OK - I just got done venting to Christl about this but decided it wasn't enough so I decided to post this........

http://uk.reuters.com/article/autoNews/idUKTRE5136YP20090204

I'm sure you've heard about this program - analog tv is going away.  What is analog tv you may ask?  Well, I don't even think Granny had analog tv there at the end.  If you don't have cable and/or a box on your tv used for changing the channels, you probably have an analog signal.  Yeah, not many people.

So for whatever reason, the government decides to get involved in this (this started under Bush) and try to "help out people" by issuing $40 coupons to help people buy digital sets.  Ok, I don't agree 100% but I'll deal with it...ignoring how much money has been spent on advertising and printing and mailing those coupons.

But now.....NOW.....they're delaying the cut over.  Why?  WHY?  Because "about 13 million" people are holding expired coupons AND the government has run out of these coupons and millions of people are waiting for coupons.

Now the silver lining to this story is that the government was somehow able to raise something like 19 BILLION - BILLION with a 'B' dollars by selling off the old analog airwaves.  But - how much has been and will be spent on this whole freakin' program?

I'm sorry - this is not food or clothing or even child care or something essential.....this is T.V. we're talking about.  And I don't want to hear any arguments about not understanding the program or not knowing about it.  If the tv is so important then they've most likely been watching tv.  And if they've been watching they've seen the commercials.  No TiVo's involved so they can't be skipping over commercials.  The deal is simple.- you go to the website - https://www.dtv2009.gov - fill out a form which consists of your name/address, how many coupons do you want (you can actually request TWO) and that's it.  You then have 90 days to use the coupon(s).  Oh, and for those without internet access......1-888-DTV-2009.  And I'd like to see a report of the number of coupons that were requested via the online order form.  The people can pay $20 a month for internet access but can't afford a one time $40 converter box?

Ok, I'm kind of calmed down now.  Comments welcomed.