Whirled Musings

Sorry about the solar flares and all, but...

2012-01-24T10:25:00.021-06:00

Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay
It's Cosmic Connie Day
AKA My Birthday
A worldwide holiday!

And I really, really apologize for the solar flares. I just asked for fireworks, but my friend the Sun likes to go all out. (He's such a flaming... but oh, where would we be without him?) Oh, and I'm also sorry for the storms and high winds and so forth that you may be experiencing in your area, depending upon where you are. I sincerely hope that none of y'all are too inconvenienced by outages and suchlike. If you are, please know that I will probably be suffering right along with you, as our satellite Internet (don't get me started) goes out at the first hint of rain, say nothing of solar flares. What I'm trying to say is that we are all in this Whirled together.

And I must say I am also humbled and honored by the fact that the President of the United States is going to be giving a speech tonight in celebration of Cosmic Connie Day. You may or may not like him, but you have to admit that presidential recognition is a pretty big deal. (Don't be fooled by that corny old State of the Union framework; this is really all about Me.)

So what can you do to celebrate Cosmic Connie Day, besides heap me with praise, good wishes and/or money (and here's a poem to get you inspired re the latter)? Well, you can do your part to fight Internet censorship, although if the Sun wants to censor all of our Internet activities for a spell, there's not much to be done. (I'll try talking to him, but he can be so willful at times. Besides, I don't want to hurt his feelings. After all, he's flaring for me.) Or you can go out and adopt or rescue a homeless animal or two (or three, or however many you can reasonably support). And do what you can to support your local sustainable farmers and other small-business owners. These are all perfectly wonderful ways to honor me and (in the case of helping homeless animals) even save a few lives.

Meanwhile, I have to get back to work. Yes, even on Cosmic Connie Day, work must go on. Not that I'm complaining! Thank you to all of you for your continued support of my Whirled.

Abrascam: Followers may fall, but the snow must go on

2012-01-17T16:58:00.054-06:00

Note: I have modified some of the copy in this post since I first published it. In the portion following the "bad poetry" in honor of Abe Forum moderator Jody's birthday, I have substituted my original "speculation" about the forum mods' motives for censoring a conversation with actual private communications about these motives. I was aware of these exchanges at the time I originally wrote the post, and worked the basics into my (informed) "speculation." However, at that time I had not yet obtained permission to share the exchanges verbatim. Thank you to ex-Aber Tina, who brought this sad story to light after two-and-a-half-years, for giving me permission to share them, and for the erudite Clarity, who helped me secure the permission. For easy viewing, the new material will be in this color.
~CC, 19 January 2012

Also see addendum -- an important comment from Clarity -- posted in this color.
~CC, 23 January 2012

Now that we're well into The Year of the Mayan Apocalypse, I suppose I'd best get back to blogging while there is still time. Actually, this somewhat overdue post has been in the hopper for a few weeks, but work and other responsibilities kept popping up (not that I'm complaining).

One of the things I find most frustrating about New-Wage/selfish-help/McSpirituality culture is the constant, contrived, and almost superstitious avoidance of "negativity." This avoidance is manifested not only in ongoing efforts to ignore, discredit, or even take legal action against critics, but, at its most extreme, in the effort to cover up injuries or deaths of followers. While some fans of New-Wage gurus or belief systems may sincerely believe that focusing on the negative is counter-productive to their growth, it seems pretty obvious that the gurus and group leaders have their own motivations for nixing negativity: it's bad for business. When followers die and their death seems even marginally related to a particular New-Wage enterprise, that's really bad for business. And this brings us to the apparent cover-up, by Abraham-Hicks principals, of the 2009 suicide of one of their followers, Karen Shelton.

I am not the first blogger to write the sad story of this talented artist, who followed Abraham-Hicks in the last years of her life and used the name "Ari" (which is her son's name) on some of the Abe forums. She was very active on these forums, and when she took her own life in the summer of 2009, a few of her fellow members who found out about it wanted to discuss the matter on the forum. But moderators of the official online community, The Abe Forum, made a concerted effort to squelch the conversation. And although they didn't wipe "Ari's" hundreds of posts from the forums completely, they changed her status from "member" to "guest," and made it clear that discussing her was verboten.

So why go into this story now, when it is two-and-a-half years old? It started when an ex-Aber named Tina mentioned Karen's story recently on the blog of another ex-Aber, Mariah, and Mariah turned that into a blog post, the link to which is here. Around the same time, long-time Abe-Hicks critic Dave Stone wrote two posts about the matter, one on Seekyt and one on Healthmad.com.

I guess it's my turn now. Originally I had just planned for this to be a short post linking to the others' work. But it grew and grew, as things so often do on this Whirled. As usual with these long posts, you may want to print this one out to read it, and highlight the links you want to follow. I do urge you to read Mariah's and Dave's posts, as well as those on Kyra's blog. And be sure to read the comments from other ex-Abers such as Clarity, Claire, and Charmcat, and, of course, Tina, who brought the story back to light. These bloggers and commenters are the ones who are really the experts on the dynamics of the Abe forums and the whole Abe-Hicks body of work.

A member to remember...or not
Karen Shelton had been through more than her share of bad times in her life. She had battled depression for years, and even mentioned on a post I read that she had been suicidal at different times in her life. She'd suffered through an abusive marriage, the loss of twin baby girls who were born prematurely, and an aggressive form of breast cancer where she was given only a 50-50 chance of survival. Although single and lacking insurance, she did survive, but her hair never grew back after the cancer treatments. Before and after the cancer, her life was apparently a series of financial and emotional struggles.

But Karen had two things going for her: her artistic talent, and her son Ari, an artist in his own right, whose chosen art form was music rather than painting. Ari did everything he could to support his mom, even writing to CBS' The Early Show, requesting that they consider his mother for a makeover as part of the "Week of Wishes" that the show was sponsoring at the time. Thanks to Ari's poignant recounting of his mother's struggles, Karen was chosen and received her makeover, which was featured on an episode of The Early Show. Macy's donated a $1,000 gift certificate towards a new wardrobe, and a team at a posh New York Salon helped her make the most of her looks. According to the story on the CBS site:

In the end, Shelton felt like a new woman. "It's amazing, glamorous and beautiful," she said. While visiting The Early Show Thursday morning, the good news continued. Co-anchor Rene Syler surprised Shelton with the news that art supplier DickBlick.com is donating a $2,500 gift certificate. Shelton also will be getting a professional break that many artists dream of: The Animazing Gallery in New York's SoHO has agreed to hold a show of Shelton's work and to host a reception in her honor.

Hearing the good news, Shelton threw her arms around her son, saying, "He does magic for me."

Here is a link to that story, which includes a video of Karen and Ari's appearance on The Early Show: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/23/earlyshow/series/week_of_wishes/main1433783.shtml

It's important to note that although the article on the CBS site is dated February 11, 2009, the original date of the show on which Karen and Ari were featured was March of 2006. At that time, she had probably been into Abraham-Hicks' teachings for about a year. (Thanks to Clarity for clarifying these points for me.)

The page about Karen Shelton's Animazing Gallery show has some more biographical information about her. In the Artist's Statement at the end, Karen quotes a friend who wrote this about her:

"We should all be writing our books, but now you, you should be having [your son] Ari score your movie, a movie about a too quiet girl who dreams in color. It wouldn't be about all that was taken away from you but all that you create out of thin air..."

But apparently it was not in Karen's nature to claim all of the glory for herself. She added:

My friend could write the same thing about herself; her challenges have equaled mine. “We think of something, and we doos it” is another way she describes how strong we, like so many women, have learned to be.

My desire is to describe this kind of strength through my paintings. It is a subtle kind of strength that comes to us just as a way of being. The flaws, the scars, the scratches in paint reveal a strong sense of presence… a Presence That Just Is...

We all love the heartwarming true-life tales we see on TV, and I'm sure they're good for ratings, but of necessity they provide only a snapshot and not the entire story. It would be lovely to believe that the trip to New York and the attention lavished by CBS et al. marked a turning point in Karen's life: both a happy ending and a new beginning. But there was no happy ending. Karen dreamed in color and committed those dreams to canvas, but her life off-canvas was not a dream. And although she was by all counts a strong woman, in the end there were forces that were even stronger.

At some point after she was on the CBS show, Karen became active on the Abe-Hicks forums (she joined in 2007), and was a frequent participant, not merely seeking support for her own struggles, but constantly trying to help others with theirs as well. Her story unfolded over a series of many posts, some of which were a clear cry for help, but the only "help" she got from Abe forum members were the expected cliches about getting into alignment.

Tina, the ex-Aber I mentioned above, put it most succinctly on Mariah's blog:

I recall Ari/Karen posting and seeking help and alignment, and seemingly, the harder she tried, the worse her life became. She quit her job at the encouragement of fellow posters. She was financially strapped at this time, but trusted she could rely on the abundance that was sure to flow in from her art work because of Esther's teachings. She would post every once in a while her out of alignment, losing her loft, no money, an art job would come in but be surrounded with problems. Most of her issues were seemingly stemming of lack of finances. She was getting deeper and deeper in depression, and her posts were clearly reflecting this, all the while she continued to get the same canned responses about getting into alignment, etc., and reminding her how close she is to getting everything in her escrow. She would get into a happier place, but then return a week later more depressed and discouraged than the week before.

Tina noted that some of Karen's last posts revolved around her excitement over her son's upcoming wedding. But this excitement was marred by financial concerns and not being able to afford a nice dress. She was also uneasy about seeing her son's dad, her abusive ex-spouse. It was all apparently too much for her, and finally, after leaving the wedding, she ended her life.

When Tina found out about it, she broached the subject on The Abe Forum, but the thread was quickly shut down by Super Moderator Jody Baron (more on her in a little while). And when Tina went looking for Ari's posts, she found that the Ari avatar, which was one of Karen's lovely paintings, had been removed, and her status changed from "Member" to "Guest." Wrote Tina on Mariah's blog:

It was as if she never existed on that forum. A few people did see my post before it was removed and starting asking about Ari and surprised at her death. Jody made a post reflecting the topic was not up for conversation, or something to that effect.

Jody also communicated privately with Tina that it was best not to allow any discussion of Ari/Karen; more on that below.

In a recent private discussion about this, ex-Aber Clarity (who gave me permission to quote her) summed up Karen's struggles and how unhelpful the Abe teachings apparently were:

So let’s see…she comes to Abe, loses her gallery to rotten people…moves 6 times in one year, winds up in a rough neighborhood in an oversized closet, has to borrow money to keep her place, finds a beau and gets dumped. Can we see how always trying to stay positive and figure out how to open that vortex door would tax a stable person, much less a person on meds who is suicidal??? Karen really tried hard to keep thinking better thoughts…and her life kept going downhill. God, the overwhelming sense of frustration that she had to deal with each and every day. The overwhelming sense of personal failure. She did something wrong…she didn’t line up.

...Not to forget she was a very integral part of the forum, a regular poster/always there for others, always trying to help, inspire, comfort. Then one day poof…gone…let’s not talk about it.

[Addendum, 23 January 2012]: Although it also appears in the discussion following this post, I want to insert Clarity's January 21 comment about a detail of Karen's story that I inadvertently overlooked. I'm going to quote Clarity verbatim.

…Karen’s last post on the Abe forum was the day before the wedding, the day before she took her life. From someone who recalls the post it wasn’t any kind of post that would be um, incriminating. She was excited about Ari’s wedding, wished she had something nicer to wear and was nervous about seeing her ex after so long. That post was removed, puff into thin air. I wondered about that for awhile…why remove a not damning post? It wasn’t till a few days ago that I got it. It was the last post she made and in spite of her happy face the next day she took her life. That was why it had to be erased. That is in fact the most incriminating of all…happy face today, gone tomorrow. The Hicks, who control the forum and make all the decisions, I would best guess went over Karen’s post and decided how to handle it…remove her avatar of one of her beautiful paintings, remove her as a member to guest status and remove her last post. Now that I understand why they removed her last post (because I really didn’t understand why when I first heard) it is reflective of not only sinister motives in how her passing was handled but someone’s looking at each detail carefully to sanitize her presence on the forum. What kind of ghouls go over her post like that? What kind of sick sadistic ghouls???

Just for the heck of it I Googled "Abraham Hicks suicide." The first few results were videos of what "Abe" says about death and dying. Then there was this blog post, which was hard to read for more than just the totally lousy typography. The gist of it? "Every death is suicide." Or so says "Abraham."

Dave Stone has written quite a lot about the Abraham-Hicks teachings on death and suicide. In his recent Seekyt article he wrote:

"'...death' is a matter of closing one's eyes in this dimension and literally opening one's eyes in the other dimension. And that, truly, is how all death is, no matter how it looks, up to that point.. The re-emergence into Source Energy is always a delightful thing."

This was said by Esther Hicks, posing as Abraham, in Buffalo, New York, two weeks to the day after terrorist attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives on September 11th, 2001.

Not to worry. Pregnant women crushed by collapsing towers or jumping to avoid being burned alive, others on jetliners with babies in their laps, men with dependent families waiting for them to come home, telemarketers slugging away another day on the phone--no matter, they killed themselves, fully aware and instantly without a regret, according to Esther Hicks. “The death experience is always suicide.” Also, it “is always a delightful thing.”

Someone going by the name of Wide Eyes wrote this on a recent Salty Droid post, in a thread about the narcissistic mindset of The Secret:

January 11th, 2012 at 2:28 am

...Speaking of the evil of the secret, I’ve lost a newborn (stillbirth) and was told by a Secret/Abrahams Hicks devotee that it was probably because of a “negative thought”

This was the worst thing i’ve heard. So f-----g mean

But it was also total b.s. As in fact I did not worry at all

needless to say I erased this woman from my life… (who fancies herself as a coach helping people!)...

...Btw we had another child and worried sick for her (lots of negative thoughts)… She’s perfectly healthy...

It seems that the real laws of cause and effect are far more complex than the all-knowing "Abe" -- and other LOA gurus and followers -- would have us believe.

The mods versus reality
As you may know, the Abraham-Hicks empire is on somewhat shakier ground now than it has ever been, and it's not just because Esther and gang apparently got on the wrong side of an influential Hollywood celeb (but that's worthy of a whole other blog post, which I won't write but will link to when it is written). The shakiness is due in large part to the recent death of the original brains behind the whole Abrascam, Jerry Hicks. Granted, Jerry was old -- in his eighties -- and he had leukemia. Yet many are questioning why the Abe-Hicks teachings on health and illness apparently failed him. And even though the fact that...um...he was quite elderly and had a terminal illness should have been a sufficient explanation for his demise, the manner of his passing did raise interesting questions about the apparent disconnect between Abe-Hicks teachings and Jerry's choices at the end. For instance, there was his choice to use every conventional (and unconventional) medical treatment available as he fought to hang on to his earthly existence, despite Abe's teachings to the contrary. And then there's the question of why he "attracted" the cancer in the first place.*

The moderators of the official Abraham-Hicks forums have apparently been putting forth their best damage-control efforts, much as they did with Karen Shelton. I'm certainly not an expert on these forums and their dynamics and politics, but I think I have a grasp on the basics, thanks in large part to the Abe-Hicks critical bloggers and those who have participated on their blog discussions. In fact, the ever-intrepid Kyra, who takes her job as Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo seriously, connects some dots with the Abe forum(s) in this recent blog post.

Apart from Esther-as-Abe, perhaps the most influential voice on the official online community is long-time Abe-Hicks house boy David Gordon, who seems in many ways to be a typical SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy). In his profile on The Abe Forum, he lists his home page as abrahamappreciators.com, but it directs to this URL: http://whatanicewebsite.com/faces/. David apparently received his noble calling to pilot Abe-Hicks' online conversations back in the late 1990s, as he relates on this link. Called to the "hotseat" at a live event in 1998, David had a convo with Esther-as-Abraham that began like this (with brief annotations from your hostess):

ABRAHAM: Right here. You've just been given a new birth.

DAVID: That's going to be a hard one.

ABRAHAM: Better than a lobotomy. [Yuck-yuck. Oh, that Abe gang. What a bunch of cut-ups. ~CC]

DAVID: What a wonderful act to follow. I have been given the wonderful opportunity to administer an E-mail list for the body of information that is Abraham-Hicks. There are over 140 people on this list. It's been in existence for about three years.

ABRAHAM: How did it come about? How did it begin? [Why would Abe ask these questions? I thought they knew everything. Oh, well. ~CC]

DAVID: It came about by a particular individual who is in this room coming up with the idea of linking on-line folks on the leading edge, as we are, together to discuss the works of Abraham.

ABRAHAM: So they are independent students of the process of deliberate creation.

DAVID: Yes....

And it goes on and on like that. Oy. I'm quite familiar with that "we're on the leading edge" mentality, by the way. It's a banner proudly carried by woo armies everywhere, providing the foundation for some of their most common (and fallacy-ridden) counters to criticism.

In May of 2011, David started a Love for Jerry thread on The Abe Forum, the URL of which is www.LoveforJerry.com, though it directs to http://www.abeforum.com/showthread.php?23438-Appreciating-Jerry-Hicks. Presumably this love-bombing was an effort to support Jerry as he fought his cancer battle...oops, I mean "allowed" the medical treatment. On one of his posts on that thread, David quoted from another Abe-Hicks fan named Tewa:

Jerry I love you SO much
It will take me a thousand rampages of appreciation to list the things I
love
You and Ester [sic] have given us all so much
My heart is so full tonight of all I have received

I love that you take the Chemo in true wonderful Jerry style
watching and allowing
i love how you Live Abe
i Love how you are
I love what you asked into Being for all of us
with your thirsting questioning mind and your great loving and appreciating
ways
And I love you
I love your zippy do da -ness
i love how you are so tuned into FUN!
i love your incredible life

I love your courage and resilience
Love YOU Thank-you Jerry
SO MUCH!
Love Tewa

But in spite of all of that love and zippy do da-ness and being tuned into FUN!, Jerry croaked anyway on November 18, 2011. Or, rather he "made his transition," though Esther waited a few days to announce it to the world. And there seems to be some pretty interesting buzz about that, about what was really going on while Jerry was being launched into the vortex and the Abe-Hicks propaganda machine was spinning its tales to keep the shocked and the doubting in thrall. There appears to be an interesting Korea story here; I do believe some of our Abe-Hicks sleuths are looking into that even as I write this.

But I digress. The point towards which I am meandering is that at least the participants were allowed on the forums to talk about Jerry's passing...well, sort of. Apparently they can't comment about Jerry anywhere but on the "I love Jerry" thread, where the post-croaking rampages continue. Head SNAG David Gordon makes it clear:

Posts in the "main" forum, Abraham Teachings and you, are open only for that topic and not comments about Jerry.

And I'm sure that any critical posts will be disallowed.

David has been aided in his guard duties by several others, most notably, the aforementioned Jody Baron, Super Moderator. Here are some highlights from Jody's profile on The Abe Forum:

Location
Where Life is FUN

Favorite short Abraham quote
"Stop making such a big deal out of everything!"

How did you find the Abe forum?
I created and launched it with David Gordon in may, 2007

It seems Jody and David once had a thing going, but alas, the love did not last, and Jody ran off with another SNAG, with whom she is now co-author of a book on tantric boinking called Relax Into Sex. Jody and her partner are apparently delivering workshops on how to use the Law of Attraction to have great sex. Icky, icky.

But that is now, and this was then. And for the benefit of those who might accuse me of indulging in gratuitous gossip, let me state that I am merely providing some context for Karen's story. As both David and Jody were instrumental in the censorship of her story on The Abe Forum, it only seems appropriate. It's also appropriate to mention that around the time when a few of the regular participants were trying to bring Karen's story to light on The Abe Forum, and the mods were busily wiping the forum clean of her presence, David Gordon began a "rampage of appreciation" for Jody to celebrate her birthday. On August 19, 2009, David introduced a new topic: "Rampage for Jody Today." Judging from the time stamp, he got up pretty early in the morning to do it:

From David
Administrator
Posted: Wed Aug 19th, 2009 03:35 am

I thought I'd give a Happy Birthday to our Beloved Super Moderator today. Today is her birthday, and I wish her a GREAT day today.... and every day.

It may not be enough to just write some appreciation, and words may not work or be enough to express how much I appreciate her, but I wanted to at least try!

The Abe Forum is yet another one of Jody's expressions of Love in her life. And like her sons and daughter, it has turned out magnificently. Without the energy of Jody, this place would not be what it is. (okay, she has a lot of help from Marc and Scott, but it's not their birthday today, it's hers.)

And so today I rampage for Jody. The world has the best possible forum for the appreciation of Abraham because of her amazing talent and focus. It's a LOT more than just her talent that is involved, there's an energy that is off the chart for helping others understand and use the Abraham teaching. And she does this tirelessly, day after day after day. (unless she is on a cruise, which is OMG.. often!) Even then there's hardly ever a time when this place is not on her mind and in her heart.

I practically go breathless to encompass all the Love she is. The Forum is just a portion of that Love. I see how she is as a Mom and there's not anyone around that can know the feeling that I feel or understand the Love that is present. I have told her that she is Love on steroids, and that is SO true!!

So Jody, this rampage is for you today.
Happy Birthday!!

May you feel Loved and Appreciated today beyond anything that makes any sense.

with Love and Rampages,

David

Last edited on Wed Aug 19th, 2009 10:45 pm by

This open invitation was followed by a page of emoticon-heavy, animation-infested, happy-happy joy-joy messages from participants whose profiles listed their locations as places such as "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "The Vortex." It was a true "rampage," Aber style. There was even some bad poetry (and goodness me, you know how I love bad poetry):

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY JODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthdays come but once a year
But, your radiant love is always here
Your style and grace never cease to be
And we all appreciate you responding so inspirationally
Your energy and enthusiasm radiates to us all
As Abraham's philosophy you so KNOWINGLY recall
Jody you're an uplifter of pure clarity
Which we can all enjoy for eternity...

Meanwhile, the discussions about Karen's death were wiped clean, and "Ari" was de-avatar'd and re-listed as a "guest" rather than a "member."

Some might say that the forum moderators had good reasons to suppress discussion about the tragic end to Karen's life, apart from the obvious agendas to keep negativity to a manageable level and to avoid anything remotely resembling liability for a member's death. In fact, Birthday Girl Jody, in private communications with Tina at this time, expressed these reasons like a true expert in obfuscation (Abe-fuscation?). As I mentioned in my Jan. 19 note at the beginning of this post, Tina has graciously given me permission to share this exchange.

Jody begins with this communication to Tina:

I think we're going to make any discussion of Ari off-topic. What do you two think?

Meanwhile, the consensus of the moderators is that we'll discuss it in PM [private messages] - those who are aware, but we don't see value it discussing it on the open forum. I'm very willing to entertain opinions to the contrary though... any thoughts?
Jody

Tina's reply:

Hi Jody,

My thoughts on Ari's transition. Obviously, the decision is yours and David's [that would be David Gordon, of course ~CC], and I appreciate the opportunity to give you my thoughts. With this being the Abe forum, and Abe always referring to us humans in physical forms attributing negativity to death when it is not a negative experience, I feel in keeping quiet when someone from the forum transitions, well, it gives me the feeling that death is bad in some way, which contradicts Abe's teachings on the subject. It doesn't feel right to me .
I honestly feel a guided thread, perhaps started by a moderator with clear intentions in place of it being about Ari and the teachings of Abe to keep the flow on the experience of death from Abe's perspective would be beneficial to those on the board following Abe and his words. We need to comprehend and totally understand that death is not something we should be afraid to face, it can't be swept under the rug, but should be addressed in some fashion. Even to make a positive comment about Ari transitioning and then locking the thread would be better than not acknowledging her transition at all.

As I said, of course, the call is yours and David's, but to pretend that it didn't happen would be a travesty and certainly not in line with what Abraham teaches.
Tina

Jody's response:

Hi Tina,
I totally hear what you are saying, of course. We would never censor the subject of death, as you know, and we have had many very intense threads on it. The reason I'm hesitant to allow a discussion of Ari is that she was sort of anonymous here - if she was your mother, then of course I would allow you to discuss your use of the Abraham teachings while "dealing with" (for lack of better phrase) her death. But just the fact that she was a forum member doesn't seem a "good reason" for us to get into a discussion of it. Does this make sense? It is what feels right to me and David and Scott and Marc right now, but again, I'm happy to keep up the dialog with you here and if you feel there is a thread in the making that you have bubbling up in you that involves Ari's death and directly relates to the teachings- please run it by me here?
(I'm copying my co-moderators on this note in case they have words of wisdom..)
Love,
Jody

Tina's response to Jody:

Hi Jody,

I have come to the thought that being anonymous, then the name is not known, so to speak, outside of the board. It is a screen name. Ari is known as Ari the screen name. I see no contraindications to making a thread about Ari transitioning and locking it. Ari is a screen name. The screen name transitioned and will not longer be posting. Does that make sense? Separating the real person from the anonymous screen name?

I didn't know Ari's real name or even where she lived, but I do see a difference in stating on the forum that Ari transitioned versus Karen Doe of West Sawdust, MA transitioned. She posted here as Ari. The use of the name Ari would still allow the person behind the screen name to remain anonymous.
Tina

Jody's reply to Tina's response:

Tina:
I'm not sure what would be gained by announcing her death, and then discussing it. To discuss it "just because" she was a forum member seems a little "off". Does this make sense? I don't think we are "grieving" for her or really in any way having to deal with her passing, so a thread just to let people know that someone who was on the forum is now in non-physical doesn't make sense as far as topic.
For me, it seems most downstream just to answer the questions of those who PM me or the other moderators (of they will) asking why she is no longer on the forum. But since even that has not happened.. I think with over 4000 members, in and out of physical, we're not going to be able to keep track!
Am I over-thinking this? It's very possible!! I do have a tendency to do that!
Thanks for mulling this over with me!
Jody

Today Tina says, "Of everything Jody said in those messages, this stuck out the most to me: 'I don't think we are "grieving" for her or really in any way having to deal with her passing.'"

Indeed. That's the part that sticks out for me too. Jody's arguments come across as just so much rationalization. First there are the issues of privacy and anonymity. As Tina pointed out, it would not have been a violation of Karen's privacy or anonymity to discuss her death using her screen name, Ari. For that matter, on other platforms, both Karen (using her real name) and the son who survived her (more about him below) have been quite public about their troubled stories. Had this not been the case, I would not have used their real names here.

Moreover, grief has many faces, and I think it is indeed possible to grieve for a relative stranger, even if you don't have to directly deal with the logistical matters or the deeper emotional issues related to their passing. To imply that those who mourned Ari/Karen's passing were not dealing with real emotions is ignorant and cold. Tina and the others who wanted to talk publicly about Ari were motivated by empathy and compassion, traits for which the Abe machine apparently has little use. And the matter of Karen's untold story has remained painful for Tina even after two-and-a-half years.

When I speculated on these matters in a private conversation with a small group of Abe critics, and added that empathy and compassion do not seem to be stressed in the Abe-Hicks teachings, Dave Stone responded (and has given me permission to quote him):

You think empathy and compassion are not stressed in the Abe-Hicks teachings? Worse they that, the embedded, radical narcissism makes them anathema. If it ain't about me, it ain't.

I remember one heavy-duty Aber... in one of the last debates I ever had on AbeTalk [another Abe forum], insisted that she would waltz past the children being forced to ingest poison in Jonestown, singing La-di-da-di-da. It was law of attraction in action, after all. The children, even infants brought it on themselves with their "vibrations," and it wouldn't be right to interfere. Hers was a pure expression of the teachings in real life. It's about me, me and me, or it just isn't. After all, I created the whole thing, and I can just ignore what I don't like.

The philosophy gives a bad name to sophomoric and shallow.

I couldn't have said it better, Dave. And that whole Jody birthday exchange leads me to wonder: If, according to the Abe-Hicks mindset, the grief that some members felt for Karen/Ari wasn't "real" because after all, they only "knew" her through the forum, how could all of those joyful rampages of appreciation in which the Abers indulge on the forums be "real?" And how genuine is that effluvium of professed "love" for Jerry and Esther? Granted, some of the gushers and fawners have probably met Esther and Jerry -- and each other -- in person on cruises or at other Abe-Hicks events, but do they all really "know" each other? Probably not.

But then, much like the Beatles' fabled Strawberry Fields, in the Aberhood nothing is real.

What is real is the life that burns beyond the ecstatic rampages on the forums, but those stories can be so distressingly mundane. I think Tina summed it up quite well on Kyra's recent blog post (Jan 11, 2012 07:31 PM):

I find that most people on the forum are either looking to attract a relationship or money, money probably being #1, but relationship is a close second. A lot of posts I read on the forum are people who are down and out, can't pay their basic need bills, strapped for cash, yet continuing to use their last dime, so to speak, to buy a Hicks's book, a video seminar, or actually going to a seminar in person (all when posting they are soon to be evicted for not paying their rent). They are willing to spend their last bit of money on anything Hicks's related because they think "I just need one more piece of information and then all my abundance will come to me, this might be it, this might be the final piece of the puzzle I need." Unfortunately, reaching their goal through the Hicks's "scam," for lack of a better word is always elusive, dependent on the new book, the next seminar, the next great recycled idea that the Hicks...and Company come up with.

That's a familiar scenario, one that is no doubt played out over and over and over again across the New-Wage (and Internet Marketing) universe, on everything from Marcy From Maui's Powerful Intentions forum to Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale's Attract Miracles "community" to the wretched hive of self-described "Syndicate" members that Salty Droid writes about on his blog. There will always be people who are willing to spend their last penny and even go into debt for overpriced products and events, hoping that the next one will be the portal to the realization of their hopes and dreams.

Same story, different verse
When I first read the story of how Karen/Ari was all but "wiped away" from the Abe forum after she killed herself, and particularly after I read about the Jody birthday appreciation rampage, I immediately thought of another tragedy that also took place in 2009. I recalled how James Arthur "Death" Ray and his minions worked so hard to cover up Colleen Conaway's death after she (apparently) jumped off of a third-floor mall balcony during one of Ray's Harmonic Wealth weekends in San Diego in July of 2009 -- less than three months before the fatal sweat lodge in Sedona. Many of you who are reading this probably know the basics of Colleen's story, but it bears repeating in this context. (For those who are interested, Salty Droid wrote of the tragedy of Colleen in detail over the course of numerous posts.) One of Ray's minions, Greg Hartle, actually witnessed Colleen's fatal leap from across the mall, and instead of calling 911 he simply tweeted: “Just witnessed a woman jump several stories down onto pure concrete. I gotta say it was disturbing. I’m sending her my love right now.”

Even after Colleen's body had been identified and Ray was notified, some of his assistants pretended to still be looking for her. One of them even called her cell phone repeatedly and left messages asking her where she was -- after it was known that she was dead. And that night, they all had the wrap party and danced the night away, with the principals knowing full well that Colleen was lying dead on a slab. In all fairness I'll say that most of the dancers and party animals did not know that one of their fellow participants was dead. Most did not have a clue until months later, after the Sedona tragedy put James Ray in a harsher light and the news media and critical bloggers started digging. But Death Ray and the Rayettes did know that very night, and still partied up a storm.

As Abe-Hicks critic Clarity wrote recently about Karen and the Hicks, "In the name of the franchise must go on it was hushed up." That tactic backfired big time on Ray and will continue to backfire. He is currently serving a prison sentence -- a paltry one but a prison sentence nevertheless -- for the three deaths in Sedona, and Colleen's family is reportedly pursuing justice. I find the tale of Karen and the Abe forum to be equally sad and disgusting, and especially poignant as there seemed to be ample red flags leading up to her suicide. (Colleen's death, on the other hand, took everyone by surprise -- particularly her family -- since she apparently had no obvious problems before that, other than the problem of being utterly hooked on James Ray seminars and spending all of her money to attend his increasingly pricey events.)

The story of Karen and the Abe-Hicks forum also reminded me of another sad tale that didn't quite have the legs of the James Ray cases, but seemed to be another clear example of the harm that can be caused by New-Wage nonsense, and a reminder of how grievously unprepared the hucksters who peddle this mindset are when it comes to dealing with people who are in real trouble. In December of 2005, a 34-year-old Australian woman named Rebekah Lawrence, described by many as normally shy, modest, and polite, took off her clothes at work, hurled insults at her coworkers, shouted out her love to her husband David, and jumped out an office window, plunging to her death. No alcohol or other drugs were found in her system, and she did not have a history of psychiatric problems. Yet according to at least one forensic psychiatrist, she was clearly in a state of psychosis.

A couple of days earlier, Rebekah had completed an intensive and emotionally grueling $695.00 "experiential" self-help course called The Turning Point, which, among other things, focused on bringing out one's inner child. In the days leading up to her suicide she had tried repeatedly to get phone support from the folks at the company sponsoring the course. She said she was having some awful thoughts about death. Yet she was met by platitudes from various volunteer support workers, one of whom advised her simply to take a warm shower, have a hot drink, and be gentle on herself. Instead she took herself out. And she wasn't the only one; at least two other suicides, both before and after Rebekah's, were linked to The Turning Point course. I wrote about this in September of 2009.

And then there's the tale of Michael Scinto, who killed himself after some harrowing experiences with the men's selfish-help group the ManKind Project. I wrote about that on this lengthy post in January of 2011.

Sad stories just keep popping up to rain on the New-Wage parades... or should I say the charades?

All is not well
By mentioning those other examples, my intention is not to take anything away from Karen's story, nor to gloss over any unique characteristics of the Abraham-Hicks community. But it is hard not to notice a common pattern among all of these organizations. While countless folks have claimed over the years to have been helped in some way by various New-Wage/McSpirituality/selfish-help ideas, leaders, and LGATs (Large Group Awareness Trainings), there is also a body count. Ever since the days of Esalen and est (the forerunner to the intensely annoying Landmark Education), disturbing news of deaths or serious injuries have surfaced on occasion -- relatively rare and briefly newsworthy tales that for the most part are quickly forgotten by the public. But the true body count probably remains unknown (at least in this dimension). What is known is that there is a body count, to which the Abraham-Hicks machine has apparently contributed in its own way.

Besides Karen there is the sad and puzzling (well, it's puzzling to me, anyway) story of Andrew Wilcox, reportedly a former Abe insider who at some point decided Esther was a fraud and apparently spent the rest of his life trying to prove it. The story goes that he even went so far as to track down Esther and Jerry in an elevator, following them down the hall and challenging Esther about faking. Esther's only response was to repeatedly chant, "All is well. All is well" -- presumably in her Abe accent.

Andrew took his own life in May of 2009, leaving behind a body of work that included an angry blog. In one post titled, "Abraham's Lies Part 1," he wrote this about one of the Hicks' bestselling books:

The premise, THE F-----G TITLE, is, "ASK and it is Given". BUT... it should really be...

Ask, and then visualize, and then work up the emotional scale, and then buy another book, and then come to the seminar, and then only talk pleasingly and upliftingly about Abraham only on The Abe Forum, and then make sure you really believe this stuff, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then... it MIGHT be Given... might be... if you're lucky, and you didn't complain to[o] much, or have a few doubts or negative "episodes" along the way... maybe.

I'll say this for Andrew: Just judging from his last blog post, written two days before his death, he seemed to be good at spotting liars. Word is that he was actually a kind and gentle soul, not nearly as in-your-face in private as he was on his blog and on some of his forum and blog posts, and I also hear that there were Abe forum members who genuinely tried to help him. (Here's a thread on what has been described as a "renegade" Abe forum about his passing: http://abetalk.com/showthread.php?t=3396.) I'm told too that Andrew Wilcox was the one who coined the name "Estherham" -- a name that surely has two meanings, for what is Esther if not a large and egregiously over-cooked ham?

Andrew had his own set of problems, which may or may not have been exacerbated by Abraham-Hicks. But I have observed over the years that groups such as Abe-Hicks seem to attract more than their share of broken people. Is it that groups such as these are seemingly less judgmental than traditional institutions such as most churches? If that's the motive, many soon learn that the lack of judgment is illusory, for while New-Wage communities may be accepting of things that would make the church ladies at the local Baptist church cluck disapprovingly, they are peopled by positive-thinking fascists who level their own set of judgments. Or do troubled folks flock to these groups because participation at its most basic level is generally free or cheap (cheaper than legitimate therapy), and most of these broken people are also broke? Beats the heck out of me, but it's good discussion fodder, anyway.

It could be argued that the body count in the Aber-hood goes beyond the suicides. Kyra recently shared a story of a woman in the "hotseat" at a live Estherham (oh, I do love that word) event, whose husband had recently died of cancer after refusing chemotherapy. The grieving woman said her husband had opted out of conventional treatment because he intended to cure himself of cancer by using the Abrascam virtual-reality method. Now the man's widow wanted to know why this had failed. Estherham's answer? "All is well." This seems to be a standard response not just from the Abe-Hicks machine (apparently the forum moderators love it too) but also from numerous faux-wise New-Wage/McSpirituality gurus. I suppose it is marginally more enlightened than "It was God's will," but not by much.

With Karen Shelton in those final months, it was painfully obvious that all was not well. But Abraham-Hicks did not provide a proper framework for her to even express the not-wellness of her world, much less provide a solution.

Liability versus responsibility
I know what you may be thinking: It's possible that the hotseater's husband would have died of his cancer anyway, and that the chemo would have just delayed the inevitable, adding a few months or years to his life. And that life may have come with a lot of suffering in the bargain, as conventional cancer treatment is grueling and sometimes turns out to be almost worse than the disease itself. One can hardly blame people for seeking an alternative to being disfigured by surgery, burned by radiation, poisoned by chemo, or some tortuous combination thereof. But I guess we'll never know what might have been, and the kindest thing I can think of to say about this infuriating hotseat exchange is that "All is well" in this circumstance is a callous and cold response. (And do I even need to remind anyone that Jerry Hicks didn't stick with Abraham's usual "medical" advice when faced with cancer himself?)

This question has certainly been raised before on other blogs, but how many other people have refused possible life-saving medical treatment because of the Hicks' dubious advice? Or for that matter, because of the advice and "counsel" of any other Law of Attraction guru or Internet marketing mercenary? I believe in free choice, and I generally don't think Draconian measures should be taken to protect people from their own choices. But by the same token, I believe charlatans should be called out, loudly and often. And I don't believe that they deserve any special legal protection from critics who wish to expose their nonsense, either through the presentation of facts or informed opinion. But that's definitely a whole other (long) blog post.

Abraham-Hicks has alternately been called a cult and a religion, as have many other New-Wage and LGAT orgs. Most of the principals and the followers of these gurus and groups bristle at the suggestion that they are part of a cult. (Some groups apparently don't mind being tagged a "religion," however, if it will earn them some of the tax breaks and other perks that mainstream churches receive in the US, including the right to accuse critics of religious discrimination.) Some groups, such as Scientology and Landmark Education, even go so far as threatening to sue anyone who dares suggest they are a cult. From a technical standpoint they may not be cults, but all too often the results are cult-like, and sometimes tragically so.

In today's litigious milieu, one of the first questions surrounding any tragedy is that of liability. Who's responsible, and how can the responsible parties be made to pay? But with New-Wage gurus liability is generally very difficult to establish, even in cases where there seems to be a fairly clear cause-and-effect relationship between the guru in question and the deaths or injuries or emotional harm suffered by followers. Consider, for instance, the James Ray trial for the three deaths in the fake sweat lodge in Sedona. That trial was a long and expensive ordeal that resulted in the aforementioned light sentence for Jimmy Ray Jumpsuit, a sentence that his lawyers are still fighting (pro bono, or so they claim, because Jimmy Ray is indigent, or so he claims). Colleen Conaway's family may or may not eventually get some sort of justice, but it seems like a long shot.

With the Hicks enterprise and Karen, it would probably be even more of a long shot, should someone wish to pursue legal remedy. Karen clearly had a troubled history, and it could not reasonably be said that the Abe-Hicks teachings were the cause of most of those troubles. She came to Abe-Hicks relatively late in her life. I imagine that criminal or even civil liability would be exceedingly difficult to establish. The case isn't even as clear-cut as that of a party host or bartender who knowingly serves more alcohol to someone who is visibly intoxicated.

However, moral liability/responsibility is quite another matter. And while Abers may be all lah-de-dah about how all deaths are suicides anyway, and death is no big deal, and that it's a joyful experience, and so forth, it seems to me that the forums did play at least a cameo role in the final scene of the tragedy that was Karen's life, and the moderators' attempts to wipe her away are reprehensible. But then I have to remind myself that a moral sensibility -- and a conscience -- much like empathy and compassion, are not required to get you in the door at Big Abe's Speakeasy. If anything, conscience is a hindrance.

What part did Abraham-Hicks really play in Karen's death? We can only speculate, but I think Dave Stone said it succinctly and quite well in the conclusion to his recent piece on Healthmad.com:

Did Abraham-Hicks Kill Ari? No, Ari killed herself, but Abraham-Hicks and the Forum helped her get there.

Lost in the Trees, found in the music

The trees may be scary
but hidden among them
is your house.
~ Poet and essayist Andrei Codrescu

These days Karen's son, Ari Picker, is coming to terms with his mother's death -- and her life -- through his music. Since 2002 he has headed a group called Lost in the Trees, whose music reflects Ari's classical training. Though classified as "alternative," the band's work has been more accurately described by music writer Cameron Matthews as a combination of the pastoral and the orchestral. I find it very compelling, so compelling that I recently bought the group's debut CD, All Alone in an Empty House.

In December of 2010 Ari's story appeared on Indyweek.com. Wrote music editor Jordan Lawrence about All Alone in an Empty House:

On the album, Picker turns his adolescence—a dark saga steered by an emotionally abusive father and a mentally troubled mother—into searing episodes. Recollections of conversations and glimpses of intimate imagery combine over the stacked textures of a beautiful orchestra and heartache-fueled folk music. The two stylistic poles tug at each other, pushing into the other's territory, blurring into a cathartic whole. It's a fitting backdrop for a narrative that's rich with moral ambiguity and poetic sorrow.

Not to mention a combination of disturbing, whimsical, and beautiful visuals in the music videos, such as the one for the CD's title song, "All Alone in an Empty House." The moral ambiguity to which Lawrence referred is Ari's refusal to morally condemn his abusive father; the video concludes as illuminated lanterns sail up into the night sky like souls returning home as Ari sings:

no,no one is perfect
and, no one is perfect
we've got holes in our heart
no one is perfect*

Here's a link to the April 2011 Spinner.com story accompanying the release of the video.

"All Alone in an Empty House" is powerful and moving, but the song that won't leave me is "A Room Where Your Paintings Hang."

i have a whole room
where your paintings hang
i have a whole heart
where you can plant your garden
it would grow, oh*

Here's a video of a live performance. Here is a link to the lyrics.

Lost in the Trees will release a follow-up CD, A Church That Fits Our Needs, in March. The title echoes lyrics in "A Room Where Your Paintings Hang":

and we will find a church
that fits both of our needs
and we'll forgive ourselves
and forgive our enemies
dump them into the sea*

According to the write-up on the billions.com site:

At end of day, this is the album Picker set out to make, a celebration of the woman he calls a "warrior," and a testament to the power of music to heal and transcend.

And if the following preview video is any indication at all, Ari has done Karen proud. This collection promises not to be just a continuation of the first one; it is taking Lost in the Trees' music to a new level. I'm definitely going to buy the new CD too as soon as it's available.

While I am frequently snarky about McSpirituality and, to a lesser degree, organized religion, at heart I remain sympathetic to the spiritual quest. I may laugh, I may snark, I may roll my eyes at times and giggle fiendishly as I Photoshop, but in the end I really cannot bring myself to categorically condemn people for the very human desire to find answers to the mysteries of life and death and love, answers that normally can't be found in a life lived on the surface. I don't fault Karen for seeking answers and support in an online community, nor do I fault her son for the new and more mystical direction of his own art (and his explanations thereof). He has taken his pain, and his mother's pain as well, and used his talent to mold that pain into something gorgeous.**

For Karen, Abraham-Hicks was far from being the church that fit her own needs. When she needed it the most, it failed her, adding to a long list of other people and institutions that had failed her. When a few concerned members of her final "church" tried to express grief for her passing, they were silenced.

But we need to remember that The Abe Forum is just one little corner of a vast world. (And in fact, the "renegade" Abe Talk forum did allow discussion of Karen's passing: http://abetalk.com/showthread.php?t=4129.) Karen lives on, in her own paintings and in the soaring, atmospheric music of her son Ari and his band. And no amount of rationalization or heavy-handed moderation from the loyal followers of an imaginary-friends-spouting charlatan can keep Karen's story from being told in many other ways as well, and by many other people. I imagine that we will each contribute our own spin and that we'll bring, as Clarity has observantly noted, our own biases to the story. And that's okay, I think, for the room where Karen's paintings hang is a boundless place, larger by far than even her son -- the one person who never failed her -- may have imagined.

And I predict that the population of the Aber-hood will continue to shrink, as more and more people awaken from their daze and come to realize what a garish, silly, and ultimately empty place the house that Jerry and Esther built really is.

* This just in (19 January 2012): Dave Stone presents "Jerry Hick's Bio, A Strangely Short Story." Seems like serial con artist Jer's bio is spottier than his head was in those final years.
** All lyrics copyright © Lost in the Trees. All rights reserved. I did not get permission to use these lyrics and will remove them if requested by the copyright holders. I just thought it was important to share them, and I urge everyone to buy this group's music (from legitimate sources, of course).
*** Contrast Ari's efforts to a certain selfish-help guru/frequent Whirled snarget's recent efforts to produce "the world's first self-help rock-n-roll CD," a work that sounds in places like the worst outtakes from American Idol auditions... and, well... jeez, I'm sorry I even brought that up. Lost in the Trees deserves better than that. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

One reason 2011 didn't completely suck

2011-12-31T20:44:00.016-06:00

All things told, 2011 was an eventful year on many fronts. One of the most notable events on this Whirled beat, of course, is that Jimmy Ray is now in a jumpsuit (for a while, anyway). It is, as the punch line in everyone's favorite attorney joke goes, a good beginning.

Who knows what 2012 will bring? For now, let's take a cue from the party hat in the "Before" pic (click on pic for enlargement). It's time to celebrate.

Happy New Year to all of you, and thank you for your support.

PS ~ Here is the fake robot's retrospective.

Beautiful daze in the Aber-hood

2011-12-22T11:05:00.046-06:00

Jerry is gone, but the show must go on.

Actually, Jerry Hicks, the George half of the George and Gracie of the imaginary-friends industry, isn't really gone, despite his having croaked* on November 18, 2011. As I predicted (but really, it was a totally no-brainer prognostication, and I was far from the only one predicting this), Jerry is still very much with Esther and her pretend pals Abraham. After joining Abe in The Vortex, Jerry is now apparently playing pranks on Esther and her audiences at the Abe-Hicks events she has bravely chosen to continue, despite her grieving.

The ever-vigilant Kyra provided a capsule summary of Esther's recent (December 10) LIVE workshop. Dave Stone, another Abe-Hicks critic, also weighed in with lots of good information and commentary, as well as additional links.

But there's trouble in Paradise, and there has been for some time now. What's going on is not a war of good versus evil per se; it's more like a war of The Vortex versus The Torrent. (Google Abraham-Hicks torrents and you'll see what I mean.) It seems that some Abers are using AbeEsther's own words against her/them, employing Abe-Hicks' pronouncements about sharing information to support their own sharing of Abe-Hicks content.

To some degree this is a money issue. It seems that despite repeated attempts to use Abe-Hicks' teachings about the Law of Attraction to attract wealth into their lives, large numbers of Abe fans apparently can't afford to attend the workshops in person or even on the Web, to say nothing of being able to afford those lavish sea cruises. To the rescue: a few Abers who are working to help people acquire as much Abe-Hicks content as possible gratis.

Not surprisingly, the folks at Abe-Hicks don't like it.

Again we turn to Kyra's blog, as she discusses the Abe-Hicks' organization's attempts to crack down on copyright violations. She notes that the efforts to fight copyright violators seem to have been stepped up after Jerry stepped into The Vortex last month.

On one level, of course, the torrents present just another example of people wanting something for nothing, and that's a very human trait, which the Internet has in many ways nurtured. But it's something more as well, as at least some of the torrent troops seem to fervently believe they are working for that New-Wage/McSpirituality conceit known as the Greater Good, which in this case means spreading Abe's loving message to a world that is starving for it. For them as well as for other Abe-Hicks watchers, it's also morally complicated because some of the things the Hicks have said over the years could have been interpreted as carte blanche for the content sharers.

There's this recent bit from Esther/Abe, for instance, uploaded in September of 2011, before Jerry got sucked into The Vortex. And as a reminder for those who aren't familiar with the Abe-Hicks shtick, that's Esther's voice, but you'll hear "Jerry and Esther" referred to in the third person because, you see, that's Abe talking through Esther.

I listened very carefully to this rambling, but it was kind of hard to tell exactly what Esther/Abe is/are saying about copyrights. New-Wagers are so indirect. If they're not couching things in enlightened-sounding euphemisms, they're just plain babbling. However, in this recording Esther-as-Abe seems to be saying that protecting copyrights is kind of a negative thing and isn't really necessary if you're going with the flow. She/they also seems to be saying that "this thing you call the Internet" is wonderful, because it provides an earthly demonstration of how LOA really works.

Then again, that was apparently recorded before Jerry croaked. Now the heirs to the throne are redoubling efforts to protect the territory. For the most part the Abe-Hicks organization seems to be couching the copyright fights in the most altruistic terms, claiming that their desire to protect their material is just so people who need their message can easily find them, and that it has nothing to do with money. Uh-huh.

But the torrenters fight on. One dedicated activist attempts to address both the legal and the moral issues surrounding the sharing of Abe-Hicks material (I won't name him, nor will I provide a link to his sites, but I imagine you can find them by Googling). He writes that in 2006 he came across the Abe-Hicks teachings, which changed his life for the better. He downloaded some MPFree files offered by Abe-Hicks and he got hooked. The more he studied their teaching, the more he wanted it. Alas, he was unemployed and could not spend the money they were asking for their recordings. (In my many years of observing, I've noticed that New-Wage gurus seem to attract more than the average bear's share of freeloaders.)

But our activist asked and searched, and, as he 'splains it, the Law of Attraction led him to Abraham-Hicks torrents. I would have put my money on Google rather than the LOA that led him torrentward, but whatevs, as the hipsters used to say until that phrase got worn out (yeah, I know I've used it here too, and I'm not even a hipster). In any event the torrents were his lifesaver, he noted, and he felt so blessed that he decided he wanted to share the goodies with everyone. It felt really good to spread the word and help others find what he'd found. At this point in his narrative he quoted Abe-Hicks:

You are uplifters to the core of your being. Part of your selfish nature is to share the good stuff. Part of your selfish nature is to revel in what feels good, and spread it so others may find it too. - Abraham-Hicks

He wrote that he was concerned about the legality of torrents but was reassured by no lesser beings than Abraham themselves. Here are the quotations that apparently assuaged his moral anguish:

Everything is valid and everything is truthful, because Law of Attraction lets everything be. The question is not whether it's right or wrong, whether their approach is right or wrong, or whether my approach is right or wrong. The question is: Does their approach feel good to me? And if it doesn't, then I choose a different approach. --- Abraham (Excerpted from the workshop in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, August 2nd, 1998)

The Universe is not discriminating about the rightness or the wrongness of your request. It is here to accommodate all requests. All you have to do is be a Vibrational Match to your request, and the Universe will yield it to you. --- Abraham Excerpted from the workshop in Sacramento, CA on Saturday, May 13th, 2000

When you manage to stay connected to your Energy stream, you always win. And you know what, somebody else doesn't have to lose for you to win. There is always enough. --- Abraham

Alignment trumps everything including the supreme court. Stay true to your own desire. You don't have to convince anyone. --- Abraham

In other words, if taking and sharing other people's stuff makes you feel good, it's all right. Sorry, dude, but that probably ain't gonna hold up in court, if it comes to that. And all that stuff that Abe supposedly said about copyright being not all that important? I don't think that's going to fly either. I'm no lawyer so I really couldn't say how these things work, but I have watched a lot of law shows on TV, and I don't think there's any sort of precedent for calling imaginary buddies to the stand. I guess there's always a first time, though.

Hypocritical as the Hicks team seem to be on so many levels -- not the least of which is the ongoing masquerade that they're not in it for the money -- intellectual property rights law trumps what someone's imaginary friends supposedly said about sharing, feeling good, or what have you.

My biases here are twofold, and at first glance they seem to be somewhat in conflict with each other. First off, I look at the Hicks enterprise, and always have, from the perspective of one who firmly believes that Esther and Jerry made the whole Abe thing up, originally inspired in large part by the success of the late Jane Roberts and her made-up mate Seth. (I know I've linked to this 2007 Independent (UK) article about the Hicks before, but I'm linking again because it really does paint a revealing portrait of Esther and Jerry.) They have been pulling this brilliant scheme off for more than twenty-five years, and I suppose you kind of have to hand it to them for that. At some point one or both Hickses may have started to believe some of their own b.s. ("Be careful what you pretend to be," warned Vonnegut in what I think was his finest novel, Mother Night), but that doesn't make it any less b.s.-y. At any rate, the result is that Hicks and their bogus buds have provided much snark chum for this Whirled and a few others -- most notably, Kyra and Dave.

But I'm also looking at the torrent issue from the viewpoint of an author. Part of my role as a book editor and ghostwriter for going on twenty years has been that of author advocate, and I know something about the creative process and the work that goes into producing and marketing content -- even if you have someone else create all or part of it for you. The law is on the Hicks' side, of course, but, legal issues aside, I don't think anyone has a moral right to consistently take and share huge chunks of commercial content unless it is freely offered by the creators of that content. (Yes, even if those creators are hammy scammers who have made millions from selling their imaginary-pals shtick to spiritually, emotionally, and financially needy people, and even if they have kind of made it sound as if it's okay to freely share their creations.) Quoting segments -- even extended segments -- for the purpose of criticism or commentary or just plain poking fun is one thing. Consistently taking entire copyrighted works and distributing them without permission is quite another.

Some might think my whole spiel about protecting content is contradictory to my passionate defense of Internet freedom, as expressed in my anti-SOPA post just the other day. Not so. In my opinion, SOPA reaches much too far in "protecting" the rights of content creators, and unfairly punishing those who share content even in the most indirect and innocent way. On the other hand, I've never been particularly sympathetic to torrenters. I will be happy to hear from those who disagree with me on any of these issues, of course.

From my perspective, however, the larger and more disturbing issues here are not the hypocrisy (or Hicks-ocrisy, as the case may be), nor the greed that fuels the Abe-Hicks empire and apparently has for years, long before The Vortex welcomed Jerry into its infinite delights. Hypocrisy and greed are certainly prominent characteristics not only of Abe-Hicks, but also of New-Wage rockstars in general. But what concerns me even more is the fact that so many presumably educated adults are fighting passionately for free and unlimited access to what is basically a package of derivative crap. Branded derivative crap, yes, but derivative crap nonetheless. Aside from the ludicrous premise of receiving "wisdom" from a group of disembodied entities, even a casual glance at the messages that those all-knowing, all-wise entities are supposedly sharing should give pause.

Consider, for example, this snippet about one of Esther's recent solo workshops, as reported and commented on by Dave Stone (I've mentioned it on my Facebook page and at the end of my November 28 Abrascam post, but it's worth sharing again):

Asked by a mother in the hot seat about dealing with her young child who refused to share toys, the brilliant, all-knowing Abraham responded the the child was in alignment, enjoying his toy "like Jesus not freaking out about the toylessness of his friends."

Which coldhearted Jesus was that, Abe?

Farther along in the conversation, Esther told her she should not be concerned or interfere with her son's kicking their cat. It was between the animal abuser and the cat, Esther said, and the cat would teach him. That's right, Abe, bring us one more Ted Bundy.

Kind of creepy, no? (Or perhaps the kid was just demonstrating Jerry and Esther's folksy observation that life is "a kick in the pants.") And consider "Abraham's" teachings about evolution, as noted by Kyra a few months ago. In her December 11 blog post I linked to above, Kyra also noted that at the December 10, 2011 LIVE event, Esther-as-Abe informed her audience that the human species was on Earth at the same time as the dinosaurs. Move over, Creationists!

Some Abers will probably say that I'm cherry-picking, that it's unfair to judge an entire body of work by a couple of arbitrarily chosen examples. But just go to Kyra or Dave's sites and poke around through the archives, and you'll see tons of other examples to support the basic premise that the Abe-Hicks material is ~~a steaming pile of sh..~~ perhaps not the wisest choice of a guidebook for living.

Meanwhile, it seems clear to me even from my vantage point as an outsider that in the wake of Jerry's death, many people are struggling desperately to cling to their beliefs in Abe and Esther, finding ways to justify (or simply ignore) the increasingly glaring hypocrisies and inconsistencies. At this point there is a whole herd of elephants in the room -- or dinosaurs, if you prefer -- and many of the Abe defenders are still finding ways not to talk about them, at least not honestly. They choose to remain in their beautiful daze, which I'm sure is just fine with Esther and her minions.

The only bright spot in all of this is that more of the natives really are getting restless, and perhaps for the first time are questioning not only the motives of the Abe-Hicks principals, but the validity of the stuff that spews out of Esther's mouth. And while the guardians of the Abe-Hicks empire may not find that very comforting, I think it's a very, very good thing.

PS ~ In other copyrights-and-wrongs news, the Hicks apparently also tried to trademark the phrase, "Law of Attraction" but had no luck. They have, however, cornered the market on Vortex of Attraction ^TM. Take that, all of you Secret stars and thousands of other other two-bit New-Wage hucksters and wannabes who are trying to capitalize on LOA. LOA ain't got nothin' on VOA.

PPS added on 28 December ~ Someone on Kyra's blog pointed out this blog post from an apparently recently disillusioned ex-Aber, who gives a very good account of her own experience in the Aber-hood. She describes the euphoria that comes from thinking one has finally found the true path, as well as the uncomfortable process of disillusionment. And I think she also nails the Hicks' true motives. Read the post here while you can: http://luvyourplanet.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/hello-world/

PPPS ~ In this recent article, Dave Stone documents that Esther-as-Abe has declared for many years that yes, it IS all about the money. Even religion is all about money, according to Abe, who apparently has also said that Esther herself is on a par with Jesus and Buddha. Good to know.

PPPPS added 3 January 2012 ~ Good Goddess, the post-script section on this thing is going to be longer than the actual post if this keeps up. But I just recently became aware of another new blog by a former Aber: Mariah's fine Post-Abe blog, which documents the lies one learns in the Aber-hood (and, in Mariah's case, eventually un-learns). Of particular interest: This post, dated December 29 (which also happened to be the birthday of long-time "friend" of the Hicks, Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale). The Abe-on-parenting theme fits in with that kick-the-kitty thang. Good job, Mariah. And beyond that, read the comments to this post. In particular, a commenter named Tina brings up what appears to be another sad tale of collateral damage -- easily worthy of separate subsequent posts. Stay tuned...

* By using the word "croaked" I am not being disrespectful; that's apparently a term freely used by the Abe-Hicks gang and their followers.

███████ your site, fight SOPA

2011-12-13T12:46:00.029-06:00

Have you heard of SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act?
Or the only marginally less loathsome Protect IP Act?

These are devious bipartisan creations of US legislation that could impose China- or Saudi Arabia-style censorship on millions of web site owners in the Land of the Free. Even including a single link to another site that didn't meet SOPA's stringent standards could result in the site that shared that link being taken down -- with no warning to the site's owner. The U.S. government would have the power to demand that the site be taken down, although the very well-funded supporters of the legislation -- namely the publishing, music, and film industries -- would actually be the watchdogs.

It seems to me that under SOPA, it could be relatively easy for anyone who was displeased by content on a Web site to get that site wiped off of the Web, provided that person had enough money and influence. Just think: my little blue Whirled could be toast. My fake robot pal Salty, whose trademark sign-off is "Bleep-Bloop," could be bleeped right off of the Internet. Your site(s) probably wouldn't be safe either.

There's still time to fight SOPA and Protect IP, though. Here are some helpful links:

http://boingboing.net/?p=134088

http://americancensorship.org/posts/4299/uncensor

And now back to our regularly scheduled ███████ .

PS ~ Thanks to Cassandra Yorgey for sharing those last two links on Facebook.

True-dough updates: bad poetry for KT, hate mail for CC

2011-12-05T14:50:00.022-06:00

Not long ago I was nosing around one of the main sites of a favorite snarget of mine, the infamous infomercial king and compulsive flopportunity huckster Kevin True-dough. As you may know if you have been hanging around here any length of time, or even if you've just been observing KT, he has a legion of worshipful followers who look upon him as a hero, fighting the good fight on their behalf against the forces of evil. Sometimes they express their love for him by writing atrocious songs or bad poetry. And that's just fine with me because, as you may also know, I am a dedicated fan of bad poetry, whether it's intentionally awful or not.

More than likely this attempt at a limerick, and the numerous responses to same, fall into the "not intentionally awful" category. Here's the original, published on the KT site this past August:

There once was a man named Trudeau
Like a Jedi knight on the go
With Knowingness Transcendent
And his trusty e-pendant
He'll soon have all Congress in tow.

~ BB

Well, that got the inspirational juices flowing among the True-doughnuts. Here is an early response, from a poet named Stephen:

Hail! The Jedi named Trudeau,
Bring forth Siddus, Vader or Emperor.
Challenge! K.T. will with Kenobi and Yoda true,
Darth Congress that doth made America poor.

E-Pendant a swinging purifying the energies,
Flight to dark corners false rulers will.
They swarm but fall like flies,
When K.T. come to light the lying Congress Bill.

Indignant the populace shall be,
Their cause is to be free.
Kevin will raise the proud flag,
Hey, Trudeau your seat’s in the bag.

By "your seat's in the bag," I assume our poet is not referring to True-dough's buttocks being stuffed into a paper sack; rather, I believe he means that Kevin's Congressional seat, should the Great One choose to run, is secure. And those references to the E-pendant? Glad you asked.

There are several more poetic offerings on the site for your reading pleasure. Well, Dear Ones, inspiration is contagious: I was moved to write my own limerick in response, though I did not submit it to the KT Radio Show site.

You’ve heard of that huckster True-dough
And his wingnutty radio show
He’ll shamelessly spout
Lotsa nonsense about
All the stuff “they” don’t want you to know.

His followers treat him like God
Caring not that he’s served time for fraud.
They swallow the crap
That spews from his yap
Each utterance makes them applaud.

He started this scheme he calls GIN –
A thousand bucks just to get in
Thousands more to advance
It’s a desperate dance
And a dead end for all except him.

I may add more verses later if the inspiration hits me, and you're welcome to contribute some of your own. And, hey, I know that "him" doesn't rhyme with "GIN" and "in." But cut me some slack, all right?

In other True-dough news, it appears that the Jedi Knight with Knowingness Transcendent has lost his valiant battle to get his $37-plus million dollar Federal Trade Commission fine for lying to his customers thrown out. He's been fighting that thing for years. No doubt he will continue to fight it, accepting money from suckers who contribute to his KT Legal Defense Fund. For now, though, as the Infomercial Hell blogger wryly noted in response to this latest news: "It appears that Kevin’s magic genie and GIN/Illuminati buddies are letting him down on this one." Not to mention his E-pendant.

And by the way, although KT spewed some racist rants about Hispanics on his show a few months ago, grousing about the way those gosh-darned illegal Mexicans are taking over the US, he has absolutely no qualms about hustling Hispanics in their native tongue. Lately I've been noticing Spanish-dubbed versions of his Free Money infomercials playing on the Latino channels late at night. Never miss an opportunity... Oh, but of course, he is probably marketing only to legal "Mexicans." (I'll provide a link when and if I can find one. Meanwhile, if you are in the US and do some channel surfing late at night, you're bound to run into Señor Dinero Gratis.)

Finally, I was recently contacted by one Lynndel "Lynn" Edgington, an author and radio show host who runs a non-profit anti-fraud organization, Eagle Research Associates, Inc., http://www.eagleresearchassociates.org. Mr. Edgington, whose mission includes helping to protect the public from Internet investment fraud, is particularly concerned with Ponzi and Ponzi-like schemes, and notes that in today's desperate economic climate, so many people are grasping at straws, thinking these get-rich gimmicks will be the answer to their prayers. Among many other projects, he has worked on a TV show about a major scam that occurred in his neck of the woods, Orange County, California. The victims were all senior citizens in ill health; over half of them died before the perp ever got to trial, more died during the two-year trial, and today, out of 127 victims that came forward, only about a half dozen are still alive. Mr. Edgington, who had written an article about True-dough's G.I.N. scheme, asked my permission to re-publish one of my recent True-dough articles on the site. I granted it (here is the link).

Now, it may just be one big coinky-dink, but shortly after that re-publication I started getting some "fan mail" to one of my older True-dough posts, "First Amendment Stuporhero." Do I even have to add that both fans are named "Anonymous?"

The first one:

Wow! There's a reason why people like you remain losers your whole life and why the rest of us are making thousands of dollars a month with wait for it....Global Information Network, Juice Plus+ (NSA), Joe Vitale, Abraham, etc...the difference is we don't pertain to know it all like you do.

I've just sat and read through your entire 'blog' (I'll prefer to call it 'bog' from now on, as it's full of crap!) and a cold-shiver went through me as I recalled being just like you before making money by listening to someone who has money.
As you do NOT have money, why anyone would listen to you is beyond me. Although I suspect that your 'bog' is more of a vent for yourself than anything else.

You undoubtedly hate anyone who is successful and especially anyone who has learned to market that success for their (and others') benefits.

Do you actually believe the crap that you spout? I daresay you do and no doubt you would rebuke the retort against you as me being just another deluded individual, suckered into some MLM scam?!
Well, that's fine with me...when you're making $6,000 a month from sitting at home, not doing these MLM programs, as I am, get back to me and perhaps I'll think you've got something worthy to say. Until then, I think you're just proving yourself to be nothing more than an egotistical, self-centred, know-it-all, without the slightest clue as to how to be successful.

Good luck with being a continual loser and having loser friends with loser mentality!

Spoken like a loyal True-doughnut. Their hero is always talking about "winners" and "losers." The "losers," of course, are those who don't care enough about improving their lives to listen to Your Wish Is Your Command hundreds of times and to drink True-dough's G.I.N.-spiked Kool-Aid.

And then there was this comment, which may very well have come from the same person:

And the award for the most ignorant blogger and blog goes to YOU!!

What a scumbag you are! You dare to slander people who have been proven to help others and then you ask for 'donations' and have irrelevant google ads on your page? Pot calling the kettle black!

It's obvious to me and many others, that you haven't the first clue about most of these people you pull down. In fact, it seems to me that you enjoy bitching about successful people.

No problem there...you're a loser, always will be.

If you follow the links you'll see my replies, including my explanation about what a huge cash cow the GoogleAds program has been for me.

It seems to me that so far, in the great scheme of things, critical bloggers and watchdog sites can't hold a candle to the twin forces of scammers' greed and scammees' gullibility (or desperation). On an August KT Radio Network show, the topic of discussion was secret societies, which, of course, are the underlying theme and main hook for the ludicrous G.I.N. Here's a direct link to the video, in which, among other things, True-dough seems to be saying that he'd recently offered a free-car giveaway mainly so he could bring the losers who actually needed a car out of the woodwork and give them a good talking-to about trying to get something for nothing.

In response to this show, there was an outpouring of gratitude from True-dough's fans. Such as this one, from someone named Lidia:

I am praying to God to help me to become a GIN MEMBER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO I CAN MAKE MONEY TO SUPPORT YOUR TV SHOW.IT IS INCREDIBLE! I AM JUST CRYING! I HAVE NO WORDS TO THANK YOU,KEVIN! LIDIA

Yanno, I feel like crying too when I read stuff like that.

PS ~ Here's the story of another criminal huckster following in True-dough's footsteps by casting himself as a noble fighter against the evil government. (And another hat-tip to Salty.)

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abrascam?

2011-11-28T13:06:00.078-06:00

As some of you may be aware by now, Jerry Hicks, former Amway superstar and the person who first “inspired” his wife Esther to get in touch with that imaginary collective, Abrascam, has “transitioned to the nonphysical.” A form of leukemia, perhaps related to advanced age (he was in his eighties) took him. He shuffled off this mortal coil on November 18, which as it happens was the same day James Arthur "Death" Ray began his prison ministry tour. Esther apparently waited a few days to announce Jerry's death.

Many folks, both Abe believers and nonbelievers, have had questions about several aspects of this event. A person named Bonnie, writing in a discussion on an older post on the Salty Droid blog (comment date-stamped November 25th, 2011 at 6:04 pm), summed up the issues quite well:

What I really find amazing is that after they outright lied about his [cancer] diagnosis for the longest time, and when he got his diagnosis, he started immediately with aggressive chemotherapy treatments, something they have always claimed that modern medicine of any kind is something that you don’t need (I wonder just how many people they “killed” by people dying rather than seeking out treatment), and then he dies anyway and it takes Esther 5 whole days to notify their suckers, I mean, supporters, because she needs that much time to make up a story to convince their cult that everything is just the way it was supposed to be and Jerry is now where he was supposed to be, and everyone believes it all and is still all wrapped up in the bullsh!t! I mean, doesn’t anyone see the discrepancy between what they teach and the real facts now? Talk about brain washing! I kind of thought that when I saw clips of Esther performing with a bad cold and could barely talk, her voice was so hoarse, on one of their recent video releases, and how she “excused it away” — when what they teach is that if you are in “alignment”, or “in the vortex”, you will not get sick or attract any illness of any kind. I guess Jerry attracted his cancer the same way [James Ray] attracted his downfall. “You attract what you are”.

But no doubt Esther will go on, probably channeling Jerry now as well as Abe. I know, I know, she doesn't call it "channeling." She calls it "receiving." You say receiving, I say channeling, let's call the whole thing off? Not a chance of that; calling it off is apparently the furthest thing from Esther's mind, seeing as how she is already getting messages from Jerry in the Vortex.

And I've been getting bold anonymous messages on one of my old Abrascam blog posts, even though at the time I received them I’d only mentioned Jerry's death briefly on someone else’s post on Facebook. Here's a small sampling, unedited:

...And, they never said NOT to go to doctors and use medicine. Just whatever feels right (positive) to the person. Though of course, in hindsight, taking chemo didn't work for Jerry, overall. But then, he was 84 or so, and had a long, interesting, sucessful life, and maybe had done all he wanted to do in this lifetime?

...Just seems like the ctirics of the Hickses and Abraham are just plain jealous. And they will create a life for themselves, based on this...
Thursday, November 24, 2011 9:39:00 AM

Hmmm... if Jerry had done all he wanted to do in this lifetime, why fight the cancer at all? It seems obvious that Jerry wanted to live a little longer, and who can blame him? The comments following that one were even more loving (pardon the F-words and such):

Anonymous said...
ugly bitch. Be happy for someone when their dreams come true. Fucking follower. Go ahead live like your ancestors. Stupid old tired beliefs....why dont you go digging in the dirt for 2000yr old answers to now questions. I hate you. And i did it on purpose. I am not closer to wealth because of hating you. Bitch
Thursday, November 24, 2011 12:57:00 PM

Anonymous said...
maybe someday I will laugh at your choices in life, create a web-post about it, and use a flattering photo of you-maybe with a dick on you forehead.
Thursday, November 24, 2011 1:01:00 PM

Full of love and light to the end, those Abers! Or perhaps it should be that Aber. Frankly, most of those comments read as if they all came from the same deluded soul. By the way, that reference to a dick on my forehead is apparently an angry reaction to my crude photo-composite of Jerry with a big spider on his head. (Originally the Hicks thought Jerry might have been suffering from a spider bite, which, they speculated, he might have received while they were camping out next to a yacht marina.) I could save my critic the trouble and do a Photoshop of myself with a dick on my forehead, but I've written about so many of them on this blog over the years that it would be difficult for me to choose just one, and my forehead will only hold so much.

On that note, Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale, who has long considered himself a friend of Esther and Jerry, weighed in about Jerry's death a couple of days ago. Besides paying tribute to his friend, he attempted to address the controversies surrounding Jerry's illness and death:

Abraham taught you’d always have challenges. As soon as you resolved one issue, you’d attract another. Welcome to the human experience. This doesn’t mean the Law of Attraction doesn’t work. It means it does work. You always get what you unconsciously believe and expect. (Re-read that.) Jerry once told Esther he’d probably depart before her, which proves he had a belief in dying, and maybe a belief in a particular way of passing on.

What Joe doesn't mention is that Jerry told Esther he would probably depart before her because he was so much older than she, and the law of averages would dictate that his time would be up before hers. So Joe's remark that this comment proved Jerry had "a belief in dying" is... well, typical asinine Law of Attraction crapola, to put it most charitably. Joe continued:

I wasn’t with Jerry when he grew ill, so I can’t say what he was thinking. I don’t know why he attracted cancer, or why he chose the modern medicine path to remove it. But if he accepted conventional medicine as a treatment, than he must have felt he attracted it as a possible solution. He was probably reaching for the thought that felt best to him at the time.

But immediately afterward, Joe seemed to contradict himself:

The fact that he got ill and passed on doesn’t mean anything more than he got ill and passed on. Everything else is simply our projecting our beliefs onto his situation.

Perhaps Joe actually meant that the fact that Jerry got ill and passed on doesn't, or shouldn't, mean anything more to Abe-Hicks believers than that he got ill and passed on. After all, the two paragraphs Joe wrote before that sentence would seem to imply that there were indeed deeper reasons for and/or meanings behind Jerry's illness and death. In any case, many of the Abers -- and ex-Abers --do seem to be having problems with apparent contradictions in the Abe-Hicks teachings. As illustrated above, some who seem to be clinging desperately to their beliefs have rationalized that Abe-Hicks never actually taught that one should eschew Western medicine completely. Others contend that yes, Abe-Hicks did teach this, and therefore Jerry Hicks was being hypocritical by choosing chemo.

The larger issue, and one that Joe conveniently overlooked, is that either by accident or design (then again, there are no accidents, right?), Esther and Jerry created a "cult of personality" over the years with their Abe shtick, making themselves the stars as much as their imaginary friends, despite their faux-modest disclaimers that Abe was the real source of the wisdom they shared. So the fact that some of their followers are upset about what they see as contradictions or hypocrisies in the Hicks' own decisions cannot be dismissed merely as the followers' own flaws or projections, although that is Mr. Fire's favorite means of dismissal. People who create and market a public persona -- and represent themselves as an example of how to live -- are setting themselves up for criticism. (Yes, I know I am setting myself up too, and I get plenty of criticism. But I'm not presenting myself as an example of how to live, and I am certainly not making millions of dollars off this snarky shtick.)

I will grant that whatever her motives might have been, it was Esther's right to choose when and how to announce her husband's death. Brilliant cons aside, Jerry was her spouse of many years, and I have no doubt that she loved him, and is grieving for him on a deeply personal level.

At any rate, as I've noted before, I'm not an expert on the Abe-Hicks material, so I'll leave it up to those with a broader and deeper knowledge of the material to argue the particulars about what Esther and Jerry and "Abe" did or didn't teach about health and illness and death. And other folks can argue all they want about whether and how the Law of Attraction "works." That doesn't interest me much. To me, the real issue here is and always has been my opinion that Jerry and Esther made the whole Abraham thing up, originally inspired by the enduring success of Jane Roberts' Seth material. (Some of the back story -- plus some insight into the Hicks' character and business practices -- can be found in this 2007 article from the (UK) Independent.) And while Jerry may have lived a long, interesting, and successful life, as one of my Anon detractors pointed out to me, for much of his life he made his living as a hustler and con artist. Before Abrascam, there was Amway...

But he did leave a legacy, and I have no doubt that even as Jerry joyfully whirls in the sweet by-and-by, the sweet buy-and-buy will go on in this dimension. Esther will be up there on stage channeling Abe, and then...oh, my... Jerry will make an "appearance," bringing tears and laughter to the crowd of gullibles. More books, more DVDs, more workshops, more cruises. And Jerry will be on every one of them. Indeed, it takes more than cancer to kill a cash cow.

* * * * *

More on Abe-Hicks: http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2007/07/you-really-gotta-want-it-but-you-better.html

Kyra's excellent critical Abe-Hicks blog (I may not know much about the Abe-Hicks teachings, but Kyra certainly does.)

I don't want to forget Dave Stone's Abe-Hicks Squidoo lens. Here he shows an outrageous example, from a recent Abe-Hicks workshop, of the type of amoral teachings of Esther Hicks' imaginary pals (but very real cash cow). Apparently selfishness is a divine, Christ-like attribute, and it's perfectly all right for a child to abuse a pet.

Musings about why it matters more -- or should matter more -- when New-Wage gurus screw up in their lives than when the rest of us do: http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2009/11/lies-that-blind.html

A jumpsuit for Jimmy

2011-11-18T22:43:00.028-06:00

But I breathe yet
And for some the sky is bright
I cannot give up hoping for a morning light
So I ask that killer, "Can you sleep at night?"
Those three are on my mind.

(Apologies to folksinger Pete Seeger)*

As everyone who has been following the story is painfully aware by now, James Arthur Ray, convicted in June of 2011 on three counts of negligent homicide for the October 2009 fake-sweat-lodge deaths of James Shore, Kirby Brown and Liz Neuman, was sentenced on Friday, November 18, 2011. For his role in ending the lives of these three fine people, he received a mere two years in prison, minus 24 days served in jail last year after he was arrested. Those two years actually represent three two-year terms -- one for each death -- but the terms will be served concurrently rather than consecutively. As was the case of the verdict on the lesser charge of negligent homicide (as opposed to reckless manslaughter), the sentence represents only a tiny victory for the victims and their loved ones.

For the first few days after his conviction, Death Ray was officially listed as being in the Yavapai County (Arizona) Jail infirmary, leading to all sorts of speculation on Salty Droid's blog. As of this writing he is apparently in transit to somewhere else.

Though I was unable to follow the whole trial and post-trial goings-on moment by moment, and I certainly have been remiss on my blogging, I kept up with the story through Salty Droid's blog, LaVaughn's Celestial Reflection's blog, Connie Joy's Tragedy in Sedona Facebook page, and various Twitter feeds. The mainstream news media were of very little help. And despite my capricious satellite connections here at the Edge of Nowhere, I was able to tune in to a live CNN feed on November 18 to see the tail-end of the sentencing. At the time I tuned in, Death Ray was engaged in what was certainly the most important performance of his career, issuing a tearful, cracked-voice apology. Among other things he whimpered that if he'd had any idea whatsoever that the people in his fake sweat lodge were really in any distress, he certainly would have "stopped immediately." (This is, of course, contrary to mounds of eyewitness testimony.) He also promised to never, never, never, never run another fake sweat lodge.

Comparing his past arrogant, in-your-face performances with that courtroom drama, I was reminded of the creature Gollum in Lord of the Rings: one moment plotting his evil deeds to wrest the Ring from the Hobbits, and then the next, when confronted and threatened (usually by Frodo's loyal pal Samwise Gamgee), cowering and whining that he was just an innocent soul who was only trying to help out, and he never meant any harm at all.

Unfortunately this was real life, not a fantasy film. Following Ray's pathetic histrionics there was a break, and then a beet-red, faltering Judge Warren Darrow came back to pronounce his judgment. My first thought when I saw him was that this man was seriously hypertensive. It also seemed apparent as he rambled on that he was having some deep emotional conflicts about the case. I kind of felt sorry for him at first, particularly when it seemed for a moment that he wasn't going to let Ray off easily. But I was quickly dispelled of all illusions as he began nattering about “educated adults” and “responsibility” and “common sense,” the clear implication being that the people in distress in the sweat lodge should have taken more responsibility for saving themselves. It sounded to me as if he also mumbled something about suffering being one purpose of a sweat lodge. I can only imagine how Native Americans felt when listening to that.

I was also appalled when Darrow said in all seriousness that he believed Ray sincerely thought he was helping people. And when he said that Ray had committed no prior similar offenses, I found myself shouting at the computer screen. What about the previous sweat lodges where people almost died? What about Colleen Conaway, who died at a Ray event in San Diego in July 2009?

And what about all of the aggravating circumstances?

Granted, Judge Darrow couldn't legally base his sentence on some of the things many of us found most objectionable, such as Ray's apparent lack of remorse up to the time of the croc-tear performance. But he was allowed to take into account many aggravating factors -- that was the purpose of all of those hearings following the verdict, after all -- and it seemed to many of us who were watching this that his sentence displayed either abject naivete or willful ignorance of the greater context. Or perhaps something more sleazy was going on. I don't know and, obviously, I'm not a lawyer, but I think this kind of "justice" stinks.

In Ray's camp, the attorneys immediately began the process of reversing what little justice had been done, and The Spin began as well. According to an article by Mark Duncan that was published on the site for the Prescott, Arizona Daily Courier:

Ray's family was somber but upbeat after the sentencing, making plans to return to their homes in San Diego and Kansas City. They think Ray is strong enough to endure his prison experience.

"We want to express our condolences to the victims' families again and hope they can find forgiveness in their hearts," said Ray's brother Jon. "We were fortunate enough to meet with James after the sentencing. He was in good spirits and said this would give him the opportunity to help people in prison who need it."

I can just imagine the type of "help" James could offer to his prison mates. There's been a lot of speculation about what manner of new frauducts or flopportunities he'll be able to dream up behind bars. Even though he has promised never to conduct another phony sweat lodge, there are still plenty of ways to scam people and to inflict financial and emotional, if not physical, harm on them. He proved that time and again at his other pricey, emotionally and physically abusive events. (Colleen, for example, did not die in a sweat lodge.) Moreover, being behind bars has never stopped a first-rate scammer for very long. In fact, prison is often just another incubator for scams. In many ways it is a hucksters' paradise.

An oft-cited (at least on this blog) example is infomercial king Kevin True-Dough, who served two years in prison in the early 1990s on on various felony charges, including credit card fraud. In prison he met another scammer and cooked up more scams, and when he got out he went on to bigger and better schemes. Perhaps his biggest current scam is the Global Information Network, or G.I.N., which, because the main money-making ops come from selling memberships to others, is basically a pyramid scheme — despite the protest-too-much disclaimers on various sites run by some of his minions. He apparently manages to get around the U.S. authorities by basing G.I.N. offshore, in Nevis/St. Kitts. He also retains expensive lawyers, and has a legal defense fund which he aggressively promotes — the result being that the same folks he’s screwing with his frauducts and flopportunities contribute to the great cause of keeping him out of jail. If they contribute $1,000 or more they get a chance to have dinner with him and their fellow suckers, and more opportunities to contribute yet more money to the cause.

No doubt about it, KT has a great shtick going, and he has many people convinced that he’s a fearless consumer advocate and First Amendment champion whom the government, the medical profession, and the pharmaceutical industry are trying to squash.

But I digress. It seems that the Death Ray case was Judge Darrow's swan song. According to the Daily Courier article cited above:

Judge Darrow, who spent nearly two years refereeing a consistently contentious adjudication, has announced that he will retire early next year. In an email, he wrote a brief summation of his thoughts on a decade on the bench.

"I cannot overstate my appreciation for the opportunity I have been given to serve in this position of profound responsibility," he wrote.

While Judge Darrow recovers from his ordeal and Ray's lawyers work to further muck up the wheels of justice, James Ray's fans and defenders are also out in force. A core group of loyalists insist he doesn't deserve prison, according to this ABC News piece. One said, "Wherever James goes, he always does good." Some of the most revolting remarks can be found on the Official James Ray fan page on Facebook. If you follow that link, be prepared for some nauseating victim-blaming ("those three sheeple deserved to die") and Ray-worshiping ("those who hate James Ray aren't worth even one of his turds") remarks. I have to wonder if some of the people on that site are just being cruelly provocative, or if they really are as deluded as they sound.

My point is that although there may be more than a bit of schadenfreude in the critics' corners at the prospect of Jimmy Ray in an orange jumpsuit, we can't necessarily count him out of the selfish-help/New-Wage/McSpirituality game. Granted, as Salty Droid and others have noted, at least that two-years-minus-24-days sentence is something. And perhaps Salty is right and JAR has been crippled. Like Voldemort when Harry and gang started destroying the Horcruxes, Ray may be seriously weakened. Not only does he face scads more civil suits, there's the Colleen Conaway case, which her family is actively pursuing. Maybe Ray will never regain his full power to hurt people emotionally, physically, and financially.

Maybe.

But others will surely rise in his place, so it’s up to those of us who wish to fight what Salty has often referred to as the “sick machine” in our own way to keep reminding people of the nature of the beast.

I've wondered if some of the stigma of James Ray's conviction and imprisonment will also leave a bit of a smudge on the other New-Wage gurus, particularly the stars of The Secret, who used to boast that Ray was their friend. One that comes to mind is our friend Mr. Fire, who, in happier days (that would be the heyday of The Secret), bragged that James Ray was his friend. Joe hasn't said much about his friend, at least not publicly, since Ray's troubles began. Others in the selfish-help game have been bolder. For instance, there's Scientist Bob Proctor, quoted in this article on the Arizona Republic site (this was just after Ray was convicted):

Bob Proctor, a self-help leader and longtime friend of James Arthur Ray, said although he did not support the sweat-lodge retreat, he would have liked to see Ray vindicated.

"Anybody had the right to leave there (the sweat lodge), and they didn't. Some did," Proctor said. "It was a tragic thing that happened, but I don't think (Ray) should be the one that's held responsible.

"He's not a bad guy. He's been portrayed as something that he's not. He's actually helped a lot of people."

And the aforementioned Kevin True-dough, not a star of The Secret but an even brighter star in the scamosphere, spun Ray's conviction as part of a U.S. government conspiracy against the selfish-help industry and the true innovators and entrepreneurs in society.

But I really don't think Ray's jail term will have much of an effect on the activities of the busy hucksters. Jimmy Ray Jumpsuit may be temporarily incapacitated, but the selfish-help industry is thriving -- scams, scammers, and all. There are laws in place to protect consumers, but those responsible for enforcing the laws have their hands and their plates full. The battle cries of "cages for sociopaths" and "cages for psychopaths" are heating up, and I admit that they have a certain ring to them, but I can't honestly say that I believe even now that cages are appropriate for all scammers -- and besides, as we've seen, cages have never stopped the really determined ones. And there are many more scammers outside of cages than in them.

Whatever happens in the future, it is my hope that the families of the victims will find a little comfort from the November 18 verdict, and if not from the verdict, at least from knowing that there are many of us out here who are in their corner. Even if the public in general has a short memory, we do not. And we will be mindful as we sit down to our holiday dinners that because of James Arthur Ray, several families will be facing yet another holiday without the loved ones he took from them.

* Lyrics quoted are slightly modified from "Those Three Are On My Mind," from Pete Seeger's 1967 album Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs. "Those Three Are On My Mind" is actually a protest song about the 1964 shooting deaths of three Mississippi civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner. Of the eighteen men arrested for this crime -- a group that included law enforcement officers and Ku Klux Klan members -- only one was ever charged with murder, and that was four decades later, when the accused was 80 years old. The other killers were either acquited of lesser crimes, were convicted but served short sentences, or their cases ended in mistrials. In the song verse I quoted, the actual lyrics are, "So I ask those killers, 'Can you sleep at night?'" You can listen to and purchase "Those Three Are On My Mind" here.

Mr. Fire meets an oil baroness (maybe)

2011-10-29T14:50:00.041-05:00

Oh, my Goddess, October is almost over and I've only posted once in the entire month. As usual, I've been distracted with work again (which is a good thing), while most of my online fun has been on Facebook and on my pal Salty Droid's blog. Salty's out there doing the real muckraking; I've just been coasting along. But don't worry, I haven't given up on this Whirled, not by a long shot.

In my online conversations, I have also tried to participate on Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale's blog again -- a thankless task for most who don't buy into his shtick. On a recent blog post Joe wrote about a newly published Napoleon Hill manuscript. I commented on the post, and though he published my comment, he edited out a part where I mentioned that the Foreword to the book was written by Mark Victor Hansen, who has been involved in outrageous infomercial/boiler-room schemes with young huckster Anthony Morrison. Morrison's boiler room has done some pretty scummy things to part people who could least afford it from their money, and shame on Hansen for being even marginally involved in that racket.

It's understandable why Joe wouldn't want to publish that little bit, since it casts aspersion on the great new-wage circle jerk of which he is a part. But since Hill's newly published book is about the Devil and how the Devil shows up even in places we don't expect, I thought it appropriate.

Joe did, however, respond to my remark, though he did it in a way that made it clear that he had misconstrued my main point (perhaps deliberately?), and he ended with a snide remark about critics who spend their time hurting others. Then he refused to publish a subsequent comment from me, a comment in which I attempted to clarify my points. Still I didn't give up, but when I tried to submit yet another comment, it simply disappeared, rather than showing on the screen as "awaiting moderation." So it appears I have been banned from his blog, either by him or perhaps by his trusty assistant Suzanne. I may have more to say about this particular matter after I read the Napoleon Hill book he wrote about, which I am actually planning to do. But I have shared the tale in bits and pieces on Facebook and on Salty's blog.

Meanwhile, Joe has gone on to publish a couple more blog posts, and even though I'd given up on participating in the Napoleon Hill conversation I decided to test whether or not I really am blocked from the party. I attempted to join in the conversation on a more recent post in which Joe tells about an encounter at a gas station where he was re-fueling one of his expensive brag wagons. As usual, he wrote, people gathered around him, wanting to take pics of the exotic car. One woman shyly approached him and asked if the car was a dream purchase or just something he bought because he had money to burn.

The woman went on to tell Joe that oil had just been discovered on her property, and soon she and her hubby would be receiving 50 million dollars a month. She said the money felt like a curse, though. She was uncomfortable about receiving that much money. She told Joe she already had a good life that included several properties, several cars, and five kids. (Joe noticed she was driving a new car.) He tried to explain to her that the money she'll be getting is a gift, not a curse, and she can use it for good.

But you know how stubborn and resistant some unenlightened types can be, even when they're in the presence of greatness. "I’m not sure she heard me," Joe continued. "She went on and told me her name (no, I’m not going to tell you it), shook my hand, and then drove off after saying, 'Have a nice life.'"

Then he went on to impart the obligatory Life Lesson.

I’ve often challenged people to lift their issues around money by pretending they won the lottery. What would you do if you won three million dollars? Your answer helps reveal what you really want to do in your life.

But this woman admiring my Spyker lifted my limits.

What would I do if I suddenly had fifty million dollars coming in every month?

Joe seemed genuinely flabbergasted that anyone could have mixed feelings about getting a lot of money. Obviously having negative emotions around money is a problem that needs to be fixed, and naturally he has the cure.

He ended his post with a challenge to his readers, asking them what they'd do if they suddenly had boatloads of cash. A few people piped in immediately, talking about the wonderful things they'd do for the world, after lavishly appointing their own lives, of course.

Wanting to deepen or at least broaden the conversation, I tried to submit this comment:

I think most people who don’t have a lot of money daydream about what they would do if they suddenly did, and of course most of them cast themselves in some noble philanthropic, world-changing role. But I’ve noticed that even when people are merely daydreaming, the philanthropy and world changing are often afterthoughts, taking second place to the castles and grand estates and fancy cars. Money can be used for good or bad, of course, but it does seem to change people. Maybe the woman you met worries about how this windfall will change her family dynamics.

More importantly, I wonder if it is possible that she was having ambivalent feelings about that supposed $50 mil a month not because of the eye-opening amount, but because of the source of the money: Big Oil. You indicated that the woman was already affluent. You didn’t say how she got that money, and it probably doesn’t matter for the purpose of this discussion. But even if she and/or her family had achieved their current level of affluence through the oil business, she still might be uncomfortable about what the industry has done and continues to do to the natural landscape and the ecosystem -- fracking being just one of the controversial issues of late.

That said, I have to admit that I would have an awfully hard time turning away $50 million a month. I suspect the same could be said of many people who have issues with the oil industry. And I also have to say that I can't look upon Big Oil as completely evil; it provides jobs, and my own father worked for a big oil company. It was his job that allowed us to have a comfortable middle-class life when I was growing up.

My point, however, is that not everyone who has ambivalence about money is suffering from some emotional or spiritual hang-up that can or should be fixed with a miracles coach or some such thing. Sometimes there are genuine quality-of-life and moral issues at stake too. Perhaps the woman could consider pouring that windfall into projects that will help fix the environment and mend some of the damage done by our society’s hunger for fuel. Maybe she can find ways to help people whose quality of life has been compromised by the activities of the oil and gas companies. When oil companies move in, for example, people are often displaced from moderately-priced housing as real estate skyrockets. It’s happening now in south Texas because of the Eagle Ford boom.

By the way, in the comment I attempted to send, I didn't embed the link to the article about fracking or the one about the Eagle Ford boom. I'm doing it for your benefit, so you can see what's going on in Texas and elsewhere as the new oil boom continues.

But once again, my comment did not show up as "awaiting moderation" -- it just disappeared. So I guess I really am banned.

Now, I think the comment above was respectful and raises legitimate issues about money and ambivalence and so forth. And I didn't even question Joe's basic account about the woman's claim of a $50-million-a-month income. (Unless she actually owns the oil company, that seems like an awfully lot for royalties, doesn't it? Just sayin'...)

I didn't point out Joe's penchant for exaggeration or the fact that he's kind of lousy with details, particularly those that involve numbers. I didn't suggest that perhaps the woman was pulling his leg and had an agenda of her own. [Woman encounters a middle-aged attention hound who has an exotic and obviously expensive sports car: what are the money-extraction possibilities? Oh, maybe I've been watching too many old episodes of Two and a Half Men. I'm sure the woman was legit, even as I'm sure that the God in business casual in that upscale H.E.B. grocery store was legit.]

In my comment, I didn't even point out that this blog post of Joe's appeared to be yet another transparent opportunity to boast -- once again -- about how he attracts attention every time he takes his Spyker out for a spin.

But let's assume that Joe's account of his meeting with the woman is really true, and let's further assume that she was telling the truth about her projected income. What was so wrong with the comment I tried to post? Not a thing, except for the fact that it came from me, and apparently I pose some sort of threat to the cash cow.

Meanwhile, Joe keeps pushing his Miracles Coaching boiler-room scheme, for which, as you may know, he partners with notorious Utah boiler room Prosper Inc. He repeats this promotion in virtually every one of his blog posts and emails. There's a banner on his blog for his "free" book, Attract Money Now, which exists mainly to promote Miracles Coaching. And on his post about the woman's alleged oil windfall, he embedded a link to the coaching site in a sentence where he asked, "What would you do if you had fifty million dollars coming in every month?" It is all, needless to say, a hypnotic way of trying to get you daydreaming and inspired to contact the Miracles Coaching boiler room, so they can frack your bank account for all it's worth. It's all for your own good, of course.

And indeed the Joebots do continue daydreaming aloud about their mansions and Ferraris and life-changing Reiki healing centers in the middle of a forest. But it seems clear to me that some of them can't see the forest for the trees.

James Arthur Ray: Two years after Sedona, still no atonement

2011-10-08T10:04:00.071-05:00

I've had a busy month away from this Whirled; among other things, I've been catching up on work after last month's wildfire scare and evacuations. As usual, I have a dozen half-finished blog posts in the hopper. But I did not want to let the day go by without mentioning that today, October 8, 2011, is the second anniversary of James Arthur "Death" Ray's fatal faux-sweat lodge in Sedona, Arizona.

At this time last year I published a very long blog post to commemorate this anniversary, framed around my review of Connie Joy's book, Tragedy In Sedona: My Life in James Arthur Ray's Inner Circle. I recommend that you read Ms. Joy's book if you haven't already done so. Meanwhile, if you're new-ish here and don't understand all the brouhaha about James Ray, at least read the blog post I linked to at the beginning of this paragraph. And then go to Salty Droid's blog and read his numerous posts on Ray.

Today is also Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement. (Actually it began at sundown yesterday evening.) By bringing this up in a post about Death Ray I mean no offense to my Jewish friends. However, as Ray was known to stir a schmear of Jewish spirituality and mysticism into the McSpirituality stew he served up to his followers, it seemed appropriate to point out the bitter irony of the fact that Ray himself has yet to atone for the deaths of Sedona victims James Shore, Kirby Brown, and Liz Neuman -- to say nothing of the death of Colleen Conaway, who died at a James Ray event in San Diego less than three months previously.

I realize "atonement" has several meanings, but one meaning is to own up to one's wrongdoing and try to make up for it. And from what I have seen, Ray has yet to take any responsibility at all. In addition, he has yet to be sentenced for the three counts of negligent homicide for which he was convicted months ago. His defense team keeps throwing up numerous roadblocks and delays, and there is still a chance he may never do any prison time at all. And he still hasn't even been charged in the death of Colleen Conaway.

A few years ago, in one of his numerous ezine articles, Ray wrote a piece attempting to explain why so many Hollywood A-listers are into the Kabbalah. He speculated that at least some followers were motivated by a desire for a more "practical" sort of mysticism. Ray wrote:

I, for one, am tired of so-called "spiritual gurus" who can't pay their bills! (And they certainly can't tell you how to do it either.)

This, of course, was before Ray's own reversal of fortune -- before Sedona blew up in his face, before he was arrested and it was revealed that he was unable to raise the original bond money. Yet it seemed he still wanted to have it both ways: to continue making a living as an expert on creating wealth, while convincing authorities that he just didn't have the money to spring himself from jail. The critical blogosphere was all abuzz with that set of ironies at the time, so there's no need to go into all of it again. I just thought it was worth a reminder.

Now Ray is presumably spending what money he has left on his legal battles, though he still has supporters (go figure) who no doubt are contributing to that effort. Whatever his financial situation may be, it does seem clear that Ray is a person who is unwilling to fully pay the moral "bills" he owes -- to truly atone for the deaths of James Shore, Kirby Brown, Liz Neuman, and Colleen Conaway.

More often than not on this blog, I've taken a basically lighthearted and snarky approach to New-Wage/selfish-help/McSpirituality beliefs and practices. I've dismissed them as silly. But occasionally belief and the need to follow a guru become deadly. Obviously when this happens, the guru/leader responsible for those deaths should be held accountable. Even if no deaths are involved, if people's lives and finances are wrecked by the deceptive actions of New-Wage gurus, those gurus should have to pay.

Some pay by offing themselves, as infomercial huckster Don Lapre did after his recent arrest. I'm certainly not implying that suicide is any type of solution or justice, nor am I implying that I wish Ray would do the same. That's not the case at all. For the sake of those who lost their loved ones at his hands, however, I do wish Ray would display a little bit of conscience and remorse for anything but the fact that he got caught -- and so far he has yet to do so.

Nor, for that matter, have we seen much of a display of conscience from the other scoundrels and scalawags, grifters and greedy gurus in the world's most successful New-Wage infomercial, The Secret. In case you haven't read it, here's an April 2011 post discussing some of the woes not only of James Ray but some of his fellow Secret "stars" as well.

And so it goes. While much of the world is obsessed with the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor, some of us have not forgotten James Ray's less famous, but no less important, victims. And we are watching and keeping up with the developments in this case.

Meanwhile, the time has come once again for me to go out to the porch and take the hummingbird feeders down.* I put it off as long as possible, but the pretty birds (as Abba might have said) have flown.

* The significance of which will be more apparent if you've read last year's Sedona anniversary post.

Farces of nature

2011-09-11T11:26:00.079-05:00

I am well aware that this is the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and I have observed several moments of silence and so forth, and I even watched Paul Simon's poignant unplugged solo performance of his nearly 50-year-old classic, "The Sound of Silence," at Ground Zero. But I started this post yesterday so I'm going to publish it today while the issues are still hot (so to speak). No disrespect whatsoever intended to the people we lost in 9/11, or their families and friends.

~CC

As y'all may know, we've been in the midst of a wildfire crisis in the Great State of Texas. Much of the state is burning, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if legislation were passed to re-nickname Texas The Lone Char-State. The good news is that relief is on the way. On September 9, a blog post spewed forth from Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale (note to any newbies here: any irony in that nickname is completely unintentional). Mr. Fire wrote:

A few days ago I sent an email to my mailing list requesting people hold the vision of safety for all those affected by the Texas wildfires. I pointed out that more than two dozen scientific studies proved when a group holds an intention in meditation, that intention tends to come to pass.

People from all over the world sat and prayed, or visualized, or intended and requested that the fires diminish.

What happened?

Almost instantly a friend who had been evacuated from his home due to the fires wrote to me saying the smokes seemed to clear, the power came back on, and he was told he could return home safely.

Friends of mine who were preparing to evacuate were told they were safe.

Then I looked at the news and saw that while the fires were still burning and there was no rain in sight, most of the larger fires around my area of Austin, Texas were either contained, put out, or greatly improved in containment.

That’s progress, but we’re not done.

Do I smell a fire-clearing audio coming on? I bet Joe and his best bud and bidness partner Pat O. are already in the studio. After all, look what they did for the BP oil spill last year.

The first thing I noticed about the blog post, apart from the overall silliness of the premise, was that all of the "miraculous" results Mr. Fire reported -- things that he implied were a result of his email blast -- happened in Central Texas and the Austin area. That's his neck of the woods. Meanwhile, in my neck of the woods (Waller-Grimes-Montgomery counties), things are still iffy, though they're better for the moment, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the firefighters and those who have helped keep them fed and hydrated. In fact, things are still iffy in Central Texas, too. Not that you'd ever know that from reading Mr. Fire's blog post.

Burned By Fire, the author of the Mr. Fire's Pyre blog, had an almost immediate response:

But here we are again, with Mr. Fire saying that people should use the power of their mind -- and use intentions -- to make the wildfires stop. It worked for his friends!

But in other communications, he'll tell you that intentions are for wussies. Or that he never said that thoughts create magical miracles.

So. What is it? What's the truth? If thoughts, words, intentions and unconscious beliefs create reality, what is Mr. Fire creating every time someone types in mrfire.com? Fire. Everywhere. Fire. Central Texas. Fire. Joe Vitale. Fire boy.

But don't try to blame Mr. Fire for thoughts creating reality, unless it somehow makes him look like he isn't unconsciously Law of Attracting Fire to central Texas.

What stuck out the most for me in Mr. Fire's post was the part where he waxed profound about the true meaning of the wildfires:

These fires probably represent our own inner anger.

Jeez, I would really hate to think that all of these fires in my area happened because I am such a hater and have so much inner anger. However, I did notice that Joe used the hedging phrase, "probably represent." That way, when the inevitable back-flash of criticism comes roaring his way, if he chooses to publicly acknowledge it at all he can invoke the Rorschach excuse, as he did a few years ago during the San Diego wildfire brouhaha (we'll have more on that momentarily). He can say that the critics are negative and are misinterpreting his words due to their own inner stuff -- spiritual or emotional imbalances that can, of course, be fixed by one or more of his miracle products or services.

On Salty Droid's blog, my friend Mojo commented:

If indeed “These fires probably represent our own inner anger”, then that also explains all the torrential, monsoon-like rain WE’VE been getting here in the northeast. Because I tend to be a fairly happy and contented person, and I assume, in this whole spirit of taking-our-lame-metaphors-way-too-literally, that rain is the opposite of fire.

If my neighbors were planning a barbecue or a day at the beach, well, sorry. I’ll try not to be so goddamned happy next time.

To which I facetiously replied:

Oh, silly girl. The rain can be likened unto tears. Perhaps there are too many sad and depressed people in your region, or too many negative thinkers in general. I’m not saying that YOU, personally, are sad and depressed — at least not on the surface. But what about all of that unconscious muck, the stuff beneath the surface? It sounds to me as if you need some expensive Miracles Coaching or some other frauduct or flopportunity to uncover and release your inner sadness once and for all. Meanwhile, could you PUH-LEEZE send some of that rain our way?

That exchange happened before there were any comments published at all on Joe's blog, but it was prescient. Later I went back to his post and saw this comment:

Hi Joe,
I agree that the outer world is a reflection of our inner world. Sending out love and energetic healing can do wonders for the world.

Here in Maryland we have been dealing with massive rain and flooding. Does this represent an outpouring of emotion or sadness like crying?

Joe replied:

Maybe. I’ve been flying back and forth to Ohio as my mother is in critical condition. I’ve seen the rains and my tears have added to it.

So... maybe our problem in Texas is that not that there are so many angry folks but that not enough people are grieving. I'm sure many are grieving over their losses in the fire, but maybe that's not enough to send the rains. You have to try harder, people.

This is not the first time Señor Fuego has put his foot in his mouth regarding fire. Some of you may recall that in October of 2007, when wildfires were raging through the San Diego area, Joe wrote a blog post that brought the critics out in force. He mentioned that his friends and fellow "stars" of The Secret had escaped the misfortune suffered by so many others in the area.

It's interesting to me that 45 homes burned near the home of John Assaraf but his is safe.

Same with the home and office of James Ray.

Same with the manager of Lisa Nichols.

Said Mr. Fire: "Instead of wondering why they attracted a fire, it might be wiser to wonder how they didn’t attract a fire." He also noted that he had spent the previous day or so riding in a limo with Lisa Nichols and John Assaraf, who, he declared, "are not focused on fires. They are focused on the fire in their soul." Instead of fretting over mundane things like wildfires, they "spend their time working, making a difference, writing, speaking, and changing lives." He added, "Fires don’t stop people like this."

I didn't provide a link to the original post, because the post has since been removed from Joe's blog. But I wrote several blog posts about it (here, here, and here), and so did my pal Steve Salerno at SHAMblog. Steve wrote:

Statistically speaking... Vitale's original premise was way off the mark. There are tens of thousands of private homes in the areas of San Diego ravaged by the fires. Out of all that, about "365 properties" were lost. Even in the hardest-hit areas, most residents avoided disaster. Some 48,000 people live in Rancho Bernardo alone, occupying some 20,000 homes. If Assaraf and Nichols defeated the fire through positive vibes, they had plenty of company. Thankfully.

Many people took such umbrage at Joe's blog post that the next day he turned it right back around and blamed the critics for choosing to interpret his words in a negative light.

Yesterdays’s [sic] blog post seems to be a type of ink blot test: people responded to things that weren’t even there. A few people even got angry, which I find surprising and revealing.

For example, I made no direct comments about my fellow Secret co-stars and why they escaped the San Diego fires; I also made no direct comments about those who were harmed by the fires.

What I did say was I found it “interesting” and I invited readers to consider asking a different question about the experience.

From there, the blog post was interpreted depending on the readers’s [sic] mindset.

Considering the few people who seemed upset, it seems under their feeling is the idea that victims and victimhood are real; there is such a thing as powerlessness and bad luck; no amount of healing or cleaning or clearing can help.

I find that mentality to be the real problem...

I personally find egocentricity, insensitivity, and nonstop hustledorking to be the real problems, but I digress.

In his latest post Burned By Fire also mentioned the San Diego fire flap, and had more to say about it in the comments section:

Isn't it amazing that John Asshataraf was completely unscathed from wildfires because of the wildfires in his soul?

"Fires," says Mr. Fire, "don’t stop people like this."

Too bad that wildfire in his soul couldn't save his coaching business, which has, apparently, gone out of business.

And of course, we all know what the wildfire in James Arthur Ray's soul was about to do.

Knowing all we know now, reading some of Joe's words from that time are downright frightening. No wonder Tattoo took down that blog post

"Tattoo" is a reference to Burned By Fire's take on Joe's recent offer to hold a $50,000-a-pop "mastermind" on Richard Branson's Makepeace Island off the coast of Australia. Joe said a $50k weekend with him and his cronies would be like a Spiritual Treasure Island. I thought it might be more like Gilligan's Island, except the comedy would be unintentional. Burned By Fire envisioned Fantasy Island, with Mr. Fire as the midg...er... little person, Tattoo.

(For more details about what some of the stellar "teachers" in The Secret have been up to in the past few years, click here.)

I sent this comment to Mr. Fire's blog on the same day his Texas wildfires post was published:

And here’s what’s going on in my part of Texas, where we’ve been under mandatory evac since Tuesday.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8342579
Must be a lot of angry people out here. Or maybe they just didn’t get your email?

To his credit he published it and merely replied, "Stay safe." Really, that's the only appropriate thing to say to a hater like me. So far, though, my comment has been the only remotely critical one he has published. Most are more along the lines of this one:

Aloha Joe,
Thank you for cleaning on the Wildfires. I have been doing this work for many many years as a spiritual practice.
It is wonderful that you can inspire so many people to join in and lovingly minimize the impacts of Natural Disasters. Earthquakes, floods, storms, hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, tornados [sic], pollution, global warming, HAARP, chemtrails, etc. can all be mitigated with enough conscious directed Love Power. Keep up the Good Works.
Peace of I,
Bishop Howard Dugan

And then there was this:

I am grateful that you reached out to your community on this. I did ho’oponopono and prayer work when I first received your email newsletter request.

When you mentioned wildfires in Texas as “contained” above, I must say a good part of me viscerally bristled at the suggestion. My whole upbringing consisted in being told to be obedient, and “containing” my fire.

I see that as the core message of the wildfires. It’s more about passion than peace. Be wild! Be fire! Blaze in all your glory! –or the will riots in a potentially destructive way as the will is enraged at being held down, dried and bound. God knows what happens when that spirit explodes. Homes are lost (homes reflect our self, or “being home for our own selves”) and trees burn down, land is parched. Sometimes lives are lost that didn’t escape before destruction engulfed them.

The message: If I don’t self-extinguish my flame, then the outer world is no longer bereft of my gift. And I don’t need feel or be explosive. I actually don’t feel THAT explosive at all; yet because of the email in my inbox, I took that as a personal call for cleaning… I explored it and, yes, I can consciously detect the seething and simmering anger at being denied to express creative will symbolized by the fire element...

Joe replied that these observations were very wise.

So... maybe what caused the wildfires was not an overabundance of anger, but unexpressed passion?

I think my own comment was was pretty mild, all things considered. Anything about Texas wildfires is going to hit pretty close to home -- literally -- since the area where Ron and I live is still under mandatory evacuation notice. As of this afternoon (Sunday, September 11), they will finally be lifting it in some areas because the firefighting efforts have gone so well in our county. Perhaps some of Joe's minions will credit that progress to the redirection of their love-bombing to our area.

On the other hand, many Christians or other traditional religious people will no doubt credit it to their prayers. The other night I was reading the county fire updates on Facebook, and someone started a thread with a prayer to banish Satan, who apparently started the fires. I thought at least one person would respond skeptically, but it was nothing but a chorus of "Amen." I decided not to join that conversation.

Despite the New-Wage love-bombing and the Satan-banishment efforts, it's not a done deal yet, and Ron and I have evacuated, devacuated, and revacuated several times over the past few days. We've had to spend nights in our van, cooped up with five dogs, two cats, and what few essentials we were able to fit into the van. The stress level has been high, but we are acutely aware that what we have experienced has been extraordinarily mild compared to many, many folks who have lost everything, or don't yet know what they've lost because they can't return home. So even though it sounds like I'm whining, and I sort of am, I am more profoundly grateful than I can express that I don't have more to whine about.

We certainly have it easy compared to our dear friends Christian and Lisa Seger at the organic goat dairy Blue Heron Farm, makers of the most exquisite chevre I've ever enjoyed. Christian and Lisa, who are celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary today (9/11) let us camp out in their front yard the other night. They're also currently putting up thirteen or so members of an evacuated family from another area goat dairy, as well as that family's goats, alpaca, and assorted other domestic critters, plus the goats from yet another dairy farm. At last count there were 107 goats on Blue Heron's ten-and-a-half acres. Besides tending to the usual nonstop farm duties, the Blue Heron Farmers and the refugees (well, some of the two-legged ones, anyway) have helped to coordinate relief efforts for affected area farmers as well as for hard-working firefighters. They are all to be applauded.

While I'm pretty sure that many prayers have been said by the believer contingent during this ordeal, I don't think any of the harried workers on the premises have had much time or inclination to do any of the things Mr. Fire has suggested, such as practicing Ho'oponopono or EFT Tapping, and I am pretty sure that they do not have the money to hire a boiler-room Miracles Coach. But I bet they'll come through it just fine nonetheless. (They've been busy making special Fieldstore Fire Chevre to help get themselves back on their feet.)

Meanwhile, the firefighters here and elsewhere in my state continue their heroic -- and I do not use that word lightly -- efforts to contain and ultimately douse the flames. In my area, the firefighting team is made up of 98% volunteers -- people who have given freely of their time and energy, missing work and risking their lives, to keep the rest of us safe. Our county is asking employers not to dock these volunteers' pay. But according to the buzz on Facebook, some companies are doing just that, and some folks are afraid they may lose their jobs because they missed work.

And despite Mr. Fire's suggestions for us to affect reality by pretending we "remember" the fires being put out by rain, so far the firefighting team has been relying on trucks and various aircraft, such as Black Hawk helicopters and DC-10 tankers. The weather, alas, has been stubbornly uncooperative. At least that's how it is out here in Waller County. Maybe it's different in Mr. Fire's circle of influence in Central Texas.

* * * * *

At its essence, Joe's Texas wildfires blog post is little more than a rehash of his past messages about Hurricane Rita in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008. And those "scientific studies" he cites about how group intentions influence events such as fires, hurricanes, and so forth are all affiliated with the Maharishi/TM cult, a fact he consistently fails to mention. I noticed that he now says there are more than two dozen of those studies. When he first began blogging and writing about them there were just nineteen studies. Later on there were twenty-three. Now there are more than two dozen. The evidence must really be mounting. (For more information on this and the Mr. Fire branded McMiracles, see http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2009/03/all-i-need-is-miracle.html.)

Regarding Mr. Fire's efforts with the mighty winds, I've written about this numerous times before, but will mention it again for the benefit of those who are new or who just want to review. He tackled Hurricane Rita via an email blast and a couple of articles on his Web sites in 2005 (http://www.mrfire.com/article-archives/new-articles/stop-rita.html). If you read the post to which I linked you will notice the implications that the loving intentions from him and his minions neutralized the storm; never mind that parts of Louisiana and East Texas were devastated, and the Hill Country, where he lives, was never in any danger anyway. A few years later he recycled the same email to "stop" Hurricane Ike. We saw how that one went over.

And just last month one of his fans, a guy named Jason who writes a blog about "secrets of manifesting mind power through forbidden science," recycled it again to "stop" Hurricane Irene on the East Coast: http://mindofpower.com/536/help-me-stop-irene-it-worked-before/

In a follow-up post, Jason wrote:

Well, the dreaded forecast for a Category 3 or 4 Hurricane Irene battering NC, NYC and the East Coast… didn’t happen.

She lost strength and began moving NNE, weaking [sic] to a Category 1 by the time she hit land. Of course the media is trying their best to make things sound as bad as they can… but in comparison to what they were expecting, Irene couldn’t withstand the multitudes of empowered people projecting their thoughts for Irene to weaken and dissapate [sic]. So, I’m calling the experiment a SUCCESS!

So you folks on the East Coast who were affected by Irene can rest easy. It would have been far worse if not for the noble efforts of a Joe Vitale wannabe.

As you may have figured out from Jason's comment as well as from "Bishop" Howard Dugan's remark above, Joe isn't the only F.M.M.D. (Faux Master of the Natural Disaster) workin' them storms and other forces of nature. I've written about several of them, most notably, a Florida woman who goes by the name Phoenix/Spirit Diva. She channels messages from the storms and is always saying that hurricanes are telling her that they're all about love and that they come in peace, so we should think loving thoughts about them and not be skeered. Matter of fact, for his latest fire post I think Mr. Fire may have borrowed some of her shtick when he advised, "Send love to the fires and see them burn out."

Maybe that's the problem with the fires that are still burning: the firefighters aren't sending them enough love. On the other hand, I would think that it would be difficult to convince a fire that you love it while you are furiously dousing it with water and chemicals in an effort to destroy it.

So what is it with these fires? Too much anger? Not enough grief? Not enough love? Stifled passions? Or Satanic influences? Maybe Goddess just hates Texas. That's okay; a lot of people do. I kind of like it here myself, but my liking it isn't enough to keep the fires away, apparently.

But enough nonsense. If you really want to help the firefighting and fire relief efforts in my area or in Central Texas, here's just one of many blog posts that lists some good options. (In the interests of fairness I will add that on his blog, Mr. Fire actually provided a link to real assistance sources, although it was focused on Central Texas.)

And if you're even thinking of spending money on frauducts or flopportunities from some New-Wage joker who claims to be able to help you communicate with hurricanes or wildfires, slap yourself on the wrist and funnel that money instead to genuine relief efforts for people whose lives and livelihoods have been torn asunder by the elements. If you can't donate money or food or clothing or other essentials, but still want to help out, donate time if you possibly can. And instead of drawing on New-Wage/selfish-help/McSpirituality buffoons for inspiration, seek it instead from people such as Houston chef Chris Shepherd and his colleagues, who showed their love by organizing a food truck brigade rather than by tapping and Ho'oponoponoing.

At the very least, I recommend buying plenty of organic goat cheese and other products from small farmers affected by the Texas wildfires. (Blue Heron Farm, Swede Farm, and Fairwoods Farm, for starters.)* Eat at restaurants that buy from these farmers, such as one of my favorites, Backstreet Cafe in Houston. (Here for your drooling pleasure is Backstreet's autumn veggie menu.) Another good one I haven't tried yet but hope to soon: Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse. Haunt the farmers' markets, such as Urban Harvest and Magnolia Farmers Market. Patronize grocers such as Revival Market that specialize in locally sourced food. And no matter where you live, do whatever you can to support your local small farmers and producers. They work their butts off to bring you delicious, healthy, wholesome food, so the least you can do is to show them love in the way that matters most: by purchasing the products of their labor, and spreading the word about the good work they are doing.

* Disclaimer: I am not getting paid, either in money or cheese, for these endorsements. However, I do have a stake in keeping these small farmers in business because I really like them and I am utterly hooked on their goat cheese. So there's that.

Addendum 20 September, 2011: On September 15, nearly a week after he wrote the wildfires blog post I linked to above, Joe posted a follow-up.

Here’s an update on the Texas Wildfires situation that I asked you to help resolve in my last post:

The last I heard, the largest fires are mostly contained or stopped. The people I personally know in the Austin or Houston area have all returned home. And rain is expected by mid-next week.

All of your praying, meditating, visualizing and more, have all helped.

But we can’t stop now.

There are at least 1,500 people who lost their homes.

All of the fires are not out yet.

And we need more than a little rain...

To his credit, once again Joe provided a link to sources that are taking real-world action to provide wildfire relief. But his main theme was clearly that he (and of course his followers) were the miracle workers responsible for the fires being stopped or contained, as well as for the rainfall.

He used this post to address much of the criticism he'd received without directly acknowledging it. And as the fawning comments came in, he went out of his way to pat the fawners on the back, telling them that it's the good and loving folks like them who keep him going. And it also seemed clear that his main agenda, besides his usual self-promotional one, was to give the critics a big "so there!"

There's this, f'rinstance, from an Anders Svensson:

To be frank, what a piece of bullsh-t!
You would do a lot more good for the world if you started to spread understanding of human induced global warming and induced people to take action instead of doing meditation

Joe responded:

You might want to re-read the post and note all the action I requested. Meanwhile, thank you for proving my point.

Granted, Anders left himself open to such a response by going on the offensive and using an expletive, as well as by failing to acknowledge that Joe had recommended action. However, Anders' criticism did not "prove" any point Joe was trying to make. A fan responded to this little exchange:

Keith Powell September 16, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Thank you, Joe, for the laugh. I was first surprised that you even responded, then I wondered what I would read. You are full of love and understanding to a degree that actually made me litterally laugh out loud. I love you.

I kind of think that Joebot Keith is unaware that he's causing even greater laughter with his brown-nosing.

Then there's this subtle attempt to demonstrate that Joe's noble firefighting efforts have been vindicated:

Scott Harrell September 16, 2011 at 11:53 am

Joe-
Thank you. Love your work. The call to action for Texas was inspired and I’m gladly participating. Looks like you’ve touched some hearts (and some others’ nerves)...

...Peace and blessings to you!

Joe responded:

Thank you, Scott. As I write this, it’s raining outside [smiley-face icon].

Then there was this one:

Marilyn Gordon September 17, 2011 at 11:01 pm: Dear Joe,
Thanks for the beautiful messages you’ve been sending out about the wildfires, about attracting our good, and about finding the spiritual source. I’ve been sending people in your direction by posting links in my newsletter to your articles, products and gifts. Thank you, Joe!

To which Joe replied:

Thank you, Marilyn. The day I posted my second blog about the fires, it started to rain. I love it!

Joe also tweeted several times about the rain and said he felt like going out and dancing in it.

It's really no surprise that Joe would imply that his efforts had something to do with the rain. We saw that one coming a mile away. Yet despite the lovely vision he'd painted in a previous blog post/email blast about rain putting out the fires, it wasn't rain that caused the turning point in the fight against either the Bastrop fires or the fires in my area. It was the nonstop efforts of firefighters. In light of the early returns on his blog and Twitter page, though, I have a feeling those details won't be the focus of any of Joe's subsequent email blasts or blog posts about the magickal power of group intentions.

Regarding those magickal intentions, I'm reminded of my guy Ron's recent comment on Facebook:

Just a thought: If all the LOA followers actually believe that their thoughts redirected the Texas wildfires (and previous storms) as Joe Vitale claims, they must also assume some responsibility for the people who were harmed or even killed by the redirected events. You just can't have it both ways.

In a subsequent comment Ron added:

Joe's pronouncement reminds me of an old joke: A man walks up & down the street, snapping his fingers furiously. After a while, a passerby stops him and asks, "Why are you snapping your fingers so frantically?"

"I’m keeping the elephants away," says the man.

"But there are no elephants here," says the stranger.

"See. It’s working," says the man.

Joe apparently never learned the real-world relationship between causation and effect (or more likely, he assumes his followers never learned it and aren't likely to learn it now).

One commenter on Joe's September 15 wildfire post decided to expand the conversation:

konstantinos September 17, 2011 at 2:47 am
Hello Joe, Moving on to a different topic, I sincerely think it’s time to give a “once and for all” response to the people who doubt your academic credentials. All of us who got acquainted with your work and mentality will not be affected whatsoever, but I think that you should now allow people to mess with your reputation. You owe to yourself! Again, thanks for your inspiration! Best, K

Joe responded:

Thank you for your support. No matter what I say or do or prove, there will always be a critic or two. My body of published work alone can out weigh any need for academic credentials. I simply don’t pay attention to people who mess with my reputation. I’ve been online for decades and the wonderful people I hear from every day, such as yourself, are who I work for. Again, thank you.

A critic or two? At last count there were many more than that. I do agree with one thing Joe wrote: "My body of published work alone can out weigh any need for academic credentials." It certainly is possible to publish lots and lots of stuff and even be successful without a college degree. But that only raises the question: Why did he feel the need to purchase questionable credentials and call himself "Dr." Vitale in the first place?

In case you're new here and are wondering, one of his "doctorates" is in metaphysics, from the University of Metaphysics/University of Sedona, which until a few years ago was on the accreditation blacklist in Texas, meaning among other things that it was a ... degree misdemeanor to use such a degree to publicize one's business. As I wrote about here in 2009, the company was taken off that list in 2007 because it was deemed to be a religious institution, and due to that whole separation of church-and-state thang, religious U's are not subject to the same accreditation rules as secular U's. This means that, generally speaking, it's easier to get by with phony or questionable religious credentials than other types of credentials. Heck, even I am an ordained minister (Universal Life Church) and am legally able to perform weddings and stuff in the Great State of Texas, even though I am an agnostic. I got the "ordination" on a lark years ago. Not that you'll catch me going around doing ministerial things; I kind of think that would be hypocritical. It would also be somewhat disrespectful of the efforts of my friends who really have gone to seminaries for years and have actually studied and worked to get divinity degrees. Joe is also an ordained minister, though I suspect he got his ordination the same way I did.

Joe's other "doctorate" is in marketing, and it's an "honorary" one, based on some of the books he's written, according to an interview published in one of his hometown papers a few years ago. That degree is from a very questionable online "university," Belford, which is still on the Texas accreditation blacklist. Here's that list.

And as for his claim, "I simply don't pay attention to people who mess with my reputation..." Uh-huh. And if you believe THAT, he also has a $50,000 Island Mastermind Weekend to sell you.

First Amendment Stuporhero

2011-08-29T17:35:00.125-05:00

I've blogged several times about infomercial king Kevin Trudeau, one of the most recent posts being about his apparent business ties with Neo-Tech and Mark Hamilton, son of Neo-Tech founder Frank R. Wallace. True-dough and, to a lesser degree, Scamilton, have been so successful because they have struck a resonant chord, playing to people's deepest longings and their greatest fears, as well as their growing discontent and anger -- and not incidentally to the perennial human fascination with "secret" societies, "forbidden" information, and the many "conspiracies" that allegedly keep this information out of the reach of ordinary folks.

Like the big boiler rooms and Internet Marketing Syndicate members that Salty Droid writes about on his muckraking blog, the "secret society" and conspiracy merchants pander to several vulnerable demographics: the young and naive; the panicked midlifers who suddenly find themselves jobless but are years away from retirement benefits; and the old and desperate. Whether the hucksters are selling frauducts, flopportunities, or just misinformation, their marketing is very effective.

The fan testimonials, such as those on Kevin True-dough's KT Radio Network site, speak volumes. Some are giddy "success" stories in which the writers give credit to information they got from True-dough, either through listening to his radio show, buying his books, or participating in a flopportunity such as his Global Information Network (GIN). Many are merely thank you notes for the good work he is doing on behalf of humankind. "We need 1,000 more Kevins!" one writer enthused. Another wrote:

You are a true human being for getting the TRUTH out at great personal risk. There is no way I can get to the next level without your extended “hand” because the system is so rigged. I keep you in my prayers to protect you. You are a forever friend. I look forward to all your shows.

And then there are the comments on some of the photos on True-dough's Facebook pages (about which we'll have much more in a little while):

Bless you Kevin Trudeau. Keep up with the greatness that you are achieving in the name of love, fairness and equality. Thankyou x :)
Kevin - you are from above...

When I read stuff like that I have to ask, once again, "Good Goddess, is there any hope for the human race at all?!?"

But then I remember that not everyone is buying the hustle. The mainstream media in the U.S. aren't all that kind to True-dough (which only gives him more ammo for his martyr act), and Down Under they don't seem to have much tolerance for him at all, as indicated by the headline on this May 2011 piece:

US felon spruiks with visitors' centre address

I just love the Aussies and their slang. "Spruiker" is a perfect description for True-dough, Scamilton, and their ilk.

And so on. When I read critical comments about True-dough I begin to think that there is hope for the human race after all.

But then when I take a look at how True-dough has continued to sucker people into believing he is a hero, that sense of hope begins to dwindle.

Phony heroics and the First Amendment
There's no doubt that True-dough is capitalizing fully not only on his checkered (or striped) past but also on current efforts to rein in his...um...overly-enthusiastic marketing. Like most marketers he relies heavily on that most effective of tools: storytelling. He uses storytelling to sell products; for instance, there's that "Secret Brotherhood" whopper he uses to peddle his 14-CD GIN upsell, Your Wish Is Your Command. And more relevant to the topic of this post, there's the well-spun tale of his legal woes. The version of the KT narrative that you believe will depend largely upon whether or not you're a True-dough fan and have an emotional and/or financial stake in his empire.

We've covered this ground here before, but for the benefit of new visitors or those who simply wish to review, here's the simple Wikipedia version of the saga of True-dough v. The Man (I left the footnote reference numbers in the copy so you can see the sources):

In 1990, Trudeau posed as a doctor in order to deposit $80,000 in false checks, and in 1991 he pleaded guilty to larceny. That same year, Trudeau faced federal charges of credit card fraud after he stole the names and Social Security numbers^[2] of eleven customers of a mega memory product and charged approximately $122,735.68 on their credit cards.^[53] He spent two years in federal prison because of this conviction (Choi, 2005). Later, in an interview, he explained his crimes as:

"... youthful indiscretions and not as bad as they sound, and besides, both were partly the fault of other people, and besides, he has changed. The larceny he explains as a series of math errors compounded by the 'mistake' of a bank official. As for why the bank thought he was a doctor, that was just a simple misunderstanding, because he jokingly referred to himself as a 'doctor in memory'. He still can't quite believe he was prosecuted for the larceny charges. 'Give me a break,' he says."^[3]

Now here's the version of Kevin's battle that currently appears on his "Stand With KT" Web site, a site that exists to give fans a convenient outlet for contributing to the Mighty One's legal defense fund:

FEARLESS WHISTLEBLOWER

Kevin Trudeau is a best-selling author and leading consumer advocate, standing up for freedom of speech, exposing government and corporate corruption, and extolling natural cures for Americans. In Natural Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About, More Natural Cures Revealed and The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You To Know About, Trudeau offers an unfiltered look at natural prevention, remedies and diets, gleaned from decades of research over dozens of countries with thousands of physicians. After release, these books have spent a total of more than 35 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Millions of copies of his books have been sold worldwide.

Soon after publication, however, the government began to question Trudeau’s freedom of speech, threatening him with silence, jail time and fines of up to $37 million dollars. As a former corporate and government insider, and founder of multiple companies worldwide, Trudeau recognized the government corruption and the influence of major drug companies in his legal battles, and realized he was in for the fight of his life. Natural Cures Health Institute started the Kevin Trudeau Legal Defense Fund to offset millions of dollars in legal fees in his ongoing fight for free speech in the United States.

Doesn't that make it sound as if his legal woes began only after the publication of the Fearless Whistleblower's books? Since the first one mentioned, Natural Cures, was initially published in 2005, that's really kind of misleading. And what's this about KT being "a former corporate and government insider?" Well, he did spend a couple of years "inside" a Federal institution, so I'll concede that one to him.

These days True-dough is all about the First Amendment, framing his entire defense fundraising scheme as a battle to protect the rights not merely of Kevin True-dough, Fearless Whistleblower, but of all Americans. His basic argument on his own behalf is that the First Amendment gives him the right to say and write pretty much anything he wishes.

Besides his multiple Web sites, True-dough has several Facebook pages, promoting various products, his Global Information Network, and, naturally, his dramatic ongoing battle against the tyrannical U.S. government that is oppressing, repressing, and suppressing him. There are also pages of photo albums of hopeful future zillionaires at GIN gatherings, pawing through MLM fodder such as GIN T-shirts, GIN trucker hats, and stacks of Kevin Trudeau "Life's Daily Essentials" nutritional supplements. These pages are magnets for comments from fawning admirers (sample comment: "Because of everything you do i can say i stand on the shoulders of a giant!").

Most of the Facebook activity on behalf of True-dough appears to be in the service of persuading fans to join GIN, or offering encouragement to those who have taken the plunge, and equally or perhaps more importantly, to encouraging people to donate to KT's legal defense fund. The "Kevin Trudeau Show" page has numerous mentions of KT's noble cause. There are fairly frequent references to the Stand With KT blog; on a recent status update, for instance, True-dough (or, rather, someone writing on his behalf) wrote:

Country Music Star Trace Adkins adds his thoughts to today's #StandwithKT blog: http://ow.ly/66Y1I

Though the copy makes it seem as if the famous Trace Adkins actually wrote a post or a comment on True-dough's blog, that's not the case. I followed the link and found this instead:

Country Music Star's Opinion

In the Country music world, you will be hard pressed to find a star bigger than Trace Adkins!

And when I say big, I mean big in size and big in fame. He is man's man - a passionate man about America and especially about the 1st Amendment! When I recently came across this video clip from Trace, I knew I needed to share it with all of you that support Stand with KT!

If you watch the video you'll see that Trace doesn't actually mention KT or his cause. In fact he probably doesn't even know that he "added his thoughts" to KT's blog. Apparently the person handling the blog merely embedded a YouTube video showing Trace at a radio show in Pennsylvania, explaining in his gruff and manly way that, contrary to what most folks think, the First Amendment doesn't give people the right to run around and be a smart-ass and say anything they want about someone. Rather, Trace 'splains, the amendment protects citizens from the government and gives them the right to criticize Unca Sam without fear of repercussion. He warns people who are thinking of "hiding behind" the First Amendment: "It doesn't protect you from me. If I don't like what you say I might hunt you down and give you a beatin'...So don't just think you can run around and say anything you want to about me. I'll beat the crap out of you, and then we'll deal with it in court...I've been to jail before and I ain't scared. I'll go back again." Of course it was all in good fun, punctuated by virile heh-heh-hehs from Trace. I couldn't help wondering if the inclusion of this video on KT's blog is an implied threat to critics of True-dough. Heh-heh-heh.

I'm a critic but I try to be a fair one, and I think it would be egregiously unfair of me not to mention a recent post on the Stand With KT blog, "No Wrong Doing." This post features a video of Kevin telling a recent dinner crowd that after every single Federal government agency investigation of him, the agency has invariably issued and signed a document at the end of the investigation saying they can find no wrongdoing on Kevin's part. "But you never hear about that!" he says. I immediately thought that we should all hear about that. I felt Kevin should publish those documents, and I further decided that if he does I will publish links to them.

One of his fans was thinking along the same lines as I. On the KT Facebook page, the person wrote, "You should post those letters here and link it on wiki. Plaster them all over the internet..." And True-dough's online proxy replied, "funny you should say that, we are already working on that - with everything to be posted at StandwithKT.com soon!"

Funny that KT didn't think to post them years earlier. Maybe his marketing team just came up with that story and it's taking them some time to create the documents to go with it.

While we're all breathlessly awaiting the documents exonerating True-dough of any wrongdoing, information on a 2005 decision in a case where KT turned the tables and sued the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). His suit was dismissed. And here's a link to the FTC's archives on True-dough.

As far as I'm concerned, however, whether or not the FTC or any other government agency has a legitimate case against KT has always taken a back seat to my contention that he is a consummate b.s. artist who sells false promises to desperate and gullible people.

The proof is in the videos
"Oh, Cosmic Connie, enough already with your naysaying!" some of you might be grousing. "How can you say that all of KT's fans are gullible or desperate? After all, success stories abound in the Global Information Network. If you don't believe the written testimonials on the KT Radio network site or the GIN sites, or the enthusiastic comments on the Facebook pages, why not watch some GIN Leadership Cruise videos, and listen to some of the successful members talk about how all of their dreams are going to come true as a result of their GIN membership?"

Okay, I'll bite. I'll give hope one more chance. Here are some vids I found, picked at random.

This one, for example, has had an entire 63 views:
My Vision is a Reality: Cruising with GIN (Global Information Network)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUod2RkiiAs&feature=related

And then there's this one, with 105 views:
Global Information Network is the Best Club Ever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z89SQdmmjK0&NR=1

And just to prove how much gosh-darn fun it is to be a GIN member -- particularly if you're into Neo-Tech/Nouveau Tech/Neothink as well (see, I haven't forgotten the titular subject of my recent series) -- there's this one, starring 'Neothink man' Steven Hinz. This vid has had...and I can scarcely believe it's possible...a whopping 141 views:
Neothink man Steven Hinz dancing on GIN Leadership Cruise 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt688U2ygcU&feature=related

"So with all of that evidence, Cosmic Connie," you might be saying, "all of those testimonials, the videos, and so forth, how can you still be a doubter?" All I can say is that I'm a hardcore case. We haters are like that.

Evil emperor, or buffoon in a silly hat?
Throughout all of my posts about True-dough, I haven't really revealed anything new, haven't exposed any hidden secrets or previously unpublicized scandals. And many might think I've belabored the point. Some might say that in spite of his felonious past and long history as a con artist, True-dough is just one relatively harmless guy in a dorky hat, mouthing off on infomercials and radio shows. Unlike James Arthur "Death" Ray, he hasn't killed anyone that I know of, and apparently isn't part of some big evil marketing empire on the lines of the self-described Internet Marketing Syndicate or the Utah boiler rooms, whose scams are, as noted above, continually being exposed on Salty Droid's blog.

I have little doubt that the Syndicate players are scam artists and that the boiler rooms are destructive, and Salty seems to be building a devastating case against all of them. In a recent comment on his "Scamming Two Debbies" blog post he described the boiler rooms as "a giant doom machine." And while it is easy to blame the aggressive, fast-talking closers who man the phone lines, Salty writes...

It’s the masterminds of this consciously evil scheme :: and their political enablers [such as Utah's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff ~ CC] :: who deserve most of the punishments.

As detailed here regarding another boiler room …

http://saltydroid.info/inside-dot-con-secrets/

… most of the sales staff get paid jack shit … come from vulnerable situations themselves … are heavily manipulated … and often drugged.

A loathsome system indeed, and I've a feeling that Salty will be exposing much more about the boiler-room crimes and Syndicate shenanigans in the weeks to come.

But where does True-dough fit on the spectrum of scoundrels? As noted, he isn't a Syndicate member. On the other hand, some might point out that True-dough is an empire unto himself, evil or not. They might also note that the business models as well as the favored marketing techniques of the boiler rooms and Syndicate members have much in common with those that KT has been using for years -- decades, even.

Some might say that the infomercial scammers, Internet marketing spruikers, and New-Wage gurus are all rotten fruits from the same huge evil tree. There's a lot to be said for that argument; the evidence is everywhere, and the same names just keep coming up. I'm not entirely comfortable with providing a link to a post by someone who clearly has his own marketing agenda, but this 2009 blog post does a connect-the-dots with young infomercial scammer Anthony Morrison, infomercial producer Donald Barrett, and Kevin True-dough.

Here's a Wiki-bit on Barrett and True-dough:

On October 5, 2007, the FTC sued ITV Direct, Inc. [Barrett's company ~ CC] and Donald Barrett for misrepresenting Kevin Trudeau's "Weight-Loss Cure" book in the infomercial they produced to market it.^[6] In response to the FTC's suit, ITV Direct sued the FTC for alleged harassment and violation of free speech rights.^[^{citation needed}^] Subsequently, on November 19, 2007, in a separate FTC action, Trudeau was found in contempt of a 2004 court order for making "patently false" claims in the weight loss book.^[7]^[8]^[9]

And those are just a couple of examples of familiar swine feeding at the same trough (no offense intended to swine). At any rate, although True-dough may not be a Utah boiler room owner, he does use call centers to process responses to his infomercials and other marketing efforts, with all of the concomitant sneaky call-center tricks that have generated hundreds of consumer complaints about him over the years. Here is just one link. (According to this fact sheet on True-dough's misdeeds, there were 192 complaints about True-dough on the infamous Ripoff Report as of February 2008, but amazingly, every one of those seem to have disappeared, even though the Ripoff Report says they never delete complaints.)

My own guess is that many of the hucksters in the Syndicate, and for that matter many of the boiler room operators, envy True-dough and look up to him as a marketing genius. Maybe they're even taking note of how deftly he is handling his FTC and other prosecution issues, of how he is taking the lemons of potential career disaster and turning them into pure marketing lemonade. Maybe some of the Syndicate members will soon be setting up their own "legal defense funds." But they may not be nearly as successful as KT because, let's face it: few of them have either his longevity or his broad platform. Over the years True-dough has successfully painted himself as a hero to many ordinary frustrated people, and the same cannot be said of, say, Frank Kern or Jeremy Johnson (who?).

The consensus on Salty's blog is that indictment of Internet Marketing scammers and boiler-room operators is the only way to stop them. For instance, see the thread on this blog post, beginning with my comment August 25th, 2011 at 12:19 pm. I expressed my doubt that the FTC and other authorities could do very much, and I pointed to KT as an example. One participant going by the name Sh-t Storm listed some good reasons he thought I was wrong, and Salty added that KT continues to operate not because the government can't do anything, but because they won't. In any case the main focus of the general discussion was the IM Syndicate, and there's speculation that the Syndicate members are getting scared, and justly so.

That may be, but if I'm perfectly honest I have to say that not all of the issues surrounding True-dough are completely black or white. (And I know I've covered much of this before too, but I think it's worth repeating.) Not only are there some possible First Amendment issues -- though they're not nearly as dramatic as True-dough self-servingly portrays them -- but it is also true that our daily lives are compromised, our privacy violated, and our very freedoms threatened, by government and corporate interests alike. It's true that giant industries such as the pharmaceutical industry are more interested in their own bottom lines than our health. It's true that medical science doesn't know everything and that some accepted medical treatments sometimes do more harm than good. It's true that the major political parties and other institutions, including religious institutions in many cases, are more interested in their own power than in improving the quality of life for average people. This is true in the U.S. and all over the world. Everywhere you look you can see evidence that "the fight is fixed, the poor get poor and the rich get rich," as Leonard Cohen said in his song, "Everybody Knows."

In other words, there's just enough "truthiness" in True-dough's Web site copy, infomercials, and radio rants to keep him well-supplied with fans and followers and, more importantly, with paying customers. Given the state of the world today it is all too easy for True-dough and other scam marketers to don the crown of truthiness, polishing it till it shines so brightly that it blinds the hopeful masses to the slimy, grasping hands that are reaching for their wallets.

The big problem -- and again I beg your indulgence as I re-state the obvious -- is that among these few kernels of truthiness there are also multiple layers of deception, misleading content, tall tales, and outright lies. One of the biggest current True-dough lies is the implication that pouring thousands of dollars into GIN will magically enable one to rise above the problems of ordinary citizens and join the ranks of a largely imaginary elite on some remote and resplendent beach. "NEXT year...I will be Swimming in the Caribbean or someplace as nice...OR Better!" wrote a hopeful Global Information Network affiliate recently on Facebook, reminding me of the wistful prayer at a Passover Seder: "Next year in Jerusalem." The difference is that the Seder participant has a much better chance of getting to Jerusalem than the average affiliate does of reaching those glorious turquoise waters via GIN. The money the affiliate gives to GIN, however, will almost certainly end up in a sweet Caribbean tax shelter. From there some of it will probably travel to the bank accounts of those pricey attorneys True-dough brags about, and much of the rest will go to supporting KT's lavishly fulfilling lifestyle, which he dangles like a carrot to current and prospective affiliates.

But there is a point where black and white sometimes blend to shades of gray. In my opinion, the fact that much of what True-dough peddles is bulls--t doesn't necessarily mean he belongs in prison. If GIN is a fraudulent scheme then it needs to be stopped somehow, but I don't think True-dough belongs in prison just for producing crappy books and infomercials that are full of lies and misrepresentations. Nor, for that matter, do I think that all infomercial and Internet hustledorks should be locked up and the keys thrown away. Many should be behind bars, no doubt, but not all of them. And while it does make me profoundly sad to think of some desperately earnest affiliate investing twenty grand or more to become rich the "lazy" way, as I wrote about in this recent post, I also have to acknowledge that there is plenty of available information exposing these hustles for what they are. Yet people continue to believe what they want to believe, ignoring the sage advice about things that sound too good to be true. Too many continue to act as if throwing money at something or someone will buy them the life of their dreams.

Kind of like Gilligan's Island, except the comedy is unintentional
Still, the hustledorks have to bear a large part of the culpability for taking advantage of human frailty. Consider the latest desperation marketing by Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale, who recently blogged that he is thinking of hosting a $50,000-per-head "Mastermind" weekend on Richard Branson's heart-shaped Makepeace Island, which is located off the coast of Australia. That $50k is only for the privilege of hanging with Joe and his genius pals on the island; attendees will still be responsible for any expenses to get there. (Or they could just rent the isle themselves for $16,000 per day.) While Joe cautions his readers not to spend money they don't have, and not to go into debt, he also "challenges" them to stretch their thinking and imagine themselves prosperous enough to blow fifty grand on a weekend with him and his masterful masterminders.

If the time isn’t right now, then this is a perfect addition to your vision board, and write it down on your ‘if it fell out of the clear blue sky’ list. (Or as in my most recent “wouldn’t it be cool if…” blog post http://blog.mrfire.com/cool-law-of-attraction-short-cut/)

But if you have the money and you really want something, make the purchase because if you don’t, the unconscious message you send to yourself is of scarcity.

Taking an adventure trip to Spiritual Treasure Island is an inspired prosperous purchasing EXPERIENCE of a lifetime!

He continues:

This is like a Rolls-Royce Phantom Mastermind but on an island, and instead of an evening, it’s an exclusive weekend retreat.

Consider this: Just going on a trip with big thinkers can expand your mind, open you to new ideas, and lead to breakthroughs that are impossible to predict right now.

Right after that is a picture of Mr. Fire and Gorgeous Fitness Model Jennifer Nicole Lee, who went on a Rolls-Royce Mastermind with Joe in early 2010 to learn how to attract miracles in her life and take her businesses to the next step. (Months later, she attracted some mean ABC reporters.)

Then Joe goes on to relate how he and his buddy Pat went on a day trip to a nearby city one day, and on that trip they came up with an idea that made them tens of thousands of bucks. Writes Joe:

And that idea came from a day trip to a near-by city! (The idea we received became [link to low-priced info-frauduct on how to get rich via ClickBank].)

Imagine what could happen going to an island off the coast of Australia!!!

And...wow. Imagine what could happen going to, like, OUTER SPACE!!!!!!

Or to another dimension entirely!!!!!!!!

And consider the amazing achievements real people have really achieved by paying Joe $5,000 to ride with him in his Rolls-Royce. You can read about some of them here. Just imagine how much more could be achieved by spending ten times that much to go to Shill-again's Island!

Joe already has one ostensibly serious taker for his Island Mastermind, though if I know my New-Agey flakes -- and I think I do -- he shouldn't start counting that money just yet. That person wrote:

Hi Joe,
I am up for the challenge to go to Makepeace Island with you.
I am selling my home.
I’ll have some money when that is complete.
And I am open to however the money will present itself.
I am ready to live the life of my dreams, ready to contribute on a whole new level, ready to be financially free and ready to have more fun!
Won’t all that just be so cool…?
Thank you for all your great work – I am doing just about everything that you send me.
Love,
Kari

To which Joe responded:

Thank you, Karl [sic]. I appreciate your kind words.

Bursting with curiosity, I followed Kari/Karl's link and learned that apart from being an actor and acting coach and a life coach, she has a remarkable skillset that includes various visual arts and crafts, crochet hat-making, ear candling, ear wiggling, throwing confetti in Times Square on New Years' Eve, driving a stick shift, juggling three balls, and blowing saliva bubbles. She also notes that she is good with her hands. She should be a lot of fun on Mr. Fire's Fantasy Island, but I am trying hard not to think about it too much. The thought of the saliva bubbles and the handwork alone are enough to put me off my feed for a week.

The points. Finally.
One point I'm working towards in my snarky little hater way is that Mr. Fire's notion of "prosperous purchasing" in this context is a ludicrously transparent hustle. You can just see the wheels of hype-notic copywriting turning, and they're getting a little creaky from overuse. But another point, perhaps less popular with some consumer advocates, is that anyone who would be stupid enough to pay $50,000 to spend a weekend on an island with a hustledork and his minions has to take at least some responsibility for a lousy ROI.

The same might be said for anyone who researches MLM/get-rich-quick schemes, and reads a little about Kevin True-dough's background, and still continues to believe that (1) True-dough really was a member of a "secret society" from the age of twelve (or fifteen, depending upon which story you're reading or which infomercial you're listening to); (2) True-dough is a heroic consumer advocate and First Amendment champion; and (3) it really is possible to get rich the "lazy man's" way by "investing" $20,000 or more into True-dough's GIN scheme.

This isn't about blaming the victim, and where there really is victimization I think victimizers should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But I also think that at some point people have to choose to wake up and smell the con.

Meanwhile, I will continue to exercise my own First Amendment rights, through snarkitude, ample links, and the occasional serious rumination. You should too, if applicable. If you live outside the U.S., you should exercise your own applicable constitutional and human rights. And if you or someone you know has been scammed, Salty Droid has several handy links on his site that you can use to report it.

PS added 28 December 2011: I was Googling around today and saw this May 2011 post, which is much more concise than mine. It's from the fab As Unseen On TV Web site, a fact-check site for infomercials. If I had the power to do so, I would require every TV infomercial to have the URL to this Web site prominently displayed on the screen throughout the entire spiel. (Not that it would do much good to those who don't have Internet access, but it might help a lot of folks.)

* * * * *

Additional reading, if you're not completely worn out

More True-dough on this Whirled:

August 2011: Calling all lazy men: let's build a pyramid together!
August 2011: Everything old is Nouveau again (or, Neo-scam by any other name), Part 1 of 2
June 2011: Holy Guacamole! True-dough's racist rants
June 2011: For he's a jolly good felon: True-dough speaks out for Death Ray
December 2009: Illuminutty: the secret brotherhood of the chronically gullible
November 2009: How to take over the world
July 2009: Horse farts and related matters
January 2009: Mr. Fire meets up with true dough

On conspiracies: Skeptical Inquirer has had some very interesting articles this year on the conspiracy meme, such as this piece. (Naturally, some conspiracy theorists took umbrage.) If you're interested in the conspiracy-theory phenomenon as explored by Skeptical Inquirer, and especially if you're interested in the 9/11 conspiracy theories, do yourself a favor and order the July/August 2011 issue of the magazine. The SI writers did a fine job deconstructing all of the claims of the 9/11 "truthers." Not that I really expect the fans of Kevin True-dough, lover of 9/11 conspiracies, to take my advice, but the rest of you might enjoy it.
And speaking of skeptics... here's a March 2006 piece about True-dough and his first Natural Cures book, written by skeptic and author Michael Shermer for Scientific American. Of course the piece brought out some passionate True-dough defenders.

Everything old is Nouveau again (or, Neo-scam by any other name) -- Part 2 of 2

2011-08-28T09:51:00.066-05:00

As you may recall, we began Part 1 with a visit to Utah and an old polygamist patriarch, Bob Foster of Rockland Ranch (aka The Rock). Bob, as reported by journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya in his fine book Secrets & Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy, by all appearances had a full and happy life, but nevertheless had been taken in by some of the oldest mail-order marketing ploys in the world. Most of the mail-order hucksters used flattery and outrageous promises of wealth, health, and good fortune, and some offered forbidden information that had supposedly been kept under lock and key by "secret" societies for centuries. Naturally, they were willing to share that information for a price.

One organization that seemed to really have Bob in its thrall was Nouveau Tech, aka Neo-Tech, often spelled Neotech. Bob owned three large and ponderous books from this organization, all "heirloom editions" inscribed with his name, and he had apparently pored through the text, highlighting copy and scribbling notes in the margins. As I read about Bob in Secrets & Wives I was struck by Nouveau Tech's "secret society" theme, and I wondered if it had anything to do with one of this blog's pet snargets, Kevin True-dough, who has an apparently lucrative seekrit-society shtick of his own. So I did my usual superficial research and indeed found some connections, and that's when the post took off in new directions.

In fact, as a commenter on that post pointed out, and as I subsequently wrote in "Part 1 and ^1/2" of this series, True-dough actually met the founder of Neo-Tech, Wallace Ward, aka Frank R. Wallace, when both were serving time in Federal prison. In case you didn't see it or didn't follow the link, here it is again.

Notwithstanding the title of this series, Part 1 covered much more than Nouveau Tech, veering effortlessly into True-dough territory, where it more or less ended up at the conclusion of Part 1 (and stayed through Part 1 ^1/2). Well, we're going to change lanes again for most of this post, but I have no doubt that we'll be drifting back into True-dough's lane again soon enough.

Neo-persuasion and Miss AnnaBull
If you dig around a little, you'll find lots of information on Neo-Tech's history as both a philosophy and a business. Regarding the latter, here is a 1998 discussion forum thread that gives some insight into how the very prolific Frank Wallace and his son Wallace Ward, Jr. (pen name Mark Hamilton, Whirled name Mark Scamilton) made their Neo-Tech publishing empire seem larger than it was. One way was by publishing literature under several pen names.

I found the link on a thread about NovaTech on the "Above Top Secret" site. That thread, started in July of 2004 and continuing well into 2011, began with this explanation from the site's moderators:

The Novatech Society appear to have instigated a form of book "promotion" one that appears to be widespread as members from the U.S.A,UK,and Australia have all reported it..

The "promotion" seems to take a predictable form.

1/An individual first receives a letter which appears to be an invitation to join them and discover truths and knowledge.The individual is asked to return an answer to this invitation within a certain amount of days and receive free imformation.

2/If a reply is given then the individual will receive a pamphlet.This pamphlet contains little extra imformation than that which was in the original letter but it also contains an order for a book which cost over $130.

3/If the book is bought further letters are received offering more books.We don't know how many more books.

The Novatech Society far from being a secret society are very much involved with e-books and are closely tied to a place called Neo-Tech publishing company and another "front" Novus Tek

So,if you receive this letter from the Novatech Society and you are curious about what exactly it's all about then we can tell you now before you get embroiled in a marketing ploy.

The Novatech Society are trying to sell you books for an inflated price.

Of course Nouveau Tech/Novatech was using this basic scheme for many years before the Above Top Secret thread made its appearance. Apparently the strategy has worked well enough through the years to keep the Neo-Tech publishing empire, in its numerous incarnations, alive and well despite many run-ins with the authorities due to their dodgy business practices.

And it doesn't even seem to matter that the books are generally poorly written and shoddily produced, nor that some contain a hearty dose of hokey speculative fiction masquerading as "fact." (This is probably why the author of Secrets & Wives automatically concluded that all of the characters in the books were completely fictional.) Consider, for example, a work by Scamilton titled The Nouveau Tech Package of Miss Annabelle's Secrets. If you act now, you can get a used paperback copy from Amazon for only $55.00. But hurry, there's only one left, and judging by the photo, it looks like it's in pretty crappy shape. But I guess it's the information that counts.

Not everyone loved this work, though. Wrote a disgruntled one-star reviewer in July 2010:

In the second Neo-Tech book, called "Inner Circle Secrets," one of the authors, Mark Hamilton, states very clearly that the third book, called "Miss Annabelle's Secrets," is actually a longer version of his science-fiction novel, "Earth's First Immortals." It is just that, along with some advice regurgitated from the first two Neo-Tech books.

A bit of background information: Mark Hamilton's real name is Wallace Ward, Jr. Wallace Ward Sr.'s nom de plume was Frank R. Wallace, and he was the actual founder of Neo-Tech. Neo-Tech, calling itself a "secret society," advertises itself as being able to help ordinary people achieve greater wealth, happiness and prosperity if they purchase Neo-Tech books and read them cover-to-cover. The average price of each book is in the $100-$150 range. Upon receiving the "Inside Secrets" and "Inner Circle Secrets," books, one quickly learns that neither delivers what it promises. Instead, there are various tips on effective time management interspersed with conspiracy-theory rants against various government agencies, historical figures, etc. None of it is especially enlightening. There are also lofty claims that certain enlightened humans have achieved biological immortality and can create all manner of things, including galaxies, with the power of their minds. The reader is never told how to achieve this, just that it's possible.

In the promotional letters encouraging people to buy this book, there is a claim that, once upon a time, a primary school teacher known as "Miss Annabelle" divulged her great secrets to one group of students. The promotional letters imply that Miss Annabelle was a real person, not a figment of Mark Hamilton's imagination. Her extraordinary students, prospective buyers are told, went on to accomplish great things, including receipt of Nobel Prizes. One would suppose that one or two of her former students would have acknowledged her great influence on their incredibly successful lives. One would also suppose that, if her entire primary school class went on to such lofty heights, the rich and powerful would be clamoring to send their own children to the same school. Miss Annabelle herself should be the subject of various books and films trumpeting her prowess.

As it happens, no one in Miss Annabelle's supposed class has ever come forward, and there's no evidence of her existence anywhere except in this book. However, many disillusioned Neo-Tech customers apparently have come forward. Neo-Tech's membership in the Better Business Bureau was suspended in 2006 for fraudulent advertising practices.

Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that never was a Miss Annabelle and this book contains no more "secrets" than the first two Neo-Tech books did. Don't waste your time or money on this unless you're looking for an expensive sci-fi novel.

Another person responded both with a five-star review and a copy-and-paste comment in the section following the one-star review. Here it is in part:

...First of all, this book speaks of very noble and beneficial undertakings in the transformation of our rather diseased society toward a much more enlightened and friendly one. Keep in mind that of the progress that we've made as a civilization thus far, every achievement first started out as merely a dream - in other words - a fiction.

That the book was advertised as real served actually as a psychological tool to put the reader in the frame of mind that the dreams and ideas contained therein were tangible and could therefore be achieved. In my view, all thee things can be achieved if true progress is not impeded, is defended, and is thus allowed to flourish....

...In the beginning of the book, the author stated that this work was something that he called "faction"; in other words, a blending of fiction and hoped for accomplished fact. So the whole thing comes across as very real and, based upon what most every human desires, why shouldn't it be?

In other words, it's okay to call fiction truth as long as it's a desirable future truth. And science faction is a perfectly legit genre. Another defender wrote:

I'm in No way Connected to Neo Tech Nor Do I work for them , I'm A Ordinary person who Ordered All 3 Volumes Have read the first & I'm On my Volume 2 "Inner-Circle Secrets" & Next will be this Book with "Annabelle's Secret's" , I read a lot of Books upon The "Law Of Attraction" & In the First Orientation Booklet it Tell's you The Secret is A 2300 year old Secret Hidden in These Volumes Of Books If One has Read " The Secret" " The Wisdom Of Robert Collier" & "The Wisdom Of Wallace D. Wattle's" Anyone can Figure out that The Neo-Tech Is only Teaching its Readers " The Law Of Attraction" But In A More In-deft Detailed Manuscript It can easily go over Ones Head If they've Never Read About "Attraction " & The Law of getting what you Want by Using your Thoughts When I Read the First Book I Knew Exactly What The Book Talked About " God-Man " This can be also Read In " Robert Collier's" Books if one Buys His Books upon the Law Of Attraction .

With that said To the Above Reviewer Its Not that These Books Don't have anything to Offer Or any Teachings If You have Read Other "Law Of Attraction" Books that are More like A Lesson Of 1 , 2,& 3 Step Type Books Then you Would know What the Secret Of Neo-Tech Books Hide & When I Read its about A 2300 Year old Secret I knew it Meant " The Law Of Attraction" & each book Brings Into Steps Of how to Manage Your day in order to Achieve What You Want in your life & How to Manage Those Days in order to Achieve them & how to Keep them .

For me it toke awhile to figure this out Cause it is hard to read & I'm like ok its 2300 Yr old Secret & I refered Back to The Book " The Secret" That also Refers to The 2300 year old Secret & I finally Got What these Books are about .

It is also hard to rite, apparently. But I'm like ok with that, especially since I now understand that The Secret and the Neo-Tech material are all about the same thing: The Law of Extraction.

"Neo-Tech changed my life!"
Like his buddy Kevin True-dough, Mark Scamilton has a throng of passionate followers. They adore his books, for example, as hinted by some of the Amazon comments above, and as the testimonials and love letters on this page further demonstrate. (Or check out these raves about Scamilton's novel, Superpuzzle.) People seem to truly believe him when he declares himself to be on a mission to help everyone have "a creation-driven life," which he talks about in his intro vid on the Neothink Society Web site. I honestly tried to watch that video all the way through, but kept getting distracted by the alternating views of Scamilton, particularly when he was sporting those sunglasses that made him look like a bad imitation of actor David Spade's sleazy Rules of Engagement character, Russell Dunbar.

Sleazy or not, Scamilton and Neo-Tech have inspired many folks, such as a prolific wingnutty sort going by the pseudonym David L. Hunter. Hunter apparently uses a pen name to protect himself from the evil anti-civilization agents, Socialist-Fascists, and neo-cheaters who would surely come after him and destroy him if they knew his true identity. Writing under the guise of something he calls The Local Group ("Enriching Individuals Worldwide"), he explains in a 2005 article how Neo-Tech changed his life forever. He begins the piece with an "Executive Summary" in which he dramatically refers to himself in the third person:

In February 1993 an ordinary man placed an order for a secretive manuscript. He had no idea what to expect. When that manuscript arrived, it revolutionized his life. As a result of utilizing that secretive material, his body has become muscular, lean and fit. His mind has become clear and logical. His wealth increases by five figures annually.

Five figures...wow. This passage is followed by a footnote, which explains the source of the miraculous five-figure income increase:

This is due to a gift from relatives. The secretive material is credited for enabling the recipient to understand and master financial markets, which allowed him to parlay that financial gift into an ongoing income-producing asset rather than consuming it.

As the article progresses, Hunter drops the third-person conceit, sharing, among other things, his amazing physical stats:

...I am a 39-year-old man and here are my results from using Neo-Tech:

Biological Statistics

Cholesterol level: 100 (ideal is under 200)
Triglyceride level: 24 (ideal is under 190)
HDL level: 48 (ideal is above 35)
LDL level: 52 (ideal is less than 130)
Glucose level: 95 (ideal is less than 110)
Liver function: normal
Kidney function: normal
Blood pressure: 120/80 (ideal is 120/80)
Body Weight: 135 (ideal is 135-140)

Since encountering Neo-Tech in 1993, I have never been admitted to a hospital nor have I taken any prescription drugs. Also, as per Neo-Tech, I am a teetotaler. As can be deduced from my biological statistics above, abstinence from alcohol has not led to any cardio-vascular problems or diabetes. This contradicts recent findings in the popular scientific literature that implies abstinence from alcohol increases a person’s risk for cardio-vascular disease and diabetes.

I am completely healthy without the need for any dietary supplements, drugs, alcohol, medication, doctors or hospitalization. While the American Medical Association might not like to hear this, I credit my naturally healthy physique to Neo-Tech. In all fairness, I think medicine has its appropriate uses. I just have no use for medicine.

Why am I having icky visions of the diabolical Colonel Stuart, played by William Sadler, performing nekkid tai chi in the movie Die Hard 2? It occurred to me that Hunter's amazing story would not only be displeasing to the American Medical Association but also to Kevin True-dough and other aggressive dietary supplement and frauduct pushers. But never mind that.

Hunter goes on to impress us with more numbers, and gives us a peek at his romantic life as well:

Financial Statistics
$44,300 securities (stocks & bonds)
$06,200 cash (bank deposits)
$00,000 debt (loans & credit cards)
$50,500 total financial assets

I have relatively few material possessions but they are paid for. So my net worth is higher, although my material possessions are not liquid like my financial assets. It is true that I have been lucky at times, but I agree with the adage that says luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity. Neo-Tech prepared me for life. Hence I was able to capitalize on my lucky situations rather than squander them. As a result, I know for sure that my financial assets will grow significantly from year to year.

What about sex and love? I attract numerous beautiful women online from around the world. Some of these include an Australian page-2 pinup girl, a Budweiser bikini babe, a famous television actress and other lovely women. The women I chose to engage in sexually and romantically have similar responses like “That was incredible” and “I never knew I could love anyone so much” and “You are more valuable to me than all the money in the world.” I credit my sexual and romantic prowess to the scholarly research on sex and love that underpins Neo-Tech.

Jeez, who says there are no good men left? Here's a guy with more than fifty thou in financial assets, and he can attract beautiful women online. From around the world! He continues:

...The next question is: was it worth it? Was it worth taking the time to learn, master and apply Neo-Tech? Yes. Could I have done the same or better in life without ever hearing about Neo-Tech? No. I am sure I could not have experienced these results without applying Neo-Tech. Why not? Well, for starters, I was a confused 27-year-old when I first encountered Neo-Tech. Relentless efforts by church and state had effectively sundered my mind from reality, leaving me vulnerable to professional manipulators called mystics and neocheaters (hidden criminals).

Moreover, I lacked a solid understanding of money, banking, financial markets and the economy. As a result of Neo-Tech, I got the exposure I needed to master money, markets and the economy...

Despite his debt to Neo-Tech, Hunter insists that he does not follow the advice to the letter, and has actually pulled away from Neo-Tech somewhat. At the end of the article he explains why and how he parted company with them. Still, he has continued to draw inspiration from Wallace and Scamilton's ideas, as we'll see in a little while.

Meanwhile, Mark Scamilton is all over the Interwebz, offering a variety of flopportunites, such as the Neothink Business Alliance, whose Web site has one of those mystical parchment-looking backgrounds like The Secret Web site used to have, so you just know it's infused with magickal wisdom and great money-attracting ops for you. Here's what it says on the home page:

The essence of the Neothink^® Business Alliance (The Alliance) is to leverage the buying power of the market place toward achieving the super puzzle and biological immortality. This is accomplished by reaching out to individuals and businesses outside as well as within the society to experience the new business philosophy that will be the spear head for curing aging and death. The Alliance is actualizing a new business philosophy from the inside while supporting the depoliticization of our country on the outside through support of The Twelve Visions Party^®.

Vision
The Alliance is a uniting of businesses and individuals who desire to be part of a movement within the society to honest and pure love business. Only suppliers and vendors who are members of The Alliance will be welcome to compete within the society. All members of The Alliance share a common denominator in curing aging and death and all members of The Alliance are supporters of The Twelve Visions Party^®.

Mission
The mission of The Alliance is to reveal the white collar hoax and unlock the true essence of Laissez-faire capitalism and free markets. The Alliance will reach out to the Anti-civilization and bring individuals and businesses into The Alliance to become members of the parallel Neothink^® Society. Individuals will discover their Friday Night Essence within the TGIF Employee Placement company and the member companies will place these integrators into their companies.

Did you get all that? The bits about curing aging and death were some of the things that hooked Utah Bob and have doubtless attracted many others as well. You can join the Neothink Society and be part of the grand experiment for only $30 a month. Dozens already have. Watch the videos and you'll see. On second thought, I guess you can't watch the videos; they don't seem to work. Oh, well.

Move over, Tea Party!
Even though -- once again, like True-dough -- Mark Scamilton and the Neo-Tech bidness empire have kind of a shady history, that just doesn't seem to matter to admirers and believers. After all, Mark is a visionary on a grand scale, and is even the head of his own "political" party, the aforementioned Twelve Visions Party. The party's Web site, which sports a spiffy retro-90s look, seems to crash frequently, and has numerous nonfunctional links, has some very credible testimonials, such as this one:

Mark hamilton and his Twelve visions Party are above reproach.

Mark hamilton and his Twelve visions Party are above reproach. His late father, Frank R. Wallace was the author of Neo- Tech. I have been a Neo – Tech owner since 1987 and have found it very helpfull in my life and finances. There are amazing technologies just under the surface of our society which are just about to burst forth – 100% free energy for all men – commercial biological immortality and many others. We just have to get rid of those that are keeping it from us. TVP will do all this and more. Power to Mark and TVP!!
Chuck B

There's that promise of immortality again. That just keeps coming up. There are pages and pages of testimonials on the Twelve Visions Party site, at least 212 of them bearing the "Mark Hamilton" tag.

Here's another testimonial, in all its unedited glory, from October 20th, 2010:

The Neothink literature I own is a product that accentuates the positive and elements the negative insight of all things. Further it shows what’s wrong in this country and the world and is actually playing itself out in daily events that get reported.
The ruling class has now the American people to battle with. With new party affiliations emerging, what neo-tech speaks about is coming to pass proving the people are feed up. With the Twelve Visions Party advocating the ideas of value creation by every individual for themselves and for a better society and with the support of our members.

Anyone or anything that "elements the negative insight of all things" and can help the people who are "feed up" can't be all bad, I guess.

But what exactly does the Twelve Visions Party stand for? You won't find much on the FAQ page on the Party Web site, which only has one question so far. That question concerns the meaning of the TVP emblem which, appropriately enough, features a serpent and a dollar sign. Elsewhere on the site, however, there's plenty of information.

Like most "third parties," the Twelve Visions Party has big plans for fixing what's wrong in the US of A:

With the TVP National Platform, Make All the People Rich, Including the Poor, I announce the birth of the Twelve Visions Party. The Prime Law of Protection and The Protection-Only Budget are the two pillars that hold up this new party. They manifest the original beauty behind the two old parties [Democratic and Republican] without the lies, tricks, and power-plays that destroyed those beautiful original intentions...

...The rising rule of man and his strengthening ruling class of Democrats and Republicans have severely damaged this country. Ordinary people are suffering. The Twelve Visions Party is here to reverse the rising rule of man and eventually eradicate it and its destruction of government and country. The Twelve Visions Party recognizes a very unique opportunity to rapidly and radically turn this economy around. Whereas people’s wallets suffer greatly under the rising rule of man in America, the Twelve Visions Party sees a unique opportunity to arrest the rule of man and its suppressive ruling class in order to free the geniuses of society to make everyone prosperous, including the poor!

Free the geniuses of society... hmmm. Would that include geniuses such as Mark Scamilton and his twin brother from a different mother, Kevin True-dough? Actually, we all have the potential to be geniuses, according to the Twelve Visions philosophy.

Which leads us to this question: Just what are those twelve visions? If you don't feel like plodding through the TVP Web site, here's a cheat sheet, which I got from this very informative page:

Vision One: Become the Person You were Meant to Be
Vision Two: Live the Life You Were Meant to Live
Vision Three: Feel Extraordinary Every Day
Vision Four: Slow Down Aging Permanently
Vision Five: Land the Job of Your Dreams
Vision Six: Build the Business of Your Passions
Vision Seven: Experience the Love of Your Life
Vision Eight: Have the Body You Always Envied
Vision Nine: Become a Genius of Society
Vision Ten: Have Everything You Ever Wanted (via the free-to-soar geniuses and super technologies)
Vision Eleven: Ride A Prosperity Wave to Riches (via falling prices and soaring buying power)
Vision Twelve: Enjoy Nearly Perfect Health (via soaring medical technologies and falling prices)

Sounds like an info-frauduct series, doesn't it? Maybe it's just me inaccurately reading between the lines and jumping to illogical conclusions again, but something about Scamilton's whole "political party" shtick seems a little self-serving. But then, I suppose that is true of all political parties. And true to politix -- and, for that matter, scam marketing -- the excuses for failure are already built in. If those geniuses of society fail to make everyone prosperous, they can claim that it's only because of interference from that rat-bastard rule of man (not to mention the tyrannical, oppressive gummit). "It's a conspiracy, like we've been telling you all along!" I suppose that's marginally better than blaming the economically challenged for not using the Law of Attraction properly to manipulate the Universe into giving them stuff.

I've discussed this matter here before but now seems a good time to bring it up again, if you don't mind another slight digression. I have often wondered about that lofty ideal of making everyone "prosperous," which has not only been a dream of sincere idealists through the years but has also been the implicit or explicit promise of virtually every New-Wage hustledork and Internet Marketing scammer. In a market economy, prosperity brings price increases, and there are always goods and services -- even basic necessities, in some cases -- that are beyond the reach of some people. (Consider what's going on in Brazil right now; it's suddenly the hot place to be, and Rio, the land of the $35 martini, is now one of the most expensive cities in the world to live.)

Moreover, despite the feel-good Law of Attraction tenet that the Universe has a boundless supply of everything that anyone could ever possibly want if he or she will only invest in the right products, it seems to me that there's only so much good stuff on Earth -- for example, there are only so many desirable spots on which to build one's dream mansion. And human nature being what it is, there are always people who want to grab more stuff than they need, while keeping others from getting what they need.

I found an interesting piece that speculates about a scenario where everyone in the U.S. suddenly becomes a millionaire. As the author notes, "The scarcest goods & services in the economy do not multiply magically just because the amount of money being held multiplies dramatically." I think that's probably true no matter how earnestly one implores the magic Law of Attraction Genie.

I don't think this frees us from a moral imperative to do what we can to improve the quality of life for others as well as ourselves. But I think we can pretty safely assume that neither the Twelve Visions Party nor Neo-Tech/Neothinking holds the key to wiping out poverty. Nevertheless Mark Scamilton insists that all people can live like millionaires, even the poor.

This seems to be a summation of the Twelve Visions Party's worldwide "get rich" scheme. Apparently you can join the revolution by ordering a $9.95 114-page "forbidden document" that explains The Prime Secret. Or you can download the Get-Rich Plan for free here. In case you're worried, be assured that the Twelve Visions Party hates "span" as much as you do and will not share your information with anyone.

One seekrit behind the Twelve Visions Party and Neo-Tech seems to be something called "Zonpower," which Scamilton's daddy Frank R. Wallace invented...er...discovered. I've read a lot of Neo-Tech stuff online and still haven't figured out exactly who or what Zon is, but apparently it is something like The Force that enables those who have it to be like really evolved members of the Illuminutty...I mean the Illuminati. And apparently anyone can be Zonnish, if one only buys and reads all of the Neo-Tech literature, and lives the life of a Neothinker.

Once again we turn to our wingnuttish pal, David Hunter, whom I quoted at length above. He 'splains how Zon has shaken up history and continues to influence it. Sez Hunter:

Without Zon, you will watch life on earth shift from the creation of new wealth to the usurpation of existing wealth. You will witness the reversal of the economic and political gains of the last quarter century since the Reagan Revolution began in 1981.

Those gains include the rise of young people such as Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who, starting as teenagers, created empires of unprecedented wealth, jobs and values for all civilization. Plus Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine that restored free speech to the airwaves, which made possible people such as Mark Levine, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh who pioneered the field of conservative talk radio to bring free-market ideology and Ayn Rand’s Objectivism to a combined 50 million listeners per week.

Other important gains include the peaceful collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the strengthening of the US dollar, deregulation of businesses, expanding the capital base for new business start-ups and business expansions, as well as burgeoning private-sector jobs that provide real income and opportunities for growth among the populace.

Yet today without Zon, you will watch Steve Jobs perish, Bill Gates move his business out of America and see Levine, Savage, Hannity and Limbaugh driven off the radio. Financial markets will decline, old foes of America will rise with new threats and the primary route to riches will be a John-Edwards-like draining of producers via clever deceptions. Every economic and political gain made by Ronald Wilson Reagan will be reversed as parasitical bureaucrats gain increasing control over your thoughts and actions.

However, with the power of Zon you will wake up from the above nightmare to discover a new world of personal liberation that puts you in complete control of your thoughts and actions rather than mindless bureaucrats controlling and draining you...

Now, I'm sure some of the above will come as news to those of you who thought that the collapse of the Soviet Union was due to the efforts of those miracle meditators in Maharishi's organization. Turns out it was Zonpower all along. And the fact that Steve Jobs' health isn't so good these days... oh my Goddess, could that be due to a deficit of Zon?

But all is not lost...

The Mystery Continues

More than three decades ago Dr. Wallace wrote in a precursor to Neo-Tech that even if he was destroyed, his work would mysteriously continue to be developed and spread. As everyone vested in earth’s irrational anti-civilization breathed a sigh of relief upon the death of Dr. Wallace, few understood that Neo-Tech and Zonpower would continue to grow and spread.

Sometimes an idea is so compelling it cannot be stopped with the force of destruction. Neo-Tech/Zonpower is just such an idea. It has reached earthlings just in time before life on earth is annihilated. Will you be spared the destruction inherent in an anti-civilization? And will you meet Zon?

Zon is closer than you think. In fact, you do not need to send a letter across the world nor make a long-distance phone call nor fly on an airplane to a far-away place to meet Zon. All you need to do is look in the mirror. When the being that looks back at you has transformed from a chained slave in Plato’s cave to a free Citizen of the Cosmos as Dr. Carl Sagan would say, you have met Zon.

Conclusion

Even the most brilliant minds within the anti-civilization such as Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway and Jim Cramer of Mad Money are ultimately limited by the 2500-year-old matrix of mysticism and neocheating. Such brilliant minds are caught up in the seemingly inescapable web of illusions and deceptions such as global warming, universal healthcare and government takeover of businesses including General Motors, Chrysler, banks, investment firms, hospitals, energy companies and so on.

But forget about the dishonesty-and-death matrix that has dominated conscious beings for the last 2500 years. That irrational matrix means nothing now or in the future. You can climb out of Plato’s cave of illusions using the rock-solid steps laid down by Aristotle (logic), Ayn Rand (reason) and Neo-Tech (honesty). When you do, you too will hear the immortal voice of Zon.

If you have trouble understanding the concept of Zon and don't want to make your way through endless books, maybe you can check out the comic books that were inspired by Zonpower and Neo-Tech.

By the way, if you read the endnotes on Hunter's Zon piece you'll notice that he expresses disappointment in Kevin True-dough. Even though True-dough learned about Neo-Tech straight from the source years ago, and in Hunter's opinion has since produced a lot of valuable content since then, Hunter is disappointed with one of True-dough's works, a book telling people fake ways to get free money from the government. In Hunter's view, getting money from the government is just supporting a corrupt machine (never mind that much of the advice in True-dough's book is exaggerated, misleading, or totally bogus). Hunter seems almost surprised that True-dough would be such an opportunist. I guess Hunter's eyes aren't as wide open as he imagines them to be.

Anyhow, Scamilton's Twelve Visions Party claims to have a brilliant plan for restoring the U.S. to its former greatness -- as indicated, for example, in this treatise, How Government Could Evolve Into A Super-Competent, Customer-Driven Protection Service. And there's much more on the Twelve Visions Party Web site. As may be glaringly obvious, I haven't explored it in depth. But I did happen to notice that Article 1 of the Prime Law is:

No person, group of persons, or government shall initiate force, threat of force, or fraud against any individual’s self, property, or contract.

Fraud... oh, my, don't get me started on that. Let me just say that, not surprisingly, the site also contains many enthusiastic testimonials that also have kind words about True-dough's Global Information Network (GIN).

Kevin True-dough and Mark Scamilton have both made noise in the direction of running for president of the United States. There's even a Kevin Trudeau for President 2012 Facebook page. Here is the full link, although you might not be able to get to it unless you are a Facebook member and are signed in: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kevin-Trudeau-For-President-2012/146088388768724. I also recently covered KT's bid for political office, and even provided a campaign poster, which he is more than welcome to use.

At one time Mark Scamilton announced that he was going to run for president in the 1996 election. But apparently he did not. I know this will come as a shock to you, but some people think the presidency thing was just a stunt to sell books and perhaps save Scamilton's foundering business. Moreover, at the time he first made his announcement, his political party was apparently called "The People's Party for Economic Prosperity." Here's more information from the person who made the vid I linked to above.

Apparently Neo-Tech did have big plans for 1996, as indicated in this old article from the Jewwatch.com site:

The Neo-Tech Trojan Horse

Over the years, the Neo-Tech/Illuminati dynamic has evolved into today's Zonpower. This 200-year-old dynamic is increasingly undermining false, harmful authorities throughout governments and religions worldwide. The Neo-Tech/Illuminati dynamic has been the hidden force beneath the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the conservative party in Canada, and America's sea-change first reflected in its 1994 elections. The seventh and final cyberspace stage of Neo-Tech/Zonpower -- the public phase -- will activate in late 1996 with the Internet distribution of the Zonpower Protocols...the Trojan-Horse penetration of Neo-Tech into the heart of the Establishment in America and worldwide.

I'm sure the Establishment is still quivering from all that penetration.

Apart from his faux-litical aspirations, Scamilton clearly has something else in common with his buddy True-dough, something he apparently inherited from his Neo-Tech founder dad: a willingness to cash in on the "ancient secrets" meme. There's this, f'rinstance:

Held Back for 3000 Years, Now Revealed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkxjnnBL7V8

In this vid Scamilton doesn't employ True-dough's characteristically overwrought presentation techniques -- the aggressively earnest gestures, the dramatic vocal inflections, the wide-eyed facial expressions. Rather Scamilton is quiet and understated, speaking slowly and staring at the camera with heavy-lidded eyes. Either he intends for the net effect to be hypnotic in some way, or the man is on some serious downers. I guess I'll have to read up on my covert hypnosis techniques to figure it all out.

I suppose that some folks might think that despite Scamilton's sweeping proclamations, his grand political vision, and his vast publishing and Web empires (he apparently owns dozens of domains; start here and check out the list on the right-hand side of the page), he is a relatively obscure crackpot, and basically harmless. Even his bidness ties with True-dough -- the affiliate love between Neo-Tech and GIN that we covered in Part 1 -- haven't exactly made Scamilton front-page news. That could change, of course. It's possible that Scamilton and True-dough are gearing up to completely repackage and resell the voluminous Neo-Tech/Nouveau Tech content, which is probably one reason that a lot of the material that was on the Neo-Tech Web site has been deleted. Why give it away when you can sell it for inflated prices? Maybe it's not just coincidence that True-dough's marketing guy Peter mentioned on his Facebook page a couple of weeks ago that he was re-reading The Neo-Tech System. Or maybe I'm way behind the curve and a lot of the NT stuff is already being offered exclusively to people who are foolish enough to sign up for GIN.

But despite any mighty marketing efforts it is always possible that Scamilton will remain just another two-bit philosopher and fourth-rate sci-fi writer. More than likely he's not destined to become the next ElRon Hubbard. Then again, if the Twelve Visions Party or Neo-Tech ever became as celebrity-infested as Scientology, all bets would be off.

One thing is sure: Scamilton and True-dough both have a knack for rallying the troops, as this comment, taken from the December 2009 Neo-Think newsletter announcing the GIN/Neo-Tech affiliate program, demonstrates:

I am proud to be a member of the worlds saviors, we are modern day heroes like those who wrote the constitution each and every one of us. History is being made and we are all part of it. Also I was invited to join the GIN when it first began, and I never got started because of financial difficulties, and computer crashes, i am still very interested as I am still in need of finances. I need help creating my own web page if anyone can give me a boost I will certainly do the same for another in the future.

I see our mission clearly, and I also see the obstacles the neo cheats will do their best to dis-credit us. They will even commit serious crimes to stop us, but they will not succeed. We must utilize integrated thinking, we must always be four steps ahead of those who want to stop us.

And there's even more good news. It seems that Scamilton has global aspirations for the Twelve Visions Party. Today the U.S., tomorrow the world.

What about Bob?
We end this mini-series where we began it: in Utah. You may be wondering whatever happened to Bob of The Rock, who had sent so many hundreds and hundreds of dollars to mail-order scammers over the years. He passed away in September 2008 of cancer, despite his declaration earlier that year that God had sent him a message telling him he had ten to twenty more years on Earth. He was survived by three wives, 38 children, and 85 grandchildren.

Regarding the scammers, though, I like to think that old Bob had the last laugh. Even though he, like countless others, seemed to really believe that he would come into a great deal of money through Nouveau Tech and countless other similar scams perpetrated by the Secret Brotherhood of Mail-List Sharers, it would appear that he could give as good (or as bad) as he got. In Secrets & Wives, Sanjiv Bhattacharya began the section about Bob and the scammers by writing about the day he was hanging with Bob making small talk, when a FedEx truck came rumbling through the wilderness towards them.

"I'll bet that guy's looking for me," says Bob. "He's got a scam on his hands. Some people called me the other day saying, 'We've got a $150,000 sweepstake, and we're sending the money out but you need to pay the man three-hundred-something dollars. This guy's going to deliver a package and he'll want a check,' they said. Well, my check will bounce, but you know, their check's going to bounce too..."

I have no idea if Bob, who was so enamored of his Nouveau Tech tomes and probably poured hundreds of dollars into the Wallace/Scamilton empire, ever gave any money to Scamilton's good buddy Kevin True-dough, and actually I think he departed this vale of tears before True-dough's biggest MLM boondoggle, the Global Information Network, was officially launched. But I will note that GIN currently doesn't take checks, only credit or debit card payments and money orders. That makes sense; KT does not strike me as one to allow himself to be bamboozled by some old coot or cootess writing a rubber check. If anyone is to do the bamboozling, it will be True-dough, thank you very much. And we'll have more about him soon.

* * * * *

More fun reading
A list of Neo-Tech literature, and some Neo-Tech-inspired literature, can be found on the above-mentioned wingnutty guy's site. Apparently he needed the money and, at the time this page was published, was trying to sell the stuff: http://neo-tech.localgroup.net/portfolio/

Plenty of folks are suspicious of Neo-Tech, as demonstrated in discussions on various forums. In addition to the Above Top Secret forum I linked to towards the beginning of this post, I found these:

For a look at another man with grand plans not only for the U.S. but for the world, I give you the founder of Technocracy: The ultimate wacko bailout plan?

Calling all lazy men: let's build a pyramid together!

2011-08-24T11:03:00.060-05:00

Note: This post was originally part of the second installment of my two-part snark about Neo-Tech/Nouveau Tech/Mark Scamilton and Kevin True-dough. But then, due to the mysterious workings of blog tectonics, it broke off and became its own little island. (Jeez, I don't know why I have islands on the brain...maybe it's that silly Gilligan's Island post on Mr. Fire's blog.) Anyway, we'll get back to the real Part 2 in a couple of days. Consider this Part 1 ^1/2. I warn you that you will probably need to take a shower again, or at least have a stiff drink, after this one too.

In the previous post we briefly visited the sagebrush desert of Utah, where we met an old polygamist who had been taken in by numerous mail-order scams, including one perpetrated by an organization called Nouveau Tech, aka Neo-Tech/Neotech/Novatech, keepers of ancient secrets and advanced technologies. From Utah we rapidly progressed to a point where geography was no longer relevant: that timeless place where eternal hope and profound greed collide. In the process, not surprisingly, we ended up visiting this blog's favorite spokesman for the Illuminutty: the con artist known as Kevin Trudeau, who is apparently a buddy and bidness partner with Neo-Tech front man Mark Hamilton. Actually, as I failed to mention in my previous post, True-dough met Scamilton's dad, the late Wallace Ward, aka Frank R. Wallace -- the founder of the Neo-Tech empire -- when both were serving time in Federal prison. Here's a link to more information about that.

Given their common penchant for made-up seekrit knowledge and their cunning, conning ways, any alliance between True-dough and Scamilton would seem to be a match made in marketing heaven. Many folks are clearly enamored of both men, and reading some of these people's testimonials and love letters truly makes me wonder if there is any hope for the human race at all. On True-dough's KT Radio Network site, for instance, I found this from a young man in California, published in February 2010:

This year, for my twentieth birthday, I gave myself a very special present, a GIN membership. I am going to make a fortune with your help, even if it requires me sneakily placing my savings and minuscule income in lazy man’s way to riches and that’s it, period. I am plugging into “the system” and IT WORKS! Your show is an essential piece to achieving my dreams and creating Mark Hamilton’s “superpuzzle” which I have been so fortunate to learn all about. Knowing this makes me excited, confident, and a more valuable creator.

GIN, as you may know, is True-dough's Global Information Network, an exclusive seekrit society that becomes more exclusive and seekrit as you pour more money into it. Your minimum investment is a $1,500 "initiation fee" (or $1,000 if you pay all at once), plus $150 a month. And that is merely for a Level 1 membership, which one member describes as being akin to merely looking through a window at a beach instead of standing there feeling the sand on your bare feet. Presumably the higher up you get, the more real that beach becomes, the sandier the sand between your digits. I wouldn't really know, though, because the detail$ about the higher levels are Top Seekrit. Or as it says on the GIN Web site:

Level 1 members are informed of the requirements to qualify for level 2 and the benefits of level 2 are also revealed. Level 2 members are informed of the requirements to qualify for level 3 and the benefits for level 3 are also revealed. This continues through to level 12.

In other words, it will all be revealed in the fullness of time (and money)... my goodness, that is seekrit-y. But we've covered the GIN basics here before. Why, you might be asking, are we revisiting them now? I'll tell you why: it's because of that "lazy man's way to riches" reference in the twenty-year-old's comment above.

At first I assumed this was merely a figure of speech and I thought little of it, though I did feel a twinge of compassion for a young guy who was just starting out in life and was almost certainly squandering his meager resources. But then I saw the phrase pop up in other passionate love letters to True-dough/Scamilton. So I poked around the sites a little more and found that Lazy Man's Way to Riches in this particular context is apparently a fast-track plan to get rich through GIN. That's another one of those things I apparently overlooked when writing previous posts. There are even a few posts on the KT Radio Network site that have a "lazy man" tag. Here is one (and here's the link):

I am a member of your book club (I have bought all of the recommended books so far), insider email club, and subscribe to the podcasts and can’t wait to get home from work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and listen to what you and your guests will reveal that day. In the next year or so I won’t be working that every day job, I will be retired and listening to your show from my yacht in the Caribbean all because of the lazy man’s way to riches. Thank you GIN!

So just how can a Lazy Man (or presumably a Lazy Woman) get rich? Here's a video explaining it, numbers and all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW1glXmDDoI

I don't know about you, but those references in the video to "purchasing members" (rather than selling memberships) sound a little disturbing. What do you get to do with the members you purchase? Can you make them into your slaves? And just where are you supposed to purchase them? Is there an endless supply?

If you were confused by the maths in the video, or if you don't feel like wasting nine-plus minutes you'll never get back, here's a rundown, courtesy of a recent commenter on my blog:

Anyway, I think it is all a scam and that GIN members will soon need to drink a lot of gin as they will start running out of humans to join. $1,000 to start, $150 a month, and $1,500 to move up 11 times to the 12th level costs only $19,300 if you want to do it in a year and requires roughly 100 recruits at a fee of $200, and four levels down every earthling is a member and we are sending space ships to recruit in the universe...

Actually, recruiting in the universe at large might be right in keeping with the vision of Mark Scamilton's dad Frank R. Wallace, who, as I mentioned above, founded Neo-Tech. Frank got a little loopy in later years, what with his Zonpower and all that.

In any case, I think my correspondent provided excellent insight, if any was needed, into why the Global Information Network is a company "organized" in Saint Kitts and Nevis -- out of reach of the mean U.S. Federal Trade Commission and all other haters of that ancient architectural wonder known as the pyramid. No doubt Nevis also keeps the moneys tucked safely away from pretty much anyone else who might want to come after True-dough, so any of you disgruntled GIN affiliates who are thinking of taking legal action should be advised:

It's quite expensive to initiate any lawsuit in Nevis. If a creditor or any other person would like to sue a Nevis company and its owners, that person must post a non-refundable bond of at least $25,000 and hire a Nevis lawyer.

In a subsequent comment my contributor wrote, in reference to True-dough's 14-CD upsell for GIN, Your Wish Is Your Command:

The scary thing about those recordings, he [True-dough] mentions in the beginning that you should listen as often as you can, and the friend that gave me the MP3s listens 7 hours a day every single day over and over again, whole presentation in two days, and listened to it about 50 times over and over. Now that's scary. That is what I call "follow your master" and who knows where he will lead them...

Here are more Google results for "Lazy Man Global Information Network." I think you get the drift.

Despite my commenter's opinion that GIN is a scam, hope springs infernal (as my pal Steve Salerno at SHAMblog might say) in GIN members, as a visit to the KT Show Facebook page shows. One commenter, for example, wrote, "If you're what Kevin calls a Winner, go to: http://thepaywindow.com." I followed the link, and judging from the copy on that page, as well as the video --- which contains images such as the Magic Wish Genie that were apparently "borrowed" from The Secret -- the person issuing the invitation to Winners is a GIN affiliate inviting people to join GIN. What's this, then -- one sucker using a forum for suckers to try to sucker in other suckers who have presumably already been suckered in? That doesn't sound like the activities of a Winner, but then, what do I know?

On the KT Show Facebook page someone else wrote:

Once is not enough for Your Wish is Your Command
Twice is not enough for Your Wish is Your Command
Three times is not enough for Your Wish is Your Command
100 times and you've just begun!

Um-kay. Someone else responded, "and I'm only on 6!"

Finally there's this, from the True-dough proxy who is writing the updates on KT's behalf:

Brandy & I are in the studio recording new GIN material. What are YOU doing to build your GIN business on this fine SUNDAY?

Brandy and GIN... jeez, sounds like a real party, one with a lot of hangover potential. Actually, Brandy is True-dough's producer and trusty assistant, the one who is always posting testimonials and stuff on the KT Radio Network blog. She's one of his staunchest defenders, and if you follow this link and scroll down to the first mention of "Brandy" you'll see some of her blog entries from last year, detailing how she got a taste of the rich-and-famous lifestyle that she says Kevin enjoys every day. She describes the fancy restaurants, the stupendous fresh food and endless glasses of fine bubbly, the luxury hotel right next to the Eiffel Tower, the giggly girl time with True-dough's wife Natalie while True-dough was off conferring with a nameless billionaire and getting more secrets to share with GIN members. It's all by way of demonstrating that Kevin is not the bad guy the mean ol' media say he is, that instead he is a very caring and generous soul. He doesn't have to do his radio show, she says. He doesn't have to battle the government officials. He doesn't have to go all over the world to get the information "they" don't want you to know. He does it all for you and me, because that's just the kind of guy he is.

[Memo to Brandy: It is actually possible for someone to be a "snake oil salesman" and a "very caring person." And kings have always dined well, and generally have seen to it that those closest to them do as well. But they do so on the backs of hundreds of thousands of nameless subjects. ~CC]

But I don't want to get too far off track. Here are some of the answers to the Facebook question -- unedited -- revealing how some ostentatiously motivated GIN members chose to spend their fine Sunday:

reading books, listening to audios, and feeling good right now :)
Sharing, growing, improving, focusing, and feeling good!
Prepping for a meet-in with my favorite prospect, and his first prospect. Hopefully they both join afterwards. Listenning to Chris McGarahan explaining the compensaton plan in the affiliate developement. Then off to Zurich for some success mastery. Have to give out a YWIYC in a bit, and go for a walk in the nice neighbourhood for some dream building. Then I'm gonna read more of Dr.C's Only Answer to Success, and Ask and it is Given. Quite a busy day! And I'm lovin every minute of it.
3 new contacts, 4hrs of training, 1chapter in the magic of thinking big, 1 chapter in the Andrew carnegie biography, 1 chapter in the secrete societies bible, My cousin ordered 450.00 worth of tools, A commitment for a upgrade from affilliate to member on the 29th.
i am listening to some of the cds and applying what i am tought
I was putting all the GIN prospect business cards in order I have collected in the last 9 months in my NEW business cards sales lead business binder... NEXT year on Sunday morning I will be Swimming in the Caribbean or someplace as nice...OR Better!

The KT proxy praised the commenters for their "productivity." Oh, Good Goddess, my brain hurts. Looking at those responses, it seems to me that there was quite a bit of reading, listening, walking, business-card-shuffling, cousin-harassment, and general recruiting activity (or plans thereof) occurring on that fine Sunday. This hardly sounds like a "lazy" way to riches. In fact, a lot of it sounds like the terrible four-letter word that intimidated Maynard G. Krebs on the old Dobie Gillis TV show: "W-O-R-K!" The question is: what will these dutiful listeners have to show for all of that work, all of that repetitive listening to Your Wish Is Your Command, one year from now? What about five years out? Probably not much, while KT will be off and running with his newest money grab.

Incidentally, I have a feeling that the reference in that third comment to "off to Zurich" did not mean that the writer was poised to hop aboard a private jet for Alps country. In fact I suspect that the vast majority of GIN members will never see Zurich or Paris or the Caribbean or any of the other places they dream of visiting, at least not as a result of their GIN membership. Most will probably never enjoy the decadent luxury that KT's faithful Brandy described in the link I provided above -- at least not as a result of pouring thousands of dollars into True-dough's Nevis account. The most that many can hope for is a nice dinner in Chicago with True-dough if they contribute $1,000 or more to his legal defense fund. Of course at the dinner they will have yet another opportunity to contribute even more to the cause.

More than likely the person making that comment about Zurich on Facebook was simply planning to listen to a GIN training session that supposedly took place in Zurich. As for the "Dr. C." this person mentioned, he is one of True-dough's b.f.f.s, Dr. Leonard Coldwell, who is not an M.D. licensed to practice in the U.S., but who claims he has been "curing cancer" for 30 years. And Ask and It is Given? That's the name of a classic work by imaginary-friends perps Abrascam-Hicks, whose works are apparently part of the GIN toolkit, along with The Secret.

But you don't have to listen to me. After all, I'm from the Dark Side. So go ahead... just put your earbuds back on and listen to Your Wish Is Your Command for the 79th time. That way, you won't hear the very loud sucking sound as most of my remaining hope for the human race is sucked right on down the drain.

More on Nouveau Tech/Neo-Tech to come.

Everything old is Nouveau again (or, Neo-scam by any other name) -- Part 1 of 2

2011-08-19T17:51:00.039-05:00

Okay, here's another long one. Please bear with me. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, so be prepared. To save your eyes, consider printing this thing out and highlighting links that interest you so you can follow them later.
~CC

As I noted in my previous post, Utah has been on my mind lately, and one big reason for that is the coverage that the Utah boiler rooms and Utah's shady Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, have been getting on Salty Droid's blog. (Come to think of it, Shurtleff and The Scandals have been getting some play on Wikipedia too.) While the boiler rooms and Shurtleff's apparent complicity are serious issues, and I'm glad Salty's on the job, my interest in Utah sprouted off in another direction after I impulsively decided to re-join a book club a couple of months ago. I ordered as one of my introductory selections a large and sprawling novel called The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall (which I highly recommend). That book got me interested in learning more about polygamy, about which I've never had much of an opinion one way or the other. Around the time I was reading The Lonely Polygamist I saw a write-up in my local paper about a nonfiction book, Secrets & Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy, by Sanjiv Bhattacharya. So I ordered it and plunged right in as soon as I was finished with Udall's novel.

Meanwhile back in the real world, during the time I was engrossed in my reading, polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs went to trial in Texas and was found guilty of child rape and sentenced to life in prison.

You might be wondering why I'm blogging about polygamy, when that's a religion thing, more or less, and mainstream religion normally isn't my beat. Cults are my beat, but polygamists aren't necessarily cultists, except when they are. But if you'll bear with me for a few more paragraphs, we'll get to familiar Whirled territory.

I enjoyed Secrets & Wives and highly recommend it too, not only for the insightful reporting but also because Bhattacharya is easily as snarky as I. He has no qualms about poking fun at Mormon mythology, nor about exposing the dark side of polygamy, a practice which the mainstream Mormon Church outlawed in the nineteenth century. In his book he tells appalling tales of incest and other abuses within some plyg families -- tales that will turn your stomach. Despite this he paints a sympathetic portrait of some of the non-abusive polygamists, and more importantly, he raises valid questions about the present laws that make plural marriage a crime. Understand that he is in no way excusing the incest and other abuse committed by some polygamists, but the very fact that their basic family structure is a crime -- with the result that much of their lives are lived in hiding -- allows the concealment of real atrocities.

While researching the book Bhattacharya visited numerous families in several polygamy communities. Some of the most horrendous tales emerged from the Kingston group, aka The Order. I summarized some of this in one of my comments on a discussion on this post on Salty's blog. The thread actually begins with Barbara's comment, "Shurtleff has always been in the business of making Utah a haven for pyramid schemers, MLM’s, and grifters of all persuasions...."

Since his election to the office of Attorney General in 2000, Shurtleff has also been mostly tolerant of polygamy, vowing only to go after the incest perps and other abusers, but he seems to have done precious little in that direction. (He apparently hasn't done much to stop the systematic abuse of kids on another Utah front either -- a group of privately-owned, for-profit boot-camp "schools," as Salty Droid reported earlier this year.) In fact, due to a technicality involving jury instructions, Utah couldn't even make abusive plyg patriarch Warren Jeffs' conviction stick. It took Texas to put Jeffs back into an orange jumpsuit -- presumably for good this time.

Apocalypse Bob and the seekrit societies
Among the narratives of horror and the snarkworthy bits in Secrets & Wives there were also some happy stories, tales of seemingly well-adjusted polygamist families and groups. By far the most charming one was near the end of the book, when Bhattacharya described his visit to "The Rock," aka Rockland Ranch, a community that is literally built into a huge rock located a little over twenty miles southeast of Moab, Utah, in the middle of the sagebrush desert. Unlike many polygamist communities, the group welcomes outside visitors. They're a pretty tolerant lot at The Rock, and apparently you don't even have to be a polygamist to live there.

The Rock community was founded by the late Robert Dean Foster, who was in his eighties when Bhattacharya talked to him. Bob was a friendly old man, a few bubbles off plumb to be sure, and preoccupied with the Apocalypse to boot (or Mormogeddan, as Bhattacharya calls it). Bob had arrived at The Rock back in 1979 when it was nothing more than, well, a rock. At that time he had three wives and, Bhattacharya writes, "a burning conviction that it was time to prepare for the end of days." When Bhattacharya visited around 2007, the community had grown to eight homes -- some as large as 6,000 square feet -- and several apartments, housing about seventy residents at capacity. A dozen solar panels graced the top of The Rock; solar power was used to pump water from a nearby well, and there was a large vegetable garden and mini-orchard on the property. Rock residents tooled around on four-wheelers, and there was even Internet access in the community center. All in all, it seemed to be a pretty sustainable off-the-grid setup.

During his stay at The Rock Bhattacharya had several conversations with Apocalypse Bob, and at one point Bob asked him, "Have you heard of Novatech?" Bhattacharya replied that he had not, and Bob elaborated. "They've very wealthy and powerful people and they're spending millions of dollars to try and stop death with science and technology. I'm on a mission to help these guys. They're brilliant people, but they missed the gospel."

Bhattacharya asked him what he meant, and Bob invited him into his inner sanctum. And there on the desks, tables, and every visible flat surface were stacks of mail, piled neatly in rectangular columns -- hundreds of envelopes, every one of them face up, and each of them had been opened. Bob picked some of the letters up and began reading enthusiastically to Bhattacharya. There were letters from psychics and random purveyors of esoteric knowledge from all over the world, each claiming to know details about Bob's personal life that Bob insisted they couldn't have possibly known unless they were the real deal. "They read me like a book!" he enthused. And each missive promised untold wealth, happiness, and true love if Bob would only send them money. Bhattacharya wrote that his heart sank at hearing this.

Bob's being had by an army of frauds -- scam psychics and pretend gypsies, secret societies and junk mail clairvoyants. The sheer volume of their attack is disconcerting, and the way Bob keeps their mail so meticulously like important business correspondence. Letters that begin, "Mr. Foster, I am going to make you a millionaire," or "The Most Important Letter You've Ever Received." Letters from "One of the richest men in Europe," or "Kreskin, the world-famous mentalist." Bob treasures them all. "Roger Grimstone says the money's going to come like an avalanche, and Kreskin says tidal wave," he says, chuckling. So he sends them the little sums they ask for, the twenties, even hundreds.

Perhaps his credulity is a kind of elderly regression, a return to the naivete of his youth. Perhaps it's a product of his separation from the world, his unfamiliarity with its ways. But I suspect Bob's being fleeced for the same reasons that he built the Rock in the first place -- a boundless capacity to believe in fantasies. The fire of his faith is scalding him.

Bhattacharya tried to convince Bob that the letters were all scams. In response, Bob pulled out three huge books, each one over 1,000 pages long and marked "Nouveau Tech." These were the "Novatech" folks Bob had mentioned earlier. "Multimillionaires, worldwide, very powerful secret society," he explained to Bhattacharya. "They're trying to put their own men into power so they can break up the IRS. And they need exactly what I've got to tell them. One of their Nobel Prize winners was writing me letters."

It seems the "Nobel Prize winner" had claimed that Bob was "engulfed in double sine waves" and that the organization needed him. Bob didn't actually know what double sine waves were, but that didn't matter. (A quick Google search reveals that "engulfed in double sine waves" is apparently a standard bit of nonsense flattery used in those "personalized" letters that Nouveau Tech sends out.) Bob hadn't met the Nouveau Tech people, but he insisted that they were the Illuminati, the Enlightened Ones. And each of the thousand-page Nouveau Tech tomes in his possession was marked, "Limited Heirloom Package, specially printed for Robert Foster." Much of the prose, noted Bhattacharya, read like a fourth-rate novel, peopled by heroes with names such as Frank Wallace and Mark Hamilton, both of whom Bhattacharya seemed to think were entirely fictional characters. (They're not, but more on that in a while.)

Though the books seemed to Bhattacharya to be as hokey and transparently scammy as the stacks of letters, Bob had gone through the volumes with a highlighter, making notes in the margins. And it seemed that he truly believed he was going to meet the Nouveau Tech folks some day, that he would save them and they in turn would make him immeasurably rich. Wrote Bhattacharya:

It's a tragedy. A broke old man is being ripped off and it can't be stopped. He's been hooked by a classic one-two: flattery and a false promise. The scammers first tell Bob how gifted he is; they send him diplomas and fellowships at pseudoscientific academies, admission to elite societies and karmic medals. Then they promise him riches, love, immortality, eternal happiness, anything that anyone could ever want. It's not so far removed from the Mormon flattery elevating saints [Mormons] over Gentiles [non-Mormons], promising them godhood, eternal families, planets of their own.* Bob has lived his life believing these things; it is his greatest charm and his greatest flaw.

Not so Nouveau, after all
As I read the passage about Apocalypse Bob in Secrets & Wives I was, as you might well imagine, getting all kinds of crazy deja-vu feelings. Nouveau tech? Nouveau, my a$$. Appealing to people by convincing them they're "special," and therefore worthy of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase top-seekrit information, is, as Bhattacharya noted, one of the oldest tricks in the book. And it is employed by everyone from the most sophisticated modern Internet marketers to the most ludicrously transparent old-timey "psychics," an example of the latter being "Maria," whom we visited here a couple of years ago.

While it is pretty clear that not all of the fraud mail in Bob's office was from Nouveau Tech, every piece employed the same basic marketing strategy. The hucksters continue to use the age-old ploy of sweet flattery, spiced with extravagant claims and promises, for one simple reason: It works. No matter how sophisticated they consider themselves to be, most people are susceptible to the suggestion that they are exceptional, as well as to the hope that money and good fortune can just fall from the sky for them. The less sophisticated, the technologically challenged, and the old and confused are simply low-hanging fruit.

Nothing new there at all.

Still, my curiosity was piqued, and I decided to find out more about Nouveau Tech/Novatech. I was particularly interested because some of the marketing copy as described in Secrets & Wives reminded me of a certain Kevin True-dough and his whole "Secret Brotherhood" shtick. (As you may know if you've been here a while, I wrote at length about True-dough and that Secret Society stuff some time back.) I wondered if there could be a connection, and/or if True-dough had derived inspiration for some of his own tall tales from the apparently much older Nouveau Tech.

As luck, synchronicity, or meaningless coincidence would have it, at just about the same time I had completed the passage about Apocalypse Bob in Secrets & Wives, and was beginning my rudimentary research on Nouveau Tech/NovaTech, my Facebook friend Peter Wink -- who happens to currently be Kevin True-dough's VP of Marketing -- wrote on his FB status on August 7, "In my office re-reading 'the Neo-Tech System!' Classic book."

My little ears pricked right up at that. "Neo" and "Nouveau" both mean "new," after all. So I asked Peter via Facebook if the Neo-Tech System had any relationship to Nouveau Tech/Novatech, and he responded, "No idea." Next I asked him who the author of the book is, but he hasn't responded yet. [See note below. ~ CC] I understand he's a busy man and probably isn't on Facebook every day. So maybe I can offer some of my helpful research.

Update 24 August 2011: I heard from Peter yesterday, and he explained that the edition of The Neo-Tech System he is reading, which he purchased from Amazon, made no mention of Nouveau Tech or Novatech. He added that it is simply a business book that in his opinion actually contains some useful ideas.

First of all, it seems that there is a relationship between Neo-Tech (often spelled Neotech) and Nouveau Tech/Novatech. Either that, or someone is violating someone else's copyrights. For instance, look at this Amazon listing of a book called The Nouveau Tech Package of Inside Secrets, by Mark Hamilton (there's that name again), Tracy Alexander, Eric Savage, and Frank R. Wallace (there's that name again). Despite the title, the words "NEO-TECH" appear on the cover of the book pictured on the page. According to the publication info, the book was issued in 2005 by Integrated Management Associates.

I looked up Integrated Management Associates, and found lots of information about this nice little family business, such as this:

Integrated Management Associates is a publisher of books and articles from various writers, almost all concerning the philosophy of Neo-Tech. The company has published under a few DBA's including Neo-Tech Publishing, the Nouveau Tech Society, Newly-Forming Neo-Tech/Illuminati Societies, the Athenian Secret Society, and the Society of Secrets. Prior to being called Integrated Management Associates, books about Neo-Tech were being sold under the company name I & O Publishing, which was founded in 1968. The company was owned by Wallace Ward, Ph.D. (pen name Dr. Frank R. Wallace). Authors have included Frank Wallace, Mark Hamilton, Eric Savage, Drew Ellis, Matt Keys, Brett Peters, Neil Lock, ... Carl Watner, philosopher Yasuhiko Kimura (pen name Ray Kotobuki) and Ted Nicholas....

...History

On August 6, 2007, Neo-Tech Publishing's membership in the Better Business Bureau of Southern Nevada was revoked.

In May 2008, Neo-Tech Publishing was given an "unsatisfactory" rating by the Better Business Bureau of Southern Nevada.

Currently, Neo-Tech Publishing has a satisfactory rating. [Not that this necessarily means much, since the BBB can be bought. ~CC]

Criticisms

Some individuals have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau against the company, mainly for false advertising. The Better Business Bureau's web site itself says that "Neo-Tech Publishing" "has been a member of this Better Business Bureau since May 1992" and its original business start date was May 1990, which would seem to be less than 35 years before NTP's 2006 claim of a "35-year record" with the BBB.

Australian Fair Trading Minister Margaret Keech has also called Neo-Tech a group of "con-artists", for claiming to select "a small handful of 'special' individuals" to receive "secret wisdom of ages", and then asking the individuals to pay money to obtain these "secrets".

Tony Levene of The Guardian has also pointed out that the company was the subject of a 2000 ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority of the United Kingdom, in which it was stated that Neo-Tech had "not provided evidence, other than anecdotal, to show the guaranteed earnings, improvements to health, and other benefits" which Neo-Tech claimed to offer "had been, or could be, attained".

Deceptive advertising with a sprinkling of math challenges: ah, now we're deep into Whirled Musings snark chum. We're soaking in it. I apologize for the smell. You will probably need to take a shower when you're done here.

I found another link that offers a pretty good history of Neo-Tech. This piece also explains Neo-Tech's ideological debt to the late author Ayn Rand, who has inspired worship from political wingnuts and New-Wage hustledorks alike, in large part for her philosophy of Objectivism. The article is long, but worth the read, I think, even though the links to the Neo-Tech material no longer work, and even though the author is an Ayn Rand fan and I'm really not. Here's the link.

In case you don't have time to read all of the piece now, I'll post some relevant snippets. Such as this one:

The originator of Neo-Tech, Wallace Ward, used the pen name Frank R. Wallace when he wrote his various Neo-Tech documents as well as his earlier work, Poker: A Guaranteed Income for Life by Using the Advance Concepts of Poker. In that early work, Wallace observed that a skilled poker player can win large sums of money consistently over time without cheating. How? He can locate easily manipulated people and persuade them to join him in a friendly game of cards over and over again using commonly accepted "big lies." These "marks" become his "market" for easy pickings over time. In a sense, he defrauds them without engaging in what people generally call fraud.

The marks become the market...defrauding without engaging in what people generally call fraud... Is any of that beginning to sound familiar? Here's more:

The Neo-Tech Publishing (NTP) Company, which Wallace founded, employed his son, Wallace Ward, Jr. who used the pen name Mark Hamilton. It also employed a number of other family members as well as hired employees. I eventually purchased a few more books from the company such as:

Neo-Tech Cosmic Business Control by Mark Hamilton
A Future of Wealth Belongs to You! by Mark Hamilton
Zonpower by Frank R. Wallace

By this time, an e-mail discussion list for Neo-Tech had started called "Neo-Talk." Its owner and moderator, Nicholas Rich, while not an NTP employee, nevertheless had great enthusiasm for the products, especially Neo-Tech Cosmic Business Control. That book outlined a mode of thinking called Neothink that consciously strove to drive all forms of mysticism and bicameral tendencies from the reasoning mind. It outlined the "white collar hoax" of ossified business structures and overpaid managers that neocheat customers and employees. They do this through the use of appeals to management "authorities" who in fact do not earn the kinds of money the business structure pays them. Hamilton's entire book offers an alternative of self-employment that includes ways to train new hires and then set them up as independent contractors totally responsible for their own bottom lines. For Rich, who worked as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) negotiator, this system delivered a financial boon...

It sounds to me as if the Neotech vision is for the entire world to be a big MLM scheme. He who dies with the biggest downline wins.

The term "bicameral tendencies" in the passage above caught my eye because it's an allusion to a 1976 book I read many years ago by the late and controversial Julian Jaynes, Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. The author of the piece linked to above summarizes:

In that book, Jaynes argued that the earliest of Homo sapiens did not experience the world in the same conscious, self-aware state as do modern humans.

For Jaynes, the writings of early man reflected an automated mode of awareness similar to that of animals. In his theory, man functioned through auditory hallucinations generated from the creative right brain hemisphere transmitted as verbal commands to the analytical left brain hemisphere. These "voices of the gods" told man how to act. Because of the two chambers of the brain involved in this form of awareness, Jaynes called his theory that of the "bicameral" or two chamber mind. As society grew more complex, man had to evolve his own consciousness -- "invent himself" -- to integrate the hemispheric activity into a single concept of "I" so he could handle the new complexities using volitional reasoning. But because man missed the voices of the gods, he began turning to external authorities who claimed still to hear those voices -- or to feel their commands -- or otherwise to have special access to privileged information -- for guidance.

And here is a link to the quickie-Wiki rundown.

"Neothinkers" seem to like to throw the word "bicameral" around a lot, but when I read some of their testimonials on various Web sites, I wonder how many of them can even spell "bicameral," much less explain its significance. I'm sorry if I sound mean. Well, not really.

And as for driving all forms of mysticism from the "reasoning" mind, good luck with that. Many fans of the aforementioned Ayn Rand, as well as fans of the Neotech material, apparently like to pride themselves on their rationality, but just between you and me, they seem anything but rational. They seem all too willing to jump onto a cult bandwagon, whether it's an Ayn Rand cult or a Neotech cult or, for that matter, a Kevin True-dough cult. (Vaguely relevant: this interesting short bit comparing Rand with other cult leaders such as Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.)

Some of the Neotech literature is pretty irrational too, according to the article I linked to above (here's the link again):

In the works I read prior to Zonpower [embedded link is my addition. ~ CC] Wallace and Hamilton would occasionally make sweeping proclamations about a "Civilization of the Universe" which the human race would join once it "exorcised" the last of its mystical tendencies. For them, no advanced race of intelligent beings could possibly survive without Neo-Tech past the "nuclear decision threshold," i.e. the use of nuclear weapons for complete self-destruction. I breezed past these statements as meaningless puffs of hot air in an otherwise readable set of books.

That all changed with the release of Zonpower. In that book, Wallace pulled the stops and began to rant and babble as a divinely inspired schizophrenic. He raged onward and upward about the ideal sentient being, the Zon, and how all advanced extraterrestrials must necessarily fit that mold and how humans can achieve it with honesty and effort. From utterly specious claims about "Neo-Tech Physics" and their "Super-Inflation Gravity Units (SIGUs)" to long winded and repetitive yapping about everyone riding into the "Civilization of the Universe," Wallace truly went off the proverbial "deep end."

More to the point of this and related posts on this blog, it appears to me that many fans and followers of some of today's smoothest-talking hucksters, even those hucksters who claim to be rational and not mystical, are also big fans of New-Wage/McSpirituality/pseudoscientifical concepts such as the Law of Attraction (a la The Secret and Abrascam-Hicks). Most importantly, they seem incapable of recognizing a hustle when they see one.

But here's someone who does recognize the hustle, and explores it in great detail as he asks, "Just who is Mark Hamilton?"

Um... maybe we better make that Mark Scamilton.

Birds of a feather. Again.
Now, I know this will come as a profound shock, but...and I hope you are sitting down, Dear Ones... it appears that not only are Kevin True-dough and Mark Scamilton buddies, but there have been various types of business relationships between KT's empire and Nouveau Tech/Neo-Tech/Neothink.

There's been some classic mail bonding, for example, much to the disgruntlement of numerous customers, as indicated in this 2005 piece from the ConsumerAffairs.com Web site:

The names and addresses of consumers who call to order the book "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About" are being sold to telemarketers, junk mailers and other direct marketers, the New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB) has learned.

'Without asking permission from consumers, Kevin Trudeau is offering to rent the names and addresses of his customers to telemarketers, junk mailers and other direct marketers,' said Teresa A. Santiago, CPB Chairman and Executive Director.

'Without a privacy policy on his website or some other notification, customers are unaware that their information is being sold and they also are not given an opportunity to prevent those sales from occurring,' said Santiago. 'Consumers should know this before they decide to buy Trudeau's book, his newsletter or a membership to his website.'

Customers who call one of Trudeau's toll-free order numbers have received spooky junk mail from a Nevada company, claiming to be a 'secret society' with 'personal knowledge' about these consumers.

This junk mailer calls itself the 'Nouveau Tech Society,' but it is actually another book publisher in Henderson, Nev. That sells a $150 book teaching people how to rule the world.

"Oh, big deal, Cosmic Connie," you might be saying. "2005 was YEARS ago. That was even before you started Whirled Musings. It's practically ancient history in contemporary marketing time. Besides, it's standard practice for marketers to sell names to other marketers. YOU KNOW THAT. Get over it, you hater."

Okay, Pat (and the rest of you), but just because something is a standard practice doesn't mean it's not sneaky and sleazy. (Sneaky and Sleazy...weren't those the names of two of the little characters in the classic fairy tale, Snow Job and the Seven ’Dorks?) At any rate it seems that even today some of True-dough's customers are getting unwanted mail from Neo-Tech/Nouveau Tech. One of the very first results that came up when I initially began Googling the matter was an Amazon discussion -- initiated in January 2008 and continuing well into 2011 -- the title of which is, "Kevin Trudeau's Nouveau Tech Manuscript." That title, as I rapidly saw, was a little misleading -- though apparently not intentionally so -- and there's a lot of noise and confused speculation about who's doing what, but the discussion nevertheless touched upon the problem of unwanted mail-list sharing...unwanted by the customers, that is.

Fortunately most of the participants in that exchange seemed to recognize the flattery and whatnot as the con that it is. And defenders of True-dough might patiently remind me once again that mail-list sharing is S.O.P. in marketing. They might also point out to me that KT has his privacy policies firmly in place these days. It's up to customers to read 'em, and many don't. There are privacy policies on all of KT's Web sites, including what is one of his most heavily promoted seekrit-information machines, the pyramid-ish MLM scheme known as the Global Information Network, or GIN. That site makes a great big deal about how the GIN membership list is absolutely confidential and all members are and always will be anonymous to the general public. It most certainly does have a privacy policy, even though the policy contains a standard disclaimer about the "Use of Personal Information Collected," which includes this:

GIN reserves the right to share your personally identifiable information, including but not limited to your email address, postal address, and telephone number with its affiliates and third parties.

NBD, though -- we all know that everyone's private and personal information is already for sale. Why should GIN be any different? Besides, GIN members can always "opt-out" of the info-sharing scheme...well, okay, I guess they can't, but at least the GIN Web site lets them know that GIN's use of their personal information is beyond their control. I suppose that can be very empowering in its own way. Well, at least for GIN.

On the other hand, as noted, these privacy policies are on the Web sites, where at least consumers can, if they're so motivated, read them at their leisure. Folks who impulsively order by phone, calling one of True-dough's toll-free numbers after watching a late-night infomercial, may not have the luxury of having a privacy policy and disclaimer made clear to them. Hearing the information that normally appears in fine print on a Web site from a fast-talking call-center order taker/upseller is not the same as having it all laid out in black and white.

Moreover, apart from info-sharing, it seems that KT's customers are still getting tripped up by the tried-and-true strategy of the misleading ad, in which Kevin presents an overwrought infomercial about one of his books or other frauducts that he claims is packed full of information that THEY don't want you to know (but that he is risking his freedom and his very life to share with you), and he says that it's FREE with a subscription to one of his newsletters or some other forced-continuity scheme.

Then again, the fact that consumers only see and hear what they want to see and hear in an infomercial is not Kevin's fault; as one writer put it on the ConsumerAffairs.com site, "Yes it is Misleading...and thousands fall for it... but he does tell you several times through the infomercial."

Not to mention the fact that some of those complaining about Nouveau Tech seem as certifiable as some of the scheme's most passionate believers. On one forum, for example, a guy complained that Nouveau Tech/Neotech is an evil group that has been listening in on his phone calls and following him to work. He claims the organization has even stolen three cars and several bikes from him.

Given consumers' failure to read all the fine print or listen carefully, and given that some of them are a little nutty anyway, you can hardly blame a good flimflammer for flimflamming, can you? I mean, some people are just asking for it.**

The heady smell of bromance in the air
But back to KT's alliance with Mark Hamilton and Neotech, aka Nouveau Tech, aka a scammy scheme by any other name. There's been more recent bidness activity, beyond mail-list sharing, between True-dough and Scamilton. Here are excerpts from a piece in a December 2009 edition of the Neothink Newspaper:

May All Your Wishes Come True!

Welcome to the “Holiday Issue” of your NTNews newsletter...

...And speaking of wishes coming true, we have the exciting honor of announcing a new resource for members interested in pursuing the opportunities available with the Global Information Network.

I will let Mike Ginther [embedded link is my addition ~CC] tell you more about this cool new system recently developed to benefit our members.

OK Mike, let er rip!

The Neothink GIN Advantage.

Mark Hamilton wants to help jump start the Neothink® Society Members as they become members and affiliates of the Global Information Network. He has asked me, Mike Ginther, to head up this new program designed to help Jump Start his apprentices and members in the Global Information Network.

I will be joined by Steven Fagan, Steven Hinz and others as they share success stories, tips, marketing ideas, and a bunch of motivation and great times. There will also be some surprise guests on these weekly training and motivational teleseminars including KT himself, so don’t miss any of these calls as you might just learn how to make a full time income and grow it into wealth that only you can limit.

We’ll share success stories and provide some of the latest marketing ideas that are working, and guest stars that are making many things happen. There is so much this program has to offer that Mark Hamilton wanted to put a full focus on helping our members get the most from it and grow their teams and income faster...

...Mark earlier wrote a statement that was read to our members attending the Global Information Network’s Kick off event in Cancun Mexico. [Emphasis mine. ~ CC] In case you were not in attendance here is his statement:

Sincerely,

Mike

THE DEEPER VALUE OF GIN

For over thirty years, I had never allowed an affiliate program of any kind into my membership.

Kevin Trudeau and his GIN is the first.

The money-making opportunity of GIN is very good.

But let me point out something that Kevin himself might not.

Kevin is very possibly the best marketing genius alive.

In the nearly twenty years that I have personally known Kevin, I have seen him effortlessly move from one venture to another and soar right to the top.

For you to have access to one of the greatest marketing legends who ever lived is priceless. If you really listen closely to Kevin, you will advance your marketing effectiveness far beyond your current abilities. The marketing lessons you learn directly from Kevin Trudeau will be worth many times the money you paid to be in GIN.

The deeper value of GIN starts with you absorbing Kevin’s knowledge this weekend. Getting to know how Kevin’s mind works will accelerate your success.

Also, I will take this opportunity to tell you what a good person Kevin is. Of all the people I have done business with, Kevin has proven the most consistently honest, generous, and most beneficial relationship I have experienced over the past two decades. Kevin’s word is as good as a contract. Moreover, Kevin goes out of his way to be sure I am happy in any business dealing we do together. He does everything in his power to make those he does business with a success. I know those rare qualities are intrinsic in Kevin, and those qualities reach out and apply to all my members who have taken on the GIN adventure.

Let me urge you to enjoy this money-making opportunity while also seeing the deeper value of the GIN program, your relationship with Kevin himself, and the valuable knowledge he personally brings to you.

Sincerely,

Mark Hamilton

The author of the blog post in which this letter was published added:

Pretty cool huh?

One thing I will add on a personal note is to recommend for every member to get their hands on the amazing audio CD set titled Your Wish is Your Command. [Which is basically a 14-CD upsell for GIN. ~CC]

And listen to it repeatedly!

The information contained in this series is priceless and complements perfectly the works of Mark Hamilton in the prime literature. You can find out more information when you join in on the teleseminars described above.

As Mike Ginther mentioned above, Mark Hamilton was not actually at the GIN kick-off event in Cancun, and his statement "was read" to the attendees. There's no real proof that Hamilton even really wrote the thing, but for the purpose of this post I will assume that it at least had his blessings. I was particularly struck by Hamilton's declaration, "In the nearly twenty years that I have personally known Kevin, I have seen him effortlessly move from one venture to another and soar right to the top." Assuming his claim of having personally known KT for nearly twenty years is accurate, and assuming the quoted statement was written in 2009, when the blog post was published, then KT was either still in prison or just barely out of it at the time Hamilton met him. Granted, that doesn't necessarily preclude "effortlessly moving from one venture to the other and soaring right to the top." But still.

I'm not entirely sure if the True-dough/Scamilton bromance is completely reciprocal, but some of the GIN Affiliates are sure acting as if it is, if this page on the Web site of GIN Affiliate Shannon D. Smith is any indication. The GIN/Neothink alliance has been a veritable Petri dish for culturing icky bromance. Shannon writes:

My Global Information Network sponsor is Jeff Smith (no relation). Jeff's sponsor's name is Mark Hamilton. Mark is a long time friend and associate of the famous billionaire, Kevin Trudeau! [And just to add visual reinforcement of the connection, there's a picture on the page of Jeff Smith and True-dough himself. ~CC]

Kevin Trudeau is one of the Global Information Network initiators, presentors [sic] and the spokesman. [And OWNER. You forgot owner, Shannon. ~CC] He [sic] the #1 Best Selling Author of "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About" and others. You can listen to Kevin's fantasticaly [sic] informative radio show by clicking here [link].

Mark Hamilton is a genius marketer, businessman and long time friend of Kevin Trudeau. He’s not only the sponsor of Jeff Smith's sponsor (Mark Ginther) but his personal mentor and business associate. Jeff has known Mark Hamilton since 2005. Mark is best known for his amazing business enhancing, philosophical, and personal development writings.

He is a best selling author, the founder of the world wide Neothink® Society and a major partner of the award winning Grand Canyon Skywalk...

...Mark has been personally mentoring Jeff and helping him develop his dreams and goals. I honestly believe that he and Kevin Trudeau are the two best marketers in the world.

Did you get all that? Shannon knows someone who knows someone who knows Mark Scamilton, who is Kevin True-dough's long-time pal and bidness associate. I hope you are suitably impressed.

Natch, Shannon has got the starry eyes for Kevin too, and he's, like, almost in KT's inner circle, apparently due to the fact that he wrote a song about how heroic Kevin is, and Kevin played it. On his radio show. Sez Shannon, writing about his "lucky" day:

I'll give you an example of how close to the top you are. I'm a singer/songwriter. I wrote this song called "Kevin" all about Kevin Trudeau and his fight to expose truth. I made a quick home demo of this and sent it to Jeff. Not long after that, Jeff burned my song onto disk and gave it to Kevin by hand. [By hand! Oh, my, that is close to the top. ~ CC] Soon, I'm hearing billionaire Kevin Trudeau announce my name and play my demo to millions of people on his radio show. This was like a dream and it's just the beginning of the beginning for me! To hear this, click here and scroll over to about 22:05 minutes in: Shannon Smith's "Kevin" demo on the Kevin Trudeau Radio Show.

Ah, Shannon... You say "billionaire Kevin Trudeau" / I say "scammer Kevin True-dough" / Billionaire / Scammer / Billionaire / Scammer / Let's call the whole thing off. Well, I listened to Shannon's song -- the whole thing -- and tears came to my eyes. You can listen too if you follow the link in the last sentence of the paragraph above. I don't know why Shannon doesn't just bundle up his talent and take it to America's Got Talent. I'd love to see what Piers would do to him.

I have to admit I was momentarily a little envious of Kevin for inspiring such creativity, but then I remembered that I have inspired a similarly creative effort. It doesn't have a tune yet and maybe it needs more verses -- after all, I've gotten death threats too -- but it's a good start. And by the way, I also wrote a song, but it doesn't have a tune yet either.

But back to business. I am fully aware that even this more recent GIN/Neoscam venture stuff is not new information. Don't think I'm expending any energy patting myself on the back for my keen investigative journo skills. Chalk up the fact that I overlooked the Scamilton/True-dough connections in my numerous previous posts about True-dough to the fact that there are thousands of scams out there, and Nouveau Tech never really came on my radar till I read the story of Utah's Rock-dwelling patriarch.

At any rate, despite the cozy mail-list sharing and the enthusiastic, mutual-masturbatory kickoff in 2009, there may have been a little bit of trouble in Neo-GIN Paradise. It's just a hunch I have, based on the fact that the GIN folks addressed the issue on the GIN FAQ page:

Q: I ordered something from Neo-Tech and...?
A: Please contact customerservice@neo-tech.com to have this issue resolved. Neo-tech and GIN are separate organizations.

Nevertheless, the relationship with Neo-tech has undoubtedly sent new fans and followers to True-dough, and vice-versa. (This testimonial, which sings the praises of both True-dough and Neotech, is yet another reminder that the fans simply don't care about True-dough's felonious past.)

Regarding Neotech as a business, it's hard to find reliable critical information, given some apologists' apparent employment of every hucksters' best-loved SEO strategy: using the word "scam" as a keyword in content that is in fact favorable to them. Consider this blog post, for example, which even has "scam" in the title, and includes this illuminating bit:

So of course a great deal of people will call it a scam. It’s a truly rediculous [sic] proposition. And so what can we expect to find on the Internet. ‘Scam, scam, scam, Frank R Wallace should go to hell, no wait, in fact he’s the devil incarnate”

Most who claim it’s a scam have not even seen the information package they would get by accepting the invitation. They are hurting themselves and others by creating negative hysteria against Neo-Tech / Nouveau Tech.

But the readers that are honest enough and ready, they discover for themself [sic] a guidepost and support pillar that no other thing can replace...

Way to work those search engines! By the way, Frank R. Wallace is no longer incarnate at all, at least not as Frank R. Wallace, aka Wallace Ward Sr. He died in 2006 when he was struck and killed by a car while jogging.

If you think you can find out much about Neotech by visiting the official Neo-tech Web site, I'll warn you in advance that the site is rather primitive and doesn't seem to be anything more than a bunch of testimonials -- thousands upon thousands of them. This is apparently a list of what used to be on the Web site, but the links lead only to error messages, leading me to believe that the material was taken down because Scamilton et al. decided to stop giving it away for free. Now all that's left are the testimonials. Good luck reaching that Customer Service email that the GIN folks suggested.

And getting back to GIN, you may be wondering whether it really is a pyramid scheme or a scam, as I've said or implied here numerous times. Well, here, in the interest of fairness and full disclosure, is GIN Affiliate Shannon Smith again to assure you that it's not. He explains that accusations that GIN is a pyramid or a scam are just knee-jerk reactions by the uninformed.

The Global Information Network founders are not enriching themselves financialy [sic] with this club.

I want you to take away from this page one thing. The founders of the Global Information Network are not a bunch of scheming, shabby guys sitting in a dark room trying to manipulate people for money. I've been to events. I've shaken hands with Kevin Trudeau. I've spoken to some of the faculty trainers. These guys are passionate! They pour their soul into their trainings because they really want members to succeed in life. Also, the founders are billionaires and already have multiple million dollar money making machines- they don't need the Global Information Network to make them money. Kevin Trudeau, one of the founders, has a vision for the Global Information Network. It is his burning desire to reach new members but he is not affected personaly [sic] or financially if someone joins or not. See, this club is set up as a foundation. The membership dues go right back into the foundation to enrich and grow the membership benefits. The money the club generates is not going to Kevin Trudeau personaly [sic] and furthermore, he doesn't need to do this- this is simply the vehicle he and the other GIN council members have chosen to disseminate the information they wish to share.

And unicorns really exist. And a unicorn will make you rich, healthy, and happy beyond your wildest dreams if you will only stroke its horn with passion, purpose, and a burning desire to succeed.

Now go take your shower, and I'll meet you here later for Part 2.

* Regarding "godhood and planets of their own," see Item Number 1 on this Top Ten list of crazy things Mormons believe. (IMO, though, these beliefs are not measurably crazier than most other religious beliefs.)
** That was sarcasm.