Bill Wilson, Co-founder of AA
Adulterer, the original *13th stepper, user of illicit drugs, all of this while birthing and participating in the Alcoholics Anonymous movement. Where did he find the time? Co-author of AA's "Big Book", the gospel that is still the foundation for millions of devotees to this day, despite its one-sided, outdated and ineffective doctrine. Member of the "Oxford Group"... a high society, take-no-prisoners Christian movement of the day. The Oxford tenets and practises heavily influenced the content of Bill's Big Book. The original opening chapters of the book contained many references to the Oxfords, (and their leader Frank Buchman) These were later removed, as the Catholic Church had denounced the Oxfords, and Bill didn't want his book banned by the pope. Nor did he want to lose potential Catholic AA recruits because of this. It was a smart business move. AA was "a spiritual program" as opposed to a religious one, as the Oxfords had made a similar claim for themselves. This is how the whole "god of your own understanding" idea came to exist in AA. If you thought that this "spiritual" approach was inspired in some mystical moment, sorry to have burst your bubble.
Bill was also well known for gravitating toward younger female AA recruits. A plan was put into action by his 12 step friends to keep a close eye on him and distract him when he was seen approaching newcomer females within the groups. Why his wife remained at his side all through his obvious extra curricular activities, we will never know. Like the 12 step cult that he helped to create, Bill led a double life...one that the general public perceived (and still does) and the darker side that insiders came to learn of. So much for Bill's insistence that steppers "grasp and develop a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty".
* "13th stepping" is the act of using an AA meeting to take advantage of vulnerable members for dating, sexual or monetary purposes.
Dr. Bob (Robert Holbrook Smith), Co-founder of AA
AA mythology presents Dr. Bob as a gentle, wise and loving soul. In truth, he was a dogmatic religious zealot and a very cold individual. He looked down on women, and tried to prevent them from being allowed membership into the early AA groups. His children went on to write a book about him: "Children of the healer: the story of Dr. Bob's kids as told to Christine Brewer" written by Bob Smith and adopted daughter Sue Smith Windows. They tell the real story of the other half of AA's power duo, describing him as a cruel and callous autocrat who ran a highly dysfunctional family. Bob was physically abusive to his children, even throughout his AA career, using a sharpened paddle on them and grabbing hold of them with brute force when he wanted to make a point. Like Bill, he was a member of the Oxford Society. He infused the hard-line religious attitudes of the Oxfords into Alcoholics Anonymous. Those attitudes prevail to this day. Gentle, wise and loving Bob even had new AA recruits get on their knees in front of him and surrender to God. This was the sort of power he liked to hold over people. The good doctor was the living embodiment of the legacy that he left behind...the legacy of Alcoholics Anonymous...a dogmatic and dictatorial organization with no real desire to be accountable to anyone, and no tolerance for opposition. You know what they say about building a house on sand...
AA World Services
"The General Service Board has no authority, legal or otherwise, to control or direct the behavior of A.A. members and groups.”
California superior court judge Rogelio Flores said, in response to the case:
"I wish I had a better answer for alcoholics, I really do."
Well, for starters, how about we stop mandating convicted offenders to attend AA?
AA World Service's take on this event? see the above quote.
The American and Canadian Criminal Court Systems
For carrying the flickering torch of Alcoholics Anonymous into court room convictions across the land, despite the fact that it only lights the way for predators to enter the meetings, and despite the fact that AA is a religious organization, and thus cannot be imposed on anyone by a court of law.
Thankfully, some judges are waking up to that reality, (see link) but not nearly enough of them.
http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/08/23/11-15354.pdf
The Brentwood Recovery Home, Windsor, ON, Canada
Brentwood, although it does not directly incorporate the Alcoholics Anonymous program, was founded on the AA steps and AA's disease concept. Brentwood encourages clients to attend AA and other 12 step groups after leaving treatment, unless clients live close enough to the recovery home to attend after-care meetings on site.
This program uses many of the same heavy-handed tactics you will encounter in AA meetings. Clients are told, just as in AA, that their personal will is of no use to them in recovery. The tired AA cliche is tossed around often: Your best thinking got you here. Surrender to the program is not merely suggested, it is served up as a steaming ultimatum...do or die. (do or get the hell out) The *4th and 5th steps of AA's 12, though simply called "inventory" in the home, are enforced and expanded on to the point where one must share his or her most shameful secrets with a large group of people on a daily basis. Many residents do just that, as they are conditioned to believe that they will relapse if they don't. This is nothing but an exercise in humiliation and invites breach of confidence by unscrupulous residents, which happens daily.
*Step 4: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”
Brentwood's take on gossip:
"You weren't ashamed to be a drunk, so don't worry about it!"
On top of that, residents are forbidden to discuss any life events that were imposed on them personally. (abuse, neglect etc.) They must only focus on how they hurt others. Never mind the fact that life events are what shape us, and that to reshape our lives we should likely address those traumatic experiences. This exercise in confession/repentance comes directly out of AA doctrine. Through this mind bending process, many clients, just as in AA groups, adopt a strong sense of guilt and self-loathing that seriously hinders, if not all out reverses their progress.
Belittlement, badgering, and condemnation are the norm: "You won't make it; you don't want to surrender" ..."You guys don't love your families; you don't know how to love!"
Just as in AA, questioning any facet of the program brings only swift correction.
Group leaders, just like the majority of AA sponsors, are not qualified counsellors. They are merely graduates of the program. The turnover among them is staggering. These group leaders involve the client's family in a very intimate fashion, imposing their uneducated and often biased diagnoses and encouraging family members to immerse themselves in the recovery home meetings. Vulnerable, hopeful spouses, siblings, parents and employers often trust the advice of these saintly leaders without question. This in itself can cause lasting damage to the family, as a realistic perspective on the client is rarely achieved, and the ill advice of these militants, in trusting hands, can be taken for gospel. This gospel has split marriages up, divided parents and children and threatened many a resident's chances of re-employment after leaving the "home".
To their credit (in order to partake of the peoples' tax dollars) they carry an on-board psychologist, but one who assumes a very passive role, and one who is not positioned to hand out direction to either clients or families.
I was in this boot camp. Like many others, I was nothing short of victimized by the experience, as was my wife as she followed their lead and clung to their every sacred scrap of life direction.
Their success rate: 4% for the record. This number is based on all recorded sober "alumni" since the home's opening over thirty years ago. In Brentwood's favour, statistics are merely numbers, and can't account for every sober soul that's crossed its threshold. However, the home receives roughly 17 million dollars annually from Ontario taxpayers. Those aren't merely numbers. We deserve a refund.
Save yourself much grief and drive right past this crumbling landmark. Check out this link to see the whitewash in action: http://brentwoodrecovery.com/ecom.asp?
As for the "certified counsellors" they speak of on their web page...those guys must be hiding, because I never once met one while in there. And oddly enough, (cough) outsiders are not permitted to observe during program hours.
Check this one out too. It's an extended arm of the facility...an out of town group. Notice that the site is pretty barren? That's because the group is too. Once boasting a healthy membership of 70-80 people, it now hosts 15-20 on an average week...a step in the right direction. http://alumni.brentwoodrecovery.com/ecom.asp
*update...the extended Brentwood group seems to have folded. The church where it met has been demolished and there is no longer web page reference to the group. One small victory against the recovery-for-profit industry.
The Central Group of AA, Chatham, ON Canada
This is a typical AA group for the most part, yet this particular post is a haven for many of the city's old-timers as well as members who work as counsellors in a local recovery facility. The group consists of five clearly divided factions, three of which are rigid cliques. The recovery home workers have their own table, and rarely mingle with other members. They use up a lot of oxygen in grumbling about clients under their command at work. They generally sit, arms crossed, scanning the group like distant gods. The old timers too have their own table. The many relapsing 1st steppers have theirs. (though most of them stick together for good reason...to find comfort and strength in numbers in the face of the obvious judgement all around them.) On "open speaker" nights, (open to the public) the Al-Anon matriarchs too isolate themselves at their own table. (AL-Anon is the 12 step program for spouses who are learning to live with their alcoholic partners) The 5th faction of members is merely comprised of those who are neutral to the folly all around them, thankfully. The group is often hard pressed to find a door greeter, (customary in many meetings) despite an average weekly attendance of 50 people...apparently such a task is beneath many members. If you attend this meeting you'll quickly realize that you're being observed and scrutinized. You will not likely be approached by many to welcome you. You will easily sense the all around emotional decay that permeates the place. The Central Group has a home on this page because it mirrors thousands of AA groups across our continent and abroad.
The London Withdrawal Management Facility, London, ON, Canada
Residents of this facility are told that AA is their only hope. While staying here, you are forced to attend a minimal of two AA meetings daily. As you cannot have your vehicle while you are a resident, you will find yourself walking miles and miles daily to attend one of the many meetings in the city each day. You are scrutinized heavily and treated like a truly diseased individual who has no ability to make a decision of any kind. For the fact alone that they insist to residents that Alcoholics Anonymous is their only hope, they have a permanent place on this page.
The Midtown Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, Washington DC
-Rampant 13th stepping to start off with. One young female member was in an older male member's home, waiting for her sponsor to arrive, and was locked into a room with him, by him, and...need I say more? This is only one of several related accounts of the circling of the sharks. Under-age women seem to be the preference.
-Zealous indoctrination. Isolation of new members from outside influence via constant telephone contact, visitations and insistence on faithful meeting attendance.
-Group "Leaders" using member contributions to finance personal properties and vacations.
A great effort has been made by Midtown culters to remove the many, many testimonies of this group's disgusting practises from the internet. This link has managed to salvage much of this sordid truth:
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-Midtown_stories.html
And again, a tip of the hat to AA World Services for doing NOTHING about this and other similar groups!
Are you beginning to see the utter ineffectiveness and the toxic potential of the 12 step program and the facilities it has inspired? AA claims to change lives. Why then, is it plagued from sea to sea with some of the sickest behaviour known to man? The Midtown scandals stand in a long line of infringements and all out crimes against human rights and dignity that are committed every day at the tables of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Mike, The "Serenity Group" of AA, Blenheim, ON Canada
Mike is a man's man...tall, husky, drives a big truck with a big hood ornament. Wears jeans and cowboy boots. I was about to suggest that the outer is perhaps compensating for the inner, but it's not my place to say. Mike likes the feeling of wealth and influence, and he possesses both in great abundance. I may be wrong, but I think these gifts may be covered in AA's "12 promises." The local "go to" sponsor, Mike dominates the Blenheim meetings with a thick husky voice and one or two followers in tow every time he descends the stairs to the church basement AA group every Tuesday night. He arrives fashionably late, usually 5 or 10 minutes into the meeting, just to complete that image of spiritual perfection and utter freedom in life; he wants you to now that he doesn't need AA...AA needs him. He gives potential sponsees a business card for his properties, so that they have his phone number; he likes you to know that he owns stuff. He sobered up through AA some 29 years ago, and never looked back. He has a low tolerance for people who can't "get it". Mike often throws tired, repetitive drunkalogues out during meetings, ensuring that people know just how far gone he was; he wants you to fear him. In equal measure he dramatically retraces his journey through the 12 steps, so that the faithful, feeble among him know just how this recovery biz is done. I'm a man of faith myself, but not faith in Mike, or the 12 steps, despite (clear throat) undeniable evidence of the profound effects the 12 steps, and God, have had on Mike. If he sponsors you, don't get drunk, because you'll be looking for another sponsor. God must be one serious guy.
One might readily dismiss guys like Mike out of hand as harmless AA clowns, but he's on this page for a reason...he is the poster boy for many, many biased, arrogant, no bullshit hard-nosed, holy ghostin' AA sponsors...people who lord over countless vulnerable newcomers...far from harmless. People like him are way too numerous in the 12 step world. In fact, the 12 step world holds the very doctrine and the very protocol that people like Mike live by. If that doesn't steer you away, I don't know what will.
If Mike knew that there were so many just like him within the vast ranks of Alcoholics Anonymous, I'd venture a guess that he'd find a different stage act just to be on top again. People like Mike can bring a newcomer to his cult-accepting knees or send him running out the door. I took the door; he was my sponsor. And for the record, he didn't scare me one bit; how can one be afraid of something that isn't real?
Oh, and as a side note, the Blenheim group, when I first encountered it at age 16, hosted 50-60 members. It now makes room for 8 to 10, and I am 41 years old. I'm not crediting guys like Mike though...again, not my place to say. But I do like the direction they're headed in.
John Haspel, AA Member, Torchbearer
First of all, I didn't break his anonymity...he did. Here's the link to his desperate, hate-fuelled defense of AA, in the face of an article that simply tells us the truth, in a slightly comedic fashion, about our beloved Bill Wilson.
http://pacificpalisades.patch.com/groups/arthur-christopher-schapers-blog/p/bp--the-aa-drunk-a-logue-from-bill-w-that-we-needed-to-hear#comments_list
Good going John! Your whining verbal rant just proved to the public what mindset exists so rampantly within Camp Wilson. I know that you have many, many Big Book Thumpers in your corner of the ring, but you did violate a couple of AA's 12 traditions, John H. Just thought I'd mention that in passing. I wrote them out here for you. I'm certain that it was just an oversight that you hadn't pasted the traditions to your bedpost or your bathroom mirror by now, or had them printed on T-shirts. I underlined the phrases you may want to focus on.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A.
name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Edward Kensakoski
I am constantly building this page. If you would like to add to it, simply go to the blog's contact page for options.
Bill was also well known for gravitating toward younger female AA recruits. A plan was put into action by his 12 step friends to keep a close eye on him and distract him when he was seen approaching newcomer females within the groups. Why his wife remained at his side all through his obvious extra curricular activities, we will never know. Like the 12 step cult that he helped to create, Bill led a double life...one that the general public perceived (and still does) and the darker side that insiders came to learn of. So much for Bill's insistence that steppers "grasp and develop a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty".
* "13th stepping" is the act of using an AA meeting to take advantage of vulnerable members for dating, sexual or monetary purposes.
Dr. Bob (Robert Holbrook Smith), Co-founder of AA
AA mythology presents Dr. Bob as a gentle, wise and loving soul. In truth, he was a dogmatic religious zealot and a very cold individual. He looked down on women, and tried to prevent them from being allowed membership into the early AA groups. His children went on to write a book about him: "Children of the healer: the story of Dr. Bob's kids as told to Christine Brewer" written by Bob Smith and adopted daughter Sue Smith Windows. They tell the real story of the other half of AA's power duo, describing him as a cruel and callous autocrat who ran a highly dysfunctional family. Bob was physically abusive to his children, even throughout his AA career, using a sharpened paddle on them and grabbing hold of them with brute force when he wanted to make a point. Like Bill, he was a member of the Oxford Society. He infused the hard-line religious attitudes of the Oxfords into Alcoholics Anonymous. Those attitudes prevail to this day. Gentle, wise and loving Bob even had new AA recruits get on their knees in front of him and surrender to God. This was the sort of power he liked to hold over people. The good doctor was the living embodiment of the legacy that he left behind...the legacy of Alcoholics Anonymous...a dogmatic and dictatorial organization with no real desire to be accountable to anyone, and no tolerance for opposition. You know what they say about building a house on sand...
AA World Services
For standing utterly silent in the face of ever increasing 13th stepping within AA, and all of its related issues and tragedies, for offering not even an effort at a solution to the rampant emotional and psychological damage caused by fanatical and influential AA members. Nor does AAWS offer any tangible explanation to the medical evidence and statistics that reveal the 12 steps to not only be generally ineffective, but often damaging to one's true recovery from alcoholism.Their stance on the all out free-for-all nature among groups, deeply rooted cult behaviour and often dangerous 13th steppers:
"The General Service Board has no authority, legal or otherwise, to control or direct the behavior of A.A. members and groups.”
Wait a minute...every AA group must register with AA World Services in order to be an official AA group! This is to ensure each group's accountability to the protocol of the AA program! (including helping to finance AAWS salaried staff) Of course, by the very nature of the program, AA cannot find a truly accountable foothold in the face of mounting medical research and clinincal findings concerning the treatment of alcoholism.
AAWS WILL, however, take swift action if there is money theft among the ranks. Each group is required to send a portion of its collection money to AAWS, however loosely this "donation" system operates. I was involved in a group when a trustee dipped into the cookie jar. When that happens, AAWS is on high alert.
Eric Allen Earle
13th stepper in a California AA group. Eric was a homeless predator, using AA meetings to meet women and subsequently use them for money, material goods and shelter. In 2011 he met Karla Brada Mendez in this AA group. She was turning her life around, having secured a good job and a condo in San Fernando Valley. She quickly fell for Earle. What followed was a relationship of all out abuse at Eric's hands, and finally Karla's murder. Earle was a "forced attendance" member...he had been mandated by the criminal courts to attend AA meetings as a result of a string of assault and DUI convictions. He drank freely between those meetings. During his pre-trial hearings, Earle had a new woman at his side.
California superior court judge Rogelio Flores said, in response to the case:
"I wish I had a better answer for alcoholics, I really do."
Well, for starters, how about we stop mandating convicted offenders to attend AA?
AA World Service's take on this event? see the above quote.
Our hearts are with you Karla.
The American and Canadian Criminal Court Systems
For carrying the flickering torch of Alcoholics Anonymous into court room convictions across the land, despite the fact that it only lights the way for predators to enter the meetings, and despite the fact that AA is a religious organization, and thus cannot be imposed on anyone by a court of law.
Thankfully, some judges are waking up to that reality, (see link) but not nearly enough of them.
http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/08/23/11-15354.pdf
The Brentwood Recovery Home, Windsor, ON, Canada
Brentwood, although it does not directly incorporate the Alcoholics Anonymous program, was founded on the AA steps and AA's disease concept. Brentwood encourages clients to attend AA and other 12 step groups after leaving treatment, unless clients live close enough to the recovery home to attend after-care meetings on site.This program uses many of the same heavy-handed tactics you will encounter in AA meetings. Clients are told, just as in AA, that their personal will is of no use to them in recovery. The tired AA cliche is tossed around often: Your best thinking got you here. Surrender to the program is not merely suggested, it is served up as a steaming ultimatum...do or die. (do or get the hell out) The *4th and 5th steps of AA's 12, though simply called "inventory" in the home, are enforced and expanded on to the point where one must share his or her most shameful secrets with a large group of people on a daily basis. Many residents do just that, as they are conditioned to believe that they will relapse if they don't. This is nothing but an exercise in humiliation and invites breach of confidence by unscrupulous residents, which happens daily.
*Step 4: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”
Step 5: “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
Brentwood's take on gossip:
"You weren't ashamed to be a drunk, so don't worry about it!"
On top of that, residents are forbidden to discuss any life events that were imposed on them personally. (abuse, neglect etc.) They must only focus on how they hurt others. Never mind the fact that life events are what shape us, and that to reshape our lives we should likely address those traumatic experiences. This exercise in confession/repentance comes directly out of AA doctrine. Through this mind bending process, many clients, just as in AA groups, adopt a strong sense of guilt and self-loathing that seriously hinders, if not all out reverses their progress.
Belittlement, badgering, and condemnation are the norm: "You won't make it; you don't want to surrender" ..."You guys don't love your families; you don't know how to love!"
Just as in AA, questioning any facet of the program brings only swift correction.
Group leaders, just like the majority of AA sponsors, are not qualified counsellors. They are merely graduates of the program. The turnover among them is staggering. These group leaders involve the client's family in a very intimate fashion, imposing their uneducated and often biased diagnoses and encouraging family members to immerse themselves in the recovery home meetings. Vulnerable, hopeful spouses, siblings, parents and employers often trust the advice of these saintly leaders without question. This in itself can cause lasting damage to the family, as a realistic perspective on the client is rarely achieved, and the ill advice of these militants, in trusting hands, can be taken for gospel. This gospel has split marriages up, divided parents and children and threatened many a resident's chances of re-employment after leaving the "home".
To their credit (in order to partake of the peoples' tax dollars) they carry an on-board psychologist, but one who assumes a very passive role, and one who is not positioned to hand out direction to either clients or families.
I was in this boot camp. Like many others, I was nothing short of victimized by the experience, as was my wife as she followed their lead and clung to their every sacred scrap of life direction.
Their success rate: 4% for the record. This number is based on all recorded sober "alumni" since the home's opening over thirty years ago. In Brentwood's favour, statistics are merely numbers, and can't account for every sober soul that's crossed its threshold. However, the home receives roughly 17 million dollars annually from Ontario taxpayers. Those aren't merely numbers. We deserve a refund.
Save yourself much grief and drive right past this crumbling landmark. Check out this link to see the whitewash in action: http://brentwoodrecovery.com/ecom.asp?
As for the "certified counsellors" they speak of on their web page...those guys must be hiding, because I never once met one while in there. And oddly enough, (cough) outsiders are not permitted to observe during program hours.
Check this one out too. It's an extended arm of the facility...an out of town group. Notice that the site is pretty barren? That's because the group is too. Once boasting a healthy membership of 70-80 people, it now hosts 15-20 on an average week...a step in the right direction. http://alumni.brentwoodrecovery.com/ecom.asp
*update...the extended Brentwood group seems to have folded. The church where it met has been demolished and there is no longer web page reference to the group. One small victory against the recovery-for-profit industry.
The Central Group of AA, Chatham, ON Canada
This is a typical AA group for the most part, yet this particular post is a haven for many of the city's old-timers as well as members who work as counsellors in a local recovery facility. The group consists of five clearly divided factions, three of which are rigid cliques. The recovery home workers have their own table, and rarely mingle with other members. They use up a lot of oxygen in grumbling about clients under their command at work. They generally sit, arms crossed, scanning the group like distant gods. The old timers too have their own table. The many relapsing 1st steppers have theirs. (though most of them stick together for good reason...to find comfort and strength in numbers in the face of the obvious judgement all around them.) On "open speaker" nights, (open to the public) the Al-Anon matriarchs too isolate themselves at their own table. (AL-Anon is the 12 step program for spouses who are learning to live with their alcoholic partners) The 5th faction of members is merely comprised of those who are neutral to the folly all around them, thankfully. The group is often hard pressed to find a door greeter, (customary in many meetings) despite an average weekly attendance of 50 people...apparently such a task is beneath many members. If you attend this meeting you'll quickly realize that you're being observed and scrutinized. You will not likely be approached by many to welcome you. You will easily sense the all around emotional decay that permeates the place. The Central Group has a home on this page because it mirrors thousands of AA groups across our continent and abroad.
The London Withdrawal Management Facility, London, ON, Canada
Residents of this facility are told that AA is their only hope. While staying here, you are forced to attend a minimal of two AA meetings daily. As you cannot have your vehicle while you are a resident, you will find yourself walking miles and miles daily to attend one of the many meetings in the city each day. You are scrutinized heavily and treated like a truly diseased individual who has no ability to make a decision of any kind. For the fact alone that they insist to residents that Alcoholics Anonymous is their only hope, they have a permanent place on this page.
The Midtown Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, Washington DC
-Rampant 13th stepping to start off with. One young female member was in an older male member's home, waiting for her sponsor to arrive, and was locked into a room with him, by him, and...need I say more? This is only one of several related accounts of the circling of the sharks. Under-age women seem to be the preference.
-Zealous indoctrination. Isolation of new members from outside influence via constant telephone contact, visitations and insistence on faithful meeting attendance.
-Group "Leaders" using member contributions to finance personal properties and vacations.
A great effort has been made by Midtown culters to remove the many, many testimonies of this group's disgusting practises from the internet. This link has managed to salvage much of this sordid truth:
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-Midtown_stories.html
And again, a tip of the hat to AA World Services for doing NOTHING about this and other similar groups!
Are you beginning to see the utter ineffectiveness and the toxic potential of the 12 step program and the facilities it has inspired? AA claims to change lives. Why then, is it plagued from sea to sea with some of the sickest behaviour known to man? The Midtown scandals stand in a long line of infringements and all out crimes against human rights and dignity that are committed every day at the tables of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Mike, The "Serenity Group" of AA, Blenheim, ON Canada
Mike is a man's man...tall, husky, drives a big truck with a big hood ornament. Wears jeans and cowboy boots. I was about to suggest that the outer is perhaps compensating for the inner, but it's not my place to say. Mike likes the feeling of wealth and influence, and he possesses both in great abundance. I may be wrong, but I think these gifts may be covered in AA's "12 promises." The local "go to" sponsor, Mike dominates the Blenheim meetings with a thick husky voice and one or two followers in tow every time he descends the stairs to the church basement AA group every Tuesday night. He arrives fashionably late, usually 5 or 10 minutes into the meeting, just to complete that image of spiritual perfection and utter freedom in life; he wants you to now that he doesn't need AA...AA needs him. He gives potential sponsees a business card for his properties, so that they have his phone number; he likes you to know that he owns stuff. He sobered up through AA some 29 years ago, and never looked back. He has a low tolerance for people who can't "get it". Mike often throws tired, repetitive drunkalogues out during meetings, ensuring that people know just how far gone he was; he wants you to fear him. In equal measure he dramatically retraces his journey through the 12 steps, so that the faithful, feeble among him know just how this recovery biz is done. I'm a man of faith myself, but not faith in Mike, or the 12 steps, despite (clear throat) undeniable evidence of the profound effects the 12 steps, and God, have had on Mike. If he sponsors you, don't get drunk, because you'll be looking for another sponsor. God must be one serious guy.
One might readily dismiss guys like Mike out of hand as harmless AA clowns, but he's on this page for a reason...he is the poster boy for many, many biased, arrogant, no bullshit hard-nosed, holy ghostin' AA sponsors...people who lord over countless vulnerable newcomers...far from harmless. People like him are way too numerous in the 12 step world. In fact, the 12 step world holds the very doctrine and the very protocol that people like Mike live by. If that doesn't steer you away, I don't know what will.
If Mike knew that there were so many just like him within the vast ranks of Alcoholics Anonymous, I'd venture a guess that he'd find a different stage act just to be on top again. People like Mike can bring a newcomer to his cult-accepting knees or send him running out the door. I took the door; he was my sponsor. And for the record, he didn't scare me one bit; how can one be afraid of something that isn't real?
Oh, and as a side note, the Blenheim group, when I first encountered it at age 16, hosted 50-60 members. It now makes room for 8 to 10, and I am 41 years old. I'm not crediting guys like Mike though...again, not my place to say. But I do like the direction they're headed in.
John Haspel, AA Member, Torchbearer
First of all, I didn't break his anonymity...he did. Here's the link to his desperate, hate-fuelled defense of AA, in the face of an article that simply tells us the truth, in a slightly comedic fashion, about our beloved Bill Wilson.
http://pacificpalisades.patch.com/groups/arthur-christopher-schapers-blog/p/bp--the-aa-drunk-a-logue-from-bill-w-that-we-needed-to-hear#comments_list
Good going John! Your whining verbal rant just proved to the public what mindset exists so rampantly within Camp Wilson. I know that you have many, many Big Book Thumpers in your corner of the ring, but you did violate a couple of AA's 12 traditions, John H. Just thought I'd mention that in passing. I wrote them out here for you. I'm certain that it was just an oversight that you hadn't pasted the traditions to your bedpost or your bathroom mirror by now, or had them printed on T-shirts. I underlined the phrases you may want to focus on.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A.
name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we
need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films. (And internet)
Ira, Al-anon Matriarch, "Brentwood" soldier
Here we have a slightly different angle on the typical 12 step zealot. Ira isn't an alcoholic; she was heavily abused by one for years. Abuse is a legitimate issue by any account. (And it's a fact that men can be victims too.) Ira's recovery from her own nightmare however, grew to be anything but legit.
Often during the process of abuse, the sickness spreads to the abusee, though not in the way that Al-anon would have us believe, with their myths about spouses being mindless puppets who were born with an incurable "walk all over me" disease. For those of you who don't know, Al-anon is the 12 step program designed to help spouses and family members of alcoholics deal with their drunken loved one. Ira's sickness took the form of not only unbridled man-bashing, but a full out war against the male species, especially the alcoholic type. Her recruiting office is open 24/7.
Side note: she's re-married...you can take it from there.
Years ago she escaped her first husband's grip and found a treatment centre that got her to her feet again. Ira took this new freedom to a peak that most women in her position were not willing or able to climb, out of respect for human virtue. The decades that consequently bowed to Ira's personal recovery in follow-up Al-Anon groups saw her fine tune a program of her own, and carry it like a flaming pitch fork on a flying broomstick into the lives of many wives who simply wanted to forgive, forget and carry on. Most of those wives were far from living a life of explaining away black eyes and bloody lips to their friends and employers. Never mind such silly things as professional credentials when imposing influence over susceptible people. AL-Anon had unleashed her inner lion, and surely God himself ordained her for such work, just as God blessed the 12 steps and all of the sponsors who carry the blazing torch into millions of lives. God really is one hard-assed sunuvabitch.
Ira went leaps and bounds above many of her peers as she all but demanded that her fellow sisters-in-arms keep their men in line and let their lines be drawn with a "Do Not Cross" sign pounded into the sand. One can only imagine what once lofty ideals like a happy marriage, communication, a healthy sex life and a mutual trust have morphed into among her lackies.
I gave her a place on this list because I've met many of her followers. I know that her blitzkrieg of discrimination and domination spreads like cancer in ideal conditions. And just as AA produces some pretty callous and cunning dictators, Al-anon is a breeding ground for women of steel like Ira.
Over the years, Ira has only accelerated her cause. She is linked to the Brentwood Recovery Home (mentioned previously on this list) as one of its out-of-town soldiers. She has a group of her own, an extension of the recovery home, which meets once weekly. Brentwood sends her regular lists of all of the fresh alcoholics and addicts from her area who register for treatment, along with their contact information and addresses. Her routine is a constant cycle of phone calls to spouses, parents or any other relative willing to hear her out. Then her program swings into motion as she insists that family members attend support meetings, call her for advice, and more importantly, take no shit ever after from their recovering loved ones. If her phone calls are not returned, home visits often prove more fruitful. Under her iron rule, marriages are dissected and manipulated. Vulnerable wives often listen and obey. Young people return home from treatment to find programmed parents. The sickness spreads. On a good note, Ira's crown jewel extended Brentwood cult, having once boasted anywhere from 70-80 members who congregated at a large union hall, now holds court for roughly 20 people in a church basement.* By your fruits we shall know you. The same (albeit diminishing) wolf pack that has followed her lead for years keeps the local Al-anon group afloat.
I'm certain that upon reflection of the declining membership of her cult, she sees it for what it is...so many people living in denial. Tisk tisk.
I know that this hurts for you to hear, Ira, but many wives really do love their problematic husbands. Many parents really do love their children. Many people simply want to work things out.
*see update about this group under the Brentwood description in this list.
Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr./Judge Michael T. Conahan, Luzerne County, PA
Fortunately for these corrupted clowns, they cannot be civilly sued for their actions, under immunity clauses
that protect judges from prosecution, even when they act in bad faith. They were however criminally charged for accepting 2.8 million dollars in kickback money in a monumental cash-for-kids scandal.
Between 2003-2008, both judges sentenced thousands of minors to two newly developed profit based rehabilitation centers for big profit themselves.
Conahan ordered the closing of a local county owned juvenile facility in order to pave the way for this payoff plot and send his young convicts to the two new rehabs that financed his verdicts.
Ciavarella pressured probation officials to recommend detention for young people who were convicted of petty crimes in his courtroom. Just as in Conahan's case, these recommendations would pave the way for him to ship the kids to the new facilities. In many cases the juveniles were jailed unfairly and not informed of their rights to counsel. For those infractions, the judges can't be dragged down, but for the kickbacks they got a good kick in the ass for racketeering.
Hundreds of these formerly detained juveniles came forward and filed suites, citing emotional and psychological damage inflicted on them within the two new super centers, which are owned by developer Robert Mericle and formerly co-owned by attorney Robert Powell. Not one of the convicted juveniles was ever adequately diagnosed with mental or addiction issues, and most of their crimes were petty at best.
Marsha Levick, deputy director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, PA represented these clients.
This is a bittersweet victory for those of us who oppose the highly corrupted multi-million dollar treatment industry. Those children have lost a big piece of their lives as they were demonized and labelled by the recovery business. They will bear those scars for all time.
One of the victims, Edward Kensakoski took his own life, unable to reconcile with the traumatic event. Unfortunately, his father, having been worried about Edward's academics, planted drug paraphernalia in Edward's truck, and with the help of friends, schemed to report him to local police, believing this to be a foolproof way of setting him on a better path. In reality, the misguided plot sent Edward straight into a merciless meat grinder of a legal system.
On a good note, in 2011 Judge Ciavarella was convicted and sentenced to 28 years time. Judge Conahan received 17.5 in the slammer. This is hardly justice, but at least two faces of the justice system have been put out of action, and the cattle-herding-for- cash recovery industry was exposed for what it is, at least for a moment.
Ira, Al-anon Matriarch, "Brentwood" soldier
Here we have a slightly different angle on the typical 12 step zealot. Ira isn't an alcoholic; she was heavily abused by one for years. Abuse is a legitimate issue by any account. (And it's a fact that men can be victims too.) Ira's recovery from her own nightmare however, grew to be anything but legit.
Often during the process of abuse, the sickness spreads to the abusee, though not in the way that Al-anon would have us believe, with their myths about spouses being mindless puppets who were born with an incurable "walk all over me" disease. For those of you who don't know, Al-anon is the 12 step program designed to help spouses and family members of alcoholics deal with their drunken loved one. Ira's sickness took the form of not only unbridled man-bashing, but a full out war against the male species, especially the alcoholic type. Her recruiting office is open 24/7.
Side note: she's re-married...you can take it from there.
Years ago she escaped her first husband's grip and found a treatment centre that got her to her feet again. Ira took this new freedom to a peak that most women in her position were not willing or able to climb, out of respect for human virtue. The decades that consequently bowed to Ira's personal recovery in follow-up Al-Anon groups saw her fine tune a program of her own, and carry it like a flaming pitch fork on a flying broomstick into the lives of many wives who simply wanted to forgive, forget and carry on. Most of those wives were far from living a life of explaining away black eyes and bloody lips to their friends and employers. Never mind such silly things as professional credentials when imposing influence over susceptible people. AL-Anon had unleashed her inner lion, and surely God himself ordained her for such work, just as God blessed the 12 steps and all of the sponsors who carry the blazing torch into millions of lives. God really is one hard-assed sunuvabitch.
I gave her a place on this list because I've met many of her followers. I know that her blitzkrieg of discrimination and domination spreads like cancer in ideal conditions. And just as AA produces some pretty callous and cunning dictators, Al-anon is a breeding ground for women of steel like Ira.
Over the years, Ira has only accelerated her cause. She is linked to the Brentwood Recovery Home (mentioned previously on this list) as one of its out-of-town soldiers. She has a group of her own, an extension of the recovery home, which meets once weekly. Brentwood sends her regular lists of all of the fresh alcoholics and addicts from her area who register for treatment, along with their contact information and addresses. Her routine is a constant cycle of phone calls to spouses, parents or any other relative willing to hear her out. Then her program swings into motion as she insists that family members attend support meetings, call her for advice, and more importantly, take no shit ever after from their recovering loved ones. If her phone calls are not returned, home visits often prove more fruitful. Under her iron rule, marriages are dissected and manipulated. Vulnerable wives often listen and obey. Young people return home from treatment to find programmed parents. The sickness spreads. On a good note, Ira's crown jewel extended Brentwood cult, having once boasted anywhere from 70-80 members who congregated at a large union hall, now holds court for roughly 20 people in a church basement.* By your fruits we shall know you. The same (albeit diminishing) wolf pack that has followed her lead for years keeps the local Al-anon group afloat.
I'm certain that upon reflection of the declining membership of her cult, she sees it for what it is...so many people living in denial. Tisk tisk.
I know that this hurts for you to hear, Ira, but many wives really do love their problematic husbands. Many parents really do love their children. Many people simply want to work things out.
*see update about this group under the Brentwood description in this list.
Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr./Judge Michael T. Conahan, Luzerne County, PA
Fortunately for these corrupted clowns, they cannot be civilly sued for their actions, under immunity clauses
that protect judges from prosecution, even when they act in bad faith. They were however criminally charged for accepting 2.8 million dollars in kickback money in a monumental cash-for-kids scandal.
Between 2003-2008, both judges sentenced thousands of minors to two newly developed profit based rehabilitation centers for big profit themselves.
Conahan ordered the closing of a local county owned juvenile facility in order to pave the way for this payoff plot and send his young convicts to the two new rehabs that financed his verdicts.
Ciavarella pressured probation officials to recommend detention for young people who were convicted of petty crimes in his courtroom. Just as in Conahan's case, these recommendations would pave the way for him to ship the kids to the new facilities. In many cases the juveniles were jailed unfairly and not informed of their rights to counsel. For those infractions, the judges can't be dragged down, but for the kickbacks they got a good kick in the ass for racketeering.
Hundreds of these formerly detained juveniles came forward and filed suites, citing emotional and psychological damage inflicted on them within the two new super centers, which are owned by developer Robert Mericle and formerly co-owned by attorney Robert Powell. Not one of the convicted juveniles was ever adequately diagnosed with mental or addiction issues, and most of their crimes were petty at best.
Marsha Levick, deputy director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, PA represented these clients.
This is a bittersweet victory for those of us who oppose the highly corrupted multi-million dollar treatment industry. Those children have lost a big piece of their lives as they were demonized and labelled by the recovery business. They will bear those scars for all time.
One of the victims, Edward Kensakoski took his own life, unable to reconcile with the traumatic event. Unfortunately, his father, having been worried about Edward's academics, planted drug paraphernalia in Edward's truck, and with the help of friends, schemed to report him to local police, believing this to be a foolproof way of setting him on a better path. In reality, the misguided plot sent Edward straight into a merciless meat grinder of a legal system.
On a good note, in 2011 Judge Ciavarella was convicted and sentenced to 28 years time. Judge Conahan received 17.5 in the slammer. This is hardly justice, but at least two faces of the justice system have been put out of action, and the cattle-herding-for- cash recovery industry was exposed for what it is, at least for a moment.
Edward KensakoskiI am constantly building this page. If you would like to add to it, simply go to the blog's contact page for options.
Nice work! I believe this is exactly how Terry (sir orange) started his papers. You will always be updating this list since there is no end to the similar sick-fuck stories to come from this dangerous cult religion commonly known as the 12 steps. Keep up the great work. These truths prove to help more people than all the 70+ years of AA indoctrination. People deserve the truth - not a fundamental Christian religion disguised as medicine. Just the fact that they all chant, 'it's spiritual, not religious' when it's clearly a mind-fuck religion all it's own, is proof of the damaging dogma. Stay away. Stay far away.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Laura. I always look to your take on things, as you have a strong sense of the truth about this mindfuck organization. Yes, this page will keep getting longer. As you said, there is no end to the sick-fuck stories. That's the scary part...there is NO good AA meeting. The cult doctrine and mentality is rooted deeply in the 12 step culture and the recovery centres it spawns like bastard children. Anyhow, hope you'll be posting for us soon on your blog! :)
ReplyDelete