May 6 in Scientology history

He's leading in the polls, and now Andrew Scheer is about to embark on an effort to give Canadians an idea of what kind of leader he would be. The Conservative Leader remains an undefined entity six months from an election. He's been called Stephen Harper with a smile, but most of what Canadians have seen of his own, personal brand of politics has come from his criticisms of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. So, over the next five or six weeks, Mr. Scheer will attempt to put some meat on the bones of his political identity in a series of five major policy speeches.

Tags: Alberta, Andrew Scheer, British Columbia, Brock Harrison, Canada, China, Donald Trump, DougWiki, Justin Trudeau, Montreal, Ottawa, Stephen Harper

CALGARY—Alberta Premier Jason Kenney intends to follow Ontario in asking the province's universities and colleges to conform to free-speech guidelines, but freedom of expression experts say the move is mostly about optics among a right-leaning base. The post-secondary education section of the United Conservative Party platform says the government will require the province's universities and colleges to "develop, post and comply with free speech policies that conform to the University of Chicago Statement on Principles of Free Expression." Often called the "Chicago principles," the statement is the result of a university committee assembled in 2014 to state the school's commitment to freedom of expression. The short report says, "It is not the proper role of the university to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive."

Tags: 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, Abortion, Alberta, Ann Coulter, Calgary, Canada, Canadian Press, Chicago, Dog whistle, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Jason Kenney, Ontario, Ryerson University, Toronto, Twitter, United Conservative Party, University of Alberta, University of Chicago Statement on Principles of Free Expression, University of Ottawa

As political oratory goes, the three-minute speech Andrew Scheer delivered on the snow-covered lawn of Parliament back on Feb. 19 wasn't exactly deathless. "We've got your back, we are standing with you" was pretty much the essence of what the federal Conservative leader told a few hundred riled-up oil and gas workers whose truck convoy had travelled from Alberta to Ottawa under the banner "United We Roll," picking up along the highway an assortment of sympathizers and more than a few problematic hangers-on. It was those elements in the throng, not Scheer's got-your-back boilerplate, that lent the moment lasting significance. Making common cause with disgruntled energy-sector workers—who are mad at Justin Trudeau for pricing carbon and not yet getting a new oil pipeline built—were the self-styled "yellow vest" protesters. They often seemed more agitated about asylum-seekers crossing the border into Canada from the U.S. than any oil-patch issues, and were prone to accusing the Prime Minister of "treason" for supporting the UN's new Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. A little while after Scheer's brief remarks, on the back of a truck parked on Wellington Street, outside the official demonstration zone authorized by Parliament Hill security, a guy hollered over a portable sound system, "Faith Goldy is in the house, shut up and listen!" Although she is far from a household name, Goldy has cultivated a far-right following since she was fired in 2017 by Rebel Media—the online outlet for anti-Justin Trudeau, pro-Donald Trump, anti-Muslim immigration bile—after appearing on a neo-Nazi podcast. Opposing left-wing demonstrators did their best to drown her out, but her cry of "No more Trudeau! Our borders will be protected!" cut through the din.

Tags: 2013, 2015, 2017, Ahmed Hussen, Alberta, Andrew Scheer, Anti-semitism, Bill Blair, Brexit, British Columbia, Broadbent Institute, Brock Harrison, Calgary, Canada, Carbon tax, Caylan Ford, CBC, Charlottesville, Chris Alexander, Climate change, Donald Trump, DougWiki, Edmonton, Europe, Eva Kiryakos, Facebook, Faith Goldy, France, Glen Carritt, Governor General, Hamish Marshall, Indigenous, Innisfail, Jason Kenney, Julie Payette, Justin Trudeau, Karina Gould, LGBT, Mark Smith, Maxime Bernier, Michelle Rempel, Muslim, National Council of Canadian Muslims, Neo-Nazi, New Democratic Party, New Zealand, Ontario, Ontario New Democratic Party, Ottawa, Parliament Hill, People's Party of Canada, PressProgress, Preston Manning, Rachel Notley, Ralph Goodale, RCMP, Rebel Media, Soldiers of Odin, Somalia, Stephen Harper, Toronto, Twitter, United Conservative Party, United We Roll, Vancouver, Wellington, White supremacist, Yellow Vests Canada

You could make the case, on foreign policy at least, that the federal Conservatives are setting off down the path of Donald Trump — anti-China, anti-Paris Accord, pro-Brexit, a dim view of NAFTA, a distaste for the United Nations. Indeed, Liberal insiders are quietly making that very case. After all, in the space of a few months, Andrew Scheer has urged the Liberals to take a hard line on China's blocking of Canada's canola. He has been circumspect about his party's dedication to the Paris agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. He has reaffirmed that he is in favour of Brexit. He has been harsh in his criticism of the way Justin Trudeau handled the NAFTA negotiations with the United States. And he came out swinging against the U.N. Global Compact on Migration. But when Scheer spells out his party's foreign affairs platform on Tuesday, it will be staunchly multilateralist and pro-trade — and far more traditional-Conservative than Trumpian. If the Conservative Party aims to occasionally adopt some of Trump's populism, that temptation stops well short of rejecting free trade and embracing isolationism, the foreign-policy hallmarks of the Trump administration.

Tags: 2005, Andrew Scheer, Brexit, Canada, China, Conservative Party of Canada, Critic, Donald Trump, DougWiki, Erin O'Toole, Israel, Justin Trudeau, NAFTA, Ottawa, Paris, Republican, Saudi Arabia, Twitter, United Nations, White House

Here is the first of what will be many video clips I'll be publishing daily (or semi-daily) here on my blog and new Critical Clips YouTube channel. This is excerpted from Critical Q&A #1, originally published Feb. 21, 2015 and addresses my ideas then (and now) as to what it would take to "fix" Scientology and whether that can even be done. Enjoy!

Tags: 2015, Critic, Quicky, YouTube

We will never know if the Church of Scientology paid its employees the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Quebec's labour standards board ruled they are owed. The parties have reached a confidential, out-of-court settlement. The board, known by its French acronym CNESST, had sought more than $750,000 on behalf of 62 people who worked at the Church of Scientology in Quebec City. Following an investigation, it concluded those employees had been underpaid and were owed pay for statutory holidays or vacation time. The CNESST asked Quebec Superior Court to order the organization to pay the wages owed, plus interest and indemnities, for a total of more than $900,000.

Tags: Canada, CNESST, Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau, Geneviève Trudel, Michelle Lacombe, Montreal, Quebec, Quebec City, Quebec Superior Court, Quicky, Religious worker, Université du Québec à Montréal

When it comes to a carbon tax, carve these words in stone: "There is no cheating these federal rules; a provincial carbon price is mandatory." No, this quote is not from the latest Saskatchewan Court of Appeal verdict dismissing a legal challenge led by prairie Tories — aided and abetted by Ontario. In fact, this bold declaration can be found in the first draft of the 2018 election platform proclaimed by Ontario's Progressive Conservatives — the so-called People's Guarantee that all candidates signed on to. Until then-leader Patrick Brown resigned, whereupon all those Tories unsigned. And fell into line faster than a flock of Canada geese changing course as the climate changes.

Tags: 2014, 2018, Andrew Scheer, Appeal, Canada, Carbon tax, Climate change, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Ford government, Muskoka, Ontario, Ontario New Democratic Party, Ottawa, Patrick Brown, Progressive Conservative, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Supreme Court of Canada, Toronto, Twitter

By the time Ontario Premier Doug Ford is finished with Toronto, the city will be lucky if it's allowed to hire a dogcatcher without Queen's Park first passing enabling legislation. Mayor John Tory will want to keep his short pants close at hand. Forget about governing by disruption, Ford's gleeful politics of destruction have wreaked havoc across the province, nowhere more so than in its largest city, which he is remaking as fast as the legislative process will allow. Last week alone he cleared the way for the province to "upload" Toronto's subway system, undid Ontario Municipal Board reform and, to add insult to injury, brought back old developer-friendly rules, and then withdrew funding that supports more than 6,000 subsidized daycare spots in Toronto. Last fall, Ford cut Toronto city council in half, seemingly on a whim, and again made a point of adding insult to injury by announcing the cut during the October civic election. Since then, he has reduced local health-care funding precipitously, taken over Ontario Place, threatened to raise highway speed limits and generally behaved like a jerk.

Tags: 1989, 1998, 2001, 2018, Beer Store, Clear, Company, Conservative Party of Canada, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Ford cuts, John Tory, Kathleen Wynne, LCBO, Libraries, Mike Harris, Ontario, Ontario Municipal Board, Progressive Conservative, Queen's Park, Toronto, Twitter

When Jack Siegel first saw Faith Goldy's written submission to the City of Toronto committee tasked with enforcing election finance rules, he was taken aback. "The screen opens up with it, and I kind of do a double take," he recalls. "Because it looks like one of my submissions." As a prominent lawyer in municipal election law, Siegel had prepared many submissions for compliance audit committees in the past, both in support of citizens requesting campaign audits and in defence of candidates who've been the subjects of requests. Some of his previous submissions, which begin with a multi-page overview of legal provisions and precedents before zooming in to the details of a specific case, can readily be found online.

Tags: 2017, 2018, Alt-Right, Anti-Racist Canada, Bell Media, Bernie Farber, Bitcoin, Canada, Canadian Anti-Hate Network, Charlottesville, Clayton Ruby, DougWiki, Europe, Evan Balgord, Facebook, Faith Goldy, Generation Identity, Google, Hamilton, ID Canada, Lawyer, Markham, Mountain View, Municipal Elections Act, NationBuilder, Ontario, Silicon Valley, Stormfront, Toronto, Twitter, Tyler Hover, Vladimir Putin, York Regional Police, YouTube

When Premier Doug Ford cut Toronto's city council in half in the middle of last year's municipal election campaign, the Star said it amounted to "spitting in the face of the city and its voters." Little did we know that was just the opening salvo in what's turning out to be a sustained campaign by the Ford government to undermine the city's authority at every opportunity and single out Toronto for specially harsh treatment as it pares back provincial spending. The latest blow came last week with a customarily out-of-the-blue announcement that the government is reverting back to the old Ontario Municipal Board rules on how development disputes in the city are decided. This comes only two years after the Liberal government set up another body, called the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, to better respect the right of city planners and council to shape how the city develops. Now, once again, developers will be able to fight any application that the city had turned down, no matter how much consultation and planning the municipality did — and even when the decision that council made on a project followed all provincial policies. It amounts to reverting to the old system that left the city largely a bystander in its own development. As Councillor Josh Matlow puts it: "They've gone back to a free-for-all for developers."

Tags: Appeal, Chris Murray, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Ford government, John Tory, Josh Matlow, Ontario, Ontario Municipal Board, Queen's Park, Toronto, Toronto Public Health, TTC

Tags: Freewinds, Measles, Quicky

In a partial climbdown from a money-saving move to axe the planting of 50 million trees, Natural Resources and Forestry Minister John Yakabuski says seedlings will go in the ground this year as scheduled. But the controversy remains in full bloom as an Ottawa-area nursery warned it may have to destroy three million seedlings being grown for the program that cost taxpayers $4.7 million a year and was designed to fight climate change. "We've been working with Forests Ontario to ensure that the tree planting that is designed and scheduled for this year will go on as planned," Yakabuski said Monday in the legislature's daily question period. "For any contract that was in place, those trees will be planted this year." "We've been working with Forests Ontario to ensure that the tree planting that is designed and scheduled for this year will go on as planned," Yakabuski said Monday in the legislature's daily question period. "For any contract that was in place, those trees will be planted this year." The new Progressive Conservative government needs the $4.7 million annually to help slay the $11.7 billion provincial deficit, Yakabuski added, calling the financial situation inherited from Kathleen Wynne's Liberal administration a "mess."

Tags: Andrea Horwath, Canadian Press, Climate change, Environmental, Ferguson, Kathleen Wynne, Mike Schreiner, Ontario, Ontario New Democratic Party, Ottawa, Progressive Conservative, Quicky, Toronto, Twitter

Rizza Islam picked the worst possible time to go on tour spreading misinformation about vaccines used to prevent the spread of measles. Islam is both a Scientologist and a member of the Nation of Islam, and this week the news has been filled with stories about Scientology's cruise ship, the Freewinds, being quarantined over a measles case in St. Lucia and Curaçao. But while that was going on, Rizza was in New York City and appeared on "Sway in the Morning" on Sirius XM with rapper and radio personality Sway Calloway. Rizza's affiliations with Scientology and the Nation of Islam were not mentioned during the interview, nor was the fact that he's facing felony charges for state insurance fraud in Los Angeles.

Tags: 2000, 2004, 2014, 2017, Abortion, Anti-vax, Caribbean, Congress, Curaçao, David Miscavige, Dutch, Field Staff Member, Freewinds, Gaétan Pouliot, Joy Villa, Los Angeles, Measles, Nation of Islam, New York City, Patron Meritorious, Quebec, Quicky, Rizza Islam, Rod Keller, Sea Org, St. Lucia, Willemstad, Yashar Ali

With the recent outbreak of measles on the Scientology ship, Freewinds, Leah and I thought it important to highlight some points that are the real story about this ship. With the exception of Newsweek, generally the media is missing the boat. Their focus is on a case of measles rather than the bigger picture of the Freewinds. To directly answer the least important question: Do Scientologists believe in vaccinating?

Tags: 1967, 2004, 2015, Acceptable Truth, Anti-Vax, Aruba, Asbestos, Bridge to Total Freedom, California, Clear, Colm McLaughlin, Curaçao, Daily Beast, Danny Masterson, David Miscavige, Dianetics, Don Jason, E-meter, Ethics, Ethics Officer, Facebook, Freewinds, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Jenna Elfman, Juliette Lewis, Kirstie Alley, Master at Arms, Measles, Mexico, Newsweek, OT, OT V, OT VII, OT VIII, Potential Trouble Source, Quicky, Ramana Dienes-Browning, Rehabilitation Project Force, Scientology and the Aftermath, Sea Org, Sexual assault, Shore Story, Twitter, Wogs

In a Scarborough speech Monday, Tory boosted pressure on the Progressive Conservative premier to roll back budget cuts set to cost Toronto hundreds of millions of dollars a year for transit, public health, child-care and more. Toronto's "ability to continue to move forward is in question due to a combination of very ill-advised budget cutbacks, harsh measures imposed on cities and towns across Ontario without any consultation whatsoever, some of them imposed more harshly on Toronto than any other municipality," he said. "If we simply throw up our hands and let this damaging budget go forward, we put our success at risk — the jobs, the quality of life, and the very success of the economic engine that is Toronto — all of that is at risk if we fail to fund responsibly the things that contribute to that success and maximize opportunity for the future.

Tags: DougWiki, Ford cuts, Ford government, Mayors And Regional Chairs of Ontario, Ontario, Progressive Conservative, Queen's Park, Scarborough, Toronto

Mayor John Tory is slamming Premier Doug Ford's government for slashing funds for city services while moving forward with a potentially-pricey campaign promise to bring beer into convenience stores. The province is considering spending "hundreds of millions of dollars to make beer more widely available," while cutting funding to both public health and subsidized child care, Tory said on Monday following midday remarks at the Scarborough Business Association Luncheon. "Where is the sense in that?" Tory questioned. "Cutting public health programs and daycare programs to find the extra money to pay the Beer Store to change their contract?"

Tags: Beer Store, Catholic, CBC, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Ford government, Hayley Chazan, Joe Cressy, John Tory, Josh Matlow, Ontario, Ontario Medical Association, Ontario Nurses Association, Queen's Park, Scarborough, Toronto, Toronto Board of Health, Toronto Public Health

Cambridge Ward 1 Coun. Donna Reid said the city is still looking into the opening of a drug rehabilitation centre, associated with the Church of Scientology, that has neighbours concerned. Narconon Cambridge, located at the end of Pointer Street in a new subdivision off Maple Grove Road, will start accepting patients — or "students" as the centre refers to them — in "the next week or so," according to executive director George Morfopoulos, as final renovations and cleanup are underway. Reid said she is trying to get answers, as people in the neighbourhood "want to know yesterday" if the renovated home can be used for a Narconon branch. "Staff is still investigating and still trying to find out the zoning, the planning issues and everything that needs to go along with whether or not such a facility is allowable. We don't know yet," Reid said Tuesday morning.

Tags: 2012, Buddhist, Cambridge, Catholic, Donna Reid, Egypt, George Morfopoulos, Mexico, Muslim, Narconon, Narconon Cambridge, Narconon International, Narconon Trois-Rivières, Nepal, Niacin, Ontario, Ontario Human Rights Code, Purification Rundown, Quicky, Rahul Bhimani, Real estate

The weekly show where I answer questions from viewers left in the comment sections of my Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week, the questions I answer are: (1) Hubbard wrote: "If the Org slumps: Don't engage in 'fundraising' or 'selling postcards' or borrowing money. Just make more income with Scientology. It's a sign of very poor management to seek extraordinary solutions for finance outside Scientology. It has always failed. For Orgs as for pcs 'Solve it with Scientology'. Every time I myself have sought to solve finance or personnel in other ways than Scientology I have lost out. So I can tell you from experience that Org Solvency lies in more Scientology, not patented combs or fundraising barbecues. (HCO PL 24 February 1964, 'Urgent, Org Programming')." Not only have there been too-numerous-to-count fundraisers (especially B-B-Q's!) over the past 20 years, there were 'The Basics' (used exclusively to raise money) and 'The Golden Age of Tech' which basically 'squirreled' the original tech (supposedly another absolute 'no-no') in an attempt to generate more revenue. (In fact, this precipitated a major exodus of long-termers who left in protest.) So, how is it that they continue their 'Fair Game' tactics because it's 'what Ron said to do, and the tech can't be changed'? This might have worked in the past, but has backfired stupendously since the advent of the internet/Anonymous. Is the Bionic Runt really so stupid?

Tags: 1964, Anonymous, Basics, Critic, Fair Game, Golden Age of Tech, Matt Lauer, OT, OT 7, Quicky, Sea Org, Squirrel, Tom Cruise

The show where I answer your questions. Please leave any comments or feedback in the comments section here below. I see everything and want to hear from you. SHOP FOR CRITICAL MERCHANDISE http://shop.spreadshirt.com/chrisshelton

Tags: Audio, Critic, Quicky, Scientology: A to Xenu

Rod Keller keeps a close watch on Scientology's front groups like Narconon. Here's his latest report… We previously reported that Scientology is opening a new Narconon drug and alcohol rehab facility in Osnago, Italy. Yesterday was the grand opening, and they already have a success story. A patient has completed the detox portion of the program and is ready to begin the sauna, vitamins and Scientology training routines that comprise the program. As with all of Scientology, success stories are required in Narconon before moving on to new levels.

Tags: 1980, 1999, Australia, Bernard Doherty, Beverly Hills Playhouse, California, Celebrity Centre, Charles Sturt University, Denmark, Egypt, Europe, Florida, Fundamentals of Thought, Gary Imhoff, Georgia, Giovanni Citterio, Hollywood, Ireland, Italy, Jason Lee, Jaya Krishnan, Jean Dale, Lynetta McNeill, Medical, Mexico, Milton Katselas, Mission, Narconon, Narconon Ireland, Narconon Sud Europe, New Religious Movement, OCA, Org Board, Oxford Capacity Analysis, Oxford University, Paramount, Paul Shiel, Personality test, Perth, Placerville, Rod Keller, Salvatore Martini, Steve Hansen, The Problems of Work, Theology, Tom Ayers, Trois-Rivières, Turkey, Western Australia

Tags: Lori Hodgson, Quicky

Due to an unforeseen circumstance, Dr. Jeff was unable to complete a column to appear today. It'll be ready to go at 7:00 am US Eastern time tomorrow, so stay tuned! Incidentally, I should point out that this blog is intended to be a haven for any similarly inclined authors to express themselves. After all, we recently sprung for the princely sum of $1.99 ($48 in "Canadian" dollars) to register a new domain name to rename the blog to something about more than just my opinion, and we'd love to get our money's worth. If you're interested in writing for us, consider getting in touch.

Tags: Quicky

Chapter 43 Blazer guy, his driver, Sean, Ryan, Roxy, and I sat lined up on the sidewalk outside Jupiter Donuts. The first rays of the sun flicked over the horizon as the street filled up with early morning commuters. Ryan had refused medical assistance for his fucked-up nose and the six cops had holstered their guns. Gray-haired stared down at me, his hands on his hips. His hair was the grayest and he wore an extra chevron on his sleeve. "Do you?" he asked. I shook my head. "No, I don't want press charges, either. I just want to go home."

Tags: California, Comm Course, Dianetics, Ethics, Europe, Hemet, Int Base, L. Ron Hubbard, Mental Health, Police, Purification Rundown, Santa Barbara, Sea Org, Student Hat, Suppressive Person, Terra Cognita

Tuesday will mark 67 years since L. Ron Hubbard published the book that would start a movement, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. For that reason, May 9 — Dianetics Day — is one of the most important dates on the Scientology calendar. Jeffrey Augustine is helping us mark this anniversary by looking back at how the book was treated in the press at the time with some clippings you don't see every day. Let's start with a fun piece from October 1950... Eleanor Dove writhes in a Dianetics reverie while a photographer from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographs her ecstatic swoon. Under the control of a Dianetics auditor, Eleanor is re-experiencing engrams lodged in her reactive mind during a public demonstration.

Tags: 1950, 1951, Abortion, Chris Shelton, Dianetics, Don Purcell, E-meter, Hubbard Dianetics Foundation, Jeffrey Augustine, Mental Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota, New Jersey, Quicky, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Volney Mathison, Wichita

The show where I answer your questions. Please leave any comments or feedback in the comments section here below. I see everything and want to hear from you. My Critical Picture channel: https://goo.gl/zzKx7p SHOP FOR CRITICAL MERCHANDISE

Tags: Audio, Critic, Quicky, Scientology: A to Xenu

This is an introduction to my new YouTube Channel about my experience with the Church of Scientology as a staff member.

Tags: Quicky

L. Ron Hubbard wrote that all sickness, accidents and injuries, pretty much all non-optimum conditions in life, were the result of a connection to a suppressive person. A person so associated was said to be a "potential trouble source," or PTS. "A suppressive person, SP for short, is a really, really bad person. Like Hitler bad. The worst of the worst." Terra Tech Dictionary, 28 Apr 17. PTS, "means potential trouble source which itself means a person connected to a suppressive person. All sick persons are PTS. All pcs who roller-coaster (regularly lose gains) are PTS." LRH, HCOB 20 Apr 72.

Tags: Ethics, Ethics Officer, Hollywood, Hubbard Communications Office Bulletin, Keep Scientology Working, L. Ron Hubbard, OT, Potential Trouble Source, Purification Rundown, Suppressive Person, Terra Cognita, Touch Assist

Marc Vallieres and two of his employees have been charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment after their rehab clinic in Woodbury, Tennessee was raided by police Police have shut down a rehabilitation facility being run by a Scientologist in Tennessee after two people were found being held there allegedly against their will. The manager and two of his employees have now been charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment after a man called 911 in February to report that he had been locked in a cabin at a facility in Woodbury - a small rural town south-east of Nashville.

Tags: 9-1-1, Brian Fesler, Canon Courier, Dennis Flamond, False imprisonment, Fox News, Hans Snyder Lytle, Kidnapping, Life Center for a New Tomorrow, Marc Vallieres, Nashville, Police, Psychiatric treatment, Quicky, Reverend, Tennessee, Woodbury

In this week's podcast, and by popular demand, Jeffrey Augustine and I finally got together to talk current events in Scientology, including much of what has been reported on Tony Ortega's blog recently, as well as how the contracts that Scientology makes its members sign actually work and what people are signing away when they join Scientology. I think anyone interested in the subject will find this interesting and informative. Enjoy! Please comment away and let me know your feedback or if you have any questions or comments you'd like me to address on air. CRITICAL MERCHANDISE IS AVAILABLE NOW!

Tags: Jeffrey Augustine, Quicky, Tony Ortega

Tags: Quicky, Regraded Being

Scientology's greatest legal mind let's another turgid letter rip and the results are grandiose indeed.

Tags: Bert Deixler, David Miscavige, Eric Lieberman, Monique Yingling, Ron Miscavige Sr, Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me, Video

Where would we be without our wonderful network of tipsters? We are so fortunate that so many of our readers help us out by tracking down documents or giving us tips about where to find information. We have a few fun items for you today, but we first wanted to acknowledge how much we appreciate the help we get from our sources. Especially someone like our first tipster today, who is an active member of the Church of Scientology. That's all we can tell you at this time, but we're very glad that this person recently sent us a small trove of documents that we're still poring through. For today, however, we thought we'd share with you a fun little item they gave us that should make our readers who were involved in the Anonymous movement especially nostalgic. It was May 18, 2008, and the Church of Scientology was in a bit of a panic. The protests by Chanology, the Anonymous wing that had decided to teach Scientology a lesson after it tried to censor the infamous Tom Cruise interview video that had leaked to the Internet that January, had been going on for a few months, and they were taking their toll. The protests were not only happening all over the place, but the protesters themselves were very clever, looking for creative ways to disrupt Scientology's usual ways of doing things. And now, someone at the church had noticed a problem at a relatively new thing known as "Google Maps."

Tags: 2008, 2009, 2011, Aaron Smith-Levin, Anonymous, Budapest, California, Cult, David Miscavige, Director of Special Affairs, Golden Era Productions, Google, Google Maps, Grant Cardone, Hemet, Hungary, Ideal Org, Int Base, KCET, Los Angeles, Mike Rinder, Office of Special Affairs, Quicky, Rod Keller, Ron Miscavige Sr, Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me, Scientology Media Productions, The Hole, Tom Cruise, YouTube

In October, we uncorked our big investigative story of 2014. It was the result of months of research and Skype calls to South Africa and lots and lots of lawyering. We revealed that the richest Scientologists in the world, Bob and Trish Duggan, had a strange secret. We established that at the same time the California couple had been propping up Scientology in South Africa with huge donations, two of their adopted sons, one of whom was only 11, suddenly relocated there in the care of Scientology families. At the time, Bob was worth a billion and a half dollars, and so we didn't really expect any of the news organizations that keep a tab on the Underground Bunker to pick up the story, and we were right. This was odd and unseemly stuff, and writing about billionaires carries a measure of risk. It would have been nice if Bob had answered our emails and explained what was going on. Why, we would have loved to ask him, did his adopted sons get sent to a country where he was also sending piles of cash?

Tags: 2013, 2014, Atlanta, Bob Duggan, California, Carol Hogarth, Chad Essley, Claire Headley, David Miscavige, Denver, Disconnection, DMCA, Facebook, Forbes, Google, Ideal Org, Lori Hodgson, Oregon, Pharmacyclics, Pretoria, Quicky, Robin Hogarth, Shelley Ashurst, Skype, South Africa, Trish Duggan, Wisconsin

Many faiths make space for doubt. Alex Gibney's Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief demonstrates that one belief system uses it as a weapon. Gibney's highly anticipated documentary puts as much of Lawrence Wright's 2013 book as possible into two hours of screen time, exploring the history of L. Ron Hubbard's manufactured religion and the damage it's done to its followers thanks to a structure built around courting celebrity members and exploiting everyone else. Going Clear makes its case through interviews with journalists, testimony from ex-members (including filmmaker Paul Haggis, actor Jason Beghe and former church lieutenants Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder) and footage from internal videos and promotional material featuring MVPs like John Travolta and Tom Cruise, whose tangled histories with Scientology are also dipped into here.

Tags: 2013, Alex Gibney, David Miscavige, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Jason Beghe, John Travolta, Lawrence Wright, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Paul Haggis, Review, Tom Cruise, Toronto

The latest video from scientology attempting to 'dead agent" me is quite amusing. Though, if I was David Miscavige I would be screaming bloody murder claiming I was the subject of terrorist threats and hate crimes because they frame me in "scope sights." This is especially concerning after David "Let Him Die" Miscavige hired PI's with an arsenal including assault rifles with silencers to tail his own father. If anyone put up this sort of video with David Miscavige framed in armament sights it would take about 3 minutes for the stuck pig squealing to begin. Tony Ortega covered some aspects of this video in his blog post yesterday, but there were a few thoughts I wanted to have in one place, so that those looking for the "dead agent" of the 'dead agent" could find it easily. The most striking thing about their video is that the collection of people they have snarking about me are almost exclusively NOT the people I worked most closely with during my 34 years in the Sea Org. Only Sue Wilhere and Mike Sutter could fit into that category for certain periods of time, though for the last 5 years or so I was at Int Mike Sutter was putting CD's into boxes. His post was "Box Stuffer IC Gold." Sue Wilhere had been kicked out of RTC and was in the Hole.

Tags: 1983, 2007, Alex Gibney, Amy Scobee, Angie Blankenship, Author Services Inc, Chairman of the Board, Clearwater, CMO Int, David Bloomberg, David Miscavige, DC, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Greg Wilhere, Guillaume Lesevre, Heber Jentzsch, Inspector General, Jason Bennick, Jefferson Hawkins, Jennifer Linson, Karin Pouw, Kurt Weiland, LAX, Linda Hamel, Linda Hight, Marc Yager, Mark Ingber, Marty Rathbun, Mike Sutter, Office of Special Affairs, OSA Int, OT, Quicky, Ray Mithoff, Religious Technology Center, Sea Org, Sue Wilhere, The Hole, Tom Cruise, Tom DeVocht, Tony Ortega

We've been leaked some exclusive footage of David Miscavige speaking at the opening this weekend of a new "Ideal Org" in Sydney. The source who provided us the footage estimated the crowd size at 1,500 — and that included people who had arrived from Taiwan, New Zealand, and across Australia. That's a pretty anemic turnout for such an important occasion, and more evidence that Miscavige is having a tougher time in recent months convincing Scientologists to show up for his events.

Tags: Australia, Bryan Seymour, Clearwater, David Miscavige, Ideal Org, New Zealand, Quicky, Sydney, Taiwan, Tom Cruise

Imelda Marcos obsessively bought shoes, Miscavige obsessively buys buildings. Despite having a film and audio studio at Golden Era that contains hundreds of millions of dollars of buildings and equipment, David Miscavige felt compelled to buy the KCET studios in Hollywood. Gold operates at a tiny percentage of its capacity.

Tags: Chick Corea, Church of Spiritual Technology, David Miscavige, Golden Age of Tech, Golden Era, Hollywood, Human trafficking, Ideal Org, Kansas City, KCET, L. Ron Hubbard, Mad Hatter Studios, Maggie Kittinger, Planetary Clearing, Quicky, Scientology celebrity

Jodie Fleischer of WSB-TV reported today that things just got a lot worse for Scientology's drug rehab program in the Atlanta area. When state investigators and county police raided Narconon Georgia on April 26, we knew they were looking for evidence of insurance fraud. But now Gwinnett County DA Danny Porter tells Fleischer that he's also looking into multiple cases of credit card fraud at the facility that resulted from Narconon officials allegedly taking out cards in the names of patients without their permission — and then charging them to their maximum extent. If that sounds familiar, you may remember our story from March 21, when attorney Gary Richardson filed five new lawsuits against Scientology's flagship rehab center in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead. In one of those lawsuits, former Narconon patient Sue Anne Newman alleged that two credit cards had been taken out in her name by Narconon officials, and she was charged $14,500 without her knowledge or permission.

Tags: 2008, 2012, Atlanta, Claire Headley, Clark Carr, Danny Porter, Florida, Fraud, Gary Richardson, Georgia, Gwinnett County, Jeff Harris, Jodie Fleischer, Judge Stacey Hydrick, Lucas Catton, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, Narconon Georgia, Narconon International, Oklahoma, Patrick Desmond, Pete Combs, Quicky, SEC, Success rate, WSB Radio

In Salt Lake City, a retired schoolteacher and her son are suing a group of people they accuse of running a Ponzi scheme involving — and designed to benefit — the Church of Scientology in Utah. Carol Bee and Brian Bagley are suing a group of investors in a state court action, but also have filed a complaint in the bankruptcy of Barry and Kimberly Hunter, two Scientologists who became insolvent when the financial services company they were trying to get off the ground, Portfolio Manager International, failed in 2011. The Hunters have responded in detailed court filings denying that PMI was a Ponzi scheme, and they say that Bee and Bagley were harmed not by PMI but by a man named Christopher Hales, who is currently serving 7.5 years in federal prison for bank fraud. The Hunters say that they actually tried to help Bee and Bagley once they realized Hales was acting strangely about the investments that Bee and Bagley had given him.

Tags: 1991, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, Banda Aceh, Church of Scientology International, Clear, David Miscavige, Fair Game, FBI, Indonesia, Lawsuit, Michael Baybak, Mormon, Patron Excalibur, Ponzi, Ponzi scheme, Purification Rundown, Quicky, Reed Slatkin, Richard Behar, Salt Lake City, Tennessee, The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power, TIME, Utah, Washington

This is a report of a very recent visit to Scientology Phoenix Org by someone I knew in the CMO and SO. Frankly, he gives them a lot more benefit of the doubt than I may have, but still, if this is an Ideal Org and this is how David Miscavige plans to "clear the planet" the proverbial snowball in hell is great odds by comparison. Mike Rinder Personally wanting to see what an ideal org looks like, I decided to visit Phoenix org. I haven't been in an org since leaving the CMO and the SO in 1990, before the conception of the ideal org campaign. Back then, the push was St. Hill Size. Period. Having watched the evolution of defectors, along with the subsequent blogs and media coverage, I've been curious to see the expansion, or lack thereof, myself. Obviously, visiting one org may or may not be indicative of the whole, but, it is a start. As for my visit to Phx org, let me start off by saying this: the ONLY thing I found to be close to ideal is the building itself. And, even there exists a departure from the ideal scene: HCO is in a different building from the rest of the org. Now, maybe that's not a huge deal, but my thought on this is: if you're going to spend a boatload of parishioner's money on what should be ideal, shouldn't you find a building that is truly ideal? It would be one thing if every other aspect of the building (location, visibility, etc) were ideal and that was the only departure, but that's not the case.

Tags: 1980, 1990, 2012, Albuquerque, Arcadia, Class V, CLO WUS, Commodore's Messenger Organization, David Miscavige, Dianetics, England, GPS, Ideal Org, International Association of Scientologists, L. Ron Hubbard, Las Vegas, Org Board, OT, Personality test, Phoenix, Purification Rundown, Quicky, Sea Org, Sunday service, The Phoenix, Tucson

There have been a lot of respectful, round-about comments on the blog over the years implying that my politics are from the left wing. The comments are sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly made by proud conservatives and proud liberals. I think folks from both sides of the right/left spectrum misunderstand me. I am going to make a political (or apolitical) statement so that there isn't any mystery about where I stand on the subject of politricks. While I believe America has become a corporatocracy (that has sometimes verged on fascism) I also believe it has socialized so much as to have created an incentive toward 'entitlement' that has become degenerative. I believe that those who capitalize (and many do as politicians and media) on these obvious problems and make a name for themselves by cleverly arguing that total elimination of either side of those competing evils is the only solution are perpetuating the problem. I don't waive any flag, right or left.

Tags: Barack Obama, Corpus Christi, Politics, Quicky, Ron Paul

Scientologists don't really have a Sunday service. They like to say that they do, because they crave mainstream acceptance. But unless Xenu rested after six days and L. Ron Hubbard just forgot to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of coursework, detoxes, fundraising, and generally clearing the planet. So here at the Voice, we've come up with a Scientology Sunday tradition of our own, and we call it Sunday Funnies! Our sources regularly send us Scientology's wacky and tacky fundraising mailers, and each week we choose a few of them to gaze upon, hoping that it inspires you to wax eloquent in our comments section. So here we go... Sometimes the church just makes this too easy. Ideal Org "bookie"? Um, sure. I guess at some point it just makes sense to come right out and admit what you're up to. Right, Birmingham?

Tags: Alfreddie Johnson, Apollo, Birmingham, Catholic, CCHR, David Miscavige, Denise Brennan, Disconnection, Facebook, Gender Outlaw, Ideal Org, Kate Bornstein, L. Ron Hubbard, Mark Ebner, Narconon, Neil Gaiman, Orange County, Orders of the Day, OT, Quicky, Rachel Denk, Republican, Rick Alexander, South Africa, South Park, Suicide, Sunday Funnies, Sunday service, Xenu

According to Yahoo's "Xtra Entertainment," the National Enquirer talked to John Travolta, who said he got a promise from train-wreck celebrity Lindsay Lohan that she would begin Scientology training. [I tried to find the Enquirer piece to give them a link, but couldn't. Have you seen their website? What a nightmare.] Travolta and Lohan have been cast in the upcoming movie "Gotti: Three Generations," but producers are wary of Lohan's myriad problems and yanked her from a role as John Gotti's daughter to a less important part.

Tags: John Travolta, Lindsay Lohan, National Enquirer, Quicky, Yahoo

The big Scientology sell Scientology church members are blitzing the suburbs using a personality test designed specifically to rope in new members. 7News - TodayTonight 6th May 2011

Tags: 7News, Bryan Seymour, Nick Xenophon, OCA, Operation Clambake, Oxford Capacity Analysis, Oxford University, Personality test, Quackery, Quicky, Today Tonight, TodayTonight, Xenu

An assault against a masked demonstrator protesting against the Church of Scientology has landed a Halifax woman in legal trouble. Nicole Cassandra Andersen, a 40-year-old personal-care worker, pleaded guilty in Halifax on Tuesday to assault for punching the protester in the face near the Scientology Life Improvement Center on Dutch Village Road on Sept. 19.

Tags: Anonymous, Canada, Halifax, Nicole Andersen, Pat Felske

A protest at the Church of Scientology in Nashville led to pushing, shoving, an arrest and the whole thing was caught on tape. The tape, protesters said, proves they were assaulted and bullied by security guards for no reason. A Middle Tennessee State University student doesn't want his name revealed after what happened on April 25 at Nashville's new Church of Scientology on Eighth Avenue. The man is in a group called Anonymous that protests Church of Scientology events.

Tags: Anonymous, Bomb threat, Brian Fesler, Nashville

South Australian Premier Mike Rann says he wants a full public apology from Opposition leader Martin Hamilton-Smith over Church of Scientology accusations. Mr Hamilton-Smith wrongly accused the Premier and other members of the Labor Party of trying to solicit donations from an organisation linked to the Church of Scientology. The documents he cited were later found to be fake.

Tags: Australia, Dodgygate, Martin Hamilton-Smith, Mike Rann, South Australia

Ask an active Scientologist about "Fair Game Policy" today and they will quickly tell you that this policy was cancelled by Hubbard himself in fact cancelled any such order and that it is no longer in practice today. Is this true? Well, to answer that question we need only look at more of Hubbard's writings dating back to October of 1968 when Hubbard amended the policy again "The practice of declaring people FAIR GAME will cease. FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations. This P/L does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP." The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is exemplified in the very last sentence of the above quote; "This P/L (Policy Letter) does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP (Suppressive Person)."

Tags: Anonymous, Barbara Schwartz, Boris Korczak, Charles Grassley, Fair Game, Harold Gossett, Karin Pouw, L. Ron Hubbard, Operation Clambake

Westerman added that he was a Scientologist his "whole life, up until a few years ago." Westerman said he became a Class 8 Auditor while involved in the Church of Scientology. He said he has spent between $400,000 and $500,000 on the Church of Scientology during the course of a decade. Westerman does not think all Scientologists are evil people, merely ignorant to the corruption within the Church.

Tags: Baton Rouge, David Miscavige, Disconnection, Jason Beghe, Religious Technology Center

When Queens resident Mike Vitale was outed as a member of Anonymous by the Church of Scientology last month, he specifically asked Church members if they planned to prove his criticisms correct by declaring him "fair game" and subjecting him to the threats and intimidation that are said to be inherent in that Church policy. Would they threaten him or show up at his house? Well, they did-or, at least, their lawyers did.

Tags: Anonymous, Eric Lieberman, Fair Game, Manhattan, Mike Vitale, New York City, Queens, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman

You may recall Monteverdi's Pinellas Park company, Robotic Parking. Its sole surviving project, a 324-car debacle in Hoboken, N.J., has been the subject of occasional St. Petersburg Times coverage since 2001. But you won't recall him by this name. That's because until about a year ago, Royce Savoy Monteverdi was known to the world only as Gerhard Haag.

Tags: 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, Clearwater, Florida, Gerhard Haag, Germany, Hollywood, Jeff Faria, Michael Jackson, New Jersey, Ohio, Pinellas County, Robotic Parking, Royce Savoy Monteverdi, St. Petersburg Times, Tampa

The Church of Scientology has lodged a development application with City of Sydney Council for a glass-fronted tower on the roof of its heritage building on Castlereagh Street.

Tags: Australia, James Packer, Real estate, Sydney, Vicki Dunstan

Church officials won't discuss specifics of Super Power. But Feshbach and another prominent Clearwater Scientologist who, like Feshbach, is a major donor to Super Power's building fund, provided some details in interviews with the St. Petersburg Times. A group of former Scientologists who worked for the church on a campus in California where the program was in development also described elements of it. Super Power uses machines, apparatus and specially designed rooms to exercise and enhance a person's so-called perceptics. Those machines include an antigravity simulator and a gyroscope-like apparatus that spins a person around while blindfolded to improve perception of compass direction, said the former Scientologists.

Tags: 1978, 1980, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2007, Anne Archer, Basics, Belleair, Ben Shaw, Bruce Hines, California, Chuck Beatty, Clearwater, Coin, Conditions, Feshbach, Hemet, Karen Pressley, Los Angeles, Matt Feshbach, Nicole Kidman, Ron Pollack, Scientology Handbook, Scientology staff, St. Petersburg, Super Power, Tampa

He is best known for rummaging through the dustbins of the rich and famous. But Benjamin Pell has betrayed an appetite for Hollywood glory in a bizarre legal action launched against John Mappin, an heir to the Mappin and Webb jewellery empire.

Tags: Camelot Castle, John Mappin, UK

Sweden, one of only a few countries to recognize the Church of Scientology as a "religious community," has granted its ministers the right to perform marriages, the Los Angeles-based organization said Thursday.

Tags: Heber Jentzsch, Marriage, National Judicial Board for Public Lands and Funds, South Africa, Sweden

One source of funds for the Los Angeles-based church is the notorious, self- regulated stock exchange in Vancouver, British Columbia, often called the scam capital of the world. The exchange's 2,300 penny-stock listings account for $4 billion in annual trading. Local journalists and insiders claim the vast majority range from total washouts to outright frauds.

Tags: Athena Gold, Kenneth Gerbino, Michael Baybak, Vancouver stock exchange

Scientology: The Cult of Greed and Power. TIME Magazine cover.

Tags: Scientology: The Cult of Greed and Power

For the TIME story, at least 10 attorneys and six private detectives were unleashed by Scientology and its followers in an effort to threaten, harass and discredit me. Last Oct. 12, not long after I began this assignment, I planned to lunch with Eugene Ingram, the church's leading private eye and a former cop. Ingram, who was tossed off the Los Angeles police force in 1981 for alleged ties to prostitutes and drug dealers, had told me that he might be able to arrange a meeting with church boss David Miscavige. Just hours before the lunch, the church's "national trial counsel," Earle Cooley, called to inform me that I would be eating alone.

Tags: Eugene Ingram, Fair Game

The Church of Scientology, started by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard to "clear" people of unhappiness, portrays itself as a religion. In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner. At times during the past decade, prosecutions against Scientology seemed to be curbing its menace. Eleven top Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife, were sent to prison in the early 1980s for infiltrating, burglarizing and wiretapping more than 100 private and government agencies in attempts to block their investigations. In recent years hundreds of longtime Scientology adherents -- many charging that they were mentally or physically abused -- have quit the church and criticized it at their own risk. Some have sued the church and won; others have settled for amounts in excess of $500,000. In various cases judges have labeled the church "schizophrenic and paranoid" and "corrupt, sinister and dangerous." Yet the outrage and litigation have failed to squelch Scientology. The group, which boasts 700 centers in 65 countries, threatens to become more insidious and pervasive than ever. Scientology is trying to go mainstream, a strategy that has sparked a renewed law-enforcement campaign against the church. Many of the group's followers have been accused of committing financial scams, while the church is busy attracting the unwary through a wide array of front groups in such businesses as publishing, consulting, health care and even remedial education. In Hollywood, Scientology has assembled a star-studded roster of followers by aggressively recruiting and regally pampering them at the church's "Celebrity Centers," a chain of clubhouses that offer expensive counseling and career guidance. Adherents include screen idols Tom Cruise and John Travolta, actresses Kirstie Alley, Mimi Rogers and Anne Archer, Palm Springs mayor and performer Sonny Bono, jazzman Chick Corea and even Nancy Cartwright, the voice of cartoon star Bart Simpson. Rank-and-file members, however, are dealt a less glamorous Scientology.

Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, Applied Scholastics, Bill Franks, Canada, CCHR, Celebrity Centre, Church of Spiritual Technology, Concerned Businessmen's Association of America, Cult Awareness Network, Cynthia Kisser, Cyprus, David Miscavige, Detox, Edward Lottick, Fair Game, FBI, FDA, Feshbach, Glover Rowe, Gregory Hughes, Harriet Baker, HealthMed, Hill & Knowlton, IRS, Jim Bakker, Joe Feshbach, John Travolta, Joseph Yanny, Kurt Feshbach, L. Ron Hubbard Day, Legal, Liechtenstein, Margaret Singer, Matthew Feshbach, Michael Flynn, Narconon, National Council of Churches, Noah Lottick, Ontario Snow White, Panama, Philadelphia Doctorate Course, Raw meat, Richard Aznaran, Robert Geary, Ronald Bernstein, Sequoia University, Snow White Program, Sterling Management, Steven Fishman, Switzerland, Ted Gunderson, The Way to Happiness, Toby Plevin, Toronto, Vicki Aznaran, Xenu

A group that follows some of the teachings of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is setting up a national drug and alcohol rehabilitation program at the former Chilocco Indian School in northern Oklahoma, and that has some area residents worried. The Newkirk City Commission has scheduled a Monday night informational meeting about the Narconon International project, which over 25 years could bring as much as $16 million in lease payments to five Indian tribes in the Chilocco Development Authority. "There definitely appears to be a basis for concern," said Garry Bilger, mayor of Newkirk. "I think there are some questions that need to be answered here. ...

Tags: 1966, 1980, Baton Rouge, Boston, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Chilocco Development Authority, Chilocco Indian School, Denver, Garry Bilger, John Duff, Kay County, Los Angeles, Narconon, Narconon Chilocco, Narconon International, Newkirk, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Health Planning Commission, Toronto, Vancouver

But John Duff, head of the Los Angeles-based group called Narconon, said there is nothing controversial about Narconon. "We're not a religion," said Duff, who in 1982 was commended by President Reagan for his work against drug abuse. Duff admitted Friday in a telephone interview from the organization's headquarters in California that the founder of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron. Hubbard, "developed this rehabilitation approach we use." "The Church of Scientology is a friend of Narconon - they support us," Duff said, including financial help "at times." Duff said he is a member of the church as are "some of the staff" of Narconon.

Tags: Bob Lobsinger, Carl Balcer, Garry Bilger, Hank Hartsell, John Duff, Kay County, Narconon, Narconon Chilocco, Newkirk, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Health Planning Commission, Ponca City, Vern Willbanks