On Dec 9, 11:31 am, Just Wondering wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:
Doug Winterburn wrote:

J. Clarke wrote:

I know that NRA/ILA has been reasonably effective in getting the
Congress to vote the way I want them to.

Yeah, PACs get their power from money but that money can come from
a
million people contributing ten bucks as easily as from Microsoft
contributing 10 million.

...or from a bunch of geezers contributing to AARP.

Hey, it's not going to be long before I become a "geezer". Geezer
Power!!!!

And unless you luck out and die young, it's gonna happen to you to.

AARP (American Association of Retired People) is something of a misnomer. You
don't have to be old, you can join AARP at age 50. And you don't have to be
retired, either. I joined because AARP members can get hotel discounts, and the
first time I used the discount saved me more money than a three year membership.

It's almost funny. My mother enrolled me when I turned 50. I didn't
bother renewing until years later, but now, my wife renews every year.
You do NOT get off the mailing list if you don't rejoin, it just
changes the nature of the mailings--no more magazines and newsletters,
just a short ton of junk mail telling you what you're missing.

As far as aging goes, I'm doing pretty well for one of the kids who
had the local and state cops betting he wouldn't live to be 21. Well
past three times that now, and creaking around the edges, but still
going, if not very quickly any more. Ah, for the good old days when a
cop had to track you for a quarter mile to ticket you, or catch you on
early radar (tripod mounted) and then catch you. Back then, the
average car nut kid could build something that outran what the cops
could buy. I noticed today that the wild and wooly town of Bedford,
all 6,600 population, now has Dodge Charger cop cars that can outrun
most of what any of us buy. Thing is, there's no place in town limits
they can safely get over 45-50 MPH even with lights and siren. But it
makes the town cops feel ballsy, I guess.

I'm not sure whether AARP or AAA offers the more valuable discounts,
but I wish I could combine them. Or combine the memberships and save a
buck. Hell, when I passed 62, I got to pay a higher fee and got a
lifetime membership in the Marine Corps League, which brought a solid
brass, engraved, membership card I have to leave home when flying. It
sets off the idiotic machines.