One of the least fun things about going out of town is the backlog of
mail you have to deal with when you get home. We had five days worth.
So, while the husband's weeding the junk from the bills, he throws a
catalog from this organization into
my pile, because it had my name on it. That's the husband's way of
abdicating mail responsibility: if it's got my name on it, I'm the one
who has to throw it out. But, never having received anything from them
before, I was curious and started flipping through it. The basic gist
of this catalog is that you, the ever conscientious consumer, can buy a
farm animal for a family somewhere in the world. The purpose of this is
to provide less fortunate people with the means to not only survive,
but thrive. This is their Christmas catalog: instead of shlepping
around the mall to only wind up buying your loved one something they
don't need, you can instead make a donation to Heifer International and
they'll take that money and put it to use buying animals. A good idea,
no? Well, yes, but Heifer got some celebrities to pose for the catalog.
Apparently, it's a good idea to use celebrity endorsements to sell
something. Hmmm. I had no idea. I'm flipping through and decide I can
deal with Ed Asner snuggling up to a cow, or Walter Cronkie holding a
baby chick, or even Patricia Heaton with a goat on her lap, but you
might imagine my surprise when I came across this picture: 
You know, it's one thing to find out that your friends are supporters of sustainable development, but it's completely, entirely
another to find out that they're such shameless PR whores that they'd
actually stoop to posing with Susan Sarandon! I mean, of all the
celebrities they could have posed with, they have to choose Susan "I'm
a Supporter of Fascist Totalitarian Dictators" Sarandon? Come on!
What? Was there a diva deathmatch in the dressing room with the goats
over Patricia Heaton---a Bush supporter---and they lost? Was this
better than having to snuggle up with Ed Asner? Or were they offered
the Ed Harris/Amy Madigan option and decided Ed and Amy were a bit too
repulsive to even contemplate? Was this a choice of the lesser of a few
evils? It's making me suspicious in the extreme. Steve and Robert's
allegiances have been called into question with this one simple
photograph. I can only assume that they thought they'd never be found
out. It's obvious that they thought this catalog would only be sent to
tree huggers, yet somehow Heifer International managed to acquire the
Neiman-Marcus mailing list, which I'm on, and they were found out.
Well, boys, the gig is up: you need to explain yourselves to your
devoted readers. We deserve an explanation for this outrageous PR
whoring.