May I ask who is calling?

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I haven't much truck with the Charity Rackets. Since the "Do Not Call" list seems not to affect these relentless bunko artists posing as do-gooders, they call the Feedlot from time to time. In spite of the number being listed under an alias, these callers act like they know me. Maybe they did call me last year, but they wouldn't be calling me again if they had.

Yesterday I get one from what purported to be some kind of association of fire fighters or police. The spiel was about the same, "...send poor kids from the city to camps, keep them entertained with programs, etc."; whatever it takes to keep the kids from stealing our stuff or killing us for dope. My usual answer to these cats goes something like this: "I don't care if any kids anywhere go to camp or not, but I'm certainly not going to pay for it if they do." If they persist, I tell them I heard on the radio that their charity was a fake.

Because I was feeling better than usual yesterday, I told the phone solicitor that I was flat broke from a long string of bad luck and couldn't afford to give anything. When the caller could see he wasn't getting a sale, he said, "I know what you mean, man. Eight years of George Bush has ruined the economy." I was left speechless. What was that all about?

I gotta come up with something nastier to say to these chumps.