Monday, April 28, 2008

The Beginning of induced stress.

We were given plush accommodations at the Hilton where both my wife and I were
hoping we would have dinner. However, when Ravi dropped us off at the hotel that
afternoon, he told us Darth would pick us up for dinner and that we would be going to a
wedding dinner party! I was surprised and somewhat disappointed, but I said nothing.
That evening, Darth accompanied by his wife and some relatives picked us up at the hotel.
He proceeded to tell me and my wife that we were going to a testimonial dinner for a
retired labor leader and that he was going to be the keynote speaker at the function. He
made no mention of a wedding party.

At the banquet hall my wife and I were introduced to Arnold Cline, his wife Sharon and
to George T. Cline and his wife. G. T. Cline, as he was called, was an elderly man
with sharp features and was obviously the builder of the family fortune. His wife seemed
like the stereotype of a business tycoon's wife. She was quiet, stayed in the background
and probably spent her time as president of the Beautify Milwaukee Campaign or some
other such worthy civic function. One thing was certain; G. T. was the power and
controller behind the Cline enterprises. As the dinner commenced, the Cline family sat
at one table and Darth, his wife and relatives and Anita and I were at another table.
Ravi and his wife had not been invited.

By the time Darth was to give his speech, the crowd was throughly polluted with
alcohol that had been flowing freely, and the people were loud and becoming obnoxious
No one seemed to care what Darth had to say, but he went on and read a speech called
“Who Shot Santa Claus?”. I immediately recognized the speech as a recent editorial from
Chemical and Engineering News. I sat there amazed and somewhat amused by the
whole circus like atmosphere of the moment. Darth was so nervous he could hardly read
the speech and he almost had to shout to be heard over all of the noise. He could have
recited “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and no one would have known the difference. Yet,
Darth was visibly nervous. I thought it was strange that an executive vice president would
be so nervous reading a prepared text in front of such an uninterested audience. It seemed
so amateurish.

After Darth concluded his speech, he sat back down next to me. I complimented him
on his presentation, and then the conversation digressed to frivolous subjects. At one
point Darth pulled out of his pocket a “for sale” advertisement for an elephant and
explained how he was planning to buy one for his farm in Franklin, WI.
When the dinner concluded, the Clines congratulated Darth on his fine speech and
then Arnold came over to me and proudly proclaimed , “ I wrote that speech, you know”. I
was momentarily stunned because I had recognized the text as someone else's writing. I
just mumbled something about how significant the message was and left it at that. Anita
and I were driven back to the Hilton . We both felt relieved that the whole circus
atmosphere of the evening was over.

The next day the fog had lifted somewhat and we could now see some of the area and
houses available in our price range. As we were driving around, Ravi asked me how was
the weeding reception. I told him we went to a testimonial dinner instead and he reacted
surprised. He then asked who else was there, and I proceeded somewhat reluctantly to tell
him I had met the entire Cline family. Ravi asked a couple of more questions which I
avoided and then the subject was dropped. This was the second time Ravi appeared to be
in the dark about actions Darth had taken. The reason this struck me as being peculiar is
that Darth had told me Ravi had a medical problem and that one on the reasons for hiring
me was to be a back-up if anything should happen to him. Surely, if were being hired for
potentially filling such an important position in the company, I would be expected to meet
and talk with the owners. Also, Darth had said he had discussed the situation with Ravi and that Ravi was aware of the need for hiring me. But Ravi's apparent uneasiness with
the situation puzzled me. I was not certain what was going on.

Friday, April 25, 2008

All materials are registered copyrighted

That day at Gamma Supplies was to be the first of many unusual ones to occur while I was
associated with the company. First, I was told all the laboratory personnel were in
Chicago preparing for a foundry show at the McCormick building, and Darth talked at
great length about their exhibit called the Gamma Show Boat. However, during the day while I
was touring the laboratory, a couple of workers stuck their head in the door, starred at me
and then went on their way. I later learned that those two men were laboratory personnel
whom would later be reporting to me. But Darth did not even acknowledge the presence
of the two men and made no attempt to introduce me to them. In fact, other than my brief
introduction to Arnold Cline at the airport, I only spoke with Darth and Ravi.
While on my tour of Gamma Supplies, I was told that Darth had planned to build up the
company and Ravi and been hired to help in that program. The position that I was
applying for was a first level management position with the title, Group Leader – Polymers.
I was to be the only Ph. D. level personnel besides Ravi, and would be responsible for all
laboratory work. I was to report directly to Ravi who in turn reported to Darth.
Since I had scheduled my return flight from Chicago for late that afternoon, Darth
decided to take me to the McCormick building first to see the Gamma Show Boat exhibit. When
we arrived, we were greeted at the door by a man who said there had been a fire at the
Gamma Show Boatexhibit, and that Carl Host, the Gamma employee responsible for the
accident had been taken to the hospital seriously injured. After viewing the considerable
damage to the exhibit, Darth made a call to the hospital. He informed me that Carl
would be OK, but that he had some serious burns. We then went on the tour of the exhibit
hall, and as we talked I asked Darth who their major competitors were in the foundry
industry. He was reluctant to tell me at first, but after more questions which indicated I
wanted an answer, he said Best Supplies Company. was the largest supplier of foundry binders. At the time, I couldn't understand his reluctance to answer such a seemingly harmless but
highly relevant question. After we completed the tour of the exhibit hall, Darth drove me
directly to the airport.

It was unfortunate for reasons other than the serious nature of Carl Host's
injuries that I did not get to meet or talk with Carl. Carl Host was a tall, angular man in his 30s. He was a pleasant, non-aggressive person whom I nicknamed “the Klutz”. If an accident were possible, Carl would make it happen and be responsible for it. Years after I left Gamma Supplies, I learned that he was responsible for an explosion in Youngstown, OH which caused considerable damage to a newly acquired plant and the surrounding area. Ironically, the explosion was caused by a process and product that I had developed while I was at Gamma Supplies. Despite his obvious shortcomings, Carl had been with Gamma Supplies about ten years and was Darth's right-hand man. In fact, I believe it was Carl's non-aggressive, non-threatening nature that allowed a man like Darth to trust Carl. The reason it was unfortunate that I did not get to meet him is that if I had known Carl's stature in the company, I might have been curious as to why such a small company would need three
technical managers – Rave, Carl and myself. But without directly talking to Carl, I had
to take Darth's word that Carl was just another laboratory worker I did not get to meet.

A few days after I returned home, Ravi called me and said they wanted to offer me the
job and asked what I would like for a starting salary. His inquiry about the salary was
surprising to me for two reasons. First, on the ride to Chicago, Darth had mentioned that
the salary for the position would be in the twenty six to twenty seven thousand dollars
range. Second, I felt they should offer me what they thought was a fair, competitive
salary. After much bickering, I said I would not accept the position for less that twenty
five thousand a year, and I would also like my wife, Anita to visit the area before I made
any decision. Ravi acted startled by my salary demand, but he reluctantly agreed. A
couple of days later I received a written offer containing these four major points: 1) The
starting salary would be twenty five thousand dollars a year; 2) My title would be Group
Leader/Polymers; 3) My major responsibility would be to “build a laboratory group” and
My wife and I were invited to visit Chicago for a house-hunting trip.

In mid April my wife and I went to Chicago to tour the area. Ravi, who was to be
my immediate supervisor, acted as tour guide. The weather that day was a harbinger of
things to come. The flight into Chicago was delayed be inclement weather and later in
the day, the airport was closed down for a period of time due to poor visibility. Driving
was equally hazardous as visibility was reduced to no more than 25 to 30 feet. Anita was
obviously upset by the inclement conditions, and I spent the rest of the day assuring her
that on my previous visit, the weather had been beautiful.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The story continues

One evening in March, 1976, I received a call from Ravi Sardess, who described himself as
the Technical Director with Gamma Supplies. We primarily discussed my background and qualifications and after a lengthy conversation, he told me he would like to pursue employment opportunities further. Ravi suggested we meet at the American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting which was being held in New York City a few weeks later. I agreed to meet with him there and he said he would call me back with complete details on how I was to meet
with him. A couple of days later, I received another call from Ravi and he gave the
directions and time to meet him at a hotel in Manhattan instead of meeting him at the ACS
employment clearing house site.

The scheduled interview with Gamma Supplies representatives fit well into my plans since I had already made arrangements to attend the ACS meeting in order to use their Employment
Clearing House. The Employment Clearing House is a service provided by the ACS
which allows prospective employers to browse through hundreds of resumes and then
schedule interviews with prospectives employees in a gymnasium type atmosphere over a
period of two or three days. An interested employer can interview numerous candidates
for any number of openings and the potential employees can talk to representatives from
several companies, large and small, from all over the country in the span of several hours.
I had always felt this was one of the more useful services the ACS provided for its
members, and I used it whenever necessary.

I went to New York feeling very optimistic. First, I had just been given a performance
rating by my present company and I was told I had received the second highest rating out
of more than 50 employees evaluated. Second, the evaluations had been done at a time
when the company was having financial difficulties, and the company was asking people to
leave based on their poor performance.. The high performance rating would make me
more attractive to other companies and the financial problems my present company was
having gave me a legitimate reason for wanting to leave. Third, the job market was
improving rapidly and I already had Gamma Supplies expressing interest in me. Things were
really looking up.

My first interview was with Gamma Supplies. I met with Ravi Sardess, the Technical
Director and Darth Korey, the Executive Vice President. Ravi was an Indian citizen,
who had moved to the U. S., worked for a major oil company and then had become a consultant
before finally joining Gamma Supplies. He was aggressive and obviously had a large ego, but he
let Darth do most of the talking. Darth was a short stocky man who did not fit the
executive role. He had a nervous laugh as if he was uneasy and it become immediately
apparent that he had a very condescending attitude toward people. This attitude was
evidenced when I mentioned how much I disliked writing memos as a routine practice in
large corporations. He proceeded to give me a lecture on why people wrote memos and
used a crude analogy about people building fences. It wasn't so much what he said, but
rather how he talked down to me in a manner which implied I did not know the purpose of
writing memos. Otherwise, the interview went well and I was invited to visit Gamma Supplies in Chicago in April.

I approached my trip to Chicago as I did any other interview trip except that I was a
little more enthusiastic than usual. I had already talked to the two people who would be
making the decision on whether I should be hired, and they apparently had been impressed.
Upon my arrival at the Chicago airport, I was met by Darth Korey and Arnold Cline, the company President.. Arnold was a young man in his mid 30s, good looking
and had the appearance of someone who came from a wealthy family. In many ways he
sharply contrasted the almost mobster like appearance of his vice president Darth. After
a short exchange of pleasantries, Arnold said he would talk to me later and that Darth would
take me to the Gamma Supplies plant.

The day was clear and warm by Chicago standards. On the trip from the airport to
Gamma Supplies, we drove through the impressive, exclusive neighborhood of Blue Fish Bay on the shores of Lake Michigan. I was shown the impressive house that Arnold Cline lived in
and was told that his father George T. Cline was also a resident of the community. I
was very impressed by the magnificent homes in the area and remarked about how much
more extravagant and diversified the homes looked compared to exclusive areas of east
coast cities. I also commented about the nice weather because I knew what a pronounced
psychological effect an areas weather can have on people and their life. I had seen vast
differences in peoples' behavior when I lived consecutively in Seattle, Washington, a city
known for its cloudy, cool climate and Gainesville, Florida, a Sunbelt city. I definitely did
not like the overcast Seattle weather. Darth assured me that although Chicago had
cold winters, it was free from overcast skies and it was sunny most of the time.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The URL I posted in the previous posting was a general one and not the specific URL for the Video "Nightmare at Guantanamo Bay". The URL below is the correct one.

If you are interested in what the US government really does to innocent people, watch this video:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3980799n

Pay particular attention to the denials by the Department of Defense at the end of the video. This is the standard response to any charges by the victims.

Terror in the News

If you are interested in what the US government really does to innocent people, watch this video:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?channel=/sections/i_video/videoplayer500251.shtml

Pay particular attention to the denials by the Department of Defense at the end of the video. This is the standard response to any charges by the victims.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Today, I will begin the story of how the American government takes innocent victims, uses them in some nefarious scheme and then destroys the victim.

I have changed all the names and people involved in these heinous crimes to protect the innocent and to prevent any lawsuits. So here it goes:


Torture and Terrorism In America
Chapter I

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents
men from living freely and nobly. - Bertrand Russell

In January 1976, I answered an employment wanted advertisement in the chemist's trade
magazine, Chemical and Engineering News. At the time I could never have realized what
a dramatic effect that single action would have on my life. Since I was unhappy in my
present position, I was actively seeking employment elsewhere and I would frequently send
off a form letter to any company that advertised a potentially promising opening. Thus,
when I routinely answered the Gamma Supplies' advertisement for a research chemist, I had no great expectations.

I had lived in Florida and taught at the University of Florida prior to my present position with
a northeast coast chemical company. The drastic change in lifestyle and job responsibilities from
my Florida teaching position were a major contributor to my discontentment with my current job and I wanted to make a change before I became too settled in my present position. So after a little more that a year and a half with my present company, I had made the decision to move
on. The longer I spent in my present position, the harder it would become to move on. Since the
job market for PhD Chemists with industrial experience in plastics was becoming strong in the
spring of 1976, I felt no real urgency to leave my present job, but I also didn't want to spend any more time there than necessary.

One evening in March, 1976, I received a call from Ravi Sardess, who described himself as
the Technical Director with Gamma Supplies. We primarily discussed my background and qualification and after a lengthy conversation, he told me he would like to pursue employment opportunities further. Ravi suggested we meet at the American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting which was being held in New York City a few weeks later. I agreed to meet with him there and he said he would call me back with complete details on how I was to meet
with him. A couple of days later, I received another call from Ravi and he gave the
directions and time to meet him at a hotel in Manhattan instead of meeting him at the ACS
employment clearing house site.

The scheduled interview with Gamma Supplies representatives fit well into my plans since I had already made arrangements to attend the ACS meeting in order to use their Employment
Clearing House. The Employment Clearing House is a service provided by the ACS
which allows prospective employers to browse through hundreds of resumes and then
schedule interviews with prospectives employees in a gymnasium type atmosphere over a
period of two or three days. An interested employer can interview numerous candidates
for any number of openings and the potential employees can talk to representatives from
several companies, large and small, from all over the country in the span of several hours.
I had always felt this was one of the more useful services the ACS provided for its
members, and I used it whenever necessary.

Monday, April 7, 2008

My Ordeal From The Beginning

My ordeal as a political prisoner began over 30 years ago. Through this blog I will show how I was set-up as an expert technical witness in a Federally tried lawsuit. A synopsis of what will be published in the year to come is:
Terrorism and Torture in America is a fascinating and true account of a research scientist who, after serving as a witness in a patent lawsuit, becomes harassed and terrorized by industry and government..............incredible testimony about a nightmarish behind-the-scenes America........a searing indictment of the democratic system...........The Victim has created a moving, first-person narrative that carries conviction in its sincerity and point of view. Recommended for publication for its high-voltage narrative style, contemporary interest and human drama.
Of course, because of political reasons, the publication of my story has never been accomplished. But now I will begin a long, arduous process of telling the true story by publishing a couple of pages every couple days in this blog.