Has anybody here seen my old friend Abrascam?

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

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

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

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

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

...And, they never said NOT to go to doctors and use medicine. Just whatever feels right (positive) to the person. Though of course, in hindsight, taking chemo didn't work for Jerry, overall. But then, he was 84 or so, and had a long, interesting, sucessful life, and maybe had done all he wanted to do in this lifetime?
...Just seems like the ctirics of the Hickses and Abraham are just plain jealous. And they will create a life for themselves, based on this...
Thursday, November 24, 2011 9:39:00 AM

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

Anonymous said...

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

Thursday, November 24, 2011 12:57:00 PM

Anonymous said...

maybe someday I will laugh at your choices in life, create a web-post about it, and use a flattering photo of you-maybe with a dick on you forehead.

Thursday, November 24, 2011 1:01:00 PM

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

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

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

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

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

But immediately afterward, Joe seemed to contradict himself:

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

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

The larger issue, and one that Joe conveniently overlooked, is that either by accident or design (then again, there are no accidents, right?), Esther and Jerry created a "cult of personality" over the years with their Abe shtick, making themselves the stars as much as their imaginary friends, despite their faux-modest disclaimers that Abe was the real source of the wisdom they shared.

So the fact that some of their followers are upset about what they see as contradictions or hypocrisies in the Hicks' own decisions cannot be dismissed merely as the followers' own flaws or projections, although that is Mr. Fire's favorite means of dismissal. People who create and market a public persona -- and represent themselves as an example of how to live -- are setting themselves up for criticism. (Yes, I know I am setting myself up too, and I get plenty of criticism. But I'm not presenting myself as an example of how to live, and I am certainly not making millions of dollars off this snarky shtick.)
I will grant that whatever her motives might have been, it was Esther's right to choose when and how to announce her husband's death. Brilliant cons aside, Jerry was her spouse of many years, and I have no doubt that she loved him, and is grieving for him on a deeply personal level.

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

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

* * * * *

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

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

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


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

* * * * *

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A jumpsuit for Jimmy

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

(Apologies to folksinger Pete Seeger)*

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

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

Though I was unable to follow the whole trial and post-trial goings-on moment by moment, and I certainly have been remiss on my blogging, I kept up with the story through Salty Droid's blog, LaVaughn's Celestial Reflection's blog, Connie Joy's Tragedy in Sedona Facebook page, and various Twitter feeds. The mainstream news media were of very little help. 

And despite my capricious satellite connections here at the Edge of Nowhere, I was able to tune in to a live CNN feed on November 18 to see the tail-end of the sentencing. At the time I tuned in, Death Ray was engaged in what was certainly the most important performance of his career, issuing a tearful, cracked-voice apology. Among other things he whimpered that if he'd had any idea whatsoever that the people in his fake sweat lodge were really in any distress, he certainly would have "stopped immediately." (This is, of course, contrary to mounds of eyewitness testimony.) He also promised to never, never, never, never run another fake sweat lodge. 

Comparing his past arrogant, in-your-face performances with that courtroom drama, I was reminded of the creature Gollum in Lord of the Rings: one moment plotting his evil deeds to wrest the Ring from the Hobbits, and then the next, when confronted and threatened (usually by Frodo's loyal pal Samwise Gamgee), cowering and whining that he was just an innocent soul who was only trying to help out, and he never meant any harm at all.
Unfortunately this was real life, not a fantasy film. Following Ray's pathetic histrionics there was a break, and then a beet-red, faltering Judge Warren Darrow came back to pronounce his judgment.

My first thought when I saw him was that this man was seriously hypertensive. It also seemed apparent as he rambled on that he was having some deep emotional conflicts about the case. I kind of felt sorry for him at first, particularly when it seemed for a moment that he wasn't going to let Ray off easily. But I was quickly dispelled of all illusions as he began nattering about “educated adults” and “responsibility” and “common sense,” the clear implication being that the people in distress in the sweat lodge should have taken more responsibility for saving themselves. It sounded to me as if he also mumbled something about suffering being one purpose of a sweat lodge. I can only imagine how Native Americans felt when listening to that.

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

And what about all of the aggravating circumstances? 

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

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

Ray's family was somber but upbeat after the sentencing, making plans to return to their homes in San Diego and Kansas City. They think Ray is strong enough to endure his prison experience.
"We want to express our condolences to the victims' families again and hope they can find forgiveness in their hearts," said Ray's brother Jon. "We were fortunate enough to meet with James after the sentencing. He was in good spirits and said this would give him the opportunity to help people in prison who need it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * *

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Mr. Fire meets an oil baroness (maybe)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then he went on to impart the obligatory Life Lesson.

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

But this woman admiring my Spyker lifted my limits.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Farces of nature

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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