| another parliamentary united nations vip keynote speaking engagement ... |
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...that nobody heard about. I tried this string: "Paul McDonald" "Committee for Economic Development of Australia" in Google and got exactly two hits. One was the press release on usnewswire and the other was a direct link to tprf.org.I also checked http://www.unaa.org.au. No reference to the event. In the press release alot of names and organisations are thrown around, but it noticeably avoids stating who is actually behind the event. It just says, "a special event at Parliament House..." So the question remains, who exactly invited Prem Rawat? Since the only organisation which actually mentions the event on its website is tprf, one can conclude that tprf is the sponsoring organisation or some quickly thrown together front organisation just for this purpose. Prem Rawat can put another notch on his belt for one more con job directed at, amongst others, his loyal premies. At this rate, he is bound to run out of leather. The press release as published on tprf: Prem Rawat speaks at Australia’s Parliament House on the United Nations’ International Day of Peace Canberra, September 21—Prem Rawat delivered the keynote address at a special event at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on the occasion of the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. The event was emceed by Paul McDonald, Executive Director of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. CEDA, Australia’s leading economic think tank, engages leaders from business, government, academia, and community organizations in emerging policy debates. Welcoming the attendees, Helen Disney, President of the Capital Territory Chapter of the United Nations’ Association of Australia, said, “This International Day of Peace marks our individual and collective commitment and progress towards building cultures of peace above all interests and differences. Individuals and nations, acting in a peaceful manner, do make a difference in the quality of our lives, institutions, environment, and future on earth. Through peace, we have a possibility to manifest the essential spirit that unites us amid our diverse ways.” David Purnell, National Administrator of the UNAA, a member of the National Consultative Committee on Peace and Disarmament and a recipient of the Order of Australia medal, told the attendees: “We are all working for a culture of peace in this world. Part of realizing that dream involves solid institutions that embody the vision of peace, as well as people embracing a culture of peace. UNAA helps inform, educate, and mobilize people around the development of a culture of peace.” For Linda Pascotto, President of The Prem Rawat Foundation, "Prem Rawat has received many invitations and warm welcomes in this country. His message is now on television each week in most cities in Australia and receives high ratings. It is wonderful to see that the appreciation for his message of peace keeps growing, and it is befitting that he would today address such a distinguished audience in Parliament House on the United Nations’ International Day of Peace.” Prem Rawat, known also as Maharaji, has emerged as a leading voice for peace. Last year alone, more than 1.5 million people came to seek his inspiration. He founded The Prem Rawat Foundation, which spearheads significant humanitarian initiatives. This year, the Foundation has already donated more than $300,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme and $100,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina and organized hunger-relief efforts after the tsunami in Sri Lanka. To discover more: The Prem Rawat Foundation www.tprf.org
Read an excerpt from Prem Rawat’s address at Parliament House
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I know Paul McDonald personally. He was a gov't employee for many years, and now, it appears, has left for the private sector (think tank). I have no doubt the event took place and that Paul pulled it together. He spent a year in our community while doing overseas work for the gov't. Lovely person. Shitty guru.
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The thing is that no reference is made on the CEDA website about the event and in the press release it only says that Paul was the emcee. Then it goes on to say that he is the director of CEDA and does the pretentious hype number about the organisation.Actually it is sort of interesting to see how this kind of thing attempts to lend credibility to Rawat. He is supposed to be the keynote speaker, yet the press release is actually devoted to talking up the other speakers and their credentials. Helen Disney and David Purnell, apparently other speakers, are each quoted and given their own paragraph, where their credentials are laid out. Then at the end Linda Pascotto is also quoted. But the keynote speaker himself? He is neither quoted nor are his qualifications mentioned, other to say that he has emerged as a leading voice for peace and that he founded the Prem Rawat Foundation. What is really noticeably missing between all the name dropping is exactly what the special event was about, who were the "distinguished audience" and what purpose it served. That the focus of the press release is around the secondary speakers and their credentials plus the fancy address where it was held, it is transparent that its only purpose is try and lend some legitimacy to Malibu Prem by associating these names with him. It is also interesting that he is ALWAYS the keynote speaker at these events. Whatever they attempt, they just come off looking like a cult again. But what I think is really amazing is the amount of effort and money that must go into these things apparently for the sole purpose of putting out one single virtually ignored press release. I mean I'm in this business so I know something about it. Creating a publicity stunt is one thing, a tried and true method of promotion. But that has nothing to do with this. Normally you would measure the efficacy of some publicity event based on the amount of circulation and perhaps readership it produced and then make a cost accounting evaluation of it to evaluate its success. In other words, you would add up the circulation of all the media where something was printed about it. You would then divide the cost of the event by this number. Using this criteria, the Prem Rawat publicity stunts are a dismal failure. The only outside media they are taken up by is this forum.
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The cult set up a "UN Event" with a couple of unknown organizations, but Nik found out that TPRF had actually rented the hall. But the event was not advertised before it happened, was not open to the public, you could not buy tickets to attend even if you knew about it, and the Linda Pascotto press release is so vague, that it isn't even clear that Rawat even was at the event, and may have, in fact, phoned it in, if he did anything.
It was clearly set up as a PR event so they could do a press release. It clearly had zero to do with any kind of support of the United Nations, since it wasn't even announced until after it happened.
This sounds like more of the same.
Modified by Joe at Tue, Nov 08, 2005, 14:47:42
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I wonder if the rank and file premies actually see this transparent shit for what it is? Sheesh, I mean it is so transparantly a ploy of gaining unwarranted legitimacy that any person with any vague critical thinking ability must see through this utter tripe.
And assuming that premies see through this ploy, why are they not speaking out? Call me naive but surely not all premies are dumbed into silence? Maybe it is a case of them not wanting to upset the supreme manifest power even if they know in their hearts that Prem Rawat is really just an amateur. A case of the premies being gentle on god or something? Very very weird.
T
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It's like the discussion Paddy and I are having in the thread below. By definition, if you are a member of a cult, you cannot, under any circumstances, criticize the cult leader. It it just forbidden, and for most premies, it is so internalized, and they aren't even consciously aware that they can't/won't do it. In any other aspect of their lives, be it employment, politics, sports, etc., they are probably free to criticize leaders, institutions or belief systems, but the cult belief system is off limits.
So, when something like this happens, or, even worse, like pedophilia with Jagdeo, or knowing that Rawat had sex with premies not his wife, or the rank revisionism and lies that Rawat puts out, all a premie can do is put them all in a file cabinet called "do not consider," and if they don't they have allowed doubt to enter, and that cannot happen, or they are out of the cult.
And I think this mind control continues even after somebody leaves. I mean, it's hard even to get ex-premies to talk publicly about all this stuff, and premies, well, that is out of the question. It would be impossible for a premie not to see obvious flaws in Mr. Rawat, obvious errors and megalomania, but they repress that so strongly that not only would they never say it, they probably do not even allow themselves to think it.
Like I said to Paddy, this kind of mind control is the basis of all cults, not just the Rawat cult. It is the only way they survive.
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What is it about the opposite of what you believe that's so bad, actually? Not really very much. Hence, your beliefs are kinda irrelevant.You know about cults because you've been in one. You know about cults because you are in one. Welcome to the monkey house. Again, what is there about the opposite of what you believe that's so bad? (Hint: Not so much.) It's not your beliefs that are the problem. It's your commitment to them. In other words, the problem is what you believe to be "virtue." What you think to be good... isn't. Not so much. Turn the whole thing upside down and give it a shake. Anyway, I told you New Orleans would change the world. Not really hard to see that one coming.
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Hey Scott,
I bet that you look great on the dance floor, doing electropop like a robot from 1984 .......
N
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Obscure and ethereal, stopping occasionally to explain the reality everyone else is too stupid to understand. All in terms that imply intelligence, while occsionally doing an odd revelation about having a low IQ.
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They actually believe this stuff. They don't do the research like we do, (or you guys do, as I don't do much myself!) And they don't read this forum. Therefore when they read or hear that M has spoken at the 'UN', they really believe it's true, and they believe the blurb in the press release. And they are really impressed.A premie recently said to me how amazing it was that M was doing all these programmes at the 'UN' speaking to such eminent audiences. My friend wasn't in any kind of denial, he just believed what he'd heard. Like you do when you read a newspaper. I agree with Joe's post about this, but I also think it's a slightly different kind of con, or mind control technique. EV are being intentionally deceitful. Rather than asking premies to 'leave no room for doubt', in this case, EV is more or less lying in it's deception. One thing that does come across though, is how false it all is. Who cares about "eminent" audiences. They have no more, or less, value than any other audience. The way EV tries to associate itself with 'important' people, as if that would give more credibility to M and his 'words of peace'. That's the sort of attitude that alerts people and makes them question M's credibility. Because it's so false and pretentious, and utterly condescending to the-man-in-the-street. And M is meant to be an expert on peace! But, if the EV plan is to impress premies, it seems to be working. BTW, I put my friend straight about this. But it's not easy talking to your premie friends who still believe that M is the lotu. By the way T, it was good to meet you a while back. Anna
Modified by Anna at Tue, Nov 08, 2005, 17:03:06
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Hi Anna
That is a very useful perspective you have. These days I'm largely out of touch with full on premies and when I do meet up with old premie friends it is now an unspoken rule that we do not speak about Rawat and stuff like that. Too many hot spots, too much to fall over on.
Yeah I can see how many premies would possibly believe all that UN bullshit, especially if all they read are the TPRF press releases and nothing more. And why would they want to read anything more, why would they want to find out anything more, they are having a nice experience and that's all that counts I guess. It's all rather circular and has the feeling of being trapped. Hey it is a cult as Joe says.
It was indeed great to meet up with you recently. Actually I feel a bit bad Anna. I wanted to chat more with you but the place was so noisy it was really difficult. And then afterwards I had to do that stupid taxi trip to retrieve my jacket and stuff that someone had mistakenly taken. There will be another time soon I'm sure.
All the best
T
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I didn't realise that these international important engagements etc and the general boasting about numbers at programmes ,receiving Knowledge etc were stage- managed bull-shit until I read EPO and started reading the forum.Even then it took some time to sink in.
I had sometimes been puzzled as things didn't seem to add up....I didn't,for example understand the horrible elitism among premies...and the higher up the ladder the more elite. Honchoes staying in expensive hotels; big donors getting front row seats and almost having an official entry ,doled up to the nines like stars at a premier, at events.I couldn't ever see how this squared with equality ,brotherly love or ( and above all) HUMILITY. All clawing their way to hang out with Prem's daughters and then boast about it....so ridiculous!
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They actually believe this stuff. They don't do the research like we do, (or you guys do, as I don't do much myself!) And they don't read this forum. Therefore when they read or hear that M has spoken at the 'UN', they really believe it's true, and they believe the blurb in the press release. And they are really impressed. A premie recently said to me how amazing it was that M was doing all these programmes at the 'UN' speaking to such eminent audiences. My friend wasn't in any kind of denial, he just believed what he'd heard. Like you do when you read a newspaper.
You are absolutely right Anna. Most premies don't realise it is bullshit. Unfortunately, to most people outside the cult, premies are beginning to look more and more comical, which is obviously not good for propagation.
Modified by Steve at Wed, Nov 09, 2005, 16:40:34
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My opinion is that most intelligent premies do see (more or less) through this BS, like I did for so many years - and that contributes to improve their feeling of uneasiness.
To the point the whole castle will will collapse ......
Of course there are some idiots gargling with this, trying to convince themselves I guess ! But who cares. Poor guys.
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I think these are all just done for the premies as the target audience and in that case as they don't seem to be realising that this is all a crock of spin it probably is cost efficient. I also think Rawat himself has been obsessed by this sort of pseudo respectability right back to the cream pie in the face attack and his acceptance of some sort of award from some right wing organisation run by a Rabbi Korff in 1976(?)I remember Joe posting an Elan Vital publication that showed EV has at least one guy whose job it is is to get keys to the city and suchlike. I also think that it might look impressive to a person making a half-hearted look into his life. It is my belief that the changes in the cult in the last few years are all about trying for respectability for Rawat in his declining years.
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I really think that the major motivation for most of this is to try to salvage Rawat's image from what the ex-premies have exposed about him. I think, actually, the cult is obsessed by the ex-premies. So much so, that Elan Vital devotes a huge percentage of its websites around the world to try to attack Rawat's former followers, and to explain away, and spin, what ex-premies have exposed.
I really think that were it not for ex-premies, Rawat would still be laying low, doing a few programs and some half-hearted pretending at propagation. He wouldn't be doing all this fake humanitarian stuff. As long as he was mostly ignored by the rest of the world, he was satisfied, just holding onto his lavish lifestyle and being worshipped by a few thousand premies.
But ex-premies and the internet actually threaten all that, so he is attempting to "defend" himself, although I actually think it makes matters much worse for him.
Unfortunately, the existence of the picture below for example, published by the same organization, Elan Vital, that claims Rawat never claimed to be God, is a terrible problem for Mr. Rawat and his PR campaign.
Modified by Joe at Tue, Nov 08, 2005, 14:59:17
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Yes you are probably right and I didn't express myself very well. They are probably exactly achieving their goal by having these press releases languish into oblivion. They must be aware, assuming we aren't giving them too much credit, that this kind of thing isn't newsworthy enough to get picked up by any real press. And that is just the way they like it, otherwise the resulting article might contain more than they bargained for. They must realise that too. It is all just for the premies and would be premies.Actually it is kind of a stroke of genius on the part of whomever thought the strategy up. Not that there aren't better ones, but when you are dealing with Baby Huey at the top, your options must be pretty limited as to what he is will to do and what will continue to stroke his fragile ego. So this is perhaps the best thing available to them. I don't know, maybe I am reading too much into it, but the way I'm seeing it right now, they are using all of the opportunities made available by new media to give a show of public activity when they are in reality continuing to keep Malibu Prem under the radar of public scrutiny. It is just a way of damage control in terms of their existing membership and any new chumps they can grab along the way. Like saying, "those ex-premies can't be telling the truth if Helen Disney is inviting him to speak..." And it probably makes him feel better too. Who are "they" by the way? I guess the Pascottos?
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Looking at EV TPRF and the rest of Rawat world from the outside I guess one can divine a set of strategies and intentions - but one can do the same with an ant colony - it does not mean that even the queen ant actually understands what is going on, let alone the workers.
The Rawat PR operation is so weird - it's as though someone did Public Relations 101 at night school for one term and then got hold of the TPRF budget. Of course if the PR operation is really just LindaP then all those sham UN Association 'invited key speaker' (Key geddit ?) set ups make sense because they mirror the US preppie philanthropy that Linda emulates in her own Foundation.
For all the dollars sloshing around Rawat world there's little likleyhood they'll ever get the PR side sorted because there's no PR professional,- certainly not one who has a backround in the non profit sector, would touch TPRF or Elan Vital with a barge pole (long stick if that doesn't translate) - unless they wanted to commit professional suicide.
N
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Really?Is that definite?
I had the impression from the cold attempt at slickness the last few years that maybe TPRF did use a professional P.R. consultancy.Why should a P.R. company care about Rawat's or TPRF's status as long as they get paid? Why would it be professional suicide?..they wouldn't advertise their connection to the guru...just take the money and keep a professional distance.Max Clifford might take the job on.....he has no qualms.
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At least one of those canned "intreviews" of Rawat in magazines you cannot buy or subscribe to, was organized by a PR firm in Chicago.
I am pretty sure that the Pascotto clan and the rest of the TPRF crowd (I assume Tim Gallaway, maybe the big-eating Frenchman (Jean Marie), and a few others) are all who are really involved from the cult side.
I suspect that an outside PR firm designed the "campaign" always tempered by what Rawat is willing to do, and given the severe problems. I am sure the whole strategy was to try to gain legitimacy by associating with the legitimate, pretending, spinning, and avoiding publiclity that the cult couldn't completely control. I am sure the PR firm(s) were paid big bucks for this.
So, what do we get?
First, all those controlled and canned, articles which are just PR vehicles and are not subject to critical review and are seen by very, very few people, yet Rawat can brag that he was "interviewed" in "Elandu Magazine." (One wonders if premies or the public might notice that Rawat is only ever interviewed in magazines one has never heard of. Coincidence? Divine Plan?)
Then, there was the whole "UN Thing" which is such an amazing joke. Speaking at halls rented from the UN and pretending it was AT the UN, doing those fake, UN promotional events, whatever they are, and then doing press releases nobody sees about whatever they were. One cannot tell from the press releases what actually happened, if anything..
Raise a few thousand dollars for the cult's own organiazation to help Tsunami victims, with no accountability for how the money is spent, and finally, rent halls at prestigious places like Harvard, Oxford, etc., and try to get legitimacy that way, and then do some rather strange, unexplained events at various government legislative buildings with very unclear information as to what it was, who was there, of what in the hell actually happened, all the while pretending that the government of Italy or Australia actually invited the former Lord of the Universe to speak at their parliaments. Yeah, right.
Then there was the Burt Wolf interview -- which I am sure was arranged through PR firms and cost plenty of dough. But what has happened to Burt?
I can't wait to see what's next. Maybe Rawat will speak at a hall rented from Greenpeace, and then Rawat will pretend that he is an environmentalist, despite his wasteful extravagances, like flying around the world in his own, private, Gulfstream Jet, and taking helicopters to the airport because driving is just oh, so hard.
Modified by Joe at Wed, Nov 09, 2005, 12:33:07
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There are plenty of PR firms who will take on any asshole. In fact, there are PR firms that specialize in that. I used to know a guy who worked for one. Really nice guy by the way, I went to his gay wedding – not a dry eye in the house. He also stopped working for them. Anyway I made up a slogan for the company he worked for: "where there's dirt, there is us" or something like (it was in German). This company made a reputation, if you can call it that, by working for organisations with really big PR problems: Exxon Valdez, Russian mafia, tobacco companies, and the list goes on.I think Joe has it about right that they got at least some consulting from one or more PR company and somewhere a strategy got worked out that worked around all of the vainglorious whims of the spoiled brat godboy. What we are seeing is the product of this compromise. I'm sure the suggestion was made to deal with the stuff head on, which would have been the better solution, but godboy wasn't playing. Really both Mishler and Dettmers both demonstrate this processs in their testimonies. I suspect that besides the godboy problem, EV is now suffering from a lack of talent, since alot of the good people have left. Anyway, in that kind of sycophantic environment the good people tend to get fed up eventually anyway, even if they manage to maintain their belief in Rawat's divinity.
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As Joe points out there are the footprints of a commercial PR operation starting around 2001 ? But I wonder who the client was - my guess is that the 'principle' at least, if not the actual client was Rawat and the 'Campaign' was built around the fat fool. What there is not (IMO) is evidence of any credible non profit focussed PR - that's why all the TPRF stuff is so lame. The strategy was to sell Rawat but the vehicle is religious philanthropy - I'd say that - at least in simple PR terms - is the unsquareable circle. But of course all the other points that Joe and Dan have made come into play.
Nik
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Another spin-off is that the accumulation of these puff prestige press releases allows TPRF to more readily solicit "respectable" politicos or academics to act as introductory speakers at public events as has been the norm recently. Ironically, this lends an air of quid pro quo legitimacy to the proceedings from individuals who haven't bothered to look beyond the smokescreen.
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lies in the fact that, while exers and third-party critics are denied any real criticism because they are out of the "process or haven't even received knowledge and therefore have no right nor substance to talk about it, these academical speakers should be looked at people that know what they are talking about, which is completely ridiclous. The accepance of that is only possible if you as a premie have switched off any sense of truthfulfness in favour to keep your dream world alive.toby
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Hi,While you may have only got two hits on your google search if you go to http://www.ceda.com.au you'll find that CEDA is a set of very heavy hittters in Oz business and politics. Their site doesn't mention this Paul McDonald so I'll email the organisation and ask what's going on.
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I saw the website and it seems legitimate, if perhaps somewhat secretive (member login and all). I was only making the point that not even the other organisations referred to in the press release mention the event on their website, let alone any other media. Nothing except the token paid for prnewswire listing and tprf itself. It just shows the whole event for the fake that it is.Paul McDonald can be found on this page: http://www.ceda.com.au/New/Flash/html/management.html By the way, I posted the search string I used because I was hoping someone or ones might try something different and get some other results or confirm mine.
Modified by dant at Tue, Nov 08, 2005, 15:23:09
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I was only making the point that not even the other organisations referred to in the press release mention the event on their website, let alone any other media. Nothing except the token paid for prnewswire listing and tprf itself.
The same thing happened in San Francisco in June. Any organization that had a website and was supposedly part of the event had nothing on their websites about it. There was no notice to the press, and no advertisement of the event.
Isn't that all just a little strange? The only time the event was announced was after it happened, and only in Linda Pascotto's bizarre and obscure press release, all completely self-serving.
What was the point? It was only to add another line to the TPRF website, and so Linda Pascotto could quote herself in yet another press release. In fact, Linda Pascotto even interviews herself. She is a very versatile for a mature woman.
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where he psychoanalyses himself? He keeps jumping back from lying on the couch as a patient and sitting in the chair as the doctor. Or am I just imagining that? I'm just sort of envisioning LInda Pascotto right now in that role. And let's not even go near that versatility thing.
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I'm not sure, but every Woody Allen movie has him on the analyst couch at some point in the film, doesn't it? Love his films. I need to set up a Woody Allen Film Festival for a bunch of friends some weekend. We could eat bagels and blintzes and pretend we are in Manhattan.
Really, though, I should have said that I think Linda is very "flexible" for a mature woman, quoting and interviewing herself.
A couple of years ago I had email exchanges with Ms. Pascotto about the "Passages" video and the screaming lies therein. Linda assured me that anything that ever went wrong was due to the people around Maharaji, and not Maharaji himself and that was "the rub." I guess Linda and her husband have corrected that problem.
Modified by Joe at Wed, Nov 09, 2005, 14:16:29
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I wonder if Helen Disney http://www.morgandisney.com.au/profile.htm and David Purnell http://www.unaa.org.au./praxis.php/category/view/24 have authorised the use of their names in the Prem Rawat puff piece?
It is not clear from the TPRF news release even if Helen Disney and David Purnell were aware of the fact that Prem Rawat apparently spoke about his 'message of peace' somewhere in the Canberra Parliament building. I mean what could have happened is that on that day there was some form of 60th UN convention in Canberra where many people attended with several 'break out' rooms as would be typical for such a convention. Perhaps Paul McDonald organised one of these break out rooms (maybe they were for hire?) and had Prem Rawat come along and be a 'keynote' speaker in one of these break out rooms. I'm speculating here totally as I simply do not know but reading the puff piece with that possible explanation in mind it all fits in.
But maybe it is much more simple than that. An event is organised by some committee at the Canberra Parliament on the lines the United Nations’ International Day of Peace as the piece says. the International Day is opened by Helen Disney and David Purnell in the way it is written in the puff piece. Later that day Prem Rawat comes along for a 5 or min slot and gives his message of peace. This amongst dozens of other keynote speakers.
Well whatever, the news release is so vague and vacuous it could mean anything.
By the way, I wonder if the following picture is of Prem Rawat? It was taken recently at Brisbane International Airport. Click the top most one being the most recent sighting to get a clearer view.
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?regsearch=N54PR
T
Modified by T at Tue, Nov 08, 2005, 16:01:26
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