Once upon a time, my spouse made the mistake of joining OSPIRG, the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, in response to a door-to-door solicitation.
Now, years after she's stopped giving them money, they're calling our house at 9:25 p.m. with some urgent message or another, including, no doubt, to ask for more money. What is worse, they are bypassing a message that we pay good money to the phone company for. When you call our home, before our phone rings, you are first warned that we do not accept solicitations, and instructed to push "1" to get through only if you are not a solicitor.
Apparently, OSPIRG telemarketer Audrey Albrecht doesn't understand English. She went ahead and interrupted our night by pushing "1." At 9:25 p.m. Which is why I told her director, Jonathan Jelen, that OSPIRG should never, never, never call our home again.
Before putting yourself on OSPIRG's phone list by giving them money, you may wish to consider this story.
Comments (8)
That group operates all sorts of funny schemes all around, doesn't it? I always got weirded out at the U of O, because they would always get five minutes in front of the class to spout off. Odd.
"Spout off"? While I agree that calling someone that late and pushing through the solicitor shield is rude, I was of the mind the org. does do some good work.
I give the PIRG money each and every month. I also don't give out my phone number to any organizations.
See? It's easy--all the gratification, none of the bother.
But Jack, would you have gotten riled about this before your girls were born and your household acquired a real bedtime?
WWP bailed on OSPIRG the day George W. Bush was installed as president. The connection between the PIRGS and Ralph Nader, whom we have to thank for the Republican "victory" in 2000, goes back years. Nader has his tentacles in each and every one of the PIRGS across the country, and his organization benefits financially from the transfer of funds directly from the PIRGS (which he helped to found, incidentally). It's not a pretty picture. Read for yourself: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,80925,00.html
Yeah, OSPIRG was a pretty popular group at the U of O (the most well funded, as I recall.) They would ask for five minutes or so for a recruiting pitch before just about every non-science class. It got pretty irritating after a while, especially when you knew that they were a prime funding mechanism for the USPIRG.
Um. Ralph Nader has his "tentacles" in all of the PIRG's (OSPIRG being Oregon State Public Interest Research Group), because he STARTED the it in 1971. Would you like to take a guess where? That's right, at the University of Oregon.
The PIRGs freak me out because they almost always wangle themselves a special funding mechanism on the campuses where the operate, so that there are basically no controls on what they spend at all. I was on the Student Finance Committee at my undergrad school, and everybody else submitted budgets and competed for funds, but OPIRG had gotten the student body to vote at some point on a thing where they got a chunk of everyone's activity fee automatically. I thought it was absurd and unfair, and very, very bad policy. Anyone who's afraid of budget oversight is, in my opinion, not to be trusted.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (8)
That group operates all sorts of funny schemes all around, doesn't it? I always got weirded out at the U of O, because they would always get five minutes in front of the class to spout off. Odd.
(Oh, and their signs were atrocious.)
Posted by Klug | January 23, 2004 6:36 AM
"Spout off"? While I agree that calling someone that late and pushing through the solicitor shield is rude, I was of the mind the org. does do some good work.
Posted by Emily | January 23, 2004 10:28 AM
I give the PIRG money each and every month. I also don't give out my phone number to any organizations.
See? It's easy--all the gratification, none of the bother.
But Jack, would you have gotten riled about this before your girls were born and your household acquired a real bedtime?
Posted by Matt | January 23, 2004 11:46 AM
WWP bailed on OSPIRG the day George W. Bush was installed as president. The connection between the PIRGS and Ralph Nader, whom we have to thank for the Republican "victory" in 2000, goes back years. Nader has his tentacles in each and every one of the PIRGS across the country, and his organization benefits financially from the transfer of funds directly from the PIRGS (which he helped to found, incidentally). It's not a pretty picture. Read for yourself: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,80925,00.html
Posted by Worldwide Pablo | January 23, 2004 2:50 PM
Yeah, OSPIRG was a pretty popular group at the U of O (the most well funded, as I recall.) They would ask for five minutes or so for a recruiting pitch before just about every non-science class. It got pretty irritating after a while, especially when you knew that they were a prime funding mechanism for the USPIRG.
Posted by Klug | January 24, 2004 8:42 AM
Um. Ralph Nader has his "tentacles" in all of the PIRG's (OSPIRG being Oregon State Public Interest Research Group), because he STARTED the it in 1971. Would you like to take a guess where? That's right, at the University of Oregon.
Posted by opportunitylands | January 25, 2004 12:11 AM
The PIRGs freak me out because they almost always wangle themselves a special funding mechanism on the campuses where the operate, so that there are basically no controls on what they spend at all. I was on the Student Finance Committee at my undergrad school, and everybody else submitted budgets and competed for funds, but OPIRG had gotten the student body to vote at some point on a thing where they got a chunk of everyone's activity fee automatically. I thought it was absurd and unfair, and very, very bad policy. Anyone who's afraid of budget oversight is, in my opinion, not to be trusted.
Posted by Alli | January 25, 2004 6:20 AM
I went to school with an audrey albrecht, who went on to work for OSPIRG...and if it is the same person...she always was pushy!
Posted by Barb | January 26, 2004 11:51 AM