It’s bad enough telemarketers drove me so nuts at home that I’ve gone cellular only.

Of course, that didn’t keep them from finding out my cell phone number and bothering me on that line.

But now they’ve invaded my last refuge—my line at work.

Sure, I’d get a call once in a while offering something or other, but today it got out of hand.

First there was the call about my car’s warranty.

“Your manufacturer’s warranty may have run out. This is our third call and could be your last opportunity to renew and avoid the expense of costly repairs.”

I’ve been getting this call on and off for two weeks and I’m thinking this was more like their 20th call.

If I was interested, the recorded voice prompted me, I should touch 1.

When I did, I got someone asking me my car’s year, make and model.

He was mightily offended when I responded, “You tell me. You’re the one who called.”

I guess I hurt his feelings because he hung up.’

Then there was a call from a woman with a lovely voice offering me a free Dell computer.

Touch 1 she said.

When a man answered, I told him to tell the woman he works with to stop calling me.

Minutes later, there was a call from Kelly, who sounded a lot like the woman in the Dell call.

Kelly cautioned that she knew I was paying too much in credit card interest.

I don’t think so, but I was curious as to why she thought that.

I touched 1.

A man answered this time, too, and asked if I’d like to talk to a credit consultant.

No, I said, but I’d love to talk to Kelly.

“Oh, she works in the other building,” he said.

I told him to call her and tell her to forget my number.

I had a great opportunity last week to go to CEJJES Institute in Pomona and visit with five longtime Rockland residents who have a longtime commitment to civil rights and education. We discussed the election of Barack Obama from their long perspective on civil rights and race relations in the United States. The talk was full of hope, promise and optimism. The making of history enthralled the speakers, whom had been involved in the key historic moments that lead to the Nov. 4 landmark election. Staff photographer Peter Carr made a video of the Civil Rights Roundtable discussion, which is on LoHud.com in the multimedia section. Look here. Then, at the right under “Featured Videos,” scroll down to find “Civil rights roundtable.”

Here are short biographies of the five people (true Rockland treasures) speaking:

Dr. Susan Gordon is a retired pediatrician and children’s education advocate, and served on the East Ramapo school board. (She, her husband, Edmund, and their four children founded CEJJES Institute, an organization dedicated to the academic and cultural development of the African diaspora.)

Dr. Edmund Gordon is a psychologist, academic and researcher. He is professor emeritus at Teachers College of Columbia University and at Yale University. He also is a senior scholar in residence for the College Board.

Dr. Travis Jackson, a retired educator, was a student at the Brook School when it was ordered desegregated in 1943 after a lawsuit filed by a young lawyer named Thurgood Marshall. His father, Ben Jackson, served in a segregated Army regiment in World War I.

The Rev. George Houser, is a Methodist minister, former executive director of the American Committee on Africa, and early civil rights activist who joined the first Freedom Rides in the 1940s to desegregate the South.

Stella Marrs is former longtime executive director of the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center in Spring Valley and now works with Rockland County’s Human Rights Commission.
(Click above link or look at the “All LoHud videos” section, and you’ll get to see some of the wonderful documentations of news, features, sports and other types of articles, as well as Editorial Board contributions.)

Tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. it will be my pleasure to introduce the winners in this year’s Honor Our Heroes program, sponsored by The Journal News/LoHud.com, Group M marketing and the Palisades Center in West Nyack.

The ceremony will take place in the Palisades Center mall courtyard outside J.C. Penney at 1 p.m.

Ten honorees from Rockland and Westchester have been chosen from all walks of life and a variety of age groups—all individuals who have worked hard and inspired others to help individuals in their communities and around the globe.

You may recognize some of their names, but all of their stories will touch your heart and renew your faith that there are people who put others above their own needs.

It’s sure to be an uplifting and heartwarming event.

Hope to see you there.

Looks like Rockland may join NYC, and possibly Westchester, and make it a law that certain restaurants post calories of menu items. (in Rockland’s case, those with 15 or more establishments operated nationally under the same name would have to post calories). The creatively named “Rockland County National Food Service Establishments Calorie Posting Law” has been proposed by County Legislator Joseph Meyers, D-Airmont.

In our Sept. 15 editorial when Westchester proposed similar legislation (theirs would make food establishments with 10 or more stores post calories) here’s what The Editorial Board said:

Indeed, the priorities do seem out of whack, given the enormity of the challenges voters actually elected them to tackle reducing our tax load, trimming waste, that kind of thing. But under the theory that more information is better than less, the calories-posting requirement seems like a distraction worth pursuing, one that might actually save taxpayers money and, well, save taxpayers. … The Westchester board most definitely needs to worry about our taxes because taxpayers are certainly worried. But the legislators can worry about this, too.

In other words, local lawmakers should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.  So, if this law passes, we’ll know just how much physical damage we’re doing as we seek out comfort food when confronted with the damage the sinking economy is doing to our property values, our local tax bills and our grocery bills.

No public hearing has been set on the calorie-counting legislation.

No, not in terms of political bent.

I’m just looking at the races to the right of presidential slot on the ballot in Rockland and whether voters worked their way down the line.

Consider that there were 65,143 votes cast for the Obama-Biden ticket and 58,199 for the McCain-Palin ticket.  That’s 123,342 votes out of 124,166 cast for presidential tickets in Rockland.

So, go from there—124,166 votes cast.

Move over to the state Senate race, where incumbent Republican Thomas Morahan of New City faced Greg Julian, a history prof who had been active in Democratic politics for decades and previously challenged Rep. Ben Gilman.

Morahan won easily, but there were just 110,503 votes cast in Rockland.

We’ll call it 14,000 fewer than in the presidential race.

Back when Gilman represented Rockland in a district that included Orange and sometimes a sliver of Westchester, he was it.

But he got reapportioned into retirement, with his district split among three others  based in the Bronx or Westchester. This time around, all three incumbents won—Eliot Engel, Nita Lowey and Jon Hall.

Total up their three races  to get the total of votes for Congress cast in Rockland —and it’s just 103,253 or about 11,000 fewer than in the state senate race and 21,000 fewer than voted for president.

You can look at those numbers two ways.

The presidential race drew an extra 21,000 voters or a lot of voters lost interest as they headed across the ballot.

Everything seems a little easier this morning. Part of that is sheer exhaustion (up all night watching election results, taking notes, etc., and still up early because no one explained Daylight Savings Time to the dog.) But, I think that the gracious ending to the presidential election—John McCain’s lovely concession speech, his insistence that his audience show the grace he displayed, his pledge to help his nation that he loves; Barack Obama’s victory speech that treated us, the electorate, as mature, important players in the solutions to strengthen our country, and each other.

Few surprises in Rockland—which Obama won, not a given in this Democratic county that has a Republican county executive and returned (rather easily) its Republican state senator. Rocklanders don’t vote rows, we vote for people. But, those candidates, from village trustee to state Assembly and Senate, will be working harder, and we hope with a clear vision of the future, this term. Obama and McCain were clear on the challenges ahead, and the hard decisions that will have to be made to turn our economy around. Those decisions—and sacrifices—will have to be made on every level of government. Good luck to them, and us.

This morning, the Editorial Board was having a discussion about the undecided voters in the presidential election — part of our recent  Editorial Spotlight series on the Nov. 4 election.

It seemed unbelievable to some that anyone this year could be undecided. Yet, every poll shows that “undecided” category.

Now, those who say they are undecided could just be playing coy because they want to keep their votes private—surely that’s their right.

But I’ve heard from others who have just checked out, who just don’t want to think about it anymore. Election burnout? Apathy? Or are there some who are just overwhelmed? There’s one schoolmate’s mom whose family business has been slammed by the economic downturn,  years of hard work and hopes obliterated; she just figures that no matter who gets in office, it’s only going to get worse, so why bother participating.

Why bother participating? Because we can. Your vote—your secret, private, only-you-get-to-know vote unless you choose to tell a pollster—is precious. It’s a right and a privilege. Use it tomorrow.

And, I don’t believe any of you, at this point, want or need to hear how to vote, but maybe you need to know where. Look here to find your polling place, courtesy of the Rockland Board of Elections.