Dr. John M. LaTourrette seems part fraud, part magician, and part cult leader. After reading the posts here and other web information, I'll chime in with my thoughts.

Although fraud seems to exist, it's harder to actually prove the fraud part since from doing a bit of checking, he seems to have some kind of cult following. Cult followers are usually so well indoctrinated that they don't complain about their leaders. They hold their leader in a state of reverence and awe. Interestingly, John M. Latourrette makes some claims about being a bit of a hypnotist, and this may be partially true. He may be a good hypnotist. Most cult leaders exert an almost hypnotic influence on their followers, and use hypnotic language patterns and hypnotic inductions to get them to believe in their claims. Claims of everything from riches beyond belief, eternal life, past lives, power over others, etc. are the snake oil of the cult leader. Clearly, Latourrette is doing this well. Just reading some of the posts from his followers gives one a sense of the amazing awe they hold him in. One can imagine them bowing and scraping around him, begging for the next morsel of his infinite resevoir of knowledge to be bestowed on them....for a price, of course.

Cult followers have one thing in common: they are gullible.

As for the Ph.D claim, well, there is some debate here, isn't there? Apparently, from reading through all the thread, the Ph.D is barely legal or perhaps quasi-legal. Latourrette is basing his claim on the approved status at the time he received his diploma of a degree mill that has since been closed down in California. The use of the word "approved" in the status of the degree mill he received it from probably does allow him to use the title, even though the degree mill is completely unaccredited. However, the use of the title is extremely misleading, and is being used to deliberately mislead people to believe John M. Latourrette is some kind of expert authority, when in fact he is not.

Personally, I think he is on very thin ice in claiming this Ph.D title. For example, I completely agree with the other poster who said something to the effect that if the Ph.D is even marginally valid, there should be scholarly review of his work. And apparently there is no work to review, or academic review at all. John Latourrette claims his Ph.D is in Sports Psychology. Were this to be verified by someone well-known in the field, like Charles Garfield, one might be inclined to at least consider whether LaTourrette is deserving of an honorary title. However, no such verification exists. This does NOT constitute a valid Ph.D in any normal or customary degree granting process.

There is quite bit more information out there about this character. The posts across the web have some similarities. Here's a link to an Amazon.com book review on John M. Latourrette's martial arts book, Mental Training of a Warrior http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-...183923-7335201 The author of this review is obviously an experienced martial artist, and also says Latourrette "sells snake oil" and that "When he writes that his notions are amazing and others are crap, he is simply using bluff and bluster. That is not necessary at all, and from a mindful martial arts discipline, one can only conclude that he is insecure about his own teachings." From reviewing his post on this site, he does bluster a lot, while bashing and running down other's beliefs. The reviewer also states, "John La Tourrette's foul language muddies everything he says". He also does use a lot of foul language, telling someone on this site to "poop in their own salad". So this review is very consistent with the current facts.

And here's a link to a review of John M. Latourrette's martial arts video http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/jlat.htm Here's what the reviewer had to say "With all the slapping going on, I felt I was watching Moe, Larry and Curly. I was very disappointed with the actual usefulness of the material. My opinion: Watch once, make notes, and record over it."

What makes these reviews especially useful is comparing them against John M. Latourrette's other dubious claim of being a martial arts grandmaster (in addition to his claim of the Ph.D). Grandmasters don't get reviews like this.

One area that he does seem to be good in is, as he claims in his post, writing slick advertising copy. It seems that by using a whole lot of hype, he has managed to sell stuff that doesn't work. I don't think this is something to be proud of, but he seems to be quite boastful of his abilities in this area.

So it seems John Latourrette has gone from being a lousy martial arts instructor, author and video maker (no doubt just in it for the money), to becoming a cult leader using a Ph.D of dubious origin to collect tribute from his followers. And that is one thing cult leaders do well: they collect money from their followers, usually by convincing them the thousands of dollars paid are a paltry sum in comparison to what they are getting in return. And there is one other thing that cult leaders have, and that is power over their followers. It's about mind control. In this case, it seems to be that his followers believe they can buy from him the super human abilities to in essense get anything they want, any time they want, from anyone they want. All they have to do is to learn his "secrets". If anyone believes this, I've got a few hundred acres of prime oasis land in Arizona I could let you have real cheap!