Petition o' Shame

It pops up regularly in your e-mail, having been forwarded hundreds of times.

It's a chain mail asking you sign your name and hometown on a petition which, when it reaches critical mass, will be sent directly to the White House where the President will presumably quake in his boots and change his position on, say, giving Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants. After all, when .00000000001% of the American public speaks, the president listens.

Of course it's usually a time-waster that could've been prevented by checking Snopes. A slight cringe occurs - and perhaps even a twinge of guilt - as you read the list of folks embarrassing themselves. "A list of a thousand or so people who don't know how to Google!" sayeth Chrismon.