Striking while the irony is hot

Some of you may be tired of my "isn't it funny how the FCC takes years to deny appeals filed which were a few days late" rant, but this appeal decision is a beaut.  It seems that on March 15, an unfortunate school named Graydon Manor had some of the equipment on their 471 found ineligible.  OK, first of all, if your school is Graydon Manor, rather than appealing to the FCC, wouldn't you just go down into the sub-basement and get Batman to fix the problem?  But no, they appeal to USAC.  The appeal letter is dated April 8, but I guess someone forgot to drop it in the mail, because it was mailed May 13.  That's 59 days after the FCDL was issued.  USAC got it on May 15, which is of course 61 days after the FCDL.  So on June 3, USAC dismisses the appeal as late filed.  The Manor files an appeal with the FCC on June 25, which the FCC receives on July 2.  [By the way, if you search the FCC's ECFS system for Graydon in Docket 96-45, when you click on the link for the Request for Review, you go to some filing by Ventura Telephone.  But the government couldn't hide it from this intrepid blogger.]  On September 13, the FCC tells the Manor to suck ice, since the rules say appeals must be received within 60 days, regardless of what USAC employees may have told the Manor about being postmarked within 60 days, and the Manor didn't offer good cause to waive the rules.  So on October 10, the Manor sends a Request for Reconsideration, which the FCC receives on October 15, which is 32 days after the FCC's decision.  And as I learned not too long ago, Requests for Reconsideration have to be filed within 30 days.  (The deadline for other appeals was increased from 30 days to 60 days on an emergency interim basis due to the 2001 anthrax attacks, but apparently Requests for Reconsideration are immune to anthrax.)

Let's recap the salient points from that pointlessly dense paragraph:

• appeal to USAC received 1 day late, May 15
• Request for Review timely filed, July 2
• Request for Reconsideration received 2 days late, October 15

And yesterday, the FCC issued its decision on the October 15 appeal.  But wait, the above timeline is from 2002.  So the postal service delivers an appeal 2 days late, and 3,505 days later, the FCC says, "Sorry, you were late."

Wow.