Kate Thomas aka Jean Shepherd

COPYRIGHT ISSUE:
Kate Thomas aka Jean Shepherd & Kevin R.D. Shepherd

Kevin R.D. Shepherd (a vanity self-publisher, author, Anti-Findhorn-Foundation critic and pseudo-intellectual) foamed-at-the-mouth, gnashed his teeth and raised a huge wail about Joe Moreno allegedly violating his “copyrights” for duplicating pictures of himself and his mother Jean Shepherd (aka “Kate Thomas”) on his (Moreno’s) website: (click thumbnails to enlarge):



Jean Shepherd (“Kate Thomas”) and Kevin R. D. Shepherd are public figures and caustic critics who have written and published books and extensive material against the Findhorn Foundation, Holotropic Breathwork, Stanislav Grof and New Age beliefs.

Public domain pictures of Findhorn Foundation critic and author Jean Shepherd aka “Kate Thomas” (which Kevin R. D. Shepherd even released on his website as public domain and for public distribution by attaching Jean Shepherd’s image with other copyright protected pictures of Well & Caddy: See Here):

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Public domain pictures of Findhorn Foundation critic and author Kevin R. D. Shepherd (which Shepherd published on blogger, allowed to be published on WordPress by Sai Baba Critics and one picture of which Shepherd released on Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License):

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What is so blatantly hypocritical about Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s copyright blathering is that he published Moreno’s copyright protected picture (which was never released as public domain, unlike the pictures of Kevin & Jean Shepherd) on three different domains without obtaining Moreno’s permission to do so. Moreno emailed and requested Kevin R.D. Shepherd to remove his copyright protected picture from his websites. Kevin R.D. Shepherd refused to comply with Moreno’s request and forwarded Moreno’s email to Robert Priddy & Co so they could attack him. As a result, Moreno followed Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s ethical example (much to Shepherd’s consternation).


Therefore, it can be factually documented that Kevin R.D. Shepherd not only received Moreno’s email request, he also refused to comply with it. Consequently, any legal action taken by Kevin R.D. Shepherd against Moreno will be greeted with a swift countersuit.

Let Kevin R.D. Shepherd be informed that Moreno is ready, able and prepared to prove that his picture is copyright protected. As a matter of fact, Robert Priddy (Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s LSD advocating friend) similarly published Moreno’s picture on his Anti-Baba Wordpress blog and Priddy was forced to remove Moreno’s pictures (although Moreno was not forced to remove Priddy’s picture). Read The Full Story Here.

Kevin R.D. Shepherd is a self-serving hypocrite whose ‘holier-than-thou’ rants expose his biased and bitter mindset. Far be it for Kevin R.D. Shepherd to complain about the publication of his and his mother’s pictures when he published pictures of Robert Walter, Angus Robertson, Stanislav Grof, David Lorimer, Janice Dolley, Dr. Christopher Bache, Eileen Caddy, Alex Walker, Mary Inglis, Craig Gibsone, Judy McAllister, Dorothy Maclean, Marcel Boisard, Michael Russell, May East, Jonathan Dawson, Michael Shaw, Andrew Cohen, Ken Wilber, Frank Visser, Don Beck, Michel Bauwens, among numerous others (all without obtaining their permission).

Before Kevin R.D. Shepherd throws his childish temper tantrums on the internet, he should first put into practice what he preaches and he should abide by the standards he expects others to follow.

Consequently, using Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s standards, he is an “internet terrorist” and a “sectarian cyberstalker” who has “abused and pirated” Moreno’s picture (whose copyright he does not possess).

Kevin Shepherd Cites Anonymous Scholars

Kevin R. D. Shepherd’s Comical Citations To Anonymous Scholars
Kevin Shepherd displayed amazing naiveté and gullibility when he claimed matter-of-factly that an anonymous Wikipedia editor named Jedermann was an editor with “Ph.D status”. Kevin Shepherd cannot back up this claim with any sort of verifiable sources. As a matter of fact, “Jedermann” (who is no longer a Wikipedia editor) never made any comment about himself being of “Ph.D status” on his userpage (Jedermann Reference).

Kevin Shepherd again displayed amazing naiveté and gullibility when he claimed matter-of-factly that an anonymous Wikipedia editor named The Communicator (IP 203.59.51.58) was “An academic assessor in an Australian University”. Once again, Kevin Shepherd cannot back up this claim with any sort of verifiable sources. Even on his userpage, “The Communicator” never claimed he worked at an Australian University. The quote that Kevin Shepherd cited from “The Communicator” stated:

“Shepherd’s case is unusual. He is an atypical writer, a non-academic who has researched in Cambridge University Library and published a number of scholarly books. His Mind and Sociocultures Vol. One is over 1000 pages long, has maps, appendices, notes and an index. There are 461 notes to the main text (with a further 280 notes to the introduction), and the index alone is 43 pages long. His other books are similar with respect to the quality of scholarly apparatus. It is unlikely in the extreme that any publisher would have taken on such a book, especially from a non-academic. Shepherd is realistic about his abilities, and prefers to be regarded as a scholarly amateur. He is scrupulous in his use of (citations of) specialist scholars, though he is occasionally critical of academics (and academic publishers) when they endorse what he regards as dubious persons and practices. By self-publishing, he maintains his authorial independence, although he suffers from the lack of resources provided by commercial and academic publishing houses. His books have high production values (I speak here as a professional bookseller) and are presumably expensive to produce. He does not seem to gain financially from their sale, nor in any other way as far as I can see. He does not promote any organisation or religious persuasion.” (Reference)

It is apparent that Kevin Shepherd is unaware of the Essjay Wikipedia Controversy in which a well-known Wikipedia Administrator blatantly lied about his credentials on Wikipedia. Essjay claimed he was a tenured Professor of religion at a private University with expertise in canon law. As it turned out, Essjay was really a 24-year-old college drop out named Ryan Jordan. So when Kevin Shepherd attempted to cite anonymous Wikipedia editors (“Jedermann” and “The Communicator”) on his behalf, he attempted to con the general public with anonymous and alleged “scholarly” references (whose credentials he exaggerated and embellished) that cannot be verified whatsoever. Anyone can anonymously claim to be a “scholar” under a pseudonym on a website.

It is also important to point out that “The Communicator” has very close ties to Kevin Shepherd. This opinion is supported by the fact that “The Communicator” mostly edited articles (view contributions) that Kevin Shepherd is deeply involved with (i.e., Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the Findhorn Foundation). “The Communicator” added links to Kevin Shepherd’s Citizen Initiative website (Refs: 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05) and continually cited Kevin Shepherd, Stephen Castro and Kate Thomas (all affiliated with each other and the Citizen Initiative website) as sources on articles and on talk pages (Refs: 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21). Kevin Shepherd is also intimately aware of “The Communicator’s” activity on Wikipedia and even discussed him on his Citizen Initiative website (Ref). Kevin Shepherd’s references to “The Communicator” (and vice-versa) indicate some sort of collaborated scheming on Wikipedia against Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the Findhorn Foundation. Therefore, The Communicator’s comments about Kevin Shepherd are inherently slanted, subjective and defensive and cannot be considered neutral or unbiased.

Update: October 6th 2007: After publishing this webpage, Kevin Shepherd attempted to do damage control and had “The Communicator” update his Wikipedia page. “The Communicator” now claims (when formerly he did not) he works at an Australian University (Ref). Since “The Communicator” did not divulge this information on Wikipedia prior to October 6th 2007, one is left to wonder how Kevin Shepherd knew this information about him if they are not collaborators. Just because “The Communicator” claimed he works at an Australian University does not make his comment factual. He is still anonymous and his alleged credentials cannot be verified whatsoever.

Kevin Shepherd (who can often been seen advocating against Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the Findhorn Foundation) publishes the writings of Stephen J. Castro and Kate Thomas through Citizen Initiative Publishing. Stephen Castro and his ex-housemate “Kate Thomas” (real name ‘Jean Shepherd’, Kevin Shepherd’s mother) lived down the road from the Findhorn Foundation’s Cluny Hill College and were in constant conflict with the Foundation for many years. This would explain why Kevin Shepherd is involved in these controversial issues and why he constantly cites Stephen J. Castro and his mother Kate Thomas (aka “Jean Shepherd”) in his writings.

New Age Promoter Kevin Shepherd

New Age Promoter Kevin Shepherd
Kevin R.D. Shepherd is a vanity self-publisher and author whose writings mostly revolve around (or include numerous references to) the Findhorn Foundation, Stanislav Grof and Holotropic Breathing. Kevin Shepherd typically references Kate Thomas (aka “Jean Shepherd”, his mother) and Stephen J. Castro in his writings. Kevin Shepherd is a staunch Anti-Guru, Anti-Cult and Anti-New Age advocate who has cited Conny Larsson on his personal domains as a person of credibility against Sathya Sai Baba. See: kevinrdshepherd.net/html/23___sathya_sai_baba__problems.html.

Kevin Shepherd publicly endorsed, promoted and solicited the integrity and credibility of Conny Larsson, a man who happens to be a cult-like leader and guru who claims he is a psychic trance medium for the spirit of Vyasa and boasts having over 10,000 followers.

Maharshi Vyasa (who is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) is considered an immortal sage who wrote the sacred texts to the Vedas, the Brahma Sutras, the Mahabharata, the Eighteen Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. For Conny Larsson to claim that he is channeling the spirit of Vyasa, he is presenting himself as a self-proclaimed prophet, guru and cult-leader whose words carry the authority of God and are to be considered on par with divinely inspired scriptures that are revered by hundreds of millions of Hindus around the globe!

However, Conny Larsson not only claims he is trance medium for the spirit of Vyasa, he also claims to be a spirit channeler, a pet psychic, a meditation guru, a yoga guru, a Vedic mantra guru, a devotee of Shankaracharya Swami Brahmananda Saraswati and a psychic therapist who can diagnose disease and illness by using a crystal pendulum (Ref)! Conny Larsson also runs the Vedic Master Website and publicly solicits himself with other psychics, mediums, spirit channelers and New Age practitioners (Ref).

It is nothing less than shameful and hypocritical that Kevin Shepherd (a staunch anti-cult and anti-guru advocate) endorses and defends Conny Larsson and vouches for his integrity and credibility although he is a self-professed prophet, an alleged “internationally renowned” psychic trance medium and a New Age guru using crystal pendulums and reading auras.

Did Anti-Sai Activists con Kevin Shepherd by purposely suppressing the fact that Conny Larsson is a psychic medium, trance channel for the spirit of Vyasa, Vedic mantra guru and meditation master? It would appear so. Conny Larsson conned the Anti-Cult expert Rigmor Robert into writing the preface to his Anti-Baba book, conned the Anti-Cult organization FECRIS into publicizing him and conned the Indian rationalist, skeptic and atheist Basava Premanand into publishing his Anti-Baba book in English. Basava Premanand happens to believe that psychics like Conny Larsson are frauds, liars and cheats and is willing to pay anyone who can demonstrate alleged psychic abilities 100,000 Rs (Ref). Why are all these Anti-Cult, Anti-Guru and Anti-Sect people and organizations endorsing, publishing and promoting Conny Larsson? Did self-professed “multi-millionaire” Conny Larsson pay for these endorsements?

Kevin R.D. Shepherd not only endorsed and cited Psychic Trance Medium Conny Larsson, he also endorsed and cited Guru Advocate & New Age Promoter Timothy Conway, New Age Practitioner & Reincarnator Alan Kazlev and New Age Ramtha Adherent Ullrich Zimmermann. What does this say about Kevin Shepherd? Kevin Shepherd is obviously a very gullible and naive person who is willing to give credence to New Age beliefs by claiming that New Age followers are intelligent, honest, credible and reliable individuals who are worthy of being referenced by him (an alleged “scholarly” and “academic” author not given to superstition or superstitious beliefs). Needless to say, these verifiable facts leave Kevin Shepherd looking rather pathetic and foolish and reeking of hypocrisy.

Reference