A Word, A Scam, And More January 4, 2005January 19, 2017 A WORD But just a word – because I can’t imagine what I could really add: it’s great that so many are rallying around to help. More than 168,000 donations have come in to the American Red Cross already through Amazon’s ‘one-click’ feature alone. (Amazon is taking no processing fee on these transactions.) We are at our best when we are helping others. A SCAM From Roger: Subject: Tick Scam Subject: FW: WARNING WARNING WARNING Send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list! It’s urgent. If someone comes to your front door saying they are conducting a survey on deer ticks and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around to shake off the ticks, do not do it! IT IS A SCAM; they only want to see you naked. I wish I’d gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid … A REPUTABLE RETAILER Deborah Peifer: ‘Loved the Marshall Field’s story, and I have one of my own. When she was 20, my grandmother bought an umbrella from Field’s. It came with a lifetime guarantee. When she was 65 it broke, and she took it back to Field’s. Her reasoning was that nowhere had the guarantee said that she had to die before she was 65. Field’s didn’t give her a refund (which would have been about $1.50). Instead, she was allowed to choose any umbrella she wanted, with the promise that if it broke, it would be covered under the same guarantee. I’ve lived in California for 12 years, and I still miss Field’s!’ AN I.O.U. I owe you some thoughts about money every once in a while . . . and the 10 Commandments of E-Mail . . . and the denouement of the calico cat story. The days fly by, but I have not forgotten. THE RAPTURE Randall Harris: ‘I don’t doubt the accuracy of the Bill Moyers speech, but I think some of the ideas attributed to Christian fundamentalists are not as widespread as he implied. Having spent more than 40 years as a Christian fundamentalist myself, I have some insight into their beliefs. I fear Bill Moyers has committed a journalistic blunder by lumping together the majority of Christian fundamentalists and the fanatical fringe. You liberals are careful to make a distinction between the reasonable majority and the radical minority when it comes to the Muslim religion. Please extend that same courtesy to the Christian religion.’ ☞ I don’t know how large the group is that Moyers was speaking about. But with 62 million copies of the Left Behind series sold (or some number in that ballpark), I wouldn’t be surprised if, as he estimated, it were several million. Enough, for example, to determine a presidential election and the course of history. So while you are completely right that people shouldn’t be lumped together (and I expect Moyers agrees), I do think he was within bounds to express his concerns. (FYI: The Rapture Index, updated yesterday, stands unchanged from last week at 155.) Dave: ‘You are on the wrong track and, uncharacteristically, insulting, biased and, yes, doing just what you accuse gay bashers of doing. I too find the Rapture idea odd, to say the least. But let’s let others think what they want, and, no, I do not feel they are a danger. Moyers is a danger with his diatribe.‘ ☞ People should surely be free to believe what they want (and be treated decently as the fellow citizens that they are). But I wonder whether it’s not fair game to perceive a danger in people who look forward to a rapturous apocalypse, and to comment thereon. Toby Gottfried: ‘This Rapture nonsense is not all that the family LaHaye is up to. Mrs. LaHaye is the founder and chairperson of Concerned Women for America, one of the staunchest components of the Religious Right. Read about the group here.’ ☞ I did. They have every right to hold conservative views (as I’m sure you’d agree). I just wish they would not attempt to impose them on others through legislation. OK . . . tomorrow the big rock. But beware: it could give you the heebee-gee-gees.