Talking Spam

How to describe the day? Drippy. More snow came down late Sunday night, maybe into the morning, and then instead of a gelid blast from Saskatchewan, things warmed up a little, though the sky stayed gray. Some of the foot of snow on the ground started to melt. Then it rained, or drizzled. What was frozen loosened up into a partial liquid. Fog rolled in Monday evening. When I took out the trash, I waded through shush, felt a cold drop of water on my neck from a tree, and couldn't see down the street.

All in all, a good day to say inside. Except for the last-minute rush of pre-primary automated phone calls, which at least will go away -- for a while -- after Tuesday. This isn't the first time machines have called and left messages on my machine, but it is the first time I can remember ones along these idiotic lines: "Hi, I'm Margo, and I'm really concerned about x. Do you know who else is concerned about x? John Doe, that's who. He's running for the Cook County Alligator Control Board, and he cares about x..."

The less I hear about a candidate in this way, the more likely I will be to vote for him or her. Who invented this practice? Who thinks this is a good idea? Who is persuaded by this voice-mail spam? That's what this voter wants to know.