Got a call, When I asked about Diebold and ES&S she said...

[mirrera]

This Democratic organization cold called me. I wish I could remember their name! When she realized I was not going to hang up, she went into her prepared pitch. "We need to elect progressive candidates in 2006, and we need you to help us fight tooth and nail to get our candidates elected..."
I interrupted her at this point and said very clearly, "I totally agree, so what are you doing about Diebold and ES&S and the hijacking of our vote counting in the USA. Her response was
"Whoa! I don't know what you talking about!" And I said "If you don't have any idea of what I am talking about, I don't think I can help you..."
Surprisingly, instead of her being interested enough to carry on a dialog, she quickly said "O.K. then, thank you"
Click.
Man o man o man...
Welcome to the bizarro world.
www.nobullshirt.com

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Umm...

A more constructive tack would be to engage the dem org in a dialogue and educate them.

[mirrera]

2. Umm...

she acted really freaked and hung up on me...?

You know I gave so much of what little I had to every org that needed it. When the election went down the way it did i wrote to EVERY one of those orgs and said that I would give no more money unless vote counting reforms were a top agenda. I can understand we have a lot of battles, but I can't handle total ignorance at this point. NOT when they are asking me to shell out again.


www.nobullshirt.com

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. So, clue them up.

Give them the straight skinny. Trust me: local dem orgs are approachable. Someone has to give them the information they need. Why not you?

Hit them with a little of the Toledo Blade/"Coingate" stuff to start the ball rolling.

[mirrera]

7. Oh, I agree!

I give mini lectures, pass out links, forward articles, listen to confusion, over and over again. My point was this person was ignorant and uninterested. The ignorance depresses me but the lack of interest was the frustrating thing. If she hadn't hung up so quick i would have spent as long as it took. I have mentioned Diebold, etc. in other cases and it has led to incredible dialog. I had a telemarketer from Allstate life insurance, stop selling because we ended up talking fraud in Ohio. I am never against talking. I just wish that when I said what I said, that she would have understood enough to volley back something. Even if she had said, "I know we are supporting legislation to, blah blah" or, "Excuse me? What are you referring to?" I don't know I am going through menopause and losing patience, I guess I could have handled it better, but I have a 17 year old son and I am freaked.
I am so sick of the blank stare...


www.nobullshirt.com

[Melissa G]

6. Hi mirrera, it is good to remember the difference between

the folks who run the orgs and the possibly quite a bit less knowledgeable nice folks who volunteer to help with phone banks.
They just get scipts to read. (esp if they are inexperienced volunteers..) If a person varies from what the script tells them to say..well...they may not know what to do. They do sometimes get explicit directions not to vary from their written instrutions.
I'm done a fair amount of phonebank work and that has been my experience.

[WildClarySage]

4. She was probably a telemarketer who was

assigned the survey,not a political activist at all.

[IndyOp]

5. I went off the deep end when the local NPR station called for a

donation. I told her that I used to listen to the local station to get the NPR news, but that I no longer listen to NPR and get my news only from alternative news outlets on the internet.

I told her that felt I betrayed when NPR did not adequately cover the election fraud that occurred last November, or the election challenge in January, and that on the few occasions that I have listened since then, their right-wing bias was too much for me to take.

I wound up telling her that until such time as the local station begins playing real news -- BBC News, Democracy Now!, Air America Radio -- I won't be donating any money.

Go ahead and flame me - I know that PBS & NPR need our support right now - I just went off the deep end at the moment that she called.

:kick:

[gumby]

8. No flame here.

I feel very, very negatively about local NPR.

They came on-air as a talk format and I've been listening since about the same time, years and years ago.

What they've been doing is the right-wing-both-sides crap that ends up legitimizing extreme right-wing ideology without really presenting an appropriate 'other side.' Example: The Heritage Foundation explains why vouchers are good. An educator explains why vouchers are bad. Left out of the discussion is the fact that the right is using vouchers to destroy public education. No, no discussion of intent, only discussions of topics that are presented in a right-wing frame. This continues issue after issue, year after year. My local NPR is a right-winger's best friend, yet they all call NPR "socialists." Socialists don't appear on local NPR. Don't think they do on national NPR either.

Sorry, hot button .......

[IndyOp]

9. My thoughts exactly!

The interview that has caused me to loose faith with NPR (forever after?) was by Maura Liason (sp?). She interviewed a political analyst from a conservative think-tank but did not identify him as such. When she asked him (about a month ago) how optimistic * was feeling these days the analyst answered that * was feeling pretty good because 90% of 'his conservative base' was solidly behind him. She did not bother to put that statistic in context by indicating that "President * conservative base" was not "all conservatives" or "all Republicans" much less "all US citizens".

Think-tank dude told a lie (of omission) and Maura helped!

:nuke:

[gumby]

10. Maura Liason works for FOX

**AND** NPR? What's WRONG with this picture?

Kinda like Gwen Ifill being good friends with Kindasleezyliar Rice?

[IndyOp]

11. I had no idea she worked for FOX --

none, I swear I've been listening to her reports on NPR for many, many years.

Kinda like Gwen Ifill being good friends with Kindasleezyliar Rice? HUH? Oh, man. My illusions are falling away faster and faster.

:(

[flyarm]

15. call the kauffmann foundation!! they are major donors to npr..

i knew the kauffmans personally and i will tell you.both were extremely liberal!! they must be rolling in their graves...

kauffman foundation is in kansas city..call them and let the board members know exactly how you feel!!

[NoBushSpokenHere]

12. My response to the DNC when they called.....

I am contributing to the Sherole Eaton fund, a 65 year old lady who STOOD UP for democracy - not to an organization that had all the money to fight the battle with and walked away.

I am sure the phone bank person had no clue what I was talking about....and also abruptly ended the call.

Tried to educate.....but to no avail.

[Bill Bored]

13. A better way of explaining the problem might have been to say

"privatization of our elections." Instead of making it vendor specific, which the caller may or may not be familiar with, you go straight to the heart of the issue in a way that everyone can understand and react to.

If she still had nothing to say, then she's just an air head making her 10 calls an hour and you should forget about it. But if she responds to this, you might be able to educate her a little and get her to take the message up the chain of command.

[mirrera]

14. Thanks everybody, good insights...

I do have to remember that these are just volunteers and may not be up on everything. I also like the term "privatized elections" instead of being vendor specific. I have to learn to bite my tounge, I am just so frustrated.


www.nobullshirt.com

[Peace Patriot]

16. I feel about NPR the way I feel about the New York Times: I HOPE they

go down in flames! They deserve it! After what they both did on the war, and on the fraudulent election, what they really deserve is to be put in Guantanamo Bay along with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and this whole frigging lot of mass murderers and master thieves. NYT and NPR are the ones who SOLD US THE WAR. The 'lib' traitors! They are the ones who are the most guilty, because they KNOW BETTER. And for godssakes, they FAILED to warn the American people that our voting system is owned and controlled by major Bush donors, by Bush-Cheney campaign chairs! They didn't even cover THAT--or they buried it. The red flag of red flags on election fraud!

Really, I've had it. I hope Bush's "pod people" strip NPR of all their funding.

As for the NYT, they are the most corrupt news organization in the country, bar none. At least with Fox, you can tell where they're coming from. The NYT is sneaky and snotty, yet totally in thrall to war profits and corporate rule.

----------

Re: Dem volunteer donation solicitors.

I've had many good conversations with these volunteers. They only need to hear two things:

1. Major Bush donors and campaign chairs own and control the vote count with "trade secret," proprietary software, that no one can review, not even election officials.

2. Many Democratic officials have been corrupted by the money in electronic voting. That's why there's a problem. We have no watchdog! We have no real opposition! And until the Dems address this fraudulent election SYSTEM, and clean their own house, nothing will change.

I also tell them that I gave my Dem contribution this year to the Kevin Shelley Legal Defense Fund--and explain why (especially the failure of the CA Dems to fight for Shelley and to prevent a Schwarz appointee as Sec of State). I tell them I will never again donate to the Dem Party--after 40 years of loyalty--until they fix our election SYSTEM.

The ones I've talked to get it. I ask them to pass my message along, and they say they will. I'm very nice and gentle with them. I thank them for volunteering. I say it's not their fault--but everybody needs to know how corrupt the voting system has become, and the Dems MUST GET ON IT, or our democracy is at an end.

They DO have a script they're supposed to follow--and they are either volunteers or very low-paid workers. Some of the ones I've talked to have been pretty smart. One was even aware of election fraud.

So, don't give up on ANYBODY! Educate! Agitate! Send a message! (--if you can keep them on the phone.)

------

The donation thing is difficult. If it's a DNC caller, then you are undermining Howard Dean if you don't donate. I'm torn about it. The CA Dems have been particularly bad in letting Schwarz/Bush Cartel get control of our Sec of State's office. The party here is rife with electronic voting corruption at the county level (not sure how corrupt the state Dems are on this matter, but they were really, really, really stupid about Shelley). I won't donate to the CA Dems until they clean house and get serious about election system reform. Dean, on the other hand, seems to be doing some good things. So...judge the situation for yourself. Maybe donate to the DNC with a BIG MESSAGE attached. I'd suggest doing it by snail mail, to make sure the message gets through.

[LightningFlash]

17. How sad the uninformed are...

I can't imagine this state of affairs. She's probably never even heard of Diebold.