Whirled blogaversary: six of fun, half a dozen of serious

Today, July 27, Whirled Musings turns six years old.

I am honored, humbled, and beyond thrilled that the world has chosen to host a more-than-two-weeks-long party in London in honor of this little blog's sixth birthday. I understand that some athletes are going to be performing to celebrate this occasion, and there will be torches and fireworks and stuff. (The angry villagers have tried to come after me with torches in the past, but all is forgiven.) It's too bad that I can't be in London for the festivities, but perhaps my good pal HHH can pop in on my behalf.

As a matter of fact, it was HHH who suggested to me that the dearth of comments here recently may have something to do with the fact that I have been focusing more on mundane scammers and con artists than on the more esoteric and endlessly amusing loons and wackadoodles whom I used to snark about on a regular basis.

It's true that the more "out-there" crazies were, once upon a time, my main stock in trade, and it's also true that I originally created this Whirled half a dozen years ago mainly as a humor and entertainment blog. And there's been humor aplenty; well, at least I have kept myself pretty well entertained. Then again, I am easily amused, so there's that to consider.

In the earlier years, though, I really did visit the wackos more frequently than I have lately. And oh, there were so many from which to choose. I found out about many of them from a New-Wage marketing service called StarDoves. I was on StarDoves' email list for several years -- not of my own choosing; it just happened. It was their doing, apparently. But I took full advantage of my membership until I was unceremoniously removed. Maybe they were tired of getting complaints from their clients about how I was making fun of them; I don't know.

In any case, StarDoves and their clients provided me with endless hours of easy-snarkin' delight. Who can forget, for example, a guy named Bryan who, along with his very own Indigo Children, Mother Mary, and a few other luminaries, was involved in a project to empty Hell and bring its inhabitants into the Light? A lot of those posts, along with some other random nuttiness, can be found under the "What Lies Beneath" label on my Whirled.

That's just the tip of the loony pile, and StarDoves were far from the only source of snark chum. I have, for example, gotten a lot of mileage out of the wacky, cultish, sex-and-money organization, Access Consciousness -- for instance, see this post -- though not all of my posts about Access have been humorous. Here's a link to the Google results, since the interior search engine on Blogger still seems to be kind of sucky.

I've also derived tons of amusement from what I call the Imaginary Friends segment of the New-Wage/McSpirituality/selfish-help industry. Let's see... there's Abraham-Hicks (aka Abrascam-Hicks)... there's Vladimir Megre and his nekkid blonde babe-in-the-woods, Anastasia...there's Gary Renard and the hot disembodied couple he found in his living room...there's Penny Torres/Mafu (the "Swami Blonde" on my Whirled, and a JZ Knight/Ramtha wannabe...and of course Access Consciousness Gary Douglas and the disembodied entities who originally "revealed" Access to him. Here are a few more Whirled-ish Google results for Imaginary Friends.

The world's most successful New-Wage moviemercial, The Secret, has also been a big inspiration to me, both for blog posts and graphics. In fact, many of us "haters" got a wealth of inspiration from The Secret, so much so that one of my favorite snargets' lap dogs once told his Twitter followers that we critics are just a bunch of losers who got our panties in a wad over The Secret and never got over it. (That has been a typical ploy used by snargets to dismiss the growing body of very legitimate criticism that is, in fact, not just limited to The Secret.) In any case, here are the Google search results for Whirled Musings Secret-related graphics, which in turn will lead to many Whirled posts about The Secret.

Those are just a few random examples. I've also concentrated on individual con artists, such as Kevin Trudeau and his scammy Global Information Network (GIN). Here's the link to the Google results for that. I've never been a GIN member and have known about Trudeau's cons since the 1990s, but am glad to say that GIN members are finally waking up to something that I've known was a scam since its inception in 2009. I can't take any credit for that, though; they apparently had to find out the hard way. But the important thing is that they found out, and I'm lending my moral support to them now.

In any case, in more recent years this blog has acquired a seriousness of purpose that wasn't really there in the beginning. A lot of that had to do with two factors: (1) The James Arthur "Death" Ray sweat lodge case in Sedona in October 2009 (which really woke me up to the more serious side of the stuff I'd been snarking about for years); and (2) my acquaintance with, and growing respect and admiration for, the work that Salty Droid is doing on his blog.

So while I still think humor and ridicule are great ways to fight the scammers, I also think that more serious education and editorializing are equally valid tools. (Not that Salty's blog is lacking in humor; even a superficial glance at the blog will prove that's not the case.) I'm still in this for the entertainment and easy snarks, but I think there is also a larger purpose, if you will. I've even joined in a nascent project Salty Droid has started, and you can too (if you are not a current or recent scammer).

I've truly enjoyed the six years I've been "snarking lividly," as one of my critics (in fact, the same snarget lap dog I mentioned above) described my activities on this Whirled. I appreciate everyone's support, and I hope to be lividly snarking for many more years, at least until I finally get bored with it, or until there is no more need. And by the way, if you want to lend a little monetary support to this effort, there's a "Donation" button up there on the left. (I even wrote a poem about it a couple of years ago.) There's also a donation link below.

Donation or not, I'm very glad you're here. And keep those comments coming.

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Now more than ever, your donation is needed
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Tears for Colleen, jeers for the big sick machine

Today, July 25, is the three-year anniversary of the death of Colleen Conaway, the James Arthur Ray victim for whom there has still been no justice. Colleen, who reportedly had no history of emotional or mental problems, apparently had a psychotic episode at a James Ray event in San Diego in July 2009, and she leaped to her death from a third-story shopping mall balcony. After Ray found out about it, he and his top minions apparently worked to cover it up, shielding the rest of the attendees from the unfortunate event, and they all partied on that night. If you don't know Colleen's sad story, my pal Yakaru has written a good summary of this tragedy, linking to several Salty Droid posts. [Also see PS below. ~ CC, 8-06-12]

My friend Mariah at the Post-Aber blog (dedicated to people who are emerging from the Abrascam-Hicks trance) also commemorates Colleen (and relates Colleen's story to the larger question about the true body count from New-Wage gurus. Yes, there's a body count with Abrascam too.).

Here are more links. Take your pick.

And in related news (yes, all of this is related to the "big sick machine" -- see links below), the summer 2012 meeting of the Transformational Leadership Council (TLC) begins today as well. Death Ray was a founding member of that scam cartel, though rather unceremoniously dropped from the membership roster after the sweat lodge debacle. (Here's Salty's take on the TLC.) This confab is being held in the resort municipality of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

More soon.

PS added 6 August 2012: Salty Droid commemorated Colleen Conaway's death with a post that featured his poignant interview with Colleen's sister Lynn. Here is the link. And the good news is that Salty is helping Colleen's family pursue the civil case against Ray, which is finally underway. Salty wrote:

I’m here to fight this fight … however f--king long it takes. Gonna use all that we’ve become to help with this important case :: gonna have all that and a bag of chips waiting for James Arthur Ray when he exits the Arizona penal system … 25 years too early.

And the TLC meeting that commenced on the anniversary of Colleen's death was apparently fairly well attended, if the video of Joe “Mr. Fire” Vitale’s presentation is any indication. If you choose to watch it, it’s 45 minutes you’ll never get back, but then again, Colleen Conaway, James Shore, Kirby Brown, and Liz Neuman will never get their whole lives back.


In his blog post about the video, Joe, using an “advanced” Law of Attraction technique in which one “remembers” the future, writes that he “remembers” that I loved the track from his new CD, which he played at the end of his presentation while he wiped sweat off of his head and attempted to look spiritual and profound. His future memory is apparently not so good.

More on this Whirled about "the big sick machine" (both from July 2012):

• Back in Time with the big sick machine
• Kevin Trudeau's GIN: part of the big sick machine

More about the New-Wage body count:

• January 2011: Men, men, men, men, manly men (the Man Kind Project)
• September 2009: Not to be confused with a leap of faith (Turning Point)
• July 2008: More dark than snark today ("Doktor" Dragan Dabic, aka war criminal Radovan Karadžić -- who apparently didn't kill any of his New-Wage followers but, due to people's need to believe and the New-Wage credo of open-mindedness and non-judgmentalism, was able to disguise his true identity as a killer for years) 

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Now more than ever, your donation is needed
to help keep this Whirled spinning.
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Tony Robbins: Setting soles on fire

I have added a bit to, and subtracted a bit from, this post since I first published it (see the PS and the note at the end).
~CC, 25 July 2012
 
I know this isn't the top story of the day, but it's been all over the news anyway. Twenty-one people got burned -- in ways other than financial -- at a Tony Robbins event. It wasn't a sweat lodge but a firewalk. Some were pretty seriously injured.

I have never been a Tony Robbins fan, and became even less of one when Salty Droid uncovered Tony 's sleazy dealings with the equally sleazy Internet Marketing Syndicate. Now I have yet another reason to not like Tony Robbins. Not that I needed another one.

I still find it hard to believe that people still even participate in firewalks. You'd think it was still the 1980s. The more things change... And as it happens, skeptics have been debunking firewalking at least since the 1980s, though the physics of such things were de-mystified at least a half century earlier. Here's an article that, although dated July 2011, references some good skeptics' work from decades ago.

But seriously...all talk of 80s nostalgia aside... In this long post I published on the first anniversary of the James Ray sweat lodge tragedy in Sedona, I mused a little about the merits, or lack thereof, of these "extreme" workshop experiences (scroll down to the subtitle, "Were there any real benefits for Ray's participants?"). In that section I linked to a post by my friend and blogging colleague Duff McDuffee's post on his own experiences at a long-ago Tony Robbins firewalk.

When will people ever learn? Yet Tony and his smarmy colleagues just keep raking in the money... which leads us to the more important question: When will the Tony Robbinses and the James Arthur Rays and the other scammy fake gurus of the world stop harming people? How many more folks must be physically, emotionally, or spiritually harmed -- or even killed -- while under the tutelage of people to whom they have turned for leadership and inspiration? I'm not in favor of iron-fisted regulation and legislation of the selfish-help industry (and here's my long-ish take on the matter), but these egocentric, money-hungry sociopaths have to be held, at some point, accountable for the lives they wreck. They're not afraid to take credit for "helping" people, after all.

PS (added 25 July) ~ As usual, Salty Droid really nailed the matter, and on his July 25 post about the Robbins firewalk fiasco, he connected dots that all too many media types and regular folks alike refuse to connect. The title to his post, "Footprints on the fire," is a nod to the sentimental, hideously over-quoted religious poem, "Footprints in the Sand," and is a sly reference to the worshipful regard in which Robbins is held by so many. Robbins fans' love for their Master is truly inspiring, and it even inspired me a couple of years ago.

Also weighing in on the Robbins news story is my pal Steve Salerno at SHAMblog. (If you saw a mention of him when this post was first published, and then suddenly didn't see it, your eyes aren't fooling you. His original post, which I'd linked to, disappeared, so I deleted my mention.) Steve was originally scheduled for an ABC World News Tonight appearance when the firewalk story first broke, but that apparently got postponed due to other stories the network deemed more important (not the Aurora, Colorado tragedy, as you might think, but the case of Michael Jackson's mother going temporarily missing). However, Steve is still being tapped as a resource in the Robbins matter and related stories of SHAMworld. Here is his current post mentioning the firewalk story; look for more from him soon.

Note: I have moved my PS about James Arthur Ray victim Colleen Conaway (which I originally published a couple of days ago) to my main post dated July 25.

* * * * *

Now more than ever, your donation is needed
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Back in Time with the big sick machine

I am on the run today with "real work" deadlines, so I am just lifting most of today's post from a comment I made to a Facebook group the other day. To the few who may have read that post, I apologize for the redundancy.
~CC

On first glance, this snippet from a Time magazine article about pyramid schemes would seem to point to a real breakthrough in the battle against scammers:

Hundreds of court injunctions have been filed against pyramiders before, but they usually settle out of court or ignore the actions and set up their operations elsewhere. The SEC move against [Company A] and the California suit against [Company B] are refreshing departures. The SEC is asking not just for an injunction but also for the forfeiture of all the pyramider's profits; the suit contends that pyramiding is tantamount to selling unregistered securities. In the [Company B] case, state officials declined to settle out of court and instead pressed their suit to its conclusion. [State Judge] hopes that by establishing a precedent of stiff damages against [Company B] he may make other pyramiders reluctant to do business in California and encourage other state judges to clobber them.

The battle is far from over. Pyramid operations seem to have an irresistible attraction for people with low incomes and high expectations…. Pyramiders also have a knack for forming new companies as soon as the old ones come under fire. Despite a pending FTC cease-and-desist order and numerous state injunctions, [Company B] last week was still doing business in all 50 states and several foreign countries. Laments the SEC's [staff lawyer]: "If [Company A] flounders here, they can still rape Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Far East."

I confess. I deliberately disguised the names of the companies and players so you could fill in the names of your choice. Now I’ll dash your hopes, assuming you were moving in that direction, by telling you that this was in fact a Time capsule: an article from the July 16, 1973 issue of the magazine. That was exactly 39 years ago today. Company A was Holiday Magic, and Company B was Bestline. Both were Amway type multi-level marketing (MLM) deals that sold overpriced products such as soaps and laundry detergents, but whose top people made the real money by selling memberships and upgrades. In return for the steep upgrade fees people got special "leadership" training.

For present and former members/affiliates of the infamous Kevin Trudeau's Global Information Network (GIN), some of this will sound awfully familiar -- with the emphasis on "awful."

The principals of Bestline and Holiday Magic were nabbed for operating illegal schemes, and yes, both the Federal Trade Commission and the Securites and Exchange Commission got involved. It was considered a real turning point in the battle against fraud. In 1973.

Now here we are, nearly 40 years later… Sigh.

Actually it was progress, of a sort: those actions back in the 1970s solidified the illegality of certain types of pyramid schemes. However, a 1979 action by the FTC regarding Amway made it more clear that it's not an illegal scheme if there are actual products and product sales involved. But as my pal Jack said on Salty Droid's blog recently, "One man once told me that ever since [the] AmWay decision, MLM has owned the FTC." Jack's comment, as well as many other insightful remarks, appear in this post about notorious Internet marketing huckster Mike Koenigs. The post is long and so is the comments section, but it's all worth taking the time to read. Especially if you're tempted to jump out of GIN and right into someone else's scheme, hoping that this time you'll get it right.

In the long run, it appears, the main result of the FTC's actions regarding MLMs has not been to protect the consumer (except in theory) but to help build a better scam (in practice). Many of today’s marginally legal schemes -- such as GIN -- have slightly tweaked the business model to make it legal on paper… but all too often, the results are the same. Very few people make substantial money. A lot of people lose money. And of course they’re told it’s all their fault. I have seen ample evidence of this on many forums, most recently on threads in an open Facebook group called GIN v XIN, which is a place for both GIN critics and GIN defenders to speak their piece.

A person claiming to be a GIN Inner Circle member (having paid $50,000 for the privilege) has also commented at length on my fairly recent blog post about former True-dough front man Lenny Coldwell. This person claims to have benefited greatly from GIN membership. That comment thread begins on July 12, right here. And although the conversation began respectfully on both sides, it has regressed to the point where Mr/Ms Inner Circle is calling critics "haters" who don't want to improve their lives. I have to take responsibility for this direction, since I dialed up the snark in some of my own comments.

But back to that old Time article. Here's a link to the piece online, though you apparently have to be a Time subscriber to read it. I actually have the print issue, as I collect vintage magazines. And I also have a more than half-finished blog post about some of the famous frauds of the 1970s. Obviously, I need to get busy.

For now, though, I want to make a point that expands upon my "big sick machine" post from the other day. The owner of Holiday Magic, one of the companies that got nabbed by the SEC and FTC in 1973, was William Penn Patrick, who was a mentor for Glenn Turner, the subject of another upcoming blog post if I can ever get my thoughts together enough to get it finished. Shortly after Patrick was charged by the SEC with bilking some 80,000 people out of more than $250 million through Holiday Magic (not a small sum in the early 1970s), he was killed when he piloted a plane into a mountain.

But his legacy lives on. Not only was he a mentor for Turner (who eventually ended up serving prison time but apparently went right back to huckstering, though in a more low-key manner, after getting out), but Patrick also co-owned a company called Mind Dynamics (which influenced LGAT (Large Group Awareness Training) companies est/The Forum/Landmark Forum and Lifespring. And he mentored a guy named Thomas Willhite (sometimes misspelled Wilhite), who was a Mind Dynamics instructor. Tom, along with his wife Jane Willhite, founded the LGAT company PSI Seminars in 1973. 1973 was a busy year indeed.

Here's a comment on the Rick Ross forums that might give a little more insight: http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?4,36040,86283#msg-86283

Oddly enough, Tom Willhite died in a private plane in 1983, crash ten years after the death of his mentor. Jane took over as CEO of PSI.

Today PSI Seminars remains another cog in the big sick machine, offering yet another platform for such New-Wage luminaries (and stars of The Secret) as John Assaraf, Bob Proctor, et al. More links:
http://psi-seminars.pissedconsumer.com/
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?4%2C24037

There's a lot about the Willhites and PSI on the Rick Ross forums. Moreover, Jane Willhite is one of the founding members of the Transformational Leadership Council (TLC) that provided most of the talking heads for The Secret.

Big sick machine, indeed. And it is not a new machine by any means. Its roots run deep and, of course, go much further back than the 1970s. So when former GINsiders who are now pushing new schemes admonish you to stop obsessing on GIN and Kevin Trudeau, and to quit looking in the rear-view mirror, just remember that the failure to look in the rear-view mirror is what gets a lot of people into trouble. Arguably, the failure to do a little historical research was a factor that got a lot of folks into GIN, and it is a factor that will continue to lure people into dodgy schemes long after GIN has sunk and its founder is in jail or is on to the next scheme.

* * * * *

Now more than ever, your donation is needed
to help keep this Whirled spinning.
Click here to donate via PayPal or debit/credit card.
If that link doesn't work, send PayPal payment directly to
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If PayPal, be sure to specify that your contribution is a gift. Thank you!

Drunk on GIN, and you can too!

Click on pic for larger view.

A picture is truly worth a thousand words, and instead of expending a lot of words today -- this being one of those busy deadline days, and my Internet service being spotty because of flash floods in the area -- I am just going to let the work of my new pal Nicholas D'Alessandro Jr. tell the story. Nick is currently in recovery from the GIN experience, GIN being serial huckster Kevin Trudeau's scammy Global Information Network. I think that in this pic he has quite brilliantly summed up the arguments of the GIN apologists, as well as the marketing lies of countless other Internet marketing hucksters. Humor is a great way to nurse a GIN hangover.

Thanks to Nick for permission to use his work, and I'll have more (words) soon.

More True-dough on this Whirled:

• July 2012: Kevin Trudeau's GIN: part of the big sick machine
• July 2012: Independence Daze
• June 2012: Paging Dr. C: Bernd bridges in Deutschland?
• May 2012: Can alien DNA save Kevin Trudeau's GIN?
• May 2012: Does a canary with a GIN hangover sing as sweetly?
• April 2012: Viva Lost Wages: Sin City Become GIN City for a weekend
• February 2012: A. Rose by any other name would shill as sweet
• December 2011: True-dough updates: Bad poetry for KT, hate mail for CC
• November 2011: A jumpsuit for Jimmy
• August 2011: First Amendment Stuporhero
• 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

* * * * *

Now more than ever, your donation is needed
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Kevin Trudeau's GIN: part of the big sick machine

As noted on yesterday's post, I have more information about this topic than I can possibly fit into one blog post, and I also have real-work deadlines. So I'm just going to post a little bit at a time and hope it all adds up to a coherent whole. All of the content below is based upon the observations and opinions of various people. Obviously my information is incomplete. But if you are so inclined, please feel free to share your comments, questions, and experiences -- pro or con -- either via this blog or at my email address: cosmic.connie at juno.com.
~CC

As you may know, the Interwebz are alive with rumors about the fate of the Ponzi-like Global Information Network (GIN), founded by infomercial huckster and convicted felon Kevin Trudeau. I've been writing about GIN and Trudeau on this blog since late 2009 (actually I first wrote about Trudeau in early 2009 but didn't write about GIN until much later that year). For the benefit of those who are new to this Whirled, I want to explain that my perspective has always been that of an outsider who is not and never has been a True-dough fan, and who is not and never has been a GIN member. But ever since I first heard of GIN, the following have been my two main points of contention regarding this elaborate money grab (and for those who all too familiar with my take on it, I beg your indulgence for my redundancy):

1. I believe that GIN's legitimacy was at best highly questionable from the get-go, given the fact that its creator and leader, Kevin Trudeau, is very widely known as a career flim-flammer. For some of you this may just be a big "Duh." But for others... well, this is Kevin Trudeau, folks. He is one of the most notorious modern-day hucksters around, and has been exposed many times as such, to the point that all of the SEO efforts his dedicated staff and followers can muster have not changed the fact that some of the top search results for his name are links to negative information about him. True-dough appears to possess the Midas touch in reverse: everything he touches turns to sh-t for virtually everyone except for himself. Information about his misdeeds has been on mainstream TV and is also widely available on the Internet. And this information is all available for free -- as opposed to the $1,000 minimum initiation fee for GIN, and the $150/month member fee (and that's just for Level 1).

But it seems to me that GIN membership has been all about filtering out that "negative" information such as the truth about KT's past, and concentrating only on what True-dough wants members to read and hear. In this respect GIN is very much like a cult, a matter I explored a little in yesterday's blog post.

2. The ludicrous cover story used as a marketing hook for GIN sounds like some schlocky cereal-box or comic-book promo for a kids' secret club in the 1950s. True-dough claims that for many years he was a member of a secret society called The Brotherhood, which, he says, includes the elites of the world -- billionaires, royalty, and so forth. He claims he learned all of their secrets of wealth, health, and happiness, and that he is risking his life to share those secrets with the masses -- for a steep price, of course -- through GIN.

The sad part is that thousands of people -- not naive kids, but grown-up, educated (though sometimes gullible, desperate, or emotionally fragile) people -- apparently believed this tall tale. Many have said that they joined GIN because they really did think they would learn the secrets of the elite from Kevin, who claims to still be in touch with a secret "GIN Council." Reportedly some people have spent up to $100,000, and possibly more, on GIN. An increasing number of people are waking up to the very real probability that most of this money has gone into Kevin's pockets to furnish his Bentleys-and-fine-cigars lifestyle, and much of the rest has gone into the pockets of the many lawyers who have helped keep his schemes afloat for too many years.

Those two points alone have afforded me many hours of effortless snarkitude: low-hanging fruit and all that.

And yet True-dough's felonious past, and the blatant Big Lie about the seekrit society, have never stopped a number of New-Wage hustledorks from joining in the big cartel circle jerk and trying to get a piece of the GIN pie for themselves. As long-time readers of this blog may know, Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale just couldn't say enough good things about Kevin Trudeau, writing blog posts about hanging with him, and sending out numerous email blasts to promote the 14-CD set GIN upsell, Your Wish Is Your Command.

Joe actually first met Kevin Trudeau in early 2009, before GIN was officially launched, as indicated on this January 2009 post on my blog, which in turn links to Joe's starstruck post on his own blog. Wrote Joe about True-dough:

This guy is sharp, slick, and smart.
I’m well aware of Kevin’s long term fight with the government, his prison time, his current federal restrictions, etc.
Yet the man I met is sincere, passionate, and dedicated. He is on a mission to help people get healthy and get out of debt. He’s been to sixty countries in search of health cures that truly work. When he finds them, he reports on them. He’s fearless about it, too.

Apparently Joe was not the only one who was starstruck; Kev's young wife Natalie was starstruck by Joe. According to Joe, anyway.

Could it be that Joe was instrumental in planning GIN, or is GIN's launch later that year totally unrelated to the January 2, 2009 dinner meeting between Mr. Fire and True-dough? In any case, the friendship continued, with Joe making appearances on KT's radio show. And in late 2009, Joe hosted a dinner party where True-dough had a chance to hawk his wares and, no doubt, glom onto Joe's big mailing list (assuming he hadn't done so already during previous interactions with Joe). Everyone in attendance at that party bought supplements and E-pendants, and a good time was apparently had by all. And shortly afterward, Joe was sending out more email blasts for Your Wish Is Your Command.

How big is Joe Vitale's GIN downline, I wonder?

And James Arthur "Death" Ray, though now serving time in prison for the deaths of three people in his phony sweat lodge in 2009, has recently been shilling for Your Wish Is Your Command as well. I mentioned this previously (at the end of this April 2012 post), but it is very much worth mentioning again. Here is an April 2012 article from the Arizona Daily Star about this matter, as well as a blog post about it. (The blogger in question, Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star, mentions the same thing I'd mentioned previously on my blog and on several other forums: although Ray got a lot of his fame from The Secret, True-dough himself has thrown The Secret -- and many other popular selfish-help and motivational works -- under the bus.)

Here's part of the email about Your Wish Is Your Command that Death Ray had his minions send out this past April:

FROM THE DESK OF JAMES ARTHUR RAY
April 17th, 2012

Dear...:
I hope this finds you off to a strong start in 2012.

It's been a while since we last talked, and since I'm going to be away for a while, I just wanted to quickly reach out and encourage you to continue your own learning & growth.

One of the unfortunate things I have to deal with right now is the fact that I can't work with you directly or any of my other friends and students for a short time.  My greatest intention is that you continue on your life's journey and attain all of your goals and dreams...and I want to help you!

While I can't be directly involved in your continuing education right now...I have a GREAT opportunity for you in the interim.  This program is completely in line with my spiritual teachings and Harmonic Wealth® philosophies that you've been learning; and it teaches you how to completely create the life you desire by lining up your thoughts, feelings and actions.  In this 14-CD program, you learn an EXACT process for being, doing, and having anything and everything you desire and deserve!

The program is called ...

Your Wish Is Your Command
http://www.yourwishisyourcommand.com/JR.

....The program is taught by a very close personal friend and colleague of mine.  He started with absolutely nothing.  He had zero money.  No education.  No special privileges.  And he didn't have rich friends or parents to get him started.

After learning a series of moneymaking and success secrets (the same ones you'll learn in this program), he became a financially independent media celebrity and the founder of his own cable network.  He also currently owns his own line of health supplements, co-founded one of the world's fastest growing network marketing company in the world, and is a bestselling author, selling over 50 million copies of his books.

All of this...was the result of learning and using what he teaches in Your Wish Is Your Command!

Because we're close personal friends, he's agreed to give you, and all my other students and friends, the entire 14-CD Your Wish Is Your Command program for a ridiculously low price.  He's also offering it with an UNPRECEDENTED 90-day money back guarantee.  You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain!....     

As I've also mentioned before a few times, it's possible Death Ray is returning the favor for the times that True-dough has spoken out in Ray's defense. But Ray, being a New-Wage hustledork, wouldn't do anything, even by proxy, unless there was something in it for him -- in this case, a possible big GIN downline. That's feasible, since it seems Ray still has friends and followers despite that little sweat-lodge mishap.

Several other New-Wage/McSpirituality/selfish-help luminaries have joined the GIN party over the past couple of years, or at least they have been speaking at GIN events. Long-time motivator Les Brown is one of them, and others are listed on page 2 of this document. Apparently these folks were impressed by KT's longevity and unabashed by his felonious past, perhaps viewing him and GIN as an opportunity to expand their own platforms. And most on that list are still apparently active with GIN, except for Lenny Coldwell, who got kicked out of the party and is now supposedly spearheading a class-action lawsuit on behalf of disgruntled GIN members.

Apparently KT and his minions have been reaching out in the past year or so to gather more McSpirituality luminaries into the GIN fold. In previous posts I have mentioned a very determined Kevin True-dough sycophant who for many months had been blogging his little heart out on behalf of GIN and KT. His name is David Krueger, and he's been manning the David Krueger MasterMind Blog since January 2011. He seems to have a major man crush on KT, and has put a great deal of effort into promoting GIN.

In August of 2011 Krueguer wrote that the Reverend Michael Beckwith, famous for being in The Secret -- and less famous everywhere else except on my Whirled for participating in the Three Amigos $2,000 Briefcase Scam with Scientist Bob Proctor and Jack "Chicken Soup" Canfield a few years back -- was poised to lend his dreadlocked presence to the GIN machine. Gushed Mr. Krueger:

We are going to be seeing him in the very near future.  I would bet my mortgage payment that he is going to be one of the “suprises” [sic] at our Family Reunion Event in the Bahamas this fall.

At the time he wrote that, Krueger was obviously very high on those GIN fumes; why, he'd persuaded his own mama to join GIN, and as I learned in a later post, she accompanied him to the above-mentioned GIN Family Reunion in The Bahamas in November 2011, and...and...and... Kevin gave her a car! A BMW Series 500! He was giving away ten of the things, and Mother Krueger was one of the lucky recipients. Wrote the proud son:

We’re on a conference call tommorrow [sic] with bMW to get instructions on how to take possesion [sic].
And to top off the best weekend I’ve ever had, GIN event or otherwise, this was the “coda” at the end:  We get on the plane leaving the bahamas with  Kevin, Dr. C [that would be Lenny Coldwell ~CC], Brandy and several GIN staff and members.  We owned that plane.  It was like Air Force One for the Global Information Network.  The flight attendant announces over the loudspeaker that first class passenger Kevin Trudeau is buying drinks for the whole plane!   It’s all the little touches like this that just made this the best one ever!

OMG, OMG, OMG!! Cars for a few, drinks for everyone (at least everyone on one plane on one flight)... what's not to love about KT? And what great PR for The Man himself. So what if he's bamboozled countless people out of millions of dollars over the years? So what if he peddles an endless string of frauducts and flopportunities? He bought drinks for everybody on a plane -- not just the first-class passengers, but everyone! He's gotta be an all-right guy.

Notably absent from Krueger's blog post, however, was any mention whatsoever about Michael Beckwith actually making a surprise appearance on that fall Bahamas cruise. And after Googling around, I have failed to find any mention of a relationship between Beckwith and True-dough/GIN except for that August 2011 blog post from Krueger, who apparently got wind of the item from the Facebook page of another top-level GIN member and KT sycophant, Chris McGarahan, pictured at the top of this post with Beckwith. (Is it just me, or does Chris McGarahan look eerily like Lord Voldemort in the Potter flicks?) By the way, He Who Must Not Be Named... I mean... McGarahan, apparently a career hustledork, is one of the authorities quoted to me by a Trudeau fan and defender a few months back on a very amusing Amazon forum convo.

But where is our dreadlocked friend now? Could it be that what is left of Beckwith's conscience got the better of him after all? Did he decide that GIN was not really a suitable forum for his wisdom? Or was the money op just not that impressive after all of that residual Secret buzz? Jeez, I hope that mortgage payment bet didn't set David Krueger back too much. He apparently hasn't blogged since early May of 2012; maybe he has become disillusioned too. If so, David, you're more than welcome to write to this blog and share your story. I'll even apologize for calling you a sycophant and saying you have a man-crush on Kevin Trudeau. Come on over to the Light. It isn't too late.

But I still wonder if Michael Beckwith ended up with a GIN downline.

Beckwith or no Beckwith, it seems to have been business as usual in the Shillionaire's Club. Who knows how many other New-Wage luminaries and members (and ex-members) of the Transformational Leadership Club (TLC), aka the Training Liars Cartel, have a GIN downline? Who knows how many other non-TLC members, who nonetheless are part of the New-Wage/selfish-help/McSpirituality industry, have a GIN downline? (Peter Ragnar, anyone?)

From where I sit, Kevin Trudeau -- and every one of the selfish-help industry lions and Internet marketing gurus who promote him -- are all cogs in what Salty Droid has often described as the big sick machine. As you may know, Salty has most often focused on Internet marketing gurus, but there's a lot of overlap between his beat and mine (and he has certainly covered many of the New-Wage superstars, such as James Ray, much more doggedly and forcefully than I).

Here for your horrified entertainment is video evidence of the ways our respective beats -- mine and Salty's -- overlap: a video of enthusiastic testimonials gathered last September at a Houston, Texas event held by someone who has been mentioned on Salty's blog: IM scammer Joel Bauer, who also apparently has some fingers in the GIN pie. The video testimonials were gathered by New-Wage crank and nutcase Fred van Liew, aka "The Water Doctor," aka Fred Van Loony. To Fred goes the credit for those stupid overpriced E-pendants True-dough has been hawking for years. (And the skeptics have been laughing their butts off at Van Loony for years, as this January 2000 newsletter piece from the North Texas Skeptic newsletter indicates.)

And here's an icky video where Joel Bauer interviews Fred Van Loony, getting all sloppy and pretend-starry-eyed about how Van Loony offers tools that could teach doctors how to heal their patients. To paraphrase an old country song: "Third-Rate Bromance, Low-Class Rendezvous." Another one for the Turds of a Feather file.

And look, here's a book by Joel Bauer, How to Persuade People Who Don't Want to be Persuaded: Get What You Want-Every Time!

On the back cover there's this:

"Joel Bauer has brought the art and science of persuasion to a whole new level with How to Persuade People Who Don’t Want to Be Persuaded. His remarkable technologies will amaze even the most dedicated of skeptics."
– Anthony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power

"If the devil wrote a manual on how to get people to do your bidding, this would be it. Chillingly good."
–Joe Vitale, author of Spiritual Marketing

No wonder Joel has been a KT favorite: he teaches people the skills they need to scam others into joining GIN.

True-dough, Death Ray, Van Loony, Bauer, Vitale, Tony Robbins, et. al... All part of the big sick machine, indeed.

There's still a lot more to tell. I haven't mentioned the names of all of the players in the sick drama that GIN has become (including former Congressman Ed Foreman, reportedly a long-time KT mentor, who reportedly put up the money to found GIN in the first place), and I have scarcely even touched upon the allegedly criminal matters and the investigations that are said to be ongoing.

And I will remind you again that I am only expressing opinions and sharing observations. For now, suffice to say that there seems to be strong evidence that GIN's days are numbered. The "club," as True-dough and his minions refer to it, is reportedly out of money -- at least there reportedly isn't enough to pay on the promised bonuses and other promotional schemes, about which I'll have more as soon as I can. More people are quitting or thinking of quitting GIN, despite the dire consequences for quitting, as outlined in the agreement that is apparently sent to people who try to quit:

I understand that cancelling my membership in the Global Information Network is final. If I ever to choose to apply for membership in GIN again, my membership application will most likely be denied. If my new membership application is approved, I will be required to pay a new initiation fee of $250,000 USD. I also understand that all information about GIN, it’s [sic] website contents, other member identities, and any and all data I have learned or obtained from GIN shall never be revealed to anyone for any reason.

I wonder if the quitters have to give the Seekrit Decoder Ring back as well. As it turns out, though, some peeps say they have quit and rejoined several times without being required to pay a quarter mil in US dollars. Well, so much for that manipulation/intimidation tactic.

Meanwhile, True-dough still has that nearly $40 million FTC fine looming over his head. Some people are speculating that if he doesn't run off to some far-flung place that lacks an extradition treaty with the US, Kevin Trudeau might possibly be donning an orange jumpsuit before too long.

Just like his very close and personal friend and colleague, James Arthur Ray.

More True-dough on this Whirled:

• July 2012: Independence Daze
• June 2012: Paging Dr. C: Bernd bridges in Deutschland?
• May 2012: Can alien DNA save Kevin Trudeau's GIN?
• May 2012: Does a canary with a GIN hangover sing as sweetly?
• April 2012: Viva Lost Wages: Sin City Become GIN City for a weekend
• February 2012: A. Rose by any other name would shill as sweet
• December 2011: True-dough updates: Bad poetry for KT, hate mail for CC
• November 2011: A jumpsuit for Jimmy
• August 2011: First Amendment Stuporhero
• 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

* * * * *

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Independence Daze

First off, Dear Ones, I apologize for being away from the Whirled for most of June. Apart from real work and real life, I have been engaged on other forums discussing some of my favorite snargets (snark targets), but I know that is a poor substitute for tending my own garden.

Secondly, a belated Happy Fourth of July for those who celebrated it. I realize that I have friends and readers in Other Parts of the World besides the US, and for y'all the Fourth was just another day. Even if you didn't celebrate the US Independence Day, however, I think we can all use this time to celebrate another sort of independence: freedom from cults or cult-like organizations and their "leaders." After all, actress Katie Holmes is finally freeing herself and her little girl from that evil little Scientology gnome (though brilliant actor, I'll give him that). That's truly a cause for celebration.

And then we have another cult-like organization that seems to have some things in common with Scientology, and that some have even deemed evil: the Ponzi-like Global Information Network, founded by serial scammer Kevin Trudeau. People seem to be waking up en masse about that too. And I say it's about time. Rumors are flying now as some say GIN is on the verge of bankruptcy and True-dough's arrest is imminent, and others contend that what's going on is just a little glitch, part of the growing pains of a new-ish company.

But let's get back to the cult angle for now. It has been fairly widely speculated that True-dough has gone through Scientology training himself (here is but one of many threads; Google for more). At the very least, in some of his books for consumers, as well as in interoffice memos to his employees, he has recommended Scientology and its predecessor, Dianetics. So there's that. I don't want to appear to be overstating the Scientology connection because I realize that Scientology has become the new Nazism in some Internet discussion circles; some folks see a die-hard Scientologist (or ex-Scientologist) under every rock even if there is only a casual connection or none at all. Still, KT's history of recommending Scientology is worth considering when one is making up one's mind about GIN. (Worth considering, as in: Huge. Red. Flag.)

I have, of course, written snarkily and critically about Kevin Trudeau and GIN many times on this blog since late 2009 (see list of links at the end of this post), but for the most part I have taken quite the broad-brush approach, stating and even over-stating what seemed to me to be obvious points. Frankly, it is only within the past six weeks or so that I have become more aware of rebellion within the ranks of GIN members. I'm still sorting out the details and am not quite finished with the post I was really planning to publish today, but no worries, there's plenty of snark chum floating around in the GIN punch bowl. For instance, there is the matter of GIN indoctrination.

Before I go any further I think it only fair to mention that some defenders of GIN have said that the rebels represent only a very small minority, and some have told me that I am only focusing on that minority because their perspective is in sync with mine. I have been told that I am not looking at the big picture but only at distorted bits of gossip from malcontents. Defenders have also repeatedly stressed that GIN membership is not for everyone, but only for a few. They have patiently explained to me that the training and other benefits offered through GIN are truly invaluable, but that not everyone has what it takes -- mentally or financially -- to really climb the ranks.

Some defenders have even gone so far as to suggest that critics such as yours truly are doing a good thing, because we are attracting the riff-raff who don't have any business being in GIN, thus keeping the membership ranks pure. It seems to me, however, that if GIN really is only for a few, this would severely limit those pools of nearly endless residual income, as promised by some of GIN's top speakers (click on the pic for an enlarged view...

...but maybe I am overlooking something.

I have also seen Kevin Trudeau defended as a brilliant teacher, an ingenious sales and marketing expert, and a consummate professional.

On previous posts I have made fun of some of True-dough's followers and worshipers, particularly those who sounded robotic or over-the-top starstruck or just plain nutty. Some of the defenders whose perspectives I have seen recently, however, are obviously intelligent people who write and speak quite eloquently. So I cannot categorically dismiss every KT defender and follower as a semi-literate robot or a nutcase.

We'll leave the fine points of the pro-GIN arguments and defenses of True-dough for another post, but I will say here, as I have said in various discussions on other forums, that the real Kevin Trudeau is probably much more interesting and nuanced than either his critics or his worshipers paint him. He is, no doubt, a complex human being, just like everyone else, except perhaps brighter and considerably more on the sociopathic side than the average person. But I'll leave those details to his eventual biographer.

I will concede one point to the defenders: GIN is indeed not for everyone, and of course I do not say this from the perspective of someone who is using devious reverse-psychology tactics to manipulate a mark into signing up. GIN is not for everyone. From my perspective, GIN isn't for anyone, but obviously many disagree with me on that point. A casual Google search the other day led me to three documents created for GIN members and affiliates, and when I read those documents it really hit me just how pathologically immersed in GIN a good member is expected to become.

Or to put it another way: how extraordinarily cultish GIN appears to be.

For instance, here is a link to the GIN Yearly Listening Checklist (you might want to get a screen shot before it gets removed):
http://mygin.ws/info/GINYearlyListeningChecklist.pdf


The Key Speaker Seminar list, which includes seminars by...

• Dr. Leonard Coldwell
• Ed Foreman
• Les Brown
• Dr. Ted Morter
• Ron Ball
• Marshall Sylver
• Mary Miller
• Blaine Athorn

...is now a bit outdated, since Lenny Coldwell was apparently booted out of the club (supposedly for violations of the GIN behavioral code, among other things), but I wouldn't count any of the others out just yet. No, not even longtime motivator and professed Christian Ron Ball, who back in the day was quite the KT and GIN supporter (this video is from August of 2011), but who was rumored to have tried to distance himself from GIN since the crap hit the fan. I'm still not sure what Ron Ball was doing at the Kevin Trudeau event in Chicago on the weekend of June 24-25. Some say he was there to promote his own stuff. Some say he was just in the audience. But why was he even there at all? More recent rumors have it that he is still very much a part of GIN and will even be on the GIN leadership cruise this coming January, provided, of course, that the world fails to end in December.

But I digress. Just a glance at the list below is a disturbing look at the making of an obsessive-compulsive. Between listening to up to six hours of GIN-related audios, reading from a list of recommended material for a set period of time, carefully avoiding all mainstream media but listening to Kevin's own radio show, "tapping" on various matters a certain number of times, repeating a series of affirmations out loud many times a day, "consciously laughing" a given number of times, and obsessing over a "dream board" or "dream book" -- and those are just some of the highlights -- it's difficult to see how anyone who seriously tried to put all of this into practice could become anything except a GIN-powered robot. And yet members are apparently expected to strive to accomplish all of these items, and to chart the whole thing. Every day.

Here for your perusal is the questionnaire, which I will leave up until and unless I am asked to take it down. (Note: YWIYC is Your Wish Is Your Command.)

Thinking Section

#	question	Yes	No	value	points received
1	Have you listened to at least 1 hour of "audios" today?	Yes	No	1
2	Have you listened to at least 2 hours of "audios" today?	Yes	No	1
3	Have you listened to at least 3 hours of "audios" today?	Yes	No	1
4	Have you listened to at least 4 hours of "audios" today?	Yes	No	1
5	Have you listened to at least 5 hours of "audios" today?	Yes	No	1
6	Have you listened to at least 6 hours of "audios" today?	Yes	No	1
7	Did you listen to "audios" for at least 10 minutes within 30 minutes of arising today?	Yes	No	1
8	Did you listen to "audios" for at least 10 minutes within 30 minutes before bed today?	Yes	No	1
9	Did you listen to any "audios" in the car today?	Yes	No	1
10	Have you "read" for at least 10 minutes today?	Yes	No	1
11	Have you "read" for at least 20 minutes today?	Yes	No	1

12	Have you "read" for at least 30 minutes today?	Yes	No	1
13	Have you "read" for at least 45 minutes today?	Yes	No	1
14	Have you "read" for at least 1 hour today?	Yes	No	1
15	Did you "read" for at least 5 minutes within 10 minutes of arising today?	Yes	No	1
16	Did you "read" for at least 5 minutes within 10 minutes before bed today?	Yes	No	1
17	Did you look at your dream board, dream book, or pictures of your dreams and chief aim at least once today?	Yes	No	1
18	Did you look at your dream board, dream book, or pictures of your dreams and chief aim at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
19	Did you look at your dream board, dream book, or pictures of your dreams and chief aim at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
20	Did you look at your dream board, dream book, or pictures of your dreams and chief aim at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
21	Did you look at your dream board, dream book, or pictures of your dreams and chief aim at least 5 times today?	Yes	No	1
22	Did you look at your dream board, dream book, or pictures of your dreams and chief aim at least 6 times today?	Yes	No	1
23	Did you look at your dream board, dream book, or pictures of your dreams and chief aim immediately upon rising today?	Yes	No	1
24	Did you "tap" on the "6 Beliefs" today?	Yes	No	1
25	Did you "tap" on your chief aim today?	Yes	No	1
26	Did you "tap" while looking at your dream board or dream book today?	Yes	No	1
27	Did you log on and go through the GIN website for at least 10 minutes today?	Yes	No	1
28	Is your Priority Manager current?	Yes	No	1
29	Did you use your Priority Manager today?	Yes	No	1
30	When you woke up, did you make a positive statement spoken aloud today?	Yes	No	1
31	Did you look for the good instead of criticize or find the out points in most situations today?	Yes	No	1
32	Did you speak out loud positive things about people and situations today?	Yes	No	1
33	Did you consciously laugh at least once today?	Yes	No	1
34	Did you consciously laugh at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
35	Did you consciously laugh at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
36	Did you consciously laugh at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
37	Did you consciously laugh at least 5 times today?	Yes	No	1
38	Did you consciously smile at least once today?	Yes	No	1
39	Did you consciously smile at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
40	Did you consciously smile at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
41	Did you consciously smile at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
42	Did you consciously smile at least 5 times today?	Yes	No	1
43	Did you say "Thank You" to someone at least once today?	Yes	No	1
44	Did you say "Please" to someone at least once today?	Yes	No	1
45	Did you say say out loud, "I am thankful for all the good things in my life" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
46	Did you say say out loud, "I am thankful for all the good things in my life" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
47	Did you say say out loud, "I am thankful for all the good things in my life" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
48	Did you say say out loud, "I am thankful for all the good things in my life" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
49	Did you say say out loud, "I am grateful for all the good things in my life" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
50	Did you say say out loud, "I am grateful for all the good things in my life" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
51	Did you say say out loud, "I am grateful for all the good things in my life" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
52	Did you say say out loud, "I am grateful for all the good things in my life" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
53	Did you say say out loud, "I am appreciative for all the good things in my life" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
54	Did you say say out loud, "I am appreciative for all the good things in my life" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
55	Did you say say out loud, "I am appreciative for all the good things in my life" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
56	Did you say say out loud, "I am appreciative for all the good things in my life" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
57	Did you say say out loud, "I am blessed for all the good things in my life" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
58	Did you say say out loud, "I am blessed for all the good things in my life" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
59	Did you say say out loud, "I am blessed for all the good things in my life" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
60	Did you say say out loud, "I am blessed for all the good things in my life" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
61	Did you say say out loud, "I feel great" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
62	Did you say say out loud, "I feel great" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
63	Did you say say out loud, "I feel great" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
64	Did you say say out loud, "I feel great" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
65	Did you say say out loud, "I can do it!" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
66	Did you say say out loud, "I can do it!" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
67	Did you say say out loud, "I can do it!" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
68	Did you say say out loud, "I can do it!" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
69	Did you say say out loud, "I am a winner!" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
70	Did you say say out loud, "I am a winner!" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
71	Did you say say out loud, "I am a winner!" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
72	Did you say say out loud, "I am a winner!" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
73	Did you say say out loud, "I am a champion!" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
74	Did you say say out loud, "I am a champion!" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
75	Did you say say out loud, "I am a champion!" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
76	Did you say say out loud, "I am a champion!" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
77	Did you say say out loud, "All of my dreams are coming true!" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
78	Did you say say out loud, "All of my dreams are coming true!" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
79	Did you say say out loud, "All of my dreams are coming true!" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
80	Did you say say out loud, "All of my dreams are coming true!" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
81	Did you say say out loud, "I'm going to do it, that's it, period!" at least once today?	Yes	No	1
82	Did you say say out loud, "I'm going to do it, that's it, period!" at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
83	Did you say say out loud, "I'm going to do it, that's it, period!" at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
84	Did you say say out loud, "I'm going to do it, that's it, period!" at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
85	Did you say say out loud, "If it is to be, it's up to me." at least once today?	Yes	No	1
86	Did you say say out loud, "If it is to be, it's up to me." at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	1
87	Did you say say out loud, "If it is to be, it's up to me." at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	1
88	Did you say say out loud, "If it is to be, it's up to me." at least 4 times today?	Yes	No	1
89	Did you say, "I like you" to at least one person today?	Yes	No	1
90	Did you say, "You can do it" to at least one person today?	Yes	No	1
91	Did you listen more than you talked today?	Yes	No	1
92	When in conversation today, did you ask more questions than you made statements?	Yes	No	1
93	Did you make at least one person feel important today?	Yes	No	1
94	Did you praise at least one person publicly in front of others today?	Yes	No	1
95	Did you have the feeling and intention, "I don't care if they get in or not," today?	Yes	No	1
96	Did you have the feeling and intention, "I don't care if they participate in GIN or the Affiliate program," today?	Yes	No	1
97	Did you generally look for the gold/good in most situations instead of the dirt today?	Yes	No	1
98	Did you feel free of financial pressure today?	Yes	No	1
99	Did you have fun today?	Yes	No	1
100	Did you feel good about the 2 to 5 year time frame to build your GIN Affiliate business and achieve total financial freedom and independence?	Yes	No	1
101	Did you have a mild sense of urgency without feeling desperate today?	Yes	No	1
102	Did you dress for success today when building your GIN Affiliate business?	Yes	No	1
103	Did you edify someone to someone today?	Yes	No	1
104	Did you edify something to someone today?	Yes	No	1
105	Were you TV-free today?	Yes	No	1
106	Were you newspaper-free today?	Yes	No	1
107	Were you TV news-free today?	Yes	No	1
108	Were you radio news-free today?	Yes	No	1
109	Did you listen to The Kevin Trudeau Radio Show at KTRadioNetwork.com today?	Yes	No	2

10	When you dealt with a new prospect or downline member today, did you think of "What's in it for them" and "what their goals and dreams are," instead of how they could make you rich?	Yes	No	5
111	When you dealt with a new prospect or downline member today, did you think of "What's in it for them" and "what their goals and dreams are," instead of how they could make you rich?	Yes	No	5
Total for Thinking Section

Action Section

#	question	Yes	No	value	points received
112	Did you add to your prospect list today by writing down new names and contact details?	Yes	No	1
113	Did you do a three-way call with a new prospect ot explain the benefits of GIN and try to book a "meeting" today?	Yes	No	2
114	Did you follow up with a prospect in person today?	Yes	No	3
115	Did you follow up with a prospect via telephone today?	Yes	No	3
116	Did you attend a "home meeting" today (this is 'yes' if you personally gave the meeting)?	Yes	No	3
117	Did you call a Hot Lead or prospect to set up a "meeting" to "Share The Program" today?	Yes	No	3
118	Did you book a "meeting" today?	Yes	No	3
119	Did you do a "home meeting" today?	Yes	No	8
120	Did you "Share The Program" (have a meeting) and make a presentation with the PowerPoint or DVD at least once today?	Yes	No	8
121	Did you "Share The Program" (have a meeting) and make a presentation with the PowerPoint or DVD at least 2 times today?	Yes	No	8
122	Did you "Share The Program" (have a meeting) and make a presentation with the PowerPoint or DVD at least 3 times today?	Yes	No	8
123	Did you "Share The Program" (have a meeting) by showing the DVD with one new person in depth today?	Yes	No	8
124	Did you mail or hand out at least 1 "Intro to YWIYC" CD today?	Yes	No	3
125	Did you mail or hand out at least 2 "Intro to YWIYC" CDs today?	Yes	No	3
126	Did you mail or hand out at least 3 "Intro to YWIYC" CDs today?	Yes	No	3
127	Did you mail or hand out at least 4 "Intro to YWIYC" CDs today?	Yes	No	3
128	Did you mail or hand out at least 5 "Intro to YWIYC" CDs today?	Yes	No	3
129	Did you mail or hand out at least 1 "YWIYC" CD series today?	Yes	No	3
130	Did you mail or hand out at least 2 "YWIYC" CD series today?	Yes	No	3
131	Did you mail or hand out at least 3 "YWIYC" CD series today?	Yes	No	3
132	Did you mail or hand out at least 4 "YWIYC" CD series today?	Yes	No	3
133	Did you mail or hand out at least 5 "YWIYC" CD series today?	Yes	No	3
134	Did you mail or hand out at least 1 "Your Next Move" packages today?	Yes	No	3
135	Did you give at least 1 new person the "How to Get Started Fast" CD series today?	Yes	No	3
136	Did you mail or hand out at least 1 "YWIYC Guidebook" to a prospect or Affiliate today?	Yes	No	3
137	Did you mail or hand out at least 2 "YWIYC Guidebooks" to prospects or Affiliates today?	Yes	No	3
138	Did you mail or hand out at least 3 "YWIYC Guidebooks" to prospects or Affiliates today?	Yes	No	3
139	Did you hand out any books to your downline Members/Affiliates or to any prospects today?	Yes	No	3
140	Did you book an appointment to follow up with a prospect either in person or by telephone today?	Yes	No	3
141	Did you book an appointment to get a new Member/Affiliate started right today?	Yes	No	3
142	Did you take your KT Daily Supplements today?	Yes	No	8
Total for Action Section

Summary Section

Total for Thinking Section
Total for Action Section
Grand Total

And that is just the daily questionnaire. There is also a monthly questionnaire, which consists of 515(!) questions, and which I will not post here. But here is the link; read it and retch (and again, you might want to do a screenshot or something before it gets removed):
http://mygin.ws/q/monthly.php

I ask you, and not merely rhetorically: What is all of this but cult indoctrination? Some have said, in various ways, that the repetition and routine are important in order to reprogram one's mind from a "loser" mentality to a "winner" mentality. I am paraphrasing but that is the gist of it. Some people say that being in GIN and learning a new way of thinking has been truly helpful to them.

And yet someone recently wrote to me, "People have lost savings, marriages, family, friends, and their minds over this stuff." I can believe it.

So let's hear it for the people who have awakened and are shaking themselves free of all of that culty stuff. My silly Kevin Trudeau-style fedora is off to Katie Holmes as she escapes the clutches of Scientology, and to the newly awakened GIN and ex-GIN members as they awaken to the fact that they have been fleeced in a big way. May all of your futures be bright.

And it is my intention that you'll be hearing more from me on this subject very soon. But for now, I really have to get back to work.

PS ~ While you are waiting for more from my Whirled, there's plenty to read about some of the big issues plaguing the Global Information Network. As I noted above, GIN defenders have said publicly, and some have gone to great effort to explain to me privately, that the complainers are presenting a distorted and incomplete view of the issues. As I have also indicated, I plan to at least attempt to cover these issues in subsequent posts. For now, though, and for the benefit of those who are not aware of the issues, here are two sources which, though not unimpeachable (I am well aware of the Ripoff Report's troubles), are at least allowing and encouraging feedback from both sides.

• The Ripoff Report's page on the Global Information Network: http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Global-Information-Network.aspx
  
• Bernie O'Mahony's GINtruth.com site: http://gintruth.com

More True-dough on this Whirled:

• June 2012: Paging Dr. C: Bernd bridges in Deutschland?
• May 2012: Can alien DNA save Kevin Trudeau's GIN?
• May 2012: Does a canary with a GIN hangover sing as sweetly?
• April 2012: Viva Lost Wages: Sin City Become GIN City for a weekend
• February 2012: A. Rose by any other name would shill as sweet
• December 2011: True-dough updates: Bad poetry for KT, hate mail for CC
• November 2011: A jumpsuit for Jimmy
• August 2011: First Amendment Stuporhero
• 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

* * * * *

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