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In Reply to: Re: Penn risks backfire if he doesn't respond to the ethical issue posted by DA on August 25, 2004 at 17:59:56:
There is a lot that goes on offline. The web sites are wonderful for some things, but the fact that they are public obviously means that there is a lot that cannot be said on them. I am not going to get into details, but as someone above already said, how do you know that he isn't doing some or all of these things or even others that you haven't thought of? Many of the SGs who are angry at him are those that were personally hurt through his role as WS spokesperson and they have every right to their denunciations. Why exactly should he answer to you?
One point you seem to have missed in James' article is that this sort of payoff happens all the time. There are a number of former WS staff (FG and SG) who received money or other advantages from the group. Very few of them have spoken out at all.
There are other exmembers who were WS staff or leaders in the group and could also publish the specific details of what they know and saw. Some people that immediately come to mind are Ray, Ed and WC.
Some people at all levels of the Family led "charmed" lives. I saw "home shepherds" who regularly dipped into the home funds (largely earned by the teenagers and children) for their own private stash, "area shepherds" who had their own private staff that did their cooking, laundry, serviced them sexually and raised their children, even the babies. There are FCF and other Family run non-profit "projects" running right now whose "project managers" control considerable sums of money. Since some of these people are also Family leaders and VSs and such, they help themselves quite liberally to whatever they want for their personal use. Some of these projects are registered charities in their own countries and the sums that show up on the FCF 990s are a fraction of what actually goes through many family member's hands.
None of this makes what James did in the group right, but frankly, every single adult I ever knew in the Family did some pretty despicable things in the group. To attack, out of "principle" someone who actually has the guts to publicly admit to what he did seems a bit strange. What happened to your whole "there but for the grace of God..."?
