karn@ka9q.bellcore.COM.UUCP (09/09/86)
I picked up a copy of the magazine "Free Inquiry" at the bookstore today. The cover article was written by James Randi (the magician who debunks lots of ESP frauds). In fact, the magazine seems to be run by the same folks who do the Skeptical Inquirer, but is slanted more towards religious debunking. Randi's article was titled "Peter Popoff Reaches Heaven via 39.17 Megahertz". Popoff is one of the most notorious TV faith healers. Randi's group went to the shows and noticed that Popoff wore a hearing aid. Then they got a scanner and quickly found the frequency his wife was using to tell him the names and ills of people whom she had pumped for information before the show. Now ponder the fact that the proposed Communications Privacy Act now pending in the US Senate would have made this expose illegal. The conversation was meant to be private, and Popoff certainly would have objected to its interception. Could there be a connection here? Hmm...... Phil