X-Spam-Status: No -- Hits: -1.665 Required: 5 X-Spam-Summary: BAYES_00 Sender: -1.665 (spamval) -- NONE Return-Path: Received: from smtp.eecs.umich.edu (smtp.eecs.umich.edu [141.213.4.43]) by boston.eecs.umich.edu (8.12.10/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iAK51TJc006916 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=FAIL) for ; Sat, 20 Nov 2004 00:01:29 -0500 Received: from granny.mr.itd.umich.edu (granny.mr.itd.umich.edu [141.211.14.70]) by smtp.eecs.umich.edu (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id iAK516mJ023220; Sat, 20 Nov 2004 00:01:17 -0500 Received: FROM mynah.eecs.umich.edu (mynah.eecs.umich.edu [141.213.12.202]) BY granny.mr.itd.umich.edu ID 419ECD0F.B046A.6186 ; 19 Nov 2004 23:50:23 -0500 Received: from localhost (dreeves Æ localhost) by mynah.eecs.umich.edu (8.11.6/8.11.2) with ESMTP id iAK4oN418053 for ; Fri, 19 Nov 2004 23:50:23 -0500 X-Authentication-Warning: mynah.eecs.umich.edu: dreeves owned process doing -bs X-X-Sender: dreeves Æ mynah.eecs.umich.edu Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.48 on 141.213.4.43 Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 23:50:23 -0500 (EST) To: improvetheworld Æ umich.edu From: Daniel Reeves Subject: AAA vs Better World Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 21 [re off-topic posts to improvetheworld today: won't happen again -- see discussion on whiteboard at http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves/improvetheworld ] Topic at hand: I've been reading about this and have decided to drop AAA like a hot potato. They've been using my money to fight against everything I believe in, like bike paths and mass transit. Here's what the car talk guys have to say about it: What's new at Car Talk Plaza? A chance to put your money where your values are, is what's new. Are you a member of AAA? Over the years many of you have complained that, aside from providing emergency towing services, AAA uses your money to support big oil and everything related to it. It lobbies for highway construction over mass transit; lower gas prices over fossil fuel alternatives; and spends millions of dollars of your membership money doing this. Want the details? Check this out: http://www.nrdc.org/amicus/01win/aaa/aaa.asp Ugly, eh? Now, a lot of you have said you'd love to join a different road club, BUT are afraid you won't get the same great service (you know, that patented, AAA wait-four-hours-in-the-snowstorm service we've all come to love and trust!). Well, now there is an alternative. It's called Better World. And it uses virtually the same network of tow providers that AAA uses, so you can get service all over the country, 24 hours a day. The Better World Club was founded by people who wanted reliable emergency road service but who didn't want their membership dues used to oppose things like bike paths and train service. In the interests of full disclosure, Better World is forking over dineros to advertise on the Car Talk web site. But despite this demonstration of poor business judgment, we still think it's a business worth supporting. Better World is trying to do well by doing good. If you'd like your road service dues to go to road service and not to defoliating the last unpaved parcels of America, you should check them out. You can get all the details by clicking on the Better World logo at: http://www.cartalk.com ... USEFUL INFORMATION ALERT: Tired of paying auto club dues to an outfit that lobbies against environmental causes? Check out the Better World Club. It's an auto club with genuinely decent values-- unlike some others we could name... whose initials just so happen to be AAA. Better World Club cares about your... *Environmental interests: It gives 1% of its revenue towards environmental clean up and advocacy; *Consumer interests: It even has discounts on hybrid rental cars; and *It has the nation's only bicycle roadside assistance program. Dump your AAA membership and join Better World! If you join via the Car Talk web site, you'll get an extra month's membership. Check out Better World now at http://www.cartalk.com -- http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves - - google://"Daniel Reeves"