I recently became aware that the Painful Truth has had a prohibition against people downloading the Ambassador Report from this site. I went to look and...sure enough -- downloads will not be tolerated.
That seemed strange to me, but I was sure there must have been a good reason. I checked with the founder of Painful Truth; there were a couple of reasons, and they were both good ones.
The first was simply that someone -- the "Archivist" -- had
gone to considerable trouble and expense in terms of time and effort to digitize
the considerable mass of Ambassador Report. This site had
commissioned that work, and understandably had proprietary feelings about the
electronic version. *
The second reason was even better: anyone hostile to the AR could, if they had their own copy, insert or alter material in the original work and use it for nefarious purposes. Hence the prohibition on downloading.
That was some years ago.
Times change.
Recent events have demonstrated how vulnerable a website such as Painful Truth can be. We've been shut down twice in half a year, and with us the Ambassador Report! In view of that I feel (and the original editor agrees) that Ambassador Report should no longer be restricted to a single website. If every anti-COG web in the world were shut down permanently and their servers burned, the Ambassador Report needs to survive. Ambassador Report is the single most important work on the planet when it comes to exposing (and indicting) Herbert Armstrong, his church, and his legacy. Ambassador Report played a key role in my "conversion" away from the cult, and that of many others as well.
Therefore, I take great pleasure in lifting the ban on AR downloads. Not only can you download personal copies for yourself, I urge you webmasters to make it available on your own websites. All I ask in return is that you provide a permanent link to the Painful Truth; and if you offer it to other sites, ask them to do the same. (We will be happy to link back to you, if we haven't already done so.)
You can find the download link on our main page -- simply right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As" (or whatever verbiage your browser provides) and you're on your way. The AR is in PDF format, fully indexed and searchable (thanks again to the original editor for preparing it for us).
LET FREEDOM RING!
*
Correction
I made an error in this month's editorial, so let me correct it right now. When I contacted the original editor about why people were not permitted to download the Ambassador Report, I seem to have misinterpreted what he told me; his exact words (on the first point) were: "We did go through the trouble of transferring the ARs, one by one." I interpreted that to mean he had commissioned the Archivist to do this.
The Archivist (who prefers to remain unnamed) has clarified what really happened. He took on the project of digitizing Ambassador Report on his own initiative. It took him about six months to complete the task.
When he was done: "Originally, the AR webpage was on Altavista, mainly because it was free. When Altavista discontinued providing free web hosting, I got in touch with Ed ... and turned the whole project over to him."
The Painful Truth apologizes for the error.
8/2/06