Note in this Wired article that Chuck Connor, senior VP of communication and marketing for the American Red Cross, "says" things that are simply facts. Steve Parker, who actually owned the phone number 1-800-RED-ARMS, which just happens to be the same as 1-800-RED-CROSS, only claims things.

Steve Parker, chairman of 800-Ideas.com, claims he acquired the phone number after founding a company called Red Arms, which by pure coincidence happens to share the same alphanumeric phone-pad translation as the Red Cross.

When he realized the situation, he began charging local Red Cross chapters a small per-minute fee to get the calls originating from their nearby calling area, he says.

"We make our living off of phone numbers that spell words," says Parker. "We've created companies like 1-800-FLY-CHEAP. We actually pioneered shared usage."

By Parker's estimate, he had about half a dozen of the more than 1,000 Red Cross chapters signed up for the service, when Connor demanded that he turn over the number to the national office.

Here's the "claims" vs. "says" formulation again:

Parker claims that during emergencies he voluntarily routes calls from 1-800-RED-CROSS to local Red Cross offices nationwide, and asked for his costs to be reimbursed as a condition of handing in the number. "The only thing that we would ever want from the American Red Cross is what it costs to maintain (the number) for 15 or 20 years," he says, estimating the amount in "the low six figures."

Connor says 800-Ideas.com wanted an exorbitant sum for the phone number.

So what happened? The champions of deregulation and "free enterprise" at the FCC took the phone number away from Parker to give to the Red Cross, even though the ARC has never told people to call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

The Red Cross finally asked the FCC to intervene last Friday in the wake of Katrina. The commission ruled the same day, noting its longstanding policies "against warehousing, hoarding and brokering of toll-free numbers" and the importance of the Red Cross' work.

The FCC order transfers 800-RED-CROSS to the organization for one year. It's not clear when the switch will occur, and calls late Tuesday continued to reach the 800-Ideas.com recording.

Connor expressed gratitude for the FCC's quick decision.

"We're a nonprofit organization," he says. "We're not going to be paying seven figure sums to some West Coast boiler-room operation for a number we should have had in the first place."

Was it "seven figures" or "low six figures?" How come the ARC won't pay for it when it used 9/11 donations to buy a $65 million phone system? Who else gets to steal phone numbers that happen to spell their names?

And, of course, what kind of "nonprofit organization" takes in $3 billion per year, refuses to explain where any of it goes, and plays the victim for not having an asset it wants?

There's nothing to like about the management of the American Red Cross.