, I think you've nailed it.

My NYS thing was ridiculous in that they audited me at the very end of the time limit, so I had done the same "error" for four years in a row. Problem was, it wasn't an error according to their instructions. When I pointed this out, they came back with "You should have known about Rule ABC in publication XYZ" when it wasn't mentioned or referenced at all in the pretty detailed intruction booklet. Every audit I ended up owing about $600-700.

My only satisfaction came from the fact that the instructions for NYS now mysteriously include information addressing the very same issue. Coincidence? I think not.