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Automatically imported from: http://commons.somewhere.com:80/rre/1996/bad.political.action.ale.html
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bad political action alerts
``` [I have enclosed what I regard as a bad example of a political action alert. It has been bouncing around the Internet for a little while, causing lots of irritation and confusion. Its sins are numerous:
* no particular organization has claimed responsibility for it, nor is it signed, beyond an e-mail address to which copies should be sent it provides no pointers to sources of background information it has no "time-out" date, and so it will probably float around the Internet for months or years, long after such an alert might possibly be a good idea* instead of language to the effect of "post where appropriate", it says "forward this to everyone you know", an instruction that, experience shows, many people interpret as reason enough to post things to mailing lists where they do not belong* it has no clear headline or beginning marker, so that a recipient cannot be certain of having gotten the whole message* it uses a "chain letter" format and thus tends to legitimize chain letters while ensuring statistically that most signatures will never reach the politicians they are intended for and that many signatures will be sent over and over and over, thus irritating the politicians and their staffs
Political action alerts on the Internet can be a powerful too, but they will very soon become discredited if uninformed people continue to use them wrongly. I encourage everyone to complain to anybody who originates a badly designed political action alert, and to direct their attention to a set of guidelines for such alerts, available at http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/tno/january-1994.html#action
Phil Agre]
Encl:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- PBS, NPR (National Public Radio), and the arts are facing major cutbacks in funding. In spite of the efforts of each station to reduce spending costs and streamline their services, the government officials believe that the funding currently going to these programs is too large a portion of funding for something which is seen as "unworthwhile".
Currently, taxes from the general public for PBS equal $1.12 per person per year, and the National Endowment for the Arts equals $.64 a year in total. A January 1995 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll indicated that 76% of Americans wish to keep funding for PBS, third only to national defense and law enforcement as the most valuable programs for federal funding.
Each year, the Senate and House Appropriations committees each have 13 subcommittees with jurisdiction over many programs and agencies. Each subcommittee passes its own appropriation bill. The goal each year is to have each bill signed by the beginning of the fiscal year, which is October 1. In the instance of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the bill determines the funding for the next three years. When this issue comes up in 1996, the funding will be determined for fiscal years 1996-1998.
The only way that our representatives can be aware of the base of support for PBS and funding for these types of programs is by making our voices heard. Please add your name to this list if you believe in what we stand for, and then forward the list to anyone else you think might want to sign it. This list will be forwarded to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, and Representative Newt Gingrich, who is the instigator of the action to cut funding to these worthwhile programs.
If you happen to be the 50th, 100th, 150th, etc. signer of this petition, please forward a copy to wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu. If that address is inoperative, please use kubi7975@blue.univnorthco.edu. This way we can keep track of the lists and organize them. Forward this to everyone you know, and help us to keep these programs alive.
Thank you.
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1.) Elizabeth Weinert, Greeley, Colorado. 2.) Robert M. Penn; San Francisco, CA 3.) Gregory S. Williamson, San Francisco, CA 4.) John T. Gifford, Boston, MA 5.) Michael S. McGovern, Sudbury, MA 6.) Thomas E. Kelleher, Montclair, NJ 7.) Steven J. Mulroy, Alexandria, VA 8.) Mark Curtis Raby, Washington, DC 9.) H. Kimberlie Young, Charlottesville, VA 10.) Gary L. Sirota, Solana Beach, California, Registered Voter! 11.) Helge Weissig, Solana Beach, CA 12.) Rae Ann Bories, La Jolla, CA 13.) Cecily M. Peterson, Northampton, MA 14.) Chris Rohmann, Northampton, MA 15.) Dina Friedman, Northampton, MA 16.) Shel Horowitz, Northampton, MA 17.) Chuck Larkin, Atlanta, Georgia 18.) Gus Makreas, Millbrae, CA 19.) Richard Ahrens, San Jose, CA 20.) Patrick Marion, Cupertino, CA 21.) Sally Bonsack, Spokane, WA 22.) Walter Bonsack, Spokane, WA 23.) Andrea Vine, Mtn. View, CA 24.) GIna Blus, San Francisco, CA 25.) Juliet Lamont, Berkeley, CA 26.) Carter Brooks, San Francisco, CA 27.) Michael Shantzis, San Francisco, CA 28.) Nicole Grindle, San Francisco, CA 30.) Lisa Maki, Seattle, WA 31.) Markus Glunz, Seattle, WA 32.) Michael Morearty, Seattle, WA 33.) Heidi Herman, Seattle, WA 34.) Martha Horn, Huntsville, AL 35.) Barbara White, Huntsville, AL 36.) Michael Scarborough, Huntsville, AL 37.) George Harris, Huntsville, AL 38.) Susan Kray, Terre Haute, IN 39.) Constantine Costes, Huntsville, AL 40.) Mike McGarry, Somerville, MA ```
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