[dr_lew]

BOYCOTT the charity. Give to the Salvation Army instead!

I put a dollar in the pot in front of the grocery store the other day, and the scruffy looking bell ringer told me, "God bless you."

... I LIKE that !

[Criminal Number 18F]

I put a dollar in the pot in front of the grocery store the other day

They're not there in front of my local supermarket this year. So I asked the store manager what was up. He put a long face and explained... it seems that a state court decision says that if they permit the bell ringers to "solicit" in front of their store, they have to permit everybody. Meaning:

• kids raising money for sports or arts (he's cool with that)
• unions talking trash about his business (he has a problem)
• cranks promoting causes, and...
• bums begging.

Of course, this is the People's Republic of Massachusetts. But if the law says you can't roust a diseased, stinking, filthy, cursing alkie because he's the legal equivalent of a Salvation Army bell-ringer, the law has its head mislocated somewhere in a brown universe.

I'd also like to add in my travels around the world, I have never encountered any of the charities that advertize on TV, but the Salvation Army is always there in poor countries. The only places I didn't see it are Uzbekistan (which remains nominally Muslim but actually de facto Communist) and Afghanistan (which is simply not safe enough yet, not in the places I was).

The other charities that I see actually helping people seem to all be from overtly Christian or Jewish groups. Funny how it's the religious people who are actually helping, while all the "we think religion is okay for you unsophisticated people. We really do" liberals would rather see it done through taxes: they don't donate to charity, so they assume no one does. Paugh.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F