jimmi, i do have some personal experience with US govt agencies (if you want to talk real beauridiocracy, talk about the US corps of army engineers, it's like doing business with the devil on crack)....in a seperate issue...about a year ago i applied to a small state agency for a pretty simple license....all regs were followed and paperwork submitted (with a payment)....in my experience, the less you bug them the better off you'll be but about 4 months go by and no word...so i call and "Laquisha" answers (funny how thier office has two ladies working in it and both are named "laquisha").....anyway, laquisha says that the business i want to do is'nt exactly listed in the agency's requirements so the board cant decide if i need to be licensed with them or not.....

so i say "well, does that mean i do business without the license til i hear from you?"

laquisha says "oh, absolutely not, if you conduct business without this license you could get in trouble"

i say "so when will the board make up it's mind?"

laquisha "i cant tell you that, but they do have a meeting in about 2 1/2 months and it will probably be discussed then"...

i say "ok, i'll call back in a couple months..."

since then the board has cancelled 3 meetings in a row, made no decisions on my license and i hav'nt recieved a refund for my licensing fees or word from anyone in the state despite repeated phone calls.....i finally said f' it and decided if i do need a license then they'll send me one (i'm in compliance with thier laws) if i dont they need to send me my money back....either way i'll do business without them...

but i guess in the end....i can see how this LC problem could actually just be a "fat assed bagel eaters" idea of fun.... f'n govt employees!