Ooh, I especially like "harvested," which makes me think of in-vitro laboratory pregnancies or something.

I find the phrase "natural marriage" hilarious. Honestly, what's natural about marriage?

Elderly people are so hilarious. Imagine actually answering the phone when someone you don't know shows up on the caller ID.

Yes indeedy, 5280, my thought exactly. A phone ringing is a mild summons, not a confrontation. And such a summons can easily be ignored, even by the "elderly." Additionally, I might note that it's quite easy to end a phone call in the privacy of one's home (or the privacy of one's airport, bus, or restaurant) by hanging up. Randall and his ilk are nasty, cynical, drama-queen abusers of language. Don't they want their supporters' perspective out there for everyone to know about? What a putz. Dominic was doing them a service.

Dominic did any of your innocent elderly victims hang up on you?

you know.. he has a point. sometimes people want to participate in the political process without being called by a stranger and asked to explain their views. the potential for harassment is there. just sayin'.

So does this mean that Protect Marriage Washington is against yard signs, bumperstickers, buttons, pins, speeches, rallies and sign-waving?

You are such a fucking asshole.

@2: Clearly, their marriages are natural, because their marriages are produced without any artificial colors or flavors.

Yes, but are they free-range?

Oh, that reminds me, I need to confront my elderly grandmother in the sanctity and privacy of her own home tonight. She gets sad if I don't stay in touch.

Confrontation is bad. You can only violate people's privacy underhandedly by voting against their civil rights and suppressing ballot signatures.

I wonder how many Republican, Talibangelist and Tea Bagger groups Gary and Larry have sold the mailing list they harvested from the R-71 campaign. I wonder if these groups then turned around and used this information to confront the elderly in the privacy of their own homes about issues not directly related to domestic partnership laws.

Don't Gary and Larry owe the signers of R-71 a great big apology, and perhaps some sort of compensation, for subjecting them to such harassment?

@12 Good point!

Harvesting! You're obviously *really* after their organs!

@4: Bizarre, right? If somebody asked me something that vastly offended me or made me uncomfortable, I'd say, "Please don't call this number again" and then hang up.

@15,

Elderly people often suffer from a crippling case of politeness. They won't hang up, which is why telemarketers and other scammers find it very easy to take advantage of them. Dominic's taking advantage of that makes him just as much of a scumbag.

And it's clear now why Dominic was so opposed to the panhandling ordinance. He enjoys seeing weak people bullied and bullying weak people himself.

@16 And just how was Dominic to know that these anti-gay donors were elderly? Only one of the four people called by Dominic has an age provided, and yes he is 84.

The only evidence for these people's weakness is that they provided such weak and confused justifications for their contributions of time and/or hundreds of dollars to R-71. If you were really concerned about taking advantage of people, Keshmeshi, why aren't you calling out Gary Randall and Larry Stickney for having taken advantage of these weak people to the tune of hundreds of dollars ?

@7, 16 & 17 - you're nuts. they make pills for that, you know.

Funny how it's the same people who care so much about "confrontation in the privacy of their own home" who want to recriminalize sodomy, i.e. outlaw an act between two consenting adults in the privacy of their own home.

@16: "Scumbag" is pretty harsh considering he asked questions and didn't bilk them out of their life savings. He was also asking them very pointed political questions; it's possible they were too polite to hang up, but I'd like to point out that scammers often keep people on the line not just out of politeness but by offering social interaction. A lot of elderly suffer from chronic loneliness and scammers count on that and play on that. Dominic's intention -- somewhat more adversarial -- is very far from that.

Granted, he didn't explicitly say so, but I'm assuming he also self-identified as a reporter and informed them that their statements could be published. Even the politest senior could say, "I'd be happy to speak with you, young man, but I'd prefer not to be quoted/named."

And as @18 pointed out, it doesn't sound like all of them were seniors. One was an 84-year-old and one was "retired."

And while I appreciate thinking of the weaker among us, the elderly are not universally weak-mannered and unfailingly polite. Many are really capable of speaking and acting for themselves, and a few are rude, aggressive bastards.

@18,

How was he to know? The majority of homophobes are elderly.

@21,

Regardless, Dominic is a fucking idiot for proving the Referendum 71 people right: that releasing that kind of information will lead to harassment, personal, intrusive harassment that goes way beyond simply boycotting of businesses. But bullies rarely have any common sense.

And publishing their names: Very classy and the height of journalistic integrity.

@23: I don't think they care if they're proven right. I mean, yes, I'm sure they feel great about themselves, but these are people who have shown that they don't care about evidence or proof; they *know* they're right. I don't see how anything has been necessarily lost.

Well, unless a person asks for anonymity, it's pretty common for newspapers to publish names all the time. Also, their names were already on the public record.

If Marriage were "natural" then we would be seeing all assortments of critter marriages going down. Barnyard weddings conducted between consenting cows or poultry or swine... And little Bambi-like marriages performed in shady forest glades with skunks, and rabbits in attendance...

The Christian Wrong are trying to use the word natural in an un-natural way...

Again, Keshmeshi, if you are truly concerned about weak people being bullied, where is your condemnation of Out-of-state Gary and Thrice-married Larry for bullying these poor weak people out of hundreds of dollars to support their campaign of hate? Where is your condemnation of Gary and Larry selling these people's information to other right-wing groups, so that these groups could also bully these weak people out of their money?

As for proving the R-71 side right, just how does presenting someone, who feels strongly enough about a cause to donate hundreds of dollars to it, an opportunity to make their case in the media harassment? Again these folks were perfectly free to hang up, say "no comment" or as Gloria states above simply say that they'd rather not discuss the issue with the media. The only thing this proves is that you accept Gary and Larry's absurd definition of "harassment". Of course, by this definition the Seattle Children's theater is harassing me when they call once a month for donations. What nonsense.

Be careful with assumptions about the "elderly." I turned 60 a few days ago, so I'm right on the border of elderly, in line for a visa to cross, and I fully intend to take advantage of it by smacking people with a cane, and generally making sure no one is in my face unless I say so. And well before I became so aged, I learned to decide whether I was willing to speak with a stranger on the phone, and to say "I don't want to talk to you" if I didn't. I still have the muscle strength to hang up the phone, too. I figure on being as rude and aggressive and irritable as necessary for the rest of my life. The closer you get to elderly, the more the stereotypes of lonely, polite suckers piss you off. So just be careful.

JohnnyC - you're two-wrongs-make-a-right argument is bullshit. I'm with keshmeshi 100% here; the article would have made the same point if Holden hadn't published their names. But he did, and their neighborhoods, too, and in doing so provided excellent ammo for the other side.

Sorry, Dominic - you can try to backpedal with this post, but you fucked up big time - and for what? To satisfy your own spitefulness.

*gasp* you mean I took a position on a political issue and then a journalist tried to contact me about it. THIS IS THE ANARCHY THAT SOCIALISM STARTS HITLER.

Personally, I don't care what their ages are, I applaud Dominic for his actions. These people are afforded no right to say what rights I should have, in comparison to theirs. Period.

Quite often I notice the similarities between haters/bigots and cockroaches. When you shine a light on both, they quickly scurry back into the recesses of the dark.

Kudos to you Dominic.

I'm with Dominic here. This is a war that our side didn't start. That they are elderly doesn't make THEM bullies any less. For them, this is an accountability moment.

Bombs away.

@30 - I think that "THIS IS THE ANARCHY THAT SOCIALISM STARTS HITLER" is my new favorite catchphrase.