I felt it would be best served to make all the information available in one place...
Stalking & Harassment: A Pattern of Behavior Explined
Stalking & Harassment 2: A Pattern of Behavior Expanded
Now if anyone as been keeping up with me little, Stalking & Harassment articles as well as the Blog Article on Kenpo in Omoto-Ryu Budo you are going to get some understanding that is going to explain the current environment of martial arts in the US and in online. First off, I doubt people online train as they claim they are and have. Secondly, I'm going to explain a certain bit of modern history for you beginning with two men of questionable morals... And these two men are associated with Ashida Kim, Frank Dux, Stephen Hayes & Hatsumi either directly or indirectly...
These two men are Retired Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Robert K. Brown & Peder Lund, these men started Paladin Press in 1970. Mostly just re-publishing or re-selling old military manuals they got for free or at huge discounts and only available to most civilians second hand. Now here is where Ashida Kim comes into play because Paladin used to publish Ashida Kim's work. Now what makes this even more interesting is that you need to know it all got started...
Brown & Lund started Paladin Press in 1970
Lund buys out Brown in 1974
Brown starts Soldier of Fortune in 1975 as a Published Work for Omega Group Ltd (Limited)
Now the "Limited" in the Company name means the company has a partner who has no say in the business and only contributes financially for a return on their investment. Now Ashida Kim, by his own report, started self-publishing Book of the Ninja in 1970 and advertised it for sale outside his karate dojo in 1975 through Soldier of Fortune Magazine. It was later picked up by Paladin Press...
Now Paladin Press has had its string of criticisms because of the Hitman Case, were a manual on assassination written by "Rex Feral" a pseudonym or pen name was used in an actual murder by a James Perry, hired by one Lawrence Horn in 1993, Paladin Press's Insurance Carrier settled out of court in 1999.
In 2000 Paladin was again sued over this book. Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors was again allegedly used in the planning of an attempted murder by one Robbie L. Goggin of his ex-wife Bobby Wilson in 1998. Robert Jones the hired killer, stated used the book Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors to help him plan the murders.
But looking at not only this but the other controversies which surround the two companies... Soldier of Fortune has had a similar chain of murders for hire and wrongful death law suits.
1987 Norman Norwood sued Soldier of Fortune Magazine for injuries suffered in a murder attempt by two men, who were hired through Soldier of Fortune's "Guns for Hire" Want Ads. While court had said such publications went outside the bounds of free speech protected by the 1st Amendment in regards to Soldier of Fortune's request for summary judgement, the actual news coverage of the suit can be found here (New York Times, August 1992).
February 1985, John Wayne Hearn shot and killed Sandra Black for $10,000 from her husband Robert Black who recruited Hearn through Soldier of Fortune Magazine's "Guns for Hire" want ads. Sandra Black's mother and son both sued Soldier of Fortune Magazine & its parent company Omega Group Ltd. in 1989. Coverage available here (New York Times, February 13th 1988).
In 1989, four men were convicted of the Murder of Richard Braun, of Georgia, again hired through classified ads in Soldier of Fortune Magazine. This resulted in the suspension of the "GUNS FOR HIRE" want ads. October 15th 2000 news coverage available here.
Note: The Dates discrepancies occur due to the time and red tape of the civil court system to take matters to trial, file for discovery etc. Even in criminal cases were the time to trial is much quicker it can take a full three years or more before a case even goes to trial. Regardless that is almost 20 years of untold damage to society.
So just so we know who we are dealing with... when I say men of questionable morals... This of course, does not even cover Frank W. Dux law suit against Soldier of Fortune Magazine for slander and defamation of character. But, including Frank Dux law suit and Ashida Kim being a former author for Paladin. In fact, Ward Churchill "expose" on Robert K. Brown is quite interesting and can be found here.
The strange mix to this whole affair rests in the questionable morals of Brown & Lund, and the Ninja cult of the Bujinkan. I've many times addressed how ninjutsu is a strategic art and I've even quoted from the Bansenshukai as to such... Now that's very different to the Ninja Cult of the Bujinkan claiming a mystical secret "Higher Order" of Ninpo, a knock off of Kukishin Ryu Kenpo philosophy and Shinto ritual.
In 1986 Kirkland Peterson produced Mind of the Ninja: Experience the Inner Power. Largely this book can be broken down into thirds, 1/3 telling us about the Bujinkan and Togakure Ryu Ninpo Taijutsu, 1/3 attacking Ashida Kim and denouncing ninjutsu as anything but a spiritually enlightening system and 1/3 explaining Shinto to the reader in a rather evangelical manner. The last part is very... Pseudo-Intellectual in it's lay out.
Since then there has been a rather, one sided bias towards the Bujinkan with those involved in Paladin Press. Let me explain, there is a certain class of bottom feeding leech that does everything they can to be the "yes man" for the bigger fish. In this case we will talk, Philip Carlton Elmore... The Martialist. Phil is quite well known for attacking Self-Publishing Authors (as if anyone really ever reads books anymore) and for bragging about his accomplishment of having been published by Paladin Press... Otherwise most of Phil's stupid rantings are self-published and not even good enough to be published in print, using the cheapest means possible PDF format.
If you want to read his ideas here are the Links to his available works;
Street Chucks (because every self-defense expert worth his salt tells you to defend yourself with an illegal weapon)
Shorthand Empty Hand (because common sense self defense isn't savvy enough without adding funny kung fu postures)
The Homeless Threat (which seems to be a fuzzy mix of self-defense advice and fear and hatred of the poor from man who is barely middle class as well as a huge issue of racial overtones that could inspire Black Lives Matter in New York to pay him a visit)
Said Cover Image: Presented from a screen shot I took in accordance with United States Code 107 of Chapter 17 (otherwise known as 17 USC 107) used for the sake of review & criticism.
As such, Don Roley points to others like Elmore who cater to fat, lazy and slow people with delusions of being "Men of Action" collecting books from Paladin's "Action Library" to reinforce their fantasy of credibility. And we know from past articles in this series that Don Roley, Barron Shepherd and Phil Elmore all defend each other...
They spread the same lies, and while it might be a bit personal with me; because I make it a point to prove them liars & challenge their claims. You need to see the business to see the whole picture. The Bujinkan has had a good bit of business with Paladin Press, publishing various books and of course the Killshots VHS videos beginning in 1987.
So its pretty easy to see that Paladin, has been profiting at both ends of martial arts debate, they sell controversy and violence. Martial arts just happen to be about violence.
Oh sure, the martial arts crowd often talks about enlightenment and philosophical ideas but, let's assume someone isn't a 9th Dan Grandmaster and just "Joe Average." How are martial arts portrayed in movies and tv shows? As people fighting... How are martial arts portrayed in sports, any martial sport? Karate, tae kwon do, kendo, judo and MMA are all portrayed as fighting arts.
So creating controversy by spreading lies about Frank Dux, stealing money from Ashida Kim and pushing the use of Paladin Press authors to reinforce authority by proxy. Add to this Elmore's continuous jabs to try to get me to sign with Paladin Press something I turned down back in 2002. And a pattern seems to emerge...
What this comes down to is the issue of iemoto systems of control and corrupt business practices. Iemoto or Some systems were never used within martial arts until the more peaceful Tokugawa era. Generally speaking, a Soke retained control over all expressions of a art or trade within an area. Soke Hatsumi claims Soke, or full control over the art of ninjutsu. This is based primarily, on the extensive use of modern translations and a made up history by Takamatsu. However, the Bujinkan exists claiming to control ninjutsu and claiming to exert control through a greater form of knowledge called Ninpo. This is even argued against Jinichi Kawakami who represents ninjutsu with a more factual basis in regard to history. In truth Ninpo is just repackaged Kukishin Ryu Kenpo (sword law, not fist law) but that's another issue.
As such, Hatsumi and the Bujinkan try to exert control over "all ninjutsu" usually by slandering and attacking others... Think Hatsumi would never do this? Sure he did, by mentioning the infiriority of Karate, Judo & Aikido to his mystical Ninpo. Only, Westerners are impressed with the mystical ninja act. Regardless, this is reinforced with business dealings with less then ethical businesses like Omega Group publishing and it's associated companies Soldier of Fortune Magazine and Paladin Press, who don't much care for self-trained "mercenaries" hiring themselves out for possibly illegal activity (hey it will drive up Paladin Press sales), through the American branch of the Bujinkan Empire. So we have three unique companies...
Paladin Press presenting instructional material for people to train themselves and Soldier of Fortune which until 2000 was a basis for these people to hire themselves out as "Soldiers of Fortune." Other publishing companies have put out similar material, and are often long standing rival/strange bed fellows with Paladin & Omega group or not. For example, Loompanics who was a fringe publishing company was bought out by Paladin. Paladin who according to internet rumor used bloggers and online publicity "hit men" to attack Loompanics making it more profitable to sell, then to compete with Paladin & Soldier of Fortune's strategy of sell information through Paladin and offer a gateway to your fantasy of being an "action hero" through Soldier of Fortune. Even sixteen years later, Paladin still relies on Publicity "hit men" to attack their competition or harass independent authors to sign with Paladin.
The Bujinkan which offers mystical ninja fantasy with a touch of realism in that you have to amerce yourself in Japanese culture. Of course you can learn the real and authentic ninjutsu of Hatsumi who is the sole provider of the true and correct ninja path... With a home study course. Right, the Bujinkan has many dojos teaching lessons but they also have many people selling you Books, DVDs and even audio CDs for your meditation.
Regardless, in the last few years and last decade or so... This alliance has fallen apart, no longer profitable for both sides to maintain. What is left is a bitterly entrenched publicity war (one in which I only came in at the last bit when publicity whore's like Phil Elmore were trying to lap up table scraps from Paladin Press). Phil's works with Paladin such as Flashlight Fighting: How to Make Your Pocket Flashlight a Take Anywhere Self-Defense Weapon (no longer in print) that was used to secure his 15 minutes of fame and accomplishment; which was basically a whole book written around the advice to shine a light in someone's eyes and hit when they can't see... This was advice disclosed in Ashida Kim's Secrets of the Ninja and Stephen Hayes Books (I forget the title) in the 80s... but I digress.
Much of the issues from these people are secured in the foundation of making money. This does not even touch on the older issues of Martial Arts media going back to John Keehan or Count Dante's era where cross training in martial arts, breaking from tradition (Americanizing and modernizing) in Martial Arts and the Cult of Japanese superiority come into play.
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