Several years ago, after George W.'s first tax cut (which was designed to help the working class, but didn't), I received a mailing from a group called the League of Conservation Voters. They asked me to donate my tax rebate to them, rather than to spend it myself. They would in turn use the funds to help push environmentally-friendly legislation through Congress and, to a smaller degree, through state governments.

Fine, I thought, after reading their literature. That's a very good cause. Boy, was I wrong.

Part of the deal with the LCV was that they would in no way distribute my contact information. I didn't make a big deal out of the gift, I didn't claim it on a tax return, nothing. I just sent them a check for thirty bucks; it should be noted that I did not receive a dime from the tax refund. So I sent in the money, and I said to myself, Brian, that being my name, You've done a good thing. When the time to renew came around, I decided against it. I had enough on my plate, since it was right after graduating from college, and I had all this debt that I all of a sudden had to worry about.

And that's when the crap started hitting the fan. I sent in a letter to the LCV in one of their postage-paid return envelopes, explaining that I was glad I could help them the one year, but that I couldn't help them again this year. Sorry, good luck, enjoy your weekends, yadayadayada. Not two weeks after that, I began receiving mail from other eco-groups. The Sierra club, Robert Redford, the Tom Daschle letter that I referenced in an earlier post, all of this crap that just suddenly began appearing in my mailbox. I was aghast, and remain so: Shouldn't environmentally friendly groups start sending letters in envelopes that don't have plastic address windows, which render them unrecyclable? Shouldn't they send emails or something, so they don't waste trees?

Perhaps they should. Honestly, I would more welcome spam from The American Society to Prevent Deforestation of Rural Iowa than I would a piece of junk mail, since it's their paper that is contributing more to the Deforestation of Rural Iowa than anything *I'm* doing.

I finally got fed up with this crap this morning, and decided to give the LCV a call. Here's a rough transcript.
Them: "Thank you for calling the League of Conservation Voters."
Me: "Uhm, yeah, I want to talk to whoever is in charge of your mailing list."
Them: "Certainly, please hold." pause
Them: "This is [name deleted]."
Me: "Yes, my name is Brian Lewis, and I sent in a check to you guys a few years ago during your tax refund appeal..."
Them: "Thank you."
Me: "You're welcome. The thing is, I sent it in with the idea that you wouldn't be giving away my name and contact information, or any of that."
Them: "Oh, well...yes...at the time, that was true. But you see, we wound up hitting a bit of a budget crunch, so we sent out an appeal several months ago saying that we would continue to keep your name safe, but you had to return that appeal. You didn't have to give, but you had to at least let us know you didn't want to. It's called an 'opt-out' plan, you see..."
Me: "Yes, I'm familiar with that. Thank you." click.

Alright. I don't remember this. Perhaps I missed it; that's always possible. But that's not the point: the point is that I feel my trust was betrayed. Frankly, I'm a little pissed off that they would do that at all, rather than just ask for more money the old-fashioned way. No offense, guys, but if you have trouble raising money, maybe you oughta find a better platform to stand on.

So, to show my displeasure, I am refusing to recycle for the next year. I don't care what it is: aluminum cans, newspapers, diamond rings. Every ounce of it goes into the trash. I'm gonna go cut down a tree and piss in the stump. I have every intention of making sausage from a snowy owl. Maybe I'll sell it, call it the "LCV Special." I'm gonna donate 5 bucks to the Republican Party, and join the NRA. Just to piss those people off.

Have a nice frickin' day.