I received an email earlier this week from Dennis Markuze AKA Mabus which I have posted here for readers to consider. For some reason, this chap has singled me out along with Tim Farley, Richard Wiseman and other skeptics in what he perceives as a campaign of persecution against him. I have occasionally reported on his past correspondence with me as frankly, he does seem a bit “nutty” as Richard Feynman would say.
I am not a psychiatrist nor a clinical psychologist but it seems to me that Dennis Markuze has some serious mental health problems. At one point he was sending threatening emails to a number of us which ended up with him being arrested and prosecuted (see below). Personally, I am far enough away from the man and so have never felt under any real threat so I did question the wisdom of prosecuting someone who has a psychiatric condition. However, I am reminded that there are cases where disturbed individuals have sent threatening correspondence that was unheeded and then they went on to commit attacks. It is not always a clear cut situation.
Anyway, here is the email he sent me. In comparison to most of his earlier messages which were made up of bizarre, unconnected ramblings, punctuated by the occasional “BOOM” written in bold parenthesis, this message seems quite coherent. Maybe Dennis is receiving treatment which is a good thing. On other hand, maybe with more clarity of thoughts and cognitive ability, he may get his act together in seeking revenge!
Anyway, I have never really understood why I am one of his targets but I have no plans to visit Montreal for a while.
AFFIDAVIT OF TRUTH
| CANADA
PROVINCE OF Quebec |
IN THE MATTER OF
Tim Farley vs Dennis Markuze |
I, DENNIS MARKUZE, of the City of MONTREAL, in the Province of QUEBEC, DO SOLEMNLY DECLARE THAT:
1. I am the person named in, and who subscribed, the AFFIDAVIT OF TRUTH dated the 3rd day of February, 2014
2. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the matters and facts in it are true.
3. Where matters specifically stated in it are made upon information and belief, I believe them to be true.
AFFIDAVIT OF TRUTH FOR DISMISALL OF ALL CHARGES:
THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD AND THE COURT RECORD:
For over 40 years a man by the name of James Randi, founder of the James Randi Educational foundation (JREF), has challenged anyone to provide proof of the paranormal and that he would pay them $1,000,000 if they could. Hundreds have tried and all have failed the test.
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html
We accepted the challenge.
Ever since I have been attacked, harassed, and targeted by atheists and skeptics from all over the world. They have made up lies and accusations against me. Threatened me and my family, and done whatever they can to silence me.
I plead guilty last time in court because I was under duress and did not really understand what was going on. The media ran a false story on me even before I was tried, disgracing me publicly. They were building an unlawful case against me even before I was heard.
I am a Christian being charged for my controversial ideas on religion and politics not for any offense. People have published and republished my work all over the internet. Online strangers thousands of kilometers away have misrepresented my words, fabricated threats to silence me, to have me arrested, to seize my property, to imprison me, to take away my rights. The charges laid on me are based on hearsay and conjecture and wish. These are subjective charges, and the only party that has really been injured has been me!
Farley doesn’t like what I have to say about him and his organization, the James Randi Foundation, an atheist group, of which he is a senior member. But most importantly he does not want the public to see how we won the paranormal prize, and is doing everything in his power to prevent us from revealing how we did it.
But here is how we won the paranormal challenge:
http://storify.com/deltoidmachine/how-we-won-the-james-randi-dollar-1-000-000-parano
Apart from providing proof of the supernatural, my actual ideas center upon the utter waste of intelligence used in the ideology of atheism and the importance of peace and disarmament for the planet, and the terrible costs of war. My real words can be found here not the broken fragments they produce to use as lies to condemn me.
These claims of alleged harassment are unfounded and based on presumption, and I believe no evidence to the contrary and none exists.
AND I make this declaration conscientiously believing it to be true and knowing that it is of the same force and effect as if made under oath.
brucemhood.wordpress.com 
Having had a couple of JREF activists (Peter and friend) commenting on something I posted here recounting a dowsing experience (I have no strong feelings about it) , I felt bullied and intimidated right here on your pages . I can understand what they might use against someone who might pose a more real threat to them .
Poor him , because these guys were really not nice and I was surprised at their aggression . Posting together to reinforce their antagonism and heightened level of ‘ad hom’ attack made me think of the standard tactics of American political groups .
They actually told me to stay off these pages as this was a ‘skeptic site’ . How do you feel about that ?
Rich,
1. Mabus/Markuze is a very sick person who has made repeated death threats against various people connected with JREF when they dared to criticise his nonsense claims to have ‘won’ the Million Dollar Challenge. You should check the relevant JREF thread out here http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=162630 before you comment further.
Do tell us what you think about him and his claims, once you are fully informed.
2. If you think you were bullied and intimidated here then you must be a very fragile person indeed. IIRC you were simply told to put up evidence) or shut up. Otherwise you were just wasting your time and ours wittering on about how you thought dowsing works.
Perhaps you can get a better understanding of why your contributions were given short shrift when you graps just how much time and effort some of us put into trying to halt the trade in fake explosives detectors, which were based on the principle of dowsing (whatever incredible claims some of the sellers made of other ‘scientific’ principles to dress them up).
Time and again during the campaign we have had people saying that the detectors were not legit, but dowsing does work. NONSENSE!
Gary Bolton at his trial for fraud for selling the GT200 even called the President of the British Dowsers, and some other nutjob who claimed he had dowsed evidence of the Rendlesham Forest UFO, as witnesses for the defence.
IIRC you came here with anecdotes about how you had seen dowsing work successfully. You produced no credible evidence. End of story. Dowsing does not and can not work, to the very best of knowledge to date. Credible evidence might persuade us otherwise, but like all sorts of paranormal claims e.g. telekinesis, spiritualism etc etc etc, in any legitimate testing it has never worked, so the likelihood that it will is small indeed.
If you make unsubstantiated claims, and do not substantiate them, then you should expect some heat from skeptics who have been round those loops so many times already.
Yes , Peter- I did look up this guy after , but only after posting last night , and by the looks of it I’d say that he and the JREF deserve each other . Both , to me at least , come across as intolerant , freaky and vindictive . Read on –
I also am a scientist and , as such , know to keep an open mind . I once made the mistake of recounting an what happened some time ago now , on this page , and was met by much the same kind of tone I hear again from the same person , you , (and your friend ‘Bob’ if I recall correctly) who describe yourself here from a “skeptic who has been around those loops so many times already” .
To clarify -I was not for a moment suggesting I felt oppressed by Bruce – it is not in his nature , I know – or at least once knew – him . Rather I am starting to see that in this supposedly scientifically so-enlightened age there are the beginnings a new fundamentalism that echoes all of the febrile religious intolerance of the Renaissance towards what was then a burgeoning body of scientific thought and discovery . The irony of it is that nowadays that same self-certain , virtuous , militant intolerance is cloaking itself in the name of science and rationalism against anything that cannot be quantified or observed . I am not speaking here for fraudsters or con artists , this is just a gentle plea to keep an open mind to natural phenomena .
To be able to note and put to one side is much a better way to observe and record than to throw on a fire – or tie to a stake and burn .
I dare say that some people have the stomach for the ‘dirty war’ that has to and should be fought against sham and con and denialism , I’m not them . I could see that these brave people might even feel they have ‘God/Truth/Right on their side’ . It is indeed a dirty and long battle , but let’s not entirely put aside or forget the ideals for which they (and we) struggle . Science has never advanced because of closed minds . Many supposedly ‘closed avenues’ have opened again , years on sometimes , after insights , contradictions and reflections .
There is always a cost to battle , and , when our ‘scientist-victors’ stand in judgement , let us hope that when we look for truth (and justice) we are faced with judges who are not suffering battle-fatigue .
Ease up , Peter . I am not the enemy here . Listen to yourself .
well said!
Rich, you have not been bullied and intimated by me nor do I condone any such activities or political agendas. I am scientist interested in why people believe things for which there is no reliable evidence. That should be something that we all aspire to should it not?
” I am not a psychiatrist nor a clinical psychologist but…”
A useful phrase, that.
It what sense is it useful other than a qualifying statement?
Bruce – these “affidavit” messages started appearing one day after Mr. Markuze’s latest court hearing on the matter of his second arrest, which took place on January 20. He’s been blasting them out to anyone he can find an email address for.
They are based on a false premise – nobody is trying to stop him from speaking his mind or censor him. Frankly, I think if he created a blog somewhere and wrote posts like this affidavit on a regular basis, many skeptics would follow that blog and comment. But instead he feels he must force these messages on people via unsolicited emails (aka “spam”), off-topic blog and forum comments and the like.
The only thing we have pursued in the courts is that he stop harassing people in this way and making threats, but every time he gets arrested he starts back up again shortly thereafter. Even pleading guilty to eight counts of making threats, which he did on May 22, 2012, does not appear to have deterred him from his activities. These activities are illegal under Canadian law, a court has ruled.
Mr Farley you say he can speak in the first paragraph then you say he can’t by law. The fact is the only thing you are really interested in is trying to ruin his life, and you can’t accept a simple apology.
What if the opposite was true:
“I am not a psychiatrist nor a clinical psychologist but it seems to me that Dennis Markuze has some serious mental health problems.”
What if you suffered from a pathological psychological condition called SCIENTIFIC SKEPTICISM?