Report from the S.M.A.R.T. Ritual Abuse/Mind-Control Conference 2009, Part 2
On the weekend of August 15-16, Douglas Mesner attended a conference for alleged victims of Satanic Ritual Abuse and Mind-Control in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. This is the second part of his 2-part report: As a “victorious survivor of incest, RA [Ritual Abuse], and Govt. MC [Mind Control]“, the aged and infirm “Julaine” understands how it [...]
Marked as: Abnormal Sociology • Belief Systems • Bunco • Law — 8 comments (RSS)
Report from the S.M.A.R.T. Ritual Abuse/Mind-Control Conference 2009, Part 1
On the weekend of August 15-16, journalist Douglas Mesner (process.org) attended a conference for alleged victims of Satanic Ritual Abuse and Mind-Control in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. This is the first of his 2-part report: The crude sales booth at the far end of the conference room marketing a more advanced species of tin-foil hat does [...]
Marked as: Abnormal Sociology • Belief Systems • Bunco • Law — 1 comment (RSS)
Neurocreationism
Appended with author reply April 22. The following book review, originally published in Skeptic Magazine volume 14, no. 2, gives my rather unflattering overview of the assertions made in The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul by Mario Beauregard and Denyse O’Leary. The book distresses me in that I see [...]
Marked as: Belief Systems • Bunco • Science — 4 comments (RSS)
Comfortable Delusions: An Interview with Ray Comfort
The banana, Ray Comfort famously declared, is “the atheist’s nightmare”. Observe, if you will, the compelling evidence for God’s Creative Hand at work. A banana: Is shaped for the human hand Has a non-slip surface Has outward indicators of inward content: Green — not ripe enough; Yellow — just right for eating; Black — too [...]
Marked as: Belief Systems • Bunco • Reality Frames — 3 comments (RSS)
Reading, Writing, Transcendent Levitation
Friday 3 April, 2009: David Lynch’s press conference is poorly managed and uninformative but well-planned enough – it seems – to achieve its intended effect. The attending Press are either convinced, or confused and cowed – by the PowerPoint presentation of statistical graphs and PhD presented data. Nobody seems capable of a sensible question by [...]
Marked as: Abnormal Sociology • Belief Systems • Bunco • Societal Policies — 1 comment (RSS)
Alice
The following short story was written by Carole A. Travis-Henikoff, an independent scholar specializing in paleoanthropology. Travis-Henikoff began her literary career as a culinary writer . Her current research explores death, dying, grieving, dreams and anomalous occurrences. Travis-Henikoff’s recent book Dinner With a Cannibal has earned widespread critical acclaim. Publisher’s Weekly gave the book a star, stating [...]
Marked as: Science • Societal Policies • Technology • Transhumanism — 1 comment (RSS)
Leaving The Cult: An Interview With Therapist John Knapp
John M. Knapp, LMSW (pictured below), is a therapist who specializes in counseling those who are recovering from “cultic abuse”. Doug: A friend of mine forwarded me your website and I’m generally very skeptical of cult experts, but I was struck by the fact that you don’t seem to be promoting the idea, popular in [...]
Marked as: Abnormal Sociology • Belief Systems — 1 comment (RSS)
Psilocybin
psilocybin, n. An alkaloid, found in several mushrooms native to Central America (esp. of the genus Psilocybe), which when ingested produces hallucinogenic effects similar to those of LSD but milder and more short-lived. Cf. magic mushroom n. at MAGIC adj. Special uses. Psilocybin is the dihydrogen phosphate ester of psilocin. Formula: C12H17N2O4P. 1958 A. HOFMANN [...]
Marked as: Introspection — 5 comments (RSS)