In 1990, while handing out flyers for the (long gone) danceclub Purgatory, I approached a small group of interesting looking people. One introduced herself as Mad, another as Circe. Finding them more interesting than handing out passes, we went out to a nearby Indian restaurant and became friends. This friendship lasted without break for two years, and I spent considerable time with them and their friends. I roughly estimate that I spent two or three afternoons with them per week during some periods, to two or three occasions with them per month. I also spent a good deal of time on the phone with them. These folk were "The Company".
Madison recognizes the quantity of information I possess threatens her credibility enormously. By disputing the quality and quantity of my participation and awareness of her activities, it weakens all arguments I make based in things I have firsthand knowledge of during this period.
It can be argued that I wasn't a member of The Company, but only a close affiliate. Most of the daily participants were highly sexually involved with each other, and all accepted the millenial predictions of Madison as gospel. Since I did not participate on a daily basis with the group, never became sexually involved with any of them, and recognized early on that Mad was a pathological liar or nearly so, I was never seen universally as one in the fold-- particularly by Mad. This is also probably why I was less damaged by the extreme mind games, and why I was one of the people to be declared possessed and outcast in one of the earlier purges.
Also, many people were assigned occult specializations and positions in the troupe. Megan O'Neal, for example, was forced to become a specialist in healing magick and herbology because Madison couldn't find anybody who was willing to take the role (which she considered necessary). She often then referred to Circe who determined which Knight of the Round Table each person was a reincarnation of. I was not assigned a position like this. I'm not shedding any tears.
The forced diversity of The Company was based in something straight out of Role Playing Games-- that a troupe of characters should emphasize a wide diversity of character classes so the broadest diversity of talents would be available when an (occult) attack commenced or other quest-oriented challenges were faced. Since on a week by week basis, holy quests, dramatic omens, and imaginary demonspawn attacks were standard fare, the group progressively developed a seige mentality and began to distrust mundanes and even spiritual folk not as "awakened" as they. How ironic.
After I was no longer in The Company, it became much more formalized, with regular meetings and a stronger structure. Much of what came later was very apparent while I still participated. Members of the group looked towards Madison as prophetess for omens and orders, which she usually dished out following phony epileptic seizures where she recieved (suspiciously) just enough mysterious sigils and nonsense words to keep the group busy for a little while.Madison actually did little work for The Company; she had an incredible talent for motivating people to do all the work for her, while effectively reassuring people her "prophetic visions" were absolutely important and psychically exhausting. Madison became outright messianic, and used her prophecies to direct the intimacies, careers, and lifestyles of many of her friends. From a skeptic's eye, one could see these commands benefitted Madison directly, or further encouraged an environment where people were more malleable.
After I departed, the beliefs became even more millennial, including UFO abduction to the dogmas. The Company collapsed when some people became horrified by the rapidly increasing trends of abusiveness and craziness. If it had stayed at a steady level, it might still be going, since most standards of conduct and points of reference were being stomped out like lingering embers.
Madison isn't claiming that I wasn't one of the innermost circle, she's claiming I wasn't even on the periphery. This is patently false. I may not have participated consistantly with the holy quests etc. but I was more participatory than many Company affiliates living in distant parts, such as Rhode Island. So was I a member? Many lines were being smudged during that period, and many gray areas existed. I consider myself a former member ,and so do former members Madison does not dispute were in The Company.
I only met her on four occasions? Well, Madison has been claiming this recently, and it's rather silly. I can simply overload people with anecdotes of events which clearly exceed four occasions, and probably exceed forty. I'll save some of them for later.
Instead, I'll let my information be supplemented by scans of two sets of photographs I'd taken; the first at the defunct Astor Riviera Diner where I had a snack with Circe, Madison, and Maria Diaz. The second with a mixed group of friends, which included folks who I knew from NYU (Miguel and Bela), the gothic scene (Angela Doslik and her friend Jenn), and of course Mad and Circe.
It is implausible that I'd bring a camera to half of the occasions I supposedly met Mad. Especially considering that I don't like cameras, and use them rarely and reluctantly.
If I had enough diskspace and bandwidth, I'd also supplement this web page with .WAV portions of a phone conversation between me and Circe. This was taped (with her consent) during the period of my Company affiliation. It's clear to anyone listening to the tape that I'd been spending time with The Company (including Madison) well in excess of four times.
During my Company phase, I would regularly take the core members out to concerts, dinners and art exhibitions. This always included Circe, who usually brought Madison, frequently Megan, Maria Diaz (before she was given the boot), John Cosmos (when he was in town) and a selection of others whom I never became very close with before I left The Company.
| Stuff to incorporate, append, or ditch |
In article <50iekq$5tr@panix2.panix.com> rakshasa@panix.com (Kevin Filan) writes:
> It is true that there is a lack of useful information re. voudon > and the various Yoruba-based traditions here on alt.magick. I would > _not_ recommend Ms. Toth (aka Rebecca Kramer) as a source, however, for a > variety of reasons:
There are actually a tremendous number of reasons to mistrust Rebecca "Madison" Toth and the projects she involves herself with. As of yesterday, I considered her a manipulative and dangerously incompetant woman who used her personal magnetism and spurious claims to occult knowledge to mislead and emotionally abuse her followers. However, after recieving a carefully scripted anonymous death threat from an Us Collective member, my opinion has become far more grave.
I wish to tell what I know about her for posterity in Usenet archives and then be done with this horrid issue. Anyone incautious enough to associate themselves with her in spite of what I say here deserves the full bounty of their folly. Some of my commentary will seem to be petty personal critiques; well, the problem is that Madison is a petty power-hungry attention seeker, and I feel that such a person does not belong in a position of spiritual authority. Abuses are almost certain.
"Mad" used to lead a clique called The Company, largely composed of teenage punk bisexual drifters heavily into D&D, drugs, loud music, and a wide variety of magickal traditions. The local core of the group was less than twenty, but overall I think it might have been forty overall. A handful lived in a series of cramped hastily partitioned spaces at an apartment in the East Village. They lived in a fantasy world and mostly freeloaded at people's homes; nevertheless, I made good friendships among them. I used to hang out with them a lot- but being straight, with a home, and generally a little too square, I never fit in perfectly.
Mad had the pretentions of being a writer, but she never finished anything. She made her money as a dancer in a strip joint, since she had a trim figure. She tended to walk around the apartment partially disrobed. I often wondered if our antipathy began when she realised I found her rather unappealling. As far as I could tell, she'd been to bed with everyone in The Company.
She was a compulsive liar, telling me on various occasions that she was born on an army base in Germany, an island off of England, and in Queens. She constantly played members of the group against each other; and though she was regarded as the head prophetess of the group, it was pretty obvious to me her visions were in fact inventions. People believe what they want to believe. Nothing she predicted ever came true.
Their effect on members of the group was noteworthy, however. Though originally the scenario which these people lived their lives had started out as a live action RPG, the boundries between the fantasy and reality had completely dissolved. Madison as prophetess acted as a pseudo dungeon-master in a world teetering on the edge of apocalypse, where every member of the group were reincarnations of characters from Arthurian Romance, and all of whom were on a holy quest to retrieve seven artifacts needed to rebirth the world into a new age.
Such fantasies must seem dubious to most folk reading this; however, it was very compelling because it fed them a share in a collective messianic delusion, with Madison reaping most of the attention. It is a part of the occult experience to suspend disbelief selectively, but Madison chose to misuse that quality in her intimate friends, having them trade their real potential for an ego trip.
Everything was drama enhanced by psychedelics, and Madison's compelling conceptual inventions. Unfortunately, rather than serving as entertainment, her cosmic quests and such absorbed tremendous amounts of time and energy in all of the participants. They were kept so detached from the real world that most had trouble finding and maintaining employment. Obviously, getting one's life in order took less precedence than saving the universe from absolute evil. Rather than acting as a healer, she caused psychic wounds to fester and wrecked potentially bright futures.
Most, if not all, drifted from mattress to mattress. It was difficult, and during some periods quite impossible, to determine who was bedding down with whom. One would even hear conflicting claims. I only criticize this because of her outrageous irresponsibility in her involvements. The heartache she caused my friends is legendary. Sordid, but true.
Why did she do all of this? Machievellian or nincompoop? She has always cherished the role of the noble victim, frustrating those who knew better into an anger which made them look belligerant.
Perhaps she did it because she craved attention so desperately she was unconcerned about the safety of her lovers and friends. Possibly she harbored some peculiar resentment towards them, and sought to undermine anyone's attempt to become more functional or freer than her. I somehow doubt she did such ignorantly; one thing she is not is stupid.
My two closest friends in the Company were Megan and Circe, the former being (then) something of a niave hippy and the latter a somewhat delusional and rubenesque warrior witch. Circe was a kind of spiritual sister, since despite her overly active fantasy life, knew her magical scholarship somewhat better than I. She was Mad's lover for most of the time I hung out with The Company, but Mad... well, strayed. Constantly. Finally, Circe insisted that no one tell her when Mad was sleeping around. She didn't want to know about it anymore. It hurt too much.
I felt for Circe, and began to resent the way Mad treated the rest of the group, lying all the time, fabricating more of their cosmic quest fantasies, and playing emotional games. Circe didn't want to hear about it. She adored Mad, but hated the abuse and wanted to remain ignorantly with her.
I met Madison and Circe on a sidewalk sometime in 1990. A conversation began on music and magic and we went out to a local Indian restaurant and become fast friends. As time went on, I found Circe to be a passionate and intelligent friend; but Madison and I drifted apart as her constant and seemingly compulsive lying turned my stomach. There's more than enough BS in this world to go around, there's no need for any more of it.
The Company was a fun gathering of exciting people. Most were idealists with integrity and high hopes. They were sexy, talented people who kept ahead of the pace of the world they felt was disintegrating around them. It is only in retrospect that I percieve this tragic aspect of it-- all that energy spiralling down the drain. Madison bathed in this vitality which she siphoned from them, and both accelerated it and defended the process. She encouraged an environment where people who were not confirmed adherents to the grand quest delusion were distrusted, ensuring all an immunity from saner voices and hopes for rescue.
At one point I lost touch with Circe for a few days, and when I tried to reach her she had moved out suddenly and since vanished. I contacted Megan who told me there was a falling out within the Company, and Circe had ditched the pad without paying the rent and didn't want to be found. During the two years I lost touch with Circe, I blamed Mad, since the story going around was that she had become convinced that all of her past friends were possessed by demons. Ideas like that usually came from Mad.
For years I attempted to regain contact with Circe and the others, but they were very hard to reach for a very long time. Over the years little seems to have changed amongst them; Megan has recovered the best, having become significantly less credulous of Madison's games. Circe has changed her focus from Fantasy delusions to Scifi delusions, and the last time I checked was living somewhat squalidly and working at a pet store. At least she's not in immediate danger.
Madison flitted in and out of my life after the years following the implosion of The Company. She dated a friend of mine, Robert Toth, for a few months so I was occasionally reminded of her by him. She eventually was reunited with a past lover of hers she'd often mentioned even while bouncing from pillow to pillow, whom she married. I wondered whether this was an indication of a life change and a withdrawal from her usual mind control tactics, or just a new way of disguising it.
As time went on, Madison gathered together the Us Collective, which was the successor to The Company. I was told by various people that a smattering of ex-Company people comprised it's membership, though some whom I'd never met. Needless to say, this fact made me skeptical. Nevertheless, when I recieved a phone call from Madison singing it's praises and extending an invitation to join, I began to wonder if it might not be a worthwhile group. The flyers and Madison's spiel suggested it might be a much superior community than The Company.
If you wonder why Madison was calling me so civilly, I should clarify that I'd never actually desired to, nor engaged in any confrontation with her in the entire lifespan of The Company. My recommendation to Circe and others had been to take Madison out of a position of leadership since it was fairly obvious she was taking every opportunity to abuse it. I'd always been polite to Mad despite this, though after I'd realized what she was up to, I didn't have much to say to her and decided an arms length between me and her was useful, for me to remain objective. Seeing how she affected the others by charisma etc made me highly cautious in my dealings with her. She was a perpetual occult novice and proved repeatedly she could do nothing but waste people's energy and dilute their focus. People lost their sense of proportion around her, and one thing The Company sorely needed was a serious reality check. The only thing whic distinguished it from a bargain-basement cult was it's diversity and creativity.
It was with this in the back of my mind that I began to consider dropping by an Us Collective meeting. My feelings towards The Company remained extremely idealistic and hopeful, imagining it in my mind as a flawed model of a nouveau-gypsy occult youth collective likely to become prevalent in the next century. The prospect of Madison finally using her people-wielding skills for the benefit of the community made me eager to suspend my disbelief in her conscience.
Nevertheless, I didn't attend any. And I'm glad. The reason I declined was a combination of three factors; the first being that her meetings were held out in her area, which required a lengthy trip on my part. The second was that after seeing hers and other groups operate, I tended to be highly skittish of _all_ group ritual activities. The third was that Madison had earned a serious personal wariness on my part, and I felt that there was little I could gain by joining Us Collective and much to lose.
Around the time I decided to firmly have nothing to do with Us Collective, a couple of friends of mine active in the NYC pagan community did as I had chosen not to, and attended Us Collective meetings. The reports I recieved were not dramatic however; if anything, Us Collective appeared to be neither as borderline psychotic as The Company, nor a control-freak free atmosphere. According to my trusted folk, things had changed, but not by terribly much. At least things were improving somewhat, I told myself.
My next contact with Madison actually occured here on Usenet, and regarding the Lady Armida fiasco. Some of you with an interest in such things may recall that I and Kevin Filan put together an Internet distributed effort to boycott Armida's prosperous shops; Armida had (and continues to) defraud members of the pagan community of thousands and thousands of dollars. She'd been on trial, convicted, and imprisoned for inducing a young diabetic pagan woman to cease taking insulin after recieving an herbal cure; which (unsurprisingly) was nearly fatal for the victim. Documentation suggesting severe animal neglect or even torture exists, and astounding amounts of financial misconduct.
Nevertheless, like Madison, it took some time before I realized what a louse Armida was (since I had been a supporter of hers for a while). When Armida was revealed to engage in Madison-oid tactics of ostracism and mind games to distract people from her inadequacies, it opened my ears to the evidence her critics possessed. I became outraged that my spiritual community was harboring her and allowing her to claim authority and peership with competant and safe individuals. Being the administrator of necronomi.com, I felt I was in a position where I could perform a community service by informing people what she was about, and dispelling the apathy which allows her to continue to operate.
A part of the reason it didn't work was that Armida's most energetic opposition seemed to be folk who actually were not particularly reputable people themselves, and had opposed Armida for reasons other than a desire to clean out the NYC pagan scene of abusers. This gave the situation a reputation of being mere namecalling, despite the plentiful documentation. And it put me in a bad position altogether. I had no choice but to eventually resign myself to the probability that Armida would continue operate until she actually caused fatalities and became a PR problem for the occult community.
The first sign things were going to turn out bleak was a response to my post, which comprised this text:
>>I happened to note that the original sender is Clifford Low. >>I knew this gentle in college and kept some aquaintance for a little after. >>Based on this, I must urge folks not to take too much to heart anything >>that he says (at least not without lots of documentation). >> >>Peace, >>Nahum ha Kuzar
To be honest, it took me a little effort to figure out who this guy was. It turned out to be a religious kook I knew at NYU who'd competed with me for the affections of a woman, and had been on the losing end. He'd concluded at some point that he was the messiah and I was aligned with the forces of cosmic evil, probably because I deprived him of nookie. For such crimes are ten antichrists made every single day.
Nevertheless, after I'd made my post, Madison re-entered my life by concurring:
>> I know Cliff too and unfortuneately I would have to agree with you. >>The truth of the matter is that everyone should judge Lady Armida for >>themselves. Don't listen to gossip. Ask people you trust and/or meet her >>or go to her store for yourself. The truth of the matter is, she's sort >>of a shady character when it comes to money. However, she does not >>torture animals. Gossip is a stupid and hateful pastime. Pagans think >>for yourselves. >> XXX-Madison >> loglin@inch.com
I was, and remain a little horrified that Madison outright recommended people to visit a store whose proprieter has a history of injuring and bilking her customers. I consider that extremely irresponsible behavior.
Her post took me by surprise, because previous to it, she and I had remained cordial with her despite my opinions. Her organization, being nicely sized (a few hundred now, supposedly) would be fed incorrect information about Armida and the boycott would fail. Which it then proceded to do, though I doubt Madison did little more than contribute to such in a small way.
I had never been anything other than a reliable and scrupulously honest friend to people in The Company; the only reason Madison had to draw suspicion upon me was that I'd never been one of her unquestioning adorers. Either she resented my unwillingness to follow her leadership, or assumed that if I could not recognize her obvious superiority, my judgement was generally flawed. At this point, the fact that she was the same old Mad became alarmingly clear. She was willing to smear me entirely out of spite or ego, even if it injured innocents. It was so familiar.
There's more to the story of Madison and Armida, of course. Madison actually recently accused me of claiming she and Armida were actually in cahoots. This I have no real way of knowing, and I don't recall claiming this at any point. I did suspect it, however.
Here's why: Kevin was engaged in discussions with Madison over the Armida issue, which sometimes occured during his lunch break at his workplace. In order to facilitate the dialogue, he gave her his work number. He doesn't give out this number BTW: I don't even know the _name_ of the place he works right now.
Out of the blue, Armida started calling Kevin at work, asking him to stop pitilessly maligning her on the net. Afraid for what Armida could potentially do for his job security, he relented and agreed to end his heated online criticisms of Armida. Lady Armida later revealed to Kevin that Madison had been visiting the store regularly, and was probably next in line to become her handmaiden. According to gossip, (and I admit that may have been all it was), Madison and Armida realized they were in competition for followers and only one of them could be top dog at any particular time. Whatever warmth there may have been turned cold.
The reason I mention this gossip is because though it had a ring of truth about it, only recently did I have some evidence suggestive that it is probable. I refer to the incidents which appear later on in this document, of Madison's propensity to use the phone as a means of harassment and intimidation.
Things being as I describe above, is it any surprise that when I saw recruitment attempts being issued from her email address onto newsgroups, I was seriously concerned?
I was even more concerned when my own information and friendly experts indicated that her knowledge of the entities she is currently working with to be dangerously incomplete. Pomba Gira is, for example, depicted in the representational art of the Brazilian traditions as the Whore of Babylon, and is the female form of Exu the trickster. Exu himself is depicted as Satan (please refer to my Exu homepage, http://www.necronomi.com/magic/satanism/exu.html). I have nothing but respect for the actual practices Madison seeks to mimic, but I believe her to be not merely an amateur imitator of those practices, but misleading her group as to her ability to control the situation if something should go wrong. And with a trickster spirit like Exu, with a wide reputation for a taste for human blood and murder, one had better know exactly what one is doing- especially with a crowd of novices about. It also seemed highly inappropriate that she'd billed the rite she was inviting people to as thoroughly lightside.
So I blew up on alt.magick, and let her have it. In retrospect, I somewhat regret it, since I should instead have told what I am doing now-- instead I was impulsive. The response (supposedly) from Jon Frater brought up a wide array of outright falsities and half-truths, which if I had begun to debate would have achieved what Madison had sought to engineer-- to disperse or redirect the skeptical attention which she could not endure for long. A friend has told me that the Frater note is reminiscent of her current writing style.
Nevertheless, Madison wasn't at all satisfied. I'm not sure why though. Perhaps it was that she'd discovered that despite her accusation of me having no friends, I actually have some potent net mage wordsmiths as dear friends, both responding to the thread and consulting with me behind the scenes. Or perhaps it was that she'd felt she needed to make me look guiltier in order to maker her seem more innocent. Nevertheless, I started to recieve some mighty strange phone calls.
The first caller was an ex-girlfriend of mine who lives in Massachusetts. The conversation first began very friendly and casually; but as she rarely calls me, I realized there was something up. I directly asked if she'd called on behalf of Madison (whom I was aware she'd known). Apparently Madison had called her up and told her that I had been recklessly advocating reprisals against the Us Collective online, and had even skirted the suggestion of violence online. My friend was aghast and sought to intervene before "things got out of hand."
Needless to say, this is incorrect and absurd. I am convinced that for the most part Us Collective is comprised of decent people; my gripe is solely that one of it's prominent leaders has a lengthy history of serious trust violation. My entire motivation was and remains to ameliorate Madison's mischief by providing the whole story for those who otherwise would not recognize her as dangerous and disreputable. Again I say, I seek to prevent injury to members of Us Collective, not cause it.
Madison's disinformation was precise; in fact, surprisingly so. It was probably the only thing which could ever have motivated my friend to have contacted me swiftly and with an agenda to manipulate me for the benefit of the community. I could not convince her that Madison's claim was bogus, and she was firmly uninterested in recieving evidence to the contrary. I've seen it before; Madison's faithful tend to avoid documentation like fundies avoid black masses. Both are based in an induced dread of contamination.
The next phone message was left on my answering machine while I was out tending to some errands. Probably for the first time in over a year, my old friend Circe had called. From the recording, it seemed as though she believed I was simply not answering the phone, from her repeated requests that I pick up the phone. Before the message was done, she'd made a brief and anxious plea for me to explain all the trouble I was causing. She didn't leave her number. Now, I wonder what Madison told her.
I guess Madison got a report back from the firs two, because she herself called me while I was in. Of course, I was exceedingly polite, being rather curious about what she'd say vying with an urge to hang up after curtly recommending a good therapist. Frankly, I should have ended the conversation swiftly because it was really creepy.
One of the first things she brought up was that I hardly knew her; in fact she insisted upon it. More specifically, she seemed quite intent on affirming that I'd spent only a few occasions in her company. Though it is true that I rarely spent time alone with her alone by choice, The Company folk tended to band together and so Madison usually was nearby. Even when she was not physically present, she was a part of whatever discussion was at hand. Mad knows I know this, but I didn't feel like butting heads with her over such a peculiar issue, so I requested we move on.
Over the conversation, I felt I was making some halfway progress. She and I arranged an uneasy recognition that Lady Armida was indeed a con artist and a threat to the NYC occult community. We disagreed whether the authorities were ever going to do anything about her until she outright killed someone. She (oddly enough) seemed fond of Kevin Filan's proposal that a regional board be formed to set minimal standards of conduct in the occult community. She pointed out a local renegade babalawo who has a reputuation of being a rapist and a pedophile. Then she claimed that she wouldn't have time to work on it for months. Her excuse, that she was busy with her shop, seemed plausible-- nevertheless, I wondered if this was her way to pacify me for a few months without actually doing anything. She also stated she would consider issuing an apology to me in alt.magick, but she'd have to confer with Mr. Frater on the issue.
The conversation began to wind down, and the tension began to grow. The experience was actually making me feel drained and nauseous. I wondered what she would say if I told her the primary cause of my antipathy towards her-- her emotional abuse of her lovers, particularly Circe. When I did tell her, she interrupted my sentance with laughter and faux incredulity. She claimed, with a strange insistence, that she'd never been intimate with Circe. I said "whatever..." and the conversation trailed off.
I should have figured it out before, but something was very fishy here. I began to suspect that she'd been taping the conversation. Why would she emphatically deny two facts that just about anybody in The Company knew was true for a tape recording? At first I thought perhaps she was trying to get me to doubt my own memories of the issue and catch me on tape being uncertain of the facts. However, it seems much more mundane to assume she simply didn't want people listening in on the conversation to penetrate some web of intrigue she'd wrapped herself in over the last few years. I really can't guess intelligently on what it might be, but it really doesn't sound very pleasant.
Nevertheless, I'd considered the result of the phone call halfway positive. Deciding to make some sort of peace with Madison so I could return to my own spiritual matters unhindered, had the price of dealing with her usual mindgames. It did leave me in a state of mild depression as previously mentioned. Well, at least I didn't have to worry about her causing me trouble directly. And she posted a half-hearted apology. It was pretty much over.
I was wrong, of course. I get a fourth phone call:
"Hello, is this Clifford Low?"
"Yes, that's me."
"I represent a person whom you have been recently flaming on the Internet."
"Who might this be?"
"She runs a store"
"That could be one of two people. Could you be more specific?" [I was thinking it might be Armida's clique.]
"You know which one I am talking about. This is recent."
"Alright, what's your point? How may I accomidate your needs?"
"It would be... unhealthy for you to procede in this manner any further. Very unhealthy."
"Thank you for your advice and suggestion, I will consid..."
"That wasn't a suggestion."
"Then what was it, sir? Please come to the point."
<pause>
I raise my voice and say:
"It has been an observation of mine over the years that people too timid to make an unveiled threat rarely have the guts to act upon it. Now, get lost!"
And I hung up.
Madison probably crafted the entire thing to avoid language which could be traced directly back to her and thus be brought up on charges. Smart girl. It was scripted in a way where not only could one weasel out of who was the threatening party, but also in a way where Madison could blame it on an Us Collective member gone rogue if need be. However, that doesn't explain how he got my name and phone number, nor why he felt he represented her.
I can't prove it; but then again, I'm tired of trying to. As I said in the beginning, anyone incautious enough to associate themselves with her in spite of what I say here deserves the full bounty of their folly. I am tired of extending myself to the ungrateful, and have concluded I will approach any issues of religious organization henceforth with an intense and unforgiving cynicism. Let people like Madison whitewash their histories for all; but keep in mind that those most intent on appearances of respectability and who evidence a lust for prominence rarely deserve either.
People will have to learn the hard way, and some will simply not make it. But that's life, and people not willing to protect theirs against maniacs like Madison probably get what's coming to them.
Congratulations Madison; you've won. Go take yourself out to dinner to celebrate.
x----------------------------------------------------------x - cthulhu@necronomi.com * cliff@necronomi.com - - <http://www.necronomi.com/users/cthulhu/> - x----------------------------------------------------------x - bloody fingers at the keyboard tapping like dry bones - x----------------------------------------------------------x