I'm delighted to see that the bonehead Oklahoma City federal judge who ruled against the national no-call list was subsequently swamped with phone calls in protest. I see no reason why he should be upset, since nobody who called was trying to sell him anything.

Now, of course, an equally cheese-brained judge in Denver has tried to stall the list using an unrelated legal objection.

Why do people hate telemarketers? Is it because they're lying sacks of crap? No, more likely it's because they sound like they're lying even when they're telling the truth. One company said defensively that they don't sell anything over the phone—all they do is set up a face-to-face meeting where they will then try to sell you something. Oh, well, gee, that just sounds so much better, doesn't it?

My dad used to object to telemarketers on the grounds that if we thought we needed home siding, or light bulbs, or magazine subscriptions, we damn well knew where to find them. You don't sit around the house waiting for someone to call who's selling whatever you want to buy that day. You go out and get it. And the fact that the company tries to contact you first, before they even know whether you're interested in their product, only makes it more likely that they're trying to rip you off. Is that so hard to understand? Answer: To some people it is, and those people are trying to get you on the phone right now.