Thursday, February 14, 2008

They Gear Up for the Finish

You will find this interesting. The Citizens for a Responsible [Government] are trying to get petition signatures for a November referendum to overturn the recent bill banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity. They are trying to get signatures by telling people that this law will provide an excuse for men to lurk in the ladies rooms of our county -- all they have to do is claim to be transgender. Next thing you know, ladies rooms across the county will be crowded with men in dresses, leering at the ladies and girls.

On election day, as we reported here, there was an interesting encounter between a transgender woman and the president of this nutty group, Ruth Jacobs. The discussion started with harsh words and ended with a hug. This morning I received a copy of some correspondence that appears to be from that president to the other main member of the Citizens for a Responsible Whatever, Theresa Rickman. Of course I can't swear this is for real, but it's a pretty elaborate hoax if that's what it is. I'm assuming it's real -- you judge for yourself. Here you go.
From: Ruth Jacobs
To: Theresa Rickman
Subject: Would you send this as an e blast out now so we can schedule Thursday collections.
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:13:01 PST

Wednesday 19th Deadline!- Please email availability ASAP Thurs/Friday Warmer

Hi Everyone,

Congratulations to all that worked yesterday. Thanks for working so hard in the cold rain and sleet. You are our heroes.

We’re still tallying from yesterday's effort at the polls. Some were very successful-- as high as 250--others less successful particularly down county. As soon as we know, we'll update you with the latest numbers. Seven days left to finalize all our efforts!

Suggestions for those collecting signatures: The best opener is “Would you sign a Petition to get a bad Law on the ballot in November so you can vote on it?.” When they question what the bill is about then say “We are concerned about privacy and safety for women” and explain the concerns about the bill from that stand point. Avoid labeling the bill as long as possible and then only refer to it as the “Gender Identity Non-Discrimination bill.” Please avoid for the most part referring to it as the Transgender bill.

This is fascinating, isn't it? Call it a "bad law," okay, I don't see any problem with that. So far they're honest.

The "privacy and safety for women" angle is their first choice for presenting this. The bill, people, is about discrimination against transgender citizens. It has nothing to do with the "privacy and safety for women." That is what we call a red herring, an argument that totally changes the subject.

Their advice: don't tell them what it's really about. Avoid referring to it as the Transgender bill. Even though, of course, that's what it is. If you referred to it accurately, nobody would sign the petitions. Therefore, avoid that.

Don't you love the obviousness of it all? They don't lie because they're ignorant, they lie because that's the only way they know how to get people to sign this petition. They do it on purpose.
The weather forecast tomorrow and Friday is going to be warmer and dryer. We need every signature and mild weather will help us!

Please e-mail volunteer@notmyshower.net. and help us with this last push

Can you volunteer to work a shift on Thursday, Friday or the weekend, even 1 or 2 hours? In Montgomery County we are allowed to collect signatures on public sidewalks as long as we don’t obstruct traffic. Suggestions have been Starbucks at the Kentlands, Rockville City Center, Borders Books in Bethesda. We need your suggestions as to the best and busiest Up-county sidewalks. Does anyone know a good place in Clarksburg?

If you wish to volunteer to staff a particular place that you think would be excellent, we will try to get a volunteer to go with you. We are suggesting taking a Xerox box and putting one of the petition poster signs on the outside. . Right now we are working just on trying to schedule the next 4 days!!!!

Assuming they met the mid-point quota, they still have to get 12,501 more signatures by February 19th for a total of 25,000. I don't expect them to be able to do that, but it could happen. They are out there lying to people about this law, and of course nobody wants to make it legal for perverted men to wave their festering penises around in ladies locker-rooms. So maybe they'll find twelve-thousand-something more suckers, I don't know.

I do know that they would never find twenty-five thousand residents of Montgomery County who would want a referendum to allow discrimination against transgender people -- they are smart not to mention that that's what the law's about.

Here's the rest of it:
Other Venues we are considering

1. Lancaster County Dutch Market GERMANTOWN The shoppers there have been VERY FRIENDLY to our petition drive! If we can get volunteers there on THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, that would be great! Please let us know if you can work it.

2. Metro stations

4/) Giants and Safeways. We have some scheduled for this weekend, and we need staffing for them.

4. Chinese School. George Zhang is arranging a drive at his Chinese school, which is held at Northwest High School in Germantown. It will start at 12:45 on Saturday We will need volunteers to help George. There are over 1,000 children who attend (with their parents, of course!).

Please e-mail volunteer@notmyshower.net. and help us with this last push

THANK YOU!!

Ruth M. Jacobs, M.D. [** phone number deleted**]
President Citizens for Responsible Government

While you weren't paying attention, these people were on the phone, on the Internet, in the churches and mosques, organizing to promote their bigotry, trying to smear our county with their ugliness. If you're out and you see them with their petitions, I suggest you stop and engage them in a discussion. I actually don't think that most of the people carrying the petitions know what it's about, you would do them a favor to explain it. Do you think the managers of Giants and Safeways want to be associated with this bigotry? I don't either. Go on in and complain. Starbucks and Borders, too, they don't want to be part of this embarrassing stuff. --And if those establishments do want to promote anti-transgender bigotry, I think the world would be very interested to read about that on this web site. Tell us your stories.

If you see people considering signing the petitions, go ahead and talk to them. It isn't about guys going into the ladies room -- these kinds of laws are very common around the country, and that has never been the result. It's not about that. This law says that you hire somebody based on their qualifications for the job, if you're a taxi driver and somebody flags you down you stop for them, if you have a restaurant and a person comes in to eat, you serve them.

33 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, so I never actually sent that out to anyone, Ruth just sent it to me.

So are you intercepting private emails... did you put a redirect on my email somehow so emails to me can be intercepted ? Because I didn't get around to publishing that to anyone....

So you are somehow intercepting private email communication ... that was never published to anyone. It just went from Ruth to me.
Ethical of you Jim and your cohorts.

Theresa

February 14, 2008 10:15 AM  
Blogger JimK said...

Thank you, Theresa, for confirming that this is real.

JimK

February 14, 2008 10:33 AM  
Blogger JimK said...

By the way, Theresa, this was sent to me by somebody who had it sent to them by somebody they don't know. That's why I said at the start that I didn't know if it was for real. We have no interest in reading your email, but when something like this drops on our doorstep we will pick it up. We aren't quite obsessed enough with your group to re-direct your email! I don't know how somebody got this one.

JimK

February 14, 2008 10:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Theresa is more worried about being "outed."

February 14, 2008 10:55 AM  
Blogger Dana Beyer, M.D. said...

I will say it's nice to know she's paying attention to us; it's just too bad our dear engineer still refuses to learn anything.

Here's an interesting point -- why is it that Theresa and Ruth haven't done any research to discover the reality of life in locker rooms in the 100+ other jurisdictions with similar laws? The Council certainly did, and discovered that there haven't been any problems.

Now I know Theresa disbelieves the Council and Exec on most things, so all she had to do was her own research, or have Daddy Dobson, or, more likely, our own Peter Sprigg, dig up the dirt. Yet she didn't.

Or, maybe, she did, found there was nothing, and chose to ignore that, because we all know that Montgomery County is special and is a magnet to predators who would be uncomfortable taking advantage of similar laws in Covinton,Kentucky, or New Orleans, for instance, but are just waiting for next Tuesday to take advantage of our women right here. You'd think if there would be a problem it would turn up in a place like New Orleans where guys dress like girls all the time during religious celebrations, but, unbelievably, it doesn't even happen there.

But it surely will happen right here.

February 14, 2008 11:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll be there with "Decline to Sign" flyers!

February 14, 2008 12:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

People should take Ruth Jacob's email to Theresa Rickman and show any potential signers about how they are being duped
by CRW(hatever) and its president.

Ruth Jacobs is a piece of work.I feel sorry for her patients.

Theresa Rickman is no better.

Theresa why don't you call the press(even though this is not Rio) and shout that you think your emails are being intercepted by big bad Jim. We would all like to see this email out there in the newspapers.


Ted

February 14, 2008 12:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, I think it is due time we contact the Gazette!

February 14, 2008 1:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, TTF, take it to the media. There was nothing scandalous in Theresa's e-mail.

The privacy invasion is the big problem. Jim is always saying he gets these things from somebody who got it from somebdy who doesn't know where they got it. Theresa should take the matter to a lawyer and perhaps the police.

February 14, 2008 1:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous:
Wa Wa Wa...boo hoo...sniffle, sniffle. Poor you - so picked on and reviled. Interesting that you should be concerned about one more phony legal threat issue...you who conduct a petition campaign using lies and distortions and not-so-vague hatred against people you personally do not approve of.
Here's a tissue for your phony crocodile tears!!
Diogenes

February 14, 2008 2:21 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Red Baron said "There was nothing scandalous in Theresa's e-mail.".

This was Ruth's email, not Theresa's and it most definitely was scandalous. Ruth was advising her volunteers to lie about what the law is about and to conceal its true nature as long as possible. Ruth is a fundamentally dishonest person. She knows she can't push her oppression without lying so that's what she does.

February 14, 2008 2:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just drove around to some strip malls in the Germantown area and gave out "Decline to Sign" fliers as well as a copy of Ruth's email to Theresa to business managers informing them what this law is really about and that these people are basically lying and trying to scram citizens to sign a PRO-DISCRIMINATION document. One of those stops was my local Starbucks, in the Kentlands. I'll go back out later to see if I can find any of these bigots and inform their volunteers what the law is really all about.

February 14, 2008 3:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrea- not anon
What joker told me Theresa was a computer engineer?

Theresa, we are using the all powerful TTF spy satellite network. Is that a Chipotle burrito you are eating? Pick up the piece of lettuce that dropped on the floor. Also wipe the tiny bit of salsa off your cheek. Tell Ruth that her Starbucks skinny latte has gotten cold- our satellites register temperature too.

Gee, did you ever think maybe Ruth sent it to other people?

What is the Paul Simon song- Paranoia strikes in the heartland?

February 14, 2008 4:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Awesome. One of our local, um, 'persons obsessed with other peoples' genitals' informed her readers not long ago that we had done something sabotage-y to prevent her site from coming up on Google searches. We're still trying to figure out how we did that.

February 14, 2008 8:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL!! Maybe they are typing it incorrectly... That would not be too surprising.

February 14, 2008 8:25 PM  
Blogger JimK said...

This one was strange. People send me stuff, of course, all kinds of things, and I thought that this was just one of their stupid newsletters that I was getting a preview of. I saw it was written as "Ruth to Theresa" but figured they'd just sent it out like that. Lots of time people strip the "To:" line off things so I don't reveal their secret email accounts. The information in this was, I thought, pretty blatant, so I posted it -- I usually do not post their newsletters on this site, but then, usually they're a little cooler about their lying.

Of course I wouldn't know how to intercept their email, nor would I care to bother. They're the ones who pointed www.teachthefacts.com at their web site, that's their kind of dirty trick; Theresa's a Linux engineer, she'd know how to do this, I'm just a psychologist.

JimK

February 14, 2008 8:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope someone will send a copy of the CRG's internal correspondence to the Board of Elections. They need to know Dr. Jacobs intent to train petition signature gatherers to lie.

February 15, 2008 7:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Suggestions for those collecting signatures: The best opener is “Would you sign a Petition to get a bad Law on the ballot in November so you can vote on it?.”"

Not a lie.

"When they question what the bill is about then say “We are concerned about privacy and safety for women” and explain the concerns about the bill from that stand point."

Not a lie. They will explain how they think the bill does this.

"Avoid labeling the bill as long as possible and then only refer to it as the “Gender Identity Non-Discrimination bill.” Please avoid for the most part referring to it as the Transgender bill."

Why is not a lie, either. Putting a label on something doesn't explain its effect.

"This is fascinating, isn't it?"

Not really.

"Call it a "bad law," okay, I don't see any problem with that. So far they're honest."

Glad we've got a ruling on that from the grand poo-bah of moral judgment.

"The "privacy and safety for women" angle is their first choice for presenting this."

Because that's the reason these people think the bill is bad.

"The bill, people, is about discrimination against transgender citizens."

Which is a broad statement. The kind of non-specificity which TTF revels in. There needs to be a discussion about the effect of such a law which radically redefines civil rights as applying to feelings and desires.

"It has nothing to do with the "privacy and safety for women." That is what we call a red herring, an argument that totally changes the subject."

No, it doesn't. They think this is the effect of the bill. You understand perfectly well what they're talking about. If you want to argue that they are wrong, that's fine. But your insistence that they are lying about something and your worry about simply having a public discussion and vote is intolerant.

"Their advice: don't tell them what it's really about. Avoid referring to it as the Transgender bill. Even though, of course, that's what it is. If you referred to it accurately, nobody would sign the petitions. Therefore, avoid that."

I don't know why they prefer "Gender Identity" to "Transgender" but their term is actually more accurate.

Your whole uproar about this memo is just a form of dishonesty.

February 15, 2008 8:12 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

"Suggestions for those collecting signatures: The best opener is “Would you sign a Petition to get a bad Law on the ballot in November so you can vote on it?.”"

Not a lie.


Most definitely a lie. Its never a bad law to protect minorities from discrimination

"When they question what the bill is about then say “We are concerned about privacy and safety for women” and explain the concerns about the bill from that stand point."

Not a lie. They will explain how they think the bill does this.


Most definitely a lie. Their true concern is that transpeople will be accepted and protected by the law - that's the last thing they want. They don't believe for a minute that women's safety and privacy is at risk.

"Avoid labeling the bill as long as possible and then only refer to it as the “Gender Identity Non-Discrimination bill.” Please avoid for the most part referring to it as the Transgender bill."

Why is not a lie, either. Putting a label on something doesn't explain its effect.


Again this is obviously deception. They want to avoid telling people what the law is really about for as long as possible so people will be more likely to believe the lie that it puts women's privacy and safety at risk.

"The "privacy and safety for women" angle is their first choice for presenting this."

Because that's the reason these people think the bill is bad.


No, that's their excuse for trying to prevent transpeople from being protected by the law. Their real motivation is their desire to oppress transpeople

"The bill, people, is about discrimination against transgender citizens."

Which is a broad statement. The kind of non-specificity which TTF revels in.


Its being a broad statement doesn't detract from its truthfulness. The shower-nuts made a broad statement as well, that the law is about the privacy and safety of women - the differnce is the former statement is true, the latter is a lie.

There needs to be a discussion about the effect of such a law which radically redefines civil rights as applying to feelings and desires.

Civil rights have applied to feelings and desires for decades and you've had no complaint - religious feelings and desires are protected and you're not whining about that because you're a hypocrite. Being transgender isn't simply a matter of "feelings and desires", studies of transpeoples brains show they mirror the gender of the person they know they are inside, not the gender represented by their birth genitalia.

"It has nothing to do with the "privacy and safety for women." That is what we call a red herring, an argument that totally changes the subject."

No, it doesn't. They think this is the effect of the bill. You understand perfectly well what they're talking about. If you want to argue that they are wrong, that's fine. But your insistence that they are lying about something and your worry about simply having a public discussion and vote is intolerant.


Of course their lying. They no there's been no problems whatsoever with women's privacy and safety in all the other jurisdictions that have laws protecting transgenders from discrimination. These people are fundamentally dishonest.

"Their advice: don't tell them what it's really about. Avoid referring to it as the Transgender bill. Even though, of course, that's what it is. If you referred to it accurately, nobody would sign the petitions. Therefore, avoid that."

I don't know why they prefer "Gender Identity" to "Transgender" but their term is actually more accurate.


It is not just an identity, the brains of male to female transgenders mirror the brains of women, not men. Transgender is a biological fact, not a mere identity.

February 15, 2008 11:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Theresa

Please respond to this. You call Jim's ethics into question for publishing what you thought was a private email.

Let me remind you of something you and your allies have done.

Years ago, when I was trying to reach out to Regina Griggs in a spirit of friendship, I mentioned that I have bipolar disorder, in what I thought was a personal email.

After I spoke at a TTF meeting, your organization published that fact on your website, with what amounts to a diatribe, trying to discredit me.

This year, one of my students, in googling me, found that assassination of my character, and was upset by it. I've had to reassure my students that I am in fact not crazy, and will not harm them.

Your use of what I thought was a private email has caused me difficulty at my work, and upset students who like and respect me. It has interfered with their education.

My point is this: I think that you and your ilk despise lgbt people so much that no tactic, however unethical or unkind, is removed from your repertoire. All evil is excused in the cause of fighting equality for queers.

This is slimy, and hugely unchristian.

WWJD? Not volunteer for CRC/G, for sure.

BTW, would you have the decency to remove that post from your website? I don't think I have grounds to sue you, but you certainly have abrogated your right to question anyone's ethics.

The end really doesn't justify the means, dear.

February 15, 2008 12:20 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Thanks for pointing that out Robert. I appreciate your honesty and vulnerability in support of the truth and what is good and right.

February 15, 2008 12:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbors (unless they are GLBT)."

February 15, 2008 4:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"This year, one of my students, in googling me, found that assassination of my character, and was upset by it."

Robert, I don't know this whole story and, if it is as you say, I'd agree they shouldn't divulge things written in confidence but can you really call it "assassination of my character" if it's true? Why did you think the communication was supposed to be confidential? Was that agreed upon beforehand?

February 15, 2008 4:25 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

It's character assasination because people make uduly negative assumptions about those with these kinds of issues. A communication to a private email address is assumed to be private given that its not in a public forum. He never gave permission for it to be made public, Griggs never asked permission to make it public, this was an immoral act on her part.

February 15, 2008 4:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why did you think the communication was supposed to be confidential? Was that agreed upon beforehand?

Why did Theresa and Ruth think the communication between them was supposed to be confidential? Was that agreed upon beforehand?

February 15, 2008 5:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

David Weintraub said...
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbors (unless they are GLBT)."
--
"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
-Except when it comes to one’s own egomaniacal heterosexual supremacy. That's ok.

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'
-Unless it’s a book (no matter what it says), written and compiled by man, and determined by man, to be my word.

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
-Unless you’re a supremacist Christian, then you can speak in my name all you like.

Especially useful are terms like: God’s word says, Who are you to mock God, How dare you mock God, God never said that, God said this or that…, you get the picture.

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
-Unless it’s just plain inconvenient for you.

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
-Unless you know them better than I do.

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
-But fomenting a climate of hate that causes the murder of my beloved GLBT children is not off the table.

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
-Unless you get a divorce first. Feel free to disregard all that stuff I said about remarriage when I was Jesus, I was just kidding.

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
-Unless it’s a referendum to define yourselves as superior to the rest of the citizens of Montgomery County. In that case, lie your asses off.

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
-Again, as Mr. Weintraub so very very eloquently stated: “unless they are GLBT.”

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

-Covet shmovet, I take it all back. Support your republican congress people that take from my beloved poor to enrich my even more beloved richest among you.

Hey, I’m an arbitrary and fickle God. Sin, not sin, heaven, eternal hell, whatever. Heck, it’s just easier to leave it up to you people to make up the rules as you go along and then attribute them to me.

It’s not like there’s any record of my having clarified that all my rules were based on the Golden Rule. Pfft.

February 15, 2008 5:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"It's character assasination because people make uduly negative assumptions about those with these kinds of issues."

What? People are responsible for their own uduly assumptions. (I think "uduly" has something to do with fresh cow's milk)

"A communication to a private email address is assumed to be private given that its not in a public forum."

Not unless the privacy is agreed to by both parties in advance. E-mail is no different than a letter or a conversation.

"He never gave permission for it to be made public, Griggs never asked permission to make it public, this was an immoral act on her part."

To lunatics, everything they don't like is immoral. Ask anyone who works in a nuthouse. This is a common attitude among the crazy.

"Why did Theresa and Ruth think the communication between them was supposed to be confidential? Was that agreed upon beforehand?"

Neither Theresa nor Ruth, the sender and receiver, made this public. It was a Watergate-style dirty trick by the Nixonian TTF.

"Hey, I’m an arbitrary and fickle God. Sin, not sin, heaven, eternal hell, whatever. Heck, it’s just easier to leave it up to you people to make up the rules as you go along and then attribute them to me.

It’s not like there’s any record of my having clarified that all my rules were based on the Golden Rule. Pfft."

It's nice that you have your own little alternative universe to occupy, Improv. This one is so inconvenient with all its concern about logic and reason.

February 16, 2008 9:47 AM  
Blogger JimK said...

It may not seem important, but let me point out that the email Robert is talking about described a personal situation of obvious sensitivity, while the email we posted here is a message designed to be sent to a large group of people, propagating the lies that the CRW intends to tell while they gather signatures for a public referendum. It seems like an important distinction to me, maybe it's just me.

JimK

February 16, 2008 10:41 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Red Baron, letters addressed to only one person are assumed to be between that person and the sender, particularly when sensitive information is involved. To any rational honest person a letter containing personal information is understood not to be intended for anyone else. Griggs knew this and committed an immoral act by publicizing the private email.

Theresa and Ruth obviously made their email available to a third party and didn't intend it to be confidential. In any event they relinquished consideration when they immoraly advocated lying to the public about this issue.

February 16, 2008 2:50 PM  
Blogger JimK said...

When the original unknown person was asked (using "Reply" in email) how they got the message, they said they didn't know, they were signed up for a newsletter and this came to them. They didn't hack into any system or anything, somebody sent it to some group, apparently by accident.

JimK

February 16, 2008 5:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To lunatics, everything they don't like is immoral. Ask anyone who works in a nuthouse. This is a common attitude among the crazy.

What a great description of the folks who say teaching a few facts about sexual orientation and condoms is immoral and the folks who say extending Montgomery County's anti-discrimination statute to cover gender identity is immoral.

February 16, 2008 10:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"It's nice that you have your own little alternative universe to occupy, Improv. This one is so inconvenient with all its concern about logic and reason."
--
In psychology, psychological projection (or projection bias) is a defense mechanism in which one attributes to others one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions. Projection reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the unwanted subconscious impulses/desires without letting the ego recognize them.

February 17, 2008 7:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrea-not anon
Short baseball cap Shower nut says we invaded someone's privacy- I gather because they all believe we used our spy satellite system to get Ruth's e:mail. They are all in lockstep in total stupidity.

February 17, 2008 4:41 PM  

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