Politics calling: How do you like those nasty telephone calls

[MODU]

 There isn't anything you can do right now to get them to stop calling

Ah, but there are things I can do to stop it from becoming a common practice and see the scum bag that made the calls go down. I can raise awareness of how shamelessly Charlie Taylor is running his campaign - and in doing so, hopefully see that such disgraceful tactics are not rewarded with victory. I hadn't raised a finger for his opponent (it's not the district I vote in or spend most of my time in) up until this point. He just picked up some serious cash to get the word out about this.

Well good.  Break out the computer and start typing up letters to the editors of all the local newspapers and inform them of the abuse of the do-not-call legislation which allows politicians to make calls during the election cycle, and that there must be enforcable time limitations for when the calls can be made.  Do not make it partisan, because once you do, it will be ignored, and nothing will be gained.  If you want, post it here, and we'll help you tweak it for optimal impact.

[Keystone Phil]

Surprisingly, my house hasn't received a single call. Then again, I don't remember ever getting a call/hearing that we got one. The amount of mailers is very, very low also. In 2004, we were bombarded and this year it has been almost nothing. It's very odd especially since we don't get much from the GOP candidates urging us to get out the vote. Maybe they finally realized how motivated my family is to begin with. 

[nlm]

 There isn't anything you can do right now to get them to stop calling

Ah, but there are things I can do to stop it from becoming a common practice and see the scum bag that made the calls go down. I can raise awareness of how shamelessly Charlie Taylor is running his campaign - and in doing so, hopefully see that such disgraceful tactics are not rewarded with victory. I hadn't raised a finger for his opponent (it's not the district I vote in or spend most of my time in) up until this point. He just picked up some serious cash to get the word out about this.

Well good.  Break out the computer and start typing up letters to the editors of all the local newspapers and inform them of the abuse of the do-not-call legislation which allows politicians to make calls during the election cycle, and that there must be enforcable time limitations for when the calls can be made.  Do not make it partisan, because once you do, it will be ignored, and nothing will be gained.  If you want, post it here, and we'll help you tweak it for optimal impact.

Ah, right now the goal is to make Charlie Taylor pay for waking me up with robocalls designed to sound like they were being placed by his opponent. The GOP has also earned some of my anger by backing these tactics elsewhere (but I'm not sure if they are as out of hand elsewhere - so I'm willing to wait and see, when I posted this I was wondering if anybody else had a story to tell about getting these calls late at night - so far - nothing).

It's hard to go directly after a politician without sounding partisan - regardless of what that politician has done or how much they deserve it (and Charlie Taylor deserves it in a huge way). So, I'm just going to go after Charlie directly and honestly and let the chips fall where they may. If folks think it's partisan to get really pissed because a politician was making robocalls to my house after midnight, let 'em.

Thanks for the offer to help edit my subpar writing - and I agree with you that politicians are abusing the do-not-call legislation. I have a member of my family that edits books and teaches the English language for a living, so I'm fairly well covered if I want to send a piece out on the topic - which I just may do.

[David S]

I'm really getting irritated with the phone messages I'm getting from Dick Devos. I'm getting 4 or 5 a day now and they just clutter up my voice mail. I've already told his campaign that I'm not voting for him because of those damn things, but the calls keep coming. When those peckerwoods in Washington wrote the "do not call" legislation they neatly exempted themselves. We should pressure our representatives to end that exemption and leave us  alone.

Granholm's anti Republican TV ads stink too, so I'm not voting for her either. Just one more reason to vote Libertarian.

[Raoul Takemoto]

I live in CA-11, and as you could imagine, I have been getting a lot of calls for the congressional race.  Pombo's calls were robocalls, but I did get to speak to a live McNerney person and told them I would be supporting him.

Heaven knows what I would say if a live Pombo person calls!

[David S]

Following is an e-mail I sent to my representatives. If enough people complain about it maybe we can get it stopped.

Dear xxxxx

The robot phone calls I'm getting from politicians seeking my vote are really getting annoying. There must be at least 4 or 5 a day cluttering up my voice mail. Almost all of them are simply aimed at smearing the other candidate. When congress wrote the "Do not call" legislation they neatly exempted themselves. I urge you to sponsor legislation to close that loophole and keep these people from bothering us with their campaign ads. Until that happens I have adopted the position that I will not vote for any candidate who uses automated phone calls for campaign ads.

[Everett]

I disconnected my telephone. Problem solved.

[Flying Dog]

I made some calls for the County Democratic Party today. We were just reminding people to vote on November 7th. We were real people altleast.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

This is another reason why I'm glad I only have a cell phone.

[MODU]

nlm, you'll enjoy this. 

My sis-in-law was talking to me yesterday, and mentioned how she was woken up at 3am the other morning by an automated phone call from a special interest group trying to convince her to vote against the marriage protection act which is on our ballot.  She copied down the information from the phone call (she's one of those people who keep a pen and paper next to all of her phones) and called the group back first thing in the morning demanding an apology. The group apologized and contacted the "free" service they were using for their calls, and that company also turned around and apologized to her as well.  Sees that the person which updated the clock on their system for day light savings time screwed up, and reversed the AM with the PM.  They were getting complaint calls all day.  hahaha

[Brandon H]

I got a recorded call on my cell phone today for Gorbaty (Dem. running in LA CD-1). I should have known better when no number came up on my phone. I am thinking of sending a message to him or something to complain but I doubt it would do any good. I thought I would be safe from telemarketers on my cell phone. Guess not.

[nlm]

nlm, you'll enjoy this. 

My sis-in-law was talking to me yesterday, and mentioned how she was woken up at 3am the other morning by an automated phone call from a special interest group trying to convince her to vote against the marriage protection act which is on our ballot.  She copied down the information from the phone call (she's one of those people who keep a pen and paper next to all of her phones) and called the group back first thing in the morning demanding an apology. The group apologized and contacted the "free" service they were using for their calls, and that company also turned around and apologized to her as well.  Sees that the person which updated the clock on their system for day light savings time screwed up, and reversed the AM with the PM.  They were getting complaint calls all day.  hahaha

Ha,

Hey, I got what I wanted - the screw ball that woke me up with these robocalls got toasted. As for the rest of them - I hope the laws change in the future and that those that violated the law (if they did with some of these robocalls) pay a price.