The Sentinel Nails the Atavars

The Sentinel is a small local paper, you have to pay to read it online. They have been following the Recall/CRW situation since the start. The editor, Brian Karen, in particular, has been very good at seeing what's going on, and for a while reporter Contessa Cristosomo was writing good stories for them, while we worked through the sex-ed curriculum business -- she moved on to The Gazette, last I heard.

The Sentinel had a story about the CRW this week, and also an editorial. I hope they don't mind if I copy the whole editorial -- the link probably won't work for you if you're not a subscriber. This is good:

The Atavistic CRG

Editor’s Notebook by Brian J. Karem

LINK [pay only]

Atavism: recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination.

I love to look for atavisms.

For some who like to hunt, they'll understand the thrill. It's like sitting in a deer blind and waiting for a deer to stroll by.

You know one will show up if you're in the right place, it's simply a matter of being patient.

Now, granted, finding atavistic individuals in Montgomery County is probably a darn bit easier than spotting deer, but then again I see deer all over my neighborhood - almost as frequently as I see people.

Atavistic individuals are easy to spot. Their DNA have recombined to produce people who believe the holocaust is a myth, evolution is a fairy story and the U.S. never landed on the moon.

I met one on Sunday. While pretending to be a Christian she scolded me because I said I trusted an unnamed public official. She didn't and told me she didn't trust anybody.

"Anybody?" I said. "Such existence must truly be filled with paranoia."

I told her I trusted her, even though I didn't know her because I prefer to trust everyone when I first meet them. Otherwise I just don't have the energy to go suspecting everyone of something nefarious.

But this woman told me she didn't trust this elected official - even though she had voted for him and didn't trust me nor did she trust anyone else. I wondered how she got along with her husband and children.

"I love you honey."

"Sure you do. You've been saying the same thing for 50 years and I still don't believe you."

I think that sound was Jesus rolling over in his grave.

Or maybe it was last night's dinner.

Anyway, this woman is a member of the group called "Citizens for Responsible Government."

They are currently trying to amass 25,000 signatures to get a referendum vote on repealing a county ordinance that protects transgender individuals from being discriminated against.

The CRG says its because the bill gives transgender individuals special rights to go into whatever public bathrooms they want to visit - or makes employers hire transgender individuals - churches too, if they are qualified and apply for work.

A spokesperson for the group even compared transgender people to pedophiles, a whopping stretch of the imagination to say the least.

They've invaded churches hoping to find enough signatures to change a law that really doesn't need to be changed.

They are playing on the fear that you or I could walk into a bathroom and if it were a woman's restroom, then we would find a man in his natural splendor, using the facilities.

If we are men, then I guess we'd have to worry about women invading our private sanctuary. Most men at this point are yawning. Others are wondering if that fantasy will over be fulfilled.

The Citizens For Responsible Government is filled with atavistic individuals. Their long dormant recessive genes have recombined to spring forth from the depths of some nether region a group of people who ignore facts, avoid and obfuscate the truth and struggle valiantly to tilt at windmills.

Despite the fact that any mention of the use of public bathrooms has been stricken from the county law, that's not good enough for the CRG and I witnessed first hand how they tried to strong arm people to sign their petition based entirely on the misconception they continue to promote.

Their literature is misleading, and while their cause may have the right intentions - protection of our youth - we all know that the road to Hell is paved by good intentions.

In fact, though, it appears the people at the CRG are basing their campaign less on protecting others and more on their own ignorance and prejudices.

It appears, according to our research, that the members of the CRG may not even understand the difference between transgender individuals and transvestites.

They are trying to lead us down a dark road it's better not to travel.

Thank you Brian. The atavistic Citizens for a Responsible Whatever are pushing the petition drive right now, with gigantic rallies and incredibly successful cold nights in front of grocery stores lying to people. Somebody in our comments section said that somebody called Elliot in the Morning (on DC-101), and said that their pastor had told them to sign the petitions, telling them it was for a law to keep men out of the ladies rooms. Elliot hung up on them, they said.

February Fourth they have to have, actually, 12,501 valid signatures. Maybe they will. Then they have a couple of weeks to get 12,501 more. They're really excited about the prospect of returning the right to discriminate against transgender people to Montgomery County, their sad lives will be so impoverished if that isn't allowed.