John Bear in 1971: TIME MAGAZINE degree mill MILLARD FILLMORE

[Randall Flagg]

July 5, 1971, Time magazine

Spoofing honorary degrees is the four-year-old avocation of John Bear, 33, a freelance writer,
erstwhile adman, and co-inventor of the once popular Beethoven sweatshirt. Having sweated out
a real doctorate in communications at Michigan State University

"By virtue of powers which we have invented," the baroque lettering
proclaimed, the trustees of San Francisco's Millard Fillmore Institute
were delighted to confer on any applicant a variety of "honorary and
meretricious" titles ranging from "Doctor of Generosity" to "Doctor of
Pinochle Sciences." All he needed was $10. A Latin motto made the point
clear: Ad populum phaleras, ego te intus et in cute novi' (Loose
translation: "You may think you're hot stuff, but we know you, buster.")

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...id=googlep

The same individual in 1994 was writing:

One of the main reasons that fake schools continue to exist is that it is difficult to legally define exactly what is meant by the term "diploma mill" or "degree mill." Surely any school that will send you a Ph.D. by return mail on payment of $100, no questions asked, is a fraud. But what about a school that requires a five-page dissertation before awarding the Doctorate? How about 20 pages? 50? 100? 200? Who is to say? One man's degree mill is another man's alternative university. And nobody seems to want the government stepping in to evaluate doctoral dissertations before permitting schools to grant degrees. Would you want [insert the name of your least-favorite politician] grading your thesis?

http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/dm0.html

On a website named QUACKWATCH no less!
Degree mills and John Bear...hmmm
dr. John Bear on degree mills...hmm

On Millard Fillmore University:
"Most people thought it was amusing, but a few people saw it a threat to civilization as we know it, and so, after a few years, the fictitious gates of the institute were closed, perhaps forever."
--John Bear--Bears' Guide--1997

You notice he forgets to say that it was a warning from the Office of the Attorney General of California that made him close up MFU and return the money.  

Just as he closed LIAR when he was contacted by several states  saying, no-no, don't do that.

And just as John used to give the contact information for degrees mills in his guides until a lawyer warned him that he might be financially involved if someone used one of the schools and got into trouble, and then lo and behold, he decided it was wrong to give the addresses and began raising hell with others doing the exact same thing he did.

He does it himself, gets caught several times, warned, stops, and then attacks others who do the same. He seems to have a blind eye for his own crappy decisions but a hell of a sharp vision for the missteps of his brothers in, (shall we say) fun for cash.