XPost: calgary.general, can.general, tor.general 
 XPost: van.general 
 From: klunk@theothershoe.org 
  
 >>> Mason initiates must swear an oath under penalty of death that they never 
 >>> reveal what they have learned within the lodge. Right off the bat, we can 
 >>> see clearly this is not a friendly & wholesome organization. 
  
 >>> When you join a pool or softball league, do you take a penalty of death 
 >>> oath? 
  
 >>How do you know this?  Can you prove this? 
 >>Or is it just something you've heard from a friend of a friend... 
  
 > It's something he read on the internet.  Masons are required to swear on 
 the 
 > 'holiest book he knows' not to reveal the secrets of the lodge to non- 
 masons. 
 > I have no idea if anyone was ever put to death for revealing any of it, or 
 > more 
 > likely being suspected of it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has 
 happened 
 > in 
 > the 19th century when duels for any sort of disagreement were somewhat 
 legal. 
 > It does have plenty of kooky rituals and symbols, as fraternal 
 organizations 
 > tend to, and not all lodges are recognized by each other anyway, so any 
 group 
 > of freaks could call themselves freemasons and do whatever they want. 
 > Officially the group does little more than mainstream charity work, but 
 > considering the bizarre rumors surrounding the lodge since shortly after 
 its 
 > inception, it seems likely that freaky people would be drawn to it, much 
 like 
 > the Bohemian Grove, but as for being part of any worldwide banking 
 > conspiracies, as with the Bohemiam Grove attendees, there's nothing 
 remotely 
 > substantial to that.  I think anyone who has payed close attention to the 
 > machinations of the stock markets would be able to attest to that.  If 
 > economies were managed in any significantly non-chaotic way not already 
 > accounted for, computers would be able to track the patterns and turn out 
 > stock-market millionaires every day at the flick of the switch, bringing 
 said 
 > economies to a grinding halt. 
  
 You've made some good points here Schwep... I appreciate the logic in the 
 presentation of your argument (particularly any stock market patterns that 
 could 
 very likely be easily spotted by any mathematician with a computer). :-) 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)