PLEASE!!!!!!!

Caption: That's right. Another day older and deeper in debt.

I'm going to let you wonder what that BLUR up there IS for a few sentences. I will tell you this. I'll bet you a hug you've got one at your house,  just like I've got one at mine.

So I'm sorting through the mail today to get ready to take out the trash in the morning?

"My, did I forget to pay some bills or something? This pile is huge!"

I may have to come up with a RANDOM garage sale this weekend just to stay solvent.

Well, it turns out most of what was there came up just short of being bonafide billage. (Spell Check didn't correct that. Is billage really a word?)  I'm going to guess that many of you think I'm about to gripe about all the political #$%@!

No, not this time.

Before I go any further let me set the tone and issue some disclaimers for what will follow.

One, I've tried very hard to keep this BLOG from becoming a spewing of angst. You can get that elsewhere.  Hopefully some of you came here for a respite from teeth grinding.  But on this ocassion? All bets are off.

Secondly I doubt I'll get through this without offending some of my dear friends. All I can say is please forgive me in time. I NEED TO VENT. Do not go forward thinking, "oh,  he's going to dump in one of those last minute twists to diffuse it all."

Not gonna happen. 

Finally in this prelude to my passionate tirade, let it be known FAR AND WIDE.  I AM NOT EFFECTIVELY MOTIVATED BY GUILT IN THE BEST OF TIMES.

Okay, lets get on common footing here. I think we can all agree these are NOT the best of times.  If they were,  the war in Iraq would not have slipped into second place on the political agenda. Now don't get me wrong, no one is threatening to foreclose on my mortgage.  But like all of you, once I've put gas in the car, paid the bills, bought a few groceries, and paid the homeowners fee? I'm broke until next month.  This is not "woe is me."  You're all in the same boat.

Okay, back to the mail.  What you see up there on top is the largest pile ever accumulated in my life time of appeals for my generosity. What you see up there are 18, that's eighteen, packages of UNSOLICITED address stamps with myname on them. (Peggy doesn't know it yet, but she's got a pile of her own.) 

They are BLURRED because I don't want anybody else to get my address without working for it.  God knows there's a data base out there to give one a hand if one wants to labor a bit to snag me.

Even with current medical advancements in fighting aging, I could not live long enough to use all these stickers, especially on Snail Mail. But you know I'm not going to say anything about that. If they want to use up all the lumber and dead horses on the Planet to send those things out?  Saves me 20 bucks having to order them on line.

But there are no free address stamps are there. With each little pile of stamp comes an urgent appeal for me cough up 20, 50, 100, a 1,000 bucks to save the planet. One of them adds to the guilt appeal by sending me (and you) a nickel, hoping to inspire our good will. "Bah Humbug" to your nickel.

I had almost decided to give something to the Alzheimer's Association because they hadn't included any address stickers in their appeal?  But then I REMEMBERED (closest we'll get to humor today) there was a second letter from that organization? Uh, huh! That's where they put the address stickers.

I know these charities are facing hard economic times just like the rest of us.  I know most of us have someone in our lives who've been helped in some fashion by at least one of these charities. (despite some fund administrators kickin' down a million or so a year) But I'm no good to anybody, you're no good to anybody, if we're all broke.  And no matter what they say in these appeals?  We did not get them into their binds. We cannot, and should not unburden ourselves of our livelihoods to keep THEM afloat.

And I'm sorry...but MY ALMA MATER,  THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY( if they've got myname and address there is no hope), THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY?  You guys take a break.

I think I've vented enough to slow down here. I do care about my fellow persons.  Today I chased a girl down on campus who, unbeknownst to her, had 50 dollars in mixed bills fly out of her pocket.  While I was chasing her down, another man gathered up the bills in the wind. 

In my mind that's the kind of charity that is going to make a difference right now.  There are people all around us who need assistance that has nothing to do with guilt or cash.

Let's face it, for whatever reason, it's going to be economically tough for everybody right now. We need to take care of our families and neighbors and friends. But none of us right now should feel guilty for not writing a bunch of checks because somebody sent us some address stamps we didn't ask for.  I'd send the nickel back but that would cost me close to 7 nickels.

Can I get back to politics for just a second? I'm going to be mad at any one of you who goes out and spends that HUGE economic boon the government is going to give us...so that we can patriotically yet artificially stimulate the economy. Please don't do that and then vote Republican. Don't get nervous now.

Please don't go out and vote Democratic because the Democrats promise solutions in 2009. Ain't gonna happen.

Vote for SOMEBODY, but vote for them for some other reason than the economy or Iraq. Those are turning into hot smoke screen issues. On those broad points? They are either lying to themselves or to us.

Okay, I think I'm mostly vented. And I just read this to Peggy over the phone and she said succinctly, "You better quit and go to bed!"

And so I will.  How big is your pile of address stamps?