Spam from the "National Federation of Republican Women" pushing for the ERA? (Vanity)

I received the following unsolicited bulk email (UBE, or "spam") that claims to represent the "National Federation of Republican Women."

How do I know it's spam? Well, first off, I didn't sign up for their "list." Secondly, whatever idiot did sign me up has my gender all wrong. Finally, this message was apparently sent via an open relay on the HostCentric network. In short, it has all the classic signs of vile, smelly spam.

I'm including full headers so that anyone who's of a mind can determine if this is legitimate or a spammer's idea of a frame-up against an otherwise legitimate Republican women's organization.

by [redacted] with SMTP; 30 Apr 2003 06:19:59 -0000
Received: (qmail 25285 invoked by alias); 30 Apr 2003 06:19:27 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO VIRTUALSCAPE45.Hostcentric.Net) (216.65.45.55)
by 0 with SMTP; 30 Apr 2003 06:19:27 -0000
Received: from mail pickup service by VIRTUALSCAPE45.Hostcentric.Net with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
Wed, 30 Apr 2003 02:19:26 -0400
From: <info@womensinstitutes.com>
To: [redacted]
Subject: Act now to save our party
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 02:19:25 -0400
MIME-Version: 1.0
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charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
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Message-ID: <00cd52619061e43VIRTUALSCAPE45@VIRTUALSCAPE45.Hostcentric.Net>
Content-Length: 8423

I have been a member of the National Federation of Republican Women for over ten years and for a good part of that time I have been a Regent. I am worried about the future of the Republican Party. I know that if you are like me and my friends you are worried too.

As Republicans we know how difficult it is becoming to elect our candidates to office. As women we know how many of our own number vote for candidates of the Democrat Party. Many Republican women are quietly making that choice. They have their reasons; those reasons are, unfortunately, not wrong.

Politics is the way we work for the future we want for our selves and our children. I have five children. Their future matters to me. That is what keeps me in politics.

As Federated Republican Women we believe that our daughters and grand daughters should enjoy equal protection under the law and equal opportunity with their brothers. Those values, a belief in individual freedom, the free market, and personal honor, propelled each of us into politics. Our reverence for and love of the wonderful vision of unrealized possibility that is America keeps us from walking away when times are tough and nothing is working. Those same values are forcing many of us to vote for Democrats.

In a recent election in California post-election polling revealed that 30% of Republican Women living in the 23rd Congressional District voted for the Democrat candidate, Lois Capps instead of our candidate, Beth Rogers. Beth was an ideal candidate, successful, well educated, active in politics, savvy, a loving grandmother, bilingual in Spanish, and committed to our ideals. She is the kind of leader we hunger to have represent us. She received scant support from the Republican Party. We know how our Party acts towards women, even though we also know that without Federated they could never elect anyone to office.

To quote from the letter Beth sent out recently: ^ÓThe key demographic is, how core women ^Ö especially Republican women ^Ö are now voting in this area and in California at large. The only truly unhappy day I experienced in the entire campaign was when we received our internal polls which showed that 30% OF REPUBLICAN WOMEN WERE VOTING FOR CAPPS WITH 18% UNDECIDED. ONLY 52% OF REPUBLICAN WOMEN WERE VOTING REPUBLICAN.^Ô

We originally became Republicans because we insisted on thinking for ourselves and refused to accept a lesser role. We stayed because we continue to hope and because we care deeply about our country. We are committed to doing the right thing both for ourselves and our families. But things have not gone as we hoped, no matter how many hours and dollars we pour into campaigns, registration drives and phoning.

Along with getting no credit we are failing to give our children the future we want for them. It is time to demand our own Party to do the right thing.

As women, mothers and Americans the vision of a world of equal opportunity and individual justice is at issue. What is our Party saying to America when it refuses to give ALL women their rights and instead appoints a few token women to positions of influence?

We are women in politics who are aging and struggling to maintain. Clubs are merging and shrinking. We watch as the younger generation of women reject all we have worked for. The reasons are clear.

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

Who could object to THAT? Not the overwhelming majority of Americans. Two years ago, a group of women, outraged at the situation, sought an accurate measure of the current beliefs of the American public regarding men's and women's rights. They commissioned a nationwide survey that was conducted in July 2001 by the highly respected professional survey firm, Opinion Research Corporation. The women had been concerned that the American public might not really be "ready" for truly equal rights for all citizens without regard to their sex. But they were WRONG.

The survey findings: 96% of American adults -- 97% of American women and 95% of American men -- answer YES when asked this simple, straightforward survey question: "In your opinion, should male and female citizens of the United States have equal rights?" And when asked, more specifically, "In your opinion, should the Constitution make it clear that male and female citizens are supposed to have equal rights?" 88% (91% of women and 85% of men) answer YES.

This very strong consensus of the American people in favor of equal rights is underscored by the additional survey finding that 72% (75% of men and 69% of women) actually believe/assume the Constitution ALREADY guarantees those equal rights -- when in fact it does NOT. (Click here for details on the survey and its findings: Equal Rights Survey.)

The only right the Constitution currently guarantees to the female citizens of our country is the right to vote -- and that took until 1920 to achieve. Without the ERA, women still have to continually struggle to persuade national and state governments, courts, and institutions of all kinds that they deserve fully equal rights with male citizens. Even when women's efforts succeed, their gains remain vulnerable to being overturned because they are not backed by an explicit Constitutional guarantee.

This situation is bad. It can become much worse when America's female voters, including Republicans, learn that not only do they still lack the guarantee of equal rights that should be their birthright, but also that our Republican Party and its leadership is OPPOSING the Equal Rights Amendment, and working AGAINST its addition to the Constitution.

It is essential for the survival of our Party that we, as Federated Republican Women, deliver the message that the ERA must be added to the Constitution. No Republican leader or legislator should stand in the way. Instead, they must actively support its inclusion.

I have heard it said that the ERA is largely symbolic and that the need for its adoption is past. Even if this were true, why is the ERA being opposed? By acting to support the ERA, the Republican Party can refute the assertion of Liberals that Republicans are working against the proper rights of women. Democrats have also failed on this issue and many women know it.

As Federated Republican Women it is our responsibility to make sure this happens. We need to be informed. We need to act now, before it is too late for the Republican Party.

Guaranteed equality in law is a reality we still need today. We remain just three states away from ratification. If you are a Federated member in one of these states please contact your Republican legislators.

The 15 currently unratified states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. Letting your legislators know can revitalize the Republican Party and bring women back to Federated Women. www.ERACampaignNetwork.org One way or other, it is going to happen.

God bless you for reading this, listening and taking action.. I know that together we can ^Ö and will ^Ö bring the Republican Party back from the brink of disaster and make it possible for us to achieve the future we have each worked so hard to create for our children.

P.S. Send this on to your friends in NRFW. We need to get the word out and get the Party back on track.

To Remove yourself from the mailing list please go to this link: http://www.womensinstitutes.com/unsubscribe.asp?email=[redacted]

As I stated at the start, this unsolicited bulk email was sent through an apparent open relay on another network. Considering the subject matter and the prominent listing of a site hosted not on the network from which this spam originated, I have a hunch that someone's trying to pull a fast one.

If nothing else, we should get the word out about this to confirm or deny whether it is legitimate.

Good catch. What a shrew, "seminar writer". I was particularly struck by,

"It is up to us to give all women reasons to support Republican candidates."

What a ridiculous statement. Even were that possible, it would not be desirable. What a namby-pamby organization any party would be if they compromised their beliefs enough to make all women--or all men--like them.

The last name(s) might also give an indication of which party she votes for, no matter the party she says she's a member of. It may not--there are exceptions--but my money says she votes for many more Dims than Pubbies.

In my opinion, it does not look like the spam was sent through an open relay. According to Network Solutions, the domain service for womensinstitutes.com is provided by hostcentric.net - which also transported the mail to you.

whois womensinstitutes.com

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