House Votes to Launch Do-Not-Call List

Zendar writes "Yahoo! has a story on how it took less than an hour with a final vote of 412-8 to approve the 'do not call list'. "Votes to overturn the judge's order are expected mid-afternoon in both chambers, according to Republican leadership aides." The President is expected to sign today. Some choice quotes: "Fifty million Americans can't be wrong." and "This bill will pass faster than a consumer hanging up on a telemarker at dinner time." CNN also has the story."

Comments

In other news..

[Harald Paulsen]

..hell just froze over.

Re:In other news..

[Tackhead]

> ..hell just froze over.

Yeah, what the hell's going on here? Judge screws over 50,000,000 people because Congress screwed up. OK, so far, story makes sense.

But what's with Congress fixing the problem, especially fixing it within a few days. I mean, come on, this is September 2003, not 2004! Nobody's gonna remember Congress fixing its mistakes when the elections are over a year away.

WTF d00d? Did they also legalize drugs and a stoned-out-of-its-gourd Congress just forget to put it in the Record? Did terrorists put LSD in the Congressional water supply? KGB Agents under deep cover flipping all the calendars a year ahead in every office? A sudden attack of civic conscience? Just what the hell is going on on Capitol Hill, and is there any way of continuing it?

How warm and fuzzy..

[grub]

"Fifty million Americans can't be wrong."

Unless those same 50 million people are using P2P software.

Cynics and pessimists take note.

[Thinkit3]

Shouldn't you have predicted that the telemarketers would have just passed on some cash to the campaign funds and won? Ooops.

Choice Quotes

[cartzworth]

"Fifty million Americans can't be wrong."

Thats why 60million fileshare and thats not ok.

Does a little happy dance

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey telemarketers!

Whats that?

You what?

You don't like it?

Well have your people call my people.

OH WAIT THEY CAN'T!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

*AAAAARRRGGGGGH*

[indros13]

Inigo: "Do you hear that Fezzik? That is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when the six-fingered man killed my father. The Man in Black makes it now."

Fezzik: "Actually, it seems to be coming from the direction of the Direct Marketing Association Washington offices..."

Re:"Fifty million Americans can't be wrong"

[LMCBoy]

what the heck is the .vg domain? Vogon? V'ger? Viagra? Very Good?

QUESTION

[larry bagina]

Who were the 8 dickheads that didn't vote for it? And what are their home phone numbers?

And more importantly, what does this have to do with my right online?

Re:Shocked

[Harald Paulsen]

Wait, my government went against a bussiness interest for the sake of the people?

Yes, the telemarketers obviously tried to call congressmen during dinner to present their case and for some strange reason it backfired.

Re:How about an anti-spam bill?

[gothicpoet]

Because half of them will misunderstand and think it's a bill aimed at banning canned meat products.

Quick...

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone needs to patent a do-not-call list and method so the american govt owes you $$$ for each person that signs up!!!

er..

1. create do not call list method
2. patent said method
3. sue the hell outta the govt
4. get landed in jail for being a terrorist..// DOH

Re:How about an anti-spam bill?

[nlinecomputers]

Because half of them will misunderstand and think it's a bill aimed at banning canned meat products.

And this would be a bad thing?

Re:Representative government?

[Anonymous Coward]

Make that 501 lost jobs. Poor Ted...

Re:Representative government?

[Tackhead]

> Telemarketers can go to hell.

"Hey, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, the 19 hijackers, Osama bin Laden, Uday and Qusay Hussein are all swimming in brimstone for eternity. Ain't that enough? What do you guys want from me?"
- Satan.

Finally, success in the war on terror

[kaltkalt]

The DMA, our worst domestic terror organization, has finally been stifled thanks to the bipartisan efforts of congress. Hopefully its 5,000 members can now be captured, tarred and feather, and executed. We truly are winning the war on terror.

Re:Where do they come from?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's more easy to say harder than less easy :p

Re:Democracy - Amen Brother.

[pkp_gl211]

Just think if we used popular vote for the presidential election, Al Gore would be president. On the other thing think of all the things he could have invented....

Re:Representative government?

[tetrad]

Now I have no clue how many of those jobs may or may not be lost by this bill, but the fact is, he is voting to protect those jobs. I personally fail to see how it is some great inconvenience to have telemarketers calling you every so often. Its putting food on someone's table, and is better than them being on welfare. My brother in law worked for the firm for a time. In that impovershed area of the country good paying jobs are hard to come by.

Perhaps Dave Barry said it best:

Leading the charge for the telemarketing industry is the American Teleservices Association (suggested motto: 'Some Day, We Will Get a Dictionary and Look Up 'Services''). This group argues that, if its members are prohibited from calling people who do not want to be called, then two million telemarketers will lose their jobs. Of course, you could use pretty much the same reasoning to argue that laws against mugging cause unemployment among muggers. But that would be unfair. Muggers rarely intrude into your home.