December 10 in Scientology history

Last week we told you what we were hearing from a source close to Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who has been silent about a three-year LAPD rape investigation of That '70s Show actor and Scientologist Danny Masterson: If Masterson's victims want justice, they'll have to hope she's voted out of office in March and replaced by former San Francisco D.A. George Gascón. Gascón left his position in San Francisco so he could return to Los Angeles and try to defeat Lacey, who is seeking a third term. Gascón is promising reform as a progressive Democrat, but he's also criticizing Lacey for doing nothing about several high-profile figures accused of sexual assaults, including Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and yoga instructor Bikram Choudhury. "Sexual predators are often repeat offenders, and there are six women who have come forward with allegations related to the same man," Gascón said about Choudhury in a statement at his campaign website. "That paints a very troubling picture. Unlike most other types of cases, California law allows sex crime survivors to testify as witnesses in order to establish a pattern of behavior or propensity to commit a crime. We must support all survivors, but from Harvey Weinstein to Ed Buck, Bill Cosby and now Bikram Choudhury, this DA has met a parade of victims with shrugged shoulders. I don't know who will win this race, but I encourage the other candidates to join me in pledging to review the cases involving these predators. It does not matter who you are, how much money you have, or if you work in law enforcement, everyone must be held accountable for their actions."

Tags: 1951, 1985, 2014, 2017, 2020, Australia, Bikram Choudhury, California, Chris Shelton, Clear, Congress, Daily Beast, Danny Masterson, David Miscavige, DeAnna Lorraine, Donald Trump, FBI, George Gascón, Grammy Award, Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood, Jackie Lacey, Joy Villa, LAPD, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, Maxine Waters, Melbourne, Mike Rinder, Multnomah County, Nancy Pelosi, Netflix, Omar Navarro, Oregon, Paris, Patron Meritorious, Portland, San Francisco, Sexual assault, Twitter, UFO, White House (Trump)

Of course, they cite nothing to support their bold claims — but then again any scientologist would NEVER even think to question the IAS. After all, this is the international association of the most ethical group on earth. There is nothing to substantiate the figures of distribution at all, they pluck these numbers out of the sky usually. Someone paid for a printing of the booklets. They may or may not have actually printed that many. No doubt, however many they printed, they did NOT get distributed. Often they end up being dumped. And the "network of 1400 businesses" probably includes dropping a copy in a Starbucks and then counting the 600 Starbucks in the 65 square mile grid — or things of equally absurd "stat push" mentality. But you can find some information about the crime rates.

Tags: Brussels, Colombia, Facebook, International Association of Scientologists, OT, Quicky, Starbucks, Twitter

Australian pop icon and third-generation Scientologist Kate Ceberano has sent her daughter Gypsy Rogers, 14, to a Scientology boarding school in America. The Delphian School, located in the fields of Oregon, costs $72,000-a-year in tuition and features a curriculum partly based on the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Students are also required to learn using Hubbard's 'Study Tech"' method, which is an intense form of studying created by Hubbard himself and championed by Tom Cruise.

Tags: 1996, 2005, 2016, Australia, Chatswood, David Miscavige, Delphian School, Ethics, Kate Ceberano, Leah Remini, Oregon, Quicky, Sea Org, Study Tech, Sydney, Tom Cruise

The "Ideal Org" in Melbourne (where you can "have it all" — guitars, Mercedes', kids etc) seems to be having some difficulty locating a few good men. They are advertising on a site called "SeekVolunteer" to try to fill various staff positions. Some of them are quite amusing. But certainly these "volunteers" are not going to be able to "have it all" like the ads promote...

Tags: Australia, Ideal Org, Japan, Melbourne, Nepal, Quicky, Taiwan, Volunteer Ministers

In this episode, Dr. Darrell L. Bock and Michael J. Svigel discuss respectfully engaging world religions, focusing on Scientology. https://voice.dts.edu/?post_type=tablepodcast&p=13296?adsource=TUBE_thetable https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-table-podcast-audio/id586379713

Tags: Dallas, Quicky

Robert, who was featured on last week's episode of The Aftermath, joined Ron Miscavige for his podcast on Sunday. Give it a listen. You will hear stories about his early years on the Apollo, his interactions with Diana Hubbard and David Miscavige that are pretty astonishing. Things we could not focus on in the limited time we had on the show. It is not what you might be expecting! Robert, Ron and Dave Richards have been close friends for many years. Dave unfortunately passed away a few months ago. I have known Ron since our families met at St Hill in the early 70's, and I met Dave Richards on the Apollo in 1973. It was Dave who introduced me to Robert and the 4 of us became great buddies — me being the latecomer in some respects and an original in others. I promised Ron I will do a podcast with him — as soon as life settles down a bit, sometime in the New Year.

Tags: 1973, Apollo, Dave Richards, David Miscavige, Diana Hubbard, New Year's Eve, Quicky, Robert Almblad, Ron Miscavige

Yesterday we spotted a story in the Australian press about a local school that sounded familiar. Then we remembered that it was a school that had been exposed by our friend and colleague, Bryan Seymour. We asked him for comment on the new story, and he didn't disappoint… Scientology has sunk to a new low in Australia. That's difficult to do, given the long history of appalling abuse inflicted here by the cult. Now they are selling off part of a school to raise money — not to improve the lives of the children they are supposed to be teaching; but to enrich the cult they serve.

Tags: 1960, 2011, 2015, 2016, Applied Scholastics, Australia, Bryan Seymour, David Miscavige, Europe, Ideal Org, Italy, L. Ron Hubbard, Melbourne, Milan, Milano, Sequoia University, Yarralinda School

Rod Keller gives us a detailed look at how one Scientology front is having its sneaky ways exposed by a determined activist. Scientology maintains several front groups - organizations that pretend to be independent from Scientology, but are really under the direct control of the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), which is the public relations, investigations and dirty tricks department. Youth for Human Rights is one of these, and their mission is to educate the public on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When there are not enough youth involved, they sometimes go by the name United for Human Rights. Scientology orgs sponsor events to bring in non-Scientologists under a policy by L. Ron Hubbard known as "safepointing." Mark Lawson (not his real name) is part of a growing movement in Ontario, Canada to protest the deceptions and abuses of Scientology. Organizers come together on the Facebook group Ontario Against Scientology to share information. Protests have recently been held at the new Continental Liaison Office in Guelph, the Cambridge Ideal Org, and a Drug-Free Marshals event featuring a number of Toronto police officers. Lawson recently spotted a poster for a Youth for Human Rights event at the Ontario Science Center in Toronto and decided to investigate.

Tags: 1998, 2006, 2018, A&E, Abdul Hai Patel, Abortion, Barcelona, Cambridge, Cambridge Org, Canada, Continental Liaison Office, Director of Special Affairs, Disconnection, Drug Free Marshals, Facebook, Golden Era, Guelph, Ideal Org, Leah Remini, Mark Lawson, Music, Muslim, Nicole Crellin, Office of Special Affairs, Ontario, Ontario Against Scientology, OT, Pat Felske, Pierre Sabourin, Quicky, Rod Keller, Safe Point, Scientology and the Aftermath, Sean Hauk, Sheridan Cyrus, STAND, Toronto, Twitter, United for Human Rights, United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Youth for Human Rights International, Yvette Shank

The weekly show where I answer viewer questions left in the comments sections of my Q&A videos or sent to me by email to AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week, the questions I answer are: (1) If Scientologists don't want anything to do with, say, schizophrenics, because they are there to help the "able be more able," and they discourage drugs for mental problems, and they don't like people going to therapists, then what do Scientologists think someone in that situation should do? (2) Over the past year or so, I have read comments on various sites that say or imply that the highest level of training that is currently available is as a Class 5 auditor. Since the Golden Age of Tech II in 2013, the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course is no longer offered and by extension Class 8 and 9 would not be either. I know Classes 10-12 were only offered to Sea Org and not public, so would not expect them to be offered. The question is this: Are Class 6 and up available at all to anyone? How are the L's and OT levels being delivered with so many of the higher trained auditors having died or left the church?

Tags: 2013, Catholic Church, Critic, David Miscavige, Epilepsy, Golden Age of Tech, Jewish, L. Ron Hubbard, OT, Quicky, Rehabilitation Project Force, Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, Scientology: A to Xenu, Sea Org, Space Jazz, We Stand Tall, Yuval Laor

Bubbles Champagne and her gang of merry fools are still bubbling along... As always, they reveal more than they think with their hype-minutes. If you were looking for theetie-weetie...

Tags: Anna Paddock, Apollo, Brittany Bourland, Chairman of the Board, Curt Larson, DC, Debbie Sharp, Denise Wike, International Association of Scientologists, Jim Wavell, Kaye Champagne, Lyle Roland, Michael Walby, Monique Rathbun, Orlando, OT Ambassador, OTC, Pat Fantilli, Peggy Seiwert, Quicky, Sean Tyrrell, Student Hat, Sue Young, Tampa

Leah Remini Scientology And The Aftermath Full Episode Full Episodes

Tags: Dead Agent, Leah Remini, Mike Rinder, Scientology and the Aftermath, Video

Scientology's Only Hope…maybe Scientology orgs and missions have occasional good weeks where they can afford to pay the staff and stock the bathrooms, but per every conventional criterion for financial success, not one has ever been solvent. If not for free labor, advance donations by dedicated whales, and a blind staff, they all would have had to shutter their doors years ago. And yet, the mother church perpetuates an unworkable system without acknowledging decades of mismanagement and insolvency. The grand experiment that LRH envisioned has failed. Why?

Tags: Auditing, CCHR, Clear, Condition of Doubt, Conditions, DC, E-meter, Ethics, Field Staff Member, Flag Service Organization, Ideal Org, Independent, Int Base, International Association of Scientologists, Knowledge Report, L. Ron Hubbard, Marcab, Miami, Munich, Narconon, Org Board, OT, Scam, Scientology practice, Sea Org, Survival Rundown, Terra Cognita, WISE

Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than three years he's been helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet. It took me a while to decompress from Scientology. After all, in nine years, I had never doubted. I wasn't too scared to look under the cover of a hostile book: I read The Mind Benders and Cults of Unreason, heck, I even skimmed Roy Wallis's sociological examination of the subject – The Road to Total Freedom – but I was not impressed. I used traditional methods of skepticism throughout. For instance, Evans claimed that Hubbard had become disinterested in Scientology during his time in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It was easy to disprove this assertion, all I had to do was look at my next door neighbour's brand new (and vastly overpriced) Technical Volumes and into the OEC Policy Volumes to find that Hubbard had churned out issues at his usual hypergraphic pace.

Tags: 1934, 1950, 1954, 1960, 1978, A Piece of Blue Sky, Bill Robertson, Blackfoot, Buddha, Commodore's Messenger Organization, Cults of Unreason, Dianetics, Eli Lilly, James Phelan, John McMaster, John Sanborn, Jon Atack, KABC, Los Angeles, Marcab, Quicky, Rhodesia, Roy Wallis, Sea Org, The Mind Benders, The Road to Total Freedom, TR-0, Xenu, Zimbabwe

Rachel Bernstein is a family and individual counselor and a cult specialist in Encino, California. She has helped over 1,000 people recover from participation in destructive cults. In this video, we talk about the control methods destructive cults use including the power of group agreement and the use of language to shape thought patterns. Rachel can be reached at 818-907-0036 Rachel's email is rbpsychology@gmail.com

Tags: California, Cult, Quicky, Rachel Bernstein

This is "12365219_903548909735283_1573230590_n" by Sec Check on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Tags: American Power and Gas, Court of Ethics, Tom Cummins, Video

The WISE logo We have the legal complaint and some more details about the story that broke out of Pasadena, California yesterday: A woman named Annie R. Lee is suing a company after she refused to take Scientology classes she says were forced on her by her employers, resulting in her being terminated and replaced by members of the Church of Scientology. This isn't the first time a legal action has resulted after employers have tried to force Scientology on their workers. There's an entire wing of Scientology, known as the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) that targets employers, trying to convince them that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard not only discovered the secrets of the human mind and the true nature of the universe, but also that he was a genius in business matters.

Tags: 1984, 2007, 2014, Annie Lee, Annie R. Lee v. Lusida Rubber Products, California, California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, China, Chris Shelton, Legoland, Lusida Rubber Products, Miami, Nepal, Oregon, Pasadena, Quicky, Rachel Bernstein, Shanghai, Taichung, Taiwan, Wayne Chin, William Johonnesson, WISE, World Institute of Scientology Enterprises

For two years, Michele Colon believed with complete conviction that the end of the world was imminent and that an elderly lady from South Korea was God. For those same two years, Colon, a nurse, attended services at the World Mission Society Church of God in the New Jersey suburb of Ridgewood. Colon tells PEOPLE she defected from the World Mission Society Church of God more than four years ago. She says she did so because she believes she had been brainwashed into what she alleges is a doomsday cult. Colon further claims in a civil suit she filed against the 50-year-old World Mission Society Church of God, a copy of which was obtained by PEOPLE, that the group is a "profit-making" cult that "uses a number of psychological control tactics…to prevent its members from exposing its criminal and tortious behavior."

Tags: Abortion, Jang Gil-ja, New Jersey, Rick Ross, Sleep deprivation, South Korea, World Mission Society Church of God

Note: This article first appeared on Tony Ortega's Underground Bunker and is posted here for archival reasons. As a dishonest, misleading, and predatory organization, the Church of Scientology operates successfully only because it has manipulated Western legal systems and contract law in order to gain unfair advantages for itself. These unfair advantages serve to harm Scientologists through legal, financial, and spiritual means. In this article, we explore the efforts of L. Ron Hubbard and the church to acquire and maintain these unfair advantages. To do so, we examine the crucial 1966-1967 period in Scientology.

Tags: 1966, 1967, Alex Gibney, Conditions, Division 1, Ethics, Fair Game, Guardian's Office, Independent Scientologists, IRS, L. Ron Hubbard, Office of Special Affairs, Orientation, PC folders, Private investigator, Public Investigation Section, Quicky, Refund, Scientology organization, Sea Org, SEC, Squirrel Busters, Suppressive Person, Tax exempt, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker

Hilarious video with Billy Eichner and Rachel Dratch that sets the tone for this week's funnies. Watch it here It's the Season of Giving — to us. Hey, I thought it was scientology that was supposed to be changing communities?

Tags: 1978, 2003, Atlanta, Clear, Dallas, Harlem, Ideal Org, Miami, OT, OTC, Quicky, Tampa, Thursday Funnies, USA

Yesterday, we brought you the news of the latest bizarre Scientology ambush - in this case, by a group of "Sea Org" workers swarming former church member Marc Headley, who was at Scientology's International Base with a Danish television crew. We had a feeling the story might have legs because just a few weeks earlier, a similar ambush - of Marty Rathbun at an LAX terminal - had produced a video that was widely picked up by the media. The three short videos Marc gave us that we published on our YouTube channel featured wild-eyed Scientologists making bizarre arguments in an aggressive style - just like in the Rathbun video. Marc also sent us a lengthy narrative about what had happened leading up to the videos and who was in them.

Tags: 1950, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, Anderson Cooper, Blown for Good, California, Catherine Fraser, Chairman of the Board, CNN, Dani Lemberger, David Miscavige, eBay, Escape, Haifa, IBTimes, Int Base, International Business Times, Israel, Jefferson Hawkins, Jennifer Linson, Karin Pouw, LAX, Marc Headley, Marc Yager, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Musical Chairs, Potential Trouble Source, Riverside County Sheriff, Sea Org, South Africa, Squirrel, Suppressive Person, Tami Lemberger, Tampa Bay Times, Yinon Milles, YouTube

The Scientology PR machine is rolling... Like a runaway train on a toboggan ride down the Matterhorn (to steal some shermanspeak). They not only have the international news of the announcement of Alex Gibney's scientology film premiering at Sundance next month, (and a tongue in cheek statement from HBO about having 160 lawyers being picked up internationally to set the mood and get a LOT of people wanting to watch it to see what the noise is all about), now they have a new video of bizarre bubble behavior leaking out into the real world with Cathy Fraser and Co "confronting and shattering" Marc Headley as he accompanied a Danish film crew to the Int Base — see Tony Ortega's article from yesterday. The main person they put out front was one of the Stepford Wives who became so infamous on AC 360 for their drone-like recounting of rehearsed "lines" completely inappropriate to the circumstances. And this follows on the heels of the now infamous viral video of Jenny Linson and Mutt and Jeff "confronting and shattering" Marty Rathbun at LAX.

Tags: 1984, Alex Gibney, Catherine Fraser, Child abuse, E-meter, HBO, Int Base, Jennifer Linson, L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition, LAX, Los Angeles, Louis Theroux, Marc Headley, Marty Rathbun, OT, Quicky, Sundance, Tom DeVocht, Tony Ortega

Critical thinking is not difficult. Like any other subject, there are certain basics to it, fundamentals upon which the rest of the subject is based. If you know these fundamentals, the rest comes a lot easier. So the first thing we'll go over are three basic facts about critical thinking that you should know. Critical Thinking is Based on Science Critical thinking is based on logic and science. For many people, the word "science" is unpleasant because it brings to mind hard-to-understand classes at school with a lot of weird symbols and calculations and experiments that didn't really make a lot of sense or have much use. Certainly not enough to try to remember them all now.

Tags: Critic, Quicky

Well, the Heartland Institute is at it again. This fossil fuel–funded (and tobacco company–funded) group has made quite the name for itself in the climate change denial game, from trumpeting the false controversy over Climategate to comparing climate scientists to mass murders to misrepresenting the actions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (which was so egregious the CAS issued a statement against Heartland that used the word false four times). Heartland's latest salvo involves an email they sent out about meteorologists and climate change. A paper (a legitimate one, I'll note) was recently published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society called "Meteorologists' Views About Global Warming: A Survey of American Meteorological Society Professional Members." The paper's conclusions show that AMS members who study the climate overwhelmingly support the idea that global warming is real and humans have at least contributed to it. They're pretty clear about it, too: The very first paragraph of the discussion section of the paper states (emphasis mine):

Tags: Climate change, Climate denial, Forbes, Heartland Institute, Michael Mann, Mother Jones, NASA, Twitter

The following is from Office of Special Affairs (OSA, dirty tricks and propaganda arm of Scientology) training manuals. It is from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Thus, OSA folks follow it without alteration or deviation for fear of being branded a 'squirrel' (someone who alters Scientology 'technology') by the guarantor of Scientology 'orthodoxy' David Miscavige. It is published here to give folks a heads up on how the Scientology organized crime syndicate operates against dissenters. INTELLIGENCE ACTIONS , COVERT INTELLIGENCE , DATA COLLECTION by L. Ron Hubbard, 2 December 1969

Tags: 1969, Case Officer, David Miscavige, Office of Special Affairs, Quicky, Squirrel

Predictably, the heavy sales demand is rolling out now on the Warehouse VIII. The middle of the night calls... The regges banging on your door....

Tags: Chairman of the Board, Command Intention, Flag Service Organization, OT, Quicky

Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology's International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology's "tech," and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series. And now, it's time for the big reveal. We have a lot of ground to cover. Thankfully we have Claire and Bruce Hines to help us understand this stuff. So after several years of devotion and a couple of hundred thousand dollars in fees (not to mention additional donations and other costs), it's finally time for us on our trip up the "Bridge to Total Freedom" to see what's kept in that locked briefcase they open up for you on Operating Thetan Level III. What you're shown is some handwritten pages which L. Ron Hubbard scribbled in 1968.

Tags: 1968, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 9/11, Angry Gay Pope, Bridge to Total Freedom, Bruce Hines, Canary Islands, Claire Headley, David Miscavige, Hawaii, Hemet, Ideal Org, Int Base, J. Swift, Karen de la Carriere, Kevin Caetano, Lara Dolan, Marty Rathbun, Medical, Operating Thetan, OT, OT III, Potential Trouble Source, Quicky, Religious Technology Center, Scam, Sea Org, Teegeeack, Tom Cruise, Xenu

Tom Cruise's Ex-Girlfriend and Other Former Scientologists Lash Out In Never-Before-Heard Anti-Scientology Rap. See full story here: http://gawker.com/5967150/tom-cruises... Filmed by Tony Ortega: http://tonyortega.org/2012/12/10/naza...

Tags: Former Scientologists, Quicky, Tom Cruise, Tony Ortega

Alexander Jentzsch, a "Middle Eastern" man? That's one of the odd things we found in the autopsy report of the son of Church of Scientology President Heber Jentzsch, who was found dead on July 3 at the home of his in-laws. We reported earlier what the Los Angeles Department of Coroner told us, that Jentzsch died because he took Methadone while he was suffering from a serious case of pneumonia. The Coroner ruled it an accident.

Tags: 1982, 2004, 2010, Alexander Jentzsch, Apollo, Church of Scientology International, Class XII, England, Heber Jentzsch, Karen de la Carriere, Los Angeles, Mormon, Office of Special Affairs, Pneumonia, Quicky, Sea Org, Suppressive Person, Texas, The Hole, Utah

Well, we've been looking forward to bringing you this for some time now, and thanks to the folks over at Gawker, it's now live, for all the world to see. The too-cool-for-school commenters over there will crap all over the video of course, which is as predictable as the sun rising in the morning. But we trust our readers will see the value in this unique video.

Tags: 2004, 2005, Channel 4, David Miscavige, Gawker, Hollywood, Iran, John Cook, Kirstie Alley, Los Angeles, Marc Headley, Marty Rathbun, Maureen Orth, Mike Rinder, Nazanin Boniadi, Quicky, Tiziano Lugli, Tom Cruise, Vanity Fair

We have all heard of the justification couched as the 'why' opening the door for the New Order's new direction for the once workable methods of Scientology: the blind are leading the blind. I have given this some thought while working on the history of Scientology. First, for those unfamiliar with formal evaluation technology a 'why' is technically not a why if it does not open the door to a doable handling. The only door that 'the blind are leading the blind' opens is one into a brick wall. To get to a real why let's clear some words. Arrogant:

Tags: Dianetics, Quicky

by Mike Rinder Some of you may recall the Taiwan "Ideal Org" building, purchased by the IAS in 2005 accompanied by much fanfare and hoopla from POB himself about this being the first org in China. You may recall the CGI fly-through showing the grand lobby and the courserooms and auditing rooms. 100% smoke and mirrors. Below are some shots taken within the last month of that building.

Tags: 2005, China, David Miscavige, Fraud, Guillaume Lesevre, Ideal Org, International Association of Scientologists, Kaohsiung, Mike Rinder, Mission, OT, Quicky, Taiwan

Another Saturday morning here in the underground bunker finds us once again picking up the pieces after another hectic week. Let's review, shall we? After starting off the week with another edition of Sunday Funnies, that evening we published our lengthy interview with Ramana Dienes-Browning, a former Sea Org executive who corroborated the claims of Valeska Paris, and described her own harrowing adventures aboard the Freewinds.

Tags: 1968, 1971, 1995, 1996, 2007, Andre Tabayoyon, Apollo, Australia, California, Celebrity Centre, Cult Awareness Network, David Miscavige, Disconnection, Freewinds, Int Base, International Association of Scientologists, Jefferson Hawkins, Kate Bornstein, L. Ron Hubbard, Lisa McPherson, Marriage, Mediterranean, Michael Fairman, Moonies, New Year's Eve, OT, Ramana Dienes-Browning, Rehabilitation Project Force, Scott Pilutik, Sea Org, Sexual assault, Squirrel, Stacy Francis, Sunday Funnies, Suppressive Person, Sydney, Synthia Fagen, Tom Cruise, Valeska Paris

Tags: International Association of Scientologists, Quicky

So here's the newest soldier in the other Bush-era war with no end in sight: the arbitrary and unseemly battle over music piracy. What began with Metallica calling out Napster (and the Recording Industry Association of America suing a 12-year-old for illegal downloading) has now led here, to a London-based organization of "Internet policing specialists" whose website claims to combat everything from libel to pornography. But the Sheriff has become most notorious for unusual efforts to prevent album leaks, which, until recently, mostly involved leaving ominous comments on personal blogs. John Giacobbi says he started Web Sheriff—now boasting a 20-member "core team" with two U.K. offices and plans to open a third stateside—as a means to "take care of online-rights management for artists, managers, and labels, entailing everything from managing album leaks and manufacturing watermarked CDs and DVDs, right through to building and managing websites and YouTube channels, and actually filming and editing content for them," adding that the concept came about "through my long-standing representation of the Village People and the increasing amount of online issues that started to arise." Feel free to read that again. I'd had my own run-in with his company. In June, I scratched out a list of my favorite early 2008 albums for my blog, including Hold Steady's Stay Positive, then rushed to iTunes several weeks before it hit stores due to early leaks. I didn't post any MP3s or really write a review, but I still received this message in the comments section:

Tags: 2005, 2006, Brooklyn, Drama, Google, John Giacobbi, London, Memphis, RIAA, Web Sheriff, YouTube

The homeland of legendary church reformer Martin Luther said over the weekend it will seek to ban the Church of Scientology - an organization considered to be in conflict with Germany's constitution.

Tags: Germany, Jeannette Schweitzer, Wilfried Handl

Mr Schaeuble and the country's 16 state interior ministers have declared Scientology unconstitutional. And in a newspaper interview, he said: "Scientology is working in Germany to secure political power and influence. Fundamental rights, including human rights like the right to equal treatment, are limited or abrogated. The democratic system is rejected."

Tags: Germany

Germany's domestic intelligence agencies are warning that an effort by the country's interior ministers to ban Scientology could fail. They say the group has failed to gain a foothold in German society and that there isn't enough evidence to support freezing its activities.

Tags: Germany, Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Sabine Weber, Wolfgang Schäuble

The controversial Church of Scientology has been granted a subsidy of more than £270,000 a year in public money, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Scientology's lawyers used European rulings and Government equality regulations to force the City of London corporation to grant an 80 per cent rates discount for its new centre near St Paul's Cathedral. The "church", it is believed, is now pressing to pay nothing at all.

Tags: David Maddison, Department for Communities and Local Government, European Court of Human Rights, Janet Kenyon-Laveau, Kevin Hurley, London, Matthew Elliott, Property tax, UK, UK Charity Commission

Ability is one of four private schools in the country that use Hubbard's Study Technology, or "study tech," a back-to-basics method of learning that emphasizes dictionary use and "clearing" the meanings of words. Books with titles like Learning How To Learn and Study Skills For Life are part of the curricula. But some of the other titles stacked on glass shelves nearby seem to go beyond the three Rs that are the focus here. Among them, Hubbard's The Way To Happiness and Clear Body Clear Mind. The titles recall Scientology's teaching that psychiatry and psychology, "armed to the teeth with tools derived from animal experiment," are responsible for all that ails the education system and have made the classroom into "a psychological factory for social reform."

Tags: Ability School, Al Buttnor, Alfreddie Johnson, Applied Scholastics, Canada, Casey Hill, Clay demo, Clear Body, Clear Mind, Compton, Education Alive, Ernestine Peters, Genesys, Heber Jentzsch, Isaac Hayes, Joseph Mallia, Liz Zahari, Maguite Wilkens, NAACP, Stacy Brooks, Study Tech, The Way to Happiness, Toronto, World Literacy Crusade

The head of a drug treatment facility is encouraged by results of a recent state inspection, although one state official says the high grades do not guarantee the center will be certified. The Oklahoma Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is scheduled to issue a decision Friday on whether to certify the Narconon Chilocco New Life Center.

Tags: Gary Smith, Guy Hurst, Narconon, Narconon Chilocco, Oklahoma Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

For the seventh year in a row, the Church of Scientology has sued Pinellas County Property Appraiser Ronald J. Schultz over his assessments of church-owned property. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, the church contends that "Scientology is a bona fide religion" and should therefore be granted tax-exempt status.

Tags: Clearwater, Flag Service Organization, Pinellas County, Ronald Schultz, Taxes

Heber Jentzsch, 53, president of the Church of Scientology International, was imprisoned in Madrid Nov. 20 during a raid on Scientology centers throughout Spain. Judge Jose Maria Vazquez Honrubia initially jailed 71 church members but later released 60 after questioning. The remaining 11, including Jentzsch, of Los Angeles, were ordered held without bail pending an investigation into illicit association, tax evasion, fraud and fiscal charges.

Tags: Bob Meade, Boston, Chick Corea, Church of Scientology International, Clearwater, Dean Kelley, Dianetics, E-meter, George Shultz, Gerald Finn, Heber Jentzsch, Interpol, Judge Vazquez Honrubia, Julia Migenes, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mental Health, Miami, Narconon, National Council of Churches, Richard Haworth, Spain, UN Human Rights Commission, US Secretary of State