politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/06/2011251
How To Sue the Auto Dialers 397 comments Bennett Haselton writes " Every year just before election day, I usually get a few phone calls from machines that dial numbers and play a pre-recorded message telling people to vote a certain way. I find these annoying even if I support the side I'm being asked to vote for, and most people don't realize that in most cases you can sue the organizations for making these calls, even if they are non-profits. So, you can make some money while advancing a good cause (ie stopping the bozos from doing it again). Here's how to file your case in Small Claims court, how to possibly negotiate an out-of-court settlement in advance, how to argue the case in court, and how to collect afterwards."
com/) Actually, since most people don't vote for the candidate they want, but instead vote against the one they like the least, negative advertising (including "smear messages") is the most useful information to have.
Friday March 31, @11:17AM) There's a balance between the two. I personally believe that John Kerry lost 2004 because he was perceived as having a campaign that primarily said "we're not Bush." Most voters I talked to said they wouldn't vote for Kery because they had no idea what he really stood for. He campaigns against his opponents rather than for himself; That said, never going after your opponent won't do a lot for you either. In northeast Texas there's a state race that's caught my interest. Chuck Hopson, the Dem incumbent, has from the start been in a heavy smear campaign against his Republican rival. His rival (Durrett, I think) has responded largely by addressing the issues, with only a handful of attacks on Hopson (all of which that I've seen were based on Hopson's own voting record conflicting--or seeming to--with his campaign messages). Given the recent stunts pulled by both sides in the races, Durrett's style has earned my respect. On the subject of the article, I keep getting messages from Bill Clinton telling me how great the Dem candidate for governor is. I'm pretty sure he's not a Republican scheme, and I've deleted the same message four times so far.
org/) negative advertising (including "smear messages") is the most useful information to have. You would not believe how difficult it is to effectively judge a candidate unless you hear them speak live. I spent quite a bit of time perusing newspapers, candidate websites, and Google trying to find information to base my determinations for voting this election. I am getting so much negative campaigning but not enough real facts from the candidates themselves. I really wish that someone would stop the fucking smear campaigns and instead clearly list what they intend to do. If they ran before, I want someone (obviously the campaigns website won't) to list exactly what they said they were going to do and exactly what they did do so I can compare. If this information is easily accessible in the State of Minnesota, please let me know where it is. My current vote is based on what I have gleamed from the newspapers and the campaign websites. I suppose my methodology is better than my co-workers who are "voting Union line" or someone who is "voting Party line."
Sunday February 29, @09:19AM) If you like the way things are, how your taxes are lower and how we have not lost any American lives to terror since 911, vote for Republicans.
The Bush administration has failed to cut spending to pay their tax cuts and in fact has dramatically increased spending. Thus the present value of taxes you will pay over your lifetime has risen under the Bush administration since the 100s of billions of dollars of debt the Bush administration has run up will have to be paid from future taxes. You are not paying these taxes this year but you will have to pay them in the future. Ask any economist and they will tell that lowering taxes without cutting spending is an increase and not a reduction in your lifetime tax payments. Bush has essentially given you a loan which will have to be paid back (with interest) by higher taxes in the future.
The problem with your logic is that Bush is spending much more than you're saving. Even if he hadn't pushed through the tax cuts, we would be running a deficit right now. Furthermore, this isn't just a issue for us, it's an issue for our children and grandchildren. THEY will be paying for the excesses of this decade, and they'll have to pay our debts at the same time they're funding Social Security for the baby boomers.
the campaign managers know this and they have a pretty good idea of how many of each demographic they have to work with. So, their job isn't to try and convince you who to vote for, you've already decided that. Their job is to get you into the polls so you can actually cast that vote. Somewhere along the line, they decided that the best motivator was to get you pissed off enough at the other guy that you would make the time to get into the polls. Unfortunately, this has caused campaigns to go from "vote for me because" to "don't vote for the other guy because".
Slashdot is hopelessly biased, we know that - but this is a common campaign scheme, and the Democraps are doing it to me and my neighbors in the middle of the night claiming to be calling from the Republican campaign. You heard some astroturfer call in to Rush Limbaugh today with this and now you are claiming it is happening to you. just look for what they are accusing Democrats of doing, and then you'll know. If you want to know what they're up to, just listen for what they're yelling about from the other side.
so many were coming in that I was wondering if it was actually a ploy from the Democrates to get me annoyed and blame the Republicans. Still, what possible marketing model says that the way to get votes is to repeatedly harass potential voters by phone?. BTW - I'm a registered independant, and thinking of going Libertarian.
This kind of crap is exactly why this Republican will be voting against every Republican on tomorrow's ballot. Funn how my party continues to call the Democratic party one of traitors when it's my party which is undermining democratic principles.
I have no idea if you're ideologically committed to the right, but if you are, consider runing for office sometime in the future - as a Republican. I really believe our system works best when there are two parties with honest differences of opinion, that practice their differences more or less honestly (yes, politics is a dirty business, but things have really gotten out of hand). So if you can play your part in deliver our nation back to good old open debate about what the government should or shouldn't do here or abroad, we'll all be better off for it.
the second chance at the Great Society ideal that has not worked for 40 yrs). Bite your tounge on such a minor disagreement and go vote for the RIGHT candidate. You forgot to mention that every time someone votes against a Republican, God kills a kitten AND a puppy.
This election is more of an intervention than an election. In order to begin repairing the damage, you have to first stop the abuse. If America elects to keep the GOP in control of every branch of government tommorow, then we are no more than a banana republic. Karl Rove and George Bush are betting that we Americans, in general, are stupid.
" It refers to a spam campaign engineered to look like someone else is sending it, for the express purpose of damaging the victim's reputation. As an example, someone might send out a spam campaign claiming to be Slashdot and encouraging pirates, hackers (banking on the public perception of "hacker"), and pornographers to drop by. Result: People see the spam, think that Slashdot is a haven for pirates, hackers and pornographers, *and* they think Slashdot is spamming. Since telemarketing and spamming are more or less the same job, it makes sense that dirty tricks from one field would cross over into the other.
Small electoral districts and first-past-the-post results in a two-party hegemony. This could be fixed by enlarging electoral districts to whole states and then allocating all the congressional seats of a state using the proportional Jeffers...
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