I recently requested that my bank take Verizon Wireless off an auto debit plan.  I’m not too happy with Verizon, because my cell phone died again.  I paid $200 for this phone and I already had to replace it once, for the same reason.  It wouldn’t charge.  The replacement lasted about six months, which is a little shy of the two year term I have to sign a contract for to get such a sweet deal on that crummy phone.  Verizon refuses to replace the replacement.  I guess I’m supposed to throw it in the trash.  Two strikes and yer out.

This fancy phone is built to military specs.  You can toss it off a ten story building and it’ll keep on ticking, as long as the battery is charged.  It’s shock proof and water proof, which seemed like great features, seeing as I slipped off the transom of a sailboat in Newport harbor and fried my previous cell phone.  They call this thing ‘the Boulder.’ Wonder of modern technology. Impervious to shock and salt water, but it won’t hold a battery charge. 

So I don’t want Verizon dipping into my bank account anymore. I asked my bank to take them off the auto debit status, and I was told I had to pay a “service fee” of $25 to stop payment.  This didn’t seem like service to me. 

I then asked about another vendor which has no auto withdraw capability; and I was told I had to pay another $25 “service fee” to stop payment on a check I hadn’t even written.  This ‘customer service” agent was a corporate drone.  She could work for Verizon.

I ended up having to close my bank account.  I was given no choice in the matter.  I deposited my money in another bank and zeroed out my account.   Told them to close it, but they didn't; or wouldn't.  Two days later they paid Verizon, put me $58 in the red; and charged me $30 for overdrawing my account. 

I’m thinking it’s pretty nice of my old bank to pay my Verizon Wireless bill, and now that there’s no money in the account, they are finally interested in customer service. 

I used AT&T in Santa Cruz.  When I decided to move, I called them and arranged a disconnect; and when I got my final bill they’d charged me for an extra month of phone and internet service. 

I called their “customer service” department and explained how they’d made a mistake, and they didn’t hear a word I said.  I thought to myself, ‘have you become a machine, or is there still some shred of humanity in you…?’  I spent hours on the phone trying to straighten this out, and what I got out of it was a notice from a collection agency.  That was more than two years ago. 

My credit scores were over 800 before that.  Now my score is 650, which is quite a slide.  Some people would have paid the bill, and that must be a nice little income stream for AT&T, who charges for swindle.  I’m really tired of this shit.  There’s no way to defend ourselves against it.  Even if I paid the bill, they wouldn’t repair my credit history. 

I decided to order a new phone from Verizon.  WTF.  A $200 phone to replace the $200 ‘Boulder’ that is such a technologically wonderful, indestructible piece of shit; which they won’t replace even though it didn’t last six months.  People have been emailing me to tell me I’m not answering my cell. 

I’m not going to pay for this new phone. 

That’s the only way to make the bastids sit up and take notice.  Don’t pay ‘em.  If we all stopped using the banks, stopped buying fuel, didn’t go to work and stayed home for three days, they’d learn the power of the people.  Everything would stop.

Remember we, the people…?  One nation, under God… indivisible…

Are you in danger of foreclosure?  Did you take one of those EZ no brainer no doc loans?  Having trouble making your payments?  Got four jobs to support one household…?  Is your credit card debt stratospheric?  Is your cell phone company jerking you around?  IRS got you in a stranglehold?  Boss withholding too much from your paycheck?  Has your bank charged you unnecessarily?  Got a “service fee” on your statement?  Usurious interest rate on your plastic?  Can you afford groceries this week?  Fuel too expensive?  Have you paid a tax for breathing?  Got yer H₁N₁ vaccination?  Doctor overcharged you?  Dog sick?  Kids sick?  Sink clogged?  Drawer stuck?  Car broke down?  Lost your job?  Will you get bailed out…?

It’s time to take our country back from the banksters and the warmongers.  We don’t need big brother and Homeland Security treating us as if we’re terrorists.  Neither do we need to be spreading our American good will message of death and destruction in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (Venezuela, Colombia, Somalia, Sudan, Israel…). Instead, let’s send a clear and resounding message to our supercilious government and the warmongers.  If any country needs to be conquered and rebuilt, it’s ours.

Never has there been so much taxation with so little representation. God willing, the changes required can be attained in peaceful fashion, with liberty and justice for all.  I’m not sure it’s possible, because the ruling elite has their own agenda in mind, but there is a prescription for making things right again; and it will never happen if we continue to meekly accept the status quo of the banksters and their political lapdogs.

Fugg ‘em.