Larry Hagman wants you to help save the planet

Thanks to Garry at Soapchat's "Dallas" forum for the tipoff on this one ... Larry Hagman, our very own J.R. Ewing, is doing a new spokesman's gig. Click on over to RefundsForGood.org and you'll see him and other celebrities such as Ed Begley Jr. and Martin Sheen encouraging folks to use their refund of the IRS' telephone excise tax for a good cause. You'll be helping to save the planet, they say, by donating your windfall to a charity such as PeaceJam or Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Refunds for Good Inc., the group behind the website, has been set up "to assist nonprofit organizations and progressive for-profit companies in using the Internet cost-effectively," their site says. And if you're wondering what all this telephone excise tax stuff is, Refunds For Good explains: "After 108 years, the IRS decided in May 2006 to stop assessing the federal excise tax on long distance interstate and wireless calls. The courts decreed that the IRS must refund these improperly assessed taxes and pay interest on the billions of dollars collected after February 28, 2003 and before August 1, 2006, a 41-month period."