One of my favourite artists does it again...
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Public Health by Plebiscite
Recently there has been a push by some local residents (and others) to revisit the idea of fluoride in the water. A few blog readers have sent me emails to get my "opinion" on fluoride. The fluoride issue is an interesting one - it is one of the few "public health measures" that is ever put to public vote.
No matter what your stance is on the fluoride issue, I think it behooves everyone to consider the concept of public health by plebiscite. This does not only apply to fluoridation.
For the most part, you and I (and the general community as a whole) are not experts in chemistry, biology or medicine. Every single day we make decisions based on ideas/facts/evidence that we have encountered/learned/accepted - some of them could be decisions that are counter to what we believe/know to be "good" for us and others we make simply because we believe/know them to be the right thing to do.
We suspect and accept the idea that food that is prepared for us is relatively safe - whether it be organic foods to canned goods. You may purchase items from health food stores and you trust that what is in the bottle/package is exactly listed on the label. It is almost impossible for any of us to confirm all of this information for ourselves - considering that the time that it takes to test a single product might take longer than it normally takes to spoil, the product that you would be consuming would be from a different package that could contain different elements than the one tested.
To stop consuming a product that we enjoy (or believe/feel is giving us benefit) would take a fair amount of convincing. A sensible suggestion that "maybe you should not be eating chocolate glazed donuts" may reduce the amount of donuts that you'll eat but it isn't likely going to have you avoid them at all costs. However, if someone were to tell you that chocolate glazed donuts contained as much fat as a 2 kg. steak (I'm just making this up, by the way), you may avoid them. As the "dangers" begin to outweigh the benefits, you may reduce your consumption accordingly. If you believed/accepted, however, that the donut contained "toxic" compounds, you would likely stop eating them altogether and may, too, encourage others to follow your lead.
If it were your goal to get someone to stop eating chocolate glazed donuts (to do the negative), you would probably talk about all of the "bad" things about them. You would probably actively suggest that the donuts contain all that fat, are packed with "toxic" compounds/"chemicals" and any other number of possible reasons why someone shouldn't eat chocolate glazed donuts. Using words like "toxic" and "chemicals" illicit a feeling of concern and fear in most people. To get someone to stop eating them (or to reduce their intake) you only have to get them to accept one of the "facts" that you're presenting.
To get someone to regularly ingest something (to do the positive) would require a lot more work. Saying things like "chocolate glazed donuts are good for you" or "lower your cholesterol" or "contain dietary fibre to help boost your immune system", etc. would have little effect if someone had the opinion that "I don't care, I don't like the taste of chocolate" or "I'm not fond of the texture of donuts", etc. People could simply respond with "my cholesterol is already low" or "I get my dietary fibre from another source". Using words like "toxins" and "chemicals" is not likely going to get someone to start eating a particular product.
The point I'm trying to make (forgive me if I failed to do so) is that to get somebody to be "against" something simply requires them to "buy" into any of a number of "negatives". If they perceive the negatives to outweigh any benefits, they will be "against" whatever it is. (Mind you, we know that certain things are bad for us but we still partake in them.)
How this relates to public health by plebiscite is this:
If we're presented with the question to accept or reject an idea, fear mongering always works in favour of the "negative" proposition (and by negative, I mean, the decision to do nothing rather than to do something). If a small number of people actively use fear mongering, they can win simply because to vote "against" something a person needs only to accept one of the "ideas" that suggests a greater negative (or removes any supposed positive).
Therefore a minority of people can affect a plebiscite simply by employing "fear". They can also achieve their desired results by presenting false information or blatantly lying.
How this applies to fluoride:
No matter what the science says about fluoride, there are going to be people against it. Even if it is a small minority of people who are against it, you can assume that the relative proportion of people who can make an informed decision about fluoride is also small. The "for" side would be limited to providing the "benefits" as reasons for continuing the addition of fluoride. There is almost nothing that they could say that could utilize "fear" to get people to "accept" the "positive".
Since plebiscite allows for each and every registered person to 'vote' on the proposition, you can be sure that there will be a good number of people who are voting (as in every election) without knowing the facts. To vote against fluoride, they would simply have to buy any of the arguments (valid or not) against the addition of fluoride. To vote for it, they would have to be adamant and sure that the need existed. If the "negative" side ventured into falsities and lies, it is almost impossible to overcome such with straight facts. Humans simply would rather allow harm by doing nothing than to potentially cause harm by doing something even if the relative statistics for potential harm are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
Consider the annual influenza shot - though the risk of being harmed by the shot is far far less than the potential of harm from getting the actual flu (never mind the benefits that it offers to other people and populations), many people would rather not be "responsible" for the harm should they give a shot to their child/loved one. By simply not doing the "positive" (actually giving/getting the shot) they believe that they are not responsible. (I realize that I've just had some blog readers close their minds to further argument/suggestion because they've been sold on fear mongering from the anti-vax side. In that case, my point has been made.)
Dilemmas like this have been studied extensively (see the "Trolley Dilemma" - it is a fascinating thought experiment) - it is the doctrine of double effect. Morally, if the result of doing something that has a potential for harm has a greater potential for reducing harm, one should do it. However, when the actions of a person may cause direct harm (though providing a greater benefit) most people would refrain from doing so.
What is my opinion on fluoride?
My opinion hardly matters - it is what the science shows, based on the available evidence, that matters. Do I think that I need fluoride in my drinking water? Maybe not - but the benefit for fluoride may not be for me as I'm possibly beyond the point where fluoride is essential in my life. Simply because I may no longer need it does not justify me to take away the benefit from others who may/do - especially considering the potential harm to me (if any) is very small.
Should fluoride be put to a public vote?
No. Decisions like these in public life should be made by those who are most familiar with the situation and those who we have elected/chose to do the research and learn about the issues at hand. Fluoride (like many public issues) is only a complicated issue because people choose to make it that way. Special interest groups, people with a distrust in government (conspiracy theorists too) and even people who dislike personalities in government will push for an agenda - and sometimes at all costs.
Fear mongering in fluoride and other areas
Just as I've talked about "all natural" in older blog entries, I think I've even written about the words "toxic" and "chemicals". Any time that someone uses the phrase "all natural" to push the idea that it is safe (or safer), remember that chlorine, E. coli, anthrax, lead and mercury are also "natural". On the other hand, when someone says "it's a chemical" or "it's toxic" remember this: water is a chemical, water is toxic (fluoride is not a chemical, by the way).
My concern with the fluoride argument then is that it has gotten to a point where some are employing fear mongering. (In so far as there may be reasons to not add (or remove, as it may be) fluoride to water, the use of fear as a method should make you think twice about any arguments against it.)
No matter what your stance is on the fluoride issue, I think it behooves everyone to consider the concept of public health by plebiscite. This does not only apply to fluoridation.
For the most part, you and I (and the general community as a whole) are not experts in chemistry, biology or medicine. Every single day we make decisions based on ideas/facts/evidence that we have encountered/learned/accepted - some of them could be decisions that are counter to what we believe/know to be "good" for us and others we make simply because we believe/know them to be the right thing to do.
We suspect and accept the idea that food that is prepared for us is relatively safe - whether it be organic foods to canned goods. You may purchase items from health food stores and you trust that what is in the bottle/package is exactly listed on the label. It is almost impossible for any of us to confirm all of this information for ourselves - considering that the time that it takes to test a single product might take longer than it normally takes to spoil, the product that you would be consuming would be from a different package that could contain different elements than the one tested.
To stop consuming a product that we enjoy (or believe/feel is giving us benefit) would take a fair amount of convincing. A sensible suggestion that "maybe you should not be eating chocolate glazed donuts" may reduce the amount of donuts that you'll eat but it isn't likely going to have you avoid them at all costs. However, if someone were to tell you that chocolate glazed donuts contained as much fat as a 2 kg. steak (I'm just making this up, by the way), you may avoid them. As the "dangers" begin to outweigh the benefits, you may reduce your consumption accordingly. If you believed/accepted, however, that the donut contained "toxic" compounds, you would likely stop eating them altogether and may, too, encourage others to follow your lead.
If it were your goal to get someone to stop eating chocolate glazed donuts (to do the negative), you would probably talk about all of the "bad" things about them. You would probably actively suggest that the donuts contain all that fat, are packed with "toxic" compounds/"chemicals" and any other number of possible reasons why someone shouldn't eat chocolate glazed donuts. Using words like "toxic" and "chemicals" illicit a feeling of concern and fear in most people. To get someone to stop eating them (or to reduce their intake) you only have to get them to accept one of the "facts" that you're presenting.
To get someone to regularly ingest something (to do the positive) would require a lot more work. Saying things like "chocolate glazed donuts are good for you" or "lower your cholesterol" or "contain dietary fibre to help boost your immune system", etc. would have little effect if someone had the opinion that "I don't care, I don't like the taste of chocolate" or "I'm not fond of the texture of donuts", etc. People could simply respond with "my cholesterol is already low" or "I get my dietary fibre from another source". Using words like "toxins" and "chemicals" is not likely going to get someone to start eating a particular product.
The point I'm trying to make (forgive me if I failed to do so) is that to get somebody to be "against" something simply requires them to "buy" into any of a number of "negatives". If they perceive the negatives to outweigh any benefits, they will be "against" whatever it is. (Mind you, we know that certain things are bad for us but we still partake in them.)
How this relates to public health by plebiscite is this:
If we're presented with the question to accept or reject an idea, fear mongering always works in favour of the "negative" proposition (and by negative, I mean, the decision to do nothing rather than to do something). If a small number of people actively use fear mongering, they can win simply because to vote "against" something a person needs only to accept one of the "ideas" that suggests a greater negative (or removes any supposed positive).
Therefore a minority of people can affect a plebiscite simply by employing "fear". They can also achieve their desired results by presenting false information or blatantly lying.
How this applies to fluoride:
No matter what the science says about fluoride, there are going to be people against it. Even if it is a small minority of people who are against it, you can assume that the relative proportion of people who can make an informed decision about fluoride is also small. The "for" side would be limited to providing the "benefits" as reasons for continuing the addition of fluoride. There is almost nothing that they could say that could utilize "fear" to get people to "accept" the "positive".
Since plebiscite allows for each and every registered person to 'vote' on the proposition, you can be sure that there will be a good number of people who are voting (as in every election) without knowing the facts. To vote against fluoride, they would simply have to buy any of the arguments (valid or not) against the addition of fluoride. To vote for it, they would have to be adamant and sure that the need existed. If the "negative" side ventured into falsities and lies, it is almost impossible to overcome such with straight facts. Humans simply would rather allow harm by doing nothing than to potentially cause harm by doing something even if the relative statistics for potential harm are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
Consider the annual influenza shot - though the risk of being harmed by the shot is far far less than the potential of harm from getting the actual flu (never mind the benefits that it offers to other people and populations), many people would rather not be "responsible" for the harm should they give a shot to their child/loved one. By simply not doing the "positive" (actually giving/getting the shot) they believe that they are not responsible. (I realize that I've just had some blog readers close their minds to further argument/suggestion because they've been sold on fear mongering from the anti-vax side. In that case, my point has been made.)
Dilemmas like this have been studied extensively (see the "Trolley Dilemma" - it is a fascinating thought experiment) - it is the doctrine of double effect. Morally, if the result of doing something that has a potential for harm has a greater potential for reducing harm, one should do it. However, when the actions of a person may cause direct harm (though providing a greater benefit) most people would refrain from doing so.
What is my opinion on fluoride?
My opinion hardly matters - it is what the science shows, based on the available evidence, that matters. Do I think that I need fluoride in my drinking water? Maybe not - but the benefit for fluoride may not be for me as I'm possibly beyond the point where fluoride is essential in my life. Simply because I may no longer need it does not justify me to take away the benefit from others who may/do - especially considering the potential harm to me (if any) is very small.
Should fluoride be put to a public vote?
No. Decisions like these in public life should be made by those who are most familiar with the situation and those who we have elected/chose to do the research and learn about the issues at hand. Fluoride (like many public issues) is only a complicated issue because people choose to make it that way. Special interest groups, people with a distrust in government (conspiracy theorists too) and even people who dislike personalities in government will push for an agenda - and sometimes at all costs.
Fear mongering in fluoride and other areas
Just as I've talked about "all natural" in older blog entries, I think I've even written about the words "toxic" and "chemicals". Any time that someone uses the phrase "all natural" to push the idea that it is safe (or safer), remember that chlorine, E. coli, anthrax, lead and mercury are also "natural". On the other hand, when someone says "it's a chemical" or "it's toxic" remember this: water is a chemical, water is toxic (fluoride is not a chemical, by the way).
My concern with the fluoride argument then is that it has gotten to a point where some are employing fear mongering. (In so far as there may be reasons to not add (or remove, as it may be) fluoride to water, the use of fear as a method should make you think twice about any arguments against it.)
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Another pseudo-psychic comes to town and why it matters
With the formation of the Stop Robbie Thomas site, I was hopeful that I could move on from the topic of psychics. I was a bit too hopeful, it seems. I just received an email from Sherwood Skeptic (one of the many forces behind the movement to stop Robbie Thomas) regarding another "spirtualist" who claims the same crap that Robbie Thomas claims.
You can read the article at http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2549471. Basically, we have another case of an "internationally known" "psychic" that turns up only 3 or 4 real results when searched in Google. Lorraine Scott (this will probably make it her 4th or 5th mention on the internet) also claims to have "worked with police to solve crimes". Standard fare for a pseudo-psychic.
Lorraine Scott will be in Sarnia on May 16, 2010 with "proceeds" from the event to benefit "Lisa's Angels". I do admire what "Lisa's Angels" are doing in memory of Lisa Brewer but I do take issue that the very "anchor" to their fundraiser is willing to, for money, destroy the memory of loved ones. If the Prost or Brewer family (or Traci or Gail) wants to contact me, I can be reached at sarniaskeptic@gmail.com. I'm not (we're not) heartless people - it is Lorraine Scott who is committing shameful acts and should be stopped. Fundraising should never be a matter of asking others to throw all caution to the wind.
What is wrong with the likes of Lorraine Scott and Robbie Thomas?
Using Charities for Validity
In this particular case (and this is not uncommon), Lorraine is being publicized and accepted, without question because of the inclusion of a charity (Canadian Cancer Society).
Using Charities to Sell Tickets
As with Robbie Thomas, the suggestion that money will go to support a charity was used as a means to get people to buy tickets to the event. How much money is going to the charity (as the charity, in this case, is not likely aware and probably has not endorsed the event) is not disclosed. In the case of Robbie Thomas, none of the event proceeds were given to the specified charity (Note: The charity that Robbie Thomas was claiming to support formally requested that Robbie Thomas remove their name from their site as they do not support nor recommend psychics.)
Using Charities for Free Publicity
Lorraine Scott's appearance was granted free publicity in our local newspaper simply because of the seeming benefit for charity. Oddly, it appears that some key elements of her event have yet to be determined (location??) yet the paper has no issues with printing a completely complementary (and complimentary) article on it.
Replacing Real Memories with False Ones
For those who are not familiar with the Showtime television show "Bullshit" featuring Penn & Teller, the very first episode of their first season (they've just finished taping season 8), Penn makes it clear why he thinks that psychics are (in his words) "motherf**kers" - they replace real memories of loved ones with ones that the psychics completely make up. It is bad enough to lose a loved one but it is despicable and disgusting that someone is willing to destroy the memories of real experiences and to charge the victim (the person who is being told bullshit about their deceased loved one) for it is beyond comprehension.
Offering False Hope
As we have only begun our investigation into Lorraine Scott (Hi, Lorraine! I can't wait to get to know more about you. And I say that with the greatest amount of sincerity I can have for someone who I think is lying and cheating fellow humans out of their hard earned money and out of their true experiences. On this site, it claims that Lorraine does a bunch of woo-woo - mediumship, Reiki, ghosthunting, past-life regression, etc.), I can't, yet, speak about specific claims that she has made. Robbie Thomas, however, had told the Tori Stafford family (and anyone who'd listen as he pimped himself on radio shows and podcasts) that Tori was still alive more than a week after we now know she was murdered. The subsequent information provided by Robbie Thomas would have resulted in an abuse and misuse of valuable public services (in this case, the Police).
Misusing Public Services
When a psychic (and Lorraine claims to work with police to solve crimes though the FBI claims that no psychic has ever been credited with the resolution of a murder/missing person's case using their claimed psychic abilities) provides "tips" to police in criminal cases, they are, without question, supplying leads that could result in "wild goose chases". Hundreds (if not thousands) of tips were provided in the Tori Stafford case by psychics - many of which were contradictory, could not possibly be true and were ultimately false. Police, in their desire to solve cases, would be wasting valuable time (and OUR money) tracking down these false leads.
Taking Focus Away from the Crimes
With psychics having claimed involvement in numerous unsolved murder cases and countless cases of people still missing, the public are often left with the false impression that a murder/missing persons case has been solved (or resolved). If you're new to my blog, you may not be familiar with a local case that Robbie Thomas was claiming involvement in - the kidnap and murder of Karen Caughlin. Robbie Thomas' claims of involvement left even his manager with the feeling that Robbie had been involved in solving the case. The case, to this day, remains unsolved. At least one person is aware of what happened to Karen and if just one person with that knowledge is given the impression that the case is solved and they need not come forward, Robbie Thomas' actions become that much more disgusting.
Re-Victimizing Families
It is my feeling that simply destroying and replacing real memories with made-up ones by pseudo-psychics is a scam and a re-victimizing of families. The issue, however, can become far worse. For example, Robbie Thomas, despite demands from the families of murder victims, has continued to claim involvement in many cases. Receiving reminders of such horrible tragedies as a result of someone promoting themselves for the purpose of selling tickets or attracting additional victims (I do believe that most psychics are committing acts that should be punished by our legal system) is wrong no matter what you believe.
Causing Undue Mistrust in Authorities
Most criminal cases are solved as a result of the work of police, science and the general public. Never has a case been solved as the result of alleged psychic abilities. Many "psychic investigators" simply apply tricks of their trade or skills of another - cold reading or criminal profiling - to produce what appear to be valid "evidence" for a case. (Note: Criminal profiling does not get used in a court of law - real evidence is necessary to produce a case beyond a reasonable doubt.) Psychics undermine real police work by making suggestions, after the fact via retro-fitting, that they provided information that could have solved cases sooner (and in some cases, supposedly saved the lives of other people - Robbie Thomas, you scumbag). In other instances (Robbie Thomas has committed all of these atrocious things), pseudo-psychics make claims that are contrary to determinations of authorities. For example, Robbie Thomas, as he was about to attend a paranormal conference in Kentucky, did a "reading" for a family that had lost 10 family members in a housefire. Authorities had determined that the fire was not intentional and was a result of an ember from a cigarette that was left smoldering for hours in a sofa or chair cushion. Robbie, with his willingness to make stuff up, told the family that not only was the fire not an accident - that it was intentionally set - but that it was also a hate crime.
(Note: I, as my blog suggests, am the last person to offer up the idea that authorities should not be questioned. Everyone is fallible (that includes the child-molestation-covering-up pope) and subject to biases. The answer, however, is never to just make stuff up. Think critically and act with concern for everyone you share this planet with.)
I have blogged about this fairly recently - you can read more at: http://sarniaskeptic.blogspot.com/2010/01/from-entertainers-to-predators-when.html
For more information on the initiative to Stop Robbie Thomas, visit http://www.stoprobbie.com/ .
You can read the article at http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2549471. Basically, we have another case of an "internationally known" "psychic" that turns up only 3 or 4 real results when searched in Google. Lorraine Scott (this will probably make it her 4th or 5th mention on the internet) also claims to have "worked with police to solve crimes". Standard fare for a pseudo-psychic.
Lorraine Scott will be in Sarnia on May 16, 2010 with "proceeds" from the event to benefit "Lisa's Angels". I do admire what "Lisa's Angels" are doing in memory of Lisa Brewer but I do take issue that the very "anchor" to their fundraiser is willing to, for money, destroy the memory of loved ones. If the Prost or Brewer family (or Traci or Gail) wants to contact me, I can be reached at sarniaskeptic@gmail.com. I'm not (we're not) heartless people - it is Lorraine Scott who is committing shameful acts and should be stopped. Fundraising should never be a matter of asking others to throw all caution to the wind.
What is wrong with the likes of Lorraine Scott and Robbie Thomas?
Using Charities for Validity
In this particular case (and this is not uncommon), Lorraine is being publicized and accepted, without question because of the inclusion of a charity (Canadian Cancer Society).
Using Charities to Sell Tickets
As with Robbie Thomas, the suggestion that money will go to support a charity was used as a means to get people to buy tickets to the event. How much money is going to the charity (as the charity, in this case, is not likely aware and probably has not endorsed the event) is not disclosed. In the case of Robbie Thomas, none of the event proceeds were given to the specified charity (Note: The charity that Robbie Thomas was claiming to support formally requested that Robbie Thomas remove their name from their site as they do not support nor recommend psychics.)
Using Charities for Free Publicity
Lorraine Scott's appearance was granted free publicity in our local newspaper simply because of the seeming benefit for charity. Oddly, it appears that some key elements of her event have yet to be determined (location??) yet the paper has no issues with printing a completely complementary (and complimentary) article on it.
Replacing Real Memories with False Ones
For those who are not familiar with the Showtime television show "Bullshit" featuring Penn & Teller, the very first episode of their first season (they've just finished taping season 8), Penn makes it clear why he thinks that psychics are (in his words) "motherf**kers" - they replace real memories of loved ones with ones that the psychics completely make up. It is bad enough to lose a loved one but it is despicable and disgusting that someone is willing to destroy the memories of real experiences and to charge the victim (the person who is being told bullshit about their deceased loved one) for it is beyond comprehension.
Offering False Hope
As we have only begun our investigation into Lorraine Scott (Hi, Lorraine! I can't wait to get to know more about you. And I say that with the greatest amount of sincerity I can have for someone who I think is lying and cheating fellow humans out of their hard earned money and out of their true experiences. On this site, it claims that Lorraine does a bunch of woo-woo - mediumship, Reiki, ghosthunting, past-life regression, etc.), I can't, yet, speak about specific claims that she has made. Robbie Thomas, however, had told the Tori Stafford family (and anyone who'd listen as he pimped himself on radio shows and podcasts) that Tori was still alive more than a week after we now know she was murdered. The subsequent information provided by Robbie Thomas would have resulted in an abuse and misuse of valuable public services (in this case, the Police).
Misusing Public Services
When a psychic (and Lorraine claims to work with police to solve crimes though the FBI claims that no psychic has ever been credited with the resolution of a murder/missing person's case using their claimed psychic abilities) provides "tips" to police in criminal cases, they are, without question, supplying leads that could result in "wild goose chases". Hundreds (if not thousands) of tips were provided in the Tori Stafford case by psychics - many of which were contradictory, could not possibly be true and were ultimately false. Police, in their desire to solve cases, would be wasting valuable time (and OUR money) tracking down these false leads.
Taking Focus Away from the Crimes
With psychics having claimed involvement in numerous unsolved murder cases and countless cases of people still missing, the public are often left with the false impression that a murder/missing persons case has been solved (or resolved). If you're new to my blog, you may not be familiar with a local case that Robbie Thomas was claiming involvement in - the kidnap and murder of Karen Caughlin. Robbie Thomas' claims of involvement left even his manager with the feeling that Robbie had been involved in solving the case. The case, to this day, remains unsolved. At least one person is aware of what happened to Karen and if just one person with that knowledge is given the impression that the case is solved and they need not come forward, Robbie Thomas' actions become that much more disgusting.
Re-Victimizing Families
It is my feeling that simply destroying and replacing real memories with made-up ones by pseudo-psychics is a scam and a re-victimizing of families. The issue, however, can become far worse. For example, Robbie Thomas, despite demands from the families of murder victims, has continued to claim involvement in many cases. Receiving reminders of such horrible tragedies as a result of someone promoting themselves for the purpose of selling tickets or attracting additional victims (I do believe that most psychics are committing acts that should be punished by our legal system) is wrong no matter what you believe.
Causing Undue Mistrust in Authorities
Most criminal cases are solved as a result of the work of police, science and the general public. Never has a case been solved as the result of alleged psychic abilities. Many "psychic investigators" simply apply tricks of their trade or skills of another - cold reading or criminal profiling - to produce what appear to be valid "evidence" for a case. (Note: Criminal profiling does not get used in a court of law - real evidence is necessary to produce a case beyond a reasonable doubt.) Psychics undermine real police work by making suggestions, after the fact via retro-fitting, that they provided information that could have solved cases sooner (and in some cases, supposedly saved the lives of other people - Robbie Thomas, you scumbag). In other instances (Robbie Thomas has committed all of these atrocious things), pseudo-psychics make claims that are contrary to determinations of authorities. For example, Robbie Thomas, as he was about to attend a paranormal conference in Kentucky, did a "reading" for a family that had lost 10 family members in a housefire. Authorities had determined that the fire was not intentional and was a result of an ember from a cigarette that was left smoldering for hours in a sofa or chair cushion. Robbie, with his willingness to make stuff up, told the family that not only was the fire not an accident - that it was intentionally set - but that it was also a hate crime.
(Note: I, as my blog suggests, am the last person to offer up the idea that authorities should not be questioned. Everyone is fallible (that includes the child-molestation-covering-up pope) and subject to biases. The answer, however, is never to just make stuff up. Think critically and act with concern for everyone you share this planet with.)
I have blogged about this fairly recently - you can read more at: http://sarniaskeptic.blogspot.com/2010/01/from-entertainers-to-predators-when.html
For more information on the initiative to Stop Robbie Thomas, visit http://www.stoprobbie.com/ .
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Why is it legal to cheat people out of their money?
"Straight Chiropractors" might tell you that "subluxations" are the one true cause of all disease but acupuncturists have been known to claim the same about "meridians" (which is why I have to laugh when I see a chiropractor that also does acupuncture).
How someone can use two competing (and almost equally worthless) modalities to treat the two competing "one true cause of all disease"?
However, I come to this topic because of an advertisement on a local classifieds website which I believe is false advertising (to be fair to Nikki, I will inform her of this entry before I proceed with filing a claim. She, too, was probably intentionally deceived by someone selling the lasers.). A reader of my blog sent me the link and asked "how does laser therapy help people stop smoking?" "Beauty and Beyond", found here: http://www.beautyandbeyond10.com/, is advertising the following:
"You have realized that smoking is your problem and you are ready to get rid of this addiction. We suggest you to take advantage of laser therapy. Laser therapy combines experience of the past with hi-tech of today: acupuncture plus latest laser technology. This procedure is absolutely painless! Through acupuncture points laser stimulates activity of your inner organs and helps your body to get back in balance. It prevents craving during the crucial first several months. This procedure is performed by using a cold low level laser, which does not damage your skin. Not to be confused with surgical laser or laser hair removal (which can cause burns)."
and
"Low Level Laser Therapy works in the same theory as acupuncture using a cold laser to stimulate the acu-points instead of needles. This works with the meridians in the body bring balance to organs that may not be functioning at optimal levels. The Low Level Laser helps to produce an endorphin release working with the natural opiods in our system giving you a feeling of well-being. This is very similar to the one a smoker may get from taking a drag off of a cigarette or someone who is eating unknowingly for comfort in food. This endorphin release can last for up to several days. The laser helps speed up your metabolism by working at the same wavelength as the mitochondria. Mitochondria are the powerhouse of each cell, converting energy into its usable for and allowing the maintenance of normal body function and metabolism."
Great, so you combine "ancient Chinese medicine" (a favourite of mine because who doesn't want to have an average lifespan of say 30 years like the "ancient Chinese" did?) that has been proven to have no benefit over placebo with a laser treatment that can't do what is claimed. That, my friends, is a scam. Public Citizen calls it like they see it.
I'm sorry, Nikki Robinson, but at this point you are selling a worthless service to a trusting public. You obviously know it because you say: "If there is something you are interested in that is not included in the list, then please let me no and I will try to make up a treatment that meets your specific needs." The emphasis is mine (it was a direct copy otherwise) but I couldn't have said it better myself. You're just making stuff up. You should be ashamed of yourself.
To answer the question that is in the subject of my blog, it isn't. Do yourself (and your fellow citizens) a favour and report false advertising:
How to Submit a Complaint
The 14 Clauses (Advertising Standards Canada)
How someone can use two competing (and almost equally worthless) modalities to treat the two competing "one true cause of all disease"?
However, I come to this topic because of an advertisement on a local classifieds website which I believe is false advertising (to be fair to Nikki, I will inform her of this entry before I proceed with filing a claim. She, too, was probably intentionally deceived by someone selling the lasers.). A reader of my blog sent me the link and asked "how does laser therapy help people stop smoking?" "Beauty and Beyond", found here: http://www.beautyandbeyond10.com/, is advertising the following:
"You have realized that smoking is your problem and you are ready to get rid of this addiction. We suggest you to take advantage of laser therapy. Laser therapy combines experience of the past with hi-tech of today: acupuncture plus latest laser technology. This procedure is absolutely painless! Through acupuncture points laser stimulates activity of your inner organs and helps your body to get back in balance. It prevents craving during the crucial first several months. This procedure is performed by using a cold low level laser, which does not damage your skin. Not to be confused with surgical laser or laser hair removal (which can cause burns)."
and
"Low Level Laser Therapy works in the same theory as acupuncture using a cold laser to stimulate the acu-points instead of needles. This works with the meridians in the body bring balance to organs that may not be functioning at optimal levels. The Low Level Laser helps to produce an endorphin release working with the natural opiods in our system giving you a feeling of well-being. This is very similar to the one a smoker may get from taking a drag off of a cigarette or someone who is eating unknowingly for comfort in food. This endorphin release can last for up to several days. The laser helps speed up your metabolism by working at the same wavelength as the mitochondria. Mitochondria are the powerhouse of each cell, converting energy into its usable for and allowing the maintenance of normal body function and metabolism."
Great, so you combine "ancient Chinese medicine" (a favourite of mine because who doesn't want to have an average lifespan of say 30 years like the "ancient Chinese" did?) that has been proven to have no benefit over placebo with a laser treatment that can't do what is claimed. That, my friends, is a scam. Public Citizen calls it like they see it.
I'm sorry, Nikki Robinson, but at this point you are selling a worthless service to a trusting public. You obviously know it because you say: "If there is something you are interested in that is not included in the list, then please let me no and I will try to make up a treatment that meets your specific needs." The emphasis is mine (it was a direct copy otherwise) but I couldn't have said it better myself. You're just making stuff up. You should be ashamed of yourself.
To answer the question that is in the subject of my blog, it isn't. Do yourself (and your fellow citizens) a favour and report false advertising:
How to Submit a Complaint
The 14 Clauses (Advertising Standards Canada)
Help Solve the Karen Caughlin Case
The Caughlin family and the Ontario Provincial Police are seeking your assistance in solving the Karen Caughlin murder. Decals are available for anyone interested in helping promote this case.
The more decals that are placed on vehicles, the louder Karen’s voice becomes! The louder Karen’s voice becomes, the more powerful the message is to a child killer who has walked free for 36-years! Please join our campaign for Justice for Karen! – The Caughlin Family
To receive a car decal contact caughlink@shaw.ca
Visit the Ontario Provincial Police site for more information on the case.
The more decals that are placed on vehicles, the louder Karen’s voice becomes! The louder Karen’s voice becomes, the more powerful the message is to a child killer who has walked free for 36-years! Please join our campaign for Justice for Karen! – The Caughlin Family
To receive a car decal contact caughlink@shaw.ca
Visit the Ontario Provincial Police site for more information on the case.
Stop Robbie Thomas - The Beginning
On the advice of a JREF forum member (Alice Shortcake), a local group has started http://www.stoprobbie.com/.
The direction of the site is, obviously, not determined but the goal will be to let people know who Robbie Thomas is (as I say, to give Robbie more publicity than he could ever dream for). I will happily contribute to Stop Robbie Thomas but my blog will continue as it has (likely with a little less focus on that scumbag).
If you want to help with the Stop Robbie Thomas site, you're encouraged to email them at emailus@stoprobbie.com
Help promote the site by linking to it from your blog or website.
The direction of the site is, obviously, not determined but the goal will be to let people know who Robbie Thomas is (as I say, to give Robbie more publicity than he could ever dream for). I will happily contribute to Stop Robbie Thomas but my blog will continue as it has (likely with a little less focus on that scumbag).
If you want to help with the Stop Robbie Thomas site, you're encouraged to email them at emailus@stoprobbie.com
Help promote the site by linking to it from your blog or website.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Robbie Thomas is still at it...
I just received this from Mark Edward (http://www.skepticblog.org/):
TONIGHT on Haunted Times Magazine Radio...
Robbie Thomas is a renowned Psychic / Medium and Criminal Profiler who has worked with Police and families for 18 years successfully assisting them in solving murder & missing persons cases, many of which have been in the media spotlight. With years of documented cases under him, as well as the ability to pinpoint names of murderers and locate missing people alive, Robbie is one of the most sought after Psychic / Mediums today. Robbie has been featured in many magazines worldwide such as Paranormal Magazine (England), The Observer (England), Unexplained Paranormal Magazine (United States), Haunted Times Magazine, Phantom Magazine, Visions Magazine and many more. Robbie has also appeared on numerous radio programs around the world.
Robbie is a prolific writer and author with four titles to his name, as well as co contributing author to four other works with notable authors such as Award Winning Screen Write Gloria Shepherd on the Murder of Brian Jones the founder of the Rolling Stones. Robbie has secured roles in the movies Dead Whisper, The Sallie House, Paradox, and Chasing Shadows (Narration) and the up and coming full length motion picture Bluegrass Run. Robbie’s reputation and growing demand has earned him respect in his field and has been sought after by such TV shows as Dateline, Psychic Detectives, Biography, Maury Povich as well as numerous television production companies. Robbie is now in negotiations for a reality television series based on his actual cases.
Currently, Robbie is touring North America presenting his powerful ‘Psychic Justice’ events in which he is speaking on the vast amount of cases he has done over the years while also doing LIVE cold case readings for audience members who have been victims of crime and left without resolve .
Please join us TONIGHT...Wednesday, April 14th, as we welcome Robbie to Haunted Times Magazine Radio beginning at 8:00pm EST / 7:00pm CST / 6:00pm MST / 5:00pm PST on All Souls Paranormal Radio Network (http://www.asprn.com/).
As always, our telephone lines and chat room will be open for questions and comments.
Hope you will tune in!!!
Christopher Moon
President
Haunted Times Magazine
hauntedtimes@comcast.net
http://www.hauntedtimes.com/
TONIGHT on Haunted Times Magazine Radio...
Robbie Thomas is a renowned Psychic / Medium and Criminal Profiler who has worked with Police and families for 18 years successfully assisting them in solving murder & missing persons cases, many of which have been in the media spotlight. With years of documented cases under him, as well as the ability to pinpoint names of murderers and locate missing people alive, Robbie is one of the most sought after Psychic / Mediums today. Robbie has been featured in many magazines worldwide such as Paranormal Magazine (England), The Observer (England), Unexplained Paranormal Magazine (United States), Haunted Times Magazine, Phantom Magazine, Visions Magazine and many more. Robbie has also appeared on numerous radio programs around the world.
Robbie is a prolific writer and author with four titles to his name, as well as co contributing author to four other works with notable authors such as Award Winning Screen Write Gloria Shepherd on the Murder of Brian Jones the founder of the Rolling Stones. Robbie has secured roles in the movies Dead Whisper, The Sallie House, Paradox, and Chasing Shadows (Narration) and the up and coming full length motion picture Bluegrass Run. Robbie’s reputation and growing demand has earned him respect in his field and has been sought after by such TV shows as Dateline, Psychic Detectives, Biography, Maury Povich as well as numerous television production companies. Robbie is now in negotiations for a reality television series based on his actual cases.
Currently, Robbie is touring North America presenting his powerful ‘Psychic Justice’ events in which he is speaking on the vast amount of cases he has done over the years while also doing LIVE cold case readings for audience members who have been victims of crime and left without resolve .
Please join us TONIGHT...Wednesday, April 14th, as we welcome Robbie to Haunted Times Magazine Radio beginning at 8:00pm EST / 7:00pm CST / 6:00pm MST / 5:00pm PST on All Souls Paranormal Radio Network (http://www.asprn.com/).
As always, our telephone lines and chat room will be open for questions and comments.
Hope you will tune in!!!
Christopher Moon
President
Haunted Times Magazine
hauntedtimes@comcast.net
http://www.hauntedtimes.com/
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Official Statement from John Ramses
(Note: What follows is the "official statement" from John Ramses - I have copied and pasted the statement in its entirety. I have not included the transcripts, etc., you can download the full statement from:
http://www.labyrinth-entertainment.com/statement/Official_Statement_Psychic_Justice_end.pdf. Though I disagree with the idea of going after a person's private life, I promised John that when I got back in town I would post the statement that he sent me. Here it is...)
Official Statement as to the reason for the dissolve of all relations between John Ramses (Labyrinth Entertainment) and Robert Poulton (AKA Robbie Thomas)
While this statement is lengthy in content it is important to outline the many circumstances in detail concerning the reasons behind the necessary decision to dissolve relations between myself (John Ramses / Labyrinth Entertainment) and Robert Poulton (AKA Robbie Thomas). The relationship was dissolved by me (John Ramses). This document has been prepared after considerable thought on the repercussions that may result and also not without a great amount of heartbreak in not only being forced to set the record straight concerning gossip being spread by Mr Thomas, and poor journalism, but also in that is recognizes the bitter and saddened end to a four year long relationship with one whom I thought was my closest friend.
----
The term “Psychic Justice” was coined by Louie La Vella (La Vella Entertainment Group, Ontario, Canada) as a working title for a TV series concept originally created by John Ramses exclusively to cast Robbie Thomas in the lead role as a Psychic Criminal Profiler and incorporating an investigative support team. The term “Psychic Justice” is used with permission of Louie La Vella for the purpose of the Psychic Justice tour.
Any and all images, copy, logos, press releases, posters and web design concerning the Psychic Justice Tour prior to March 23rd 2010 is my work, exclusively.
Supporting documents are at the end of this statement.
----
The beginning of the Psychic Justice folly
I’ve known Robbie Thomas for around four years. Our Australian radio station, Ghost Radio Australia, carried Robbie’s program in 2006-7. Our relationship began when I was approached by Robbie Thomas to develop a web site for him to promote his up-coming Power of Spirit Tour. After questioning him on the details and what he wanted for his campaign I told him I would do it for $3,000. He agreed. One week later he called me again stating that the cost was too steep for him and could I give him a break. I dropped it down to $1,000. He agreed, but would need one week to come up with a deposit. After making a verbal agreement and gleaning information required, I told him I would begin his project through the weekend. I was already bogged down with clients but also wanted to begin building public relations for Ghost Radio. The following week Robbie again called stating he had no money. This was disheartening. I had already by then created the basic design, artwork and concept and had put in around 14 hours worth of work. I like to see people succeed. I had already had a good start on the project and decided that I would just finish it for him for free – again for PR and a desire to help people succeed. Over the next month Robbie’s demands for this or that became consuming. In the end I had created a comprehensive web site for him to the value of $7,000+. Everything on the site was fresh and original, created from scratch (not templates).
Next was Paracon 2009. He approached me for this project, asking me to also be a ‘guest speaker’. When I brought up costs for this campaign he told me he would pay what he could from earnings, but that since I was actually going to be speaking, I should do it to promote myself, too. (I wasn’t getting paid, in other words). I created the web site as a reflection of my work. I don’t do anything half-ass. I couldn’t make it to Paracon in 2009 because of responsibilities at home in Australia.
Next was Paracon 2010. I told him to get someone else because I had never received anything from the last two projects and was also quite busy. He told me Paracon 2009 broke even. He found someone else to do it, although they were still using my logos and branding from the first Paracon. Fair enough.
Through the years between 2006 and March 23,2010 (the end of our relations) Robbie and I had become close friends. I was intrigued with his psychic ability, and coupled with my knowledge and passion for cryptology and treasure hunting (piecing together clues to puzzles) I had also began helping him decipher some of his psychic impressions. A primary example of this relationship was the Cano case, in which I endeavoured to translate his psychic symbolism into meaningful clues.
The more I came to know Robbie and talk with him on the phone, the closer our friendship grew. Somewhere in the middle Robbie gave me the title of his ‘manager’, although no contracts were signed to that affect. Robbie’s main desire was to have a TV series or film deal. In 2008 I created a TV series concept based on his abilities as a psychic criminal profiler. The working title then was ‘Psychic CSI’ and involved a supporting investigative panel/team. Simultaneously I had created another TV series, which was first a radio program concept to be hosted by Robbie and myself, called Most Dangerous Hauntings – this was based on my years of gathering information on abductions, poltergeists, crypto animals and more from some of the most remote regions.
The following year Robbie, along with Brian Harnois, approached A&E with the ‘Psychic CSI’ script. While A&E was interested in the show’s concept they didn’t sign. Robbie blamed Brian for the failure – I have the email to this affect). In July 2009 Robbie called me to say he had just been introduced to an exec producer named Louie La Vella (La Vella Entertainment Group). He had connected to Louie through a Toronto psychic named Terry Mannis. Robbie passed the Psychic CSI script to Louie La Vella who saw the show’s potential and immediately began preparing a treatment to pitch to the networks. Louie gave the project a working title of ‘Psychic Justice’ and a 3-way venture agreement was signed between Louie, myself and Robbie.
In November of 2009 I informed Robbie that I was coming home to the USA for the first time in 10 years. The primary reason was to help my parents prepare their house for sale. I would be going to Salt Lake City, Utah. I also knew that the networks had at least one concern with the TV series being pitched: Robbie Thomas was not well known. For that reason Patrick burns was enlisted as part of the cast (to help draw viewers). I advised Robbie that we needed to do something to boost his profile. Robbie was known in some paranormal circles but not to the wider public. I conceived the idea of taking Robbie on tour through the USA to demonstrate his abilities and promote his name. I would create the campaign materials and put the tour under my new business Labyrinth Entertainment (previously Symmetry Media), which I created along with my daughter to encourage her passion for building a career in the music industry. At first the tour was only one show per month, but Robbie convinced me he could sell out ‘stadiums’. After debating this we agreed to attempt 30 cities between March and June. It was an ambitious venture but I had faith that Robbie
knew his market value.
Over the next several weeks preceding my departure from Australia for the USA I created all the campaign materials at my own cost and time. I called venues and secured them on a promise to pay within one week of each show. It took a lot to get them to budge from their normal policy of having at least a down payment. I relied on ticket sales as working capital. From the onset Robbie would only do ‘Theatres’. And while I argued that such venues are expensive, he assured me he would fill them...one, two or three nights in a row. I naively accepted his faith in himself.
Next on Robbie’s mind was payment. This was complicated by a new girlfriend he had met, and for whom he had intended on leaving his wife and family for to move in with her. She is a USA citizen. Robbie is Canadian with only a passport to travel to the USA, not live and work. Further, he did not want his wife knowing how much he made from the tour. He hoped I would set up an account under Labyrinth for him to use while in the USA.
While Robbie believed he could ‘stadiums’, as a businessman and promoter with experience in the paranormal / psychic genre, I produced a budget for the show at a minimum of 100 attendees per show to keep it afloat. If we could get 100 people to each show at between $33 and $45 per ticket we would be fine.
I told Robbie we would split whatever profits were earned 50/50. I also explained that if I (or Labyrinth) was going to be the presenter, he must have legal licence to work in the United States before entering the USA to work. I knew he could get an Entertainer’s Visa much easier than a Green Card, and while it could be secured in one week the cost for this permit was $1700. He said he did most previous USA gigs under the table, but that was not going to be an option under Labyrinth. Labyrinth would handle all the money and pay him out. That was easier for tax purposes and record keeping.
Robbie didn’t like this at all. He didn’t want to spend the money for a Right-To-Work permit in the USA but rather wanted to continue working under the table. There was no way. His sole obsession became making money and getting out of his marriage to move in with his girlfriend in Iowa. He began making snide comments about whether I was his ‘friend and manager’ or not. I ignored them at first. I told him to get a divorce and just do it - but do it right and legal.
I left Australia for the United States on January 18, 2010. I had made sure that all the artwork and campaign materials were completed before hand to make it easy to live from my laptop, away from my studio. The venues were tentatively secure for Sarnia, London and Mississauga and anything else could wait until I landed.
On January 16th I received a bitter email from a lady who identified herself as Kathy Caughlin, sister of slain teen Karen Caughlin; a case in which Robbie had assisted the family with in 2005. Kathy demanded that her sister’s picture be removed from anything relating to Robbie Thomas. Kathy was quite angry and had nothing good to say about Robbie Thomas. I questioned Robbie on what he did to make her so bitter. Robbie said he did nothing and asked me to send him the email. I sent it to him on the condition that he did not respond to her. I had already replied to Kathy (as Labyrinth) assuring her that her demands would be respected. All images and references to Karen Caughlin were removed from the campaigns by the 17th. This was incredibly time consuming at a time when I didn’t have time to spare. I explained to Kathy that I was leaving for the United States and would not be able to track down everything we had posted (venues, external servers, newsletters, etc), but as she found them, let me know and I would remove them. [See attached email correspondences at end]
Robbie couldn’t help himself. His ego had to respond to Kathy’s email anyway, after I had advised him not to. This only infuriated Kathy more, naturally. It was unprofessional and made look as much. Kathy wrote again to me, attaching a copy of Robbie’s [inappropriate] response. I apologized, and assured her once again that her concerns would be addressed. I had no knowledge of the Caughlin case other than Robbie had claimed to have solved it.
This began the first in a series of attacks against the Psychic Justice Tour and Robbie Thomas in general. While in Malaysia I received an email from Wendy Cornelius, manager of the Imperial Theatre in Sarnia that would host the launch of the tour. She had also received an email from Kathy, after Kathy had found her sister’s name still listed in the program synopsis for the show. While it upset me that Kathy had taken it upon herself to contact the theatre, rather than inform me of further mentions of Karen’s name as I had asked, I could understand her lack of faith in me due to Robbie’s email to her. Kathy wrote to all three venues (the London venue cancelled our event on the same day that Kathy had sent them an email, leaving to scramble for another venue as soon as I arrived in Salt Lake – but the theatre claimed it was double-booking. I could not prove it had anything to do with Kathy’s email). [See Wendy Cornelius email at end]
Once in Salt Lake City I was immediately confronted with further problems. One of the police officers who had given a testimonial was now retracting it. In fact, this officer was in serious trouble from his superiors. An investigation commenced in which Robbie was grilled for a couple hours by the precinct’s attorney. They wanted to know if Robbie had paid the officer to provide the testimonial and / or whether it was it written or verbal testimonial. Robbie stated that the officer’s testimonial had been given to him verbally. I now had to go through all the campaign material and remove the officer’s testimonial, which was also on the posters, as well. This was time consuming, as with Kathy Caughlin’s request, and using a laptop away from my studio made it twice as difficult. I had hardly begun and was already being overwhelmed and it seemed that this tour was beginning to cause innocent people problems.
For the next few weeks I was trying to assimilate back into the American lifestyle after being away for ten years. There were family and friends to catch up with, arranging for adapters to run my Australian laptop and external drives, keeping in contact with my wife kids back home and going over my parent’s home for things that required repairs before putting it on the market. During these weeks Robbie did not let up on his demand for ‘heating up’ the campaigns. I wrote press releases, modifying them for each city. Carrie Pierce (of Meadowvale Spookies in Toronto) became a great asset as she lived in Toronto and knew those in the media. She also spent time putting up posters as gas and time allowed. I enlisted Carrie’s help under Labyrinth’s banner, providing her a letter of authorization to act in Labyrinth’s behalf.
Every step forward in the campaign seemed to be met with some unexpected, bazaar obstacle. At the Paracon 2009 Robbie told me that the Assistant Mayor of Sarnia had planned a brief appearance at the event (not sure if he made it or not). Robbie asked me to contact him to see if he might like to attend the opening night of the Psychic Justice Tour. I learned that the Mayor himself, Mike Bradley, was an Australian, born in Adelaide, NSW. I saw this as an opportunity to perhaps invite the Mayor to the event. After all, I was an Australian resident and Labyrinth was an Australian business. I called Robbie to tell him the good news: I may be able to persuade Mike Bradley to come to the event as our guest. But, as I should have expected, the Mayor of Sarnia was not very fond of Robbie Thomas.
Why, I asked.
According to Robbie Thomas: Some years ago there was a Gay Pride movement in Sarnia. Robbie called the mayor (on a radio program?)and stated that he didn’t want ‘those cheerios’ in his town. Robbie has been quite vocal to me personally about his disapproval of gays, but never gave me an adequate answer as to why he feels that way. Regardless, Mike Bradley does not like Robbie Thomas (by Thomas’own admission), as a result of his statement.
So, there went one great opportunity to grab positive attention for the Psychic Justice Tour.
I was beginning to learn that the Psychic Justice Tour was plagued before it had begun. Robbie’s reputation had preceded the campaign, and it wasn’t always a good reputation. While trying to get an article write-up in the Sarnia Observer a new problem surfaced, but was directly related to Karen Caughlin and the Caughlin family.
In 2005 Robbie Thomas was approached by the editor of the Sarnia Observer, Jack Portier, to see if he would offer his assistance to the Caughlin family using his psychic abilities. Robbie agreed. What actually transpired that day is a bit of a mystery. Robbie has his story and the Caughlin’s have theirs. Regardless, of the truth, when Robbie called Jack Portier to see if he could get an article about the Psychic Justice Tour Jack Portier wanted nothing to do with it because he had heard that Robbie intended to speak about Karen Caughlin. According to Robbie, Jack denied ever being involved with the Caughlins. Robbie reminded him of ‘recordings’ he had of the meeting (whether Robbie has these or not is uncertain). They made a trade. Jack would print a ‘favourable’ article about the Tour ONLY if Robbie swore to forget Karen Caughlin and not talk about the case during the tour. Robbie agreed.
Next, a detective called Robbie telling him to remove the statement from his web page from detective Vorschuk, who had been at the meeting set up by Portier on behalf of the Caughlin family. According to Robbie, the detective claimed’ too’ that the meeting never happened. Again, Robbie claimed he had ‘recordings’ to prove it and the detective backed off.
A few days later an article was produced in the Sarnia Observer announcing the Psychic Justice Tour. It was about the same time the article was published that a local Sarnia Skeptic began his own campaign against Robbie. On his web site, Small Town Skeptic, Robbie was accused of being a liar and a fraud who marketed off pain and suffering, among numerous other things. Other people joined in the attack, even in America. It seemed that a lot of people had grievances against Robbie Thomas. I began to receive emails from them also, denouncing Labyrinth for supporting such a fraud. Robbie became totally consumed in the negativity being published and insisted I do something to shut them down. There was little I could do, but I, too, became consumed in trying to find what, if any, evidence they had to make such statements; indeed, as with Kathy Caughlin, what had Robbie done to make these people react so violently?
What had begun for me as a relatively simple but ambitious promo campaign for ‘Psychic Justice’ was becoming encumbered with one problem after another. I was learning more about my friend, Robbie Thomas, in several weeks than I had in four years. I copied off the Skeptic’s posts and Caughlin’s emails and, out of a necessity to keep Robbie and the Tour in a good light, began breaking down each accusation and questioning Robbie as to their validity. Of course, this too was time consuming. I was nearly at my laptop for 15-20 hours a day at this point. (Robbie, on the other hand, often announced to me on Skype that he was going to watch TV with the kids, have dinner then retire to bed around 7 or 8. Lucky him).
About Robbie’s affair in Sioux City, Iowa (contributing to the early setback in the Psychic Justice Tour campaigns as well as adding to the stress on our friendship)
Saturday, February 13, 2010 to Saturday, February 27, 2010
At a crucial stage in the Psychic Justice Tour campaigns, at a time when finances were tight and favours exhausted, and bad publicity was demanding my constant attention (by Robbie’s demand to shut them down and my own research into whether I had a legal right or not), Robbie Thomas announced to me that he was going to spend two weeks in Iowa with his girlfriend. Naturally I argued this decision. Before I thought of the moral issue I was immediately concerned about the tour. Right then, most of all, was not the time for a holiday of any kind. The trip would be costly, and aside from this, in order for the tour to be successful it was important to stay focused and on top of every situation.
Robbie told me that he ‘absolutely had to get to Iowa’ because his girlfriend was getting restless and was starting to doubt if they would be together, especially because the tour was supposed to last until June. I told Robbie that he seriously needed to do the right thing by his wife and kids and just get a divorce. He assured me he would as soon as the tour was underway and he was on the road, but that for now he was going to go to Iowa, regardless.
What followed was a situation where lines between friends become blurred – a common occurrence when dealing with Robbie Thomas. Further, it is one that that I’m ashamed to have been manipulated into being part of.
To make his ‘trip’ believable to his wife, Ligia, he needed to convince her that he was going to Omaha, Nebraska to begin filming for the Psychic Justice TV series. He said, “I need you to make something up for me; something to convince Ligia that I’m going to be away two weeks doing a film. Make it from someone like ‘Summerhill’ or from Louie. She’ll believe that. Put the dates from the 13th to the 27th.
Of course this was absurd. I explained that neither Summerhill nor Louie should be implicated in his scheme because either one could call his house with legitimate information where Ligia might answer the phone. Not to mention the legal / moral aspect of it.
The darker side of Robbie Thomas surfaced.
He said, “John, I’m going to Iowa and don’t need a lecture or permission. I have to go, and as my friend and manager I’d thought you would help your buddy. I can’t stay in this house anymore so help me work it out. If Ligia finds out shit will hit the fan and I can’t do the tour if I’m in the middle of a divorce. We will have waisted all our time”.
I was pissed off for being blackmailed but it was true that if Robbie were to be thrown out of the house and embroiled in a bitter divorce the tour would be over before it began. All my hard work, costs and hours of producing campaign materials and web sites and press releases would be in vain. I thought about it for two days, under constant pressure from Robbie, before I finally gave in. I created a document “From” Summerhill Productions which demanded all “Talent” to be on location in Omaha, Nebraska from Feb 13th to the 27th for filming of the pilot “Psychic Justice”.[ Later I created a photo for Robbie, as he had asked, an under the same pressure of losing the tour, in which I overlayed myself into a photo of Robbie and his girlfriend’s brother]. I sent the document to Robbie via Skype who in turn quickly showed it to his wife. Ligia was excited about the news, honestly believing Robbie was finally going to start making the TV series.. I felt like shit. This something no friend should ever be manipulated into doing for a friend. The friendship was now being tested to extremes and asking of me to breach my own codes & policies in the process. But the Psychic Justice tour had already cost me bundles in time and money. I had to recoup it somehow and doing the tour was the only way I could see. I began to feel a darkness settling over the entire project and that things were only going to get worse.
On schedule, Robbie flew to Omaha, Nebraska to begin his two week affair with his girlfriend, who actually lived in Sioux City, Iowa. Robbie chose to fly into Omaha because so there would be no connection to Sioux City. Ligia had already suspected something might be going on between him and ‘the girl’, but never had proof. She only knew that she lived in Sioux City, so Omaha was the airport he would fly into. His girlfriend would drive an hour to pick him up then return to her home.
However, only two days after Robbie arrived in Sioux City Ligia called the girlfriend’s house but got the answering machine. Robbie intercepted it because his girlfriend was at work. Ligia also left a message in my Skype chat. Robbie called me in a panic trying to figure out how Ligia found out. I remember telling him that “women are smarter than you give them credit for, mate. Did you really think you could disappear for two weeks to your girlfriend’s house and no one would see you or know you?” Robbie pleaded with me not to use Skype or make any updates on FaceBook because Ligia would know we weren’t in Omaha together filming. This put me again in a huge dilemma. For now, not only could I not continue marketing and making contacts, but I couldn’t even chat to my family or friends back in Australia. How could Robbie expect me to just go ‘dark’ and not talk to my kids?
I didn’t.
My first thought was “You’re fucked, Mate!” Robbie had put himself there and he had to deal with it. I continued to use FaceBook & Myspace as normal. Ligia was relentless in trying to Skype me but I simply didn’t reply. I just didn’t need to get involved or bombarded with hundreds of questions. I wasn’t going to lie to her (anymore) so I just didn’t respond. Because of this, Robbie told her that it was not me on FaceBook, but actually my daughter who was maintaining contacts and marketing and that she won’t respond to anyone(?). That was really stupid, since my daughter wouldn’t have posted, “Hi, Lia...Love you and Miss you so much! Hope all is fine back home! We’re painting dad and mom’s house today. What a chore!” [Idiot]
During this two week period while Robbie was frolicking in wonderland and doing exclusive ghost tours to impress his girlfriend’s family, the heat was turned up on finances. The venues in Toronto and Sarnia both wanted money. The Sarnia theatre cost $1,800 (something Robbie’s ego absolutely had to have), while the Mississauga/Toronto venue at Vic Johnston Community Centre was only $525.00. There were a few ticket sales to keep the theatre happy but Vic’s wanted money and soon or they were going to give the venue away. To make things worse, Robbie had requested from the onset that we use Ticket Leap to sell tickets. Not knowing much about ticket brokers in Canada I took his advice. Unfortunately (as I should have suspected) Ticket Leap is a nightmare to get money from. There was $360.00 overall which was supposed to be used for working capital, but Ticket Leap’s rules state that you cannot claim the ticket money until the next business day after your event. I called TicketLeap to explain that every promoter uses capital from ticket sales pay expenses – and hence the disclaimer: ‘No Refund’, but they wouldn’t budge. So the money from the few ticket sales in TicketLeap was absolutely useless. Other means had to be arranged. Few tickets had sold and working capital was now nil.
Robbie naturally turned the problem of no-working-capital onto me, his ‘manager’. During his 2nd week at his girlfriend’s house I had to explain to him that Vic’s was going to give the venue away if they did not receive the payment. Vic’s had been more than generous in allowing the time they already given without pay. Robbie called Vic’s and arranged to use a credit card to secure the venue (wow-as if I didn’t think of that!). He then called me to tell me the ‘good news’. If I’d had a goddamn credit card with that much available I would have already used it, but my own living expenses and phone credit had left too little to be of any use. Robbie assured me over and over that he was completely broke and that I should work it out. I was furious and at my ropes end. Robbie had just spent several hundred dollars committing adultery on my time and wanted me to solve the finance problems on top of everything else.
Remember, if you will, this tour venture was a 50/50 arrangement and was designed to benefit Robbie Thomas; to boost his image and profile for the pending TV series as well as to reach out and help people in need of ‘psychic justice’. It was more like Robbie throwing orders like some hotshot movie star while his ‘manager’ struggled to make everything happen. Trust me when I say Robbie Thomas needs a fucking babysitter, not a manager.
My father, whom I am staying with while in the USA knew I was under intense pressure – pressure that should not have ever been there. He knew the hard work I’d put into this project and graciously offered his own credit card to secure the venue at Vic’s. He did so with the understanding that it would be paid back after the show with the money made from ticket sales. My father lives on a pension like most retirees and sometimes his credit card is the difference between paying a bill or going hungry.
The Toronto venue was secure, thanks to dad, but the entire tour was beginning to seem dismal. Robbie’s escapade, constant demands to ‘make things happen’, the onslaught of negative publicity on web sites, and now the pressure of his wife calling my house was taking its toll on me. To make things worse my son was hospitalized for internal bleeding and organ failure around this time. He was critical for some time and on two occasions we thought we were going to lose him. Robbie’s selfishness was beginning to shine brightly by now. After a few consoling words in his well-groomed ‘sweet voice’, he insisted that we stay focused and jump into campaigns head-long. He was still enjoying himself in Iowa but told me to get radio interviews going for him and he would do them from his girlfriend’s house.
It was then that I decided to put Robbie and the Tour on hold until Robbie was finished playing and could seriously devote himself. I was tired of being manipulated and feeling like a cheap servant – and servant is exactly what Robbie Thomas wants. He’ll accept a ‘manager’ so long as the ‘manager’ is serving his requirements. I took the next few days off to focus on my son until Robbie finally got back to Sarnia. I was sadly beginning to learn the hard way what my wife and others had learned long ago: Robbie Thomas didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself and getting famous.
The stress was increasing. Not only were tickets not selling (which, of course, Robbie blamed on me and my Toronto affiliate, Carrie) but my son being hospitalized and possibly dying cut me even deeper. I was a long way from my Australian home and missed my wife and kids. I had come home from Australia after 10 years away, in part, to help a friend boost his profile and image by arranging a tour but instead I had gone into unnecessary debt. Now, it looked too, as though I might have come home to bury my son. Robbie enjoyed using my son as the excuse for my lack of diligent focus on the tour, claiming that perhaps I’m just too pre-occupied to do proper marketing – implying that I better make him money, or he would find another patsy. He was counting on the tour making him rich so he could leave his wife and kids and move in with his girlfriend. It wasn’t working that way so the blame game increased, which made him look cool in front of his girlfriend while I and my associates in Toronto worked our asses off.
My Australian friends and family are beautiful people, as are the Aussies in general. My respect and influence is such that, from track record, if I believe in someone they are behind me 100%. Such was the case with Sarnia lady, Shelley, on my FaceBook (a resident from Robbie’s hometown whom Robbie enlisted to hang up posters for the tour). Shelley was shaving her head for cancer in support of her friend’s daughter who had recently passed away. On the last night of her campaign to raise funds for the cause she was asking FaceBook friends for any donations she could get. She contacted me. After chatting with her I learned that in several weeks of campaigning she had not raised one cent. I looked at her sponsor page which confirmed zero funds raised. It broke my heart. I explained that times were incredibly hard for most people in America right now and every cent counted to make ends meet. My friends and family in America were in the same boat. She and her teenage son were shaving their heads the next day, regardless, to show support to her friend. I explained that I was broke because of the costs of the tour and had yet to do a show, but I told her to let me see what I could do to help, if anything. I posted to my 1500+ FB friends then to Myspace and finally to my Outlook contacts list. By morning she had raised over $700.00 dollars, mostly from Australia (who is fortunate to be doing well at this time in history). She was eternally grateful and expressed as much on FB.
What did Robbie Thomas do to help her? Nothing. Instead he bitched about her because he felt she hadn’t put up enough posters to warrant the measly ticket to his show he had offered in return.
What did Robbie Thomas say when I told him about it? “If you can raise $700 dollars for someone to shave their head you should be able to raise that much for the tour!”
I wasn’t surprised anymore by his statements. The prick had just spent two weeks and several hundred dollars banging his girlfriend and bluffing her family into thinking he was a nice guy and then had the audacity to think I would ask my family to finance his tour? Jesus! What a Wank.
Robbie didn’t stop there, however. Now that he knew that there was possibly money to be had in Australia he then asked me if I could get a loan from someone there. In fact, for two days he insisted, or we might go bust! Robbie is always making sure that his failures are someone else’s fault, not his own.
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The opening night of the show had arrived in Sarnia March 7th. Robbie had prepared very little for the show after being gone two weeks, offering (in my opinion and experience as a promoter) nothing more than a lecture about himself. I explained that the original format offered the people something unique and worthwhile, something they could use and take home. They come for information, they come for validation, and they come for confirmation.
The original format for the show was based on what I knew I could market and sell:
Be a part of this event and learn:
• How the psychic mind works
• How spirits of loved ones direct affairs on earth to get resolve and justice
• How to ‘tune in’ to spirit and hear what it is trying to tell you
• How to protect yourself and loved ones with ‘thoughts’
• How to recognize warnings and danger through ‘feelings’ and ‘synchronicity’
• How to know when your own loved one is trying to speak to you from beyond
This, of course, was prefaced by a video presentation of Robbie’s own involvement with psychic experiences and cases he’s worked, which would establish his credentials as being an authority to speak on the subject. A live cold case reading would be offered as well as audience readings.
Robbie would have nothing to do with it. Instead he was going to show his cases and convince people he was right on them, do a live case reading then maybe...MAYBE a mini reading or two for the audience. Robbie insisted he knew what people wanted because he’d been doing public appearances for a long time. Perhaps, but no one had ever attempted to put on a show with this type of format and theme before. Further, I’ve been promoting psychics and paranormal themes for many years – I know what will get the average Joe of the couch and into the venue. Robbie doesn’t know shit about business or Public Relations and was evident in the many debates we’ve had through the years.
From the onset I was plagued by a very real dilemma with Robbie’s type of show: Guys like crime & murder stuff, but few girls do. Girls will see a psychic but few guys will. Robbie Thomas’s show needed something more to give it pizzazz and attention; something that would bring the girls in to see a psychic on stage and who would likely drag their reluctant husbands and boyfriends in along with them. Otherwise the show was going to fall through the cracks. And it did, sales wise.
Amid the accumulating pressures of the previous 3 weeks leading up to the opening night in Sarnia were also the negative things being propagated about Robbie on web sites and Internet radio programs. Robbie dumped responsibility of resolving this onto my shoulders as well. Every day Robbie would call or write to me about so and so saying something bad about him. He demanded that I sue them all! (Again, Robbie’s great at throwing orders at people as if they are servants). I explained that defamation cases are costly and that it’s usually up to the plaintiff in most cases to prove the allegations untrue. I contacted a lawyer friend, Vic Zammit, in Australia for advice. Vic replied stating that many Internet defamation cases are now being won in court and offered a link to one such recent case in which a company was awarded $30,000 in damages against a cyber-basher.
While it appeared we could win a case in the long run (and tracing fake names to the owner is a simple task) the costs and time involved was simply not available. Further, one could spend the rest of their life suing one person after another. I explained to Robbie that in a short time people would only associate his name with ‘who’s Robbie suing now’. I also told him that if he intends in to be in the public light in any fashion he had better get tougher than he is. Everyone in the spotlight has people who love them and people who hate them, and he should not spend time reading the negative stuff. Instead focus on your career, align yourself with positive, successful people and only address negative comments when absolutely necessary for damage control. Then, let a publicist make the statement, not the ‘Talent’.
But Robbie couldn’t help himself. He’d not only read the depressing crap but also post his opinion back to them, or posted on FB. This of course, is exactly what the cyber-bashers want and Robbie continually falls right into their game.
[As a side note for future promoters/managers who are suicidal enough to take on Robbie Thomas: Don’t ever let him see emails from people who have said something negative. No matter how many times you tell him NOT to respond to them, he will, thereby causing a benign situation to explode! He gets obnoxious and embarrassing and expects you to patch up the mess the next morning. Oh...and make sure that everything you do in business with Robbie has a water-tight legal and binding contract attached].
I don’t agree with Internet bashing without evidence to support accusations. But Robbie has made serious enemies in his path and none more determined to bring Robbie down than a group based in his own hometown of Sarnia. In hindsight, these people obviously knew more about Robbie’s true nature than my four years of close friendship had gleaned.
As the doors opened at 7.30pm for the premier launch of the Psychic Justice Tour in Sarnia (March 7th, 2010) several adults approached the patrons waiting in line to enter the theatre. They began handing out unmarked sealed envelopes to the people accompanied with instructions not to open them until they were seated inside. (As I was still in Salt Lake City, the details of the events in Sarnia were told to me by either Robbie or people on FB who claimed to have been at the theatre).
Robbie called me in a panic via his cell phone and informed me that the ‘hate group’ was outside
passing out sealed envelopes and harassing the patrons. Robbie was clearly frightened and was uncertain if he should do the show. I told him to do the show and I would call the theatre manager (he could have done as much himself since he was there at the theatre and knew much more than I did about what was going on). Even as I called the theatre I thought to myself: Fuck, nothing is easy with Robbie. He just seems to be in one crisis after another with no end in sight. Now, finally at the opening night of the Psychic Justice Tour and there are still problems!
Just when I thought we’d finally made it I found myself stressed all over again. I got the answering machine when I called the Theatre and left a message to the affect that people were outside trying to disrupt the show and that I wanted something done about it.
I didn’t know that the theatre on a Sunday night was operated by a few young people who were used to hosting plays and musicals.
The next communication I received was again from Robbie during his intermission. He told me that the theatre staff were scared and that the theatre manager had shut and locked the doors and called the police. According to Robbie and witnesses I later chatted with on FB with there were still people outside who came for the event but could not get in.
I remember clearly how I was feeling then: How could one man cause me so much trouble? How could one man create so much havoc? I have an Autistic son who, in 10 years, has not been as much to handle as Robbie Thomas has been in 3 months. I had never experienced anything close to the chaos Robbie Thomas creates in his life and for those associated with him. (It was about this time I decided that from now on I would stick to music and promoting bands. I was beginning think it would have been safer with less hassle to promote Osama Bin Laden on a post 9-11 tour through America).
After the show Robbie called me again. I asked to speak to the manager to get as much information as possible and requested a statement from the theatre as to the evening’s events. The next morning I received an email from the theatre stating that I owed $200 because the ticket sales did not cover the cost of the venue (that Robbie was so keen on having). There was no statement attached.
The ‘hate-group’ in Sarnia, while possibly having legitimate reasons for wanting to put Robbie Thomas to pasture, had now interfered with business – my business. I had every intention of prosecuting them, based on the information against them. Robbie stated that there were at least 50 people waiting to get inside after the doors were locked. Witnesses I talked to on FB confirmed around 5-10 people, maybe. Nonetheless, it is illegal for anyone to physically interfere with patrons attending an event. I arranged for Robbie to meet with an attorney in Sarnia, who believed we had a solid case against the group, especially with witnesses and photographs. In the meantime, Robbie had called Louie La Vella (of La Vella Entertainment Group) who is also an attorney. Robbie informed me that Louie’s associate was going to handle the case. Fair enough. I never heard anything more about it.
The Toronto/Mississauga show was two days after the Sarnia show (on March 9th). In spite of great coverage from TV, Radio and newspapers, only 9 tickets had sold via the web. On the day of the event I learned that the projector Robbie needed for his presentation was not available. I scrambled to find a rental company who would have one on short notice. After calling several places I found one who had the type of projector we needed but they required $300 to rent it. I called Robbie for options. Nothing.
Throughout the campaigns Robbie assured me that Canadians were the type who bought last minute at the door. He was convinced that most people would show up that night at the door and we would have enough to cover the projector costs. On this shaky assumption I called back the rental company and asked if I could pay for the projector upon return. I was sure of the answer, but desperate at this point. Cancelling was not an option because my team in Toronto had put in a great effort to help promote the Toronto gig and Jane McMasters (mother of slain daughter, Elisha McMasters) was looking forward to finally having some resolve in the case. I was gratefully surprised when the rental company agreed to my proposal. All they wanted was everything they could get about me and my company on two continents (fair enough). The catch was that he had no one available to deliver the projector. Someone would have to pick it up and return it.
I called my associate in Toronto, Carrie Pierce (of Meadowvale Spookies) to see if she was available to pick up the projector and bring it back. Both she and her husband were attending the show to help out and thus agreed. Until this point, Carrie had not been paid for any of her efforts in promoting the Toronto gig. She had set up posters, made contacts and got Robbie on local TV. I couldn’t ask her to drive around on her own costs picking up projectors too, so I sent her everything I had in my PayPal account: $45.00. When I informed Robbie of the arrangement and that I had paid Carrie $45 he only whined, “But she didn’t put up all the posters and she’s already getting a ticket to my show!” (cheap wanker).
Once at the venue Robbie called me to complain further. The room was apparently not up to the standards of his self image and bitched about everything from the audio set up to the size of the room to Carrie not doing what ‘he considered’ to be a worth a ‘ticket’. Robbie sees himself, again, as some Hollywood superstar in his own mind, that he’s the only true psychic and everyone should serve him [He hated the fact that psychic Terry Mannis was going to be part of the Psychic Justice TV series and let me know it every day until she finally resigned for other offers. I personal know many psychics and consider them friends. Robbie hated that, so I seldom brought other psychics into conversation, even when I knew their experiences would be of value to him].
I told Robbie to be grateful he’s got a venue at all and not to bitch about the help he’s getting and hung up.
All in all, only those 9 tickets were sold in spite of the marketing. There were no door sales as he believed there would be. Jane McMasters had brought a couple friends and there was confusion about whether they should have paid or not. Louie La Vella had graciously agreed to MC in my place...so he got in free (naturally...and he should have been paid). There were two young sisters there whom, after discussing it with me for a month, were granted a free limited ticket by me (Labyrinth). That was the anniversary night of their sister’s murder one year before. They didn’t have a lot of money and had wanted to see Robbie’s show because they needed validation that the soul continues. The ticket limited them to viewing the show only, with no readings. Robbie read them anyway during the show because...well...with only 9 paying people in attendance there wasn’t a hell of a lot to do! Still Robbie chastised me for giving a free ticket.
Robbie wants everything but will give nothing. I’ve told many times that you have to set aside 3 to 6 tickets at each venue for PR, especially for radio and TV promos. It makes the stations look good and him too. And, in rare cases such as the two sisters, it’s just good Public Relations to offer a ticket under special situations as there’s. After all, Psychic Justice was about murdered victims and their families. The sisters were young, confused survivors of a murdered sibling, much as Kathy Caughlin had been 35 years previous...and it still took me a month of questioning them before I was assured they couldn’t afford the ticket and was telling the truth.
After this show Robbie called again to inform me of his disappointment in attendees. He of course alluded to my lack of work ethics and also suspected Carrie may have stolen some of the money (he did this because he knew from Carrie sometime ago that she was once wrongfully accused of stealing money from her own venue...which she had not. But Robbie saw this as an opportunity to point blame on anything but himself and the his show’s format/theme for low earnings). He also raved again about how cheap the venue was and would not do anything again unless it was in theatres. Considering the situation over the past few weeks Robbie was lucky to have a venue at all, but of course, it wasn’t good enough for a ‘superstar’. I let him rant, hung up and went to bed wondering how I would pay for the projector in the morning and cover the cost of the venue that was on my dad’s credit card.
In the morning Carrie called me on Skype. She was upset about how Robbie had treated her the night before. She said he was quite rude to her, ordering her around and making her feel humiliated in front of Louie and the attendees. I called Robbie after that. He complained that she hadn’t done this or that and on and on and on... I told him that Carrie ‘worked’ for Labyrinth, not him. If he had a problem with her to come to me and I would get to the bottom of it. He argued that she worked for both Robbie Thomas and Labyrinth. I corrected him by assuring that I had put her under Labyrinth’s banner and gave her written notice to act in Labyrinth’s behalf, which she had done quite well. And if it hadn’t been for Carrie he would never have had the TV appearances.
He didn’t like that.
The Psychic Justice Tour was in serious trouble in more ways than just financial. I was not only in debt $200 in Sarnia and $800 in Mississauga (Toronto) but Robbie’s show was simply not attracting the people in spite of the publicity. Further, Robbie was becoming more and more agitated at the failure and let me know about it. He wrote to both myself and Carrie via Skype chat accusing us of not having proper work ethics, while he did very little except sit behind a computer and order people around (and this coming from a man who, to my knowledge, has never worked a real job in his life and had spent two crucial weeks committing adultery when he should have been working on his show’s presentation and campaigns. To Robbie’s benefit, he did have posters printed at his own cost. There is also a radio ad campaign from a Sarnia radio station in which $350 was owed, but it was uncertain whether he or I would be responsible for it. I had only hoped the next gig would cover everything).
By this point I was feeling seriously demoralized. My son was in the hospital in uncertain condition, tour was broke and Robbie had managed to make both myself and the Toronto team feel like shit (which Robbie has a natural talent for doing). The Skeptics were increasing their attacks from their web sites driving Robbie mad. Not only was there no money for Los Angeles, but I was in debt over a grand (including phone calls). I hadn’t even begun to calculate my personal time involved in designing campaign posters, web sites, press releases and more. But Robbie Thomas will never put a value on a person’s time, I assure you!
The L.A. event was the last chance I or the Tour had of surviving, but it was going to be a very slim shot.
Good friends Danielle Egnew, Sheena Metal and Andrew Brewer went above and beyond the call for us in L.A. with radio spots and sending out to their personal (large) databases. Andrew and Danielle both created excellent ads on their own time and were behind the tour with amazing enthusiasm. Still no tickets had sold. San Francisco had originally been scheduled for the 26th, while L.A. was on the 19th. I had to cancel San Francisco because the money wasn’t there to pay for two venues. Instead I focused on L.A. To buy more time I pushed L.A. up to the 26th, in SF’s old spot. This would give more time to sell tickets. At Danielle’s recommendation I secured the Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel in Studio City, a very nice venue at an excellent price (for Los Angeles).
During that week I called every newspaper and radio station in the region trying to land a spot to promote the L.A. show. The program directors and news editors were intrigued, but not enough to bite. One gal from a local radio station told me that in Los Angeles it was incredibly hard to get attention or air time for a Psychic. Not only was L.A. overflowing with psychics but it was a town where celebrities of every type hogged the air and news. I would have to spend several hundred dollars to run a competitive ad in the newspaper or on radio.
In spite of efforts by our L.A. friends and contacts there were only 6 tickets sold by the weekend, one week before the gig. I had enough to fly Robbie to L.A. where he could do personal appearances to campaign and ultimately do the show. It required a lot of faith on his part that people would want to see the show, but he would not take the chance. Fair enough.
I informed Robbie that if there weren’t enough tickets sold by Tuesday, 23rd, I had no choice but to cancel L.A., and possibly the tour. The Sportsmen’s Lodge needed payment by then. If that happened, then the best thing to do would be to regroup and plan only one or two bigger shows out in the future. He didn’t like that at all, and accused me again, of not getting a jump on advertising in L.A. (while he was in Iowa). Robbie just didn’t seem to get it. No one was buying tickets, regardless of how much publicity had been put into campaigning. In Sarnia and Mississauga there was TV, Radio spots, radio ads, and newspaper articles well in advance and only a few ticket sales for the effort. Robbie assured me people would buy at the door. Few did in Sarnia and none did in Mississauga. L.A. was another world altogether. It was the only shot of earning enough capital to keep the tour afloat. Robbie’s ego wouldn’t allow him to admit that no one wanted to see this type of show, especially in light of a bad economy and so many better things to do for the money than listen to someone talk about the crimes he’s solved(?).
Something that needs to be said right here is about the excuse used as the reason for the tour’s postponement in California and ultimately the rest of the tour. I have a policy, which most professional managers/promoters have, which is to always protect the ‘talent’/client. In other words, if an event or tour must be cancelled due to lack of interest and low ticket sales, it is always for reasons other than the ‘talent’ being presented. If it becomes knowledge that an event was cancelled because no one wanted to see the ‘talent’, it hurts the talent’s image and future prospects. Ticket sales are usually kept quite confidential for this, and other reasons while promoters or publicists point at other reasons.
So, in order to protect Robbie’s image I told him I was going to use my son’s health condition as the reason for postponing the events. That way it would appear be something out of his hands, rather than no ticket sales. While it is true that my son was very ill during this period, it was not the reason for the tour’s postponement / cancellation. It was simple lack of interest in the subject matter or Robbie Thomas, who is not as well known as he likes to believe. I did this just to protect his image, as I’ve done so many times in the last four years to make him look good. The fact is that the tour was broke. Only his friends had wanted (or agreed) to pay to see him.
Also during this time Robbie had gone on an Internet radio station with ‘Michelle’, a presumed witness to the Caughlin murder in 1974. I am omitting details here because that story deserves more space to tell accurately than I can provide here. On Tuesday March 23rd, I woke to find only a three tickets had sold. The total amount earned was not even close to affording L.A. There no choice but to cancel the tour. There was no money and no hint that there would be. None of the radio or newspapers had expressed interest. I called Robbie to tell him of my decision. Of course, he again blamed poor ‘management ‘on the failure. I’d had it with Robbie Thomas.
In just 3 months he had completely exhausted my friendship and business relationship with him and had put me in a difficult situation concerning the Iowa excursion. I had learned why he was not yet successful after all his years of trying and seen aspects of him I didn’t care to ever be be involved with again.
The Bitter End
Before we hung up Robbie announced to me that he would continue the tour on his own. I asked him how it was possible without capital and already in debt. He told me he was going to cash in his CD’s (certificates of deposit). I advised him against doing so, especially to finance a venture that, so far, had proven unprofitable. He insisted. This announcement made me angry but I refrained from showing it. After all the financial struggles and need for money, the debts incurred and his two week escapade in Iowa, why, if the tour was so important to him, didn’t he cash in his CD’s earlier? Why? Because Robbie Thomas, true to his nature, will exhaust everyone’s time and resources before he invests a dime.
In the last four years I had designed and developed Robbie’s Power of Spirit web site, his first Can-Am Paracon site, the Psychic Justice site and all campaign / logo materials that went with them. I created the psychic Justice TV series under the name Psychic CSI title, which is now under the working title of Psychic Justice being pitched by Louie La Vella and Summerhill Productions. I created this to help Robbie get a TV show he’s wanted for so many years. I also created Most Dangerous Hauntings, which was first with Circling Shark productions in Australia and now with Louie La Vella. Again to include Robbie Thomas. I’ve created additional graphics and documents over the years at his beck & call, and also been his advisor on projects and in signing contracts. He signed a lengthy contract with myself and Louie La Vella to form a 3-way venture partnership simply because I told him to (Robbie never reads anything and doesn’t understand what he reads). In four years of providing my professional services Robbie Thomas has not paid me ONE CENT. It’s always on a promise to pay down the road. The website and campaigns alone stand at more than $20,000 combined, and are still there for anyone to see and value themselves (or I’ll provide the copies from my harddrive).
Robbie can’t do anything for himself; he relies on feeding off other people to achieve anything but I learned this too late.
So what occurred next should not have been any surprise to me, but it was.
Out of all the debt I had incurred through the Psychic Justice Tour (leaving my personal time and costs aside) what I needed covered most was the $525.00 on my dad’s credit card used to secure the Mississauga venue.
I told Robbie that if he was going to cash his CD’s in to continue the tour I would appreciate it if he would pay off the debt owed to my dad’s credit card. I had explained to him at the time the card was used that my dad needed it paid off because he’s on a pension and sometimes needs to use his card.
Robbie’s reply?
“Sorry, John, but we’ve both got debts. You have yours in this and I have mine. It was fifty/fifty, right? I’m not going to pay for it.”
I said, shouldn’t the debts be paid off before continuing to invest?
“Your debt isn’t my problem, so, No”.
At that point I informed Robbie that not only was I through with the tour but I was resigning my position as his ‘manager’, something Robbie called me, but I never fully agreed to because he wouldn’t sign a business contract. I was disgusted with him on more levels than a few. As far as I was concerned, Robbie Thomas screwed his best friend (at least I had thought we were best friends).
But as I was to learn over the next 24 hours, he had only just begun to fuck me over and show his darkest side.
After the phone call I was feeling depressed and overwhelmed by the conversation that had just taken place. I was beaten down from the past months of preparing and campaigning as well as sick inside over my son’s health. My Aussie family was missing me and I was seriously missing them. My dad’s house still needed work, but the snow and cold had prevented it. I had resolved that I would have to find work in Salt Lake City to pay everything off and earn enough to fly back home to Australia (I came on a one-way ticket). I needed to update the Tour web sites because people may still buy tickets for an event that no longer existed. When I tried to access his server I found the password had been changed....in just a few short minutes after talking to Robbie.
My FTP logfile confirmed it: [Access Denied. Password changed since last logon: error: 503]
I got Robbie on skype to ask him why he changed the password. He insisted he didn’t. He said they must be doing work on the server.
I’ve been in IT since 1995 and knew a lame comment when I heard one. I pressed him and showed him the FTP logfile. He altered his statement, now saying that ‘she’ must have changed it for some reason. (He never said who ‘she’ was, but the new version of the web site is created by Annette Hovey, a talented visual designer in Toronto).
I said, ‘She’ could only change it if you gave her your permission.
He insisted he didn’t. He was lying, as usual.
After some pressing of the issue he finally admitted that he had the password changed because he didn’t think he could trust me.
Keep in mind that for the last four years I’ve not only had access to his web server for the myriad of projects I’ve done for him for free, but I also had access to his Paypal accounts, which I used to create shopping cart buttons from within his account. And he suddenly doesn’t trust me?
Infuriated, I demanded that he remove everything I had created for the campaign, which was, of course, EVERYTHING. He refused. He said he has a right to use them. At least until he could get ‘her’ to change the site.
The argument became heated. He was screwing his best friend who had done thousands of hours worth of work for him over the years as if I had been nothing. I was seriously not in the mood by that point.
During the initial stages of creating the Psychic Justice Tour, while I was still in Australia in December, I had also recently created a business for me and my daughter, to encourage her in her love of promoting music and bands. Until then we operated under Symmetry Media. My daughter named the new business ‘Labyrinth Entertainment’, after her favourite movie, Labyrinth starring David Bowie. We incorporated my well-known Raven symbol. She wanted to do this type of business in her life and this would be a great way to learn...just jump right in. She had been a part of Ghost Radio and many other projects I’ve done so I was more than happy to start this for her. She loved knowing ‘Labyrinth’ was hers and it gave her pride.
I had not registered a domain name yet for Labyrinth, which was an Australian business under our Prodigy Communications company. I told Robbie we would christen the new business by putting the Psychic Justice Tour under Labyrinth. He agreed, as it made it look like he was being sponsored by a big Australian company. On the phone I asked him to register a cheap domain name for now, since domain names were around $100.00 in Australia to register. Robbie registered labyrinthent.com and I linked the web site to the new URL.
Fast-forward:
Robbie knew the logo and graphics concept for Psychic Justice was the best. After all, who knew better the entire theme and purpose of Psychic Justice than its creator?
After his refusal to remove all my work from his future campaigns he made the cheapest offer I’ve ever encountered: He told me he would trade my labyrinthent.com domain name (value $15) for everything on the web site (Value $4-5,000). It would have been laughable except he was serious. An average price for a project like Psychic Justice (listen close, Annette...so you know what to charge him) is around $6,000 to $7,000, conservatively. That includes all posters, flyers, logos, copy, design....an entire package....all developed from scratch to maintain originality and branding.
I refused to trade, naturally. So he told me to he would keep it. I told him I had already registered labyrinth-entertainment.com. He checked it out and laughed because it was owned by someone else (he looked up labyrinthentertainment.com, not my domain, labyrinth-entertainment.com). This action proved he was looking for angles to blackmail me into walking away from everything I had created, knowing the love I had for Labyrinth and my daughter. I was so fucking angry by now I thought I’d have a heart attack but not close to as angry as he would make me in the next few minutes.
He knew Labyrinth was my daughters and knew I deeply loved her as all my children. He was trying to hit the heart, hoping I’d break. Not a chance. Robbie then made the first of his last two fatal
mistakes:
First Mistake: he told me he would just register ‘Labyrinth Entertainment’ business name so I couldn’t use it. I informed him he was a Canadian and couldn’t register it in the USA. [see chat log at end]
I ordered him once more to remove everything I had created from his web site. He just arrogantly said ‘No’. Leaving me no other choice I told him: “If you want to play blackmail games, buddy, I can do it better. I’ll send Ligia a full confession of your trip to Iowa and my involvement”.
Final Mistake: Robbie said “if you ever think about telling Ligia I’ll tell the world that you sexually abuse your children and make it so everyone hears it. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong, John, you’re fucked for life. Everyone will believe it or at least wonder about it”.
Talking was over.
I blew up and my parents had no idea what had happened. I couldn’t talk. I went for a long walk in the snow wondering how I had gotten into this mess. Robbie was despicable, evil, heartless... most of what Kathy Caughlin had said about him in her first email to me back on January 16th while I was still at home in Australia. I understood now why Kathy had been so relentless in her efforts to stop Robbie Thomas from even mentioning her sister’s name in anything he did. I thought about the horrible things that Reap Sow and Sarnia Skeptic had claimed about Robbie and now believed them. In all my four years of being what I thought was a close friend, I never really knew Robbie Thomas. What a smooth player he is to have so easily duped so many people! And after what he threatened to accuse me of, how could anyone come to the likes of him to seek resolve and comfort for their murdered children?
I told my wife what Robbie had threatened and shit hit the fan in Australia. I copped it from her, too, rightfully so: “I told you not to trust him, but you kept telling everyone Robbie’s ok, Robbie’s a good guy! He wasn’t and I told you so!!”
True...on many occasions – and she’ll never let me live that down.
There was nothing left to ever salvage now. Robbie Thomas had made his fiercest Nemesis. I wanted nothing more than to take away from him everything I brought into his life to help him: The TV series that Louie had worked so hard on would be too controversial to sign. After all, who in their right mind would sign a man who freely committed adultery on his wife, then screwed everyone else he find? I felt Louie wouldn’t support Robbie Thomas in any capacity if he knew the truth about Robbie Thomas. Louie is in excellent standing in the community. He won’t touch it. It was going to be a huge loss and waste of time for everyone ever involved with Robbie Thomas. And that TV series was also a dream of mine, something I had also worked hard on.
So, essentially, when this statement is released, Robbie Thomas has no TV series. No Psychic Justice Tour, No supporters. No Wife, No Home, No Girlfriend. Nothing. As it should be for people like him.
I gave Robbie several warnings to remove everything from his website over the next 3 days. He came up with an excuse that Anne was too busy. Sure, Right! It takes less time to hit Ctrl+A > Delete all > Save File, than it does to go up and change a password.
No, Robbie had told me in no uncertain terms he would not remove my property from the site.
On the third day of silence I saw where Robbie had posted to FaceBook about looking forward to doing the new Psychic Justice Tour.
"GET READY INDIANA, KENTUCKY, ST. LOUIS, MINNESOTA, IOWA AND MICHIGAN...This is the New Psychic Justice Tour, Just got off the phone with all different police departments in each city, the tour is gonna ROCK YA! Tickets go on sale real soon, limited seating everything all new and upbeat...ready to ROCK...DON'T MISS THIS......!!!! LIVE COLD CASE READINGS AND MINI AUDIENCE READINGS...YA BABY!!!!!! www.robbiethomas.net"
That did it. On his FB I wrote this:
I'M WARNING YOU, THOMAS.... REMOVE ALL MY IMAGES, COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY, PSYCHIC JUSTICE LOGOS, AND CAMPAIGN COPY. THIS IS THE LAST WARNING. YOU'RE A CROOKED, SORRY SON OF A BITCH FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME AFTER FOUR YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP, HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF MY TIME MAKING YOU LOOK GOOD ONLY TO LEARN THAT REAP SOW AND SARNIA SKEPTIC WERE RIGHT. I'VE NEVER BEEN SO BETRAYED OR HEARTBROKEN BY ANYONE, MUCH LESS ONE I THOUGHT WAS MY FRIEND. MY STATEMENT ABOUT WHY I REALLY QUIT DEALING WITH YOU WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON. IOWA's GONG TO BE EMBARASSED AND LIGIA'S GOING TO THROW YOU OUT, BUT THAT'S THE KIND OF SLEEZY MAN YOU ARE. TAKE THEM DOWN TODAY
Shortly afterward, Anne had put up his new page.
Robbie Thomas owes me thousands of dollars over the years I’ve known him. I’ll never see a dime, naturally....not so long as he can turn on his fake ‘sweet voice’ and manipulate someone into doing his work for him.
But money aside, nothing will ever cut as deep as being betrayed so coldly and without hesitation by someone whom I had defended and who I had called my best friend.
Final Word:
None of the stress, heartache and trouble concerning this “Psychic Justice” fiasco should EVER have happened. It’s never happened before, even slightly. But, as experience from the past four years has taught me, anything to do with Robbie Thomas is either trouble or he will consume your life to his advantage.
This statement has been prepared to set the record straight against the slanderous whispers of Robbie Thomas against me and the truth behind ending the relationship. Also to set the record straight on the part of poor Journalism and Reporting.
http://www.labyrinth-entertainment.com/statement/Official_Statement_Psychic_Justice_end.pdf. Though I disagree with the idea of going after a person's private life, I promised John that when I got back in town I would post the statement that he sent me. Here it is...)
Official Statement as to the reason for the dissolve of all relations between John Ramses (Labyrinth Entertainment) and Robert Poulton (AKA Robbie Thomas)
While this statement is lengthy in content it is important to outline the many circumstances in detail concerning the reasons behind the necessary decision to dissolve relations between myself (John Ramses / Labyrinth Entertainment) and Robert Poulton (AKA Robbie Thomas). The relationship was dissolved by me (John Ramses). This document has been prepared after considerable thought on the repercussions that may result and also not without a great amount of heartbreak in not only being forced to set the record straight concerning gossip being spread by Mr Thomas, and poor journalism, but also in that is recognizes the bitter and saddened end to a four year long relationship with one whom I thought was my closest friend.
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The term “Psychic Justice” was coined by Louie La Vella (La Vella Entertainment Group, Ontario, Canada) as a working title for a TV series concept originally created by John Ramses exclusively to cast Robbie Thomas in the lead role as a Psychic Criminal Profiler and incorporating an investigative support team. The term “Psychic Justice” is used with permission of Louie La Vella for the purpose of the Psychic Justice tour.
Any and all images, copy, logos, press releases, posters and web design concerning the Psychic Justice Tour prior to March 23rd 2010 is my work, exclusively.
Supporting documents are at the end of this statement.
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The beginning of the Psychic Justice folly
I’ve known Robbie Thomas for around four years. Our Australian radio station, Ghost Radio Australia, carried Robbie’s program in 2006-7. Our relationship began when I was approached by Robbie Thomas to develop a web site for him to promote his up-coming Power of Spirit Tour. After questioning him on the details and what he wanted for his campaign I told him I would do it for $3,000. He agreed. One week later he called me again stating that the cost was too steep for him and could I give him a break. I dropped it down to $1,000. He agreed, but would need one week to come up with a deposit. After making a verbal agreement and gleaning information required, I told him I would begin his project through the weekend. I was already bogged down with clients but also wanted to begin building public relations for Ghost Radio. The following week Robbie again called stating he had no money. This was disheartening. I had already by then created the basic design, artwork and concept and had put in around 14 hours worth of work. I like to see people succeed. I had already had a good start on the project and decided that I would just finish it for him for free – again for PR and a desire to help people succeed. Over the next month Robbie’s demands for this or that became consuming. In the end I had created a comprehensive web site for him to the value of $7,000+. Everything on the site was fresh and original, created from scratch (not templates).
Next was Paracon 2009. He approached me for this project, asking me to also be a ‘guest speaker’. When I brought up costs for this campaign he told me he would pay what he could from earnings, but that since I was actually going to be speaking, I should do it to promote myself, too. (I wasn’t getting paid, in other words). I created the web site as a reflection of my work. I don’t do anything half-ass. I couldn’t make it to Paracon in 2009 because of responsibilities at home in Australia.
Next was Paracon 2010. I told him to get someone else because I had never received anything from the last two projects and was also quite busy. He told me Paracon 2009 broke even. He found someone else to do it, although they were still using my logos and branding from the first Paracon. Fair enough.
Through the years between 2006 and March 23,2010 (the end of our relations) Robbie and I had become close friends. I was intrigued with his psychic ability, and coupled with my knowledge and passion for cryptology and treasure hunting (piecing together clues to puzzles) I had also began helping him decipher some of his psychic impressions. A primary example of this relationship was the Cano case, in which I endeavoured to translate his psychic symbolism into meaningful clues.
The more I came to know Robbie and talk with him on the phone, the closer our friendship grew. Somewhere in the middle Robbie gave me the title of his ‘manager’, although no contracts were signed to that affect. Robbie’s main desire was to have a TV series or film deal. In 2008 I created a TV series concept based on his abilities as a psychic criminal profiler. The working title then was ‘Psychic CSI’ and involved a supporting investigative panel/team. Simultaneously I had created another TV series, which was first a radio program concept to be hosted by Robbie and myself, called Most Dangerous Hauntings – this was based on my years of gathering information on abductions, poltergeists, crypto animals and more from some of the most remote regions.
The following year Robbie, along with Brian Harnois, approached A&E with the ‘Psychic CSI’ script. While A&E was interested in the show’s concept they didn’t sign. Robbie blamed Brian for the failure – I have the email to this affect). In July 2009 Robbie called me to say he had just been introduced to an exec producer named Louie La Vella (La Vella Entertainment Group). He had connected to Louie through a Toronto psychic named Terry Mannis. Robbie passed the Psychic CSI script to Louie La Vella who saw the show’s potential and immediately began preparing a treatment to pitch to the networks. Louie gave the project a working title of ‘Psychic Justice’ and a 3-way venture agreement was signed between Louie, myself and Robbie.
In November of 2009 I informed Robbie that I was coming home to the USA for the first time in 10 years. The primary reason was to help my parents prepare their house for sale. I would be going to Salt Lake City, Utah. I also knew that the networks had at least one concern with the TV series being pitched: Robbie Thomas was not well known. For that reason Patrick burns was enlisted as part of the cast (to help draw viewers). I advised Robbie that we needed to do something to boost his profile. Robbie was known in some paranormal circles but not to the wider public. I conceived the idea of taking Robbie on tour through the USA to demonstrate his abilities and promote his name. I would create the campaign materials and put the tour under my new business Labyrinth Entertainment (previously Symmetry Media), which I created along with my daughter to encourage her passion for building a career in the music industry. At first the tour was only one show per month, but Robbie convinced me he could sell out ‘stadiums’. After debating this we agreed to attempt 30 cities between March and June. It was an ambitious venture but I had faith that Robbie
knew his market value.
Over the next several weeks preceding my departure from Australia for the USA I created all the campaign materials at my own cost and time. I called venues and secured them on a promise to pay within one week of each show. It took a lot to get them to budge from their normal policy of having at least a down payment. I relied on ticket sales as working capital. From the onset Robbie would only do ‘Theatres’. And while I argued that such venues are expensive, he assured me he would fill them...one, two or three nights in a row. I naively accepted his faith in himself.
Next on Robbie’s mind was payment. This was complicated by a new girlfriend he had met, and for whom he had intended on leaving his wife and family for to move in with her. She is a USA citizen. Robbie is Canadian with only a passport to travel to the USA, not live and work. Further, he did not want his wife knowing how much he made from the tour. He hoped I would set up an account under Labyrinth for him to use while in the USA.
While Robbie believed he could ‘stadiums’, as a businessman and promoter with experience in the paranormal / psychic genre, I produced a budget for the show at a minimum of 100 attendees per show to keep it afloat. If we could get 100 people to each show at between $33 and $45 per ticket we would be fine.
I told Robbie we would split whatever profits were earned 50/50. I also explained that if I (or Labyrinth) was going to be the presenter, he must have legal licence to work in the United States before entering the USA to work. I knew he could get an Entertainer’s Visa much easier than a Green Card, and while it could be secured in one week the cost for this permit was $1700. He said he did most previous USA gigs under the table, but that was not going to be an option under Labyrinth. Labyrinth would handle all the money and pay him out. That was easier for tax purposes and record keeping.
Robbie didn’t like this at all. He didn’t want to spend the money for a Right-To-Work permit in the USA but rather wanted to continue working under the table. There was no way. His sole obsession became making money and getting out of his marriage to move in with his girlfriend in Iowa. He began making snide comments about whether I was his ‘friend and manager’ or not. I ignored them at first. I told him to get a divorce and just do it - but do it right and legal.
I left Australia for the United States on January 18, 2010. I had made sure that all the artwork and campaign materials were completed before hand to make it easy to live from my laptop, away from my studio. The venues were tentatively secure for Sarnia, London and Mississauga and anything else could wait until I landed.
On January 16th I received a bitter email from a lady who identified herself as Kathy Caughlin, sister of slain teen Karen Caughlin; a case in which Robbie had assisted the family with in 2005. Kathy demanded that her sister’s picture be removed from anything relating to Robbie Thomas. Kathy was quite angry and had nothing good to say about Robbie Thomas. I questioned Robbie on what he did to make her so bitter. Robbie said he did nothing and asked me to send him the email. I sent it to him on the condition that he did not respond to her. I had already replied to Kathy (as Labyrinth) assuring her that her demands would be respected. All images and references to Karen Caughlin were removed from the campaigns by the 17th. This was incredibly time consuming at a time when I didn’t have time to spare. I explained to Kathy that I was leaving for the United States and would not be able to track down everything we had posted (venues, external servers, newsletters, etc), but as she found them, let me know and I would remove them. [See attached email correspondences at end]
Robbie couldn’t help himself. His ego had to respond to Kathy’s email anyway, after I had advised him not to. This only infuriated Kathy more, naturally. It was unprofessional and made look as much. Kathy wrote again to me, attaching a copy of Robbie’s [inappropriate] response. I apologized, and assured her once again that her concerns would be addressed. I had no knowledge of the Caughlin case other than Robbie had claimed to have solved it.
This began the first in a series of attacks against the Psychic Justice Tour and Robbie Thomas in general. While in Malaysia I received an email from Wendy Cornelius, manager of the Imperial Theatre in Sarnia that would host the launch of the tour. She had also received an email from Kathy, after Kathy had found her sister’s name still listed in the program synopsis for the show. While it upset me that Kathy had taken it upon herself to contact the theatre, rather than inform me of further mentions of Karen’s name as I had asked, I could understand her lack of faith in me due to Robbie’s email to her. Kathy wrote to all three venues (the London venue cancelled our event on the same day that Kathy had sent them an email, leaving to scramble for another venue as soon as I arrived in Salt Lake – but the theatre claimed it was double-booking. I could not prove it had anything to do with Kathy’s email). [See Wendy Cornelius email at end]
Once in Salt Lake City I was immediately confronted with further problems. One of the police officers who had given a testimonial was now retracting it. In fact, this officer was in serious trouble from his superiors. An investigation commenced in which Robbie was grilled for a couple hours by the precinct’s attorney. They wanted to know if Robbie had paid the officer to provide the testimonial and / or whether it was it written or verbal testimonial. Robbie stated that the officer’s testimonial had been given to him verbally. I now had to go through all the campaign material and remove the officer’s testimonial, which was also on the posters, as well. This was time consuming, as with Kathy Caughlin’s request, and using a laptop away from my studio made it twice as difficult. I had hardly begun and was already being overwhelmed and it seemed that this tour was beginning to cause innocent people problems.
For the next few weeks I was trying to assimilate back into the American lifestyle after being away for ten years. There were family and friends to catch up with, arranging for adapters to run my Australian laptop and external drives, keeping in contact with my wife kids back home and going over my parent’s home for things that required repairs before putting it on the market. During these weeks Robbie did not let up on his demand for ‘heating up’ the campaigns. I wrote press releases, modifying them for each city. Carrie Pierce (of Meadowvale Spookies in Toronto) became a great asset as she lived in Toronto and knew those in the media. She also spent time putting up posters as gas and time allowed. I enlisted Carrie’s help under Labyrinth’s banner, providing her a letter of authorization to act in Labyrinth’s behalf.
Every step forward in the campaign seemed to be met with some unexpected, bazaar obstacle. At the Paracon 2009 Robbie told me that the Assistant Mayor of Sarnia had planned a brief appearance at the event (not sure if he made it or not). Robbie asked me to contact him to see if he might like to attend the opening night of the Psychic Justice Tour. I learned that the Mayor himself, Mike Bradley, was an Australian, born in Adelaide, NSW. I saw this as an opportunity to perhaps invite the Mayor to the event. After all, I was an Australian resident and Labyrinth was an Australian business. I called Robbie to tell him the good news: I may be able to persuade Mike Bradley to come to the event as our guest. But, as I should have expected, the Mayor of Sarnia was not very fond of Robbie Thomas.
Why, I asked.
According to Robbie Thomas: Some years ago there was a Gay Pride movement in Sarnia. Robbie called the mayor (on a radio program?)and stated that he didn’t want ‘those cheerios’ in his town. Robbie has been quite vocal to me personally about his disapproval of gays, but never gave me an adequate answer as to why he feels that way. Regardless, Mike Bradley does not like Robbie Thomas (by Thomas’own admission), as a result of his statement.
So, there went one great opportunity to grab positive attention for the Psychic Justice Tour.
I was beginning to learn that the Psychic Justice Tour was plagued before it had begun. Robbie’s reputation had preceded the campaign, and it wasn’t always a good reputation. While trying to get an article write-up in the Sarnia Observer a new problem surfaced, but was directly related to Karen Caughlin and the Caughlin family.
In 2005 Robbie Thomas was approached by the editor of the Sarnia Observer, Jack Portier, to see if he would offer his assistance to the Caughlin family using his psychic abilities. Robbie agreed. What actually transpired that day is a bit of a mystery. Robbie has his story and the Caughlin’s have theirs. Regardless, of the truth, when Robbie called Jack Portier to see if he could get an article about the Psychic Justice Tour Jack Portier wanted nothing to do with it because he had heard that Robbie intended to speak about Karen Caughlin. According to Robbie, Jack denied ever being involved with the Caughlins. Robbie reminded him of ‘recordings’ he had of the meeting (whether Robbie has these or not is uncertain). They made a trade. Jack would print a ‘favourable’ article about the Tour ONLY if Robbie swore to forget Karen Caughlin and not talk about the case during the tour. Robbie agreed.
Next, a detective called Robbie telling him to remove the statement from his web page from detective Vorschuk, who had been at the meeting set up by Portier on behalf of the Caughlin family. According to Robbie, the detective claimed’ too’ that the meeting never happened. Again, Robbie claimed he had ‘recordings’ to prove it and the detective backed off.
A few days later an article was produced in the Sarnia Observer announcing the Psychic Justice Tour. It was about the same time the article was published that a local Sarnia Skeptic began his own campaign against Robbie. On his web site, Small Town Skeptic, Robbie was accused of being a liar and a fraud who marketed off pain and suffering, among numerous other things. Other people joined in the attack, even in America. It seemed that a lot of people had grievances against Robbie Thomas. I began to receive emails from them also, denouncing Labyrinth for supporting such a fraud. Robbie became totally consumed in the negativity being published and insisted I do something to shut them down. There was little I could do, but I, too, became consumed in trying to find what, if any, evidence they had to make such statements; indeed, as with Kathy Caughlin, what had Robbie done to make these people react so violently?
What had begun for me as a relatively simple but ambitious promo campaign for ‘Psychic Justice’ was becoming encumbered with one problem after another. I was learning more about my friend, Robbie Thomas, in several weeks than I had in four years. I copied off the Skeptic’s posts and Caughlin’s emails and, out of a necessity to keep Robbie and the Tour in a good light, began breaking down each accusation and questioning Robbie as to their validity. Of course, this too was time consuming. I was nearly at my laptop for 15-20 hours a day at this point. (Robbie, on the other hand, often announced to me on Skype that he was going to watch TV with the kids, have dinner then retire to bed around 7 or 8. Lucky him).
About Robbie’s affair in Sioux City, Iowa (contributing to the early setback in the Psychic Justice Tour campaigns as well as adding to the stress on our friendship)
Saturday, February 13, 2010 to Saturday, February 27, 2010
At a crucial stage in the Psychic Justice Tour campaigns, at a time when finances were tight and favours exhausted, and bad publicity was demanding my constant attention (by Robbie’s demand to shut them down and my own research into whether I had a legal right or not), Robbie Thomas announced to me that he was going to spend two weeks in Iowa with his girlfriend. Naturally I argued this decision. Before I thought of the moral issue I was immediately concerned about the tour. Right then, most of all, was not the time for a holiday of any kind. The trip would be costly, and aside from this, in order for the tour to be successful it was important to stay focused and on top of every situation.
Robbie told me that he ‘absolutely had to get to Iowa’ because his girlfriend was getting restless and was starting to doubt if they would be together, especially because the tour was supposed to last until June. I told Robbie that he seriously needed to do the right thing by his wife and kids and just get a divorce. He assured me he would as soon as the tour was underway and he was on the road, but that for now he was going to go to Iowa, regardless.
What followed was a situation where lines between friends become blurred – a common occurrence when dealing with Robbie Thomas. Further, it is one that that I’m ashamed to have been manipulated into being part of.
To make his ‘trip’ believable to his wife, Ligia, he needed to convince her that he was going to Omaha, Nebraska to begin filming for the Psychic Justice TV series. He said, “I need you to make something up for me; something to convince Ligia that I’m going to be away two weeks doing a film. Make it from someone like ‘Summerhill’ or from Louie. She’ll believe that. Put the dates from the 13th to the 27th.
Of course this was absurd. I explained that neither Summerhill nor Louie should be implicated in his scheme because either one could call his house with legitimate information where Ligia might answer the phone. Not to mention the legal / moral aspect of it.
The darker side of Robbie Thomas surfaced.
He said, “John, I’m going to Iowa and don’t need a lecture or permission. I have to go, and as my friend and manager I’d thought you would help your buddy. I can’t stay in this house anymore so help me work it out. If Ligia finds out shit will hit the fan and I can’t do the tour if I’m in the middle of a divorce. We will have waisted all our time”.
I was pissed off for being blackmailed but it was true that if Robbie were to be thrown out of the house and embroiled in a bitter divorce the tour would be over before it began. All my hard work, costs and hours of producing campaign materials and web sites and press releases would be in vain. I thought about it for two days, under constant pressure from Robbie, before I finally gave in. I created a document “From” Summerhill Productions which demanded all “Talent” to be on location in Omaha, Nebraska from Feb 13th to the 27th for filming of the pilot “Psychic Justice”.[ Later I created a photo for Robbie, as he had asked, an under the same pressure of losing the tour, in which I overlayed myself into a photo of Robbie and his girlfriend’s brother]. I sent the document to Robbie via Skype who in turn quickly showed it to his wife. Ligia was excited about the news, honestly believing Robbie was finally going to start making the TV series.. I felt like shit. This something no friend should ever be manipulated into doing for a friend. The friendship was now being tested to extremes and asking of me to breach my own codes & policies in the process. But the Psychic Justice tour had already cost me bundles in time and money. I had to recoup it somehow and doing the tour was the only way I could see. I began to feel a darkness settling over the entire project and that things were only going to get worse.
On schedule, Robbie flew to Omaha, Nebraska to begin his two week affair with his girlfriend, who actually lived in Sioux City, Iowa. Robbie chose to fly into Omaha because so there would be no connection to Sioux City. Ligia had already suspected something might be going on between him and ‘the girl’, but never had proof. She only knew that she lived in Sioux City, so Omaha was the airport he would fly into. His girlfriend would drive an hour to pick him up then return to her home.
However, only two days after Robbie arrived in Sioux City Ligia called the girlfriend’s house but got the answering machine. Robbie intercepted it because his girlfriend was at work. Ligia also left a message in my Skype chat. Robbie called me in a panic trying to figure out how Ligia found out. I remember telling him that “women are smarter than you give them credit for, mate. Did you really think you could disappear for two weeks to your girlfriend’s house and no one would see you or know you?” Robbie pleaded with me not to use Skype or make any updates on FaceBook because Ligia would know we weren’t in Omaha together filming. This put me again in a huge dilemma. For now, not only could I not continue marketing and making contacts, but I couldn’t even chat to my family or friends back in Australia. How could Robbie expect me to just go ‘dark’ and not talk to my kids?
I didn’t.
My first thought was “You’re fucked, Mate!” Robbie had put himself there and he had to deal with it. I continued to use FaceBook & Myspace as normal. Ligia was relentless in trying to Skype me but I simply didn’t reply. I just didn’t need to get involved or bombarded with hundreds of questions. I wasn’t going to lie to her (anymore) so I just didn’t respond. Because of this, Robbie told her that it was not me on FaceBook, but actually my daughter who was maintaining contacts and marketing and that she won’t respond to anyone(?). That was really stupid, since my daughter wouldn’t have posted, “Hi, Lia...Love you and Miss you so much! Hope all is fine back home! We’re painting dad and mom’s house today. What a chore!” [Idiot]
During this two week period while Robbie was frolicking in wonderland and doing exclusive ghost tours to impress his girlfriend’s family, the heat was turned up on finances. The venues in Toronto and Sarnia both wanted money. The Sarnia theatre cost $1,800 (something Robbie’s ego absolutely had to have), while the Mississauga/Toronto venue at Vic Johnston Community Centre was only $525.00. There were a few ticket sales to keep the theatre happy but Vic’s wanted money and soon or they were going to give the venue away. To make things worse, Robbie had requested from the onset that we use Ticket Leap to sell tickets. Not knowing much about ticket brokers in Canada I took his advice. Unfortunately (as I should have suspected) Ticket Leap is a nightmare to get money from. There was $360.00 overall which was supposed to be used for working capital, but Ticket Leap’s rules state that you cannot claim the ticket money until the next business day after your event. I called TicketLeap to explain that every promoter uses capital from ticket sales pay expenses – and hence the disclaimer: ‘No Refund’, but they wouldn’t budge. So the money from the few ticket sales in TicketLeap was absolutely useless. Other means had to be arranged. Few tickets had sold and working capital was now nil.
Robbie naturally turned the problem of no-working-capital onto me, his ‘manager’. During his 2nd week at his girlfriend’s house I had to explain to him that Vic’s was going to give the venue away if they did not receive the payment. Vic’s had been more than generous in allowing the time they already given without pay. Robbie called Vic’s and arranged to use a credit card to secure the venue (wow-as if I didn’t think of that!). He then called me to tell me the ‘good news’. If I’d had a goddamn credit card with that much available I would have already used it, but my own living expenses and phone credit had left too little to be of any use. Robbie assured me over and over that he was completely broke and that I should work it out. I was furious and at my ropes end. Robbie had just spent several hundred dollars committing adultery on my time and wanted me to solve the finance problems on top of everything else.
Remember, if you will, this tour venture was a 50/50 arrangement and was designed to benefit Robbie Thomas; to boost his image and profile for the pending TV series as well as to reach out and help people in need of ‘psychic justice’. It was more like Robbie throwing orders like some hotshot movie star while his ‘manager’ struggled to make everything happen. Trust me when I say Robbie Thomas needs a fucking babysitter, not a manager.
My father, whom I am staying with while in the USA knew I was under intense pressure – pressure that should not have ever been there. He knew the hard work I’d put into this project and graciously offered his own credit card to secure the venue at Vic’s. He did so with the understanding that it would be paid back after the show with the money made from ticket sales. My father lives on a pension like most retirees and sometimes his credit card is the difference between paying a bill or going hungry.
The Toronto venue was secure, thanks to dad, but the entire tour was beginning to seem dismal. Robbie’s escapade, constant demands to ‘make things happen’, the onslaught of negative publicity on web sites, and now the pressure of his wife calling my house was taking its toll on me. To make things worse my son was hospitalized for internal bleeding and organ failure around this time. He was critical for some time and on two occasions we thought we were going to lose him. Robbie’s selfishness was beginning to shine brightly by now. After a few consoling words in his well-groomed ‘sweet voice’, he insisted that we stay focused and jump into campaigns head-long. He was still enjoying himself in Iowa but told me to get radio interviews going for him and he would do them from his girlfriend’s house.
It was then that I decided to put Robbie and the Tour on hold until Robbie was finished playing and could seriously devote himself. I was tired of being manipulated and feeling like a cheap servant – and servant is exactly what Robbie Thomas wants. He’ll accept a ‘manager’ so long as the ‘manager’ is serving his requirements. I took the next few days off to focus on my son until Robbie finally got back to Sarnia. I was sadly beginning to learn the hard way what my wife and others had learned long ago: Robbie Thomas didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself and getting famous.
The stress was increasing. Not only were tickets not selling (which, of course, Robbie blamed on me and my Toronto affiliate, Carrie) but my son being hospitalized and possibly dying cut me even deeper. I was a long way from my Australian home and missed my wife and kids. I had come home from Australia after 10 years away, in part, to help a friend boost his profile and image by arranging a tour but instead I had gone into unnecessary debt. Now, it looked too, as though I might have come home to bury my son. Robbie enjoyed using my son as the excuse for my lack of diligent focus on the tour, claiming that perhaps I’m just too pre-occupied to do proper marketing – implying that I better make him money, or he would find another patsy. He was counting on the tour making him rich so he could leave his wife and kids and move in with his girlfriend. It wasn’t working that way so the blame game increased, which made him look cool in front of his girlfriend while I and my associates in Toronto worked our asses off.
My Australian friends and family are beautiful people, as are the Aussies in general. My respect and influence is such that, from track record, if I believe in someone they are behind me 100%. Such was the case with Sarnia lady, Shelley, on my FaceBook (a resident from Robbie’s hometown whom Robbie enlisted to hang up posters for the tour). Shelley was shaving her head for cancer in support of her friend’s daughter who had recently passed away. On the last night of her campaign to raise funds for the cause she was asking FaceBook friends for any donations she could get. She contacted me. After chatting with her I learned that in several weeks of campaigning she had not raised one cent. I looked at her sponsor page which confirmed zero funds raised. It broke my heart. I explained that times were incredibly hard for most people in America right now and every cent counted to make ends meet. My friends and family in America were in the same boat. She and her teenage son were shaving their heads the next day, regardless, to show support to her friend. I explained that I was broke because of the costs of the tour and had yet to do a show, but I told her to let me see what I could do to help, if anything. I posted to my 1500+ FB friends then to Myspace and finally to my Outlook contacts list. By morning she had raised over $700.00 dollars, mostly from Australia (who is fortunate to be doing well at this time in history). She was eternally grateful and expressed as much on FB.
What did Robbie Thomas do to help her? Nothing. Instead he bitched about her because he felt she hadn’t put up enough posters to warrant the measly ticket to his show he had offered in return.
What did Robbie Thomas say when I told him about it? “If you can raise $700 dollars for someone to shave their head you should be able to raise that much for the tour!”
I wasn’t surprised anymore by his statements. The prick had just spent two weeks and several hundred dollars banging his girlfriend and bluffing her family into thinking he was a nice guy and then had the audacity to think I would ask my family to finance his tour? Jesus! What a Wank.
Robbie didn’t stop there, however. Now that he knew that there was possibly money to be had in Australia he then asked me if I could get a loan from someone there. In fact, for two days he insisted, or we might go bust! Robbie is always making sure that his failures are someone else’s fault, not his own.
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The opening night of the show had arrived in Sarnia March 7th. Robbie had prepared very little for the show after being gone two weeks, offering (in my opinion and experience as a promoter) nothing more than a lecture about himself. I explained that the original format offered the people something unique and worthwhile, something they could use and take home. They come for information, they come for validation, and they come for confirmation.
The original format for the show was based on what I knew I could market and sell:
Be a part of this event and learn:
• How the psychic mind works
• How spirits of loved ones direct affairs on earth to get resolve and justice
• How to ‘tune in’ to spirit and hear what it is trying to tell you
• How to protect yourself and loved ones with ‘thoughts’
• How to recognize warnings and danger through ‘feelings’ and ‘synchronicity’
• How to know when your own loved one is trying to speak to you from beyond
This, of course, was prefaced by a video presentation of Robbie’s own involvement with psychic experiences and cases he’s worked, which would establish his credentials as being an authority to speak on the subject. A live cold case reading would be offered as well as audience readings.
Robbie would have nothing to do with it. Instead he was going to show his cases and convince people he was right on them, do a live case reading then maybe...MAYBE a mini reading or two for the audience. Robbie insisted he knew what people wanted because he’d been doing public appearances for a long time. Perhaps, but no one had ever attempted to put on a show with this type of format and theme before. Further, I’ve been promoting psychics and paranormal themes for many years – I know what will get the average Joe of the couch and into the venue. Robbie doesn’t know shit about business or Public Relations and was evident in the many debates we’ve had through the years.
From the onset I was plagued by a very real dilemma with Robbie’s type of show: Guys like crime & murder stuff, but few girls do. Girls will see a psychic but few guys will. Robbie Thomas’s show needed something more to give it pizzazz and attention; something that would bring the girls in to see a psychic on stage and who would likely drag their reluctant husbands and boyfriends in along with them. Otherwise the show was going to fall through the cracks. And it did, sales wise.
Amid the accumulating pressures of the previous 3 weeks leading up to the opening night in Sarnia were also the negative things being propagated about Robbie on web sites and Internet radio programs. Robbie dumped responsibility of resolving this onto my shoulders as well. Every day Robbie would call or write to me about so and so saying something bad about him. He demanded that I sue them all! (Again, Robbie’s great at throwing orders at people as if they are servants). I explained that defamation cases are costly and that it’s usually up to the plaintiff in most cases to prove the allegations untrue. I contacted a lawyer friend, Vic Zammit, in Australia for advice. Vic replied stating that many Internet defamation cases are now being won in court and offered a link to one such recent case in which a company was awarded $30,000 in damages against a cyber-basher.
While it appeared we could win a case in the long run (and tracing fake names to the owner is a simple task) the costs and time involved was simply not available. Further, one could spend the rest of their life suing one person after another. I explained to Robbie that in a short time people would only associate his name with ‘who’s Robbie suing now’. I also told him that if he intends in to be in the public light in any fashion he had better get tougher than he is. Everyone in the spotlight has people who love them and people who hate them, and he should not spend time reading the negative stuff. Instead focus on your career, align yourself with positive, successful people and only address negative comments when absolutely necessary for damage control. Then, let a publicist make the statement, not the ‘Talent’.
But Robbie couldn’t help himself. He’d not only read the depressing crap but also post his opinion back to them, or posted on FB. This of course, is exactly what the cyber-bashers want and Robbie continually falls right into their game.
[As a side note for future promoters/managers who are suicidal enough to take on Robbie Thomas: Don’t ever let him see emails from people who have said something negative. No matter how many times you tell him NOT to respond to them, he will, thereby causing a benign situation to explode! He gets obnoxious and embarrassing and expects you to patch up the mess the next morning. Oh...and make sure that everything you do in business with Robbie has a water-tight legal and binding contract attached].
I don’t agree with Internet bashing without evidence to support accusations. But Robbie has made serious enemies in his path and none more determined to bring Robbie down than a group based in his own hometown of Sarnia. In hindsight, these people obviously knew more about Robbie’s true nature than my four years of close friendship had gleaned.
As the doors opened at 7.30pm for the premier launch of the Psychic Justice Tour in Sarnia (March 7th, 2010) several adults approached the patrons waiting in line to enter the theatre. They began handing out unmarked sealed envelopes to the people accompanied with instructions not to open them until they were seated inside. (As I was still in Salt Lake City, the details of the events in Sarnia were told to me by either Robbie or people on FB who claimed to have been at the theatre).
Robbie called me in a panic via his cell phone and informed me that the ‘hate group’ was outside
passing out sealed envelopes and harassing the patrons. Robbie was clearly frightened and was uncertain if he should do the show. I told him to do the show and I would call the theatre manager (he could have done as much himself since he was there at the theatre and knew much more than I did about what was going on). Even as I called the theatre I thought to myself: Fuck, nothing is easy with Robbie. He just seems to be in one crisis after another with no end in sight. Now, finally at the opening night of the Psychic Justice Tour and there are still problems!
Just when I thought we’d finally made it I found myself stressed all over again. I got the answering machine when I called the Theatre and left a message to the affect that people were outside trying to disrupt the show and that I wanted something done about it.
I didn’t know that the theatre on a Sunday night was operated by a few young people who were used to hosting plays and musicals.
The next communication I received was again from Robbie during his intermission. He told me that the theatre staff were scared and that the theatre manager had shut and locked the doors and called the police. According to Robbie and witnesses I later chatted with on FB with there were still people outside who came for the event but could not get in.
I remember clearly how I was feeling then: How could one man cause me so much trouble? How could one man create so much havoc? I have an Autistic son who, in 10 years, has not been as much to handle as Robbie Thomas has been in 3 months. I had never experienced anything close to the chaos Robbie Thomas creates in his life and for those associated with him. (It was about this time I decided that from now on I would stick to music and promoting bands. I was beginning think it would have been safer with less hassle to promote Osama Bin Laden on a post 9-11 tour through America).
After the show Robbie called me again. I asked to speak to the manager to get as much information as possible and requested a statement from the theatre as to the evening’s events. The next morning I received an email from the theatre stating that I owed $200 because the ticket sales did not cover the cost of the venue (that Robbie was so keen on having). There was no statement attached.
The ‘hate-group’ in Sarnia, while possibly having legitimate reasons for wanting to put Robbie Thomas to pasture, had now interfered with business – my business. I had every intention of prosecuting them, based on the information against them. Robbie stated that there were at least 50 people waiting to get inside after the doors were locked. Witnesses I talked to on FB confirmed around 5-10 people, maybe. Nonetheless, it is illegal for anyone to physically interfere with patrons attending an event. I arranged for Robbie to meet with an attorney in Sarnia, who believed we had a solid case against the group, especially with witnesses and photographs. In the meantime, Robbie had called Louie La Vella (of La Vella Entertainment Group) who is also an attorney. Robbie informed me that Louie’s associate was going to handle the case. Fair enough. I never heard anything more about it.
The Toronto/Mississauga show was two days after the Sarnia show (on March 9th). In spite of great coverage from TV, Radio and newspapers, only 9 tickets had sold via the web. On the day of the event I learned that the projector Robbie needed for his presentation was not available. I scrambled to find a rental company who would have one on short notice. After calling several places I found one who had the type of projector we needed but they required $300 to rent it. I called Robbie for options. Nothing.
Throughout the campaigns Robbie assured me that Canadians were the type who bought last minute at the door. He was convinced that most people would show up that night at the door and we would have enough to cover the projector costs. On this shaky assumption I called back the rental company and asked if I could pay for the projector upon return. I was sure of the answer, but desperate at this point. Cancelling was not an option because my team in Toronto had put in a great effort to help promote the Toronto gig and Jane McMasters (mother of slain daughter, Elisha McMasters) was looking forward to finally having some resolve in the case. I was gratefully surprised when the rental company agreed to my proposal. All they wanted was everything they could get about me and my company on two continents (fair enough). The catch was that he had no one available to deliver the projector. Someone would have to pick it up and return it.
I called my associate in Toronto, Carrie Pierce (of Meadowvale Spookies) to see if she was available to pick up the projector and bring it back. Both she and her husband were attending the show to help out and thus agreed. Until this point, Carrie had not been paid for any of her efforts in promoting the Toronto gig. She had set up posters, made contacts and got Robbie on local TV. I couldn’t ask her to drive around on her own costs picking up projectors too, so I sent her everything I had in my PayPal account: $45.00. When I informed Robbie of the arrangement and that I had paid Carrie $45 he only whined, “But she didn’t put up all the posters and she’s already getting a ticket to my show!” (cheap wanker).
Once at the venue Robbie called me to complain further. The room was apparently not up to the standards of his self image and bitched about everything from the audio set up to the size of the room to Carrie not doing what ‘he considered’ to be a worth a ‘ticket’. Robbie sees himself, again, as some Hollywood superstar in his own mind, that he’s the only true psychic and everyone should serve him [He hated the fact that psychic Terry Mannis was going to be part of the Psychic Justice TV series and let me know it every day until she finally resigned for other offers. I personal know many psychics and consider them friends. Robbie hated that, so I seldom brought other psychics into conversation, even when I knew their experiences would be of value to him].
I told Robbie to be grateful he’s got a venue at all and not to bitch about the help he’s getting and hung up.
All in all, only those 9 tickets were sold in spite of the marketing. There were no door sales as he believed there would be. Jane McMasters had brought a couple friends and there was confusion about whether they should have paid or not. Louie La Vella had graciously agreed to MC in my place...so he got in free (naturally...and he should have been paid). There were two young sisters there whom, after discussing it with me for a month, were granted a free limited ticket by me (Labyrinth). That was the anniversary night of their sister’s murder one year before. They didn’t have a lot of money and had wanted to see Robbie’s show because they needed validation that the soul continues. The ticket limited them to viewing the show only, with no readings. Robbie read them anyway during the show because...well...with only 9 paying people in attendance there wasn’t a hell of a lot to do! Still Robbie chastised me for giving a free ticket.
Robbie wants everything but will give nothing. I’ve told many times that you have to set aside 3 to 6 tickets at each venue for PR, especially for radio and TV promos. It makes the stations look good and him too. And, in rare cases such as the two sisters, it’s just good Public Relations to offer a ticket under special situations as there’s. After all, Psychic Justice was about murdered victims and their families. The sisters were young, confused survivors of a murdered sibling, much as Kathy Caughlin had been 35 years previous...and it still took me a month of questioning them before I was assured they couldn’t afford the ticket and was telling the truth.
After this show Robbie called again to inform me of his disappointment in attendees. He of course alluded to my lack of work ethics and also suspected Carrie may have stolen some of the money (he did this because he knew from Carrie sometime ago that she was once wrongfully accused of stealing money from her own venue...which she had not. But Robbie saw this as an opportunity to point blame on anything but himself and the his show’s format/theme for low earnings). He also raved again about how cheap the venue was and would not do anything again unless it was in theatres. Considering the situation over the past few weeks Robbie was lucky to have a venue at all, but of course, it wasn’t good enough for a ‘superstar’. I let him rant, hung up and went to bed wondering how I would pay for the projector in the morning and cover the cost of the venue that was on my dad’s credit card.
In the morning Carrie called me on Skype. She was upset about how Robbie had treated her the night before. She said he was quite rude to her, ordering her around and making her feel humiliated in front of Louie and the attendees. I called Robbie after that. He complained that she hadn’t done this or that and on and on and on... I told him that Carrie ‘worked’ for Labyrinth, not him. If he had a problem with her to come to me and I would get to the bottom of it. He argued that she worked for both Robbie Thomas and Labyrinth. I corrected him by assuring that I had put her under Labyrinth’s banner and gave her written notice to act in Labyrinth’s behalf, which she had done quite well. And if it hadn’t been for Carrie he would never have had the TV appearances.
He didn’t like that.
The Psychic Justice Tour was in serious trouble in more ways than just financial. I was not only in debt $200 in Sarnia and $800 in Mississauga (Toronto) but Robbie’s show was simply not attracting the people in spite of the publicity. Further, Robbie was becoming more and more agitated at the failure and let me know about it. He wrote to both myself and Carrie via Skype chat accusing us of not having proper work ethics, while he did very little except sit behind a computer and order people around (and this coming from a man who, to my knowledge, has never worked a real job in his life and had spent two crucial weeks committing adultery when he should have been working on his show’s presentation and campaigns. To Robbie’s benefit, he did have posters printed at his own cost. There is also a radio ad campaign from a Sarnia radio station in which $350 was owed, but it was uncertain whether he or I would be responsible for it. I had only hoped the next gig would cover everything).
By this point I was feeling seriously demoralized. My son was in the hospital in uncertain condition, tour was broke and Robbie had managed to make both myself and the Toronto team feel like shit (which Robbie has a natural talent for doing). The Skeptics were increasing their attacks from their web sites driving Robbie mad. Not only was there no money for Los Angeles, but I was in debt over a grand (including phone calls). I hadn’t even begun to calculate my personal time involved in designing campaign posters, web sites, press releases and more. But Robbie Thomas will never put a value on a person’s time, I assure you!
The L.A. event was the last chance I or the Tour had of surviving, but it was going to be a very slim shot.
Good friends Danielle Egnew, Sheena Metal and Andrew Brewer went above and beyond the call for us in L.A. with radio spots and sending out to their personal (large) databases. Andrew and Danielle both created excellent ads on their own time and were behind the tour with amazing enthusiasm. Still no tickets had sold. San Francisco had originally been scheduled for the 26th, while L.A. was on the 19th. I had to cancel San Francisco because the money wasn’t there to pay for two venues. Instead I focused on L.A. To buy more time I pushed L.A. up to the 26th, in SF’s old spot. This would give more time to sell tickets. At Danielle’s recommendation I secured the Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel in Studio City, a very nice venue at an excellent price (for Los Angeles).
During that week I called every newspaper and radio station in the region trying to land a spot to promote the L.A. show. The program directors and news editors were intrigued, but not enough to bite. One gal from a local radio station told me that in Los Angeles it was incredibly hard to get attention or air time for a Psychic. Not only was L.A. overflowing with psychics but it was a town where celebrities of every type hogged the air and news. I would have to spend several hundred dollars to run a competitive ad in the newspaper or on radio.
In spite of efforts by our L.A. friends and contacts there were only 6 tickets sold by the weekend, one week before the gig. I had enough to fly Robbie to L.A. where he could do personal appearances to campaign and ultimately do the show. It required a lot of faith on his part that people would want to see the show, but he would not take the chance. Fair enough.
I informed Robbie that if there weren’t enough tickets sold by Tuesday, 23rd, I had no choice but to cancel L.A., and possibly the tour. The Sportsmen’s Lodge needed payment by then. If that happened, then the best thing to do would be to regroup and plan only one or two bigger shows out in the future. He didn’t like that at all, and accused me again, of not getting a jump on advertising in L.A. (while he was in Iowa). Robbie just didn’t seem to get it. No one was buying tickets, regardless of how much publicity had been put into campaigning. In Sarnia and Mississauga there was TV, Radio spots, radio ads, and newspaper articles well in advance and only a few ticket sales for the effort. Robbie assured me people would buy at the door. Few did in Sarnia and none did in Mississauga. L.A. was another world altogether. It was the only shot of earning enough capital to keep the tour afloat. Robbie’s ego wouldn’t allow him to admit that no one wanted to see this type of show, especially in light of a bad economy and so many better things to do for the money than listen to someone talk about the crimes he’s solved(?).
Something that needs to be said right here is about the excuse used as the reason for the tour’s postponement in California and ultimately the rest of the tour. I have a policy, which most professional managers/promoters have, which is to always protect the ‘talent’/client. In other words, if an event or tour must be cancelled due to lack of interest and low ticket sales, it is always for reasons other than the ‘talent’ being presented. If it becomes knowledge that an event was cancelled because no one wanted to see the ‘talent’, it hurts the talent’s image and future prospects. Ticket sales are usually kept quite confidential for this, and other reasons while promoters or publicists point at other reasons.
So, in order to protect Robbie’s image I told him I was going to use my son’s health condition as the reason for postponing the events. That way it would appear be something out of his hands, rather than no ticket sales. While it is true that my son was very ill during this period, it was not the reason for the tour’s postponement / cancellation. It was simple lack of interest in the subject matter or Robbie Thomas, who is not as well known as he likes to believe. I did this just to protect his image, as I’ve done so many times in the last four years to make him look good. The fact is that the tour was broke. Only his friends had wanted (or agreed) to pay to see him.
Also during this time Robbie had gone on an Internet radio station with ‘Michelle’, a presumed witness to the Caughlin murder in 1974. I am omitting details here because that story deserves more space to tell accurately than I can provide here. On Tuesday March 23rd, I woke to find only a three tickets had sold. The total amount earned was not even close to affording L.A. There no choice but to cancel the tour. There was no money and no hint that there would be. None of the radio or newspapers had expressed interest. I called Robbie to tell him of my decision. Of course, he again blamed poor ‘management ‘on the failure. I’d had it with Robbie Thomas.
In just 3 months he had completely exhausted my friendship and business relationship with him and had put me in a difficult situation concerning the Iowa excursion. I had learned why he was not yet successful after all his years of trying and seen aspects of him I didn’t care to ever be be involved with again.
The Bitter End
Before we hung up Robbie announced to me that he would continue the tour on his own. I asked him how it was possible without capital and already in debt. He told me he was going to cash in his CD’s (certificates of deposit). I advised him against doing so, especially to finance a venture that, so far, had proven unprofitable. He insisted. This announcement made me angry but I refrained from showing it. After all the financial struggles and need for money, the debts incurred and his two week escapade in Iowa, why, if the tour was so important to him, didn’t he cash in his CD’s earlier? Why? Because Robbie Thomas, true to his nature, will exhaust everyone’s time and resources before he invests a dime.
In the last four years I had designed and developed Robbie’s Power of Spirit web site, his first Can-Am Paracon site, the Psychic Justice site and all campaign / logo materials that went with them. I created the psychic Justice TV series under the name Psychic CSI title, which is now under the working title of Psychic Justice being pitched by Louie La Vella and Summerhill Productions. I created this to help Robbie get a TV show he’s wanted for so many years. I also created Most Dangerous Hauntings, which was first with Circling Shark productions in Australia and now with Louie La Vella. Again to include Robbie Thomas. I’ve created additional graphics and documents over the years at his beck & call, and also been his advisor on projects and in signing contracts. He signed a lengthy contract with myself and Louie La Vella to form a 3-way venture partnership simply because I told him to (Robbie never reads anything and doesn’t understand what he reads). In four years of providing my professional services Robbie Thomas has not paid me ONE CENT. It’s always on a promise to pay down the road. The website and campaigns alone stand at more than $20,000 combined, and are still there for anyone to see and value themselves (or I’ll provide the copies from my harddrive).
Robbie can’t do anything for himself; he relies on feeding off other people to achieve anything but I learned this too late.
So what occurred next should not have been any surprise to me, but it was.
Out of all the debt I had incurred through the Psychic Justice Tour (leaving my personal time and costs aside) what I needed covered most was the $525.00 on my dad’s credit card used to secure the Mississauga venue.
I told Robbie that if he was going to cash his CD’s in to continue the tour I would appreciate it if he would pay off the debt owed to my dad’s credit card. I had explained to him at the time the card was used that my dad needed it paid off because he’s on a pension and sometimes needs to use his card.
Robbie’s reply?
“Sorry, John, but we’ve both got debts. You have yours in this and I have mine. It was fifty/fifty, right? I’m not going to pay for it.”
I said, shouldn’t the debts be paid off before continuing to invest?
“Your debt isn’t my problem, so, No”.
At that point I informed Robbie that not only was I through with the tour but I was resigning my position as his ‘manager’, something Robbie called me, but I never fully agreed to because he wouldn’t sign a business contract. I was disgusted with him on more levels than a few. As far as I was concerned, Robbie Thomas screwed his best friend (at least I had thought we were best friends).
But as I was to learn over the next 24 hours, he had only just begun to fuck me over and show his darkest side.
After the phone call I was feeling depressed and overwhelmed by the conversation that had just taken place. I was beaten down from the past months of preparing and campaigning as well as sick inside over my son’s health. My Aussie family was missing me and I was seriously missing them. My dad’s house still needed work, but the snow and cold had prevented it. I had resolved that I would have to find work in Salt Lake City to pay everything off and earn enough to fly back home to Australia (I came on a one-way ticket). I needed to update the Tour web sites because people may still buy tickets for an event that no longer existed. When I tried to access his server I found the password had been changed....in just a few short minutes after talking to Robbie.
My FTP logfile confirmed it: [Access Denied. Password changed since last logon: error: 503]
I got Robbie on skype to ask him why he changed the password. He insisted he didn’t. He said they must be doing work on the server.
I’ve been in IT since 1995 and knew a lame comment when I heard one. I pressed him and showed him the FTP logfile. He altered his statement, now saying that ‘she’ must have changed it for some reason. (He never said who ‘she’ was, but the new version of the web site is created by Annette Hovey, a talented visual designer in Toronto).
I said, ‘She’ could only change it if you gave her your permission.
He insisted he didn’t. He was lying, as usual.
After some pressing of the issue he finally admitted that he had the password changed because he didn’t think he could trust me.
Keep in mind that for the last four years I’ve not only had access to his web server for the myriad of projects I’ve done for him for free, but I also had access to his Paypal accounts, which I used to create shopping cart buttons from within his account. And he suddenly doesn’t trust me?
Infuriated, I demanded that he remove everything I had created for the campaign, which was, of course, EVERYTHING. He refused. He said he has a right to use them. At least until he could get ‘her’ to change the site.
The argument became heated. He was screwing his best friend who had done thousands of hours worth of work for him over the years as if I had been nothing. I was seriously not in the mood by that point.
During the initial stages of creating the Psychic Justice Tour, while I was still in Australia in December, I had also recently created a business for me and my daughter, to encourage her in her love of promoting music and bands. Until then we operated under Symmetry Media. My daughter named the new business ‘Labyrinth Entertainment’, after her favourite movie, Labyrinth starring David Bowie. We incorporated my well-known Raven symbol. She wanted to do this type of business in her life and this would be a great way to learn...just jump right in. She had been a part of Ghost Radio and many other projects I’ve done so I was more than happy to start this for her. She loved knowing ‘Labyrinth’ was hers and it gave her pride.
I had not registered a domain name yet for Labyrinth, which was an Australian business under our Prodigy Communications company. I told Robbie we would christen the new business by putting the Psychic Justice Tour under Labyrinth. He agreed, as it made it look like he was being sponsored by a big Australian company. On the phone I asked him to register a cheap domain name for now, since domain names were around $100.00 in Australia to register. Robbie registered labyrinthent.com and I linked the web site to the new URL.
Fast-forward:
Robbie knew the logo and graphics concept for Psychic Justice was the best. After all, who knew better the entire theme and purpose of Psychic Justice than its creator?
After his refusal to remove all my work from his future campaigns he made the cheapest offer I’ve ever encountered: He told me he would trade my labyrinthent.com domain name (value $15) for everything on the web site (Value $4-5,000). It would have been laughable except he was serious. An average price for a project like Psychic Justice (listen close, Annette...so you know what to charge him) is around $6,000 to $7,000, conservatively. That includes all posters, flyers, logos, copy, design....an entire package....all developed from scratch to maintain originality and branding.
I refused to trade, naturally. So he told me to he would keep it. I told him I had already registered labyrinth-entertainment.com. He checked it out and laughed because it was owned by someone else (he looked up labyrinthentertainment.com, not my domain, labyrinth-entertainment.com). This action proved he was looking for angles to blackmail me into walking away from everything I had created, knowing the love I had for Labyrinth and my daughter. I was so fucking angry by now I thought I’d have a heart attack but not close to as angry as he would make me in the next few minutes.
He knew Labyrinth was my daughters and knew I deeply loved her as all my children. He was trying to hit the heart, hoping I’d break. Not a chance. Robbie then made the first of his last two fatal
mistakes:
First Mistake: he told me he would just register ‘Labyrinth Entertainment’ business name so I couldn’t use it. I informed him he was a Canadian and couldn’t register it in the USA. [see chat log at end]
I ordered him once more to remove everything I had created from his web site. He just arrogantly said ‘No’. Leaving me no other choice I told him: “If you want to play blackmail games, buddy, I can do it better. I’ll send Ligia a full confession of your trip to Iowa and my involvement”.
Final Mistake: Robbie said “if you ever think about telling Ligia I’ll tell the world that you sexually abuse your children and make it so everyone hears it. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong, John, you’re fucked for life. Everyone will believe it or at least wonder about it”.
Talking was over.
I blew up and my parents had no idea what had happened. I couldn’t talk. I went for a long walk in the snow wondering how I had gotten into this mess. Robbie was despicable, evil, heartless... most of what Kathy Caughlin had said about him in her first email to me back on January 16th while I was still at home in Australia. I understood now why Kathy had been so relentless in her efforts to stop Robbie Thomas from even mentioning her sister’s name in anything he did. I thought about the horrible things that Reap Sow and Sarnia Skeptic had claimed about Robbie and now believed them. In all my four years of being what I thought was a close friend, I never really knew Robbie Thomas. What a smooth player he is to have so easily duped so many people! And after what he threatened to accuse me of, how could anyone come to the likes of him to seek resolve and comfort for their murdered children?
I told my wife what Robbie had threatened and shit hit the fan in Australia. I copped it from her, too, rightfully so: “I told you not to trust him, but you kept telling everyone Robbie’s ok, Robbie’s a good guy! He wasn’t and I told you so!!”
True...on many occasions – and she’ll never let me live that down.
There was nothing left to ever salvage now. Robbie Thomas had made his fiercest Nemesis. I wanted nothing more than to take away from him everything I brought into his life to help him: The TV series that Louie had worked so hard on would be too controversial to sign. After all, who in their right mind would sign a man who freely committed adultery on his wife, then screwed everyone else he find? I felt Louie wouldn’t support Robbie Thomas in any capacity if he knew the truth about Robbie Thomas. Louie is in excellent standing in the community. He won’t touch it. It was going to be a huge loss and waste of time for everyone ever involved with Robbie Thomas. And that TV series was also a dream of mine, something I had also worked hard on.
So, essentially, when this statement is released, Robbie Thomas has no TV series. No Psychic Justice Tour, No supporters. No Wife, No Home, No Girlfriend. Nothing. As it should be for people like him.
I gave Robbie several warnings to remove everything from his website over the next 3 days. He came up with an excuse that Anne was too busy. Sure, Right! It takes less time to hit Ctrl+A > Delete all > Save File, than it does to go up and change a password.
No, Robbie had told me in no uncertain terms he would not remove my property from the site.
On the third day of silence I saw where Robbie had posted to FaceBook about looking forward to doing the new Psychic Justice Tour.
"GET READY INDIANA, KENTUCKY, ST. LOUIS, MINNESOTA, IOWA AND MICHIGAN...This is the New Psychic Justice Tour, Just got off the phone with all different police departments in each city, the tour is gonna ROCK YA! Tickets go on sale real soon, limited seating everything all new and upbeat...ready to ROCK...DON'T MISS THIS......!!!! LIVE COLD CASE READINGS AND MINI AUDIENCE READINGS...YA BABY!!!!!! www.robbiethomas.net"
That did it. On his FB I wrote this:
I'M WARNING YOU, THOMAS.... REMOVE ALL MY IMAGES, COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY, PSYCHIC JUSTICE LOGOS, AND CAMPAIGN COPY. THIS IS THE LAST WARNING. YOU'RE A CROOKED, SORRY SON OF A BITCH FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME AFTER FOUR YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP, HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF MY TIME MAKING YOU LOOK GOOD ONLY TO LEARN THAT REAP SOW AND SARNIA SKEPTIC WERE RIGHT. I'VE NEVER BEEN SO BETRAYED OR HEARTBROKEN BY ANYONE, MUCH LESS ONE I THOUGHT WAS MY FRIEND. MY STATEMENT ABOUT WHY I REALLY QUIT DEALING WITH YOU WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON. IOWA's GONG TO BE EMBARASSED AND LIGIA'S GOING TO THROW YOU OUT, BUT THAT'S THE KIND OF SLEEZY MAN YOU ARE. TAKE THEM DOWN TODAY
Shortly afterward, Anne had put up his new page.
Robbie Thomas owes me thousands of dollars over the years I’ve known him. I’ll never see a dime, naturally....not so long as he can turn on his fake ‘sweet voice’ and manipulate someone into doing his work for him.
But money aside, nothing will ever cut as deep as being betrayed so coldly and without hesitation by someone whom I had defended and who I had called my best friend.
Final Word:
None of the stress, heartache and trouble concerning this “Psychic Justice” fiasco should EVER have happened. It’s never happened before, even slightly. But, as experience from the past four years has taught me, anything to do with Robbie Thomas is either trouble or he will consume your life to his advantage.
This statement has been prepared to set the record straight against the slanderous whispers of Robbie Thomas against me and the truth behind ending the relationship. Also to set the record straight on the part of poor Journalism and Reporting.
It’s a horrible shame that any of this had to happen. But I won’t stand by and allow my years of building a solid reputation be shit on through association with the likes of Robbie Thomas.
John Victor Ramses
Wednesday, April 1, 2010
Salt Lake City, Utah
A Good Day For Fools Like Me!
Flight Details for Robbie's Trip to see his girlfriend:
Fake Letter for "Production":
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