Politicking and Telephones

It's finally voting day!!! Now maybe my phone will be my own.

Is anyone/everyone else tired of being harassed (and that's what it is!) by these automated phone calls telling you who to vote for or how to vote o an issue? They always come at a bad time; mostly at dinner time, but even at times that should be family times. And the biggest offenders? Those who CLAIM they are conservative and for family values. Well, excuuuuuuuuuuse me.....2PM on Sunday is NOT the time the family/conservative candidate should be calling (or having his cronies call). I counted 10 calls for these twits between 2PM and 2:45 PM. In fact, I got three in a row from the same idiots, simply because I hung up on them!

I've got "calls" from Gov. Strickland, Sen Voinavich, and a whole bunch of people I guess I'm supposed to know from Adam (at least THEY think they are important!) telling me I should vote yes on Issue 1 (without EVER going into what Issue 1 is!) and how great it will be for the state of Ohio. No proof.....no numbers.....no explanations.....just vote yes cuz WE like it!

And vote for a change a venue for the Columbus Casino. Say what? You made a big issue about making sure the casinos were placed in strategic areas and now you want to change that? No one SAYS why.....they just say that it's a better venue and would allow the casino to start early and be done faster. And the land it was SUPPOSED to be on? What happened to that? Who's paying for 1) the referendum to be put on the ballot and 2) the land that it was SUPPOSED to be on. Who left the group and now someone else wants that money and just happens to have such and such a spot.

Ashtabula wants an increase in the sales tax, so we can bring sheriff deputies back. OK, so everyone wants the deputies back.....after all, that's what we already pay them for with our taxes. But, yeah, let's add some to the sales tax of an already dead-for-sales county. Hello......if you haven't noticed......Ashtabula Mall (now Town Mall or whatever) is only half occupied and half of THEM are going down. Only Sears and K-Mart (which are the same store now) hang around because Wal-Mart is down the street.
30 miles east is Erie; 30 miles west is Mentor; 30 miles south is Niles......who needs Ashtabula? Gas prices notwithstanding....it will STILL be cheaper to do the bulk of your shopping ELSEWHERE. And it most certainly will NOT encourage retailers to locate here!

This is NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, people.

OK, got off track here a bit. Back to the phone.

I have a phone for MY convenience. It has a DO NOT CALL thing on it, cuz I don't WANT to listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry give a spiel. Unfortunately it does not block out the worst offenders.....the politicians, the political parties, the charities, etc. It only blocks the businesses.....and those were usually businesses that did exactly the same thing.....automatically dial numbers from the phone book and if/when someone answers it plugged into a pre-recorded spiel about siding (on your brick home). At least the charities are smart enough to use real people on the other end so they can try to talk you out of saying NO.

But the phone is still for MY convenience.....not outsiders who think everthing they think is THE way to think. I give my number out to people who want/need it for things I want to do or that I need. The rest of you clowns are impinging on MY freedom.....I didn't ask for you to call, nor do I need/want what you have to offer; if I did, I would call YOU!

So here's how it goes down this voting day:
Every person who wasted my time or answering machine with pre-recorded calls, I didn't vote for you.
Every issue that had a pre-recorded message from somebody who is or thought they were important.....I voted against.
Maybe if we all do this, we can have OUR LIVES back.