Because of Robo-Calls, OH Terminally Ill Patient's Phone Kept Tied Up

[Hissyspit]

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/07/repeat-robocalls-suck-blame-the-gop/#comments

From the WaPo:

An Ohio woman, who did not leave her name, called The Washington Post in tears yesterday, saying she could not keep her phone line open to hospice workers caring for her terminally ill mother because of nonstop political robo-calls.

Pamela Lorenz, a retired nurse in Roseville, Calif., called her own experience "harassment as far as I'm concerned" and said, "If I were voting right now, the opponent who's doing this, he'd be off my list for throwing that much trash."

Hour after hour and day after day for two weeks, Lorenz's home has received the same NRCC recorded message attacking Charlie Brown, the Democrat who is challenging Rep. John T. Doolittle (R) in a hard-fought battle in northeastern California. "It is a recorder calling," Lorenz said. "I can't call it back to get them to stop."

MORE

[babylonsister]

1. Harassment to the nth degree-unreal. That poor family! nt

[babsbunny]

24. Send this to Keith Olbermann

I bet he would tell America all about it!

[babylonsister]

25. Great idea - I just did. nt

[rodeodance]

2. it will be beyond harrassamesnt if someone dies because of this.

[Ken Burch]

17. Is there a way to make that into a negligent homicide charge?

nt

[tblue37]

18. The inability to receive the call would not cause the death.

The point is that the woman's mother is in hospice, terminally ill. The woman needs to stay available by phone in case her mother takes a turn for the worse or otherwise needs her.

Blocking the hospice's access to her phone is not going to kill her mother.

It is more like what happened to the people who had relatives dying in the hospital where the entrance was blocked by Terry Shiavo's parents and their supporters. One family was not able to get tot heir dying father's bedside in time to say goodbye because the entrance was blocked by wingnuts.

[Ken Burch]

23. I meant if somebody DID die, as in the scenario suggested by the post I responded to.

nt.

[originalpckelly]

3. See this is why phone harassment is illegal...

We can probably use the fact that the Democratic candidates name is at the beginning to show the intent to annoy and harass. This is the standard for the law on phone harassment.

We also know that they are violating FCC regulations, and that too has legal associated with it.

There is going to be a big legal battle over this election, I can smell it as we speak.

[KittyWampus]

4. GOP may go broke if they are held liable and have to pay fine for each call

[renate]

6. it's $500 *per call*, right?

Let's hope it bankrupts the Republicans before 2008.

[KittyWampus]

8. some talking head on Olbermann mentioned amount. Ultimate amount in 10's millions

at least

[babylonsister]

10. Yes, at least that's the figure I heard last night. nt

[Cobalt Violet]

5. K & R. These pigs have to be jailed.

:kick:

[aquart]

7. Some nice lawyer offer to help that woman. Sue! Sue! Sue!

[puffthemagicdragon]

9. talking to my mom yesterday and they beeped in

it was hilarious, I was talking to her on the phone and all the sudden she FREAKS becuz she was getting a beep and she said "Those god damned candidates have called me 6 TIMES ALREADY TODAY!!" my mom usually keeps her cool so that is why it was funny.

[Bluzmann57]

11. republicans want war all the time

Now they have it. Maybe not the type of war they want, but this is a battle for survival and we will win this one!

[KittyWampus]

12. I think this is going to bite the GOP in the ass. People HATE these calls

AND they are illegal AND the GOP fingerprints are all over them.

[Marie26]

13. Some of them are Dem calls too.

I'm starting to think the whole concept of "phone banks," real or robo, is counter-productive. It just annoys people.

[laheina]

30. I live in the district in the OP

Let me tell you that I have maybe gotten one or two dem calls--which is legitimate.

However, Doolittle's people have been calling ever day for *months.* In the last month, we've been getting many a day--and that's just from that one race. We get calls from the repukes all day long. My husband gets them on his cell phone. Last night, we even got a live Republican heckler. Our numbers are all on the Do Not Call List, btw, so they shouldn't be calling us at all.

I've also been blanketed with junk mail, and it is all sent to me--by name. I'm the registered Dem. My husband, who is a liberal, is registered as a decline-to-state. One day, there were 20 items-- multiple from Doolittle.

It's truly disgusting.

[Marie26]

32. That's horrible

But at least it looks like those tactics are now backfiring on them, big time.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

14. My Mom got those calls!

She has contacted the press about it as suggested in SarahLee's thread.

I really hate the fuckers who are doing this. :mad:

[In Truth We Trust]

15. Compassionate Conservatives. Jail the son's of bitches!

[Initech]

16. I'm so sick of the robo calls I could puke blood

:puke:

I swear I get at least five of them a day! I can understand her pain... :grr:

[ourvoicescount]

19. So what's needed to press charges? Phone records? Actual messages?

[dave420]

20. Call my a cynic...

... but it was open long enough for her to call the Washington Post...

Why didn't she just call her telco and get them to bar all calls with unknown caller IDs? They have the ability. I'm pretty sure they have more of a requirement to help than a newspaper.

[seabeyond]

21. how about if the asshole takes responsiblity for the sleazy

ways instead of figuring out what this woman should have done

[civildisoBDence]

22. I'm sure those responsible will feel a pang of conscience over this.

NOT.

Newsprism

[stop the bleeding]

dupe

[stop the bleeding]

26. phone records and the ACLU / a good lawyer is what is needed now

this shit has to stop

[Bernardo de La Paz]

27. Guess which party is robo-calling? (picture)

Guess which party is robo-calling?

<a href = >Picture</a>

[RoBear]

28. Anybody know if this would work?

When telemarketers use that thing with dialing several numbers and then taking the first one to answer, one way to confuse the computer is to punch the # sign repeatedly. Wouldn't hurt to try. I'd love somebody to fry their computer program.

[DarkTirade]

29. If she can't call the people back then they are breaking the law.

They are REQUIRED to give a phone number to call them back in the message.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

31. here's another champion of democracy high on the board... K&R

you are one of the reasons we won hissyspit... you've worked your butt off online... it was a pleasure to share the same boards with a patriot like you! great post by a great DUer