Tryin' to anaesthetize the way that we feel

You see my music? David Byrne has a radio station, which seems to be music he thinks we should listen to. I can't quarrel with that. (He's currently playing some Paul Simon, and I can't quarrel with that either. Speaking of which, David described a cute/weird dream about Paul Simon in his journal a little while ago.)

The radio bop is accessible via iTunes, in Radio > Eclectic > Radio DavidByrne.com.

Taxing

Michigan's state tax forms got a tiny bit more annoying this year. There's a line below the address label that sez:

MILITARY FAMILY RELIEF FUND. You may contribute to the Military Family Relief Fund on line 28 of this form.

"Well," sez I, "no problem there. I'm glad people are being given an opportunity to donate, though I might prefer more choices." Except line 28 actually sez:

Military Family Relief Fund. Enter your contribution amount ($1 minimum) here..................

They seem to be using the word "may" a bit loosely. Now, I support the troops™, and this stupid war is certainly causing a lot of pain and trauma to their families, and that needs to be addressed. After all, it's only a dollar. But I'm already inadvertently funding Bush's mad flailing in the Middle East with my taxes; it tweaks me that I'm being forced to pay even a dollar above and beyond my taxes to fix the lives he's wrecked in Michigan, too.

Anyway. I'll be getting a hefty wad of refundy goodness in a month or so, which I will consider to have been taken directly from Bush's pocket.

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Edit: (*sigh*) I will bow to popular opinion, since K. also thinks I am an idiot. The donation is probably optional.

I still maintain that it's badly worded. "Enter your contribution amount ($1 minimum)" is an imperative, ordering me to enter something, and if I'm going to sign something on threat of perjury I'm darn well going to follow imperatives. Tax forms are the very definition of anal retention, and are designed to be read super-literally; that line, under that microscope, implies that I have to enter something, and that it has to be at least a dollar.

I mean, they already filled in the 00 in the cents column. To donate less than a dollar, I would have to white out the existing zeroes and write in something else. How dumb do they think I am?

Apparently, I am dumber than that.

Anyway, I'd be curious to see how many $1 donations they get this year.