November 9 in Scientology history

The Church of Scientology impersonated internationally acclaimed author and Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright in a weird and fake e-mail of November 6, 2018. The e-mail was sent to Chris Shelton. Jeffrey Augustine and Chris Shelton discuss the contents of the e-mail and why this entire affair on the part of Scientology was so bizarre. Jeffrey Augustine also announces one of his "High Strangeness Alerts" for Scientology for the period of November and December 2018.

Tags: Chris Shelton, Fake, Jeffrey Augustine, Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize, Quicky

Tags: Quicky, Regraded Being

More than five years after the publication of his epic history of Scientology, Going Clear, and three years since the hugely successful HBO documentary of the same name, Lawrence Wright is still the target of stupid dirty tricks and harassment. Yesterday, he posted on Twitter and Facebook the news that someone has been sending out emails under the name "LawrenceWright@mail.com" asking his sources about Scientology, and he wanted to warn them that it was a sneaky scam... We know a lot of you saw that message, because it was posted several times in our comments section. We were too busy yesterday to call Larry to learn more about the scam, but then last night we heard from Chris Shelton, who turned out to be one of the people who received an email from the bogus address.

Tags: Chris Shelton, Facebook, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, HBO, Lawrence Wright, Office of Special Affairs, OT, Private investigator, Scott Pilutik, Twitter

This video is a critical review of L. Ron Hubbard's claim to the purpose of life and energy called the Dynamic Principle of Existence and what he called the 8 Dynamics. The Basics of Scientology Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZi5S... MY PODCAST:

Tags: ABLE, Audio, Basics, DC, Quicky

Last year, we told you a unique love story, about a 16-year-old girl, Rebecca McKee, who had to give up her boyfriend, Tom McCaffrey, because of her family's involvement in the Church of Scientology. Some 43 years later, Rebecca and Tom finally got a chance to meet again. By then, Rebecca was no longer in Scientology, and their meeting led to the two of them getting married. Rebecca's father, Brown McKee, was also an interesting part of that story. An MIT-educated engineer who embraced Dianetics and met L. Ron Hubbard, he eventually testified in the 1982 Clearwater Commission hearings after Scientology had been exposed in an FBI raid. In that testimony, McKee told a devastating story about his wife's death to cancer after they followed Scientology procedures and kept her from getting proper medical care. The McKee family story is fascinating, but recently Rebecca got in touch with us again because she's been so affected by Leah Remini's A&E series, Scientology and the Aftermath. Watching the accounts of Chantal Dodson and Sherry Ollins, she thought about the things she went through as a child growing up in the church. She decided to send us this account of her experience as a child in Scientology.

Tags: 1950, 1954, 1959, 1962, 1966, 1969, 1982, 1991, 1999, A&E, Albuquerque, American Saint Hill Organization, ASHO, Boston, Brown McKee, California, Celebrity Centre, Chantal Dodson, Chris Shelton, Class VIII, Clearwater Commission, Communication Course, Dave Brubeck, Diana Hubbard, Dianetics, East Grinstead, E-meter, England, Ethics Officer, FBI, Flag Land Base, John Otto, Kathy Talent, L. Ron Hubbard, LAPD, Leah Remini, Los Angeles, Luzette Sparrin, Mario Feninger, Mary Sue Hubbard, Mimi Rogers, NASA, Orange County, OT, Ray Kemp, Rebecca McKee, Saint Hill Manor, Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, Scientology and the Aftermath, Sea Org, Serge Gil, Sherry Ollins, St. Louis, Tijuana, Tom Cruise, Tom McCaffrey, Training Routines, UFO, US Virgin Islands, Vietnam, Wilt Chamberlain, Yvonne Jentzsch

As covered in our previous article, the US Bankruptcy Court ruled against Scientologists Matt and Kathy Feshbach's attempt to discharge $3.8 million in back taxes in bankruptcy. The Court found that the Feshbach's could have paid their entire tax debt had they simply curbed their excessive and lavish spending on a luxury lifestyle. The Feshbach's thought they could ultimately beat the IRS by going bankrupt. However, they lost that bet when the court found that the couple had, "willfully attempted to evade their tax debt within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(C)." The Feshbach's lost their case and owe the IRS $3.8 million. In this article we turn our attention to the story Matt Feshbach's Okyanos Heart Institute in Grand Bahama. In 2011 Matt and Kathy Feshbach told the US Bankruptcy Court that their net worth was only $138,000. Nevertheless, by By 2014, Matt Feshbach had founded and was the CEO of the Okyanos Heart Institute in The Bahamas. The premise of Okaynos was that adult stem cells taken from adipose tissue (body fat) were effective in treating certain diseases, particularly heart disease. A 2014 press release reads: Freeport, The Bahamas (PRWEB)February 21, 2014

Tags: 1970, 1980, 1984, 1990, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, AMA, Bahamas, Bankruptcy, Company, Condusiv Technologies, Craig Jensen, David Miscavige, Delaware, England, Environmental Protection Agency, Ethics, FDA, Feshbach, Fraud, Houston, Internal Revenue Service, International Association of Scientologists, IRS, Kathy Feshbach, London, Mary Sue Hubbard, Matt Feshbach, Medical, Miami, Nasdaq, New York, Okyanos Heart Institute, OT, Quicky, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Snow White Program, Super Power, UK, Victoria

In the subjects of Dianetics and Scientology, there are fundamental points of its dogma which are accepted solely on faith and from which the techniques and methods of its practice are created. In this video, we are going to look at two of these, one following from the other, which are perhaps the first principles L. Ron Hubbard formulated, years before he even wrote Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health in 1950. Hubbard described these as axiomatic principles, meaning that they were self-evident truths. The root concept we will examine is what Hubbard referred to as the Dynamic Principle of Existence, which became the basis of Dianetics and was later incorporated into and expanded upon when Hubbard created Scientology in 1953. Let's go ahead and see what this is all about, where Hubbard may have came up with these concepts and whether these really work out as the scientific truths Hubbard claimed them to be. The backstory to this involves a book Hubbard wrote way before Dianetics and Scientology were even conceived of, a book which very few have read or even seen and which in the world of Scientology has achieved the status of mythic lore. This book was variously called The One Command, The Dark Sword or Excalibur, named after King Arthur's legendary sword of power. Let's talk about the significance of this book in the bigger picture of Scientology. Whenever he brought up Excalibur, Hubbard was fairly consistent that he wrote it after a dental surgery gone wrong in April 1938, during which time he claimed that his heart stopped and he had a near-death experience. He imagined seeing a light and a place of wonder and woke up thinking he had been shown the secrets of life itself. Although he'd been told by some disembodied voice to forget everything he'd seen, he didn't forget.

Tags: 1938, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1961, 1967, Aberree, Arthur Burks, Basics, Dianetics, Excalibur, Jesus Christ, Mental Health, New Republic, OT III, Quicky, The Fundamentals of Thought, Washington, Xenu

What about the "Terrible pay" Why are they altering LRH's words??? OMG. The point of this is?

Tags: 2012, AOLA, Colombia, Farsec, Field Staff Member, Karin Pouw, L. Ron Hubbard, OT, Plymouth, Quicky, Thursday Funnies, UK, Xenu

Often one looks at the church of scientology and wonders if anything will ever change. Are they bound to continue to practice Fair Game, hard sell vulturing and disconnection forever because it is dictated by L. Ron Hubbard? The answer is no. Outside pressure, bad PR and legal cases DO impact scientology and change the way they behave.

Tags: Abortion, Apollo, David Miscavige, Disconnection, Fair Game, Int Base, Laura DeCrescenzo, Marriage, Quicky, Sea Org, The Hole

We asked our attorney and webmaster, Scott Pilutik, to help us understand what's going on with the "First Independent Church of Scientology" and its effort to get a trademark on its name. We reported recently that tax exempt status was granted to FICoS, which is made up of former Church of Scientology members who have broken away from it and want to practice Scientology's processes independently. But forming a small non-profit is one thing, getting trademark of a name that includes the word "Scientology" is another. Scott helps us understand what's going on. Many years ago an attorney who represented the Church of Scientology's intellectual property interests (and whom I'll not name out of professional courtesy) told me in a moment of frankness that the one thing that kept him awake at night was the possibility of a court one day finding the trademarked term "Scientology" generic. He didn't have to explain his fear. The commercially disastrous implications of a court finding any mark generic is well understood. By definition a mark can only be deemed generic after it has become extremely famous and thus lucrative. This cause and effect is easier to see in the retail universe, where, for example, Bayer's "Aspirin" had become so ubiquitous a headache remedy that consumers started using the term descriptively, and the term was soon found by a court to be generic. Bayer was a victim of its own success and suffered commercially when its competitors began to sell their own brands of "aspirin."

Tags: 2015, Electronic Frontier Foundation, First Amendment, First Independent Church of Scientology, Independent, Independent Scientology, IRS, Mental Health, Mormon, Quicky, Scott Pilutik, Tax exempt, Trademark

We have something of a cryptic story this morning. Some months ago, we were asked a question by a researcher and we didn't have access to the answer at the time. Now we've stumbled upon it, and we thought rather than just email that person, we'd post the answer publicly for the heck of it. Oldtimers will remember a series we did several years ago. Newcomers may be simply bewildered. But bear with us, and we'll try to make this interesting to everyone. From 1967 to 1975, L. Ron Hubbard ran Scientology from sea. From his flagship the Apollo, Hubbard — who dubbed himself "Commodore" — led a small armada that also included the Athena and the Diana as it plied the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. His ships were crewed by the young members of his "Sea Organization," and each day, Hubbard and his staff would issue a document called the "Orders of the Day," which to this day his former crew members still pronounce as "oods."

Tags: 1952, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 2011, 2012, Apollo, Athena, Caribbean, David Miscavige, Debbie Cook, Europe, Facebook, Flag Service Organization, L. Ron Hubbard, La Quinta, Leah Remini, Marc Wiegand, Marriage, Mary Sue Hubbard, Mediterranean, Mike Rinder, Monique Rathbun, New Year's Eve, Operating Thetan, Orders of the Day, Quicky, Ray Jeffrey, San Antonio, Scientology executive, Sea Org, Sinar Parman, SMERSH, Texas, The Hole, Village Voice, Wayne Baumgarten

The prosecution alleges these ads did not reveal there was a link with the Church of Scientology and that the 'jobs' offered were voluntary positions. Yves Régimont , the President of the 69th Chamber of the criminal court in Brussels, began his examination on the "Actiris" aspect of the case, dealing with the Belgian Scientology non-profit and two of its members, Myriam Z. and Jeannine V., on Monday. Jeannine V. was Director of the Church when the job openings were advertised in the free local papers Vlan and Passe-partout amongst others, in 2007 and 2008. "The people who came did not know the ads had been placed by the Church of Scientology. They thought there were administrative jobs which did not in fact exist, and they were promised a salary which was non-existent; and then they were not allowed to leave," said the President.

Tags: 2007, 2008, Belgium, Brussels, Judge Yves Régimont

Another in the Sunday Redux series. This one was originally published on March 25, 2013. Scientology's "massive international expansion" has become almost a mantra of David Miscavige and his clone spokespeople (mostly lawyers these days) that send letters to the media. At least in the US it seems the spokespeople are no longer allowed to speak . This is the first in a series of articles that will examine the FACTS about this supposed "massive international expansion".

Tags: 1990, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, Advanced Org, American Religious Identification Survey, Catholic, Class V, Clearwater, David Miscavige, Dublin, Graeme Wilson, International Association of Scientologists, Ireland, Jefferson Hawkins, L. Ron Hubbard, London, Mission, Office of Special Affairs, OT, Quicky, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Sea Org, Steve Hall, Tampa, The Independent, Tony Ortega, UK

A few days after sending his resignation letter, Haggis returned home from work to find nine or 10 Scientology members standing in his front garden, waiting to talk to him. In the days that followed, more church officials and members visited his office. As he told The New Yorker magazine, these officials became "more livid and irrational" as he refused to be persuaded out of his stance. He was also "trolled" online. "I know what they do online," he says. "I've seen them attack others under false names, try to discredit them, ruin their careers. And I've heard about these two people who work in the basement of Special Affairs there and they're just online all day at their computers, going on to various blogs, commenting on people's lives and things they do.

Tags: Fair Game, LGBT, Office of Special Affairs, Paul Haggis, San Diego, Wikipedia

Perry Chapdelaine tells the story of L Ron Hubbard and Don Purcell's disagreement over past lives. @http://scientolipedia.org/info/Perry_...

Tags: Don Purcell, L. Ron Hubbard, Perry Chapdelaine, Quicky

We're going to start out this installment of Sunday Funnies with a tip we received from one of our best sources. We're told that on Friday night, the Flag graduation ceremony in Clearwater, Florida was graced by the presence of none other than super celebrity Scientologist and television actress Kirstie Alley! Hey, didn't Kirstie just graduate from OT 7 not very long ago? Yes, we told you that she and Nancy Cartwright and Kelly Preston had all finished recently after being "on the level" as they say. Well, it turns out that Kirstie's been really busy with her L. Ron Hubbard studies lately, as she was on stage at Flag Friday to celebrate her ascension to SUPER POWER! Now, before you go assuming that Kirstie can now leap tall buildings in a single bound, we'll just remind you that what Kirstie actually just paid tens of thousands of dollars for is spelled out in dreary detail in a leak by independent Scientologists, and our own piece on just one of Super Power's dozen rundowns. We'd like to think Kirstie got a nice soak in the oiliness table, but it's more likely her experience involves holding the cans of an e-meter and answering the question "Where do you feel safe?" about a bajillion times. We're sure it was worth every penny.

Tags: Chill EB, Clearwater, David Miscavige, E-meter, Florida, Google, International Association of Scientologists, Kansas City, Kelly Preston, Kirstie Alley, Miami, Mike Rinder, Nancy Cartwright, Oiliness table, OT 7, OT Committee, Paul Haggis, Paul Seymour, Saint Hill, Shannon Ullman, Stacy Francis, Stan Gerson, Sunday Funnies, Super Power, Tampa, Telegraph

Charlie Frago of the Tampa Bay Times has provided a new update on the requirements the church has to meet to satisfy the city for the GAG II/Sooper Power weekend of over-the-top back-patting and self-congratulations that the planet is at last now being cleared by a building. Looks like the city is basically allowing the church to close off Fort Harrison to hold the ribbon cutting. This is good news for all outside observers. Glimpses will be had of the magnificent celebrations, what He has to say will be heard ringing through the streets of Clearwater for believer and non-believers alike, and it will be possible to count the people in attendance. It will be a very interesting measure of the straight up and vertical expansion He has been talking about for years now. With 12,000 Scientologists in the Clearwater area, two St Hill Size Ideal Orgs right across the bay in Tampa and press gangs out around the world shangaiing people to arrive, the gathering should be truly impressive. This after all IS the single biggest and monumental event in the history of the church universe. I wonder how high He is going to erect walls and fences to try to keep those pesky locals from seeing this wonderful gift to the city being christened like the Titanic. 10 feet? 12 feet? And how many off duty cops and PI's will be on duty to ensure He is safe from the marauding mobs of senior citizens that inhabit downtown Clearwater area who want to see the inside of this monster they have been staring at for a decade that has had paper over all its windows.

Tags: Charlie Frago, Circus, City of Clearwater, Clearwater, Fort Harrison, Ideal Org, Quicky, Tampa, Tampa Bay Times

Around the lunch hour Thursday, a crowd on the streets was made up of professionals in suits, tourists in T-shirts and members of the Church of Scientology donning uniform slacks and white dress shirts. They sat outdoors at a scattering of al fresco restaurants and cafes, and many stopped at a series of parking spaces transformed for the day into an impromptu art studio or a lounge where pedestrians could pick up books from the city library and relax on benches. It was the city's latest effort to bring a spark of whimsy and creative activity to a city center that has all the makings of a vibrant downtown — the tree-lined sidewalks and medians, the mix of offices, shops and restaurants — but appears empty and lifeless at times during the day.

Tags: Bill Sturtevant, Capitol Theatre, Clearwater, Clearwater Downtown Partnership, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Cleveland Street, Flag Building, Fort Harrison, Frank Hibbard, Tony Starova

The Garcias allege that they were induced to give donations to Scientology under fraudulent conditions. But the church contends that the Garcias signed contracts which require them to seek refunds or other redress through an internal arbitration system. Scientology has told Judge Whittemore that this is an internal religious dispute, and not something that should be in a civil court of law. Before he rules on that matter, Whittemore asked Scientology to submit a 5-page explanation of its arbitration procedures. Now, the Garcias are responding to what the church submitted.

Tags: Arbitration, Committee of Evidence, Fraud, Garcia v. Scientology, High Crime, Judge James Whittemore, Legal, Luis and Rocio Garcia, Luis Garcia, Mike Rinder, Rocio Garcia

Today, some follow-up details on the South Africa nightmare showed up; I continue to think this could be significant as the cult appears to be retreating and retrenching from some geographies to focus on the US operation. I'm hungrily devouring everything I can to attempt to figure out whether this scenario of the cult declaring a sizable number of big donors will have ripple effects potentially including the entire org declaring itself independent of the "mother church." Tony's article today focuses on a filing in the Garcia suit which can be used to cast aspersions on the credibility of the "diversity jurisdiction" memo which is still at issue in the case. The message boards have a fair amount of clever creativity worth checking out. While some might accuse me of bias, I must say that Supermodel #1's comments on yesterday's Scientology Daily Digest are worth noting. She's tolerant of my interest in the cult but has not had much interest in the spotlight. I invited her to put in a small comment on my first blog post to help "christen" the blog, much as an elegant woman christens a lumbering smoke-belching ship before launch. I may have created a monster, however, as reading her rather witty repartee will show.

Tags: 1980, A Piece of Blue Sky, Afghanistan, Angry Gay Pope, Anonymous, Bauer Media, Chuck Beatty, Clearwater, David Miscavige, Disconnection, Gaye Corbett, International Association of Scientologists, Jon Atack, Mark Bunker, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Morton Report, Quicky, Rehabilitation Project Force, Sea Org, Skip Press, South Africa, Stephen A. Kent, Super Power, Ted Babbitt, TMZ, Tom Cruise, Tony Ortega, Tory Christman, University of Alberta, WhyWeProtest, WISE

There is a rash of media articles following the disclosure of parts of Tom Cruise's deposition in the lawsuit he filed against a magazine for saying he "Abandoned" Suri. The media is of course focused on the sensational aspects, including the fact that while he apparently didn't have time to visit Suri he flew from the US to the UK for the annual IAS Event to show his support for his BFF. I read the excerpts of his deposition that are on the internet and was struck by the arrogance he displayed in responding to the questioning. Very reminiscent of his BFF. He snapped terminals with Dear Leader a long time ago (see the now infamous Matt Lauer interview for the classic demonstration and compare to Miscavige with Ted Koppel). He apparently remains completely in his valence.

Tags: Bernie Headley, Cindy Plahuta, Claire Headley, Clearwater, David Miscavige, Disconnection, International Association of Scientologists, Jessica Feshbach, Katie Holmes, Lori Hodgson, Matt Lauer, OT, Quicky, Sea Org, Starbucks, Ted Koppel, Tom Cruise, Tommy Davis, Tony Ortega, UK

For the first time since court documents from Tom Cruise's legal battle with Bauer Media surfaced, his legal team is publicly firing back. The star's high-powered attorney, Bert Fields, is taking issue with details from a deposition that was made public this week, in which a lawyer for the publisher says Cruise likened his career to being a combat soldier. "The assertions that Tom Cruise likened making a movie to being at war in Afghanistan is a gross distortion of the record," Fields said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Tags: Afghanistan, Bauer Media, Bert Fields, Lawyer, Quicky, Tom Cruise

After filing suit in May of 2010, the Desmonds have spent two years trying to find answers about how and why Patrick died. Their lawyer said he is frustrated because at every turn, he has met with resistance, deception and disappearing evidence. "There were documents that we asked for in discovery and they… said 'We don't have any such documents,'" said the Desmonds' attorney, Jeff Harris. "We determined later that they do. There clearly were documents that were responsive to the written discovery requests, which you have to respond to under oath, that had never been produced before. We had to find out about them other ways." Judge Stacey Hydrick also concluded that Narconon Executive Director Mary Rieser lied in as many as ten depositions when she "repeatedly failed to produce, and on multiple occasions falsely denied the existence of clearly relevant, responsive documents and information." Finally, Hydrick concluded that, when she asked Rieser on the stand about the omissions and false declarations, Narconon's leader was simply not credible in her responses. In other words, she failed to tell the truth.

Tags: Barbara Marschalk, Colleen Desmond, Georgia, Jeff Harris, Judge Hydrick, Mary Rieser, Narconon, Narconon Georgia, Norcross, Patrick Desmond, Rick Desmond, Ron Carlson, Sandy Springs, Steve Miller

The religious sect ended years of silence over its scheme with a public consultation exercise at the Mac in Cannon Hill Park, which lifted the lid on the long-awaited facelift project. The Church revealed that the former Pitmaston building in Moor Green Lane could be up and running as its new regional headquarters within just 12 months, providing educational facilities for the whole community.

Tags: Birmingham, Graeme Wilson, Pitmaston building, Real estate, UK, Vicky Ellory

by Steve Hall Since our summit meeting at Casablanca 5 weeks ago, I've been working around the clock to make progress on some strategic marketing objectives for Independent Scientology. I broke up production into two phases, phase one was iScientology.org launched on October 12. And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we received the loftiest compliment imaginable from the Church of Scientology who are now pretending to be us. The CoS purchased www.iscientology.com and pointed it to their website. Amazing! Like someone isn't going to notice? It's like Charles Manson meeting with the parole board and swearing he's Brad Pitt. Steve and folks at Casablanca

Tags: 1950, 1987, 2007, 2008, 2009, Abortion, Auditing, Author Services Inc, Basics, Brad Pitt, Charles Manson, Clear, Dallas, Dan Koon, David Miscavige, DEA, Dianetics, Disconnection, Donation, Golden Age of Tech, Google, Ideal Org, Independent Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, Mississippi, Office of Special Affairs, OT, Potential Trouble Source, Quicky, Religious Technology Center, Review, Sea Org, Steve Hall, Super Power, Suppressive Person

Mary Rieser's lips are moving... There's a reason Scientology earned a reputation as one of the most litigious organizations on earth, and one that turns any court fight into a bruising slugfest. People who have found themselves in litigation with the church often complain that Scientology plays dirty, and gets away with murder in America's courts. What's unusual is not hearing that Scientology is up to its old tricks in a lawsuit currently going on in the Atlanta area that involves Scientology's drug rehab program Narconon, but that the judge in that case has called out Scientologist executives in the case for reprehensible behavior.

Tags: 1995, 2007, 2008, ABLE, Atlanta, David Miscavige, Florida, Georgia, Jeff Harris, Judge Hydrick, Judge Stacey Hydrick, Lisa McPherson, Marty Rathbun, Mary Rieser, Mike Rinder, Narconon, Narconon Georgia, Office of Special Affairs, Patrick Desmond, Quicky, Scientology executive, Sea Org

CLEARWATER - It's not a bad deal. For a $300 filing fee, you get a $20,000 salary, an audience of 100,000, and a place at the head of City Hall.

Tags: 2007, 2008, Bill Jonson, Clearwater, Clearwater Downtown Partnership, Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition, Community Development Board, Frank Hibbard, George Cretekos, Jay Polglaze, John Doran, Paul Gibson, Rita Garvey

This is the first in a series of posts on the subject of Black Dianetics and how it is being practiced in present time by the "church" of Scientology. I was prompted to write this series based upon my having recently audited folks who have received services at the Flag Service Org (FSO) and Flag Ship Service Org (FSSO) - the highest "meccas" of Radical Scientology - in the past couple years. With more Scientologists awakening, refugees of Radical Scientology who were "serviced" in 08 and 09 have arrived. Thus, I am finding out just how grotesquely and rapidly the dwindling spiral toward total Black Dianetics is taking hold in Radical Scientology. As an introduction, and for orientation, I offer the following quotations from LRH's Danger: Black Dianetics! and The Loophole In Guarded Rights, which establish the need for this series.

Tags: David Miscavige, Dianetics, Flag Service Organization, Flag Ship Service Organization, L. Ron Hubbard, Quicky

Two new books by ex-members and a golden oldie reissued by a veteran critic of the movement have added to Scientology's worries in recent weeks. No matter if the mainstream book trade remains nervous about memoirs by former Scientologists: in the age of the Internet a determined writer can bypass faint-hearted publishers. As regular visitors to this site will doubtless be aware, two ex-members, Marc Headley and Nancy Many, have just self-published accounts of their time spent in the movement. Both have shocking tales to tell.

Tags: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1980, 1989, 1990, 1996, 2005, 2006, Abortion, Amazon, Apollo, Athens, Blown for Good, blownforgood, California, Chris Owen, Corfu, David Miscavige, England, Flag Order, Guardian's Office, Hana Whitfield, Hemet, Marc Headley, Marcab, Marty Rathbun, Mental breakdown, Mike Rinder, My Billion Year Contract, Nancy Many, Office of Special Affairs, Operation Clambake, Quicky, Rehabilitation Project Force, Royal Scotman, Sea Org, St. Petersburg Times, Tom Cruise, Tony Ortega, UK, Village Voice

The 49,000-square-foot building, six blocks from the White House, is the Church of Scientology's largest presence in Washington. It also owns its historic mansion North of Dupont Circle, where the religion was founded by the late L. Ron Hubbard in 1955.

Tags: Adrian Fenty, Brad Sherman, DC, Ideal Org, Mike Silverstein

Relatives of a soldier who committed suicide in Brisbane say they hope a military inquiry will lead to better ways to manage and rehabilitate injured personnel. The body of 30-year-old Private Edward Alexander McBride was found at a power substation at Everton Park in Brisbane's north in February 2007.

Tags: Australia, Australian Defence Force, Brisbane, Edward McBride, John Lock, Suicide

As soon as protesters in a local anti-Scientology group, donning Guy Fawkes masks, arrived at the religious group's temporary Portland office Nov. 1, members of the organization hurried to the windows to close the curtains and blinds. Armed with picket signs proclaiming the Church of Scientology as an evil cult, the leaderless group, known as Anonymous, spread their ideas outside and around the offices of the religious organization, marching all over the downtown area.

Tags: Anonymous, Portland

David Mayo, L. Ron Hubbard's auditor, Snr C/S Int from 1978 till 1982, ex-scientologist.

Tags: 1978, 1982, David Mayo, Quicky

David Mayo, L. Ron Hubbard's auditor, Snr C/S Int from 1978 till 1982, ex-scientologist.

Tags: 1978, 1982, David Mayo, Quicky

David Mayo, L. Ron Hubbard's auditor, Snr C/S Int from 1978 till 1982, ex-scientologist.

Tags: 1978, 1982, David Mayo, Quicky

David Mayo, L. Ron Hubbard's auditor, Snr C/S Int from 1978 till 1982, ex-scientologist.

Tags: 1978, 1982, David Mayo, Quicky

Last week, EFF announced that it was fighting against Landmark Education's campaign to identify individuals who posted a French documentary, entitled Voyage Au Pays Des Nouveaux Gourous (Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus), that was critical of the Landmark program, and included hidden camera footage from inside a Landmark Forum event in France. EFF is currently talking with Landmark in an attempt to reach an amicable resolution about Landmark's DMCA subpoena to Google. In the hope that we can resolve this without need of litigation, EFF has held off on filing its motion to quash that subpoena.

Tags: Art Schreiber, DMCA, France, Google, Landmark, Landmark Education, Landmark Forum, Voyage Au Pays Des Nouveaux Gourous, Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) _ A German member of the Church of Scientology has been granted asylum in the United States after telling a judge she would be subjected to religious persecution if she went back home, according to the church. Few details were available in the case, which was reported in Saturday's edition of The New York Times. The unidentified woman was granted asylum by a federal immigration judge on Feb. 28, Kurt Weiland of the church's international affairs supervisory board in Los Angeles said Saturday. He said he did not know why the information hadn't surfaced for nine months.

Tags: 1995, Asylum, Germany, John Lund, Kurt Weiland, Los Angeles, New York Times, Quicky, Review, Tampa, Washington

A German member of the Church of Scientology has been granted asylum in the United States after telling a judge she would be subjected to religious persecution if she went back home, according to the church. The unidentified woman was granted asylum by an immigration judge Feb. 28, Kurt Weiland of the church's international affairs supervisory board in Los Angeles said today, confirming a report in the New York Times. He said he did not know why the information had not surfaced for nine months. The woman's lawyer, John Lund, said the case was not part of any orchestrated effort by Scientologists to underscore their dispute with the German government. Scientology is not recognized as a religion in Germany, where officials consider it an extremist organization dedicated to bilking its parishioners of money. Germany has barred Scientologists from membership in major political parties and placed the organization under surveillance.

Tags: Antje Victore, Germany, John Lund, Kurt Weiland, Los Angeles, New York Times, Quicky, Review

The sect has reacted with fury to the programme and has fought hard to have it cancelled. Channel 4 has been bombarded with letters and phone calls from members around the world. Senior sect officials have twice had to be asked to leave the channel's London headquarters after turning up and demanding to meet Mr Jackson. The crew from the independent company making the programme were followed across America and have been visited by private detectives acting for the church at their homes in England. They even visited the stables where the director, Jill Robinson, keeps her horse. She found the visit threatening. "I was not there at the time and I cannot see what they were trying to do except make it clear to me that they knew where I kept my horse," she said. "I regard it as intimidating."

Tags: Alan Hayling, Fair Game, Jill Robinson, John Travolta, Michael Jackson

A drug and alcohol abuse center that fought for two years to get approval to operate in Oklahoma has received its third straight accreditation from a private firm. The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities approved a three-year accreditation for Narconon Chilocco New Life Center, Gary Smith, the center's president and executive director said Thursday. The certification from the Tucson, Ariz.-based commission runs until June 1999. Narconon was notified of the action by Donald E. Galvin, the organization's president, in a letter to Smith.

Tags: 1999, Chilocco Indian School, Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, Donald Galvin, Gary Smith, Narconon, Narconon Chilocco, Newkirk, Oklahoma, Tucson

The state mental health board, acting on an Oklahoma County district judge's order, opted Thursday not to decide on certification for a controversial drug treatment center. "The board's conclusion was, without a staff evaluation, they didn't feel like that had full evidence on which to make a decision," mental health department spokeswoman Rosemary Brown said. District Judge Leeman Freeman ruled Wednesday that the board could not consider a mental health department staff recommendation on whether Narconon Chilocco New Life Center should be certified. The staff recommendation opposed certification, which is necessary before treatment centers apply for a license from the state Department of Health.

Tags: Gary Smith, Judge Leamon Freeman, Narconon, Narconon Chilocco, Oklahoma Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Rosemary Brown, Tribal sovereignty

While local opposition is intensifying to Narconon's proposed drug and alcohol treatment center near here, its backers say they have secured $1 million in donations to begin construction.

Tags: Chilocco Development Authority, Eugene Ingram, Garry Bilger, Gary Smith, Joe Wideman, John Duff, Narconon, Narconon Chilocco, Narconon International, Newkirk, Oklahoma

Only 239 of 7,000 disciples of an Indian guru and homeless people living at his commune voted Tuesday, failing to carry out a threatened attempt to takeover a rural county government. But a spokesman for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the guru, indicated the commune might challenge election results.

Tags: Oregon, Rajneeshee