Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Logging on is not for everyone

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Oct. 18, 2001 | 8:26 a.m.

Forest fires, earthquakes, accidents and tornadoes that once would have been headline news are relegated to the back pages, with the war against terrorism and anthrax scares dominating the news.

But occasionally a trivial incident can remind us that life goes on. Take the letter recently received from AT&T, offering a new kind of billing to its customers called "online billing" that offers "convenience and savings."

AT&T advises that if you want to learn more of this service, log on to its website, att.com/easybill.

And there's the crunch. What if you don't have the facilities to "log on?"

Well, you have another choice. If you maintain the current billing arrangement with AT&T, charges appearing as part of your local phone bill will cost you an extra $1.50 per month.

Is that discrimination, or not? Some of us old diehards prefer not to do business via the Internet.

Inevitably we will become extinct like dinosaurs.

Almost every advertising message today ends with, "for further information, log on to our web site at www.whatever.com."

It's these annoying, mundane matters that help us return to life as usual, even if we can't forget the horrific threat that faces our beloved country today.

Andy Rooney, "60 Minutes' " curmudgeon-philosopher, was on target when he suggested America needs some good public relations. Why not a campaign to sell America?

We might even hire Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator whose on-the-air editorial was sent to me by a friend. Portions follow:

"America, the good neighbor. This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the Earth.

"Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.

"When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

"When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

"The Marshall Plan and Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

"You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.

"I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble?

"Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And, when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those.

"Stand proud, America."