that feckin roof

the roof saga is almost over.

all in all i'm happy with the job. theses guys were substantially cheaper than the competition and i think they probably did a better job than the other guys would have done. of course i had to keep an eye on them and insist on a few things.

2 weeks ago they needed a ladder. apparently they took another customer's ladder and he was going nuts. they dropped by casa myshkin to see if they had left the ladder. it wasn't here and they faced the prospect of driving all the way across town to look for the ladder. the irate customer was adamant that he wanted his ladder back, not a new one. since it was friday evening and these guys had worked all week i felt sorry for them and said they could take my ladder and bring me a new one the following week. the other guy liked my ladder and agreed to the deal.

it's been 2 weeks now and i haven't got my new ladder. a friend warned me not to pay until i got the ladder but i said these were honorable guys and i'd get my ladder. we bet $5.00 on whether or not i'd get the ladder.i have politely reminded the owner a few times that he owes me a ladder. so far nada.

this morning i called and said i want my ladder by 4:00 this afternoon. he gave me a few excuses and i said 4:00. he made a few other comments and i said 4:00. again he tried talking to me, i said 4:00 and hung up.

the question is whether or not i get my ladder by 4:00. 4:05 is not good enough, i want the fecking ladder by 4:00.

happy birthday canada, not.

me and canada aren't seeing eye to eye lately. i've been caught in the cross hairs of the cra, canada revenue agency. it's been going on for almost 3 years.

on monday i got 2 letters from these guys demanding money. my mother was with me when i opened the letters. i used tony soprano's favorite 2 words; motherfucker and cocksucker. my 85 year old mother hates swearing and usually gives me a dirty look when i use profanity. since cra was involved she gave my a free pass to curse until i turned purple. i didn't bother to read the letters, i just read the last line that told me how much money they wanted from me.

don't get me wrong, i don't mind paying my fair share. i just hate the process, it's like a chinese water torture. give a figure and i'll pay it but quit the nickel and diming bullshit.

this is why i like mike huckabee. he proposed doing away with income tax and imposing a consumption tax. consumption taxes, or vat's (value added taxes) are becoming more popular these days. in canada we have the gst, (goods and services tax). this tax was imposed to replace excise taxes and has been lowered from 7% to 5% by the current government, a regressive step in my opinion.

i think huckabee's proposal should have been one of the central issues of the 2008 election but in our age of bullshit, personalities and skeletons in closets became key issues.

we earn our wages and the government witholds some income tax. often they take too much and taxpayers get a refund or depending on investment income they might not withhold enough tax and you get a bill rather than a refund. if you can't pay your bill to the tax people you're fucked. i also hate the practice of filing taxes, it's like writing a university exam except the stakes are higher. you fill out your tax return and some feckin arsehole tax collector grades it. make a mistake and your fucked. so what do we have? a whole industry of accountants and lawyers that take a pretty big slice of the pie interpreting tax laws that are a moving target. a flat tax with no bullshit deductions would put a lot of leeches out of work.

if we must have an income tax, why not a flat tax. the tax people withhold a certain percent and the rest is yours. you can go out and spend it however you want. but no, in the name of wealth re-distribution and political expediency these buggers let us have some money then they tinker with the rates. paying your taxes is like hitting a moving target. the assholes in charge constantly change the rules.

even though i like al franken i suspect he may be one of those guys that likes social tinkering and increasing wealth re-distribution but doggonit i'll always like him.

if you read this whole diatribe, thank you. if you didn't, don't feel bad, i probably wouldn't have read it either.

oh yeah, happy birthday canada. you might be a pain in the arse but your a smaller pain in the arse than most of the fiefdoms on the planet.