As some of you may remember, I have been making an effort to strip away the small amount of pride Astralounge takes in her personal boycott of Wal-Mart. My general position on the situation is that Astralounge�s actions are ineffective and that their only real purpose is to make Astralounge feel good about herself without doing any real work or making any real sacrifice.

(In any event, I must be a damned Saint in comparison... Astralounge is only refraining from shopping at Wal-mart. I am refraining from choking babies and setting old people on fire. Passive morality is great.)

Astralounge hasn't had a lot to say on the subject of Wal-Mart lately. I rather suspect that that is because I have called her out. I have offered to join her on her crusade if she is willing to put forth a bare minimum of effort to prove the strength of her beliefs.

I want one of two things to happen: I want Astralounge to call my bluff and act on her beliefs (in which case we both win... she wins because we'll be doing something proactive that supports her beliefs, I win because the simple act of being proactive supports my beliefs), or I want her to admit that she doesn't feel strongly enough about this issue to sacrifice so much as an hour or two of her time.

Most of my readers would, I think, agree that I have been very, very patient in this matter. I have given Astralounge every opportunity to address my challenge. And what has she done? At best, she maintains a healthy silence. At worst she hems and haws, trying to keep the situation safely and comfortably abstract and intellectual.

No more. Astralounge, I call you out. Again. You have one week to do something � anything � in active support of your beliefs. Do it, and I�ll follow you step for step.

Equivocate further, and I will move on to the second stage of my evil plan.