Hello

I'm enclosing the boycott petition of Republican Contributors here in this message. Send this petition to 10 friends, family members and activists to fill in name location and email address. When you get 10 signatures filled in please send it to me at dbaer@hoflink.com with the subject: Declaration of Independence. I will forward it to congress, the companies and the president and the governor of Florida.



A Declaration of Independence

When in the course of human events when conditions get so

intolerable that we see the need to separate ourselves from

those who would punish the less fortunate in our society for

their own political and financial gain it comes to the point

to declare our independence from those people. That day

comes today.

I pledge from this day forth to not purchase goods and services

from these Republican donors mentioned below until I see

improvement in such situations and my political agenda gets

advanced. I shall buy elsewhere. If this causes you and your

donors intolerable financial conditions then let the Lord have

it done. I shall also contact these companies with this pledge

with specifics on what I want to see done by our government.

I will also no longer let you punish the less fortunate with

my money any longer.

Sincerely,

Name Location email address.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9

10.





Companies to boycott

AT&T

Coca Cola

Pepsi Cola

Shell Oil

American Express

JC Penney

WalMart

Dell Computers

Marriott Hotels

Florida Oranges, Grapefruits, Orange juice and Grapefruit juice

and Florida Tourism

The Case of the Pointless Petition



An Internet Misadventure

Dateline: 05/27/98

By David Emery

I have a cautionary tale to share with you today.

Once upon a time – 1995, to be exact – two well-meaning but naive young students at the University of Northern Colorado decided to express their concern over cuts in federal funding for the arts by starting an email petition.

In their earnest Internet opus, they cited facts and figures concerning the costs of keeping the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio in business, raised the specter of Republican threats to cut funding for these programs, and asked recipients to "sign" the document by appending their names before forwarding it off to everyone they know.

Unfortunately, several things were wrong with the whole idea:

First, no one in any position of authority takes email petitions seriously. Electronic signatures are meaningless, no matter how many hundreds of thousands are collected.

Second, the University of Northern Colorado was not pleased to find its email system deluged with responses to the students' unauthorized mailing.

And finally, there was one little technical problem the students hadn't foreseen: they had no way to recall the petition once its purpose had been served.

All this was painfully clear within two weeks of its launch, but it was too late. The beast had taken on a life of its own.

Fast-forward to 1998, three years later. The petition has seen the inside of hundreds of thousands of modems, probably more. It has been repackaged by recipients in numerous inventive ways, most notoriously with the slogan: "Save Sesame Street!" Though perhaps successful at the outset in alerting a vast number of people to the right-wing threat against federal funding for the arts, it has long since stopped serving any useful purpose. Despite repeated pleas by the authors and the University for re-mailings to halt, the petition remains in wide, constant circulation to this day, all across the Internet and around the world.

Why, I happen to have a copy of it right here:



Subject: NEA Petition

This is a petition on behalf of PBS, NPR, NEA. Please keep this petition rolling. Do not reply to me. Please sign at the bottom and forward to others to sign. If you prefer not to sign please send to the e-mail address indicated below. Since this is being forwarded to several people at once to add their names to the petition, It won't matter if many people receive the same list as the names are being managed. Remember, this is for anyone who thinks NPR/PBS is a worthwhile expenditure of .12/year of their taxes, a petition follows. If you sign, please forward on to others (not back to me). If not, please don't kill it -send it to the e-mail address listed here: wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu.

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 funding currently going to these programs is too large a portion of funding for something which is seen as not worthwhile. Currently, taxes from the general public for PBS equal .12 per person per year, and the National Endowment for the Arts equals A_RTICLE.64 a year.

A January 1995 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll indicated that 76% of Americans wish to keep funding for PBS, this percentage of people polled is surpassed only by national defense and law enforcement as the programs that are the most valuable 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. 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 and forward it to friends if you believe in what we stand for. 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 600th, 650th, 700th, etc. signer of this petition, please forward a copy to: wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu. If that address is inoperative, please send it to: 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.

NOTE: To "sign" simply SELECT or COPY the entirety of this letter and then PASTE/COPY it into a new outgoing message. Type in your name in the next spot which will serve as your signature. Send it to as many people as you can. Don't simply forward this message.

I support continued funding for NPR, PBS and NEA. Don't cut their budgets:

Signed,

[List of names deleted]



Chastened, humbled, repentant, the petition's authors issued the following plea less than a year after its launch:



****UPDATE FOR PBS/NEA/NPR PETITION****

To all receivers of this petition,

It has come to our attention, due to the overwhelming support of these programs, the movement to cut the funding for the NEA, NPR, and PBS has been dropped. To repeat, thanks to your support of these programs, the danger of losing these programs has passed!!

Unfortunately, the due date for this petition was deleted on most or all of these copies and the petition is still circulating. ***** PLEASE DELETE ALL COPIES OF THE CIRCULATING PETITION!!!***** We greatly apologize for any inconvienence concerning this effort but MUST ASK FOR THE PETITIONS TO BE DELETED!!! The overwhelming support we have received has kept us going, but the fight has been won and we thank you all!

-Sincerely,

The authors of the petition



Woe unto the authors of the petition; they had set a juggernaut into motion.

In most respects, the text still circulating is identical to the one boldly launched in 1995, right down to the unadjusted-for-inflation costs per individual of keeping PBS and the NEA alive. (For comparison, see the 1996 version, a 1998 version and the latest 2001 version in our archive.)

It remains enshrined on Websites everywhere. It's reposted frequently to Usenet forums and continues to be replicated daily by hundreds, perhaps thousands of well-meaning email recipients.

And every completed copy with its long list of names that finds its way home to the University of Northern Colorado's mail server is immediately and unceremoniously deleted. Selah.

So much for everyone's good deed of the day.

From the Information Services office of the University of Northern Colorado:



Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 15:16:01 -0700 (MST)

Subject: Re: Petition from univnorthco

The petition you received from wein2688 concerning funding for PBS was initiated over 2 years ago by 2 freshman here who had good intentions but poor methodology. Electronic signatures are virtually useless.

One of the students, wein2688, left the school after 1 semester because the reaction to this "junk mail" was so adverse. And for more than 2 years we have been trying to slay this beast. It just refuses to die. Please help use to kill this thing by NOT sending it to anyone anuwhere Just delete it. If you do want to help PBS, contact the local PBS station or write to your congressman to voice your concerns.

Dutch Mulhern

Information Services

University of Northern Colorado



End of cautionary tale.



More information:

Fwd: Fwd: Re: Read This Now

From Mother Jones magazine

Do Email Petitions Work?

From Salon magazine

When You Get an Email Petition, Think Delete

By Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn

More Pointless Petitions

From our Archive



Current Netlore

Recent Features





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