Taking Liberties

This is my kind of picture: a mugful of dark and mug of light.

...but this is probably closer to being on-topic.

The Spiritual Rights Foundation "operated" several businesses. Here is a list of the ones I know about:

• Health and Wealth - a publisher of "self-help" recordings.
• A Bookstore in Berkeley (now defunct) - a small "bookstore" that apparently made more money on porn than books.
• Sterling Rose Press (now defunct) - the "publisher" of the official Academy for Psychic Studies organ, "American Spirit Newspaper.  The newspaper is no longer printed in paper form and the web version was last updated in January 2008.
• Liberty Construction (now defunct) - a local construction company purchased from the widow of a SRF Clairvoyant Training Program student who killed himself. The price paid was said to be ridiculously low.
• Blue Sky Ranch (now like Iraq) - it raises livestock for sale. Well actually, as it is owned by Robin Dumolin and Angela Silva, it's not really an SRF business. But we all thought it was.
• Freedom Estates - the firm that manages SRF-owned income properties.

The ownership of those "companies" was technically SRF. The managers of those companies had a familiar appearance to them. In every one of those companies, the management positions were held by Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin - except for the Blue Sky Ranch. They owned it. We thought the church owned it.
Considering that Bill Duby kept saying Angela and Robin represent "the body of the church", I suppose in legal terms those would be one and the same. And if you believe that one, I still have a bridge for sale.

According to Steve Sanchez's book "Spiritual Perversion", Robin and Angela took managment positions in Liberty Construction. Angela drew a salary from Liberty Construction for doing absolutely nothing. Robin drew a salary for an hour's worth of scrutinizing the ledgers for no apparent reason than she loved to count her money.

It was well known that those two held management positions in all the other companies. I would presume they performed similar tasks and drew similar paychecks.

Oddly, Angela and Robin drew more than salaries. They compelled Liberty Construction to pay them revenue shares (NOT profit shares, you make-believe MBA's). Such a practice is highly unusual in a legitimate company. In fact, it's not practiced in any thriving and functional company you would hear about. I would presume that arrangement was made in the rest of the SRF "companies".

Even though Angela and Robin made money on these "companies" through salaries and revenue shares (oh, and those "companies" were paying a tithe to SRF, which in turn was paying Angela and Robin stipends) only Liberty Construction paid the employees.

I and many others spend many a late night recording, producing or packaging recordings for Health and Wealth at absolutely no pay. Those who worked at the bookstore say they worked for no pay. Freedom Estates sole "property manager" has been heard to say "I don't get paid for this job."

The Blue Sky Ranch draws free labor from the ever-dwindling pool of the SRF faithful. There is only one or two able-bodied men to do the heavy work. The women are said to have lost interest in the Ranch. No wonder the Blue Sky Ranch is sinking into the swamp.

Sill, even though they have free labor, draw salaries for doing nothing and get revenue shares it's not enough for Angela and Robin. Liberty Construction has provided home improvement work for them for free.
Steve Sanchez writes about that in this excerpt from "Spiritual Perversion":


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...I did tell Robin and Ang that I thought that SRF should pay for it when the Liberty men worked on SRF property, because using their labor for free it was hurting the business. In reality I didn’t care if Liberty went down. No, I was dearly hoping it would.

After the meeting, Ang took me aside and said, “Steve I thought you did a real good job of not reacting. You handled it well.” I thanked her and thought, how ironic.

Shortly after this, Ang asked me to build a steam room in her bathroom for Rev. Bill, and Bill asked me to put hardwood flooring in the living room for Ang. Both of them wanted this as a gift from Liberty. I didn’t want to do this because Liberty couldn’t afford it at all, it would cause me a lot of stress, and I believed they were taking advantage of the money in an inappropriate way. On the other hand if I showed any sign of not wanting to do it I would certainly catch hell for being disloyal.

I arranged all the work, even though I had two other jobs going on. I still wanted to show them I was loyal. I became their buddy as the work was going on at first. But half way through, they decided they also wanted hardwood flooring in the bedroom, two new sliding glass doors, two new windows, and cedar paneling in the closets.

I told them Liberty couldn’t afford to do this, but they overrode me, and accused me of being disloyal. They put Linda in charge of finishing the work, because I had a “‘bad attitude,”’ and I was slammed in front of everyone. All this made me sick to my stomach.

I didn’t know what my rights were. I was starting to hate them. Could it really be that they we’re just hatefully using me?’. But I continued to float over it,these misgivings in out of fear and wanted desire for their approval.

They ended up spending about $10,000.00 at Liberty’s expense. I couldn’t take much more. I was so stressed I could barely stand being alive. I couldn’t mistake the endless, useless pattern of my life.

===============================================

I remember this event; where Bill Duby wanted to pimp his crib. At that time, I was not aware of how much work Bill wanted. However, I was really, really aware of how much he wanted it.

Before attending our Clairvoyant Training Program classes, reading night or any damn thing, we lowlife students were required to sit downstairs and "run energy" for an hour or so. One day, while entering into my state of mind control, I overhead the distinctive voice of Bill Duby engaged in his usual profane, heated outburst with a member of SRF.

As I was sitting near the door (on a filthy, old, crappy sofa) I was able to crane my neck just a little to look out the open door. I saw Steve Sanchez standing with Bill Duby. Bill's eyes were locked on Steve with the fire and intensity of a man about to commit a felony.

His face was the representation of raw, pure anger. Bill screamed at Steve, "You can't give to your president, the body of your church! (meaning Angela) There's something wrong with your brain stem because you can't understand shit! No goddamn wonder you stopped growing!"

Steve's reply: "Bill, all I asked is 'who's going to pay for it - you or Liberty?'".

After hearing that statement, Bill turned on his heels and stormed back to his apartment, a look of disgust on his face. Steve, looking bewildered, just stood there for a moment watching Bill storm off before he headed upstairs into the headquarters building.

A few weeks after that incident, Angela proudly showed me the improvement to her living quarters. The steam room, hardwood flooring, cedar closets were all proudly presented to me. It was at that point I figured out what that heated and agitated display was all about.

It was not until I read Steve's book and re-lived that event that I realized Bill Duby, Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin possessed an immense sense of personal entitlement.

Entitlement to have any damn thing they wanted. Entitlement to endanger the livelyhood of those employed in their company to satisfy their own personal impulses. Entitlement to divert as much money as possible back to themselves, no matter what would be ethical, moral or reasonable.

They didn't care if the employees of Liberty Construction were paid below market rate and were not offered basic health insurance (even on a share-of-cost basis that so many companies do). Angela and Robin never wanted to know that Liberty Construction could hire only semi-skilled workers for the wages they paid. And as soon as those semi-skilled workers became skilled through working for Liberty Construction, the workers left for greener pastures.

As Steve Sanchez struggled to replace workers and build stability, Angela and Robin treated him with disdain for suggesting to take care of employees and to pay prevailing market wages with at least a minimum of benefits. To Angela and Robin, the employees of Liberty Construction were no more than slaves, chattel, gears in their money machine.

I wasn't sure how much of a cash cow Liberty Construction was for Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin. I would imagine it was lucrative as long as there was revenue. And for as long as they felt entitled to use Liberty Construction to conduct repairs on SRF-owned properties and to renovate and remodel their own living quarters and properties, Angela and Robin really didn't care what happened to the Liberty Construction or its employees.

It wasn't long after Bill Duby browbeat and manhandled Steve Sanchez into giving Angela what she had been nagging for that Liberty Construction began its death spiral.

If the way they treated Liberty Construction is any indication, I would expect that Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin will extract as much as they can squeeze out of SRF as it spirals down into the cesspool of insignificance.

There have been some improvements to the SRF headquarters lately. The scandalous, repulsive paint job has been replaced a more attractive color scheme. One of the income properties has been dolled up as well. New cars, special "religious retreats" (for leaders only) and who knows what are being lavished on the leadership of SRF. I wonder if their personal bank accounts are magically getting fatter in these tough economic times?

Why is it Angela and Robin can drive any car they want while everyone else settles for what they can get?

When was the last time anyone there traveled on their own? How are the follower's bank accounts?

Wouldn't the thought of all that be enough for the faithful few remaining at the Spiritual Rights Foundation to pack up and catch the next Greyhound out of the gated compound?

Unfortunately, it likely will not.

The sense of entitlement for the leaders runs so deep and the mind control is so strong, even the poor, tired and fully exploited ranks of the remaining congregation believe the leaders have the right to loot and pillage the very thing the congregation paid to create.

It's something like the Band on the Titanic playing until the ship sank. And oddly, while they sense the ship is sinking, they spend their time re-arranging the deck chairs.

People still jockey for status and an illusory sense of power and influence. People indulge the leader's every whim and endlessly praise Bill Duby's golden child for the chance the Witches of Ellsworth will throw them a crumb of approval.

As there are perhaps only a dozen people left at SRF (well down from its peak of nearly 40) it's well past the time to be like Leo and Kate: jump off the sinking ship while you still have a chance.

The ship has hit the iceberg, passengers. Maybe you should get away before you turn into Leo-sicles.