Nazi America the Slave State

I continued to work on the patent application and finally got a completed draft to Dan Gane. Dan edited and modified the application to make it legally sound and then submitted it to the patent office. The records show the patent was applied for on May 8, 1977. Thus Gamma Supplies now had my testimony and in all probability a patent on the “Rapid Set” system. One more item was needed before I became completely disposable.

Example 12 in one of the patents under litigation was now the focal point of the legal battle. Although I had testified extensively on my inability to make Example 12 work, my deposition still had not been transcribed and signed which meant there were no legal documents in place to present to the federal judge. In mid-May, Arnold and Darth came into my office and told me they wanted me to sign and affidavit that Example 12 had been falsified and did not work. Dan would then submit the document to the court. I refused.I had given them my testimony and a potential patent and still I was being driven out of the job. I was not about to put my name on another court document. Arnold and Darth argued vigorously and applied tremendous pressure, but I would not budge. Finally, I told them I did not see why Example 12 would not work, and I wanted to run some more experiments. They left but not before telling me I had one week to run more experiments and that they would be back with the affidavit to sign. Darth and Arnold made it clear that I had no choice but to sign the affidavit. The whole scenario was like one of those scenes in a Western movie where the bad guys force the ranch owner to sign over the deed to his ranch.

I had won a momentary victory, but I did not know what to do. I really had no experiments to run, and I was running out of excuses for not signing the document. That week, at least once a day, Arnold or Darth would call or come into my office and ask me if I was ready to sign the affidavit. Finally, I acquiesced and signed the document stating that Example 12 did not work. Dan Gane then submitted the document to Judge Myron Gordan for consideration.

I continued to try to establish a working relationship with Jeff and Buzz, but I was constantly rebuffed, and they along with John continued to make my life in the laboratory miserable. At one point I asked them to join me for lunch, at my expense, for some informal talk. I was hoping that maybe outside of the work environment I could find some reason their antagonistic attitude and find some solution to the problem. During lunch we talked and I tried to explain what I expected the lab to accomplish. I came back to Gamma feeling I had made some progress. That illusion was quickly shattered the next day, when a follow-up conversation, Buzz accused me of trying to buy his friendship! I felt totally
frustrated. No matter what I did, the negative aspect of it was thrown back at me; I could do nothing right in their eyes.

Finally, the situation with Buzz got totally out of hand. He would not discuss his work with me, and his work habits were still poor. I was really puzzled by Buzz's performance. In rummaging through lab drawers, I had found some reports written by Buzz prior to his six month sabbatical in Iran. I found those reports to be reasonably well written and generally of good quality for a person of his training and experience. Yet his work during the period I was at Gamma Supplies had been poor and his written communications had been horrendous. It seemed as if his poor performance was deliberate. In addition, Buzz refused to direct his research in the direction I wanted it to go and seemed to care less about what I wanted. Any attempt to discuss the issue with Darth or Carl resulted in the usual frustration.

This time I wrote a memo to Darth, with copies to Carl and Buzz about the direction of the research in the laboratory. If nothing else, I hoped the memo would lead to discussions to resolve the differences between Buzz and me, and it would document the problem.

The response was totally unexpected. First, when the memo was circulated, Darth was out of town and he did not immediately see it. Second, Jay Wells came into my office and told me that Carl had showed him the memo. He proceeded for about one hour to tell me how wrong I was in issuing the memo and what a bad move it was to do that. Had I been aware at that point of what was really going on, I would have thrown him out of my office, but I was not to become totally aware of the scope of things until several months later.

The next morning Carl called me in his office and “discussed” the problem with me. He defended Buzz and then said it would be best if “we” removed the memo from
Darth's desk and not say anything more about the subject. In other words, I was to live with the problem. I said I wanted Darth to see the memo, and did not see any reason for bringing Jay into the discussion. Carl had no explanation for his behavior.

That afternoon, Carl came back into my office and in a toned down manner told me again how wrong I was in writing the memo and that I could still save myself by not letting Darth see it. I still said no. Finally, late in the afternoon I saw Carl in the hall and he said, “Oh, I did you a favor, I took your memo off Darth's desk.”

Before I could say anything he continued on his way. I had been beaten again, but since Carl was now an executive in the company, I felt I had accomplished my purpose of documenting Buzz's behavior. Darth, officially never did see the memo. All of this was farcical because all I had tried to do was follow the exact procedure to start an investigation into firing a person that Darth had outlined at one of the meetings.

After I sent out the memo about Buzz's behavior, he refused to talk to me and he would literally run away from me when I approached him to discuss anything. He maintained this behavior for a period of better than two weeks and then eventually he began talking to me again.

During the April/May time period, the coincidences at Gamma were becoming more
frequent and broader in their scope. On example which really bothered me involved a sales representative who sold computer printout paper to Gamma Supplies. Pete Dini had worked as a sales representative for a computer company before he struck out on his own selling peripheral material needed in computer operations. Gamma Supplies was an important customer to his fledgling operation, and he had befriended Gamma Supplies' computer programmer, Dave Lipton. It was through Dave that I had first met Pete.

One evening after work, I stopped at the Full Sails by myself for a drink. I ran into Pete and we discussed work and my overall impression of Gamma Supplies. I told Pete I thought Gamma had a good future, but I was concerned because all the managers were young and seemed to lack good business acumen.We concluded our conversation and I thought no more of it.

About a week later, Darth stopped by my office and requested that I attend a sales management meeting that was to be held a couple of days hence. I really wasn't interested, but Darth was persistent and insisted that I attend.

I reluctantly attended the meeting and was sitting there thoroughly bored when out of the blue, Darth started talking about what some people were saying about Gamma Supplies. He then went on to say that some people thought that Gamma Supplies'managers were young and lacked good business acumen. Not only did he express the thought I had relayed to Pete at the Full Sail, but he used the same words verbatim! I sat there almost in a state of shock. To express the same thought was one thing, but to use the exact same words was mind boggling. Darth's insistence that I attend the meeting followed by his regurgitating my exact words was mind boggling. Also, "business acumen" is just not the type of language or expression that I would have expected Darth to use. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence to be a true coincidence. I listened intently the rest of the meeting, but nothing else unusual occurred.

One interesting item did get disseminated during that day. During the discussion of sales, Darth presented a chart of industry wide sales of the different foundry binder systems. One did not need to be a genius to see that the new Better Supplies “Fast Set” which was the object of the lawsuit, and the sister system “Ice Box” were rapidly replacing the older systems. If one extended those trends, in less than five years Better Supplies would totally dominate the foundry binder business at the expense of Gamma Supplies and several large chemical companies.

Since Better Supplies had such extensive protective patent coverage, the development of competitive seemed prohibited. The data reinforced the need to break up the Better Supplies' patents and confirmed my suspicions that the litigation was important to more companies than just Gamma Supplies. The questions which ran through my head were for whom was I really working and what was their plans for me. I was beginning to get more than a little concerned.

The next day I ran into Ralpgh Sampson and he asked me about the sales meeting. I told him for my purposes the meeting was pretty much a waste of time. Then I related to him the coincidence about what Darth said at the meeting and what I had said to Pete Dini. When Ralph said nothing I emphasized that not only did Darth state the same thought, but he used the same words! Still, Ralph expressed no thought on the subject. I couldn't understand his lack of reaction to the incident.

Minor incidents also occurred which bothered me. Sometimes when I would get bored with my work I would take a break and frequently go down to the computer room and chat with Dave Lipton. On one occasion we were discussing Carl's role in the company. Dave was rather gruff person and in only a manner that he could do it, he stated “Every time I see that worthless SOB he is sitting at his desk reading the paper”.

I said, “Well, I don't know about that, but I do know he runs the laboratory from a distance. After a while I left Dave's office and returned to my office. Amazingly, the next three times I walked past Carl's office on a way to meet with someone, there was Ralph sitting there reading the paper. I thought it's almost as if it was staged, but the thought seemed ridiculous to me.

The most frightening coincidence, and the one that would eventually be used to make life a real nightmare involved a comment I made at the last management meeting I was to attend. Darth as usual informed me of the date of the meeting and then gave me a book titled “Corporation Man” by Anthony Jay. He told me the three chapters I was responsible for covering. Then he mentioned that he was going to cover another book by Anthony Jay titled “Machiavelli and Management” which he had used at sales meetings, but he thought that given the circumstances, he would do “Corporation Man” first. I did not ask what the circumstances were, but somehow I couldn't help but feel the circumstances involved me. Darth also gave me the responsibility for finding a place for the meeting and for putting out a memo to the other people announcing the meeting.

By now I knew I had been used and had no future at Gamma Supplies. To protect myself I was documenting as many of the unusual happenings as I could. As luck would have it, a week before I sent out the meeting notice, a story on the drought in the Chicago area appeared in the paper and accompanying the article was a picture of a man trying to locate underground water with a divining rod. Finding water and nickels with a divining rod had been an unannounced topic at our previous management meeting. The memo I sent out had a picture of the man holding a divining rod and all of the pertinent information regarding the next meeting. The day the memo was sent out Darth summoned me to his office and asked who was responsible for the memo. I told him I was. Darth acted very annoyed, but made no direct comments expressing his disapproval. I could only assume his reaction was because I had put on paper a reminder of the ridiculous subjects we had covered the previous meeting. The conversation amounted to little more than Darth saying “I don't like this.”

The management meeting started with Darth passing out a short IQ/creativity test
which can be found in most brain puzzle books. The test was a series of mathematic
operations in which the conventional meaning of mathematic signs had been changed. For example, the instructions may state that the + sign means to multiply instead of adding thenumbers. Thus, in a series of math operations you have to remember what the new mean-ing for each sign is. Since I had seen the test before and knew what it was, I deliberately plodded through it and made sure I was the last of the group to complete it. As long as everyone was playing for a dummy, I thought it was best to live up to the image. After the test, we went on to cover the assigned topic.

A discussion of trust in management arose and I related a story of how I had worked for a person for 2 years without missing a day of work. Then one day I became ill and forgot to call in to tell the office I would not be coming in that day. I was home sleeping in the bedroom when the phone in the kitchen rang. I managed to get out of bed and make it to where the phone was located just in time to have the person calling hang up on me. It turned out it had been my boss calling me and I related how it really bothered me that my boss didn't trust me and had to call, wake me up, get me out of bed and then hang up on me. I said it was really an annoying experience.

The next day at work, I was working in the laboratory and my phone rang in my office. I made a mad dash to my phone, picked it up and heard a dial tone. The party had hung up!, It could have been a coincidence except that this was to become a routine the rest of my stay at Delta Oil. Usually, the calls would come at times when I was far removed from my office. I just accepted the calls as part of the planned harassment to drive me out of the company. It didn't even occur to me at the time that all other managers had their calls answered by the company switchboard operator when they were not in their office. What I did not understand was why “they” waited until I had mentioned it before that form of harassment began. Everyone knows that hanging up the phone on someone is highly irritating. I couldn't understand why that form of irritation was done to coincide with any
comments I made at the management meeting. I never consider the possibility that someone wanted to make me look paranoid or even worse, to make me paranoid.

Two other coincidental incidents happened that June which were equally perplexing. Thefirst involved my old friend in sales, Paul Johnson. As the humid weather of summer beset upon the mid-west, problems involving “Rapid Set” were arising. Darth arranged for me to go with Paul and a local salesman to visit some foundries in Iowa and observe the problem first hand. I knew what the problem was and knew how to solve it, but I also knew the solution would potentially cause more conflict with other Better Supplies' patents. I also believed Darth knew what was wrong, but I had to go through the discovery process myself and come up with the solution. That way I couldn't say that Darth told me the answer and what to do.

The trip to the Iowa foundries was pretty routine. The problem was self-evident and I assured Paul and the local salesman that I knew how to correct the situation. That evening in Iowa, we were having a couple of drinks when I mentioned to Paul that I had seen one of Allis Chamler's people who had been at Paul's Christmas dinner at a Waylon Jennings concert in Chicago the previous week. Paul was surprised that I had recognized the man, but acknowledged that the particular person did like country music. At the time I couldn't understand why Paul was so surprised that I had recognized and remembered the man and the situation where I had met him. What I didn't realize is that all the stress I had been deliberately subjected to since I had been at Gamma Supplies was in part to reduce and wipe out memory. This would become more evident as time went on.

The next day I returned to Gamma Supplies and told Darth what had to be done to solve the “Rapid Set” problem and that it might cause more conflict with the Better Supplies' patents. Darth quickly rationalized the patent conflict away and said to make the necessary changes. I made sure Darth knew of the potential conflict and that he approved of the changes. He seemed totally unconcerned about the potential conflict.

That afternoon Ralph Sampson came into my office and told me that he, Joah Rilley, the company comptroller, and Dave Lipton were going over the Full Sails for drinks to celebrate Dave's's Birthday. He thought I might want to join them. I thought it was strange to invite me to join them since I had not been to the Full Sails with Gamma Supplies people for several months, but I said I would be glad to join them. I went in and found Josh Rilley there by himself. I joined him for a drink and as soon as I sat down at the bar, Waylon Jennings' song “Good Hearted Woman” came on over the stereo system that had been on. All the time I had been in the Full Sails, I had never heard a Waylon Jennings song and I couldn't even remember ever hearing a country and western song playing. Now the day after I mentioned Waylon Jennings to Paul, Waylon music is played the minute I walk in the door. The thing seemed orchestrated, but it seemed so absurd and there was no reason I could see for orchestrating such a bizarre coincidence. I finished my drink, talked awhile with Josh and then left. Ralph Sampson and Dave Lipton never did show up.

The big event at Gamma Supplies in July was “Fish Day” which was a trip to a fish hatchery just north of Chicago. The invited people fished for a short time, drank and then had a picnic. It was a big outing for the Gamma Supplies Chicago area people because it gave the workers located at the plant a chance to meet and talk with the sales people from different areas. The people from the Chicago plant were invited by invitation only and I, of course, as head of the laboratory expected to be invited. A week before the event I still had not received an invitation, so I mentioned that fact to Jay. Jay acted surprised and said he was sure I was suppose to go and that he would talk to Darth about it. By now, I was tired of the useless confrontations with Darth and felt if Jay talked to him, it might be best. I also approached Carl about going to the “Fish Day”, but he said it was for only for salesman. Since Jay never did get back to me, I was effectively excluded from a company event. Ralph Sampson, Jay Wells and the rest of my management group attended.

Since I had resigned myself to the fact that I would be leaving Gamma Supplies, I had drawn up some plans and a timetable for a sequence of events. On thing I planned was to make some improvements to the house to increase its resales value. One project was to build an elevated deck off the family room which could be accessed through sliding glass doors.

To build the deck I needed some three foot lengths of galvanized steel pipe
which cost about $50.00 at a hardware store. I planned to do the work on th following Saturday. On the proceeding Wednesday, I went to the Gamma Supplies plant
workshop and found the tubing I needed. I then went to Bill James, the plant
manager and told him what I needed and asked if I could have the scrap pipe in the
workshop and if he could have it cut in three foot lengths. He said the pipe was
scrap and he saw no problem getting it cut into three foot lengths. I emphasized that
I needed the pipe by Friday and thanked him for his help. On Thursday I checked
with the man in the workshop and he confirmed that Bill had talked to him and he
would have the three foot lengths ready Friday. I caught Bill in the hall the next day and again emphasized that I needed the pipe before the weekend. He assured me
that there was no problem. Friday afternoon I went to the workshop and found no
one around. The pipe I wanted was lying on the ground uncut where it had been. A
cursory look around the shop revealed no suitable pipe cutting equipment that I
could use. Since I couldn't find Bill, I left work without the pipe.

That weekend I purchased the necessary pipe cut in three foot lengths and laid the
foundation for the deck. As usual at Gamma Supplies, I had been promised something and nothing had been delivered.

The following Monday, Bill popped his head in my office bright and early and
said, “Hey, your lengths of pipe are in the shop all cut. Do you still want them?”

As I sat there I couldn't help thinking he knew I no longer needed the pipe.
Politely I said “sure”. I took the pipe for use as fencing, but I couldn't help but feel the delay in getting the cut pipe had been deliberate.

By late July I hardly spoke with Darth and my dislike for him and his practices
had grown to a hate. I was still having trouble with Jeff and Buzz in the lab and
just as he had done with Ravi and John, he ignored the problem. In addition, now
Darth was taking actions aimed at thwarting my every move in the laboratory.

“Rapid Set” was now at least equal to “Fast Set” in performance, yet Gamma was
having little success in the field. I surveyed the sales results and came to the conclusion that there was no well defined plan of attack to introduce the product into the market place. I drew up a memo outlining the problem and proposed a strategy for careful control and planning of all future “Rapid Set” tests. The memo went to Al Jordan, Vice President of Sales, Jay Wells, Carl Host and
Darth Korey. I received no verbal response from any of the recipients. Several
days later, I walked into the laboratory and there was a five gallon pail of “Rapic
Set” sitting on the lab bench.

“What this?” I asked Jeff

“Oh Darth is sending that to Caterpillar foundry for a test run.”

“Who is running the test and when is it going to be?” I asked.

Bill responded. “He's just sending it down there for them to test when they get
the chance. There's nothing definite.”

I was angry. Two days after I outlined a plan for conducting successful “Rapic
Set” tests, Darth was flaunting his disregard in my face. It seemed like a deliberate act to irritate me. In addition, I never was able to find out if the trial run had been carried out or what results were obtained. I never was able ascertain if the test run had been conducted and the results of such a test were deliberately withheld from me.

A second “Rapic Set” test was carried out a couple of weeks later without my
knowledge. I was sitting home one evening when I got a call from Jay Wells.
He said he was in Louisiana running a “Rapid Set” test that day and the results had
been terrible. I had not even been informed of the test and when I inquired about it, I found the test had been run under the worst possible conditions. I told Jay that the test shouldn't have been run and that under the conditions he used, it was bound to fail. I asked why he hadn't discussed the trial with me first. But all Jay kept saying was, “What am I going to tell them tomorrow? What am I going to say about why it didn't work?”

Suddenly the failure had become my problem. I gave him a few suggestions and
then hung up. I went to the family room and two scotches to try to calm down.
Jay had reported that he had run the trial unprepared, and now he was calling me
for an explanation for his poor results. My strategy to have successful “Rapid Set”
test trials had been designed to avoid exactly that situation.

In the confusion of everyday events, a very dramatic, yet almost unnoticeable
change had taken place in John Mason's behavior. John was now very quiet, reserved
and barely visible. When he was present, he no longer was the loud-mouth author-
itarian, but rather he was taciturn. His relationship with me became very distant and there were stretches of time when I barely saw him. Quietly and slowly, John had vanished as my antagonist and Buzz had grown to replace him. The dramatic
change in John's behavior baffled me and gave more credence to my belief that his
initial absurdly aggressive behavior had been planned and orchestrated.

In early August, Darth came in my office , sat down and started a dialog.

“Russ, I was planning to make some changes next January, but I decided to
move them up and make them now. I think it's time you get some stripes. Your
going to become the Technical Director. There will be some other changes too,
but they don't effect you. The changes will be made at the end of the month”. Darth continued on but I really didn't pay any attention.

After he left my office, I sat there debating what to do. If I accepted the “promotion" and the title, I would be lending credence to their story that they had treated me well and given me all that they had promised while at the same time if I rejected the promotion, they would have more reason to jump all over me and create more guilt and negative feelings. In fact, this was a classic "no-win" situation.

After Darth left my office, I sat there debating what to do. If I accepted the “promotion and the title, I would be lending credence to their story that they had treated me well and given me all that they had promised while at the same time if I rejected the promotion, they would have more reason to jump all over me and create more guilt and negative feelings.

I decided I would not decline the offer, but that I would ignore the whole thing. Besides, the "promotion" would enhance my chances of getting a better job in the future. Refusal to accept the promotion would also put me in a position of having to defend myself and my views and by now I was avoiding as much confrontation a possible. I also decided not to inform my wife because I did not want to get her hopes up especially since she had just quit her job and was beginning to get ready to go to school to become a nurse.

After Darth informed me of my pending promotion, a couple of peculiar
incidences occurred. Ben Kenholz, from the quality control laboratory started
coming to my office and kidding me about changing offices and moving into Ravi's
old office which was adjacent to my mine. Ben's timing and his almost daily
presence at my office door told me he knew of the impending announcement, but
every time I asked him if he knew something I didn't know, he would profess
ignorance. I kept wondering how a laboratory worker from quality control knew
about my “promotion” to Technical Director, but all he would ever say was “when
are you moving into your new office?” I never did consider changing offices, but I
often wondered who would move into the now vacant office.

Another implication involved the use of a company car. One late afternoon,
Darth asked me to join him, Josh Rilley, Dave Lipton and Ralph Sampson for drinks
at a near-by tavern. I reluctantly agreed to stop by for a few minutes. When I
arrived Darth was there and we began to chat. Shortly afterwards, Josh joined us.
As the three of us sat there talking, Ralph Sampson and Dave Lipton came in and
started kidding me about driving a “purple Lincoln”. I asked them and Josh, to
whom Ralph reported, what they were talking about. Josh just shrugged
his shoulders and the other two just went silent. I left that night wondering what all the talk about a “purple Lincoln” was all about.

After that, just about everyday at work someone at work would come up to
me and say, "Gee, I wish I had a 'purple Lincoln'”. As soon as I tried to question
someone about what they had said, they would ignore me. The only purple Lincoln
that I knew of in Gamma Supplies was the one driven by Joel Gitz who was the original
owner of Delta Oil. Joe was now retained as a consultant and adviser, and he drove
a deep plumb colored Lincoln.

The suggestions were made to imply that I was going to get a company car. I did not expect a company car, and I assumed the comments and suggestions were just
another form of harassment to drive me out of the company. But what I didn't fully
appreciate was that I had been abused so badly that I was loosing control of my
rational thought processes. I also didn't realize at that moment that causing me to
loose control of my rational thought process was the exact purpose of all of the
harassment.

I was scheduled to take a trip to Tenneland, and as usual, I had the secretary
make the arrangements. I told her I would need a rental car and that I wanted a
compact car. When I arrived in Summerfield, I found the car reserved for me was a
mid-sized Cutlass Supreme, which was the standard company car for salesmen and
it was the same model company car that Ravi had driven as the Technical Director. Obviously the secretary had reserved the wrong car. On my previous trips to Summerfield the rental cars had been much less luxurious and roomy. Again the implication was that I, as Technical Director, would have a company car.

The suggestions about a company car become more blatant a week before the big
announcement. I was talking to Jay Wells and Paul Jones about a trip to Neenah Foundry in Neenah, Wisconsin. We were discussing how we were to make the trip and who going to drive.

Paul looked at me and said, “Maybe you should wait until next week and you can go in a new company car.”

Jay looked at Paul as if to say, “your getting a little too obvious.” After a period of awkward silence, the conversation continued until we decided to wait until the following week after the big announcement to determine who should drive.

The day before the announcement, Carl came into my office and told me that I would be the new Technical Director. At the same time, he would become Vice President of Technical Operations, and he would be moving into Ravi's old office next to mine. He also implied that he would be taking a more active role in the running of the laboratory operations, which meant that I would have even less say in running the laboratory than I already had. It was now evident why Carl had been “hidden” from me when I first joined the company and why his role in the company had never been well defined until now. The fact that Carl was a klutz and borderline competent was really disheartening. At least Ravi had been competent and scientifically knowledgeable and that was one of the major reasons I had come to Gamma Supplies originally.

The fact that Carl was going to play an increasing roll in the laboratory had been evident when in July he had informed me he was doing the laboratory budget for the next year and he wondered if there were any items I might want. After a year of trying, and now as “Technical Director”, I still did not even get a copy of the budget. The day after Carl had told me of my promotion, an official announcement was made in a memo which stated that I was the new Gamma Supplies "Technical Director." What confused me about all of this charade, was why was all of this being done in an official and public manner.
______________________________________________________________________________

* I always considered both Darth Corey and Carl Host to be marginally competent. I now know that as a fact, given that 20 years latter, Gamma Supplies has shown zero, none, nada growth in terms of real dollars. I don't know how many years Darth and Carl stayed on at Gamma Supplies after I left, but I do know they were there 6 years latter when I returned. In 1998, the Clines sold Gamma Supplies to HA International a large foreign owned company. I sure that they,Darth, and Carl if they were still there at the time, made a lot of money off of my efforts. But that's what makes america great; the powerful exploiting the poor.

For anyone reading this and who owns a business, Darth and Carl both claimed to have an advanced degree from the University of Chicago Business School. Based on their performance, I would discourage any business owner from hiring anyone from the Chicago School of Business!

Despite my new title, the problems still continued in the laboratory and now, with
Carl's office near the laboratory, everyone ran to Carl with their problems. I still
had continuing problems with Buzz and I had a new problem that was becoming
more and more irritating. The problem involved the disappearance of laboratory
equipment. I would order and purchase laboratory supplies, frequently in excess of
need and put them supplies in the cabinets in the lab. Within a week or two, all of
the supplies would be gone! This was particularly irritating when I would be work-
ing in the laboratory and need a piece of equipment which I had purchased, only to
find the item was missing. I discussed this problem with everyone, but no one knew
anything about it. Then one day Jeff said he wanted to show me something. He
took me to George Landry's office and opened a desk drawer. There was all of the
equipment I had been purchasing which subsequently turned up missing. Why Gene
the head of Quality Control would want the items was a mystery to me. Jeff claimed he made the discovery accidentally while looking for something. It was just one more crazy incident that was going on and I was becoming more and more curious as to why all these events were taking place.

Shortly after the changes had been announced, Carl and I were in Darth's office
listening to Darth go on one of his ego trips explaining his views of the world. One
thing was always true about Darth and his conversations; he was always extremely
egotistical and if given a chance, he would brag. I was trying to figure out why he
had called me in his office when he began explaining how the human mind tends to forget things if conditions are made unbearable enough and that the brain secrets chemicals when under extreme stress so that a person can forget traumatic
experiences. As I sat there listening, my heart began to race. Was that the reason for all the harassment and irritation? Was my time at Gamma Supplies suppose to be so unbearable that I wouldn't know or remember what had happened to me in order to get my testimony? If that had been the purpose, it had not been successful and what if “they” knew I could remember things? What else would they do? The thoughts raced through my head. And I couldn't help but think how arrogant and stupid Darth was. But most important to me at this point was who ultimately was behind this idiotic plan!? I now knew for sure that I was dealing with some REALLY SICK PEOPLE!?

Then Darth turned his attention to the real purpose of the meeting. He had
decided “Rapid Set” was now competitive with the Better Supplies' “Fast Set” and he
now wanted me to direct my efforts toward developing a sister product called “Ice Box” on which Better Supplies had another set of patents. This was possible now because Judge Myron Gordon, The FEDERAL JUDGE presiding over the legal battle had surprisingly ruled the “Fast Set” patents were invalid on a filing date technicality. If the ruling stood, Gamma Supplies had won the legal battle over the “Rapid Set” patent infringement. This apparent victory had made Darth feel so confident that he felt he could brag about the plan to get my testimony.

Judge Myron Gordon's ruling seemed ridiculous to me and it made me question his integrity too. However, the victory would not be final until until all of the appeals had been made, but in the meantime Darth wanted to start an attack on the “Ice Box” set of patents. I was not pleased with his request because I knew my days at Gamma Supplies were numbered, and if form held true, I would be gone by the Christmas holidays. To make sure I thought about the threat of loosing my job, Darth finished by saying that he wanted the “Ice Box” type system by the end of the year. I left the meeting knowing I was never going to develop the system Darth wanted.

In mid-September another incident occurred which caused me a lot of internal
conflict. Darth said he wanted Carl, Jay and me to give a presentation at the
September 19th American Foundry Society/Wisconsin Chapter meeting. I told
Darth I preferred to wait until the February regional meeting and give a full length
talk on “Rapid Set” by myself. As always, Darth agreed although I was somewhat
surprised since the regional meeting was after the end of the year. Two weeks later
the notice for the meeting came out, and there I was listed as one of the speakers.
Before I had a chance to object, Carl and Jay were upon me discussing what the
topic should be and how we should divide up the talk. Reluctantly I gave in and
agreed to give a presentation on the importance of quality control.

I was presented to the audience as Gamma Supplies Technical Director and I talked on the importance of the quality control for the “Rapid Set” system. I had only a couple of days to prepare for the speech and I was not pleased with the content, but the presentation at the meeting was a success. Again I had been forced into doing something I did not really want to do, and as a result a lot of internal conflict had been generated. Parading me in front of other people also gave Gamma Supplies and the people behind the attack on the Better Supplies patents “proof” that Gamma Supplies had treated me well and had honored their commitment to me.

Since I did not want to work on a “Ice Box” type product at this point, I spent
most of my time in the laboratory getting involved in problems which were of
immediate importance. In two instances I was able to solve major problems which
were baffling to the people involved in the projects. Quickly solving problems that
confused Darth and Carl only help confirm my opinion about there general
incompetence. In fact, on one such problem Darth set up a meeting in order to get
me involved and solve the problem. Of course to Darth, exploiting me only showed to himself what a brilliant manager he was. I was being used as a consultant and Darth's use of me in that role said my days at Gamma Supplies were numbered. Despite the fact that I could quickly solve problems that baffled the dynamic genius duo of Darth and Carl plus the other people in the laboratory, I did not fit into Gamma's future and their plans seemed only to get the most out of my services while I was there. My only real purpose was to provide testimony in the lawsuit and amusement for my captors.

In one instance Carl and Darth staged a meeting at the laboratory door. Carl
turned to me and said he was checking his keys to see if they fit the door because he
was coming in on Saturday to work. I had worked on Saturdays when I first joined
Gamma Supplies, but I stopped that practice when I knew I had no future there. Somehow I just didn't believe Carl was the type to work on Saturdays or any other day if he thought he didn't have to. Besides lacking any real talent, Carl seemed to be rather lazy. I thought they were just trying to intimidate me to get more work out of me with this little scenario. Of course, that would have just been another unconfirmed belief of mine except that I overheard Carl talking to a secretary a short time later, and he was bragging to her about how he had never worked a Saturday in his life! When Carl turned around and saw me listening to
him, he turned beet red.

In early October, the plan to get rid of me started in earnest. First, my problems with Buzz were always present and had reached a head. I went into the laboratory to find Buzz and was told by Jeff that he was in talking with Darth. Fuzzy's talk lasted for over an hour, and when he emerged I came into the laboratory to talk to him but he ignored me. Instead he walked to the other side of the laboratory to Jeff.

Jeff inquired in a loud voice. “Well, what did he say?”

Buzz responded. “He said he knew it was a bad situation, but there was nothing
he could do right now because he didn't have anyone to replace him. We just have
to live with the situation”.

Given the situation it was not hard to figure out what Buzz had been discussing
and his willingness to air his conversation in front of me did not surprise me
because what good did it do to set someone up to be fired if you didn't create the
anxiety to go with it. Anxiety was always being generated by the annoying phone
calls that were becoming more and more frequent. The harassing phone calls had
become a joke in the laboratory and everyone was aware I was being harassed. Now
it was as if they were saying, “we are going to fire you and here is how we are
going to do it.”

I was also getting increased conflict from Carl and Jay. Carl would give me
a sheet of paper with some things to be done, and then I would discuss the items
with Carl. During the discussion, he would say item 4 wasn't important and that I
shouldn't worry about it. So I would do everything but item 4, and then Jay would
come in my office and yell at me for not doing item 4. He would tell me how Carl was disappointed in me because I wasn't doing what he asked me to do. Carl then
would go tell Jay who would then lecture me. It seemed like every effort was
being made to drive me out of the company.

I had gone along with enough things, but I was not going to stand for being set
up to be fired. The next day I walked into Ralph Sampson's office. Dave Lipton was
sitting there when I said, “Well, I'm being set-up to be fired.” Both of them had
blank stares like I had said something wrong when Dave Lipton finally said “Come
on Russ, no one is setting you up.” Immediately they turned the conversation to
some trivial topic. Then I departed. I had made it know that I would not stand by
silently while Gamma Supplies people set me up to fire me. After the conversation with Dave and Ralph, the effort to get rid of me became more directed at forcing me to resign through harassment, implied suggestions and intimidation.

In early November, I informed my wife that we would have to sell the house and
I would have to find another job. She did not act very surprised and was more
concerned about finishing her first semester of college. In fact, Anita's whole non-
reaction to all that was going on really bothered me.

In early November, I informed my wife that we would have to sell the house and
I would have to find another job. She did not act very surprised and was more
concerned about finishing her first semester of college. In fact, Anita's whole non-
reaction to all that was going on really bothered me.

Anita seemed withdrawn from me, and she had exhibited several major changes
while we were in Chicago. First, she had started going to church almost every
Sunday. In the previous nine years I had been with Anita, she had never attended
church, but shortly after we moved into our new home in Illinois, she started
attending a nearby church and she kept up the practice the entire time we had been
there. When I questioned her as to what was wrong, she would shrug off her
behavior and tell me nothing was bothering her. I knew better.

Another change which had occurred involved our social life. Prior to moving to
Wisconsin, our social life involved relationships with my friends from work making
up the largest part of our social life. Now, our social life consisted entirely of
relationships with acquaintances of hers since no one at Gamma Supplies would have any social interactions with us despite my efforts to initiate such actions. The change was real but subtle. This change seemed insignificant at the time.

My reaction toward Anita had also changed. I would frequently get irritated
and would act irrationally to minor incidences. On one occasion I could not find
a pair of scissors when I needed them so I yelled at Anita for misplacing them. I
then stormed out of the house and went and bought three pair to make sure I could
find a pair of scissors when I needed them. Incidents like this increased the stress
at home and merely added to the extreme stress I was already under.

In early November we made plans to sell the house. Anita did not offer any
arguments against the pending sale. We decided to sell the house ourselves to save
the commission paid to the real estate agents. For a week we toured other houses
for sale in our area. Then we decided on a price and placed an ad in the paper.

We had made a fortunate move when we bought our house. We were located in
the Williamsburg School District and the Chicago area was just beginning to
experience the migration(white flight) to the suburbs which had occurred in the East
several years earlier. The Williamsburg School District was an excellent one (and very white) and thus our house had an excellent, unexpected selling point. On the other hand, the biggest obstacle we faced in selling the house in a hurry was its rural location which was about twenty miles from downtown Chicago.

After two weeks of trying to sell our house on our own without any success, we
started negotiating with real estate agents who would list our house. The same day
we decided on an agent, a young couple looked at the house and made us an offer.
In one day we had sold the house without an agent and the buyers had agreed to a
closing date in late December. The sale of the house had gone exceptionally
smoothly. I had been worried that the people behind my Gamma Supplies problems might try to block the sale. Then I realized that those demented people probably wanted me to have a fast exit from the area.

With the sale of the house set, I turned my attention to finding a new job.
Actually I had been responding to want ads in “Chemical and Engineering News”
since about July with no success. In late August I responded to an unidentified ad
which I was sure had been placed by Tenneland. I called Paul Jones to
inquire about the ad, but he assured me it was not a Tenneland ad and that Tenneland
had no openings. However, I remained convinced the as had been placed by Tenneland.

Now I was making a new, intense effort to secure a job and I began calling
people at Tenneland and applying pressure. If their plan had been that I would
not remember what had happened, I dropped little reminders to let people know that I
did not forget their roll in the plan to get my testimony. Finally, one of my contacts at Tenneland told me there was an opening in Plains, Texas, and I was instructed to call a Mr. Gordon Simms who was the regional sales manager.

I phoned Mr. Simms with great apprehension because I knew Ravi was still unemployed a year after he had been fired, and I was worried that “they” might decide to keep me unemployed. As I talked with Gordon Simms, we discussed what type of job I might like and where I would like to live. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he said, "don't bother to send me a resume. We already have a copy from when you answered our ad last August. We'll use that one, and I'll send you an application form to fill out."

I had been right! The ad had been Tenneland's and they knew I had applied
and they were going to ignore me until now when I applied some pressure. I was
making so much noise they had to change their minds. The fact that their original
intention was to forget about me scared me even more, but I went ahead with plans
to visit their plant in Plains, Texas on December 3.

My job hunting efforts also had produced a positive response from the Costeal Corporation in Louisville. They invited me to visit their technical center the week of the Thanksgiving Day holiday so I knew I would have the results of that interview prior to my Plains,TX trip.

My time at work was spent doing very little, and for the most part I spent my time preparing for my upcoming interviews and trying to negotiate some reasonable separation from Gamma Supplies. I felt no dedication to Gamma Supplies and on one occasion I left work about three in the afternoon. On my way home, I decided to stop at Club Tennis for some exercise to relieve the stress I was under. I was shocked to walk into the exercise room and find Buzz there exercising. The reason for my shock was that Buzz had always maintained that he exercised exclusively with Jeff and John in the morning and that he had to come to work early and leave early because he had to babysit in the afternoon while his wife worked. I had always considered Buzz's unusual work hours another pain in the side, but when I had tried to get him to change them, Carl interceded and backed Buzz. Now I had proof that none of his stories were probably true. When Buzz saw me, he looked surprised and then ran for the door and left the establishment.

I was in a largely confused state as a result of all the deceit that had gone on, but I still needed to know who was behind the whole plan so I decided to try to get Darth to talk. I remembered the words of a journalist who had been take captive. She said when you are in trouble, play to the prejudices of your captors. Since Darth was such an egomaniac, I decided to play to his ego. I arranged to have a conversation with Darth concerning what had gone on while I was employed at
Gamma Supplies.

I said, “Darth, it really was quite a plan you had. How did you ever sell it?”

Darth laughed and replied. “Russ, you give me too much credit. You don't
really think I planned all of this by myself. Do you?”

I waited for Darth to go on and tell me who was responsible, but he abruptly
stopped and went on to a new subject. I was unable to get him to respond further on
who was behind the terrorism. At least I knew that “they” were not just my imagin-
ation. “They” were real people, but I still didn't know their identity.

I made my interview trip to Costeal as planned and everything went well. The
Vice President of R & D told me they would be giving me an offer. Still, I was
suspicious if for no other reason than I was now suspicious of everything. There
was also some anxiety about the move to Louisville because the city was the home
of the firm representing Better Supplies in their legal battle with Gamma Supplies. I always felt if worse came to worse, I could tell my story to the Better Supplies legal staff. Somebody had to interested in what was going on.

I returned home and told Anita about the job and expressed my fears and
concerns that “they” might interfere. Any doubt that my activities were going un-
observed were erased when I got a call from Tenneland the following night
and Gordon Simms asked me if I still planned to make my interview trip in light of
recent job offers. Since I hadn't mentioned Costeal or any other job to him, I could
only assume he meant the Costeal job. I assured him I was still going to go to
Plains, but his inquiry left no doubt in my mind that “they” knew everything I was
doing. As a result of being under constant observation, I became paranoid in most
everything I did, and I even checked the phones and the house for “bugs”, but I
found none.

At Gamma Supplies l I continued to be harassed on almost a daily basis. This did not make any sense to me since I was making every effort to find a peaceful solution that everyone could live with. At one point Ralph Sampson gave me a copy of an article about respect for your boss. Again it was an implied suggestion without actually saying anything that my rough treatment was because I had no respect for my bosses. I was so angry that I couldn't talk to him, but I wanted to ask him WHY WOULD ANYONE RESPECT PSYCHOPATHIC CRIMINALS?!. Fear them maybe; Respect them - NEVER!

The article created guilt feeling on my part as if I deserved the terrorism. Again, I was to learn later that generating guilt in the victim is a key element of of mental torture. On of the first things any interrogator does is try to make a captured enemy combatant feel guilty about the “crimes” he has committed. In my case, any guilt I may have felt was drowned out by the anger and resentment the article generated.

On the Thanksgiving weekend while my wife was at work, I typed a letter to
Gamma Supplies's attorney, Dan Gane. In the letter I stated my positions on several legal matters concerning Gamma Supplies in relation to Better Supplies. In particular, I pointed out areas where I could not support Gamma Supplies' position in any further legal questions that might arise from continued litigation against Better Supplies. I wanted to make sure as long as Gamma Supplies and friends were trying to destroy me and my career, I wanted to make my positions clear if they wanted to use me as a witness in the future. The only way I knew to do that was to put my position on sensitive matters in writing. I sent the letter to Dan and a copy to Darth. No one knew I had typed and mailed the letter. For once, I knew “they” would be surprised.

The effort to drive me out of Gamma Supplies continued to work and the effort was being escalated. If I had any doubts as to how far Gamma Supplies and the backers of the plan would go to protect their scheme, they were removed when Darth walked up to me one day in the outer business office and calmly said, “You wouldn't be a martyr, would you?”

I was taken totally off guard by his comment and mumbled back something like “I really don't know. I guess I don't see what I have to be a martyr about.”

Darth just glared at me and then walked off. It didn't really strike me at first, but after I went back to my office, I sat down and realized that Darth had just threatened my life! At first I didn't want to believe it so I took out my dictionary and looked up “martyr”. There in black and white was the definition of “martyr” as “someone who dies rather that give up his beliefs”. If Darth was asking me if I was willing to die in a fight against Gamma Supplies demented scheme and the destruction of my career, I knew the answer was “yes”.

The pressures at work were not always so direct, and I was constantly subjected
to subtle forms of harassment. George T. Cline suddenly started showing up in the
laboratory and spending a lot of time talking with Jeff Teller. The implication obviously was that Jeff had been selected to replace me. What that really meant was that after I was gone, there would be Buzz and Jeff in the lab. A two man lab.

On one occasion George T. Cline unexpectedly came into my office and started talking to me. I wanted to call him a senile S.O.B., but my fear of retaliation prevented me from expressing my contempt for the man. The conversation was trite and he spent most of the time talking about raising his beagle and how much he cared about them. I sat there wondering why he wasted my time telling me about his dogs. After he finished, I got and walked into the laboratory where I was greeted by a large wall poster hanging over Jeff's desk of beagle puppies. The conversation had been set up as George T. Cline's last dig at me and a coincident had been used as
had been done frequently at Gamma Supplies to carry it off.

The Wednesday prior to my trip to Tenneland started out as a typical day
until about ten in the morning when I received a call from Dan Gane.

Dan: “I just received your letter today. What the hell were you trying to do by writing something like that?”

Just from the fact that Don swore to me told me he was in an agitated state and his and his tone of voice conveyed anger.

I replied. “Dan, I'm on my way out of here and I just wanted to get my views on
things down in writing. I told you back in January I had some different points of
view than Darth on “Ice Box” and they might come up in the future. I just wanted
you to know what they are.”

“Well the next time you want me to know something like that, just tell me; don't
put it in writing! Who else saw the memo?” Dan questioned angrily?

“Just Darth”, I answered. “I'll give him a copy today.”

Dan said very little else and closed the conversation, but from his tone of voice and manner, I knew my letter was potentially highly damaging to the Gamma Supplies' cause. I then went into Darth's office and left a copy of the letter on his desk.

Late that afternoon, I decided I wanted to talk to Arnold Cline. I went to his
office and found it empty but there prominently laying in the middle of his desk was
my letter. Now I knew for sure that Arnold Cline would be aware of what I had
written. Since Arnold was not in his office, I thought maybe I should wait a day or two before I spoke with him.

The Thursday prior to my visit to Tenneland, I was summoned along with
managers to Arnold Cline's office where Darth informed our management group
that there would be new improved medical coverage for managers. Darth then went
on to explain that there would be some other new programs in the future, and they
would be patterned after programs being carried out at DuPont. Remember that Gamma Supplies was suppose to be this little unsophisticated company and since Darth had
always professed to be anti big business, I jumped at the opportunity to intercede.

“Just because DuPont does it, does that mean it's good?” I asked.

Darth turned red, glared at me, stood up with his fists clinched. For a moment I thought we were going to come to blows. Then he regained his composure and said directly to me, “DuPont has a good reputation and their programs are sound.” He sat back down and there was a period of silence.

Then Bill James, who was sitting across from me blurted out, “Yeah, and maybe somebody is facing early retirement!”

I turned toward Arnold Cline who sat there expressionless and waited for him to
say something. He finally sensed the uneasiness and said there was no further
business and dismissed the meeting.

What bothered me most was Bill James' comment which had been directed
towards me. His comment plus my knowledge about Ravi's unemployed status(a year later) made me feel very uneasy even though I had another job. Both my career and my life had been threatened and I was becoming more and more anxious about my future.

My trip that Saturday to Tenneland in Plains, TX did not go well. I met with Tony Jolson,the sales manger for the region along with the research manager from Texarkana, Arkansas laboratory, and the Plains plant manager. The day was full of coincidences which I tried to ignore. At one point as we were getting into the car to drive to the plant, Gordon Simms mentioned what a bright sunny day it was and how he couldn't stand cloudy weather. I took the remark to be directed to me because I had frequently made my views known on how I felt about cloudy, Seattle type weather. When I chose to ignore his remark, Gordon grabbed me by the sleeve, jerked my arm and then repeated the remark with a smile. Finally, I nodded and said I agreed.

At noon we stopped to have lunch at a small restaurant. During lunch we were
discussing company policy when I thought it would be a good time to show that I was willing to cooperate. In a friendly tone of voice I said, “I suppose if I had to give testimony in the litigation I'm involved in with Gamma Supplies, I would be given time off.” The response from the research manager was totally unexpected. He took the comment as a threat and immediately he retaliated. He started telling me about how they had hired someone just like me and then three months later, they fired him. He left no doubt that I should not feel secure just because I was going to get an offer. He was so angry that I didn't even try to explain my comment. If everyone was that touchy about my testifying in the future, things could never work out. After that incident, the interview went down hill.

By the end of the day, the research manager would not even shake my hand
good-bye. I left Plains wondering if the research manager even knew in depth
what was going on. I felt I was being forced on him and he greatly resented it. It
was a bad situation for everyone involved.

That Sunday evening, I got a call from Gordon Simms who told me everyone was
impressed with me and that they wanted to make me an offer! He then told me the
salary, the other conditions of employment and closed by saying that he wouldn't
bother to send me the offer in writing unless I accepted the offer. I told him I would like a few days to think about it before I made a final decision.

The strange thing about the Tenneland deal was that everyone else acted
ignorant about what was happening. Arnold Cline and Darth had to be well aware
of my dealings with Tenneland, and although none of us ever said so directly, we would talk about the situation indirectly. It was as if none of these negotiations were going on, but at the same time everyone concerned knew they were taking place. It was a very tense, strange and stressful situation.

The next couple of days I spent evaluating the situation and analyzing the
possibilities. I had forced Tenneland to give me an offer, but the situation had not turned out well. The man who would be my immediate supervisor was hostile towards me,and if I went there, there were no guarantees that things would be any different from the happenings at Gammma Supplies. And, I still would not have any job security. The Costeal offer was not very attractive and I couldn't really be sure what the situation would be like there. I finally decided I was under a lot of stress and that the best situation for me would be to take six months, get my sanity back and take some time to look for a job I really wanted. I needed some income to take six months to look for a new job.

After some consideration, I decided to offer Gamma Supplies a consulting contract for only one thousand dollars a month which was less than half of my normal salary. My consulting efforts would be direct them in how to develop a “Ice Box” system. In my free time, I would relax and look for another position. This situation would have allowed me to have minimum contact with the people at Gamma Supplies which would negate the incessant mind games they were playing.

Since I wanted to make sure there was nothing illegal about my offer, I discussed the terms with my neighbor who I retained as my attorney. He gave his OK and the next day I presented my offer to Darth. Darth replied that he would consider my offer and discuss it with “them” and get back to me. I left his office
feeling I had found a suitable solution for all. In hindsight, Gamma Supplies could have just offered me six thousand dollars severance pay and my departure could have gone smoothly. However, "they" did not want anything to go well or smoothly for me since I was just a lowly slave to them.

That night I called Gordon Simms at Tenneland and told him I could not accept his offer. He said he was disappointed and repeatedly asked why I was rejecting the offer. I told him I had decided to accept another offer.

The next day I went into Darth's office and inquired about the consulting
contract for six months.

Darth was blunt. “They said no! They consider it blackmail”. Then he
paused. “Not that we've done anything wrong. Besides, no one will ever
believe you. You can't prove anything.”

I was stunned. Here is Darth giving me the Richard Nixon “I'm no crook”
defense. Then I regained my composure and replied, “I'm sorry to hear that.
I really wanted a peaceful solution. You have a real problem here.”

I left Darth's office feeling more anxious than ever. Not only had “they”
taken a hard-line position, but “they” also considered me a real threat. The
whole situation seemed surreal. Here I was trying to save my career and my
life and those sick bastards considered me a blackmailer. I now realize that people with their criminal mentality always look at other people in the same low-life mode. Psychologist call it “paranoid projection” which basically means if you see yourself as a scumbag, then all other people must be scumbags. You project your view of yourself onto others. And “they”, if they were in my position, would blackmail the other party. Also, since they believed that “I couldn't prove anything” and I knew I could, I began to worry about my physical well-being.

The problem with dealing with psychopathic criminals is that they can never understand nor do the care to understand that a normal, well-adjusted, mentally healthy person does not want to associate with them. A person of integrity would not knowingly associate with a serial killer. In my case, these psychopathic criminals had trapped me in their scheme and now I was their prisoner who wanted to escape from their grasp.

Since the people I was dealing with were obviously mentally unstable, I want to discuss the psychopath/sociopath personality. One major point made in dealing with the psychopath is, and I quote from an on line source:

“Many psychopaths - not all, but many - are extreme narcissists. If you
hurt their ego, their reaction is visceral and extreme.”

“The difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is somewhat blurred,
least according to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM-IV lists both definitions together under the
heading of Antisocial Personalities because they share some common traits. Many
see the term sociopathy, psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder (APD)
interchangeably. Professionals not only dispute whether there is a difference
between a sociopath and psychopath, but among those that believe there is a
difference, there is dispute over what those differences are.

Even those professionals that identify a difference note that traits of the
psychopath and sociopath are largely similar. Both the psychopath and sociopaths have a complete disregard for the feelings and rights of others.

Both the psychopath and sociopath fail to feel remorse or guilt (we've done nothing wrong). They appear to lack a conscience and are completely self-serving.THEY ROUTINELY DISREGARD RULES, SOCIAL MORES AND LAWS,UNMINDFUL OF PUTTING THEMSELVES AND OTHERS AT RISK.

A sociopath is more likely to spontaneously act out in inappropriate ways
without thinking through the consequences.

Conversely, some argue that the psychopath tends to be extremely organized,
secretive and manipulative. The outer personality is often charismatic and
charming, hiding the real person beneath. Though psychopaths do not feel for
others, they can mimic behaviors that make them appear normal. Upon
meeting, one would have more of a tendency to trust a psychopath than a sociopath.

Because of the organized personality of the psychopath, he or she might have a
tendency to be better educated than the average sociopath. While psychopaths can
fly under the radar of society, many maintaining families and steady work, a
sociopath more often lacks the skills and drive for mimicking normal behavior,
making 'seemingly healthy' relationships and a stable home less likely. From a
criminal standpoint, a psychopath's crimes are well planned out. For this reason, psychopaths are harder to catch than sociopaths as the sociopath is more apt to leave ample evidence in his or her explosions of violence.” *

*Quoted from WiseGeek.com

From today's news:

For the American public, AIG now stands for "arrogance, incompetence and greed," said Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H.

Greed, arrogance and incompetence by others are the elements that led to the destruction of my life. When just one person is involved in their schemes the perpetrators have enough power to hide their crimes. Despite the wide-spread effects of Enron's actions, they succeeded in hiding their crimes for years.

It is only when the psychopathic crimes involve and affect so many americans that it can't be hidden any longer(the collapse of Enron and the collapse of the financial markets) do americans wake up and demand something be done.

america is a broken system and the powerbrokers and politicians of this country have broken it! For me personally it cost me everything in my life.