Petitions in one's e-mail.

Good causes, yeah. Sierra Club, ACLU, Greenpeace, Save the Wolves, Polar Bears, Turtles, Support the Union Workers in Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood, you name it. You sign the petitions, and the next thing you start getting—from the same organizations—is whines for donations.

I get a few that I do look at pretty thoroughly, like AlterNet Headlines and such—and Bob Livingston's Liberty Alerts (VERY Right Wing, but I want to know what these people are saying).

I'd LIKE to be able to donate to some of these organizations, but, Hells Bells, sports fans, I'm not made of money! Call be selfish, but I do have a building maintenance fee to pay (in lieu of rent—I live in a co-op apartment building) and I like to eat now and then!

I got 42 e-mails this morning and about 35 of them had the words "Donate" or "Contribute" in them.

Sorry! I've become a bit callous about glancing through and simply zapping them.

Don Firth