darrel, you wrote on Fri, 8 Aug 2008 08:10:23 -0500:

Is there any way to get Outlook to force everything into plain text mode?

Which Outlook version are you using? Since Outlook 2003 there is an
option to convert incoming HTML formatted emails to plain text. I don't
know the english name of that option (I am using a german version of
Outlook) but you'll find it under

Tools | Options | Settings | E-Mail-Options

If you're using Outlook 2002 SP1 (or later) you need to set a registry
key: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307594/en

--
Best Regards
Christian Goeller

MVP - MS Outlook
http://www.outlookfaq.net