Telephone Terrorists? What Do You Think? ... J. D. Longstreet

Telephone Terrorists? What Do You Think?

Telemarketing MUST be outlawed in the United States!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet 

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A few years ago as I sat by my father’s deathbed in the hospital, the phone on his bedside table rang. I quickly answered it, supposing it to be family inquiring as to his condition. It wasn’t. It was a TELEMARKETER!

I must admit to using all the “Sunday School Language” I knew -- and even made some up -- to spew all over that SOB on the other end of the line -- but, of course, it did no good, whatsoever.  In fact, the telemarketer on the other end of the line actually LAUGHED!

When the FTC began their “Do Not Call” lists, (The National Do Not Call Registry) I was as close to the front of the line as time and distance would allow. And I have renewed my listing, as required, at the proper time ever since.

For a few months, the telemarketer calls to my phones dropped off. They NEVER completely stopped -- and now they are aggravating the hell out of me again, every evening. I can almost set my clocks by the damnable calls.

It’s time to make the law tougher. There are too many loopholes. They must be closed. In fact, I would support a federal law making telemarketing illegal within the United States!

Frankly, I don’t care if it IS a charity calling. They are invading my privacy, unbidden, and that is wrong and I’m ticked off before I ever lift the receiver.

Government figures show monthly robocall complaints have climbed from about 65,000 in October 2010 to more than 212,000 this April. More general complaints from people asking a telemarketer to stop calling them also rose during that period, from about 71,000 to 182,000.  SOURCE:  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DO_NOT_CALL_COMPLAINTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-16-07-41-56

Is there anything more annoying than a sales pitch at dinnertime, or at bedtime, or heck, anytime, for that matter, in your own home!

As I said above, I’d like to see telemarketing completely outlawed by the US government. If the feds don’t want to touch it, then the individual states should. In fact, they MUST.

Is there the possibility of having a phone filter similar to a Spam filter on the computer? The owner inputs numbers into an “approved list” and only incoming calls from those “approved” numbers will ever ring the owner’s phone, period.

Does such a device exist? If not -- why not? It would sell like hotcakes!

In the meantime I’m still going to continue to be surly to telemarketers.

We need to put pressure on our respective state’s Attorneys General to clamp down on telemarketing laws in our own states. A number of states deferred to the federal government for a law to control the telemarketers. 

I am tired of being hounded, in my own home, by anyone seeking to sell me goods and services I have no inclination to buy. Had I, I would have gone to a local merchant and made the transaction.

 If the Obama Administration REALLY wanted to do something that was actually helpful to the American people, and would truly be appreciated by the American people, then they would push for a bill in Congress to outlaw Telemarketing within the US. But don't hold your breath!

If there are any two things I hate, telemarketing is both of them!

J. D. Longstreet

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