Freedom from Telemarketers


In America, and certainly in Oklahoma, people face frequent intrusion into their homes by telemarketers who telephone them at all times of the day and night. Telemarketers buy lists of people and their phone numbers and then have armies of low-paid salespeople call and try to sell them everything from magazines to vacations. The telemarketers train their salespeople well in ways to suck victims into a conversation and ultimately a purchase decision. People don't like being disturbed at home but oddly enough, enough people succumb to the telemarketers that it remains economical for the telemarketers to continue to sell this way.

Fortunately, we have "caller ID" which tells us who is calling us on the phone so we can decide whether we want to answer the phone or not. Telemarketers, on the other hand, use special numbers which are blocked from being displayed on caller ID screens. They do this so the people they call can't know for sure who is calling - and they sometimes answer the phone anyway. I never answer the phone if the caller ID is not displaying a caller or number I know - except today, my daughter answered the phone and handed it to me. It was the FOP, the Fraternal Order of Police wanting a donation. I told them I was on the national and state "do not call lists" and don't call me again. Unfortunately "charities" like the FOP are exempt from the "do not call list". Shame on you FOP for harassing people at home. According to USA Today: A recent study by the Massachusetts attorney general found that charities received an average of 26 cents of every dollar raised by professional telemarketers last year. The telemarketers pocketed the rest.

We live in a free country but unfortunately, we do not yet have the freedom of privacy at home - the freedom to answer our own phones without having a *&^%*^ salesman interrupt our homelife to ask for money. The freedom from telemarketers should be tacked onto the the Bill of Rights.

Off-Target Union

Locked out Continental Carbon workers in Ponca City are blaming the Taiwan Government for the actions of the Koo Family, owners of Continental Carbon. The union may have a beef but in case they haven't noticed, Taiwan is a democratic market economy where the government has as much control over their companies as Oklahoma has over Sonic Drive-In.

Life in Far Away Places

One of the greatest things about Blogdom is the ability we now have to experience the day-to-day life of bloggers in other cultures and countries. I have many favorites from around the world which I will begin to share with you. Let's start with Glutter, written by a brave person in Hong Kong.

Bringing Religion to the Forefront in Oklahoma Politics

Bob Anthony has a catchy slogan for his campaign for US Senate. Honesty, Integrity, Anthony has a memetic ring with a message that keys on his reputation for honesty. Better even than "It's Turpintime". Anthony's first TV ad started airing this week and stresses that he is a conservative and a Christian. Trying to out-conservative each other is old hat in Oklahoma but the candidates are growing bolder in trying to out-Christian each other. Kirk Humpherys ad brags about bringing Billy Graham to OKC and now Anthony stresses that he is a strong Christian. In the past the politicos would use codewords such as "family values" to signal their fundamentalist credentials but Anthony and Humphreys are setting new lows for bringing religion into politics. I knew I wasn't going to vote for Humphreys - now I know I won't be putting my stamp on Anthony.

Angry Oklahoma Socialist Found

Socialists are hard to find in Oklahoma and angry socialists even more difficult to find - but here's evidence they still exist.

Term Limits

We are all term limited, not just Oklahoma politicians. Here's a site that will help you find where terminally limited politicians are now.

Remembering Ronald Reagan

My father dragged me to downtown Tulsa's Mayo Hotel in 1968 to get a glimpse of California Governor Ronald Reagan. I was way too young to know what the big deal was but dad stationed me in the entrance so we'd be sure to see him. Reagan, surrounded by his entourage, exited the building in such a rush we didn't get to shake his hand but I saw the dark-haired center-of-attention from a few feet away. He must be important I thought but I had no idea why.

Former President Ronald Reagan visited Oklahoma at least 19 times during his life, according to the Tulsa World. I never saw him in person again.

T. L. Osborn

Church-going people in Oklahoma (and much of the world) know of Dr. T.L. Osborn, the Tulsa-based evangelist that has spent most of his life evangelizing to the Third World and beyond. People driving through Tulsa in the 1970s and 80s on I-44 saw his modernistic world headquarters near Peoria. As a highschool student I stopped in one time with some fellow skeptics and checked it out. The only thing I remember of the visit was a film that showed a horrifying slaughter and beheading of a goat in some faraway place. Some years ago Osborn sold his distinctive HQ building to Victory Christian Center for $1 and it is now used as a Bible school.

Decades later I heard the now octogenarian (but younger looking) T.L. Osborn speak in person. He's an interesting, though sometimes rambling, speaker with lots of unique insights on how to evangelize in the Third World. He takes a very pragmatic approach to persuading people in other cultures. The most salient point he made was that the hardest thing an evangelist does is to reach unbelievers without offending the believers. While he stated that there was not much difference between Shintoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc - a surprisingly uninformed statement given his long experience in Asia - he pointed out how hard it was to reach Buddhists in Thailand with a message about the need to be "born again". To Buddhists who believe in reincarnation and strive to end the "endless" cycle of rebirth (by achieving enlightenment) - to be "born again" is not something they necessarily desire. So Osborn changed his phraseology in order to reach Thais in a way they could understand what he was trying to say. Other evangelists insist on sticking with Christian terms that mean nothing to non-Christians.

T.L. Osborn wants more than anything to get into China. He said he wants to ask the Chinese leadership why they believe so strongly in Christianity. As the audience puzzles over this assertion Osborn explains that the Communist leaders must believe in Jesus, otherwise why would they try so hard to keep their citizens from being exposed to him.

Still going strong at 83, T.L. Osborn will soon be off for Japan (which has remained stubbornly resistant to his efforts), Central America and Eastern Europe. You have to respect that, even if you don't see eye-to-eye with him.