Dan'l Should Quit Paying His Phone Bill

My friend Dan'l spent his time overseas during Gulf I after getting some training in Farsi, and ever since he came back, he's been sure the clicking and bad phone service he gets are indicative of the government listening in on him - to make sure he didn't make illicit contacts overseas, to monitor whether just knowing Farsi changes his brain patterns, who knows. Pooteewheet and Dan'l's wife Cookie Queen don't help the matter by trilling at each other on the phone all the time just in case someone is listening in.

Well, according to Matt at After School Snack (via PBS), it appears Dan'l may be right, and he may want to just stop paying his phone bill and let the government pick up the charge for him.

"Here's one more tidbit on wire-taps: They get you free phone service! The feds tapped the phone of the Sisters of Mercy in Washington D.C. because of some anti-war stance or something they took in the 1980s. The good sisters noticed some kind of clicking on the phone at times, and finally decided that someone must have tapped into their phone. Their solution: Don't pay the bill so the phone company will have to shut off the phone. The phone never went dead, and they quit sending them bills! The Feds wouldn't let Ma Bell shut them down, and probably began paying the bills. The sisters talked long and free with their friends across the country!"