November 2003
CENSORSHIP AT RUMOR MILL NEWS
On November 22, 2003, I resigned my news agent status at Rumor Mill News.
At that time, I posted my article, A Matter Of Honor: My Resignation from Rumor Mill News, on the RMN Forum, explaining my decision.
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=40229 [link defunct]
Rayelan then posted a response, which was a private letter, unedited, which she had written to me on November 20. This letter from Rayelan had served as the proverbial "last straw" in my decision to resign.
This was because the letter was filled with false assumptions and subjective analyses, and made worse by directives to me which were certainly not Rayelan's prerogative to issue. I had never been employed by RMN, but was only an independent journalist, with posting privileges as a "news agent."
But the point is --since I do not contribute material to ANY publication which engages in censorship, in any form, I chose to leave rather than submit myself to such censorship.
Other agents have left in the past, for the same reason, because they refused to be censored.
I was also portrayed in this letter in a very unfavorable light, being that my competence as a professional, as well as my mental state, were impugned.
Although I was very disturbed by the content of this letter, and outraged by its audacity, I had not included the entire letter in my resignation article, only excerpts, since I thought it prudent to address only the relevant PROFESSIONAL issues, which were:
1) Censorship being imposed by the administrator(s) of RMN, selectively as to my work and its contents; most specifically, certain names and issues being exposed.
2) Constant meddling and intrusiveness by other news agents, in the form of unsolicited amateur psychoanalysis and advice, posted on the Forum and in the agents' private lounge, in response to both public articles and private comments written by me and other news agents, mostly by the New Age contingent which I and many others believe have taken over Rumor Mill News.
Such behavior is highly inappropriate and unprofessional. I repeatedly made my objection to it very clear, both publicly and privately, but they kept at it until my tolerance level for this intrusive behavior had reached its outer limits.
When I wrote the article about my resignation, I did not see the point of dragging out into public view, personal matters which would have been better off remaining private, as they were meant to be.
For one thing, these issues were NO ONE's business, except as related to the concerned parties. I also did not want to bring any more stress into Rayelan's life, considering all the recent problems with her husband's car crash, and related matters, which she had chosen to make public. I just needed to tell the truth, as a matter of principle, as to why I was resigning.
However, speaking strictly for myself, MY life is NOT an open book. I value my privacy and I choose what I WILL and WILL NOT make public.
When someone decides to make public their opinions about me, which have no basis in fact, but which address sensitive issues of a personal nature; and which create a FALSE portrayal of me, which could be damaging to my professional and personal reputation, I must counter those false portrayals with the facts and the truth, no matter whether they are written by a friend, such as Rayelan, or by my enemies.
I do not believe Rayelan intended to do harm, and that is important for me to say.
But now that Rayelan has chosen to make this letter public, I must address it in order to set the record straight. Again, as I have noted, for me it is a matter of honor.
Rayelan's letter to me follows here in its entirety. Because I respect HER privacy and personal boundaries, I will only say what is absolutely necessary in order to clarify the issues she has raised here and to refute the false statements made about me.
This letter consists entirely of the personal opinions of Rayelan and some others, agents and readers of RMN, who are not named here. It contains much misinformation, many false assumptions, at least about me, and the entire situation it addresses. Hopefully this will straighten things out for those interested in the facts.
My comments are in brackets, preceded by my initials, BH.
Rayelan: "Barbara,
Someone has to tell you this, and I've been elected."
[BH: This clearly suggests that Rayelan and some collective of others (most of whom, it is clear, DO NOT KNOW ME) connected to RMN (who are not named) had been discussing me without my knowledge and had reached a consensus, in drawing their unsubstantiated conclusions about me. They have apparently "elected" Rayelan as their spokesperson.
It also is clear that they feel they have the right to advise me as to what THEY believe I "should" or "should not" be doing; or what they believe I "need" to be doing, in reference to my professional and personal life.
They are free to believe what they will, no matter how misguided they are. They may discuss me behind my back, if they so choose, I can't stop them.
But they do NOT have the right to make their consensus OPINIONS about me a matter of ad hoc policy, nor to foist upon me unsolicited advice, which I have made it clear I do NOT want or need. This is extremely intrusive and shows no respect for my personal boundaries.
Rayelan is the owner and publisher of RMN. If Rayelan had decided, for any reason, that she was not happy with the quality of my posts on RMN; if she thought my presence as an agent on RMN was counterproductive or a liability in some way to the aims of RMN, she could have SAID THAT OPENLY AND DIRECTLY TO ME.....and I would have been happy to resign at any time.
I have no desire to be in a place where I am not wanted or appreciated, nor where a collective of people are unhappy with me because I am not a team player.
However, I also refuse to tolerate any meddling in my personal or professional life, nor to allow a consensus of the opinions of others, to determine my actions.
This, it is now clear by Rayelan's letter to me, was what this RMN " tag team" was trying to do, and I do not appreciate it, considering that I had made my position VERY CLEAR, numerous times.
How many times?...How many ways? did I have to say it....I AM NOT A TEAM PLAYER.]
Rayelan: "You are falling into the trap that has been set for you and the ONLY way of getting out of it is to STOP playing the game. The hell with Brenda negri. She pulls your chain and you respond. This takes ALL your time and you produce nothing but Brenda Negri crap."
[BH: This is merely an opinion and a very inaccurate one at that. I know exactly what I am doing and why, and it is none of ANYONE'S business how I conduct myself; what I choose to write about; or how I choose to respond to certain criminal perps who are harassing me, INCLUDING BRENDA NEGRI.
I don't "play games". I simply take care of business, and in my own way. I will write what I see fit about Brenda Negri, which happens to be THE TRUTH, or about any other criminal perp who targets me. If perps target me, I EXPOSE THEM, when, where and how I see fit. Period.
Actually, the time I've spent on neutralizing this one pathetic little low-life amateur is minimal and has taken very little of my time, especially considering the full time job Negri has been doing to create trouble and damages to me; and the fact that she is BEING PAID to do so, by Ted Gunderson and other corrupt current and former gov't officials for whom she works as a step'n fetchit.
But in any case, it is MY OWN BUSINESS how I spend my time.
As for the allegation of "producing nothing but Brenda Negri crap", I would ask any readers who may believe this to go into the archives of RMN and take a look at my posts. Most of them have nothing to do with Brenda Negri.
As to my published work elsewhere, they may look at other locations as well and find the same thing.]
Rayelan: "Don't you get it?? You are being triggered by some old program. You have to continually convince people you are NOT a whore... and it so doing all you do is make people think you are crazy!!"
[BH: Now, here is another totally false statement! And very offensive as to its implications. Rayelan does not know what she is talking about and has no business telling me what is happening to me, nor what she THINKS I am doing, based only on her own uninformed assumptions, and perhaps those of others, equally misinformed.
But for those interested, here are some facts:
There is no such "programming" to be "triggered". Any and all programming I was subjected to by CIA was many years ago, and has long ago been completely expunged.
In fact, people such as Ted Gunderson routinely use this same tactic, of claiming that "Barbara Hartwell is still programmed" TO DISCREDIT ME, when they know damn well it is not true, as proven by the fact that Ted Gunderson is now running for cover and recruiting more people into the cover up, such as the officials of GCN radio, Michael Trudeau and Alex Jones, as he is being exposed by me and others who are under no influence of "mind control" whatsoever.
We deal with FACTS and EVIDENCE, nothing less.
And frankly, I am surprised that Rayelan could believe such a thing about me. I thought she knew me better than that, but I guess not.
I don't care what others may believe, but to say such a thing to me --and especially in a PUBLIC FORUM, after the fact, when I can no longer make a post in my defense--- is extremely disrespectful.
Furthermore, no such "programming" had EVER been connected to such issues, nor would relate in any way to my response to a low-level criminal provocateur such as Brenda Negri.
In fact, one of the areas of my expertise, that which I was trained for by CIA, is psychological operations. I am a professional, and know exactly what I am doing. I created more psychological profiles, and debriefed more military and intelligence operatives, over a period of twenty-five years, than you could shake a stick at!
Just because others do not understand this, does not mean they have the right to dispense unsolicited advice and amateur psychoanalysis, based on their false premises about me.
And any "programming" I was subjected to is NOT the be-all and end-all of my involvement in various CIA operations.
There is apparently a tremendous misperception here, on Rayelan's part and that of certain others. I have not publicly spoken about any specific "programming" that I was subjected to, except to say in very general terms, that programming was used, because it is NOT the focus of my work.
When I see this type of erroneous statement made, it makes me wish I had never gone public at all.
Rayelan is again PRESUMING that she knows what my motives are for refuting the lies and libel of Brenda Negri and exposing Negri's criminal harassment of me.
At some point in the very near future, the events which will take place will clearly show my REAL motives and vindicate me, along with others with whom I am working to put these criminals out of business.
This meddling only shows that some people think they know far more than they do; and that they have no understanding of me or about what motivates me, nor my reasons for doing what I do.
It is disrespectful and a violation of my personal boundaries for anyone to bring forth such theories, especially when I have made it crystal clear that I do NOT want or need unsolicited advice, nor to be psychoanalyzed. And to PUBLISH these statements, well, there is no excuse.]
Rayelan: "Brenda Negri is driving you over the edge. Stop writing about her. Stop reading anything she has to say."
[BH: Again, more false statements, based on uninformed speculation. Yes, I have expressed RIGHTEOUS ANGER about this maggot, Brenda Negri and her cohorts, both publicly and privately.
But just because I am angry, with good reason, does not mean that Brenda Negri has the ability to "drive me over the edge".
If I have RIGHTEOUS ANGER about the many criminal abuses committed by Brenda Negri, against me, my friends, colleagues and family, that is MY business, and no one else's.
In addition, I have not publicized --yet-- some of the sick, perverted criminal acts this malicious nutcase has committed. It will all come out, and when it does, some people will be amazed, absolutely amazed!
And I do not take directives from anyone. NO ONE tells me what to read, what to write about. I will do as I see fit.]
Rayelan: "If I had continued feeding the people who were trashing me, they would still be doing it. I simply cut them off and give them NO exposure on RMN at all! You have made Brenda Negri famous!! hundreds of thousands of people who had never heard of her now know about her and may be reading her stuff! You are the best promoter she could have hired!
Stop giving these pieces of ##### a stage. Ignore them. Dont' write about them. Dont' talk to them After a while they give up and go away."
[BH: It is Rayelan's prerogative how she chooses to handle her own problems with criminal perpetrators. It is MY business how I choose to handle mine.
Rumor Mill News is only one of a number of websites where my work has been published. I have my own way of dealing with these provocateurs and perps.
If I decide to write about them, I will. If I decide to "talk to them" I will.
If Rayelan does NOT want their names mentioned on RMN, all she has to do is say so directly, without presuming to draw conclusions, nor give unsolicited advice as to how others, such as myself, "should" be dealing with these scumbags.]
Rayelan: "You have a friend who is a lawyer. Sue Brenda... but stop writing about her. YOU are the one who looks bad!"
[BH: In fact, I have a number of friends who are lawyers. It so happens that not one of them is an appropriate choice to handle a lawsuit against Brenda Negri.
And there are lawsuits in the works, against Negri and many other criminal conspirators. When the appropriate time arrives, it will all be made public.
And as I've said many times, I do not care what the reading public thinks of me or if I "look bad", nor if they think I am "crazy". What I DO care about is not being interfered with, and that is ALL I care about, as regards the public or anyone else.
As it happens, I have supporters who do understand what is happening and who are in complete agreement with the way I do things. That is why I can call them "supporters".
But the bottom line is this: I will do things any way I see fit. Approval or disapproval will make no difference one way or another and will have no influence over me or my actions.]
Rayelan: "There is a new rule at RMN...No more personal vendettas on Rumor Mill News by anyone. That is NOT the purpose of Rumor Mill News."
[BH: Apparently an arbitrary rule, given only to me personally. It is also inappropriate for the editor of a website to decide what IS and is NOT, a "personal vendetta". Exposing criminals has nothing to do with a "vendetta", whether one has been personally targeted by these criminals or not.]
Rayelan: "You are falling into the pit that your enemies WANT you to fall into and you are doing it to yourself!!
Brenda can't hurt you physically. And anyone who knows you from Rumor Mill News knows that you are not what she says you are... and what do you care about the idiots who read her stuff? They are idiots! Just like her... like attracts like."
[BH: Again, an opinion,nothing more. And it is MY place to decide how to go about neutralizing a perpetrator who publishes voluminous lies about me. If I choose to refute those lies and speak the truth, that is MY prerogative, no one else's.
As for "like attracts like" that is one of the New Age homilies I've heard a thousand times, for the past thirty-plus years. My life is determined by GOD'S WILL for me, NOT by New Age theories.]
Rayelan: "By coninuing to sink to her level... and that is what you are doing... you are keeping yourself down in the slime with her and being down there, you have no time to do any positive work that might actually enlighten people or change things! Stop it! Let it go!! Turn it over to a lawyer and be done with it!"
[BH: Another opinion as to what "level" I am operating on. I have NEVER and will never "sink" to the "level" of a malicious, lying slug like Brenda Negri. Such a thought is ludicrous!
And as to the nature of my work, I have done what I needed to do, as directed by God, NOT a collective of New Agers from Rumor Mill News.
I have made it very clear what I feel about these New Age beliefs. They have nothing to do with me, and I do not run my life according to them. Only God knows what is in my heart or how much good I may have done. And I answer ONLY to God.
Again, MORE directives....."Stop it! Let it go!......"
Again, again, again....for the umpteenth time, I do NOT answer to Rayelan, nor to any collective of New Agers at RMN or anywhere else.
I think by now it should be clear as to why I resigned as an agent. If people cannot respect my personal boundaries; and if they will not stop trying to foist their own beliefs and opinions on me, then the only solution for me is to remove myself from a situation where this is happening, which I have done.]
Rayelan: "I want no more Brenda Negri on the Forum -- you can post it in the Lounge if you want advice."
[BH: Again, again, the arbitrary directive, based on uninformed speculation and opinions, and given ONLY to me personally, not as a general rule to all agents. And no, I do NOT want or need "advice", as I have made clear a thousand times.]
Rayelan: "Barbara... these last few weeks, maybe even months, you have not been yourself. I really think you need to find someone you can talk with. Someone who has known you for a long time. I don't know what it is... but something is terribly wrong... that's just my persepctive. If you don't want to claim it... that's fine... but it is being said by a friend who sees something in you that hasn't been there before. I can't even name it... it just isn't you anymore."
[BH: I have certainly HAVE been "myself" over the past few weeks and months. In fact, I have never been MORE of myself than since I made a move to Maine, where I wanted to be. Just more intrusive, unsolicited advice about the state of my psyche, as perceived by others!
This is patronizing and condescending and not something I would expect from a friend such as Rayelan, whom I had thought respected me.
And no, there is nothing "terribly wrong".....not with me, anyway.]
Rayelan: "Maybe they have succeeded in driving you crazy! And I don't mean crazy, crazy... I mean agitated to the point that you are unable to really concentrate on anything else or see anything else. Using Negri to get your goat sure keeps you from doing anything that might reveal something that could hurt your former controllers."
[BH: Again, more subjective speculation. What Rayelan opines here is simply not happening! And she has no idea what I am doing. I have only spoken to her twice on the phone, briefly, since I moved from Woodstock, NY to Maine. In fact, most of my time has been spent working on other important projects, which I have not made public.
My work is not about "hurting" anyone, including former handlers from the CIA. Most of them are dead and gone, long ago. And this little pawn, Brenda Negri, is far, far from the main focus of my time and attention, though it appears that Rayelan believes so.]
Rayelan: That's what it looks like to me... they keep you wound up so bad you can't do anything except continue to beat this dead cat Brenda. Barbara, even your supporters and fans have written to ask what has happened to you? They no longer read you. They feel sorry for you.
Here's one of the longer ones:
Hi Zapper, or Ray---
I am a constant and regular reader of the forum----and it does an incredible job--- I also used to be a big fan of Barbara hartwell's...but...
I am getting pretty sick and tired of watching the petty cat-fight between Barbara and( her paranoid obsesssion with) Brenda Negri. I don't think anyone but Barbara Hartwell knows or cares who Brenda Negri, alias Ranger Rick, etc is.. and they wouldn't know....except for the constant complaining and whining of Barbara. I don't think anyone reads Negri's stuff, or is influenced by her---yet Barbara Hartwell is obsessed with letting us all know how she constantly oppresses her and libels her. Heck any reader could write pages about people that are insulting them or "libeling" them....but it's not worth putting in Rumor Mill News. Isn't enough --enough? Can't Barbara get over her obsession....or carry it on privately ...so we don't all feel like voyeurs in her spitting match? I can't even open Hartwell's stuff anymore for fear of getting more worthless drivel....so I'm sure I miss some of her important stuff...but maybe not.
Thanks for listening. Just an observation.
Rayelan,
Why do you let Barbara Hartwell continue to post that junk about Ranger Rick? I'm sick of seeing it there. No one cares about Brenda Negri. Doesn't Barbara understand the real purpose of the Forum? It's not about airing personal problems it's about trying to put together current events so we can figure out what is really going on. Her posts of Brenda negri don't help us in our fight. It doesn't help Barbara either. Doesn't she see how pathetic it makes her look? You need to talk to her about this. If not you, then who?
[BH: Well, I've already addressed some of the comments from these morons. And by the way, I got several e-mails from my colleagues who know WHO ALL was behind these e-mails. Yes, I know as well......one way or another.
I would advise these idiots to MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS in future, because there is no other website on which I will ever publish my material which can be "gotten to" in the way they have apparently done with RMN.]
Rayelan: "Barbara, I don't want you to leave RMN, but I also don't want anymore Ted Gunderson or Brenda Negri or Tim White or anyother of your OWN personal battles on the forum./ That is NOT the purpose of the forum. If you attach a blog to your own webpage, I will be happy to host it for you... and you can post to your hearts content on it. But keep this stuff off the forum from now on.
Sorry to have to do this... it's been a long time coming....
Raye"
[BH: Now, I need to say a few things I wish I did not have to say, but Rayelan has given me little choice, as I need to set the record straight.
First, I should say that Rayelan recently told me she was getting harassing phone calls from Ted Gunderson, as well as "heavy breathing" calls. I told her, at that time, that all she had to do was SAY THE WORD and that I would NOT mention Ted Gunderson on the Forum ever again.
I told her that I did NOT want to be responsible for causing any trouble for her or RMN. There are witnesses to this, since it was posted in the lounge.
However, she did NOT respond to me by asking that I not name him again. Nothing was ever said in which she made that clear.
In addition to this, Jackie McGauley had been invited by Rayelan to become a RMN agent this past spring. Rayelan was well aware that Jackie's grievances against Ted Gunderson would be the topic of many of her posts.
Exposing that Gunderson had interfered in her life, messed up the investigation and engaged in a cover-up of the McMartin preschool case where Jackie's child was abused; and stolen over $30,000 of Jackie's money, among other things.
No request was ever made to Jackie by Rayelan, NOT to mention Ted Gunderson. It was ONLY after Ted Gunderson threatened to SUE Rayelan that she wrote a letter to me in the agents' lounge asking me to consider what I was "doing to all" of them and to RMN by continuing to name Gunderson in my exposes.
Again, I said okay, now that you have told me directly how you feel, I WILL NOT NAME GUNDERSON AGAIN on RMN!
But I will continue to name him and his minions, including Brenda Negri and Tim White, ELSEWHERE.
And being a whistleblower, it is NOT a matter of my "personal battles". I only know about these perps, because I have been targeted by them. I also know that they answer to others, who are destroying this country, much higher up in the chain of command.
If I can't tell the truth about government corruption, through my own experience, on RMN there is something VERY WRONG with that!
This sparked a response from one of the new agents, who does not know me at all, who wrote a little parable, about a "family" (RMN and its agents) in which he had the audacity to admonish me about how my actions would affect the "family".
I responded by telling him to MIND HIS OWN BUSINESS, that I am not a part of any "family"; I am an independent journalist, affiliated with RMN and I make my own decisions.
I will not allow a consensus decision to made for ME. If Rayelan decides she does not want Ted Gunderson mentioned on the Forum, so be it!
That does NOT mean I will allow myself to be manipulated into changing my direction, nor stopped from doing what I know is the right thing, by some guilt trip laid on me by these consensus thinkers, who know NOTHING about the real nature of my situation, nor how it relates to Ted Gunderson, Brenda Negri or any others.
Now, the addendum written by Rayelan at the end of the "private" letter she posted:]
Rayelan: "I admit, I was not as diplomatic as I could have been! As for the comment at the top, I did discuss it with two other people as to whether I should send the emails to Barbara... the decision was left up to me. Since I am the publisher of RMN... I was elected to do it because no one else could!
When I said, it was a long time coming .. I meant I have delayed telling her to knock off the Ranger Rick, Ted Gunderson and tim White posting. That was ALL that was meant by that.
I am sorry that Barbara has chosen to leave RMN rather than to take up the offer that was made to her to have her own blog hosted on the RMN server... but under her name... where she could post anything and everything she wanted to post about Ranger Rick et al. I think she made the wrong choice in leaving. If she ever realizes this, she can come back!"
[BH: I do not expect "diplomacy". I only expect that others will respect my personal boundaries and not attempt to tell me what I "should" be doing; not attempt to use pressure by consensus of uninformed people to change my mind.
I have not made any "wrong" decision. I made the ONLY decision I could make under the circumstances. If I had been treated with respect and professional courtesy, maybe this could have been worked out differently.
I have my own website, which will soon be updated, as well as other sites willing to publish my work, WITH NO CENSORSHIP and NO MEDDLING.
I can only hope that Rayelan will think about this and realize that it is inappropriate and unprofessional to run a website where arbitrary "rules" are made behind the scenes, by an ad hoc committee of unknown parties and where the personal problems of the editor, or fears of lawsuits, determine policy.
It hurts me to say this, because I love Rayelan like a sister, no matter how angry I am at the moment. I'll get over it, I do not hold grudges and I know Rayelan never meant to hurt me.
But I will stand firm in my position and my decision. It is, after all, a matter of honor.
Joe Vialls, the ONLY other agent who responded to my post, with his little screed, admonishing me about the "purpose" of RMN, happens to be a DISINFO SPECIALIST. So his speedy response did not surprise me in the least.
I've known this for years, from the most trustworthy inside sources, but did not bother mentioning it, as Mr. Vialls did not bother or target me personally for any of his disinfo.
Dr. Byron Weeks DID post something questioning Mr. Vialls's credentials, recently on the Forum, but I have more, much more. It will all come out, and soon.
I would advise Mr. Vialls to watch what he says about me in future. He will be held accountable for any disinfo he spreads about me or my colleagues.
Barbara Hartwell
November 25, 2003