I think Sir Isaac Newton has been hauting her, Baldwin.
I was gonna be the one to point out the difference in nomenclature between the jerkwad we’re talking about and the US Senator, but I’m glad you beat me to it so I’m not the bad guy. 
Anyone with a competent research staff, the ability to ask probative questions without looking like a jerk, and/or be a good poet, can summon the dead.
It is good to hear from someone with actual experience. I enjoyed your post very much. It will probably get bashed by the inexperienced skeptics that “know all about” these things. But that is the way of the Doppers board.
I really like George Anderson and don’t doubt what you say about Randi. In all the years Randi has been operating, not a single report has surfaced as to show the results of his testing methods.
The “cold readings” the skeptics talk about are their own invention. No controlled studies have ever proven they exist in reality.
Thanks again for having the courage to post in such a hostile environment.
Love
Leroy
No controlled studies have ever demonstrated anyone’s “psychic” ability, either. In point of fact, James Randi and JREF do not run the tests for those who would claim the $1 million prize. They merely supervise and act to ensure the tests are unbiased. The claimants themselves must prove their ability, and agree in advance to the terms of the tests.
Actually this thread was about James Van Praagh.
If you care to read through the 36 pages you will find the skeptics were defeated in all their assumptions.
They could not prove that “cold readings” had merit or that they were used by any psychic. It was a total rout of the skeptical position.
They retaliated with numerous personal attacks (pages of them) because they had nothing real to offer.
Love
There is an article in Skeptic Magizing from July of 2003 that talks about TV psychics and their “powers.” I highy recommend reading it.
It basically speaks of a man who, for 24 hours, trains to become a physic like John Edwards or the Pet Physic (who’s name I cannot remember). Sure enough, after 24 hours of learning vague statments and reading tell-tale signs in the face/apperal/body language this man was able to awe and amaze otherwise oblivious common people. In addition to this, it shines a bad light on people such as John Edwards in that the 24 hour physic asks many of the same questions and “reveals” many of the same facts as TV physics.
I also believe there is a book about the subject (tricking people into thinking you are a physic) which, although I do not know the title, I would think interesting to read.
I will search for both the article and the book title and return once I have found them.
Volume 10, issue 1 of Skeptic magazine.
“Stupid “Pet Psychic” Tricks: Crossing Over with Fifi and Fido on the Animal Planet Network, by Bryan Farha .”
and also
“Psychic For A Day, Or How I Learned Tarot Cards, Palm Reading, Astrology, and Mediumship in 24 Hours, by Michael Shermer.”
Many controlled studies have shown psychic ability. I have offered many links to such studies, but will not do so again, no one ever reads them. The skeptics can search the net themselves. Skeptics don’t want to learn, just want to insult and belittle others.
Love
You can read all the skeptical literature you want and never learn anything about psychics. They are not about to tell the truth. If you want to know about psychics read what they say about themselves. Study the subject from both perspectives or not at all. Anything less than both sides are a waste of time.
Love
Every study that purports to have shown the existence of psychic ability has been flawed. I’ve read through many and have been impressed by none. When someome presents me with a properly controlled study that shows otherwise, I’ll accept it. It hasn’t happened yet.
Well, look at the facts:
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All the techniques he does have been demonstrated to be reproducable by non-supernatural means.
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Nobody has ever demonstrated a supernatural means to accomplish such a feat under controlled conditions that eliminate completely natural methods of achieving the same results.
Between these two alone, it is quite reasonable to assume, baring any further evidence, that he is not a psychic.
Add in the accounts of the article, such as the low ratio of “hits” prior to editing, as well as the circumstances on-site, and it seems quite reasonable to label the man a con and a fraud. And not just a fraud, but apparently one who’s less capable at his trickery than other frauds, because his success rate is particularly low compared to others (Which include, BTW, people who are attempting to acomplish similar feats without any psychic ability).
When a “psychic” is outperformed by a non-psychic, it’s not terribly convincing of their ability, now is it? 
If there are really psychics, why don’t they play the lottery? Because they’re too ethical to do that, but unethical enough to get rich taking advantage of grieving people of TV?
I saw a documentary about the claim of homoeopaths that water has “memory”. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the name of the documentary series, but I believe it was on the ABC here in Australia.
I was pleased to see James Randi on the program. Apparently, a practitioner of homoeopathy had decided to take him up on his one million dollar challenge, and he was there, ready to give up his money. He had the check and everything, and of course the funds in the bank.
Randi didn’t run the experiment. He wasn’t even in the laboratory. It was, quite simply, an everyday nothing-out-of-the-ordinary experiment to see if water mixed with a homoeopathic drug and then heavily diluted would have the properties predicted by homoeopathic “theory”. The only difference was that precautions were taken to make sure that no one could influence the results. A million dollars were at stake. I don’t know who put up the money to run the experiment, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was Randi.
Randi may be somewhat abrasive, but to smear his name as has been done in this thread is extremely low. He’s dedicated his life to exposing fraud and debunking superstition. James Randi is an outstanding individual, a friend to science, and a friend to all who are honest.
The idea that there are people with the ability to predict the future, speak to the dead, or read minds using mystical powers is ridiculous. If these so-called psychics can do these things, why are they dependent on people giving them money? Why don’t they predict the stock market or get reward money for locating fugitives and solving crimes? All they’d have to do is locate Osama bin Laden (a simple task for someone with their supposed powers) and they could collect 25 million dollars. They are hustlers, pure and simple. Worse, so-called psychics like Edwards pray on the grief-stricken. I have more respect for muggers and purse-snatchers.
Alright, having found some jucy bits, I have decided to post them here.
From page 21 of Skeptic Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 1.
"Making the Obvious Seem Telepathic.
Two cats: Sonya asked the owner if one of the cats crawls under things. The amazed owner confirmed this and said they both go under the covers with her.
Stupid Pet Psychic Trick: What’s amazing about this? What cat doesn’t crawl under things? And it didn’t have to be the covers. Don’t most cats crawl under desks, tables, sofas, beds, and any other available space? The owner was impressed enough to believe one of the cats told Sonya she’d prefer it if the owner would buy a second litter box-one for each cat.
Sonya states, “she’s [Bonnie the cat] asking me why it is that you [owner] don’t want her on you sometimes?”
Stupid Pet Psychic Trick: The owner’s answer is the same that most of us would give-because we sometimes got other things to do like cook, work on the computer, etc. Maybe this catagory should be called Duh.
Crossing over with Willie: Willie was a diseased Golden Retriever. His owner had arranged to have him euthanatized by a veterinarian. Sonya had a vision-which the owner confirmed-that Willie used to scratch behind his ears. Really? A dog scratching behind its ears?! Shocking."
The article is much, much longer…
This is from another article in the same issue (“Phychic For a Day”)
"My fifth and last subject was another professional woman, age 50. She had told Bill’s producer that she had something very specific she wanted to talk about, but did not offer a clue as to what it was. It didn’t take me long to find out. When I introduced myself and shook her hand, I noticed that her hands were exceptionally muscular and her palms sweaty. This was a high-strung, nervous person who was obviously emotional and agitated. I assumed that someone near to her had died (the proper phrase is “passed on into spirit”), and that she wanted to make contact. “I’m sensing several people that have passed over either, either parents or parent-like figures to you.” It was her father who died, and she clearly had unfinished business with him.
From the ensuing conversation I discovered that her father had died when she was 27, so I deduced that it must have been a sudden death (correct) and that she did not have the opportunity to make her peace with him (also correct). Finally, I deduced that she was sad because she would have like to share her many life experiences over the past two decades with her father… “such as having a child.” Wrong-she is childless. Without missing a beat I offeret this riposte: “Oh, what I mean is… giving birth to a new idea or new business.” A three-pointer from downtown! This was an entrepreneurial woman whos father was a successful businessman with whom she would have loved to share the success.
It wasn’t long before subject 5 was nearly sobbing. This was an emotionally fragile woman of whom I could have easily taken advantage by jumping in with some inane line such as “your father is here with us now and he wants you that he loves you.” But I knew I would have to look in the mirror the next morning and just couldn’t do it, even for a worthwhile exposé of a very exploitive practice. Instead I said “your father would want you to keep him in your heart qne your memories, but that it is time now to move on.” I wanted to give her something specific, as well as lighten up the reading because it was getting pretty glum, so I said" and it’s okay to throw away all of those boxes of his stuff that you have been keeping but wanting to get rid of." She burst out laughing and confessed that she had a garage ful lof her father’s belongings that she had long wanted to dispose of but was feeling guilty about doing so. This exchange was, I hoped, a moral message that violated no trust on my part and still had teh desired effect for our show.
In the psot-reading interview, Subject 5 said that she had been going to phychics for over ten years trying to resolve this business with her father, and that mine was the single best reading she had ever had. Wow! That made my phychic day."
Sorry for the typos. Sorry I could only bear with posting two small excerpts from the articles.
So you are skeptical about skeptic magazine? Understandable. I think that is stupid (on the account that the magazine centers greatly on science), but understandable. I too think it is important to aviod listening to one side in most cases.
Arguments for Psychic Ability:
A) Lekatt wants to believe it’s true.
B) Sylvia Browne and John Edward make a lot of money at it.
Arguments against Psychic Ability:
A) No ‘psychic’ predicted 9/11/01. None. Not one. As I recall, either Browne or Edward was on Larry King Live less than twelve hours before the WTC attacks, and said nothing about them. Not one word. Not even anything vague like “something big will happen tomorrow”.
B) No ‘psychic’ is even making claims right now about when or where we’ll find Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden. No ‘psychic’ predicted when and were we’d get Usaky and Qusay, or even “Chemical Ali”. Not one.
C) “Psychics” like Miss Cleo and Sylvia Browne have to sell books, private readings, and appear for lectures (at $150 a head) or run a $4.99-per-minute phone bank, to make any money.
No psychic has been seen betting on horse races, the stock market, boxing matches, or cleaning up in Vegas.
D) The “pet psychic” has to ask the owner what the animal’s name is.
E) “Cold reading” is an easy, common, quickly-learned trick, and many TV “psychics” follow the exact same techniques as cold-readers.
F) “Psychics” like Uri Geller have been exposed multiple times as frauds- using magnets to affect compasses, or using hearing-aid radios to take cues from backstage workers, or other standard sleights of hand.
G) The JREF has, in trust, over one million dollars- that Randi himself has no control over!- that, by the legal parameters of the trust, MUST be paid to anyone who passes a scientifically-prepared test that is agreed upon by both parties.
Randi cannot determine what happens to the money- if someone passes, they get it whether or not Randi wants them to have it- it’s no longer his money to control.
H) No “prominent” “psychic” has applied for the Prize- Not Edward, not Van Praagh, not Geller, not Miss Cleo. Browne has said- twice!- on Larry King that she would, and as of the last reading, the JREF has recieved no communication from Sylvia, even though all their contact information, from telex numbers to E-mails to phyiscal addresses, is publicly, easily available.
I) No “psychic” has passed any scientifically-formulated test. Not dowsers, not dead-speakers, not fortune-tellers, not astrologers, not homeopaths. None.
J) Psychic abilities, if they existed, would almost certainly require the existence of supernatural phenomena, none of which have been proven, or even plausibly suggested, to exist.
K) Any “true psychic” would be one of the world’s most powerful people. Someone who could speak to the dead could unearth secrets people would pay millions for- what happened to Hoffa? Earheart? Nicole Brown? DB Cooper?
Fortune tellers could see how wars will transpire. Will heads of state be assasinated? They could see how economic policy will work ahead of time.
True wealth and power, yet all seem to gravitate toward chatting with the Late Aunt Judy, and hinting whether Afflek and J.Lo will break up after six months. The important stuff, it seems.
L) Any demonstrable “psychic” ability can and has been duplicated and repeated using standard parlor tricks and sleight of hand, strongly suggesting the original ability is itself a parlor trick.
The list goes on. Lekatt, I’d love to argue with you, but the title of a book or saying “somebody’s proved it already” doesn’t provide any data. Give us a cite for your claims, and we’ll give 'em a once-over for ya. 'Til then, you’re just being background noise.
Um.
He was just guessing names, and these are extremely common names to boot.
Now, if he went straight to you and said, “Your grandfather David and uncle Joseph has a message for you.” That would be something.
David and Joseph are two of the most common names in the world. Pretty much everyone will have someonw with those names in their family (or just know somebody with those names).
As a side note, wh is it that none of these spirits ever have anything ruly informative to say? All they can ever do is spout meaningless platitudes and truisms. Everybody’s dead dog wants you to know it’s just fibne. Let’s hear a dead dog say, "Hey, you fucking sucked as an owner. Did you know I hated Alpo? Did you know I couldn’t stand that fucking sweater you made me wear? Us poodles get enough shit from other dogs without having to wear pink sweaters. The bitches all thought I was gay. Thanks, “Master.” Thanks for the fancy haircuts too…and the ribbons, those were just dandy. If I was a doberman I would have ripped your fucking lungs out.’
I’d love to hear what the pets of these deluded, self-obsessed idiots really had to say.
How do you tell the difference between a genuine phychic, and a fradulent one, lekatt?
lekatt, what evidence would convince you that a particular psychic is fraudulent?