Farces of nature

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.

* * * * *

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First Amendment Stuporhero

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 stay 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.

 * * * * *

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