A partial review of what has been achieved at FACTNet in the year 2001:

It has, without a doubt, been an uphill battle to keep FACTNet alive in the face of Virus attacks, fictitious spam complaints (we have nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by spamming), aging computers and financial challenges. Consequently, our Newsletters have not been as regular as we would have liked. We, rather, spent our limited funds on enhancing the FACTNet website.

It has only been through generous donations that we have been able to prevail against our challenges and do the things we have done this year.

It must be born in mind that FACTNet runs on a shoestring budget and that the majority of the work done is without any remuneration at all. We are extremely grateful to those that have generously donated their time and money to keep FACTNet alive.

One of these benefactors is David Garcia, who translated some of the FACTNet core documents into Spanish with no expectation of being rewarded for his efforts. An index to this Spanish section of FACTNet can be found at http://www.factnet.org/La_traduccion_Espanola_de_FACTNet.html.

Other bilingual FACTNet supporters who have the urge to help us in this regard are welcome to send their translations.

Without further ado, here is the good news...

FACTNet editorial stories in 2001 were:

*November 2001 - Is Earthlink promoting Church of Scientology in spite of its denials of involvement with the cult?

http://www.factnet.org/letters/FACTNewsNovember2001.html *October 2001 - Mind Control Cult Involvement in World Trade Center Bombings http://www.factnet.org/letters/FACTNewsOctober2001.html *September 2001 - How and why the U. N. must lead in bringing World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorists to justice.

http://www.factnet.org/letters/FACTNewsSeptember2001.html *August 2001 - New Fair Trade and Free Speech "click war" breaks out on the Internet. http://www.factnet.org/letters/FACTNewsAugust2001.html FACTNet website enhancements were:

1. We cleaned up a substantial part of the Navigation and "look" of the site.

2. We added the "Recommended Books" section. The index to this is found at:

http://www.factnet.org/RecommendedBooksIndex.html 3. We added various tools by which to search Newspapers for breaking news.

(These searches are not the same as normal Internet searches via Google, Yahoo etc..). The most popular of these has proved to be:

http://www.factnet.org/cults/Brainwashing/BrainwashingMindControlCoercivePer suasionCurrentNewspaperArticles.html .

The index to the Newspaper searching tools is found at:

http://www.factnet.org/CurrentNewspaperArticlesIndex.html The reason we created these dynamic Newspaper Search pages is that we wanted you to have the latest breaking news.

4. We added an internal Google search utility at:

http://www.factnet.org/Search.html 5. We added a Site Map at: http://www.factnet.org/site_map.html
FACTNet created a relationship with:

1/ Amazon.com; so that people could purchase books and other goods via FACTNet and, thereby, donate to FACTNet.

2/ eBay.com; so that people could purchase auction goods via FACTNet and, thereby, donate to FACTNet.

Both of these relationships will be further enhanced as time goes by.

Of all the things we did this year with our donor's money we are most proud of the fact that we contributed, along with others, to changing the paradigm of how the media reports on those people who are involved in terrorist activities.

On December 5 2001, TIME magazine came out with an article titled:

"Did John Walker Join a Cult?: The country is horrified by the apparent defection of Walker, the 'American Taliban.' Would our reaction change if it turned out he'd been brainwashed?"

This article can be found at:

http://www.time.com/time/columnist/reaves/article/0,9565,187206,00.html We feel that this is rather significant since it opens the debate surrounding the internal methodologies of certain organizations. The common wisdom is that one cannot legislate against belief. This is a fundamental truth that underpins all democracies. Nevertheless, what one is able to do is to legislate against behaviors that are harmful to others.

For a long time we have felt that the debate concerning "brainwashing', "mind control", "cults" and "toxic faiths" has too often been misdirected towards outlawing whatever "cult" is the polecat of the day. This will never happen in America because religious freedoms are protected by the Constitution (nor is it desirable that we should outlaw religions). There has also been an effort to attempt to ban certain unpalatable ideas from being propagated via the media or the Internet. This is also a misdirection of energies and, in our mind, a non-constructive endeavor. Our energies are better spent trying to pinpoint activities that are harmful to others, but are not yet legislated against.

It is self-evident that those activists who are exposing the legal transgressions and suspicious behaviors of certain organizations are doing a remarkable job in drawing the attention of journalists and other watchdog organizations.

In support of this methodology we have always tried our best to bring something to the party. And we will continue to do so in the future Nevertheless, we have been left with the nagging suspicion that a legal paradigm shift needs to occur before people can be given further protection against coercive practices that diminish their abilities to make free choices.

After all is said and done, the concept of "Free Choice" takes primacy. All the value-laden words like "brainwashing, mind-control, cults, and sects etc." refer back to people's inability to make a free choice regarding their personal well-being.

At what point does an organization's Constitutional right to freedom of speech become "mind control" and, thereby, interfere with a person's Constitutional right to freely practice his religion?

It is this area of the Law that is still without clarity and without teeth.

For obvious reasons.

It is our opinion that the reason there is no rush to define legislation regarding coercive mind-control practices is that unethical governments and corporations are reliant on these practices as an integral part of their management, marketing and governance.

It is a frightening thing to read Dr Margaret Singer's article "Coercive Mind Control Tactics" ( http://www.factnet.org/coercivemindcontrol.html ) with an open mind and apply it to particular governments and corporations.

The idea that "mind-control" is about incarceration and chain-smoking thugs shining bright lights into one's eyes is archaic. Modern forms of "mind-control" would include restricting access to alternative information, lack of transparency in government and business, poor education, press monopolies and promoting political and cultural arenas that are so circumscribed by fear that open and free democratic debate cannot occur.

The new frontier in the battle for freedom from these manipulations is getting legal recognition that these tactics are harmful to society in both the long and the short-term. And the only people who can force these changes are taxpayers.

Taxpayers need to be more vocal and demanding that transparency in government should be the order of the day. Transparency has the benefit of encouraging debate. And debate leads to the dissemination of a broader spectrum of information.

...and while they are at it they should be demanding transparency in those non-profit organizations (religious or otherwise) that are tax-exempt and, therefore, exist solely by the grace of the taxpayer. If you are unclear as to what this implies in America you can go to http://www.factnet.org/501_c_3.html to read further.

It is FACTNet's opinion that enforcing the existing laws more rigorously would bring relief to many people.

It is FACTNet's opinion that, if people demanded more transparency and accountability from government, it would create a social environment that would encourage the dissemination of information, which are the tools that preserve and protect our mental freedoms.

It is FACTNet's opinion that modern "mind-control" techniques have evolved to the point where the common man can no longer rely on "common sense" to protect his mental freedoms.

In the same way that environmental experts are needed to help define laws that protect the environment and promote freedom from malevolent physical manipulation, we believe that "mind control" experts should be brought before Congress so that legislation can be enacted to help promote an environment that is free from malevolent psychological manipulation.

As you have been reading we have done a lot to forward the FACTNet education mission this year. We estimate that several thousand people every day visit our web site. To continue this work we ask you once again to make a generous tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization. If you are not yet a donor then just send us an e-mail with your contact details and we add you to our donor mailings. Alternatively, you can send donations to:

FACTNet Inc.

Box 3135 Boulder, CO 80307-3135 USA Wisdom dictates that we protect the cost-effective and safe FACTNet web site services that redirects potential cult victims and cult researchers to a highly visible and easily accessed voice of reason that presents free and credible resource documents that are available to everyone.

Just imagine if you, or someone you knew, where on the verge of entering a cult and couldn't find free immediate access to anti-cult information at the critical and still vulnerable early stages of cult interest. Think about how much financial and personal suffering could have been so easily and inexpensively avoided.

PLEASE help us in this ongoing battle. Never forget your donation is your personal ongoing statement (in a safe and anonymous way) that you, too, cannot be silenced nor will you allow cults or the use of mind control to deceive and harm others unopposed!

Your personal donation no matter what the size makes a powerful statement for social justice and the empowerment of those who have been victimized by cults and mind control.

Sincerely, The FACTNet Editorial Team ------------------------------ -- F.A.C.T.Net, Inc.

PO Box 3135 Boulder, CO 80307-3135 USA Web site http://www.factnet.org/ E-mail manage@factnet.org Donations http://www.factnet.org/donation.htm Subscriptions to Newsletters http://www.factnet.org/newsmail.htm If you wish to be removed from one of our mailing lists:

please email us at manage@factnet.org with REMOVE in the subject line F.A.C.T.Net is a non-profit 501(c)(3) news source, referral service, and archive protecting freedom of mind from harms caused by psychological coercion.

This editorial opinion provided by FactNet, Inc. FactNet is a nonprofit Internet archive and newswire service dedicated to protecting freedom of mind by reducing harms caused by cults and mind control. FactNet's web page is located at http://www.factnet.org and has received over 21,000,000 hits.

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