24 May—Yesterday at the post orifice, a Monitor reader asked me why I’ve got it in for the ACLU. While admitting it ain’t what it used to be, she felt it was still better than nothing. And she’s right. Well, she’s not wrong. And she’s never been a dues-paying member or contributor, even though in the old days she was an avid demonstrator for the things the ACLU fought for. How can I argue with that?

So, as a parting shot in this nonviolent skirmish, I’ll let the American Civil Liberties Union speak for itself. Here’s the mailing that inspired yesterday’s screed. Including the envelope but not the executive director’s begging letter, which pretty well parrots the phony survey. With the intended recipient’s identity edited out, of course.

But first. The envelope itself is a slick masterpiece worthy of the Publishers Clearing House and reminiscent of the Nancy Pelosi-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee junk mail I wrote about earlier this month.

Getting past the printed-on color except in the label area, for instance, DO NOT BEND? How? The 9×12 catalogue-size envelope would have to be bent (if not necessarily folded) to fit in virtually any city-route, rural-route, or PO box. And why shouldn’t it be bent? It’s only easily bendable, non-fragile paper, after all, that could just as well have fit in a #14 business-letter envelope for the same minuscule 11.6-cent non-profit organization postage. (You’ll recall that Nancy used a pasted-on stamp instead of the indicia, which indicates a Pennsylvania ZIP-code rather than the NYC return address on the flap.)

Why DO NOT BEND? Easy. For the same reason the schmuck (addressee) has been selected to “represent Connecticut by sharing” blah blah and blah; and the chartreuse envelope is supposed to contain “TIME SENSITIVE>>>OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS.” Official documents. Wow! Maybe they’re even top secret.

Then there’s the wording of the “survey.” Do the highly-paid consultants and con-artists who come up with all this crap—and not just for the ACLU and Democrats, mind you—really think people are so stupid? Silly question. But that’s a whole nother subject.

Getting back to the phony survey, read it and decide for yourself—whether it’s bullshit or horseshit: