>>>Funny how that war really was the most expensive war in history. Afterall, we are all still paying a phone tax are we not? :0) The phone tax originated to pay for that war back in 1898.
>>>
>>>It appears that AT&T were willing to exempt those who refuse to pay it, but I wouldn't take the chance:
>>>
>>>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1229-05.htm
>>>
>>>Imagine what taxes really would be if you cutout all those taxes which were designed to be a limited duration and then when time went by and citizens forgot, they never stopped the tax but rather just kept collecting money and using it for whatever they want.
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>>I don't think there are many toll roads in your part of the country but they are the perfect example. Every toll highway I know of was presented as a limited time toll until construction was paid for. It never seems to work out that way.
>
>The Golden Gate Bridge is another example of that. The cost to cross the bridge in 1960 was 25 cents. When the bonds were paid off, there was to be no toll. Today the toll is $5.
>
>You see, the bridge toll for automobiles supports the commuter busses and ferries, the later of which is a real money looser. But in all fairness to the ferries and those who ride them from Marin County to San Francisco, that is such a great way to travel! You can get stoned going to and from work while you laugh at the clowns in his/her cars.


My favorite person in the world, the one who lives in Sonoma, takes the ferry into "the City" (as she insists on calling it) roughly once a week. She loves it compared to driving, even when the water is choppy and people are throwing up around her. I love getting IMs or cell phone calls from her from the ferry or internet cafes in San Francisco. Her territory -- she is a territory manager for a book distributor, in addition to a successful interior design business -- goes as far north as Sacramento and as far south as Palo Alto.

I would marry her in one nanosecond. Too bad life isn't always that simple, isn't it?