Classifieds:   |   |   |  Posted 10/15/2003 9:08 AM     Updated
10/15/2003 9:08 AM Today's Top Money Stories  Like Garbo,
Americans want to be left alone Dave Barry is a very funny man.
Except when he gets junk phone calls. Then, the syndicated
columnist becomes a very angry man. So angry, in fact, that he
has twice published the phone number of a powerful telemarketing
lobby, the American Teleservices Association, in his weekly
humor column. His advice to readers: "Tell them what you think."
Did they ever. So many angry calls came in after that the ATA
shut down the number. Last Sunday, he gave out their new one.
It's no wonder the group was bombarded. Consumers are fed up
with the increasingly audacious gang of unwanted outsiders who
pester them via their phones, e-mail, fax machines and
mailboxes. It's a war, of sorts, and the battleground has become
the home.  "Home used to be a place for quiet and solace," says
Renee White Fraser, a Los Angeles advertising psychologist. But
these days, she says, "It's