trying to catch up

Now that I have your attention, I will surely disappoint you by saying that I really don't have time to do a real entry. Many interesting things have happened since I last stopped in to drivel at you. I met a motorcycle delivery woman which was pretty awesome (mad mad lanesplitting skillz). I met the son of late actor Anthony Quinn, Francesco Quinn, who owns way too many Vespas and is very warm and personable. What else? Everything, nothing...

In return for your indulgence here I give you the following links: First, go read this story on nytimes.com (sorry that you have to register but it's free):

"...the I.R.S. devoted vastly more resources to pursing questionable refunds by the poor, which she said cannot involve more than $9 billion, than to a $100 billion problem with unreported incomes from small businesses that deal only in cash, many of which do not even file tax returns."

Even a repugnant Republican is concerned:

Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he was troubled that taxpayers were not told that their refunds had been frozen.
"The taxpayer advocate's report raises serious questions about the I.R.S. criminal investigation division's freezing taxpayers' refunds," the senator said.
"We've seen a significant increase in refund abuse in recent years," he said. "However, I'm concerned by the advocate's findings that thousands and thousands of taxpayers are having their refunds frozen by the criminal investigation division, yet the taxpayers often do not know their refund has been frozen and can't effectively challenge the IRS' actions."

Secondly, and more importantly, hurry now and revel in the fabulousness that is TwistyFaster's 'I Blame the Patriarchy'. Makes ya mad but makes ya laff too. This is my new favorite blog.