Why are your shelves full of identical old books? For $29.95 each, Hammacher Schlemmer’s catalog (Spring) offers videocassette covers with “a hand-painted spine that actually resembles a classic leather-bound volume, with the name ‘Ruskin’, the 19th-century writer, printed on it.”
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Average donation to charity per adult in the six-county area: 15 minutes a week, 0.8 percent of income. What the average adult thinks he or she should donate: 2 hours, 4.1 percent. What the Volunteer Network, on West Washington, hopes to persuade each of us to give: 5 hours and 5 percent.
Lobbyists who’ve had one too many. This message from Illinois Taxpayers for Common Sense, which opposes Governor Edgar’s proposal to raise taxes on booze: “GOVERNOR EDGAR SHOULD ALSO BE ADVISED that: a) George Washington was a distiller; b) Abraham Lincoln owned and operated a tavern in New Salem, Illinois. The tavern has been the focal point of many historical events; c) The first idea for independence was argued in a tavern…”
Being oppressed means never having to prove anything. Statement approvingly quoted by the editors of the new book Sexual Harassment: Women Speak Out: “Women get to determine what is and isn’t sexual harassment. Just as blacks should determine what is racist and gays what is homophobic. And if we say it happened, it happened.”
