by Dreams End » Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:42 pm
Hey. Welcome to RI. My source on this is an excellent limited hangout (sorry for the judgment...but I'll tell you why I say this in a sec.) from the Washington City Paper. "In Search of the Finders, " Aug 12 - 18 issue, 1988 by Jon Cohen. Cohen now writes, I believe, on science issues for Christian Science Monitor...or at least did when I tracked him down and asked him to send this article.<br><br>Oh, crap. I'm really embarrased and I need to write Bradley. The article says "San Francisco", not Fresno. I got mixed up and I guess it was late. They aren't THAT far apart, but I'm afraid as far as leads go, that puts it way down on the list.<br><br>The mom's were there "working in business offices, earning money to help pay for 'New Hope.' (a retirement community in Berea, Kentucky...my first stop if I were writing a book on the Finders.)"<br><br>I'm pretty embarrassed by this error...and I'm sorry if it wasted much of your time.<br><br>While we're on it, let me tell you why I called this article a "limited hangout". I don't know how else to explain it. The author did a great job in getting lots of details. But there was nothing about the Customs Agent's memo about acquiring children from Hong Kong...and all that stuff (I can reprint it, but I'm sure you are familiar with it.) So I sent Cohen a copy of this memo to see if he thought it was real and he said it looked real to him. He said he'd seen "some" of the pictures and they were "no big deal." So he had no interest in the trafficking angle or any of that. It was just kinda strange. <br><br>Here's another little aside about the finders. I actually emailed Daniel Brandt about them because he'd written an article how they'd tried to horn in on his database program many years ago and were misrepresenting themselves (i.e. spying) to all kinds of groups <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.astraeasweb.net/religion/cult.html">www.astraeasweb.net/religion/cult.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> (have to scroll down a ways to get to the part about Finders.)<br><br>Well, the rumor is, that reporter JOINED them. I can't prove that, but I did track him down and he writes for an Asian, English language web news service and I think several Finders spent time in Asia and many are probably there. This unsigned post on an indymedia board is interesting, but no proof. <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/17342/index.php">indymedia.org.nz/newswire.../index.php</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> (got this link off Kathleen Sullivan's site...she has many of the docs on the case). I actually emailed him, but not surprisingly, I didn't hear back. <br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr> The Finders cult group has moved to Taiwan,the group is suspected to be involved in pedophilia.<br>The Finders cult group has moved to Taiwan, the Taipei group is run an American Journalist who had researched them in the 1990's and became a convert.The group is expanding in Taipei now.They have affiliated themselves with orphanages.The American journalist tried to set up a branch of the Finders in Korea but was expelled in 1997 by Korean police under a cloud of accusations that he had undressed pre schoolers in his care and photographed them naked.There was no evidence found in his apartment or on his laptop but he was promtly deported and moved to Taipei. He is involved in efforts to smear various anti pedophilia groups using his status as a journalist. He claims that a friend of his,ex New Zealand Police Officer, Graham Cleghorn, was set up by anti pedophila groups in Cambodia.Cleghorn was jailed in Cambodia earlier this year.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Unsigned, unsourced...maddening. <br><br>I have LOTS of such info...but sadly, I misled you with the Fresno connection. I must have read the story about Susan and seen Fresno and then reread the article and gotten confused. <br><br>This is really important and I'm upset with myself for being so careless.<br><br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>