There are many Good Honest Square Dances in the local area

There are many good honest square dance clubs in the area. 

It's simply not fair, to all the honest clubs, if we allow a dishonest club to get ahead by stealing, lying and cheating.

If you go dance at FunDancers then you are helping a dishonest club get away with wrongdoing.

Please do not support illegal or immoral activities. We must not allow cheaters and robbers to prosper.  Stop going to square dance clubs which steal and cheat and swindle. Stop supporting callers who knowingly accept stolen money. Send a clear message to these lowlifes that you will not tolerate theft, lying, slander, dishonesty or wrongdoing.

Do the right thing and avoid situations which are gravely and seriously wrong.  My one and only goal is to improve the local square dance scene by shutting down the bad guys so that the good guys can continue.

With so many honest clubs from which to choose, why would you even think about going to a dishonest one?

Here's hoping that you enjoy many square dances at good honest ethical clubs, and that you avoid clubs which engage in massive intentional wrongdoing.

The Story of California Mike

A friend of mine was a square dance caller in California.  Once upon a time, he was booked to call a dance. The club decided to cancel him out of that calling date because they wanted to book another caller instead. The club did not ask if he is okay with being cancelled.  Instead, they voted to violate my friend's contract and to confiscate my friend's dance and booking and money ... and just hand it over to another caller.  It was theft by committee.

When my friend objected to this shoddy treatment, the club started all kinds of shenanigans.  They spread nasty rumors about how my friend went crazy, is a bad person, is a bad caller, etc.  The club did all kinds of bad things, simply because my friend would not silently put up with the terrible injustice of having his calling date outright and forcibly stolen from him.

This caused my friend to drop completely out of square dancing and calling.  This happened more than ten years ago.

Well, it happened again recently, except instead of California it happened in Texas.  And instead of just one dance, the club stole a bunch of dances and a bunch of money as well.  And instead of the caller dropping out of the activity, he has vowed to stop the cycle of injustice and to prevent this crime from happening to others.

The dance in question occurs today, October 14, 2012.  That dance originally belonged to Nasser Shukayr.  The club voted to steal that dance from the rightful, without even asking.  They voted to confiscate that caller's booking and paycheck ... and to hand it all over to Johnny Preston.  When the caller objected, the club went berserk.  They told all sorts of nasty lies which I won't list here. 

You can read the complete story at www.fundancers.org
 Why would a club do all those things?  Simply put, people do not like to get caught in wrongdoing.  They'll make up all kinds of excuses ("he's crazy, he can't call well, he pulls wings off butterflies, nobody likes him", etc.).  Yet the excuses do not hide the true fact:  the club stole from someone, and now they're trying to get away with it.

So, the big question is:  WILL the club get away with theft?  The answer is:  if you go dance at FunDancers, then they did get away with it.  So, it's your choice.  I choose to try to end the vicious cycle.  Will you please help me put a stop to the crime spree?

With so many honest dances from which to choose, why would you even think about going to a dishonest one?

Good News

Nasser Shukayr is now the club caller for Belles N Beaus on Thursday nights. This was Les Hughes' club for years.  Things change.
 
Here's what happened:  Belles N Beaus owed a lot of money to their longtime caller, Les Hughes. Les asked his club to start making payments on their debt. The club decided that it's cheaper to simply cheat their caller out of the money, so they outright stole the amount they owed (and still owe) to their caller.  They're using the stolen funds to continue operations.  Nasser gladly agreed to "help out" by accepting stolen money to call for Les Hughes' group.
 
The only remaining task is to organize a smear campaign to spread bad rumors so that Les Hughes won't be able to call in the region again.  Some of the best liars and rumor-mongers of all time are working on the smear-campaign right now. The main idea is to convince people that Les went crazy (which makes it okay to cheat him).  This is actually easy to do because dancers are gullible and will believe any cockamamie story they hear. 

Executive Summary:  Les Hughes was unceremoniously cheated out of his club and thousands of dollars. We're in the process of ruining his calling career permanently.  This is all normal procedure in the local square dance scene.  Nasser will gladly step in and help the club get away with theft.
 

Wait a minute .... let me double-check the facts ...

OOPS!  The STORY is right but the NAMES are REVERSED!  It's actually LES HUGHES who is helping a club commit robbery!

Don't miss FunDancers this Sunday, when they use stolen money which they outright cheated from the club's founder and internationally-known caller, to hire local caller Les Hughes.  Be a participant in dirty politics, dysfunctional people, theft, cheating, slander, etc. 

The excuse "I Didn't Know" does not hold water. Les has already been notified (repeatedly) that when he calls for FunDancers, he will be paid with stolen funds.  The fact that he's participating in a robbery doesn't even slow him down.  Don't let it slow you down either.  Go ahead and do your part to reward criminal activities.

Or, here's an alternative.  DON'T participate in any more robberies. Let the club know that you will gladly do business with them AFTER they return the stolen funds.  It's really quite simple.  A club stole money, which is just plain wrong.  There's an easy way to make things right. It's a fundamental rule of life: if you steal something, GIVE IT BACK.

You can make a difference. For those who are tired of hearing about all the cheating, theft, robbery, slander, etc .... there's a simple way to put an end to it. Stop rewarding robbers and cheaters! Wow, there's a simple solution for almost every problem. If you're tired of hearing bad news, STOP enabling bad things to happen.

It's your choice.  With so many honest dances from which to choose, why would you choose to go to a dishonest one?

FunDancers Update August 2012

It's been a while since I've written so it's time for an update. Otherwise, people might misinterpret the silence as approval.
 
As a quick review, in April the officers of FunDancers found themselves in a dilemma. They wanted to strip all voting rights from their caller, yet they owed him substantial money. What to do, what to do? Through the magic of dirty politics and secret meetings, the club decided to default on their debt (not pay one penny) and to use the stolen funds to hire guest callers.
 
The exact amount of the theft, along with many other details, can be found on the club's official website (which they never paid for) at:
 
  www.fundancers.org/update1208.htm
 
The good news is that this month's update also suggests a solution to the problem. First, let's define the problem, which is:  "The Club Stole Thousands of Dollars". Here's the proposed solution: "GIVE IT BACK".  Simple, elegant, do-able.
 
Let's remain positive.  Let's all try to do the right thing as individuals and let's urge other people to do the right thing as well.

Regional Square Dance Listings are now back online

Good news!  After much hard work, the interactive square dance listings for the Austin / San Antonio region are back online.  These listings appeared on www.dancewithsam.com until they were inexplicably removed a month ago.  Apparently Sam no longer wants to do the listings?  That's completely understandable because it does take quite a lot of hard work to maintain the data tables.  Therefore, I set up similar listings as a gift to the area dancers.
  
Rumors continue to swirl.  While I -could- address the rumors, I choose to ignore them. Frankly I have nothing to say to people who enjoy gossip and rumors.  You know who you are. You know that gossip and slander are wrong, but you just can't stop doing it.  I have nothing to say to chronic gossips.
 
Let's stick to the facts.  After I invested years of work and thousands of dollars into FunDancers, the club started holding meetings and making decisions in my absence.  Even though I was not allowed to vote, I still had to bear the cost of the decisions.  This phase lasted about a year until one day the club decided to default on the thousands of dollars they owed me and to steal my money and my club completely.  They continue to operate today, using the stolen funds. To say that I'm unhappy with their atrocious actions is an understatement. I've been all over the world in square dancing and this ranks among the very worst things that a club has ever done to a caller.
 
Many choices abound.  I choose to simply walk away.  I have no desire to be around, nor to spend any time with, dishonest people.  With so many honest square dance events in the local area, why would you choose a dishonest one? If you go to FunDancers events then you support and endorse grand theft.
 
The club president started a rumor that I suffer from mental illness.  His rumor was so successful that several friends actually sent me Get Well wishes!  It's certainly unique to receive a Get Well card when you have -no- idea that you're infirm.  For those nice people who are genuinely worried about my health, your worries are over.  Actually, you never had any cause for worry at all.  Fortunately, there is NO connection between the proven fact "Ed is a thief" and the wild conjecture "Ed is qualified to render a medical diagnosis".  The only possible mental illness in the local square dance scene is when the new officers of FunDancers believe that huge masses of people will rally behind them in enthusiastic support of dishonesty and theft.
 
But let's stick to today's message.  Until a month ago, our region had extremely handy square dance listings on the internet.  You'll have to agree that most regions lack a similar resource.  It takes many hours of hard work to make this resource happen.  Our region is fortunate to once again have such a nice, handy and freely-available information source online.
 
You can view the square dance listings at www.fundancers.org .  I hope you'll find a good honest dance and go have a great time.  Enjoy!

The future of square dancing in the local area

This message goes out to all area square dancers.  I'm concerned about the future.

Here's a quick question for FunDancers (a club which stole thousands of dollars and years of hard work from Nasser and Jeanna).  How's it going?  In other words, how are the stolen funds holding out? Will the thousands of dollars you stole last long enough? Or will you need to steal again in the future, in order to keep operating the club which was outright stolen from the very couple who founded it?
 
The reason I ask is that these things take time. Patience is a virtue! It took over two years for Nasser and Jeanna to build up their club to the point where it was even worth stealing. Let's admit it, most clubs nowadays are not worth the bother it takes to steal 'em. That's the main problem with square dancing today. There are so very few "builders" (like, for example, Nasser and Jeanna) who can actually build up a club so that people would even want to steal it. And there are so very many "takers" (like, for example, the officers of FunDancers) who hold meetings and vote to steal from people who cannot be at the meeting.
 
Planning is essential. If you ever hope to steal another club in the future (like you illegally stole FunDancers from its founders) please be aware that it can take years for your next victim to build a club to the point where it is finally stealable. Therefore you need to find another trusting caller right now and dupe him into starting immediately on the years of hard work and investment.  Allow your next victim enough time to build up something tangible and worthwhile. Then steal it.
 
I'm just afraid that you are not planning your next theft properly.  This sets the stage for major disappointment whenever it's time for your next crime.  Plan ahead!  Start building something big today so that you can tear down something big in the future.

Also, start making as many legally-binding contracts as you can. That's the only possible way to continue your long streak of ruthlessly and immorally breaking long-term contracts. Think about it:  the only way to break long-standing contracts (like you did to me) is to already have those contracts in place for a long time.  So, get those contracts in place right NOW (like we did over two years ago) so that you can break those contracts after they become long-term agreements (like you did to me recently).
 
In other words, get busy!  Time's a-wasting!  Start right now and build up a brand-new load of debt with an innocent caller, so that you can default on your debt in the future.  Huge debts don't just happen overnight!  It takes years to build up enough debt so that you can finally get the satisfaction of stealing thousands of dollars from someone.  So get started now!

Set up a bunch of new agreements today, so that you can break those contracts years from now! Dupe a trusting new victim today into spending years to build up a nice club, so that it will grow into something you'll be proud to steal in the future.  I'm afraid that if you don't start planning today, you won't be able to steal a nice big juicy club (like the one you stole a couple of months ago) in the future.  You'll only be able to steal a small pitiful club (like the club which you transformed FunDancers into).  Clearly, it pays to plan ahead, so that your future thefts can be grand.  With careful planning today, you can enjoy a continuous lifestyle of lying to, stealing from and double-crossing good honest people in the future.
 
Always remember:  rip someone off first and then start the rumors and gossip. It's easy to slander someone nowadays because people gladly believe almost anything they hear.  Don't leave out the slander:  it's an important step.  Stealing two and a half years of someone's hard work and thousands of their dollars ... is important. Smearing their name into the mud after you're finished ripping them off is equally important.
 
Hopefully, a nice crowd will visit FunDancers to show their support for the key ingredients which make this club unique: operating on stolen money, violating long-term agreements, immoral cheating, unethical leadership, kangaroo court meetings, defaulting on your debt, ruining someone's career through gossip, and plenty of good old-fashioned plain-old down-home bald-face lying.

It takes more than two years to build up a club so that it's even worth stealing.  Get started today so you can rip off other innocent people in the future!

Right or Wrong

Mothers try to teach kids the difference between right and wrong. Their efforts are not always successful because some people have no clue.  Here's a handy guide to "Right or Wrong" for the month of June at FunDancers.

June 3 - K O Jeanes - RIGHT.  Nasser is in Australia. Whenever Nasser is out of town, the club gets a guest caller. (However, guest callers always get paid far more money than Nasser, which is kinda sorta wrong.) Still, the club needs a local caller on June 3 because their internationally-known club caller is calling in another country.

June 10 - Chet Miles - WRONG.  Nasser is home on June 10.  The club has a very simple rule. The club caller calls for his own club (which he founded and into which he invested thousands of dollars of his own money, only to have it illegally stolen).  For the dance on June 10, the club wants to use stolen funds to hire a guest caller, in direct violation of the club's "raison d' etre" (pardon my French).  So, just in case you don't know the difference between right and wrong, here's a clue:  June 10 is WRONG because it uses stolen funds to break a long-standing club rule.

Hint:  following rules is RIGHT.  Using stolen money to break rules is WRONG.

June 17 - RIGHT.  Nasser is calling in Missouri.  I wonder if Missouri clubs have idiots for officers, like FunDancers does?  Anyway, it's simple:  Nasser is out of town so FunDancers gets a guest caller.  (Interestingly, the  guest caller, who invested nothing into the club, gets far more money than Nasser, who invested thousands only to have it illegally stolen). So, while it's "WRONG" to pay a local fill-in caller more than the club's own internationally-known caller, hey, it happens. Anyway, the dance on June 17 is "RIGHT", so ... enjoy.  Club caller out of town, get a guest caller. Simple, right?  Can you believe there are people so stupid (such as FunDancers officers) who just can't figure it out?  But as they say in Australia (where the club's own international caller is right now) "No Worries, Mate".  Hey, that's why I'm here:  to explain the difference between right and wrong.  Club caller is out of town on June 17, so it's "RIGHT" to get a guest caller.

June 24 - WRONG.  If you can't figure out why, then you probably can't do the calls anyway and you should not even try to dance.  The club illegally broke every rule in the book.  They're using stolen money to hire a guest caller on June 24. This is wrong (and it's also immoral, unethical and illegal) to intentionally cheat the club caller (who invested thousands of dollars) out of his own dance at his own club.  Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong.  There is no rightness whatsoever about June 24.  Everything about it is just as wrong as wrong can be.  Here's a handy chart.

  Club follows their long-standing agreed-upon rules = RIGHT. 
  Club officers act crazy and use stolen money to break the rules = WRONG.

July 1 - Wayne Weston - both RIGHT and WRONG.  Nasser is out of town (in Seattle, Washington) on this date. So the club needs a guest caller.  (Did you know that the club pays local callers FAR more than they ever paid their own internationally-known club caller??).  Anyway, the dance itself is "RIGHT".  Club Caller out of town, get a guest caller.  Simple.

However, the club plans to provide free hot dogs and hamburgers prior to the dance.  While this might sound great, it's actually quite WRONG.  Have you ever thought about how the club might pay for the free grub?  Wait a minute!  Don't tell me!  Let me guess!  Could it possibly be from the thousands of dollars the club stole from Nasser and Jeanna?  BINGO!  (Bells ring, confetti fills the air, and you win the prize which in this case is officers with no morals and no brains).

The dance is RIGHT but using stolen funds to pay for free grub is WRONG.  It's even more wrong because the club stole thousands of dollars but all you get is a lousy hot dog?  Whaaaat's up with thaaaat?  The club stole THOUSANDS ... they oughtta feed you prime rib and caviar!  Here's a recap.  Using stolen money is WRONG.  The "wrongness" starts at 5:30 pm.  Doing exactly what the rules say (getting a local guest caller when the club's internationally-known caller is out of town) is RIGHT.  The Rightness starts at 7 pm. 

 = = = =

Always remember:  Do "right" things.  Don't do "wrong" things. This handy guide to Right and Wrong is necessary because some people (such as your club officers) did not learn the difference between right and wrong from their mommy.  Pity. For those who don't know right from wrong, here's a handy chart:

  June 3 & 17 = RIGHT
  June 10 & 24 = WRONG
  July 1 = WRONG at 5:30 pm, RIGHT at 7 pm

 
Happy dancing!