ANNOYED! ANNOYED! and completely FED UP!

[Buxom Wench]

As we all know, its election time. :unamused:

How the hell do you get the political calls to STOP?!?!?!

In the past 3 days, I have gotten 7 calls!

All recorded so that you can't tell someone to take you off their list.

I'm calling the board of elections tomorrow and filing a complaint.

I have not been well lately and these calls always happen when I'm finally able to get a little rest.

Anyone else got a gripe with this intrusion?

[renren]

Not the calls, but the f***ing flyers they put in my mailbox, door or on my doorstep! I'm with ya , FED UP!:cuss: :augh:

[Buxom Wench]

Not the calls, but the f***ing flyers they put in my mailbox, door or on my doorstep! I'm with ya , FED UP!:cuss: :augh:

hehehehe..... the flyers I'm saving to bring to the voting booth, complete with my own additional ideas, like, "tell me what YOU will do and NOT what the other guy has done!"

[Vixynne Rose]

*tiptoes into Bux's abode*


*shuts off the ringer on her phone*


*leaves 80+% cocoa-content chocolate and a nice glass of red wine by the bedside*


*tiptoes back out*
:shhh:

[Isabelle Warwicke]

*sigh* you too? I just wish the calls contained useful knowledge about the platform of the candidate. Not what his/her opponent has done wrong.

If y'all figure out how to make 'em stop, coudl you pass the info along to me?

I know who I'm voting for and no damn annoying phone call is going to shange my mind.

Have more chocolate, darlin' the calls will cease on November 7.

[Buxom Wench]

*tiptoes into Bux's abode*


*shuts off the ringer on her phone*


*leaves 80+% cocoa-content chocolate and a nice glass of red wine by the bedside*


*tiptoes back out*
:shhh:


Thanks Sweetie!

By the by, there are 8 phones to turn off.

::goes to relax and dip chocolate into wine:: ::cloud9::

[Vixynne Rose]

Thanks Sweetie!

By the by, there are 8 phones to turn off.

Good GRACIOUS, woman! No WONDER you can't get any rest...the din must be quite deafening...:blech:

*wanders off to hunt down the 7 remaining ringers*

[Emrld]

you mean you don't love it when you get a recorded message from First Lady Laura Bush . . . . and gosh here I thought she was personally calling me :blech:

The sad thing is - it is totally and completly legal - I know not what you want to hear. Only thing I can suggest is turning the ringer off the phone - or get an unlisted number.

Kinda like it is legal to call and ask me for money for widows and orphins fund, or to sent kids to movies over the summer because their family can't afford to do it.
Well heck I can't afford to take myself to the movies regularly and I don't have kids - so why would I want to pay for some kid I don't know to be annoying on one of the few occassions when I can afford to go?

Sorry back to the wonderful Bux's topic. I agree that the calls are annoying - but they have found that it gets more people out to vote. And, I have to say that it is a good thing that more people are getting out and voting. Of course I think all companies should allow an extra paid/ arrive to work late for those with the first half of the alphabet and leave early on the last half to go and vote (or however they want to organize it)

(I would like to add some hugs from Texas to Vixynne Rose's care package to Bux)

[Buxom Wench]

.......or get an unlisted number.

(I would like to add some hugs from Texas to Vixynne Rose's care package to Bux)

I *HAVE* an unlisted number and I PAY for that privilege! :unamused:

And I didn't get Laura Bush....uh uh, not this Wench from Western New York. Nope, I got Jim Kelly (former QB for the Buffalo Bills) calling for Tom Reynolds. About 10 minutes later, it was Jack Davis.

I know I scared my Duchess when I just about threw the phone across the room from being so aggravated. :irked:

[Bean]

It's too late for now, but I think the national do not call list should be able to take care of this. Either that or tell the local leader of your political party that you do not want to be called. There has to be a way to legally stop them from calling.

[Buxom Wench]

It's too late for now, but I think the national do not call list should be able to take care of this. Either that or tell the local leader of your political party that you do not want to be called. There has to be a way to legally stop them from calling.

I have registered with them already, about 2 years ago. Its supposed to be good for 5 years. Yeah....riiiiiiiiiiight.

And the board of elections called me and asked who I was voting for.
I politly but firmly said, "If I tell you, what's the sense for me to come to the polls?"

Honestly, the more the calls, fliers and whathaveyou intrude on my personal life , the less I want to vote at all.

Let's face it, for those that have met me in person, I can be a "bigger than life" presense when called for and I plan to make a very loud and vocal statment about all the annoyance calls to my unlisted number.

[Pansy Faye]

We have an unlisted number too and get those calls, but then that's why we have caller ID too. I called the Registrar of Voters at the City Hall and she said that our number must be on our voter registration card from way back and there is nothing she could do. I was pissed so I wrote a letter to the Phone company after the operator hung up on my tirade adn the Editor of our town paper.

I was pissed and let everyone know it. It's times like these that my husband wishes he wean't married to me.;-)

[Alchemist23]

MMMM, maybe that is why I have been getting a series of 5-6 calls every morning between 11-12. I don't, as a rule, answer the phone unless someone starts to leave a message...but there have been a crazy amount of rings at certain times of the day.

Maybe that is why...

And I am with you on the "Tell me what you are going to do, not what the other guy has done wrong" shit. That is the most aggravating thing, because it makes you not want to vote for anyone at all.

[Bonnie Strangeways]

I've got Vonage (voip phone, also unlisted) so anyone I don't want calling me back, I can go in and block out thought my account online.

Wish I could help luvvie. Try and get some good rest.

[aspen]

I only have a cell phone, and I tell it to not ring if the caller ID shows "unknown". That blocks most of them. If it's a real person, they'll usually use voicemail.

Unfortunately, it'll still vibrate....

Aspen, who yes, is going to vote, but no, doesn't take calls from machines.

[Selena]

Sadly, I'm just so fucking apathetic, I am *this* close to not bother to vote at all in this election. The TX "Goober"natorial race just makes me want to puke. :roll:

[Emrld]

The Do Not Call list only applies to solicitor's - so not for profit and what are considered non sales calls are totally legal.

Meaning the Political calls do not fall under the category of a sales call so therefore they are legal to call even those who are on the Do Not Call List.

I am thinking about getting a yard sign made that says "I already know who I am voting for." My neighborhood has lots of people going door to door. Of course they usually show up while I am in the shower or have my hands full - so they ring the bell and the dog starts barking and they wait for a bit and then will ring again - they hear the dog and hope that someone is close by. I have to say I loved the look on the 80+ year old couple when I came to the door in a towel - the woman was shocked and I couldn't tell what he was thinking - to her look I said "If you hadn't rung the bell three times I wouldn't have jumped out of the shower because apparently it was important to answer." then I shut the door in their face.

The only light I see at this point is that election time is almost over and it isn't an all year thing.

[erinrai]

The sad part here is that I have even had automated calls on my answering machine. Luckily we have only had 2 people show up at the door and they were both the canidate that was running. The joys of a really small community.

[sslider66]

You mean the message from Bill Clinton I had Saturday was a recording???? I just knew ol' Bill was calling me personally! Thank goodness for caller ID!

Luckily, I don't get door-to-door people coming by....I live in the country and have an electric gate at the entrance of my driveway. ::yay:: and my 4 acres is completly fenced. My mother is the only person that can get in without me opening the gate for them. :snicker:

The problem I'm having with the governor election in Texas is not who to vote for, but who am I voting against. It's a really hard choice this year!

Shelia

[Buxom Wench]

Well, I just called my local Board of Elections and asked them to remove my UNlisted number from my records.

I was told, after she looked up my records, that I have UNlisted as my phone number. All the calls that we get are just automated and go in order of the numbers for the area. :unamused:

There is no way to stop the calls. :augh:

Turning off my phone/ringer is NOT an option. Himself is now traveling and my oldest daughter is also traveling.

There is going to be a VERY loud objection to this practice voiced when I go to the polls next week. :irked:

[Rosina Cernak]

Well, I just called my local Board of Elections and asked them to remove my UNlisted number from my records.

I was told, after she looked up my records, that I have UNlisted as my phone number. All the calls that we get are just automated and go in order of the numbers for the area. :unamused:

There is no way to stop the calls. :augh:

Turning off my phone/ringer is NOT an option. Himself is now traveling and my oldest daughter is also traveling.

There is going to be a VERY loud objection to this practice voiced when I go to the polls next week. :irked:

bux himself and oldest have your cell number just turn off the house line after txting then with what you are doing and why.
Hugs and kisses

[Torra]

I hate this practice too; not just when it's perpetrated by political parties. If they call often enough, I get snipy with non-profits too. I'll never forget the time I hung up on one halfway through a spiel by saying, "I'm not interested, thanks." She called me back to say, "Just so you know, that was incredibly rude" and then hung up on me. Political parties are better when you get an actual person, because if you start asking about specific issues and how that candidate stands, they either turn it into an attack on the other one or don't know how to answer. It's led to my new policy of "know what you stand for before showing me what you dial for."

[Rhonda_Melones]

As we all know, its election time. :unamused:

How the hell do you get the political calls to STOP?!?!?!

In the past 3 days, I have gotten 7 calls!

All recorded so that you can't tell someone to take you off their list.

I'm calling the board of elections tomorrow and filing a complaint.

I have not been well lately and these calls always happen when I'm finally able to get a little rest.

Anyone else got a gripe with this intrusion?

Are you listed and/or published? My numbers are unlisted and unpublished and I don't get any of those calls (unless maybe they're illegal here?). What I'm sick of is all the campaign signs littering the pretty landscaping where ever I go and the mudslinging ads:-P UGH! Calgon take me away!

[Bean]

How many days left?! I have had 3 recorded messages today, thank god I always let my machine pick up........

[daBaroness]

It's such a Catch 22. I mean, the right - or maybe I should say priviledge of voting we have here in the U.S. is something we've come to view as a burden, while people all over the world are struggling to gain this priviledge. As a woman, even though I'm often annoyed by the content and sheer volume of political ads and calls and flyers and mail I get around an election - I always feel it's my duty to cast my ballot, if only on behalf of the millions of women around the world who don't have the right to do so.

That said - what bugs the heck out of me is the mudslinging that goes on. I just want the facts about the issues that concern me. I want to know the voting records and personal stances of the candidates so I can make an informed choice about the REAL issues - not who's slept with whom, who has tax shelters in Bermuda (which are legal) and who's best at smearing their opposition with sensationalized, non-issue bullshit.

I think there's a conspiracy by every candidate and proposition group to muddy the waters so that voters are so confused by election day that they either don't vote - or they just vote for whatever candidate or group has been the most successful in slinging mud and covering it with smoke.

Sadly - it's been said we often vote for the lesser of two evils or the evil of two lessers. I'd just like to figure out which evil lesser will at least vote for the things I want - like stem cell research, tax breaks, health care, etc.

Sigh

[Rhonda_Melones]

Ok FYI I'm currently googling for this contraption I remember seeing advertised about a year or two ago where you attach it to your phone and it automatically blocks or hangs up on telemarketing etc. calls. I'm not sure if it's just the ones where you have to say hello 1000 times before someone answers or for any number that comes up from a call center but if I find it I'll pass it along. Not sure how well it works or whether it does but I think it's one of those As Seen On TV thingies. Hang in there chickies, just another week to go:-/

[Gellis Indigo]

Ok FYI I'm currently googling for this contraption I remember seeing advertised about a year or two ago where you attach it to your phone and it automatically blocks or hangs up on telemarketing etc. calls. I'm not sure if it's just the ones where you have to say hello 1000 times before someone answers or for any number that comes up from a call center but if I find it I'll pass it along. Not sure how well it works or whether it does but I think it's one of those As Seen On TV thingies. Hang in there chickies, just another week to go:-/

That thingy is called a Telezapper, in case that helps anyone.

[lady Amalthea]

It's such a Catch 22. I mean, the right - or maybe I should say priviledge of voting we have here in the U.S. is something we've come to view as a burden, while people all over the world are struggling to gain this priviledge. As a woman, even though I'm often annoyed by the content and sheer volume of political ads and calls and flyers and mail I get around an election - I always feel it's my duty to cast my ballot, if only on behalf of the millions of women around the world who don't have the right to do so.

That being said, let me ask a question. I know that women fought hard for the vote here and finally won. I am sure I am going to get thrashed for this, but isn't it my right NOT to vote. I do not get invovled with politics, honestly, nor do I care. I feel that if I choose not to vote then I shouldn't get harrassed on the issue by everyone else who chooses to vote. I do, though, feel that since I do not vote I do not have any right to bitch about the government. I did vote in the last presidential election,(the only time in ten years I did vote) and I did not vote for Bush, so I do bitch about him, that's my right.
So what's your opinion here? Am I totally in the wrong for choosing not to vote, by choosing to exercising my right of choice?

[SpeedKnight]

Ladies... were I to run for president, I'd promise not to mudsling. I'd promise there will be no phone calls made to you for me. I'd promise that I'd actually be a politician who keeps his promises. I'd stop the 'Nam of my generation (AKA: Iraq).

Y'know... I'd be like Patton:

If General George Patton were alive and President of the USA today, this
would probably be his Fireside Speech:

My fellow Americans:
As you all know, the defeat of Iraq’s regime has been completed.
Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our
mission in Iraq is complete. This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days.
It is now time to begin the reckoning. Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of the countries that stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, Norway and Poland are some of the countries listed there.
The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the world’s
nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.
Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those
nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved
during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.
The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world
hellholes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption. Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call on France who, by the way, best be taking care of the tens of thousands of American military grave sites over there…from WWI and the great WWII.
In the future, together with Congress, I will work to cut taxes and solve
some local problems. On that note, a word to terrorist organizations: Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth, so help me God.
Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France, or maybe China.
To Israel and the Palestinian Authority: You boys work out a peace deal now. Just note that Camp David is closed. Maybe all of you can go to Russia for negotiations. They have some great palaces there. Big tables, too.
I’m ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France,
Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades.
We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.
I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don’t give a damn about whatever treaty pertains to this. Pay your tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers, and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world. God, but I love New York.
That puts me wondering about the UN.
A special note to our neighbors to the north. Canada is on List 2. Since we
are going to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.
Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government
really need an attitude adjustment. I’ll have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around real soon. Guess where I’m gonna put ‘em? Yep, border security…north and south. So start doing something smart with your oil.
It is time for America to focus on its own welfare… and its own citizens.
Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, "Damn right!" Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet.
It is time to cut taxes here because we will not be spending tons of our
hard-earned cash on other people’s problems.
I’m re-examining the need for so many of our servicemen and women to be stationed abroad. For over fifty years we’ve had a force of nearly forty
thousand Americans protecting South Korea’s border. In two months our Korean forces will be returning home. It’s about high time the Koreans learn to get along.
So, to the nations on List 1, a final thought: Thanks, we owe you one.
To the nations on List 2, a final thought: Drop dead.
Thank you, good night and God bless

[daBaroness]

Lady Almathea:

You bring up an interesting point - do we have the right NOT to vote?

Personally, I've both voted and abstained from voting for a variety of reasons. I have to admit, I personally feel somewhat guilty when I don't vote in national elections like the one next week. Why? I suppose it's because I tend to wax a bit on the patriotic side - especially lately since my son chose to serve this country in Iraq and put his life on the line to protect those freedoms and rights. Consider it paying back a debt maybe.

And maybe because I'm just enough of an optimist to hold out hope that my vote makes a difference to someone, somewhere, some time. I agree that if I don't vote, I don't have the "right" to bitch. Sometimes I feel (as I've stated in several other recent posts), that I'm not doing much by voting for the evil of two lessers. Sometimes I feel downright pissed off that on some issues that seem to very clear and sensible to me (like stem cell research now on the ballot here in Missouri) get so freakin' convoluted by people I think are ignorant and easily swayed by the charletain de jour. Then again, maybe that's why I vote - to countact the stupidity.

I do think more and more however, that with all its faults and problems, this is still the greatest country in the world - and that somehow I have an obligation to exercise my "right" to vote because it's a gift given to me by generations of people who sacrificed for their vision of a better world. I guess I don't always vote for a candidate or an issue per se, I vote because I feel it's my duty to do so - for those who've sacrificed in the past, those who don't have that right today and those who will continue to fight for our freedom and liberties in the future - even if that liberty includes choosing not to vote.

[Bean]

You have the right to choose not to vote, but I do it partly because I was raised in the "Birthplace of Women's Rights" --Seneca Falls, NY. I have an ingrained sense of what generations of women sacrificed to get the right to vote. Women were considered the property of their husbands, and if they were widowed, they couldn't keep the land they worked with their dead spouses. It went back to the deceased husband's family and usually the widow was tossed out like garbage.

I was apathetic about voting for several years, but now that I am older and results of elections affect me more than it used to, I feel I have a moral duty to voice my opinion at the polls. And, I do like to bitch about politics, so I had better vote!! Living here in northern Virginia, politics is one of the largest industries here. I have 2 channels on my TV that have live feeds from the floor of the House and Senate and 24 hour political coverage. It really is interesting to watch what goes on in Congress, or for a better term what doesn't go on.

Anyway, you do have the right to vote, or not to vote as you choose.

[DameGoode]

Okay, yeah, I live in Cleveland, Ohio. It's one of the most contested states. (Anyone else watch Daily Show Midterm Midwest Midtaculuar?) So, my husband and I are BOMBARDED with calls, and oh yeah, we've a THREE week old baby and a 14 month old. Let me tell you how happy I am to recieve THOSE calls! Can't get them to stop either, even when it's a live person.

As for the right to not vote.... I suppose, yes you do have the right not to vote. Just like people have the right to join hate groups, be asses on the freeway, and be snotty to people working at the cash register. I wouldn't suggest it. However, by not voting you are not free of consequence, which is the idea behind why many people I speak to not voting. "Well I didn't vote for him, so you can't blame me for him getting into office." (which is exactly the opposite of true)

I think we ought to really look at ourselves and how soft and apathetic we have become. It's not completely our fault. We dont' know what to vote for, politicians are confusing and slippery, and it seems like a no-win-situation. Yet out of respect for family members who have died getting to this country, fighting for this country, protesting and trying to change this country, we need to (or rather owe it to) TRY to make our own decisions at the polls.

My .02.

[Torra]

On the right not to vote: I suppose you have it, but why would you let someone else decide who's running the government for you? At least by voting you take control of the situation as it pertains to you.

That's not to say I fully support any of the candidates. It's my personal opinion that what we need most in our legal system is a real statesman, not a politician, and those are extremely rare.

[Laurensa]

*tiptoes into Bux's abode*


*shuts off the ringer on her phone*


*leaves 80+% cocoa-content chocolate and a nice glass of red wine by the bedside*


*tiptoes back out*
:shhh:

Mind tip-toeing this way next?

Hmm...perhaps I will open up that lovely bottle of Strawberry wine we purchased at Faire...

[Laurensa]

That being said, let me ask a question. I know that women fought hard for the vote here and finally won. I am sure I am going to get thrashed for this, but isn't it my right NOT to vote. (snip) Am I totally in the wrong for choosing not to vote, by choosing to exercising my right of choice?

I don't look at voting as a right, or a privilege. It's my civic duty, as a citizen.

If I DON'T go to the polls tomorrow, what does that say to all those who went before me adn fought for my right to do so? What kind of example does that set for my kids?
And if I don't go, and Rick Santorum gets re-elected, I will be banging my head against a wall for the next six years, and that just doesn't sound fun.

[Ysobelle]

I bet that the 50% or so of the world that lives in misery and fear under various murderous despots would gladly trade their oppression for a handful of political phone calls and the inconvenience of political signage for a couple of months every few years. There are many countries you could live in and never be troubled by a political phone call but I doubt if you wish to emigrate to any of them.

I have had 50 or more campaign phone calls recently but it seems a rather small annoyance in order to live in a democracy. I bet the people buried in Arlington would be disgusted to find people complaining today about getting a few political phone calls as they died to give you that privilege.

I don't have very good choices tomorrow but I will hold my nose and vote anyway.


Well, yeah, but proudly embracing our freedom to vote doesn't mean we have to love the campaigns. We can love the idea while hating the sludge that's come along with it these days.

[Buxom Wench]

::yay:: ::yay:: And today, all the frellin phone calls will end!!!! ::yay:: ::yay:: ::yay::

[Phoenix McHeit]

I haven't been answering my phone for the last week, just for this reason. What gets me are the recorded messages that go into my voicemail. So I get the joy of seeing there's a message, then when I go to check, I find that... no, its not somebody who loves me... its a damn friggin recorded message for some candidate.

The best/worst one had to be the one I got last night. Sweet little girl voice - couldn't have been more than 10 yrs old. Here I'm thinking its a friend of one of my guys, calling for them. A classmate, or homework question. But then it goes..."Hi there! Ummm...I'm Vicki, and I wanted to thank you for voting for my uncle, *whazhizname* who's running for State Rep-re-sen-ta-tive (poor thing struggled with the word)..."

I deleted the message once I realized what it was for. But c'mon ON people!!! Having your young relatives shill for you? That's a new level of low, in my book. Especially a pre-emptive, assuming *thank you* message.

Ugh. I didn't get this many calls in the PRESIDENTIAL election!!!!

[Emrld]

I bet the people buried in Arlington would be disgusted to find people complaining today about getting a few political phone calls as they died to give you that privilege.


I find several things wrong with that statement.

It really is an old argument to say that someone (several people) who are dead would be turning over in their grave or disgusted with people complaining.

I thank every Veteran and Active Military person that I meet. I am thankful to those who fought for me to have freedom of speech. Part of that freedom is the right to complain about being annoyed.

I see the telephone as a form of communication amongst family and friends for my home line. Work phone that is for work. I pay to have phone service . . . I should be able to chose who to recieve calls from . . .who has my phone number. If I did not personally give you my phone number or had it passed on to you without my permission - Don't call it.

There are other ways to inform the masses - television, magazines, newspapers, US mail, websites . . . just to name a few. Also, if someone wants more information they can contact the Candidate or League of Voters associations in their area. To call on a phone number that was not given to you - that is an invasion into my home and of my time.

I see two major "issues" forming in this topic that once the results are announced at the end of the day - we will know who to send letters to about.
1. The telemarketing for a vote approach.

2. The calls and commercials etc. are more in the form of attacking another Candidate - and more often than not in the form of character assasination. - If we (the people / general we) want more infromation on the individual candidate from the candidate and want them to behave in a professional manner - then we need to let them know where we stand.

[Lady Sarah]

Em, I fuckin' love you. :hearts:

My phone is that - MY phone. I don't want to hear people on the other end telling me that I *HAVE* to vote for so and so because the other so and so is a so-and-so and their politics is crap and so on.

I've worked on a campaign, on the phone banks. I hated the fact that we were told to call during the dinner times and on the weekends, TARGETTING the most likely times when people would be home. I'm sorry, dinner time is dinner time - it's for eating the nightly meal with family and/or friends, not spewing political crap.

Wanna know what REALLY cheeses me off? How.the.HELL. did these campaigners get my WORK email address? Every morning for the last six months I've come in at 745 to see anywhere from 5-15 emails from various state, local and national campaigns. FIFTEEN!! And I don't look at a one of them - they've been filtered into the junk mail and blocked list. :sigh:

[Buxom Wench]

It seems the easiest way to avoid the calls is just to have an unlisted number if you only want calls from relatives and friends.

There is supposedly a move starting to make political calls subject to the Do Not Call list. I think that is fair and reasonable. Also, I just read that some consultants are realizing that phone banks have very little positive effect and possibly a negative effect.

I just simply hang up on the calls I don't like or te;ll them no or don't answer 888 and other prefixes. But little things like phones calls, flyers and junk mail just don't bother me much.
I *HAVE* an unlisted number! What's happening is called Robo-calling -- an auto dialer calls all the numbers in a row.

As for knowing which calls to answer and which to avoid, that would mean having Caller ID. I don't have it and won't get it. My phone bill is high enough.

[Emrld]

It doesn't matter if your number is listed or public. I believe it is the wonderful Ms. Bux herself who said that her number is unlisted . . . . (yes, Bux and I were typing our e-mails at the same time - sorry for the repeat)
Many of the computer systems that are being used to handle the pre recorded calls - just dial numbers. They are based off computer programs/ number combinataions. They are not run off the listings in the phonebook - or a list that they purchased. Ergo listed vs unlisted doesn't matter. (you have to pay extra to not have you name/ number listed - but you don't have to pay extra to have the listing name not match the billing name - makes it real easy if I do answer to know if it is a real call or not)

If there is a movement going that will help put a stop to this great. I would really enjoy more information to find out how to do my part to say - I don't care for this tactic.

[Buxom Wench]

From what I heard on my local news last night and this morning, it was the Republican party making those calls and the Democrats are filing a suit tomorrow.

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

From what I heard on my local news last night and this morning, it was the Republican party making those calls and the Democrats are filing a suit tomorrow.
What the Repugs have been doing is beyond mere telemarketing.

They have automated systems that call people with a message like this:


"Hi! I'd like to talke to you about [Name of Democratic Candidate], candidate for congress.
"Did you know that [laundry list of negative attacks on Democratic Candidate]?
"This message was brought to you by the Republican National Committe and the RNC takes responsibility for this message".

Now, suppose you are the type of person (like the other 98% of people) who gets annoyed with these political recording calls. You hang up after the first line. All you hear is the part with the name of the democratic candidate. Since you don't listen to the whole message where that candidate is attacked and the RNC takes credit, you assume the call is coming from that Democrat. Now, as if that isn't bad enough, the RNC has their robo-callers calling the same numbers over a dozen times, so now the person being called is massively pissed off at the Democratic candidate even though it's the Republican calling them. So the person who might have been going to vote for the democratic candidate, is so pissed off that they either don't vote or vote republican out of spite.

That is the dirty trick that the DNC is planning to sue the RNC over.

Of course, if the Repub wins the election, the RNC will just write off any court judgement as the cost of winning an election. The hope here, however, is that fines of ~$1000 per call can be levied against the RNC. If that's the case, then they can be seriously reamed.

Hopefully they lose the election and the lawsuit.

[Buxom Wench]

.......The hope here, however, is that fines of ~$1000 per call can be levied against the RNC. If that's the case, then they can be seriously reamed.

Hopefully they lose the election and the lawsuit.

I hope the fines bankrupt the party!

[Alianne]

and special thanks to the now wise PA voters. no santorum, so sad.

Oh, I've got to go and watch local news, then!

I want to see that being make his concession speech!

[Bean]

But it lookslike the 'publicans will hang on to Congress.

Not so fast there son............. CNN has declared that Dems have taken the house, and there are 4 races that can turn the tide in the Senate.

On another high note, South Dakota has defeated the referendum banning abortion in all cases. The people speak!!!

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

[Re: Rick Santorum's stunning defeat]

Oh, I've got to go and watch local news, then!

I want to see that being make his concession speech!
Rumor has it that he'll actually be raptured away during it....

On another note, there's a democrat representative from Florida running unopposed. He appeared on The Colber Report election special tonight. Colbert asked him if he was nervous. He said, "Not really, after all, I ran unopposed", to which Colbert replied, "But you're in Florida, you can get all the votes and still lose." *rotfl*

Speaking of Floridian voting irregularities... ding dong the bitch is dead! Later Harris! ::yay::