11/20/97 - 1252

United States President Takes Time To Care

USA (VNN) - Damodar das has recently received a letter from the White House:

"A couple weeks ago, I wrote an E-Mail to Hillary Clinton, about the difficulties in Russia, where the people's religious freedom of choice has, once again, been severely limited. I used my "western" name for some reason. Next day, was the typical, automated response. A couple days ago I got a letter from The While House.

Typed, with signature in ink at the bottom:

(start letter)
November 4, 1997

Dear Wade,

Thank you for sharing your concern about human rights with Hillary. She has referred your letter to me.

The promotion of democracy and human rights serves as a cornerstone of my Administration's foreign policy. We seek to help ensure that citizens of all countries benefit from the kinds of personal freedoms that Americans so greatly value.

I appreciate your interest.

Sincerely,

(sig) Bill Clinton
(end letter)"

VNN has received several complaints from devotees worldwide regarding reaching ISKCON leaders via email. In contrast this is the reply some devotees get when emailing to ISKCON leaders:

"<<< 550 <xxxx.acbsp@com.bbt.se> does not want any messages from you"

or

"<<< 554-mail.bbt.se has rejected your message
<<< 554-because our filter refuses messages from <xxxx@domain.com>".

Let's see, how many people potentially can write email to Bill or Hillary Clinton, say 30 Million email users world wide? Compare that to maybe the few hundred who actually will write to ISKCON leaders.

It is interesting to see how the president of the United States and his wife manage to respond to email sent to them by perfect strangers. ISKCON leaders in turn don't seem to find the time or interest to respond to members of their own spiritual "family".

Could ISKCON leaders learn something from these "horrible, no-good karmi leaders"?