"xlcr4life," Sun., October 10, 2004: 09:35 AM
Anon 198 wrote [regarding LaRouche's economic forecasts]:
"Does that mean he'll stop claiming the crash is coming if it doesn't arrive by then?"
The only crash that I know of involving LaRouche is the car crash that killed a member back in 1992 or so. A long-time member named Michael Gelber was killed in a head-on crash on an upstate NY road that winter. Since this is stuff no one talks about, various people had bits of the story in the group.
Evidently, Mike was driving alone in the middle of the night when he dozed off at the wheel. If he was in a typical Org car, then we know the heater did not work, the tires were bald and he was probably sleep deprived from working 24/7 for LHL.
Mike was head of our Boston region for awhile. During the Grand Jury investigations we sent him across the Atlantic to our European offices to avoid the Grand Jury which was under way. Mike's wife stayed in the U.S. during this ordeal.
When he returned, life went back to the typical Bizarro world of assassination plots, the Queen and whatever else caught a late night boozing LHL's fancy.
After Michael's death, Helga announced a fund for Mike via the Schiller Institute...I could not figure out if it was for Michael's parents, [his] wife or Helga. You can find it on the Schiller web site.
Now Michael Gelber is long forgotten and not even a footnote in the Bizarro world....
"Anonymous," Mon., October 11, 2004, 5:34 AM
I would like to hear more about the untimely end of Michael Gelber and the circumstances surrounding his death. Michael was a red diaper baby from Long Island whose parents objected strenuously to his involvement with the fascist LaRouche. He worked out of Canada for a time, was head of the Syracuse, NY local, then worked with Joe Fish as head of the Rochester, NY local, then moved on to Buffalo, NY before his long-time deployment to Boston. He had been a long-time brainwashing victim of Khushro Gandhi and Judah "Phil" Rubinstein when they were jointly running the Buffalo region out of the Endicott Square building there. He had once been the boyfriend of the same Ellie Kaplan who once called out [to] Kissinger at the Newark Airport when the latter was on his way to heart surgery (doesn't one need a heart for that?)....
I think his parents deserve to know the full truth of what happened.
[The writer of this post is responding to "Bella," a woman who was once engaged to "Tom," a long-time LaRouche follower.]
Bella, no matter what "Tom" may have done in the past, he has invested 25 years in a fake, a phony, a fraud. Even though "Tom" may have real emotions about improving the human species, the long trail of broken and bankrupt people the cult has left behind is not in his conscience. In fact, he may feel angry that those people have "sold out" and left.
Very few people are willing to admit that they made a mistake and were misled. No one proudly declares that they were victims of the Nigerian internet bank fraud scam either.
As he approaches his 60's, most of his friends from the past are either gone or buried in Leesburg cemeteries. This is a mess you should be happy to be away from. A guy I knew from the NYC National Office named Steve P. became very depressed after going through this surreal nightmare, left Leesburg, went to Connecticut and shot himself to death.
The remaining dead enders in the org are crazier than ever. Each clings to whatever new LHL morning briefing revelation of his role in changing the universe, as another reason to "hang in there." There is no light at the end of this tunnel, just a pile of dirt on top of your casket after the chorus sings another Requiem highlight.
If you want to delve into a nightmare that many current members are living, try this. You marry him, get pregnant and "Tom" says that you need to terminate the child because of the "World historical situation" we are in. You refuse and have the child while being stigmatized by the cult. You are so poor that your kids get public assistance like many Leesburg kids do. After sacrificing and raising your offspring, memos are printed that denounce you if your kid decides to join some rational youth gathering that most normal kids do. The documents will usually have the name of convicted felon Will Wertz as author. If you think your kid will go to college and become something, think again. Unless you surrender your child to a LHL card table shrine, you are persona non grata.
Years ago, we who were in [the cult] never had a chance to really ask questions because we did not have access to all of the info around. After reading the endless accounting by members and people who have dealt with this group, how can anyone rationalize their full support for a madman? How can anyone not even raise an eyebrow at this lunacy?
You can only do this if you are in a totally controlled Bizarro world. You can only do this if you WANT to believe. Con men know that their victims WANT to believe the scam they are preaching. LHL knows how to keep his people in the Bizarro world.
"xlcr4life, Tues., August 17, 2004, 07:00 AM
Steve P. worked in operations. Glasses, thin hair. His wife was British I believe. From what I heard they relocated to Leesburg with everyone else. The couple broke up, with Steve gettting a non-LC girl. After all of this he became very introspective at what he did with his last 30 years of his life or so. Returned to Connecticut where he was from and then shot himself in the head.
This was revealed by accident when some people were discussing the high level of drinking among the dead enders in Leesburg. I mentioned the effects of depression someone would have after living this nightmare for over a quarter century and not being in a position to leave, change, have a family, save for retirement and see the world pass them by. A person said "OMG, that sounds like Steve who just blew his brains out."
Unless you were in the cult, it is hard to understand the 24/7 hysteria that you are out through. The levels of stress have aged many dead enders where they all look 20 years older then they are.
When you think about how most of these people were the cream of the college crop and full of energy when they joined, it is a staggering loss of dignity while LHL goes to sleep without a worry.