ATTACK OF THE VENDORS

The GOA Declares War

on the

Evil Axis of Vendors

A short time ago in a mindset not so far away, the Medical Empire sought to eliminate the upstart Chiropractic Nation by causing it to “wither on the vine” by using illegal and unethical tactics to divide and conquer. After nearly a century of battle, the Medical Empire’s covert plan was eventually derailed by the Chiropractic Defender, Gen. George McAndrews, and the diehard Chiropractic Warriors who were incarcerated thousands of times over decades of warfare. Today, however, other rebels have now appeared to continue to undermine the emerging Chiropractic Nation and, regrettably, this new saboteur comes from within our own ranks.

This new enemy is much more insidious and well disguised than the Medical Empire for this group wears no stethoscopes, they bear no medical caduceus, and they claim to be our chiropracTIC colleagues. In fact, they carry the banner of past Chiropractic Warriors, but in reality, they are nothing more than Evil Vendors!

They use bait-and-switch tactics as a call to action to win the hearts and minds of chiropractors when, in fact, all they really want is your money. Ol’ time chiropracTIC philosophy is their rallying cry, anything remotely medical is their enemy, chiropracTIC demagoguery is their wedge to divide and conquer their own colleagues, but it’s really all about money—more precisely, how much of your money they can get.

After decades of deception, finally the smokescreen has lifted to reveal these ideologues who have exploited this profession as they supposedly fight for our needs when, in reality, their real concern is selling products and services. It’s now time to confront these counter-revolutionary vendors before they cause more divisiveness, just as the Medical Empire tried to accomplish years ago.

Let’s face it—there are elements in the chiropractic profession who sow the seeds of discontent in order to sell products and services at the price of a fractured profession. There are some who sell junk science under the guise of chiropracTIC progress. There are some who would rather see the Chiropractic Nation struggle than to give up their ideological grip of dissent and disunity. There are some who would rather see the Chiropractic Nation wither on the vine than admit their ol’ time chiropracTIC cures-all paradigm is gone with the wind. And there are many who mesmerize fellow chiropractors with inflammatory chirovangelist rhetoric as they chant their mantra of greed hidden behind a veil of altruism.

Fortunately, the Universal Intelligence has removed many of these dissidents and exploiters from our midst, such as the amputation of $id Williams and his gang of academic imposters from Life College; the passing of notable inflammatory ideologues like Fred Barge, the removal of Big Guy Riekeman from Palmer, and the retirement of other ol’ time chiropracTIC spokesmen.

Indeed, the chiropracTIC implosion over the last few years has left the Old Guard of ChiropracTIC Vendors reeling, but as the old guard passes on, younger chiropracTIC entrepreneurs await to eagerly take their place in the profession as new-age demagogues espousing the same divisive and antiquated concepts that have kept this struggling profession split and its image soiled.

Many Evil Vendors eagerly look at the Chiropractic Nation as simply a marketplace to be manipulated with yellow journalism, political fraud, diplomatic meddling, and blatant demagoguery. While the Evil Vendors may not use bombs or bullets, they do fight a war of words and political deception to mold this profession to suit their best business interests.

If the Chiropractic Nation is to free itself from the grasp of those who would divide and confuse to profit, it begins by eliminating the ideologue fundamentalists who would blow up the social and political harmony of this profession just as the al Qaeda insurgents are willing to blow themselves up to disrupt freedom in Iraq. Just as Saddam’s futile call to Allah was a smokescreen in his failed attempt to cling to his exploitation of Iraqi oil money, the Evil Vendors in our midst will say or do anything to stir the pot of controversy to stay in the minds of chiropractic professionals in order to sell their products.

The Attack of the Evil Vendors

The time has come to hold in the Court of Chiropractic Opinion an Inquiry into the actions of those Evil Vendors and Saboteurs before a Jury of Peers to render findings for various ethical violations perpetuated throughout this disturbing era when Vendors controlled the mindset of a profession. The time has come for this profession to draw a line in the sand on the many political, financial, journalistic, and professional acts of impropriety by vested interests. The time has arrived to determine the penalties for these rabble-rousers who’d rather see this profession wither on the vine than to unite and prosper.

I can think of no better place than online to start this Inquiry into possible corruption and breach of ethics than with Terry Rondberg and his WCA/TCJ/CBS/Chiropractic Coalition et al. The time has come to take him to task for his 18 years of duplicity within the chiropractic profession. As evidence is presented to this body of professionals, a consensus will be formed that reveals the lengths of serious ethical malfeasance done by TR and his band of cronies to disrupt, exploit, misrepresent, mischaracterize, and obstruct unity within the chiropractic profession.

Once these charges against TR are proven, this Inquiry must be presented to COCSA for consideration of sanctions. Since COCSA is a non-political body of state association leaders, I cannot think of a better non-partisan organization to decide this important matter of possible censure, public declaration or professional sanctions.

Many chiropracTIC Vendors like TR have caused continual problems for the mainstream DCs in their attempt to divide, conquer, and most of all, sell their products:

Many chiropracTIC political association leaders have blatant conflicts of interest with business interests, [1]
Some minor chiropracTIC groups politick legislators to limit our scope of practice, [2],[3],[4]
Some chiropracTIC publishers commit yellow journalism,[5]
Some chiropracTIC leaders use demagoguery to arouse hatred against rivals,[6],[7]
Some chiropracTIC vendors offer junk science,[8]
and a few notable chiropracTIC spokesmen work to thwart the efforts of our mainstream associations for their own profit.[9],[10]

Undeniably these are strong allegations, but a case can easily be made that the ChiropracTIC Vendors led by TR run amok in ethical problems and remains chiropractic’s biggest obstacle to educational progress, professional unity, and prosperity! Remarkably, the reason for this discord has nothing to do with clinical or healthcare science as much as it has to do with mere political demagoguery and, of course, money!

According to Webster’s dictionary, a demagogue is a “political leader who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions and prejudices of people.” This best describes the past and present leadership of the WCA and the ICA, both of which have used inflammatory rhetoric to incite their followers against the evils of medicine and mixing, but behind this demagoguery rests their hidden agenda: their business interests and political aggrandizement. Sadly, too many well-meaning chiropracTORs are being misled by these demagogues, and remain locked into an ideology that has stymied the progress of this profession for years.

Reality Check List

The truth is often hard to find especially when it is well hidden. Indeed, perception is often much different than reality.

Perception:

The WCA demands equal footing as a “major” chiro organization.

Reality:

The WCA impersonates a member-driven, democratically elected professional association like the ACA, but it is not—it is an “alliance” owned by TR; plus he has appointed himself president-for-life of the WCA inasmuch as there are no democratic elections in the WCA. Since TR refuses to reveal his actual membership, estimates place it around 240 members, which is 0.004% of the profession. There are numerous chiro orgs that are larger than the WCA, but they don’t demand equal representation as TR has by misrepresenting himself and his organization. More aptly, the WCA is a buyers’ club composed of vendor/columnists and naïve ideologues/buyers—it is not a professional association representing the views of the majority of DCs in this country.

Perception:

The ICA is a historic and credible international chiropractic organization.

Reality:

While that may have been true initially, the reputation of the ICA degraded into a band of chirovangelists controlled by an Evil Vendor when Big $id Williams stole the election, which lead to the fast demise of that once proud organization.[11] Today the ICA is “international” only in name, and its present president, CJ Mertz, is yet another Evil Vendor with a huge conflict of interest.

Perception:

The Chiropractic Journal is a professional journal whose masthead says: “Read and respected by more doctors of chiropractic than any other professional publication in the world.”

Reality:

The TCJ is not a professional journal in the style of JAMA, JACA, JMPT, NEJM, BMJ, and other reputable publications nor is it respected or read by more DCs than any other publication. It may be sent to more DCs than other publications, but it is simply a free supermarket-styled tabloid filled with yellow journalism to incite sensationalism and to sell products. TR is actually a vendor selling malpractice insurance, seminars, books citing his fundamentalist chiropracTIC demagoguery. His conflict of interest as a publisher is obvious, and his “columnists” are simply other vendors with big ads who reportedly pay TR a commission from sales. For TR to even use the word “journal” in his masthead is ridiculous and deceptive, but par for the course for TR. As well, the publishers of the legitimate journals are neither vendors nor ideologues, nor are their contributors selling products. If any medical journal were similar to the TCJ, it would be laughed out of the profession as an unethical rag.

Perception:

The WCA is an NGO of the UN.

Reality:

Any non-governmental organization (NGO) can become an “official” NGO offering services to the public as long as they subscribe to the four criteria of the Department of Public Information. Sadly, the WCA uses its NGO designation as a marketing ploy suggesting frequently in the TCJ that the WCA is the “voice of chiropractic in the WHO” and has the stamp of approval by the UN. In fact, the WCA has consistently violated the NGO criteria, most recently by refusing to attend the WFC’s Identity & Image conference. The DPI should revoke the NGO status of the WCA immediately if it knew of this deception and violation of the inclusive nature of the UN to promote international cooperation. The last thing TR wants is cooperation and unity in the chiropractic profession. Indeed, he and his WCA represent the antithesis of the UN’s charter.[12]

Obviously, the WCA and ICA are not what they appear to be upon closer examination, yet the veil of implied authority continues to confuse field doctors and students alike. TR seems more similar to Larry Flint or al Jazeera than a reputable publisher and his radical politics resemble the al Qaeda more than a mainstream political party. He is a loose cannon fomenting dissent, discord, and disharmony at the expense of this profession and at his own profit—indeed, his conflicts of interest are obvious and troubling.

Conflicts of Interest

Indeed, the closer we examine the motives and political ploys of both the WCA and ICA, the more we find a plethora of unethical acts that must be addressed by this profession. The financial motivation remains very much alive today among political groups like the ICA and WCA that obviously have no ethical qualms about conflicts of interest while in their positions of power, a clear breach of ethics in normal political circles; in fact, it’s against the law. Apparently our chiropracTIC demagogues believe they are above the law and ethics as they unabashedly continue with their schemes to mold and exploit this profession.

Charge #1: Professional Ethics

Unlike the ICA and WCA, the reputable mainstream chiropractic organizations like the WFC and ACA leadership have no one who fronts for other services, seminars, or products in which he/she might have a personal gain, and all ACA members elected or appointed to committees must sign affidavits that they have no conflicts of interest.

But the ethics of chiropracTIC leaders are not the same as the ACA or WFC.[13] Take a quick review of the obvious conflict of interest among the recent leadership of the ICA and, more so, the WCA, undoubtedly the most divisive and ill-begotten of all chiropracTIC organizations:

Dr. Terry Rondberg, WCA self-appointed president-for-life, publisher of The Chiropractic Journal and owner of the CBS malpractice insurance brokerage [www.cbsmalpractice.com]. Both the WCA and CBS have Rondberg, his wife and his son-in-law, Timothy J. Feuling, serving as un-elected permanent officers. The WCA and certainly the TCJ are nothing more than commercial fronts for the purpose of selling malpractice insurance (and now life insurance) and to disseminate Rondberg’s demagoguery to the profession. In effect, he’s simply a vendor/publisher trying to shape this profession for his own profit and power.
Dr. Chris Kent and Dr. Pat Gentempo, past or present WCA board members, columnist/vendors in the TCJ, and co-owners of the Chiropractic Leadership Alliance, co-developers of the Total Solution™ Program, Insight Millennium Subluxation Station™, the On Purpose™ monthly audio subscription service and the consumer marketing and education package for the chiropractor - the "Celebrity Marketing Program". [www.subluxation.com/html/flashintro.htm ]
Dr. CJ Mertz, ICA president, owner of Waiting List Practice management group, [www.teamwlp.com/ ], infomercial salesman and, most recently, so-called book publisher: "Celebrity Marketing Program," another marketing ploy to deceive the public. [www.wcanews.com/archives/2003/dec0603c.htm]
Dr. Bob Braile, past ICA president and board member, owner of Now You Know, Inc, a chirovangelist-styled boilerplate website [www.nowyouknow.net ], self-nominated for the presidency of Life College, frequent demagogue/writer for chiropracTIC publications, and owner of a $10 clinic mill. According to his website:

“Do you want more vitality, better performance, greater potential, improved function, all this and so much more? Chiropractic releases the power within to give all this and so much more that it’s hard to put into words!”

[It is “hard to put into words” because it’s all a bunch of bunk. This sounds like those tacky emails ads for "improved male performance." Is it Viagra with a dose of Ecstasy? NO! It’s chiropracTIC!]

Charge #2: Journalistic Fraud: Ethical Press vs. Yellow Journalism

The power of the press is enormous, especially when you own the press otherwise your voice is unheard. Due to the inherent power of the media to influence people, the ethical public press and media professions have adopted a code of ethics for responsible journalism. Ethical breaches in professional ethics are stains that end careers as we’ve seen recently at the NY Times over the Jayson Blair flap when the publisher, editor, and news reporter all resigned or were fired.

The time as come to apply the same ethical principles to the chiropractic press. Indeed, it is long overdue as a case can easily be made that some publications have abused ethical standards with flagrant violations, conflicts of interest, and journalistic fraud. Vested proprietary financial interests have precluded fair and balance reporting, reasonable editorial opinions, and political efforts that the majority of DCs prefer.[14]

Regrettably in the chiropractic profession, we now see many warlords/vendors who disseminate misinformation among the rank and file to incite their prejudices against the mainstream establishment—both medical and chiropractic—such as yellow journalism filled with loaded language, slanted editorial opinions appearing as front page fact, demagogues with hidden financial agendas, vendors posing as columnists, and publishers with conflicts of interest posing as political ideologues.

Undoubtedly the most notorious of the journalistic frauds in the chiropractic media is the infamous Terry Rondberg—self-appointed president of the World Chiropractic Alliance and publisher of The Chiropractic Journal. These two fronts keep Rondberg in the media limelight, often stirring his own pot of controversy created by him to promote his own vested interests as the owner of Chiropractic Benefit Systems, a malpractice insurance brokerage run by his family. Unlike ethical publishers who remain behind the scenes, TR has thrust himself onto the chiropractic stage despite his obvious conflicts of interests and his complete lack of accountability to anyone. He is the Lord of the World Chiropractic Alliance and the purveyor of more propaganda than anyone else in this profession.

In effect, TR impersonates a publisher of a reputable journal although his TCJ is simply a free, for-profit, supermarket-like tabloid aimed at disseminating anti-establishment propaganda as he promotes his financial interests. He hides behind altruistic motives to “save chiropracTIC” allthewhile he undermines access, unity, and parity within this profession. Like a warlord, he has no interest in democratic process of majority rule, nor does he follow the ethical journalistic standards of professional publishers.

His TCJ also impersonates an actual professional journal of peer reviewed articles, RCTs, or academic commentaries. Instead, the entire board of the TCJ consists of family members or business associates, and his contributing editors are all vendors posing as columnists. In fact, there is nothing academic about any of them, nor does any write peer-reviewed material or original research studies. The only common bond to all of them is they all have something to sell, and some have an ax to grind as well. His TCJ is simply a free, supermarket-styled tabloid filled with ads by commission, controversial articles to inflame and to sell, and editorial opinion mistakenly posing as front-page fact.

Charge #3: Political Fraud

Rondberg also impersonates a reputable professional organization although his WCA position is a non-elected post, his board of governors consists of his cronies/vendors, and his membership hovers around 240 members, which represents 0.004% of the profession. His agenda is outwardly the protection of ol’ time chiropracTIC hyperbole, but his hidden agenda is selling merchandise under the guise of altruism. The danger of his WCA is that it poses as a democratically elected, reputable chiro association when, in fact, it is not. This deception is clearly diplomatic fraud when TR enters any political scene demanding equal representation when, in fact, his small group is unlike the ACA or any reputable organization.

As warlord of his alliance, his small band of misfits is problematic to every chiropractor who believes in democracy, a progressive profession based on science, not ideology, and a representative government. As warlord of the WCA, he is unaccountable to any board or to his constituents as he promotes his agenda of obstructionism to progress.

The recent decision by Sec. Anthony Principi to include DCs into the VA healthcare system was a huge success for the ACA/ACC—indeed, for the entire profession. However, the Lord of the WCA fought to restrict chiropractic care to his model of care most profitable to he and his cronies in business, Chris Kent and Pat Gentempo, who sell the Subluxation Station.

On one hand, the WCA representative, Leona Fischer, a 4-year practitioner, urged the VAC to limit DCs to the detection and correction of VSC only. She also repeatedly pitched for the inclusion of the Subluxation Station at every VA site, proclaiming it essential for her clinical success despite the opinion of the AHCPR that surface EMG was unreliable. TR and his WCA proponents also argue that DCs are not full-body diagnosticians nor are they to be considered “physicians” who are better trained in differential diagnostics.

On the other hand, when the VAC members voted to accept the VA recommendation that DCs are NMS specialists who will be referred patients from PCPs, TR and his WCA were livid that patients did not have direct access to DCs. Having already admitted that DCs were not primary diagnosticians didn’t faze TR or his obligatory negative reaction to any success by the mainstream. Instead of admitting his position actually enforced the VAC’s decision, he conjured up inflammatory accusations that the ACA members voted against direct access unlike the WCA and ICA reps.

Even after Sec. Principi approved all but two of the 38 recommendations, TR couldn’t contain his anger by sending him an email that stated, “I would rather see chiropractors excluded from the entire program rather than included for the wrong reasons.” In other words, unless TR has things his way, he will use his power of the press to cast aspersions upon any victory, any legislative accomplishment, any market expansion unless it’s done his way alone. The man has no sense of fair play and has proven to be a bad sport who whines and cries foul when he’s defeated. Instead of blaming himself or his ineffective platform, he blames the referee (Principi) or complains about his opponents (ACA/ACC/WFC/CCE/FCLB).[15]

Charge #4: Diplomatic Fraud

The irony of the WCA is that it’s neither a democratic association nor is it representative of the worldwide chiropractic profession like the WFC. TR’s “World” is rather small and a complete misnomer, but aimed to embellish his own importance. His phony WCA has a foreign membership of six marginal, non-mainstream groups compared to the 80+ foreign members in the WFC. [16]

· The Australian World Chiropractic Alliance

· The Chiropractic Association of Ireland

· Chiropractic Awareness Council of Ontario

· Israel Doctors of Chiropractic

· Peruvian Chiropractic Alliance

· Dutch Chiropractic Federation

Yet this small band of Coalition doesn’t stop TR from misrepresenting his power base to the diplomatic community such as the United Nations knowing full well his small group is nothing compared to the WFC.

Not only did TR misrepresent his WCA to the UN to gain NGO status, he has constantly violated the NGO criteria, most recently with his refusal to participate in the WFC’s Identity & Image conference held at Life-West in March, 2004. TR has used the NGO status as a stamp of approval from the UN and WHO contending his WCA is the voice of chiropractic in the worldwide community. But when the WCA has the opportunity to participate in worldwide discussion, he refuses because his archrival, the WFC, is in charge! The DPI at the UN should immediately revoke his NGO status, but we can’t expect the UN to act proactively on any issue, let alone this small issue of diplomatic fraud in the chiropractic community.[17]

TR and his WCA misfits have also been admonished by no less than 14 foreign associations for meddling in their domestic affairs, most recently complaints by the German Chiropractic Association that has stymied his efforts to infiltrate that country to interfere with its activities.[18]

Indeed, the lack of ethics by some chiropracTIC entrepreneurs has become so profound that nothing less than a war of words and appropriate action of professional disclosure, sanctions, and censure can solve this dilemma. A strong line in the sand should be drawn to keep vendor/jihadists like TR and his ilk from running amok in this profession with their duplicity posing as elected officers, posing as diplomats, posing as journalists, and posing as spokesmen for this profession.

Their obvious conflicts of interest and unprofessional ethics is a serious problem that this profession must address. We cannot ignore these rascals any longer to cause more problems than they already have. This gang of impersonators has made a mockery of our profession with the blood of deception on their hands for too long. They have acted to divide and conquer, to exploit naïve students, to mislead with yellow journalism, to foment discord with demagoguery, and to profit unethically.

In fact, TR and his small band have gotten, as they say in the newspaper vernacular, “too much ink.” It’s time to wipe the slate clean. TR’s modus operandi has always focused on sensationalism by using chiropractic issues as his front, stirring the pot of controversy to draw attention to himself. Like Janet Jackson and her peek-a-boob stunt, TR and his gang use legislative efforts, diplomatic issues, and educational matters as their means to create publicity stunts to further his agenda of demagoguery and to sell his products.

Indeed, his conflict of interest is tantamount to flipping the bird to this profession. It’s time now for this profession to handle the Rondberg Problem in a professional manner.

Possible sanctions might include:

TR and his proprietary WCA should be banned from future conferences as a speaker or vendor since his primary goal is to foment discord, not cooperation.
They should censor him as a reputable diplomat in the legislatures and deny him a seat at any table since his “alliance” is a phony democratic association with him elected prez-for-life.
The NGO status of the WCA should be removed inasmuch as he refused an invitation to attend the recent WFC Identity & Image conference and he continually works against the WFC, the true worldwide chiro association.
Advertisers in his TCJ should be notified that they are tainted by TR’s misdeeds and may possibly be implicated as co-conspirators in any legal action taken against TR for his libel.
Inform every DC of his conflict of interest as a publisher selling his CBS insurance and its shaky grounds with 7 different carriers.
Ethical DCs should demand to be removed from his mailing list so advertisers understand the general non-support TR has in the field, which would lower his advertising rates substantially.
Every DC and student should be made aware his non-democratic “alliance” of 0.004% of the DC population is a deception posing as a real association and has been publicly reprimanded by at least 14 national associations for meddling, including the ACA.

Indeed, the litany of evidence against him is mounting daily. The only recourse is to expose profession-wide his unethical acts just as the UN did with Saddam. Indeed, hitting his pride and pocketbook would do wonders to contain this loose cannon who has shown repeatedly his lack of ethics in this profession. His ruse is over, his clandestine agenda has been exposed, and the evidence is clear that he will do or say anything to disrupt, to disparage, and to disregard the goals of this profession to profit.

As Gen. George McAndrews has said repeatedly, “it’s time to isolate the rascals.”