The Diva - Rick
Hauptman
E-Mail Exchange
From March 20, 2001
BACKGROUND:
On the First Day of Spring, I
posted The Historic Prank Heritage's 'Say
"Thphphphphphph!" to Bush' Action Alert, along with a masthead I created to honor the special
day and this wonderful idea for creative (and incredibly funny) political
dissent.
After posting the alert, it
occurred to me that there were no instructions for what to put as a
"Subject" on the e-mails sent.
Well, one thought lead to
another, so I sent the following e-mail to some political activism groups to
which I belong on Yahoo:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: The Diva of BBBR <thediva@coup2k.com>
Date: Tue Mar 20, 2001 10:51am
Subject: SUBJECT LINES FOR
"THPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH!!!!"
FIRST DAY OF SPRING ACTION
ALERT!
SUBJECT HEADINGS
http://coup2k.com
Dear Resistance Fighters:
I am sending an e-mail every 30
minutes, with a different subject line:
tax cuts
arctic drilling
national monuments parkland
drilling
fetal protection act
clinton pardons investigation
hagel CFR bill
black universities policy
star wars missile defense
korea remarks
public housing policy/budgeting
changes
new policy on the ABA and
vetting judicial nominees
earthquake funds and your
policies on labor
chastity-only sex
education/abstinence programs
bankruptcy bill
faith based charities initiative
and office
getting rid of the estate tax
judicial nominees like Antonin
Scalia and Clarence Thomas
timber companies and national
forest lands
hiring Iran-Contra figures
-Tammy, "The Diva" and
WebMistress of BBBR and Holdings
http://www.coup2k.com THE BUSH
BROTHERS BANANA REPUBLIC
COUP-COUTURE: http://www.coup2k.com/mall.html
MAILING LIST: BBBResistance-subscribe@listbot.com
RADIO FREE BBBR:
BBBR-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
"DEEDS FOR DEMOCRACY":
BBBRCounter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE HAUPTMAN
SITUATION
It was this last e-mail I sent,
suggesting possible "Subject" lines for "Thphphphphph!"
e-mail to Resident Bush, that Rick Hauptman, Chair of the California Democratic
Party Computer Caucus, reacted so strongly to; and what precipitated the e-mail
exchange which is included in the e-mail I sent to Mr. Hauptman, below:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: thediva@coup2k.com
Date: 20 Mar 2001 17:14:58 PST
To: rick@moai.com , rbhauptman@aol.com
Subject: Official Position of the Democratic Party?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To:
From:
RE: Our e-mail exchange (copied here IN ITS ENTIRETY [emphasis
mine]) regarding the
'Say "Thphphphphph!"
to Bush' Action Alert posted at http://coup2k.com.
=======
From RBHauptman@aol.com
one every 30 minutes? that's a joke, right?
=======
From thediva@coup2k.com
Nope.
There are many pressing public
policy issues about which I wish to express my personal views on this fine
spring day.
=======
From RBHauptman@aol.com
I enjoy a Fine Spring Day as
much as the next guy. But 48 messages
from one person in One Day would be overdoing it. I moderate 5 national lists.
I'd worn you once, maybe twice, then remove you.
Happy Pasover!
Rick
=======
From thediva@coup2k.com
Maybe that's why you're not the
President [emphasis mine] -- that position on the First
Amendment...
=======
From RBHauptman@aol.com (at this point he
blocked me, of course, so I could not respond to his attack):
if sending 48 messages in one
day is your idea of the First (or any) Amendment you are sadly mistaken.
I have a degree in Government,
and in Political Science. oh never mind
you're a total asshole so I'm blocking you.
=======
From RBHauptman@aol.com (after blocking me,
of course, so I could not respond to his attack):
LOL no wonder you're such a
silly little email troll, you web site is a total mess!
all them bells and whistles and
you *think* you're having an influence?
LOLOL
Click here: "FIRST DAY OF
SPRING" ACTION ALERT!: JUST SAY, "THPHPHPHPH!" TO BUSH! By The
Heroic Prank Heritage (THPH)
=======
From thediva@coup2k.com
Dear Mr. Hauptman:
May I assume that you speak for
the Democratic Party? Due to your
position as Chair of the California Computer Caucus?
Rick Hauptman, Chair
California Democratic Party
Computer Caucus
http://www.ca-dem-net.org/about.html
415-861-7425
Mr. Hauptman,
I consider your attack on me
inappropriate, considering your position, and considering the fact that it is a
well-established principle that Americans have the right to petition their government
for a redress of grievances. It is also a
well-established principle that Americans have the right to contact their
elected (or in George W. Bush's case, selected) officials to express their
feelings about the agenda government officials are pursuing.
(Government contact e-mails are
in no way the same thing as moderated "national lists" or online
communities such as eGroups or YahooGroups, in my opinion.)
Having a sense of humor about
such things is no crime, either. Showing
opposition to a public policy or proposed law does not require a lengthy and
reasoned treatise.
THPH, the group that authored
the ACTION ALERT you took such issue with, is doing a great deal to sustain the
morale of the online activism movement devoted to democratic change. They should be praised, and my willingness
to support their efforts should not call down profane personal attacks on me
from people like you, who hold official positions in the Democratic Party.
It is especially disappointing
to be attacked, for my activism and my website, by someone who has devoted
themselves to your particular mission:
"Our mission is to
encourage the use of all things Internet: e-mail, Web sites, voter registration,"
said Northern California caucus chair Rick Hauptman, who is a self-employed
desktop publisher in San Francisco.
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/ht021200.htm
I have also become aware of your
activism in the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender human rights activism
community, as well as other communities.
Though you find my website "a mess", and probably have not perused
it in any detail (it includes around 300 pages), I would like you to know that
I, too, am active on these issues, and have written a great deal about them on
my site:
"I'm Not a Bad Guy, I Just
Vote for Them"
http://www.coup2k.com/notabadguy.html
"10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT
YOU"
http://www.coup2k.com/10things.html
WHO IS "THE DIVA"?
SITE SECRETS REVEALED!
http://www.coup2k.com/divawho.html
“5 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
DISSIDENTS”
STEP #3: RESCUE THE FAMILY
http://coup2k.com/rescuefamily.html
"THE THANKS OF AN
UNGRATEFUL NATION"
ON POLITICS, RELIGION, AND
PATRIOTISM
http://www.coup2k.com/anungratefulnation.html
“IN MEMORIAM”
MATTHEW WAYNE SHEPARD
DECEMBER 1, 1976 — OCTOBER 18,
1998
http://www.coup2k.com/memorial.html
MTV, HATE CRIMES, HEARTBREAK
ANSWERING THE TAUNTS OF THE
RELIGIOUS RIGHT
http://www.coup2k.com/taunts.html
“THE DIVA” INTIMIDATES CLARENCE
THOMAS:
http://www.coup2k.com/intimidatingclarence.html
This is to say nothing of my
ListBot messages, personal e-mails to other activists and visitors to my site,
and eGroups posts on the subject, which are too numerous and lengthy to include
here.
It is my intention to post this
communication, as well as our e-mail exchange, on my website, coup2k.com (my
"mess", as you called it), and to the activism eGroups to which I
belong. I will also, naturally, be
sending it out to activist contacts in my personal address book, whom I feel
should be made aware of the situation, considering the high profile you enjoy
both in the Democratic Party and the gay rights and online activism
communities.
It is my belief that liberal
activists should be informed of what those who speak on our behalf are doing to
fracture our movement, and discourage its participants, particularly when those
who speak on our behalf feel it necessary to use profanity, and to mock the
efforts of non-professional grassroots individuals who, unlike you, devote
themselves to working for democratic change without receiving public
recognition, or any support from organized political groups.
I remain,
Committed to democratic activism
on the web,
Tammy Talpas
"The Diva"
coup2k.com
mail not
accepted. returned by sender.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From RBHauptman@aol.com (after blocking me,
of course, so I could not respond):
[DIVA NOTE: This e-mail was blank]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From RBHauptman@aol.com (after blocking me,
of course, so I could not respond):
oooops, that last one was a
mistake. Sorry. I just received the folowing from one of
the lists I'm on (63 at last count).
Please take note of the reference to "50 posts a day". If that's you, that's about 47 too many.
"I have learned a lifetime
of knowledge by reading and listening to folks on the lists.....I have seen the
ones who have to tell all that they do and have done as if that adds to
credibility, I have seen the ones who post and repost 50 times a day as though
that will get them noticed, I have seen the ones who post provocative things
just to get a good conversation going....I have seen folks who refuse to take a
definitive stand regardless just so no one thinks ill of them, I have seen the
hotheads who react to everything as a personal threat, but by far what you see
are the many quiet hard working dedicated folks who just want to see justice
done and go about doing it in the way which is most comfortable to
them......"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From thediva@coup2k.com
(This message returned as
"undeliverable" due to the address being blocked)
<<I have seen the ones who
post and repost 50 times a day as though that will get them noticed>>
Dear Mr. Hauptman:
(I am sending this to both of
your addresses, since your earlier e-mails indicated that you have blocked me
as a sender. I am giving you the
benefit of the doubt, and assuming that your continued e-mails to me are
intended to elicit a response from me -- that they are not just
"flames" to add further insult to the injury you have already visited
on me.)
I think your attitude that
e-mailing the White House is in any way commensurate with posting unnecessarily
repetitive information to online communities is incorrect. I further think that your assertion that the
First Amendment DOES NOT PROTECT my right to express dissatisfaction on as many
issues as I feel strongly about, is incorrect.
You have received (at most) TWO
POSTS that originated from me: ONE,
describing the THPH Action Alert, and ONE describing my PERSONAL PLAN to e-mail
the White House once every 30 minutes, expressing my discontent over a number
of administration actions and planned actions.
The only other e-mails you have
received from me have been (until you blocked my e-mail address), my responses
to E-MAILS YOU SENT ME. (Which, I might
add, now outnumber my original two posts regarding the THPH Action Alert.)
You quoted a post you received
from an eGroup to which you subscribe in your most recent e-mail to me:
"I have seen the ones who
post and repost 50 times a day as though that will get them noticed..."
Well, Mr. Hauptman, you are a very
poor mind-reader, at least in my case.
First, I do not post ANY eGroup
50 times a day, NOT EVEN THE ONES I MODERATE; and secondly, what I am
"trying to get noticed" is the fact that Americans have lost
something valuable, and that they can get it back. This is the purpose of my website, coup2k.com, which you so
utterly denounced, belittled, mocked, and insulted.
I am including my most recent
column describing my personal mission as it pertains to my website. It was written in answer to a committed activist
sharing her personal story with me -- a letter from which I deleted all
positive remarks regarding myself personally, or my site, save one (one which
was necessary to her telling of her own story and experiences). It will help you understand "where I am
coming from", and why I consider your rude behavior and cruel attacks on
me unjustified, undeserved, improper, repellant, and an indication that you are
no ally to me, or to the movement to which I belong, and for which I work:
REPORTS FROM THE FRONT
SUNDAY, MARCH 18
HELEN MAKES A STAND
http://coup2k.com/helenmakesstand.html)
THE DIVA RESPONDS TO HELEN'S
LETTER
(http://coup2k.com/diavresponsehelen.html)
Dear Helen:
I, too, look in the mirror
everyday, and I wonder... Will hope ever return to my heart? Will my natural
tendency to give everyone the benefit of the doubt? Will my trust in the
future? Will the American Dream? (Not the dream of a big house full of toys,
and a luxurious retirement -- that was never MY American Dream -- but the dream
of ever-greater freedom and an ever-wider franchise...?)
I, too, wonder where I went. I
don't even look like myself anymore. I have always been a naturally happy
person, always looked on the bright side -- sort of a born comedienne, I
suppose -- but I find now that I have become deadly serious. There are times
when I have to walk away from the reality of what is happening for a time,
because it wounds me to the point of losing control of my emotions.
I spoke to my mother about my
feelings (my mother is an independent voter -- she considers herself neither
liberal nor conservative, but rather insists that she votes on "the
man"), and she told me about her feelings during Watergate. It seems her
natural inclination to be hopeful and trusting was torn apart during that time
in our national history. She expressed to me that she had hoped I would never
feel that death of hope and trust myself. Needless to say, I have, and my
mother grieves for the quixotic daughter she birthed and raised, who has now
become so disenchanted.
When I was putting together this
weekend's site update, I began to gather links to news stories about the Bush
administration's agenda. With every new link I added, my heart sunk further, as
did my hope for my nation. This agenda is the "death of a thousands
cuts," the death of the American Dream, laid out in all its obscene
splendor, for anyone who cares to look.
I glance around me, and I
wonder, am I the only one who sees the tornado bearing down on us? Of course, I know I am not. I have met
people like you, who feel the same way I do. My sadness is that you are not
here in my study (the BBBR Bunker, as it were) with me right now, so that I
could put a human face to one of the group of people who have become my heroes.
We are the canaries in the mine
of America -- of that I am certain. We, who are so sensitive to the smell of injustice
in the air, are the ones chirping and squawking ourselves to breathlessness
that there is danger. DANGER! And yet, all around us, many people carry on as
though nothing has changed. I cannot make them canaries; I cannot turn them
into one of us; I can only chirp and squawk and furiously beat my wings, and
make as much noise, and as big of a ruckus, as my mind, body, and talents
permit.
That is now the meaning and the
purpose in my life, and the reason for this website. To be able to say, at the
end of the day, that I did not quietly acquiesce to the new America that is
growing stronger every day by cannibalizing the America of my Dream. To be able
to say that I was not absorbed by this entity that is feasting on the nation
that I love. To be able to say that I fought this beast with my strongest
weapons: my mind, my words, and my personal conscience.
Failure is not an option for me.
When I wrote "Rime of a Political Prisoner," I spoke of America's
promise, "That her rulers would be Her people, The People; That promise a
ruler makes me..."
It may sound grandiose,
presumptuous even, for me to believe that I am a ruler of this great nation,
but that is what I was taught, and that is the America in which I believe. I
will not abdicate my throne. I will not step down. And I will not permit a
single member of the royal family (and that royal family includes every single
American) to be denied their birthright.
The 2000 General Election showed
us Princes and Princesses, Kings and Queens, denied what is rightfully theirs;
denied what was promised them. It showed us the dysfunction in our royal
family. Shakespeare could not have imagined a more greedy, base, and repulsive
group than that segment of our family which would destroy their own brothers
and sisters, fathers and mothers, to wear the crown alone.
Perhaps America, like King Lear,
cannot bear to think ill of those family members. Perhaps I am The Fool, who
through jest, pleading and prodding, is trying to get America to open her eyes:
"...it was the custom of
kings and great personages at that time to keep a fool (as he was called) to
make them sport after serious business: this poor fool clung to Lear after he
had given away his crown, and by his witty sayings would keep up his good
humour, though he could not refrain sometimes from jeering at his master for
his imprudence in uncrowning himself, and giving all away..."
- Tales from Shakespeare, Lamb
and Lamb.
And so, like The Fool in King
Lear, my emotions and words run the gamut from the high outrage to low comedy.
I am dancing as fast as I can. I am trying every trick in My Fool's Book to get
Americans to grab back the crown. Some Americans sold it, some gave it away,
and some had it stolen from them, but the end result is the same:
A pretender on the throne, the
rightful rulers deposed, and the nation of my American Dream in mortal peril.
It cannot stand.
This is The Thing That Should
Not Be.
I fight on with you, and I will
by in D.C. in May to do my duty.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <RBHauptman@aol.com>
To: <thediva@coup2k.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001
1:36 AM
Subject: All your aliases are
hysterical
LOLOL
[DIVA TRANSLATION: "LOLOL"
= "Laughing Out Loud Out Loud"]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Hauptman:
If you will turn your attention
to the e-mail above, which you sent to
me from your COMPUTER early this morning, you will see that after your chortle ("LOLOL")
there are several lines of text that you, yourself, did not write, while
composing this latest e-mail attack on your COMPUTER.
This is what is known in
COMPUTER circles as an e-mail 'header'.
Allow me to acquaint you with
the concept of the COMPUTER e-mail 'header'.
This is the portion of e-mails
you receive through your COMPUTER, which explains the route the e-mails took in
getting to your COMPUTER e-mailbox, and identifies not only the sender of the
e-mail in question, but the 'ISP' (Internet Service Provider) used by the
sender's COMPUTER.
READING HEADERS
Let's examine the headers on
your latest attack e-mail. For the
purposes of this exercise, it is simplest to invert the header to follow the
e-mail's route from your COMPUTER to my COMPUTER in chronological time.
HEADERS CREATED BY YOUR
COMPUTER:
X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows
sub 51 THE SOFTWARE YOU USED TO SEND E-MAIL
Content-Transfer-Encoding:
7bit THE ENCODING OF YOUR OUTGOING
E-MAIL
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="US-ASCII" THE FONT
OF YOUR OUTGOING E-MAIL
MIME-Version: 1.0 YOUR 'Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions'
SOFTWARE PROGRAM
To: thediva@coup2k.com THE E-MAIL ADDRESS YOU TYPED TO SEND YOUR
MAIL
Subject: All your aliases are
hysterical THE TEXT YOU TYPED TO
INDICATE ITS CONTENT
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 04:36:59
EST DATE/TIME SENT FIELD ADDED BY YOUR SOFTWARE
HEADERS CREATED BY YOUR INTERNET
SERVICE PROVIDER (AOL):
Message-ID:<9f.12fc87bd.27edc4bb@aol.com>
UNIQUE ID# ADDED BY YOUR ISP (AOL)
From: RBHauptman@aol.com AOL USER/SENDER IDENTIFIED BY YOUR ISP (AOL)
for <thediva@coup2k.com>;
RECIPIENT E-MAIL IDENTIFIED BY YOUR ISP (AOL)
Sat, 24 Mar 2001 04:36:59 -0500
(EST) DATE/TIME E-MAIL WAS STAMPED 'SENT' BY AOL
by imo-m02.mx.aol.com
(mail_out_v29.5.) id k.9f.12fc87bd (4591) AOL SERVER USED
HEADERS CREATED BY MY
(coup2k.com's) WEBHOST ISP (ctyme):
Received: from
RBHauptman@aol.com AOL SENDER
IDENTIFIED BY MY WEBHOST (ctyme)
for
<thediva@coup2k.com>; CTYME
USER/RECIPIENT IDENTIFIED BY ctyme
Sat, 24 Mar 2001 04:37:51
-0500 DATE/TIME E-MAIL WAS STAMPED
'RECEIVED' BY ctyme
by ctyme.superb.net
(8.11.0/linuxconf) with ESMTP id f2O9bpN14632 ctyme SERVER
Received: from
imo-m02.mx.aol.com [64.12.136.5] AOL SERVER/ISP# ctyme RECIEVED
Return-Path:
<RBHauptman@aol.com> ACTUAL SENDER OF E-MAIL (MATCHES)
X-POP3-Rcpt: thediva@coup2k.com
METHOD BY WHICH I RETRIEVED YOUR E-MAIL (POP3)
So, let's sum up:
Not only can you determine the
path an e-mail took to reach your COMPUTER, but also the ISP used to send that
e-mail (and therefore the ISP of the sender), simply by looking at the e-mail's
headers.
Check the e-mails you are
certain were sent by my COMPUTER, and the headers of these e-mails, to
determine the originating ISP. In order
for all of the e-mails you have received to have originated with me, how many
ISP's would I, and my COMPUTER, have to be a client of?
I eagerly await the conclusion
of your COMPUTER research.
-The Diva
mail not
accepted. returned by sender.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <RBHauptman@aol.com>
To: [DIVA NOTE: Recipient Address Deleted to Protect Her Privacy]
BCC: thediva@coup2k.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001
9:09 AM
Subject: Re: Al's birthday
> Wen,
> This is from that totally
obnoxious Diva who has spent the better part of the
> past 2 weeks posting
priovate information about me all over the Net. She has
> done more harm to her cause
than she'll ever know.
>
> While she and I totally
agree on these issues her tactics have been nothing
> short of gestapo-like. Her self-serving posting of private
conversations
> publicly is another example
of her crossing the bounds of propriety and
> netiquette. My take is she is very very young, and way
too over-eager to be
> "famous." It's a pity.
>
> Rick
>
> olicana555@aol.com writes:
>
>
> > LAST CHANCE AL GORE
BIRTHDAY ALERT:
> > DONATE TO CHARITIES IN
AL'S NAME,
> > SEND A BIRTHDAY
GREETING CARD
> >
> > FREE PRINT-AND-MAIL
CUSTOM AL GORE
> > BIRTHDAY CARD ART AT http://coup2k.com/albday.html
> >
> > FIVE FUN STYLES TO
CHOOSE FROM!
>
>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: RBHauptman@aol.com
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 20:18:56 EST
To: ask@dearkandb.com [DIVA NOTE: AN ALTERNATE E-MAIL ADDRESS I USED TO SEND THE FIRST LONG LETTER
ABOVE]
Subject: Re: Official Position of the Democratic
Party?
oh please, you weren't atttacked; you were simply questioned about sending an
email every 30 minutes. If you can't
stand any criticism then you're in the wrong environment. do needlepoint.
And sending personal info about
me out to all your syncophants says more about you than it'll ever say about
me. This is your little bully pulpit where
you can vent (and have little or no effect on actual public policy). So go ahead and vent all you like.. Your flaming me is irrelevent as well.
But it does show your
immaturity.
ask@dearkandb.com writes:
<< I consider your attack
on me inappropriate, considering your position, and considering the fact that
it is a well-established principle that Americans have the right to petition
their government for a redress of grievances.
It is also a well-established principle that Americans have the right to
contact their elected (or in George W. Bush's case, selected) officials to express
their feelings about the agenda government officials are pursuing.
(Government contact e-mails are
in no way the same thing as moderated "national lists" or online
communities such as eGroups or YahooGroups, in my opinion.)
Having a sense of humor about
such things is no crime, either.
Showing opposition to a public policy or proposed law does not require a
lengthy and reasoned treatise.
THPH, the group that authored
the ACTION ALERT you took such issue with, is doing a great deal to sustain the
morale of the online activism movement devoted to democratic change. They should be praised, and my willingness to
support their efforts should not call down profane personal attacks on me from
people like you, who hold official positions in the Democratic Party.
It is especially disappointing
to be attacked, for my activism and my website, by someone who has devoted
themselves to your particular mission:>>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried
to respond by sending a blank e-mail.
mail not
accepted. returned by sender, again:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 22:06:51 -0500 (EST)
To: <ask@dearkandb.com>
Subject: Returned mail: User unknown
-The original message was
received at Tue, 27 Mar 2001 22:06:47 -0500 (EST)
from c000-h003.c000.snv.cp.net
[209.228.32.67]
*** ATTENTION ***
Your e-mail is being returned to
you because there was a problem with its delivery. The address which was undeliverable is listed in the section labeled:
"----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----".
The reason your mail is being
returned to you is listed in the section labeled: "----- Transcript of
Session Follows -----".
The line beginning with
"<<<" describes the specific reason your e-mail could not be
delivered. The next line contains a
second error message which is a general translation for other e-mail servers.
Please direct further questions
regarding this message to your e-mail administrator.
--AOL Postmaster
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to
air-ye01.mail.aol.com.:
>>> RCPT
To:<rbhauptman@aol.com>
<<< 550 rbhauptman IS
NOT ACCEPTING MAIL FROM THIS SENDER
550
<rbhauptman@aol.com>... User unknown
Comments?
Please email the parties, at RBHauptman@aol.com, thediva@coup2k.com
