More urban legends and hoaxes: Canadian Email Charge, LSD and Strychnine on Pay Phone Buttons, and Madeline Murray O'Hare Letters
Canadian Email Charge
Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online and continue using email:
The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government of Canada attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect your use of the Internet.
Under proposed legislation Canada Post will be attempting to bill email users out of "alternate postage fees".
Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by the ISP.
Toronto lawyer Richard Stepp QC is working to prevent this legislation from becoming law.The Canada Post Corporation is claiming that lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is costing nearly $23,000,000 in revenue per year. You may have noticed Canada Post's recent ad campaign "There is nothing like a letter". Since the average citizen received about 10 pieces of email per day in 1998, the cost to the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid directly to Canada Post for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the Canadian Government is permitted to tamper with our liberties by adding a surcharge to email, who knows where it will end. You are already paying an exhorbitant price for snail mail because of beaurocratic inefficiency.
It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from Mississauga to Scarborough. If Canada Post Corporation is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in Canada. One back-bencher, Liberal Tony Schnell (NB) has even suggested a "twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond the government's proposed email charges. Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story, the only exception being the Toronto Star that called the idea of email surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come" (March 6th 1999 Editorial) Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away! Send this email to all Canadians on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to their MP and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
LSD & Strychnine on Pay Phone Buttons
Hello, my name is Tina Strongman and I work at a police station, as a phone operator for 911. This is to warn every one of a new thing happening in communities as a gang initiation and such. If you care about anyone, please forward this to them immediately so they can learn of the possible harm. Even if you don't read this, at least forward it to people.
Lately, we've received many phone calls pertaining to a new sort of problem that has arisen in the inner cities, and is now working it's way to smaller towns. It seems that a new form of gang initiation is to go find as many pay phones as possible and put a mixture of LSD and Strychnine onto the buttons. This mixture is deadly to the human touch, and apparently, this has already killed some people on the East coast.
Strychnine is a chemical used in rat poison and is easily separated from the rest of the chemicals. When mixed with LSD, it creates a substance that is easily absorbed into the human flesh, and highly fatal.
Please be careful if you are using a pay phone anywhere. You may want to wipe it off, or just not use one at all. If you have any questions, you can contact me at the links listed below. Please be very careful. Let your friends and family know about this potential hazard.
Madeline Murray O'Hare Letters
First Letter:
Madeline Murray O'Hare, an atheist, whose efforts successfully eliminated the use of Bible reading and prayer from public schools fifteen years ago, has now been granted a federal hearing in Washington, D.C., on the same subject, by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Her petition, No. 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop any reading of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on the airwaves of America. She took her petition with 287,000 signatures to back her stand.
If her attempt is successful, all Sunday Worship services being broadcast, either by radio or television, will stop! Ms. O'Hare is also campaigning to remove all CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS, CHRISTMAS SONGS AND CHRISTMAS CAROLS from public schools.
You can help this time! We need 1,000,000 (one million) signed letters.
This would defeat Ms. O'Hare and show that there are many CHRISTIANS ALIVE, WELL, AND CONCERNED FOR OUR COUNTRY. This petition is # 2493
Print, cut off, sign and mail the form below. PLEASE DO NOT SIGN JOINTLY as "Mr. and Mrs." should SIGN ONE SEPARATELY AND MAIL IT IN A SEPARATE ENVELOPE!!!! (Helps us get to 1,000,000 faster) Be sure to put 'Petition #2493' on the envelope before mailing the letter. This has to go out 'snail-mail,' folks, (US Postal Service). It is important, please do it right away. Like right now!
(Please forward this letter to everyone in your address books. Also, please print, copy and distribute this letter among all your non e-mail type friends and relatives)
CHRISTIANS MUST UNITE ON THIS! PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY; WE DID ONCE AND LOST PRAYER IN SCHOOLS, AND IN OFFICES ACROSS THE NATION! DO NOT LET THIS WOMAN WIN AGAIN!
Here's the letter you need to copy/print, sign and mail....
Second Letter:
CBS will be forced to discontinue "Touched by an Angel" for using the word God in every program. Madeline Murray O'Hare, an atheist, successfully managed to eliminate the use of Bible reading from public schools a few years ago. Now her organization has been granted a Federal Hearing on the same subject by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington D.C.
Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of Our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America. They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped. This group is also campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols from public schools!
You can help! We are praying for at least 1 million signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there are many Christians alive, well and concerned about our country. We must unite on this. Please don't take this lightly. We ignored this lady once and lost prayer in our school and in offices across the nation.
Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice be heard.
Together we can make a difference in our country while creating an opportunity for the lost to know the Lord. Please press "forward" and only delete out what is not needed, and forward this to everyone on your list.
Now, please sign your name at the bottom. Don't delete anything, just go to
the next number and type your name. Please do not sign jointly, such as Mr. & Mrs....Each person should sign his/her own name.
Please e-mail this to everyone you know, and help us defeat this organization and keep the right of our freedom of religion. When you get to 1000 please email back to Lisa Norman at <mailto:electric_yellow@hotmail.com electric_yellow@hotmail.com
Editors Note: This rumor is over 25 years old.