blue.star.folly root() {  .art   .algorithmy   .photáges    .known_soldier    .political    .sociological    .erotic   .art_fotos  .music //mp3s  .rant   .archive  .photo_album  .misc   .game_dev   .links  .exhibitions  .about };  portfolio();  STG();  BSF();  LiveJournal();  MySpace();  Angie_Cardone();  sitemap();  contact(); search bluestarfolly.com internet			<rant>    An Invitation to Dine With Bush - 2005.Jan.07 - 23:47PST   previous rant   next rant   Guess who received an invitation to a $500 a plate dinner with our illustrious Commander in Chief? Give up? ME! That's right - your purple-haired, tattoo-sporting, nipple-pierced host was invited to attend a black-tie dinner in Washington D.C. to be addressed by George W. himself.  The invitation was in the form of a phone call from the office of Congressman Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.  Now, if you're the least bit familiar with my website then you might have some idea of how bewildered I was.  I am the last person you want in the same room as Bush - the very last.  It's not that I'm a Democrat per se, I'm just a pro choice, anti war, pro gay-rights, anti censorship, pro civil-liberty, anti corporation, pro environment, anti SUV, pro sodomy, anti religion-shoved-down-my-throat, hedonist who would love nothing more than to humiliate the current President of the United States.  Here's how the phone conversation unfolded immediately after Congressman Reynolds' representative finished her spiel: Rep:  ...a mere $500 dollars. Me:  What? Rep:  The required donation is only $500 dollars, can we count you in Mr. Holdaway? Me:  Uh... no, I don't think so. Rep:  That's okay, Mr. Holdaway.  We understand that this is short notice and that $500 might be tough to come up with, especially this soon after Christmas.  Would you be willing to donate a smaller amount, perhaps $100 or $200 dollars, to help make sure that our hard-won conservative majority will be able to push through all of the important issues that we as Americans all support? Me:  No.  Um, how did I get on your list? Rep:  Mr. Holdaway, you were selected as a leading business owner from the state of California.  Are you sure you wouldn't like to help us make American a better place by building upon our conservative-value majority? Me:  Definitely not.  I voted against Bush. Rep:  Oh.  (pause)  So you're a Democrat? Me:  Um... yeah... sure... whatever.  Could you please take me off of your list? Rep:  Certainly, Mr. Holdaway.  Have a nice day.  (click) After hanging up the phone, I took a moment to ponder how it was that the NRCC thought I was a business owner (let alone a conservative!).  Perhaps they had me confused with my father - we share the same name and he is definitely a conservative.  It wouldn't be the first time someone had called me looking for my dad, but I didn't think that was the case.  First, they called my office number.  Usually people looking for my father call my home number.  Second, my dad doesn't own a business either.  So I chuckled, shook my head and got up to tell others in the office what had transpired.  Immediately upon returning to my desk, the phone rang.  It was a telemarketer calling to ask if my business, Blue Star Folly, was still using stamps and if we were interested in switching to metered mail.  <CLICK>  The click of the phone meeting the receiver synchronized with the click in my head as the solution to the NRCC mystery presented itself.  Some spammer must have harvested my domain registration info, mistakenly assuming that it was a business, and sold that info to telemarketers.  Voilà!  I guess there isn't a moral to this story.  In retrospect, I should have acted like a conservative business owner and forked out the $500, just for a chance to play anarchist at a black-tie, presidential dinner.  Oh, well.  I'm sure that I'll have other, cheaper opportunities to be dragged off by security while screaming obscenities.  One can dream.  - Lars Visitor Comments Personally, I hope that our government doesn't hand you any more opportunities to be dragged off by security while screaming obscenities. That's just me, though. I'm amazed that they didn't bother to check their list more thoroughly. It will be interesting if someone forks over the $500 to do what you wanted to do. They must be operating under the erroneous assumption that every business owner is a hardcore Bush supporter. (2005.01.12 23:24:16) - Comment by Abby Goldsmith   (67.112.166.2) I got a phone call this morning inviting me, on behalf of Congressman Reynolds, to a dinner with George W. I couldn't figure out how they got my name. I was co-chair of the state's Green Party in 2000 and am repulsed by GWB. I found your site when I did a search and you answered my question. I have a very small business (more of a hobby that I make a little extra money from) and someone must have sold my information from the website. Might be time to take the phone number down. Thanks for helping to solve the mystery. I don't think they want me at the dinner. Though my attendance would amuse my friends immensely. (2005.01.27 15:09:43) - Comment by Lori   (64.191.147.226) Yes... it appears that the Republicans are so foul, that they've joined forces with spammers and telemarketers.  Talk about an Axis of Evil! :) (2005.01.27 20:18:57) - Comment by Lars ( webmaster ) This page has been getting quite a bit of traffic the last few weeks. If you too have received this offer to "dine with Bush", please post a comment and let others know about your experience. (2005.02.17 21:29:25) - Comment by Lars ( webmaster ) I've been getting these calls for a few weeks, too, but have been away from my desk and too busy to return the call. I did some initial research into it, but got distracted about two weeks ago. like Lars, I was left scratching my head as to how the devil the picked me of all ppl. if Lars the the last person wanted there, I'm right behind him. matter of fact, I found this page via google while I waited for the spiel to end and asked "now, just how did you get my name? this makes no sense to me, I'm 'a pro choice, anti war, pro gay-rights, anti censorship, pro civil-liberty, anti corporation, pro environment, anti SUV, pro sodomy, anti religion-shoved-down-my-throat' atheist. you DO NOT want me there! Please take me off your list. Good Day!" heard something like "OH, umm, uh" as I hung up the phone.. my associate, having heard the spiel on speaker, was rather amused at me reading your pargraph above (ROTFL to be precise:) thanks, Lars! (2005.02.28 21:08:43) - Comment by Crowell29a   (24.199.128.222) Hah. Creating community through Republican spam.... These calls have been puzzling me, too. This morning, I got tired of it and politely asked the young man if he needed a land survey (that's what we do when we're not answering phone calls from telemarketers), and he sputtered and said, "Um, yes, there might be surveying involved." Geez. What a simp. I told him to quit calling the business number. So now I'm wasting my time Googling to see who else gets these calls. Maybe we should just all show up for Din-Din with Duhbya. The resulting chaos might be worth the 500 bucks. (2005.03.30 20:16:49) - Comment by Batlady   (65.127.6.84) I just received a similar telephone message. Perhaps, because I gave money to the Dean campaign, they think that I'm a Bush supporter. (All they need to do to dispel that notion is to google me!) Or perhaps they think I'm a business owner because they're fishing through domain registration data and haven't sorted out the difference between .com and .org. (2005.04.25 20:44:26) - Comment by Matthew   (18.56.0.36) Well, I'm a conservative independent. (NOTE: Please disregard at least 75% of your pre-conceived stereotypes, as I'm actually a pretty open-minded guy.) I work in a small office where it's pretty much just me and my boss, and we got this call, which prompted my googling this topic and landing on this page. By and large, I vote Republican, but I have no great love for the Republican party per se. I know the majority of all politicians in all parties are slimeballs, so I am not too surprised that they spam and telemarket. Don't be shocked to learn that maybe the Democrats have done this kind of thing as well. I did find it amusing that the Congressman for the 26th District of New York would invite a small business owner in central Virginia to a dinner hosted by GWB. They never got to the $500 part. But anyway, I figured I'd put in my $0.02 about this whole Tom Reynolds thing. Hell, I wonder if Representative Reynolds even knows these calls are being made in his name! Surf Wisely! (2005.06.14 21:02:46) - Comment by dolst   (64.83.52.18) I just had a similar converstaion on the phone. They were looking for my very liberla daughter, I too am agianst 99.9% of bush and his imoral and unethical policies. (2005.07.22 15:34:08) - Comment by Smitty   (24.128.64.152) I'm a secretary at a small office and just got this phone call for my boss. He's not in the office so I asked to take a message. And he went on about congressman and the bush dinner. I was just like uhhh ok.. He sounded like a robot to me and I almost hung up on him. But I asked him a question and he actually answered so I let him continue. He then asked for the fax number to send more info about the dinner. He never mentioned anything about money tho. How strange... (2005.08.03 17:27:30) - Comment by Diana   (65.31.77.59) I just got the Tom Reynolds, Bush Dinner call. I too am not a republican, nor am I a business owner, but I do run a website, so maybe that is how they got my info. Where do you think the dinner is being held? And how many people attend? Personally I think it would be great to have dinner with the president regardless of your party affiliation or feelings for him. (2005.08.09 11:33:00) - Comment by Scott   (146.145.59.91) Still going around. (Googled my way here as well--nice site, btw). Cong. Reynolds wanted to recognize the bus. owner as a vital blah blah blah. Wouldn't talk to anybody but the owner. (2005.12.01 18:55:55) - Comment by mtglick   (71.104.197.144) Post A Comment  Name:   URL:   Comment:        [HTML tags are not permitted] Rants: 07.16   ATTN ALL TOY SOLDIERS - A Cal... 07.02   Nice ride... 06.15   Oh dear... 06.13   Another month in HELL... 06.05   Saying no ain't so easy... 05.28   TONIGHT - Free Vodka, No Cove... 05.26   The Known Soldier 05.21   Newsletter - May 2008 05.18   17 years after first starting... 05.03   FYI 05.02   GHOSTS I - IV 04.29   Art show, Wednesday night @ Club... 04.23   Noise or Music? 04.17   Newsletter, April 2008 04.16   LOUD NOISE makes me HAPPY! 04.13   Performance, this Tuesday night! 04.05   Robber Barons? 04.02   Build the Robots 04.01   Cry wolf? 03.30   time to get off my ass... 03.24   YouTube video from the Rainforest... Art and Photography:
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