Another Big Announcement!!!

Humantics Foundation.... SUSPENDED!!!!!

So, I wasn't going to really say anything at all... but now that Ilena Rosenthal has decided to continue to talk about me on Usenet, I figure there's no reason to be silent.

You might recall that when I started this Blog, I mentioned that I'd been a frequent writer on Usenet, but that I'd slowed that down considerably in recent years. In no small measure that was due to the rapid decrease in civil discourse - why try discussing things, in my opinion, if nobody is going to talk about them in a rational and constructive manner.

One of the worst offenders in this regard is Ilena Rosenthal. Ms. Rosenthal is the titular head of an organization called "The Humantics Foundation for Women", a group which purports to advocate on behalf of women who believe themselves to have been injured or caused to fall ill by their breast implants. But for as long as I have known her, Ms. Rosenthal has used her time, and her organization's time and resources, to engage in extensive (and intensely negative and vicious) attack campaigns aimed at those she perceives to be her personal enemies. In terms of actual advocacy (and results), the efforts of Ms. Rosenthal and her so-called "foundation" have little to show for all of the time she has supposedly spent on this issue. Her website contains precious little beyond her attack pages, of which there is one directed at me.

There's an old adage that there's no point in wrestling with a pig. The pig likes it, and you get nothing out of it except covered in pig filth. With that adage in mind, I have at times spent months where I did not engage Ms. Rosenthal on Usenet at all. The idea was that perhaps if I ignored her, she might go away - or, at least, simply stop in her campaign of lies about me. In fact, she'd offered as much - a statement which I proved false time and time again (each time I'd go months ignoring her, she'd just continue her barrage of insults and lies and half-truths). Allies of hers made similar claims, but these too fell far short of the truth.

Case in point: I haven't posted anything to alt.support.breast-implant since May 15, 2005 (I posted a few messages to sci.environment, but that was in response to some forged messages someone had posted in my name). But despite that, Ms. Rosenthal continued to post messages regarding me - claiming that I have been "stalking" her or "libeling" her.

I nevertheless continued to remain silent, and probably would have let the most recent news about the Humantics Foundation simply pass without comment... except that in her attempts to divert attention away from the very real news about the Humantics Foundation (the organization she "runs"), she tried to deflect a very direct statement regarding the status of that organization by throwing my name into the mix (this time by calling me a "'sound science' shill", whatever that means).

Now, for years I have been asking Ms. Rosenthal about some specific operations decisions regarding her organization. Her organization operates (or was operating) as a non-profit 501c(3) corporation in California, and because of her federal non-profit status, I have a right to ask her questions regarding her organization (and, what's more, she has an obligation to answer them). Specifically, I asked her about irregularities on her organization's filings with the US Internal Revenue Service, the Humantics Foundation's IRS Form 990s (available at http://www.guidestar.org). Certain entries hadn't been made, and numbers from one year's form that were supposed to correspond with numbers on other year's forms didn't - so I wanted a bit of clarification.

Ms. Rosenthal never answered those questions, and instead repeatedly e-mailed my wife. These e-mails, filled with vicious and scary rhetoric, making false accusations and trying to raise an impression that somehow my behavior was at fault, were designed to elicit a response in my wife. Ms. Rosenthal's goal? To so unnerve my wife that she would put a stop to my inquiries.

In fact, she said as much when she asked my wife to exercise some measure of control over me.

In other words, Ms. Rosenthal was using scare tactics to try to bully me into silence.

Now, I'm not the only one Ms. Rosenthal has done this to. There are webpages dedicated to others as well, and others who have been tormented online by Ms. Rosenthal's behavior. And I know a good many people who have complained regarding her (lawsuits have been filed, in fact). Ms. Rosenthal was, until fairly recently, running her organization from outside of the United States (Costa Rica and somewhere in South America, from what I gather), in fact. How she is supposed to impact US policy on breast implants from a stronghold in Central America is beyond me. The whole thing smacks of "The House on Garibaldi Street", if you ask me (I'll let you all figure out that reference).

Well, somebody's complaints worked. On July 1, 2005, the State of California suspended the corporate charter of the Humantics Foundation for Women.

Of course, Ms. Rosenthal has said nothing for these past (nearly) three weeks. Until someone else brought it up today - and now there is this near-panicked defense. Her response?

To change the title of the post announcing their suspension, and merely mentioning their "recent change in legal status" as though it were some normal, everyday thing. No explanation. No "we're working on getting our status reinstated".

No mention of it on the Humantics Foundation website, either. But they _ARE_ still soliciting donations.

Hmmmmm.

So, for those of you who have googled me and e-mailed me asking, "Who is this Ilena Rosenthal woman, and why does she seethe with hate for you so much?" I have a simple answer:

"Ilena Rosenthal is the titular head of an organization that because of its management practices
has had its corporate license suspended by the state of California. Ms. Rosenthal currently
resides outside of the United States."

There's more - but for the sake of time and space I will leave it at that for now.