~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://www.washrag.org/ along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013 Phone: (605) 987-5070 Fax: (605) 987-5070 -- call ahead, this is a one-liner Email: washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com ISSN: 1068-2449 Sign up for Free Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational Chat room: http://www.chatzy.com/133047284228 Want a print copy of the current W.A.S.H. Rag? Go to http://www.washrag.org/WASH/page27.html and follow the instructions. Hint: to find a specific item, if you are using Microsoft Notepad to view this, highlight and copy the title and then paste it in edit/find. Use View/word wrap to shorten line length ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 16, Number 2 April 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sen. Clinton accepts donations from troubled firm TREASURY DEPARTMENT JUDGMENT FUND Women's voices needed in Legislature Brenda Roberts Update Freelancer’s Union Sexual Harassment In On-Line Gaming NORTH COUNTRY Awarded the Anita Award WASH FOUNDER HONORED NCIS Awarded the Clarence Award The National Women's Law Center Employment Opportunity PAUL TRUMMEL HELD PRISONER WITHOUT LEGAL COUNSEL SEXUAL HARASSMENT SITUATION ON AMERICA’S MOST WANTED SOME NEW SPOOFING GIMMICKS Events ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sen. Clinton accepts donations from troubled firm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Campaign contributions from company accused of widespread sexual harassment. Posted on Friday, February 29, By Lisa Myers and Jim Popkin, NBC News Sen. Hillary Clinton has declined to return $170,000 in campaign contributions from individuals at a company accused of widespread sexual harassment, and whose CEO is a disbarred lawyer with a criminal record, federal campaign records show. The federal government has accused the Illinois management consulting firm, International Profit Associates, or IPA, of a brazen pattern of sexual harassment including "sexual assaults,” “degrading anti-female language" and "obscene suggestions." In a 2001 lawsuit full of lurid details, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that 103 women employees at IPA were victimized for years. The civil case is ongoing, and IPA vigorously denies the allegations. "This is by far, hands down, the worst case I've ever experienced," said Diane Smason, one of the EEOC lawyers handling the lawsuit. "Every woman there experienced sex harassment, they were part of a hostile work environment of sex harassment. And this occurred from the top down." Sen. Clinton’s spokesman, Howard Wolfson, told NBC News in a statement that the senator decided to keep the funds because the lawsuit is "ongoing" and because none of the sexual harassment allegations has been proven in court. "With regard to the pending harassment suit, as a general matter, the campaign assesses findings of fact in deciding whether to return contributions," Wolfson said. Allegations: Adrienne Slick, who worked at IPA for seven months in 2000 and 2001 as a business coordinator and is now part of the EEOC suit, told NBC News in an interview that the sexual harassment was oppressive. “I had multiple managers come at me, press themselves up against me ... ask me to go home with them, and to a hotel room so they could fulfill their fantasies," she said. The EEOC lawyers say the man at the top of the firm - IPA founder and Managing Director John R. Burgess - was among the worst offenders. The EEOC lawsuit claims, “The harassment emanated from the top: the owner and Managing Director, John Burgess, is accused of sexual harassment by at least 10 different women.” Burgess has a criminal record, too. The former lawyer pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny in 1987 and was disbarred in New York, court documents show. Burgess also pleaded guilty to “patronizing a prostitute” in 1984, according to Erie County, N.Y., court records. Still, none of that has stopped powerful politicians in both parties from being courted by Burgess and IPA. Since 2000, IPA officials and their family members have given Sen. Clinton at least $170,000 for her Senate and presidential campaigns, federal campaign records show. Senator Clinton also spoke at a company event and rode on an IPA jet in 2004. In May 2006, the New York Times brought Burgess's criminal history, and the allegations against IPA, to Sen. Clinton's attention. The May 7, 2006, article was titled “Rubbing Shoulders with Trouble, and Presidents.” In the article, a spokeswoman for Sen. Clinton was quoted as saying the Senator was not aware of Burgess’s criminal past and "will be reviewing" the contributions. Almost two years later, federal records indicate that Sen. Clinton still has not returned the IPA money. Howard Wolfson, her communications director, did not dispute the $170,000 figure in an email to NBC News. He said Senator Clinton was not aware of Burgess’s past legal problems when she first accepted the donations. "In 2000 and 2003 when Sen. Clinton's campaign accepted money from Burgess, it was not aware of his legal problems from the 1980s," he said. However, there were public reports of allegations against Burgess as early as 2000. That’s the year that Inc. Magazine first reported that Burgess had patronized a prostitute and had pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny. And Senator Clinton’s campaign has accepted other contributions from other senior IPA officials as recently as last year, the campaign records show. Many other politicians have been quick to distance themselves from IPA, and have returned donations. In 2002 in New York, Andrew Cuomo, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate at the time, returned $20,000 from Burgess. Cuomo’s office said the donations were returned after a New York newspaper reported on Burgess’s past legal problems and on the EEOC sexual-harassment allegations. Contributed by hurleygirls(bleep)msn.com The W.A.S.H. Rag did Hillary Clinton the courtesy of offering her the chance to respond to these allegations, and to be fair, we also offered Barak Obama and John McCain the chance to make a statement on the issue of Sexual Harassment. None responded. Well, we tried to offer Barak Obama the chance to respond, but to get on his website, you have to make a donation so the offer was forwarded to someone who is an Obama supporter, which was either not forwarded to him or he also did not respond. It does explain why Obama is getting such phenomenal responses to his internet fund raising efforts, though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TREASURY DEPARTMENT JUDGMENT FUND ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOTTOMLESS, MASSIVE "JUDGMENT FUND" USED TO PAY LEGAL EXPENSES FOR FREE REPRESENTATION OF FEDERAL AGENCY MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS WHO ARE SUED BY VICTIMS FOR THEIR DISCRIMINATION AND "MOBBING" PRACTICES The massive fund is NOT voted on by the Congress each year as are other budget items. It is more or less "OFF BUDGET" and gets renewed from year to year, getting bigger and bigger, with NO informed debate whatsoever by any committee in Congress. IF there is any debate, I cannot find it. The Judiciary Committee in the House and Senate have basic jurisdiction over the fund. The fund is supervised and controlled by the Dept. of Justice, and the Treasury Dept. The GAO audits the fund from time to time. Last audit was a few months ago. Here is some info from the Dept. of Justice and Treasury Department JUDGMENT FUND web site. It is VERY interesting. Out of MILLIONS of dollars in damages awarded each year, the agencies only are required to reimburse the Treasury for a certain narrow range of discrimination law suit judgments, to comply with the No FEAR Act. This JUDGMENT fund site claims that, as of the date it was updated, that NO AGENCIES were in a non compliance status (for reimbursing the Fund). To verify this surprising statement, I went to the Dept. of Navy data on the fund web site (since my settled suit was against them). I looked at (and printed) data for Calendar Year 2007. Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act, 5 U.S.C. § 2301 Note) Annual Non-Compliant Agency Report (In Dollars) Agency Name Non-Compliant Amount None* *No federal agencies were found to be non-compliant as of October 29, 2007. Definition of Non-Compliant: The No Fear Act requires that agencies reimburse the Judgment Fund for personnel discrimination payments made in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 2414, 2517, 2672, or 2677. Pursuant to 5 CFR Part 724, reimbursements are to be made within a reasonable amount of time. Upon receipt of a billing letter, an agency has 45 days to either repay the Judgment Fund or contact the Judgment Fund to make arrangements for a payment schedule. An agency is non-compliant if they fail to reimburse or make timely arrangements for reimbursement. As required by 5 CFR 724.105, the Financial Management Service is posting this annual non-compliance report on the FMS website. Most of the entries were for Federal Tort Claims Actions (FTCA) and Medical Malpractice. I was VERY puzzled by the numerous "Medical Malpractice" settlements under the FTCA. Where are these scores of settlements for Medical malpractice coming from, since the DON has few medical centers that I am aware of (Bethesda Medical Center being the biggest). Anyway, go to the web site and see for yourself. Here it is. http://www.fms.treas.gov/judgefund If you have any questions regarding this website, please contact the Judgment Fund at (202) 874-6664. Contributed by John Jay, Oxnard, CA, March 15, 2008 jjay943(bleep)aol.com [When I was a Navy Dependant, there was a USNH in Millington, TN and another in Corpus Christi and I think in San Diego, too No shock they have a lot of malpractice suits] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Women's voices needed in Legislature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RapidCityJournal.com By Journal Editorial Board Sunday, April 06, 2008 South Dakota has a long history of women holding elective office, but we’re increasingly worried about the future for female office holders at the state level. Last month, a team of Journal reporters took an exhaustive look at the subject of women in politics here. What they found was a lot of people who say women make good legislators, but far too few women who actually seek that office. Ever since 1923, when Gladys Pyle of Huron became the first female legislator in state history, there have always been at least a few women elected to the state Legislature. But the number of women serving in Pierre peaked at 26 in the early 1990s. Today, the number of women legislators has fallen to just 18 out of 105 lawmakers. Since more than 50 percent of the state’s population is female, it is alarming that just 17 percent of our legislators are women. To help change that, more women need to be asked to run for office. Recruitment is key to getting women into public service in larger numbers. Too often, potential women candidates haven’t been asked or encouraged to run. And women, it seems, need more of a ‘push’ from friends, family and mentors than men do to enter the political arena. South Dakota women are already sitting on city councils, county commissions and school boards in more proportionate numbers. But when it comes to serving in our traditionally male-dominated state Legislature, they also need to hear the message “Yes, you can.” We realize that statewide elective office is stressful and demanding duty for men and women alike. For both sexes, the personal and financial costs of campaigning can make the price of public service too high. Then, if you’re lucky enough to be elected, the hard work really begins. Often, women with children and families at home can’t see their way clear to making the sacrifices necessary to run for office, serve for two months in the citizen Legislature and also meet the demands of constituents year round. That’s unfortunate because those multi-tasking skills that make women good at juggling domestic and professional demands also make them good legislators. We add our voice to what we hope will become a growing chorus encouraging more South Dakota women to seek legislative office. Eighteen of 105 is just not a number to be satisfied with. Contributed by "lross(bleep)womenrun.org" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brenda Roberts Update ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Haven't talked to you in awhile. I have been busy as I am sure you have been too. Well my lawsuit is in progress. EEOC released my case to be filed in court. The company I filed against has until May 17th to settle out of court. If they don't it will be going to court. I want as much coverage on this as possible. It has been 18 months now since I hired lawyers and began proceedings against Shaw. The one supervisor I filed against had another harassment case filed against him. So the company definitely needs to be more selective in their employees. I will keep you informed of what is happening. Thanks for writing. I hope all is well. Brenda cherri1260(bleep)yahoo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Freelancer’s Union ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I watch NOW on PBS on Fridays, and one of the recent featured guests was Sara Horowitz from the Freelancer's Union. Because many victims of sexual harassment end up in temporary and part time jobs without benefits, and this is the audience for this organization, I wanted to put something in the W.A.S.H. Rag about them. I went to google and searched on "freelancers union" and got the entry for their website. I did click on it, and what I got was actually http://businessanywherecenter.com/contacts/career.html. I was startled, I had just seen the interview a few days before, so out of curiosity, I entered the Freelancers union URL, which was had been in the google entry, http;//www.freelancersunion.org. and their website came up. What I believe is that their website traffic is being hijacked at the search engine, either that or google is selling their traffic, so anyone looking for the Freelancer's union will end up on a commercial website. I have been fighting traffic hijackers for over ten years, and this is just the latest round. I refuse to just ignore this and go on with my life, if they are not already hijacking my web site traffic, I may be next. I went to http://www.ic3.gov and filled out a complaint with this information. I hope that if you have a situation like this, you will do the same. Law enforcement cannot do anything about this unless complaints are made. To do this, you must both note the URL of the site you want to visit, which will be at the end of the search engine listing in most cases, and the address in the address line at the top of your screen after you have linked. To avoid errors, open a notepad document and save both before they are lost. I believe that hijackers steal the traffic from hundreds of websites to boost their own statistics and sales, so when you place a complaint against them, you are helping not just non-profits, but also legitimate businesses from whom it is being stolen. The Freelancers Union offers health insurance and, as the hijackers site did, help finding jobs. They are a site that is sympathetic to the problems of sexual harassment victims. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sexual Harassment In On-Line Gaming ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the things about sexual harassment that makes it so hard to deal with is that at times, it seems that once it starts, there is no getting away from it so you have no respite. Consider this from one of our correspondents: only thing i can really give you is the harassment i endure while playing my online game.... a lot of male players will flirt with me just because the way i talk gives away the fact that i'm a real life girl on the other end and it can get very unnerving… "roni johnson" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NORTH COUNTRY Awarded the Anita Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Several years ago, we carried information about a film which was being released about the first Class Action Sexual Harassment Law Suit, NORTH COUNTRY. We waited to see if it would be screened in South Dakota. When it became clear that this would never happen, we started looking for it in local DVD displays. After months of searching, it became clear to us that the film had been banned in the State of South Dakota, probably to make sure the girls never got any big ideas, so I finally found it on-line and purchased it to view. This is to explain why this has taken so long. NORTH COUNTRY is a story of redemption. It depicts sexual harassment at its worst, the callous badgering and vicious verbal and physical attacks on the victims depicted in NORTH COUNTRY are as bad as it gets. Jossie Aimes, a young woman having left an abusive husband with children to take care of, hears that the taconite mine is hiring women to comply with a Supreme Court ruling and she jumps at the chance to earn more than she has washing hair at a local beauty shop. The filmography of the geographic area gives a person a realization that The Masaba Range in Northern Minnesota is a rugged, unforgiving place, and she certainly found this to be true as she and a handful of other women are brave enough to cross the line and try to earn a decent living. After months of suffering the most heinous abuses including being threatened to be thrown from an elevator under tons of ore and having a port-a-potty with her inside trying to use it dumped upside down with the contents on top of her, she finally quits and is able to take legal action against the management that has refused to respond to her complaints. Her lawyer, an improbable former high school hockey star and attorney, suggests that her case might qualify as a class action suit. The judge says he will make it a class action suit if she can find three complainants. What happens then is where the redemption comes in. Her father, who has worked at the mine for many years and has been one of her biggest detractors, finally becomes her supporter, and the other women, who have been too afraid of losing their jobs to take part in the class action suit, finally do so, and even some of the men working in the mine are willing to testify, so they do win and are compensated for their losses. The film, which is a fictionalized version of the actual events, gives the viewer some hope that changes can happen and that not just management but the work force can be held responsible for their actions. I recommend this film to anyone who has an interest in sexual harassment for whatever reason, I purchased it from deepdiscount.com for less than $10.00, less than the cost of a movie ticket. After having viewed the film, I regret that it has taken so long to award Warner Brothers Pictures, Participate Productions, Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson and Sean Bean and the rest of the cast the Anita Award, certainly this is the most significant recipient we have named and we are proud that we can do so having screened it ourselves, not on the word of others. They have made a huge contribution towards the understanding of what sexual harassment is and how courageous and caring individuals can stop it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WASH FOUNDER HONORED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During the past years, I have gotten repeated mailings from the Democratic National Committee telling me that I needed up send them a donation to keep my membership in that august body current. I did not take this seriously; in fact, I thought that it was a fund raising gimmick or a scam. However, when I got another this past fall, after looking at a membership list of that organization on-line and finding mostly former presidents and vice presidents, current and former members of the US Congress on it, I decided that the joke had gone far enough and I intended to find out if I was or not. To my surprise, I found that I was indeed on the Democratic National Committee. According to their records, I have been on it since 2000. Janet Leih, Pres. and Founder Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NCIS Awarded the Clarence Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On July 3, 2007, NCIS on CBS had an episode in which the NCIS staff was being given sexual harassment awareness training by a specialist in sexual harassment. The subject was treated like it was a joke, everyone at the session, including Gibbs, who is in charge of the unit, ridiculed the subject, the presenter, and they give the impression that this was a big waste of time. At one point, she indicated that physical contact of any kind was sexual harassment, at which point, Abby, the little lab technician who apparently does practically all of the research and testing, popped up and asked, "Does that mean that if someone hugs you, that is sexual harassment?" "Yes," the presenter responded, "It does." "I hug people all the time," she replied, which may be true, but I had never seen her hug anyone although I had not always watched the series before and never have since. At this point, Gibbs gets a cell phone call about some emergency and everyone leaves without any explanation, the presenter protesting that she will not sign off on anyone who leaves before it is completed. Irregardless of the topic, their behavior was tacky, rude and demeaning. Because thet topic was sexual harassment, I found it extremely offensive. While I can appreciate that there are at times women on NCIS who have responsible and significant jobs who are not being shown to be sexually harassed, I am skeptical that some cute young lab tech can go around hugging her co-workers and never end up being sexually harassed. There was a PBS series, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, in which Helen Mirra plays Chief Detective Jane Tennyson of Scotland Yard. After the series was completed, she was shown in interviews about it, and one of the things she talked about was the coaching she got from women working as detectives in the UK. "Never smile," she was repeatedly told. "If you smile, it is seen as weakness." The only way she could earn their respect was to be seen as being serious. She found this difficult to do, as a woman she had been socialized to smile to ingratiate herself to others in order to get their cooperation. What is interesting about this, is that in NCIS, although Abby is constantly shown bubbling over with energy and fun, Gibbs, the director, is never shown smiling. This is because he wants their respect, and if you smile, nobody respects you. And believe me, going around hugging your co-workers will definitely not get you any respect. I recognize that NCIS is intended to be entertainment, and that it is slanted to the tastes of the military and former military audience, but their callous and erroneous handling of this serious contemporary subject was misleading and could give young women suggestions which could get them into trouble on jobs, so we are giving NCIS, Bellisarious and the cast, the first Clarence Award for contributing to misunderstanding about the issue of sexual harassment. The Clarence Award is intended to be like the gong on the gong show, or in an audio sense, a raspberry. So NCIS can now imagine that they have been gonged or treated to a raspberry. Fzzzzzt! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National Women's Law Center Employment Opportunity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National Women's Law Center is now accepting applications for the 2008 Progressive Leadership Advocacy Network (PLAN) fellowship. To access the application, please go to http://action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=nkhuXvNkd4fVxpWDBTm9YA PLAN is a powerful professional development opportunity designed to improve the advocacy capacity of advocates working to improve the lives of low-income women and their families. Emerging leaders across the country are encouraged to apply! The deadline for applications is May 15. The PLAN fellowship experience includes: Participation in the intensive, four-day PLAN Fall Institute for new fellows; on-going strategic leadership, policy, and advocacy learning opportunities; the annual PLAN Spring Institute in Washington, D.C.; a variety of networking opportunities; and access to individualized technical assistance from NWLC policy and advocacy staff. By strengthening their leadership and advocacy skills, in-depth policy knowledge, and networks of connection in the field, the PLAN fellowship helps advocates effect the positive change they are working to achieve. Know other great advocates who should know about PLAN? Help us spread the word by going to http://action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=_DC6h7CHXxv4B7byXy3OrA. .Helen Blank "Helen Blank, National Women's Law Center" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PAUL TRUMMEL HELD PRISONER WITHOUT LEGAL COUNSEL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paul Trummel intends to expose malfeasance that contravened United States Constitution and United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That malfeasance had a direct impact upon his languishment in King County Jail for almost four months without due process of law or legal counsel. Approaching seventy years of age, the author experienced arbitrary incarceration, solitary confinement incommunicado and torture that caused several near-death experiences and compared with treatment afforded terrorists and political detainees. Unlawful restriction on movement, death threats, suborned defamation by a "Seattle Jewish Mafia" operating out of Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation (a synagogue on Mercer Island near Seattle) and repeated malfeasance by officials at University of Washington, by Seattle City Attorney, and by Washington State Attorneys General continues to violate government mandates. For more information, go to: http://contracabal.us http://contracabal.org "Paul Trummel" WASH opposes all harassment, regardless of the perpetrator, whether Jewish or Nazi. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SEXUAL HARASSMENT SITUATION ON AMERICA’S MOST WANTED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On March 22, 2008, America’s Most Wanted carried a story about Kristi, a woman who had charged a co-worker, Jose “Joey” Garcia, with sexual harassment for peeking through a poop hole while she used the bathroom. Her employer said he would talk to him. Her house keys disappeared from her purse while she was at work. Some time later, she was at home asleep on her couch, she was pregnant at the time, and her husband was out of town. A man appeared over her, he had a ski mask on. He stayed in the house for hours and raped her repeatedly. Kristi feared for her toddler who was asleep in the crib, but he eventually left. When she reported the events, he had already fled and was being sought by America’s Most Wanted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOME NEW SPOOFING GIMMICKS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are some new ways to confuse the subject of spoofing and one is that at least some spoofed e-mail is carrying viruses, and YOU DON'T HAVE TO OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS TO GET IT. I have a firewall that shuts down when anyone tries to download a virus, and recently I opened up an e-mail that I suspected had spoofed e-mail addresses in it. I tried to forward it to spam@uce.gov, and when I did, I lost my internet connection. Whenever this happens, the system apparently still thinks that it is logged on, so I have to disconnect from the internet, then connect again and log in to get my e-mail. When I did so, that particular e-mail had vanished. It apparently deletes itself after it has downloaded (or thinks it has downloaded) the virus. A variation on this was when I was deleting what was obviously spam in the in-box of one of my e-mail addresses. I went down and checked all of the items I could tell were spam, then clicked on the "spam" button. I was startled that the first item in the in-box, which I had checked as I knew it was spam, simply disappeared, and the checkmark migrated to the second item in the in-box, which was from a web site I had visited and did not want to mark as spam. Then the system went on to process the spam, and that item will end not being delivered in the future. The gimmicks the spoofers come up with continue to amaze. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Events ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 11-12 Economic Justice Summit in Atlanta , Georgia . http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/economic/events/ejsummit2008/index.html. The National Organization for Women, the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the National Council of Negro Women have jointly called this summit for activists, researchers and feminist leaders to come together for an in-depth discussion on the economic needs and challenges facing women and their families today Our goal is to determine how we can work together to ensure a better tomorrow and get that agenda moving right away. Contributed by "Pat Reuss" WE REALLY NEED YOUR SUPPORT!! Please send donations to: PAVE (Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment), PO BOX 476991, Chicago, IL 60647 Victim's Rights Rally Nationwide -We need your help defending justice! Join us for a national rally on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at noon. This is going to happen in dozens of cities across the country! We know that sexual assault is the most under-reported crime in the US. However, when victims do report, we find that they are constantly re-traumatized! We demand justice! To be involved, email: info(bleep)pavingtheway.net and we will send all of the tools needed to hold a rally in your community! Contributed by Val Do you see the problem here? These were received too late to be in the last newsletter, but they probably plan more events in the future, so if you are interested, contact the organizations listed to get on their mailing list. Also, organizations with events should give us enough lead time so we can include them before the event. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WE’RE ON THE WEB http://www.washrag.org/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This on-line version of THE WASHRAG is being sent to you free. A print version can be obtained by subscribing. In the US, send $20.00 to Women Against Sexual Harassment Treasurer Elisa M. Pedroza,8048 Meraz Ave., El Paso, TX 79907. Outside the US, send $40.00 to join. For a sample issue, send a #10 sized SASE. E-mail comments can be sent to washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com. To sign up for a free e-mail subscription to the W.A.S.H. Ragjoin the group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational Contact us by logging into the group and sending an e-mail to the moderator, this by-passes the hyjackers. There is an option to join the group without receiving the newsletter and just logging in to read it whenever you want. If you do not wish to receive further copies of this newsletter, unsubscribe going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational and removing your name from the list ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ copyright 2008 Women Against Sexual Harassment, P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013-0164 (605) 987-5070. ISSN: 1068-2449