Free Speech Bully - Eric Pepin

It appears that "Master Eric" has some serious bucks to drop on a law suit against one internet news site for repeating what was essentially old reportage. The timing of this suit is quite interesting as you will see from the article below. In the mean time, do your part to defend free speech on the net. It's the only place where you will find it these days. Donate to the SOTT.net defense fund today.

Blue Ibis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Letters From the Edge

Laura Knight-Jadczyk
sott.net
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:41 EDT

Today I'm going to write a letter; a letter to all our readers. I'm also going to include a transcript of a very interesting letter sott.net has received from Prof. Victor Clube. I hope that these letters will change your life, your future, and mine as well.

Here at sott.net, we have been pretty busy working on our legal defense, as if you couldn't guess! I'm sure that everyone notices that we are nowhere near our goal for having enough funds to cover this expense. All of you just remember, if 1,000 people can donate $100.00 each, we are in the clear. If 2,000 people donate $50. each, we are in the clear. And certainly, with over 10,000 of you reading this site every day, we ought to be able to do that!

Just keep in mind what you would be missing if we were gone! Who else would spend days, weeks, months and even years digging down to the deepest levels of our reality to bring you reports and analyses of what is really going on? After all, it is not just a matter of the political chaos out there; there are cosmic reasons for that chaos and historical cycles demonstrate clearly that times such as these generally manifest other symptoms that we all need to be aware of. For example...

Did you catch this one? Antartica: Mysterious Meteorites Stymie Scientists Followed by this one: Meteorites may be remnants of destroyed dwarf planet ? They are both about the same meteorites and the suggestion that there was once another planet in the solar system that was destroyed at some point is something that we here at sott.net have speculated about for years now.

Speaking of missing planets, did you read this one: Mission to the Forgotten Planets? Amazing how long it takes science to catch up with "inspired utterances" isn't it?

Speaking of science "catching up," have a look at this: Utah Crater Mystery Cracked where we read:

"The very controversial debate about Upheaval Dome's origin has lasted nearly a century, over the course of which extremely different hypotheses (gradualism versus catastrophism) have been proposed," report Buchner and Kenkmann.

The debate has, in fact, reflected a historical divide of ideas in geology over those decades.

On one hand there were the "gradualists" who adhered to the idea that just about everything we see on the planet today is the result of gradual processes still at work -- glaciers moving, rains falling, rivers flowing, etc. Gradualism was considered heretical when it was proposed by James Hutton in the late 18th century because it implies the Earth was tremendously older than some Biblical scholars had claimed.

These Biblical scholars cited such catastrophes as Noah's flood to explain such geological oddities as marine fossils atop mountains. These early "catastrophists" tended to ignore evidence that went against their Biblical interpretation of the geological record. In other words, they weren't very scientific.

As a result, geologists are trained to tread very carefully wherever extraordinary events are being called on to explain geological features. The trouble is, of course, there are some things like Upheaval Dome, which are, as we now know, genuine creations of extraordinary -- albeit non-Biblical -- catastrophic events.

Wow! Who'da thunk it? Catastrophes?

Speaking of catastrophes then and since and future, take a look at this one: "Giant Fireball" Impact in Peru Upends Meteorite Theory and this one: How The Peruvian Meteorite Made It To Earth. The latter article informs us:

Scientists have determined the Carancas fireball was a stony meteorite - a fragile type long thought to be ripped into pieces as it enters the Earth's atmosphere and then leaves little more than a whisper of its journey.

Yet the stony meteorite that struck Peru survived its passage mostly intact before impact. "This just isn't what we expected," Schultz said. "It was to the point that many thought this was fake. It was completely inconsistent with our understanding how stony meteorites act."

They thought it was a fake! And in the case of Upheaval Dome, they've spent a century debating it. It all sounds like nobody really knows what they are doing, doesn't it? But then, why are they doing this: No, it's not a joke! Plans for 'doomsday ark' on the moon

I've been saying for years now that "Something Wicked This Way Comes." I find it curious that this lawsuit comes at exactly the time when I am getting deeper and deeper into the research for the series of Comet articles:

New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection
The Hazard to Civilization from Fireballs and Comets

Cosmic Turkey Shoot

Wars, Pestilence and Witches
Thirty Years of Cults and Comets

Comet Biela and Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
Tunguska, the Horns of the Moon and Evolution

In this series, we have learned that there is a lot of evidence that our planet undergoes cataclysmic bombardment a lot more often than the general public thinks or believes.

Awareness of the possibility of large impact events on Earth, although long present among a handful of the most imaginative thinkers, has come of age in this century as a result of studies of Arizona's Meteor Crater and the Tunguska fireball of June 30, 1908, in Siberia, spacecraft observations of cratering on Earth and other rocky bodies, and astronomical surveys of the near-Earth asteroid and comet populations. Appreciation of the effects of large impacts has developed in response to these studies and to the unclassified literature on the effects of large nuclear weapons. [...]

[T]he most intensively studied impact phenomenon, impact cratering, is of limited importance, due to the rarity and large mean time between events for crater-forming impacts. Almost all events causing property damage and lethality are due to bodies less than 100 meters in diameter, almost all of which, except for the very largest and strongest, are fated to explode in the atmosphere. ... Since explosions greater than 1 gigaton TNT are rare on this short of a time scale, we are forced to conclude that the complex behavior of smaller bodies is closely relevant to the threat actually experienced by contemporary civilization. [...]

[T]he large majority of lethal events (not of the number of fatalities) are caused by bodies that are so small, so faint, and so numerous that the cost of the effort required to find, track, predict, and intercept them exceeds the cost of the damage incurred by ignoring them.

(John S. Lewis, Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Co-director of the NASA/University of Arizona Space Engineering Research Center, and Commissioner of the Arizona State Space Commission in: Comet and Asteroid Impact Hazards on a Populated Earth, 2000; Academic Press)

The above statement by John Lewis pretty much sums up the conclusions of all the research into Comet and Asteroid Hazards that has been going on in a frenzied way for the past 14 years or so. The ones we really have to worry about, the ones that will kill people on the planet in random, unforeseen disasters, probably can't be seen and are too numerous for it to be cost effective to try to find and deal with them. In other words, the public is abandoned to their fate. Not only abandoned, but a deliberate policy of concealment of the facts is clearly in place.

As I have mentioned before, considering the nature of the topic and the obvious efforts to marginalize it, to cover it up and transfer it to the realm of "crazy conspiracy theories" or worse, we had some concern about Professor Victor Clube, author of The Cosmic Winter and the paper addressed to the European Office of Aerospace Research and development, dated June 4, 1996, entitled: The Hazard to Civilization from Fireballs and Comets who seemed to have sort of "disappeared." I wrote in Part Four of this series:

As I have continued to dig into this subject triggered by reading Victor Clube's paper: The Hazard to Civilization from Fireballs and Comets, it sure appears that I have opened a can of worms. I can report two things at this point: 1) there is a lot of covert research going on about this subject; 2) Victor Clube, himself, seems to have disappeared. We've got some researchers digging on that right now and I'll report back later. It could be the guy just retired, but for the moment, it does seem a bit mysterious considering the things he has written on the topic to hand.

It turns out that Victor Clube HAS retired. One of the SOTT editors who is a climate researcher at a major U.S. research facility undertook to try to find Clube and eventually received a FAXed letter from the good professor which I am quoting here in part:

2008 Feb 15

[...]
I note that my health is questioned and I hasten to admit its comparative rudeness! ... In fact I still like to think my apparent inactivity is not quite as total as a google search might be indicating!

First, I should say your references to the (cosmically complacent) paleoclimate community and to my otherwise unread narrative report to the USAF european office strike a very considerable chord with me. After all neither Ms Victoria Cox nor your good self can be aware how very much Bill and I had reason to appreciate the timely injection of USAF funds at a time when the line of research we championed appeared to be successfully closed down by the UK scientific establishment. Thus we were both in turn obliged to relinquish our career posts at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh on account of this line of research - which gave rise to our reincarnation at a more tolerant haven namely my alma mater (Oxford).

Also, whilst I broadly accept your commentary regarding the role of "national elites" in the face of near-Earth threats, I am quite certain the elites in practice currently know VERY "much LESS than they let on" and that the situation for humanity is dire. Any comfort you may draw from the opposite opinion seems to me to be entirely misplaced. Thus although the globally modest efforts to assess the NEO threat with telescopes by a few semi-enlightened national administrations (eg USA) or by a few private enterprises (eg Gates) are certainly to be commended, I look upon this aspect of the NEO threat as basically intermittent and therefore more or less symbolic so far as generally more urgent and still largely undetected low mass NEO flux (which is demonstrably climatological in its effect) is concerned. This particular threat (evidently responsible for our planet's evolving glacial/interglacial condition during the past 3 million years) is of course _fundamentally_ ignored by the current Body Scientific and hence by most of humanity as well.

Why is the Body Scientific so misguided? Basically, in my view, because many these days are unaware _two_ secular versions of natural philosophy have arisen since the West's renaissance when Plato's works were reintroduced, essentially substantiating a zodiacal circulation of gods apparently ancestral to the european elite. Following the invention of telescopes and the undigested revelation that zodiacal gods appeared non-existent (Galileo), the elite began to invoke transcendental divinity whilst rejecting any material circulation or "unmoved mover" occupying interplanetary space. Newton however delved behind Plato to reach Pythagoras etc. and revived the claims for a material circulation in the zodiac (diminished in luminosity) whose encounters with our planet remained a source of recurring providence. With advancing technology and the improvement of telescopes, the zodiac then revealed the first near-Earth comet (P/Encke) and the first not-so-near asteroid (Ceres) thus re-opening the question whether the ancient zodiacal circulation comprised near-Earth comets. An ensuing but very severe crisis then emerged within the Western elite which was resolved ca 1830 in favour of the preferred secular version of natural philosophy (Galileo's) as opposed to the other (Newton's). I now believe this turn of events was clearly initiated by the Royal Astronomical Society's official charter in Britain (top nation!) as soon as it agreed _not_ to publish observations of P/Encke even though its namesake had already received the Society's highest commendation. Arising from the political interference, Newton's unpublished papers were to remain concealed for at least another century whilst climatology (like many other branches of knowledge) was never properly integrated with Newtonian astrophysics and geophysics.

Once this thread of advancing knowledge is fully appreciated this integration may be reckoned to have only recently been attempted with the publication of an excellent interdisciplinary monograph "Ice Ages and Astronomical Causes" (Springer 2000) by Muller and McDonald (deceased). This seminal climatological work once again connects climate with a material circulation in the zodiac and can indeed hardly be faulted until it reaches its chapter 7 (Accretion climate models). Here, unfortunately, it becomes heavily dependent on a completely mistaken understanding of previously unknown dust bands in the zodiac revealed by IRAS as recently as 1983-4*. The IRAS team was a typical post-WWII scientific enterprise lasting only a decade or so and lacking a secure institutional base but inspired and funded by the top nation (USA) for the benefit of humanity. Its claims under these conditions, like those for resurrection, were endorsed far too rapidly by the Body Scientific and it was absolutely wrong to suppose _only_ low eccentricity (orbital) material could be invoked in creating these previously undetected dust bands. The IRAS team thus completely failed to associate these bands with their most obvious source namely the long term progenitor of Comet P/Encke. The upshot of all this is a succession of UK and US astronomical/ cosmological elites skillfully distracting the Body Scientific and humanity for the past 200 years from the most prominent material dominating near-Earth space and controlling Earth's climate for the past 3 million years (and a no doubt comparable period in future). The social/political outcome of all this (including the current global warming scare) could be laughable if it were not also so deep and profound. [...]

* P.S. The authors of these publications both fail to realise the conclusion between our planet's climate and it's spin-orbit differential nodal precession must arise on account of its long term orbital resonance with the accretion source (or the ancient music of the spheres). As you know, our research builds upon Comet P/Encke's proximity to such a resonance.

As I have mentioned already, everyone needs to read Clube's book if you can possibly get a copy. You may have to go to a library to do so. The reason this book is important is because it gives you a good idea in very realistic terms, of what you may have to deal with at some point in the not-too distant future... AND, that it is eminently survivable IF you know what to look for and how to prepare! We aren't talking about a giant asteroid here that is going to create a global wave of firestorm destruction like the movies depict! It's not Planet X or Nibiru! It's NOT the End of the World (at least not for everybody, but certainly for those who aren't prepared and happen to be in the line of fire!) But yeah, it might be somewhat like the Black Death with the loss of half the population of one or more continents, or the great Chicago Fire or Tunguska or even all of these rolled into one; but all of those events were survivable had the victims been informed and prepared. Yes, there are those who, even had they been informed and prepared would not have survived in any case, but we choose the optimistic path: Knowledge Protects. And we are trying our hardest to give you that knowledge.

The very fact that Bill Gates and others have invested in a seed bank, in an observatory, and all the other things we have discussed in the past and above suggest to us strongly that they (the rich and powerful), too, have this sort of future in mind. The very fact that the weather has gone berserk, that fireball sightings have increased so dramatically, and even frequent impacts are recorded around the globe, are clues that we are definitely moving into a cosmic dust stream as Clube describes, and that such a stream very likely includes some bigger objects - swarms of them - and those "in the know" have taken note and are making preparations. Shouldn't that knowledge be available to everyone? We think so.

We don't even have to worry about anything having to do with a companion star and a comet swarm from the Oort cloud which may or may not be in our future; we only have to deal with the science in front of us. The science says "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

I'm thinking about turning this series into a book, (and there is so much more to write about!) but of course, if Eric Pepin prevails in his suit against me - remember, I'm named personally as a defendant - things don't look too good for that book or future books. One might even speculate that the real intent of the suit is to try to seize all my copyrights, put me so deeply into debt that anything I write ever again will be owed to someone else who will then, we suspect, bury it forever.

That IS a possibility, you know. A real one.

In short, this lawsuit isn't just about some weird guy who got ticked off because a small, obscure forum in a backwater corner of the internet, generally suppressed by google (that's a whole other story), published some criticisms of his work and way of life - criticisms based on widely known and publicized events in that life, by the way. Nope. Eric Pepin has got to know that sott.net operates on a shoestring, that there is no gold to be gotten from this source. And, considering my age and lifespan prospects, ole Eric has got to know that even if I flipped burgers until I died, he'd never get anything.

So, yeah, this is more than just an attempt to suppress Free Speech. Connect the dots, figure it out.

And if you really want to know what is going on here on the BBM, you really need to kick yourself into action and either help us out with funds or with spreading the word about this situation because, peeps, Eric Pepin, whoever is behind him, along with the U.S. legal system, could very well snuff the lighthouse.

You gotta tell me if you want to know, and you gotta do it now. Tell me with actions, not words because, at this point, only actions will save the words I have yet to write for you, for your children, for all of us.

When a Frivolous Lawsuit Can Do Real Damage

Some background. This thread about the Higher Balance Institute was commented on by several people who have had a variety of experiences with HBI, some good, mostly bad. Interestingly as it eventually came out, the "good" experiences were posted by staff members of this business.

And now this. This self-styled "teacher of enlightenment" Eric Pepin, is suing just ONE of several internet forums who have had the poor taste to publicly discuss several newspaper articles about his bad behaviour. Since the news was in fact news, and the discussion widely available (at least until google went into scrub mode), why is only ONE forum being sued?

To quote:
Make no mistake about it: This is an attack on internet freedom and freedom of speech, plain and simple. If Eric Pepin were to win, based on the accusations in the complaint, it would set a precedent that would reverberate across the world. It would make anyone who had a different opinion or view of the world - other than that which is approved by the PTB - subject to suppression and censure.

Think about it.

Blue Ibis

PS The comment at the original article are many and lively. Check them out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet Free Speech Under Threat! Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute Sue SOTT for 4.47 Million Over SOTT Forum Comments!

Laura Knight-Jadczyk
sott.net
Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:10 EST

©Oregonian

"Master" Eric J Pepin

Yesterday, as I was working on finishing up the next installment of the Comet Series of Articles, FedEx delivered a packet of mail from our corporate registered agent in the U.S. It was "Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial" filed in the State of Oregon by Eric Pepin's Higher Balance Institute, LLC. The reason? A discussion on the SOTT Forum that begins HERE.

Well, that was entertaining enough when you think about the fact that the discussion that he objects to was centered on several newspaper articles that describe his close calls with the legal system in Oregon over charges of sex abuse.

The legal document I received is 10 pages long so I'm just going to summarize it here. If you want to read the whole thing (it's hilarious beyond belief!) go HERE for the pdf.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF OREGON

Civil No.: CV '08-0233 HA

COMPLAINT AND DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL

HIGHER BALANCE, LLC, an Oregon
Limited Liability Company, dba HIGHER
BALANCE INSTITUTE, Plaintiff

v.

QUANTUM FUTURE GROUP, INC, a
California corporation, and LAURA
KNIGHT- JADCZYK, Defendants.

Plaintiff Higher Balance LLC, dba Higher Balance Institute ("HBI") files this Complaint against defendants Quantum Future Group, Inc. ("QFG") and Laura Knight-Jadczyk and alleges the following:

...defendants committed intentional torts that were purposefully targeted at HBI within the State of Oregon; defendants knew that HBI is a resident of the State of Oregon; defendants' tortious conduct cause HBI to suffer economic harm within the State of Oregon; HBI's claims arise out of defendants' activities relating to the State of Oregon; and the exercise of jurisdiction over defendants is reasonable in light of their intentional misconduct directed towards a resident of the State of Oregon.

As this Court has specific personal jurisdiction over the defendants, venue is proper in this district and division under 28 U.S.C 1391(a)(3)

General Allegations:

HBI is an Oregon-based company with over 40,000 customers from all over the world. HBI is dedicated to helping its customers relieve stress, reduce anxiety, and achieve emotional balance and spiritual enlightenment through meditation techniques. The majority of HBI's revenues are derived from the online sale of its books and CDs, which are designed to help its customers learn these meditation techniques.

[Etc...]

Defendant QFG operates a website known as Signs of the Times ("SOTT"). QFG posts articles and sponsors forums regarding various conspiracy theories and allegedly corrupt organizations on the SOTT website.

Employees and agents of QFG, including defendant Knight-Jadczyk, serve as administrators and moderators of SOTT forums. QFG employees and agents, including defendant Knight-Jadczyk, post comments and analyses in SOTT forums. These employees and agents act within the course and scope of their agency for QFG when serving as administrators and moderators of the SOTT website and when posting comments and analyses on the SOTT website.

SOTT forums are available to the general public online.

...Many of HBI's existing and potential customers read the SOTT website as a source of alternative media....

FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF - Defamation - Libel

....Beginning in May 2006, QFG sponsored a forum on the SOTT website concerning HBI under the heading "COINTELPRO."

Beginning in November 2007, defendants intentionally posted several false, baseless, and derogatory accusations concerning HBI on the SOTT website including, but not limited to:

a. HBI is a "front for pedophilia";
b. HBI is a "cointelpro" organization;
c. Meditation, as sold by HBI, is an act of "falling into confluence with a psychopathic reality";
d. Those associated with HBI must be careful to avoid sexual molestation by HBI members;
e. HBI is conning the public;
f. "Fishy sexual conduct is occurring at HBI; and
g. HBI "leads people more deeply into sleep."

By posting these statements in a public internet forum, defendants have published and communicated false and baseless accusations concerning HBI to third parties, including existing and potential HBI customers.

Defendants' statements tend to subject HBI to hatred, contempt, and ridicule and tend to diminish the esteem, respect, goodwill and confidence in which HBI is held by the public and by its customers.

Defendant made these false statements with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for their truth.

As a result of defendants' false and defamatory statement, HBI suffered general damages in the form of loss of reputation in an amount to be determined at trial, but in any event, not less than $500,000. HBI has also suffered special damages in the form of lost income in amounts to be determined at trial, but in any event, not less than $834,732.

Defendants defamatory statements are still available to the general public on the SOTT website and are easily found through internet searches relating to HBI. Defendants conduct causes HBI irreparable harm, and HBI is entitled to an injunction preventing defendants' continued defamation of HBI.

SECOND CLAIM FOR RELIEF: False Light

Defendants intentionally gave publicity to matters concerning HBI that placed HBI in a false light before the public. etc

...economic damages ... not less than $834,732.

THIRD CLAIM FOR RELIEF: Intentional Interference with Economic Relations - Interference with Business Relationships

Defendant intentionally interfered with many of these business relationships by communicating the false and defamatory information listed...

...economic damages ... not less than $97,299.

HBI... has also suffered damages in the form of loss of reputation ... damages .... not less than $500,000.

...Defendants conduct was malicious and warrants punitive damages...

FOURTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF: Intentional Interference With Economic Relations - Prospective Economic Advantage

Defendant's interference has diminished the esteem, respect, goodwill, and confidence in which HBI is held by the general public, thereby hindering HBI's ability to obtain many new customers with whom HBI had a prospective business relationship. ... damages to be determined at trial...

...On its First Claim for Relief, that HBI be awarded general and special damages in amounts to be determined at trial, but in any event, not less than $1,334,732, and that defendants be enjoined from their continued defamation of HBI.

...On its Second Claim for Relief, that HBI be awarded damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but in any event, not less than $1,334,732. and that defendants be enjoined from continuing to place HBI in a false light.

...On its Third Claim for Relief, that HBI be awarded damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but in any event, not less than $597,299. plus punitive damages, and that defendants be enjoined from their coninued interference with HBI's prospective business relationships.

...On its Fourth Claim for Relief, that HBI be awarded damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but in any event, not less than $1,205,000 plus punitive damages, and that defendants be enjoined from their continued interference with HBI's business relationships.

... That HBI be awarded pre-judgment and post-judgment interest on all damages recovered.

...That HBI be awarded its costs and disbursements incurred in this action; ...

Harry and David demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable.

25th day of February, 2008.

Bullivant houser Bailey PC
Renee E. Rothauge
Chad M. Colton
Tel 503.228.6351
Attorneys for Higher Balance Institute

Whoah! That's some heavy duty stuff, eh? Sounds like we just ripped up on that poor guy for no reason at all!

But that's not quite the situation. The original article about Eric Pepin that was brought to our attention on page 5 of the above-mentioned forum thread read as follows:

A 39-year-old Aloha man who promises spiritual awakening through meditation books and CDs he sells on the Internet is facing sex-abuse charges.

Beaverton police Detective Mike Smith said Eric J. Pepin runs what appears to be a cult out of his Higher Balance Institute on Southwest Second Street in Beaverton.

Pepin was arraigned Tuesday in Washington County criminal court on one count of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, and four counts of third-degree sexual abuse. He was released after posting $26,750 cash, or 10 percent of $267,500 bail. A trial was set for Sept. 12.

Using a child in a sexual display is a Measure 11 crime punishable by a mandatory minimum of 5 years and 10 months in prison.

Jamison Dwight Priebe, 21, who works for Pepin and lives at the same address in the 19600 block of Southwest Cooperhawk Court in Aloha, also was arrested on one count each of using a child in a sexual display and third-degree sexual abuse.

Priebe and Pepin turned themselves in at the Washington County Jail last week after a grand jury handed down secret indictments. Priebe was released after posting $25,375 cash bail and is awaiting arraignment Monday.

Smith said a man who is now 20 was 17 and working for Pepin when he allegedly was sexually abused at the Higher Balance office in the 11900 block of Southwest Second Street in Beaverton and at Pepin's former home in the city.

A call to the Higher Balance Institute on Wednesday was answered by a "Personal Star Reach Coach," who referred questions to Pepin's private attorney, Sam Kauffman.

"The charges are false, and we are confident Mr. Pepin will be exonerated," Kauffman said.

Pepin's Web site claims he has located more than 100 missing persons and runaways, along with U.S. Navy submarines, through a psychic ability he calls "remote viewing."

Pepin's meditation systems, which sell for $79 to $149, help customers develop their "sixth sense" and apply it "inward to awaken a dimensional universe within the mind," the Web site says.

According to an affidavit Smith filed with a request for a search warrant, the alleged victim told police that Internet customers who rave about Pepin's teachings are men and women usually older than 35. But, the man said Pepin told him he should recruit "good-looking men" between the ages of 18 and 24 to work for him.

The court record also says Pepin knew the man was 17 when he forced him to perform sex acts.

The boy, Smith wrote, "was taught by Pepin to believe that the sexual contact was only a spiritual necessity." But after a while, the affidavit says, the boy decided he was being used by Pepin, who bought him meals and paid him $200 after sex.

The man contacted Beaverton police in January.

Smith said anyone who may have had underage sexual contact with Pepin should call him at 503-526-2280.

Smith said the man accusing Pepin told police he met one of Pepin's followers at Beaverton Town Square in April 2004. He told Smith the recruiter invited him to meet Pepin and see him demonstrate levitation.

Pepin introduced himself dressed in a robe emblazoned with the words "Master Eric" and a triangular symbol and told the victim to take off his shirt, the detective said.

"It's a cult," Smith said, "anytime you have a guy who fancies himself as the master, the leader."

In another story from Associated Press found HERE, we read:

Beaverton police Detective Mike Smith said Pepin operated the Higher Balance Institute in Beaverton. Smith said the ornate robe emblazoned "Master Eric" turned up during a search.

Well, I've been falsely accused of trying to start a cult myself, so I might ordinarily have had sympathy for Pepin, but when I read the bit about the robe, I blew my tea through my nose. I guess that's why I'm such a failure as a cult-leader (aside from the fact that I'm not interested in the job) - I hardly ever wear anything other than sweats and bedroom slippers and spend all my time working!

In any event, even though a grand jury felt that there was enough evidence to indict Pepin, he was eventually acquitted in trial before a judge as the following report informs us:

Institute leader acquitted of sex charges

HOLLY DANKS - HILLSBORO -- A Washington County Circuit judge called the leader of a metaphysical Internet sales company manipulative and controlling and his testimony unbelievable, even as he acquitted him Wednesday of charges that he had sex with an underage boy.

Judge Steven L. Price, after a five-day trial without a jury, found Eric James Pepin, 40, not guilty of two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, four counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

Also acquitted of third-degree sexual abuse and using a child in a pornographic display was Jamison Dwight Priebe, 21, who has worked for Pepin's Higher Balance Institute since he was 18.

"Everybody has stood by me who knows me," Pepin said Wednesday after hugging supporters. "They had faith in me, prayed for me. I told them I wouldn't let them down. I did nothing of what was alleged. I've been nothing but honorable and impeccable."

However, Price said it was "probable that the conduct alleged in all counts occurred," but he wasn't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. "There's a lack of strong corroboration," such as a date-stamp on a videotape of the sexual encounter, the judge said.

The accuser testified Pepin had him take off his shirt the first day they met at Pepin's Beaverton home in April 2004.

"He was going to try and fix my energy and he needed me to trust him," the accuser said. Pepin touched the teen's "chakra points" on his heart, head and lower abdomen.

"Eric asked me to tell him everything I had done in my life that I was ashamed about," the teen added.

The accuser said Pepin asked him how old he was the first day they met and that he told him the truth.

"He said students had to be 18 because he didn't like parents fussing around," the accuser said.

But within days the two were having sex, including a three-way encounter with Priebe, the youth testified. Pepin called it "crossing the abyss," the accuser said, "surrendering yourself to your teacher, your master."

Pepin testified he is gay and has had sexual relationships with most of his 11 employees, but not before they were 18. Pepin said he gave his accuser a job, even though the teen was a poor worker, and continued to be intimate with him and give him money after he was fired, to help him out.

Stephen A. Houze, Pepin's private defense attorney, called the accuser a liar more than 100 times in his closing argument and noted that Pepin was "the perfect patsy" because society wants to believe the worst of a gay man. Houze said the accuser brought the charges because he wanted to shake down Pepin.

Pepin's Higher Balance Institute, now on Northwest Saltzman Road in Cedar Mill, reached an annual high of $2 million in Internet sales of meditation CDs, tapes and books before his arrest in July.

Pepin touts himself as a psychic and "remote viewer" who has found lost submarines and missing people, and says he created the "psychic pill" Magneurol6-S that enhances brain function, heals nerve damage, heightens paranormal experiences and relieves stress for $79 a bottle.

Andrew Erwin, deputy district attorney, called Higher Balance nothing more than a sex cult run by a "snake oil" salesman who preys on the troubled.

The accuser had nothing to gain by going to police and turned down $250,000 from Pepin to drop the sex charges, Erwin said.

"I'm disappointed," Erwin said of the verdicts. "The judge wants proof beyond all doubt and that's too high a standard."

And now, Pepin wants to sue QFG and yours truly for talking about these articles, published in a newspaper and scattered across the web (though all of them are no longer on the newspaper's website, wonder what's up with that?)!!

Notice that Pepin, himself, revealed his "sex cult" practices in his own testimony. We'll be trying to get transcripts of the trial to publish so our readers can hear it from the horse's mouth; stay tuned for that.

Notice also that Pepin's attorney, Houze, accused the victim of bringing charges because he wanted to shake down Pepin even though the kid turned down 250 K hush money offered by Pepin. Well, maybe that's what gave Pepin the idea of suing me. Only thing is, he's gonna have a hard time collecting his 4.47 million because I don't own a thing, live in a rented house, drive a used car and QFG rarely has more than a grand in the bank at any given time. When we have fund-raisers, the funds are used almost instantly, repaying loans and covering basic expenses for the site and equipment.

It's also humorous that Pepin is suing QFG which only sponsors a world-wide group of independent researchers who, together, make up sott.net. QFG doesn't own sott, nor does QFG have any employees nor any official oversight of anything that the sott.net researchers say or do.

But the bottom line is this: Eric Pepin is convicted out of his own mouth of being a sexual predator. I mean, what kind of teacher of meditation says that he has sex with all his employees? And all of them young men?

Nope, we aren't backing down. We firmly believe, based on available official documents and court records, that Eric Pepin is a danger to innocent people looking for spiritual guidance. Obviously, young guys just looking for sex and money and a good time will be delighted to take his pills, listen to his tapes and attend his retreats. But the wider public who are not aware of these things in Pepin's background, who are not aware that even the judge who acquitted him regretted having to do so, and that the Prosecutor of the case was also convinced that justice had NOT been done, need to be warned about this sexual predator in our midst.

Maybe Eric Pepin will take Sott.net down, we don't know. We don't have money for an expensive defense attorney, we barely stay afloat. But even if that happens (and we hope our readers will help us out now as never before), there are others who know and I don't think that Eric Pepin and all his minions can track down and silence all of them.

Even if you can't give to our legal defense fund, I will appreciate letters of support during this trying time. Write to sott(at)sott.net and I will try to answer each and every one.

And thanks to all our readers for your constant support and encouragement.

Comment: Oregon police say man abused teen in cult-like operation
"Two Aloha men arrested on sex-abuse charges"
Leader of Washington County Internet company acquitted of sex abuse
Sexual predators in the religious scene

Make no mistake about it: This is an attack on internet freedom and freedom of speech, plain and simple. If Eric Pepin were to win, based on the accusations in the complaint, it would set a precedent that would reverberate across the world. It would make anyone who had a different opinion or view of the world - other than that which is approved by the PTB - subject to suppression and censure. The issues of psychopathy and conspiracy are specifically named in the complaint as well as the connection between religion and making money. If this suit were to succeed, it would significantly chill further discourse about conspiracies, pathological deviance, mind control methods and real cults, including the Judao-Islamo-Christian dominator trio. It would be a disaster.

And so, I think we can begin to notice who is and is not interested in assisting us in publicizing this threat, what so-called "alternative news" sites or "conspiracy theory" sites are willing to come to our aid in facing this threat against all of us on the net.

Certainly there are people and sites that have felt the sting of our critique and we have felt theirs more than once. This is the watershed. As Martin Niemöller said:

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

It's time for those who stand for freedom of speech, for our First Amendment Rights, to speak up or forever be silenced. Because that is what will happen if Eric Pepin and the Higher Balance Institute prevail. He will create the precedent for total suppression for the PTB masters whether that is his intention or not.