Thursday, August 13, 2009

Scientology Crime Bosses Assault The Internet

On August 13th in Scientology history
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Scientology crime bosses sue to stop citizens from exposing crimes on Internet
August 13, 1995, Seattle Times

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950813&slug=2136101

U.S. marshals seized computer equipment and files yesterday from a Virginia human rights advocate accused by Scientology crime bosses of posting evidence of the syndicate's criminal activities on the Internet.

Marshals also served human rights rights activist Mr. Arnaldo Lerma, 44, with a restraining order barring him from revealing more of the syndicate's documents which expose the crimes and human rights abuses that the sdyndicate commits in a fake federal copyright infringement suit filed by the syndicate Friday.

[NOTE: Mr. Lerma eventually won, the crmie syndicate lost big time.]

Tags: Arnaldo Lerma

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The Scientology crime syndicate tried to "command a higher profile" in Harlem
August 13, 2007, Anna Phillips, City Limits Weekly

http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3389

The first thing many subway riders hear as they exit the subway station at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue often is, "Ma'am, do you have stress in your life?"

[NOTE: The crooks couldn't swindle money out of anybody so they stopped this scam.]

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As Scientology falls apart Its Naysayers come forward to expose it

August 13, 2008, Brian Miller, Seattle Weekly

http://seattleweekly.com/content/printVersion/479896

Masked protesters are taking to Seattle streets as the crime syndicate seeks to dump what little money it has left in to real estate in lower Queen Anne.

Tags: Ann Pearce, Anonymous, Real estate, Seattle

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Scientology's Antagonists: Human Rights Heros
August 13, 2008, Lauren Smiley, SF Weekly

http://www.sfweekly.com/content/printVersion/1119503

An ex-Scientologist and an army of online pranksters attempt to bring down the controversial "religion."

But Gorman's loyalty to Scientology turned to rage against it in 2001, after his then-teenage friend Jennifer Stewart, now his wife, alleged she was forcibly raped by an adult staff member of the Mountain View branch of the church. Both say that Scientology officials, including Quiros, urged them not to go to the police. Scientology staffers vigorously deny both allegations. In a later civil suit, the "church" weighed the bad press that might come from the "incendiary" allegations coming out at trial and paid Stewart a handsome 2005 out-of-court settlement that barely made the news.

Tags: Anonymous, Electric Klan, Fair Game, Ford Greene, Gabriel Williams, Jason Herr, Jeff Quiros, Kristi Wachter, Lawrence Wollersheim, Mark Warlick, Office of Special Affairs, Scientology Parishioners League, Sea Org, Suppressive Person, Tommy Gorman, Tory Christman

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Scientology Loon Heterosexual Tom Cruise's Career Is Over

On August 11th in Scientology history
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Tom Cruise's religion may affect his pocketbook in Germany
August 11, 1996, Showbiz, CNN

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9608/11/scientology/index.html

Actor Tom Cruise may have a movie blockbuster in the United States, but in Germany, the star of "Mission: Impossible" faces a controversy that could hit where it hurts: the pocketbook.

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Scientology vs. Psychiatry; Scientology Explored
August 11, 2005, Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 3600, CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/11/acd.01.html

COOPER: It's no secret that Tom Cruise is a devoted, outspoken member of the "Church" of Scientology. That has not always been the case. There was a time when the subject of his religion was off limits to reporters and to interviewers. Not so now. Just ask Matt Lauer who got lectured by Cruise weeks ago on what the actors says are the evils of psychiatry.

Now, while some are surprised by the chance in Cruise, former Scientologists insist it's really no mystery, they think it's related to his rise in the ranks of the "church." [Transcript]

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Below the belt, without remorse
August 11, 2007, Naama Lanski, Haaretz

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/891873.html

Scientology was also integrated into the firm's work, when an organizational consultant who draws on the doctrine was hired to work with the staff, and job candidates were given tests based on Scientology. "Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, wrote many courses on advertising, public relations and marketing, and when I read them I saw they matched what I had learned in practice, my [pretend]beliefs," Morell relates. Tzur finds this the appropriate time to leave the conference room we are sitting in so he can attend to prior commitments.

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Scientologists find unlikely allies in other faiths
August 11, 2007, Matt Sedensky, Associated Press, Florida Times-Union

http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/080807/D8QT4MK00.shtml

Scientology customers claim their fake "interfaith partnerships" show people of all faiths clamor for solutions to real-world problems. Detractors say it amounts to a cloaked effort to burnish the oft-maligned "church's" image and attract new members by appearing less clandestine and more diverse. And the clergy that have adopted aspects of the Scientologists" outreach say they're simply making use of programs that work.

Tags: ABLE, Andreas Heldal-Lund, Applied Scholastics, Narconon, Pat Harney, The Way to Happiness

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Monday, August 10, 2009

Scientology Classed as Organized Crime Not Religion

On August 9th in Scientology history
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One Theory On Michael-Lisa: It's All A Plot
August 9, 1994, Richard N. Leiby, Washington Post, Seattle Times

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=1924408&date=19940809

Lisa Marie Presley, the King's only daughter and heir, has been a Scientologist since childhood; her mother, Priscilla, is said to have joined the church about a year after Elvis" death. Lisa Marie was married to a prominent Scientologist, Danny Keough, but quickly and quietly dissolved that union to marry Jackson in the Dominican Republic in May.

Keough's younger brother, Thomas - also a Scientologist - was an official witness of the Jackson-Presley nuptials. The "Church" of Scientology International issued a statement this week wishing the newlyweds "the very best for a joyful future."

Tags: Celebrity Centre, Danny Keough, FBI, IRS, Karin Pouw, Lawrence Wollersheim, Lisa Marie Presley, Michael Jackson, Robert Vaughn Young

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Scientology Crime Syndicate Assaults Europe Amid Fresh Calls for Ban in Germany
August 9, 2007, Marcus Bvsch, Deutsche Welle

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2730936,00.html

An alarming book, fresh demands for a ban and a rejection of those calls for a prohibition: the controversial Scientology crime syndicate has been all over the media, yet still aims to "missionize" Europe.

Tags: Ursula Caberta

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Torture, or just plain torque? Scientology's insane 'Industry Of Death' Exhibition On Psychiatry Walks A Fine Line of domestic terrorism

August 9, 2007, Kevin Libin, National Post

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6549c0e2-6caf-4daf-be90-df36919788e2&k=65604

"A major purpose of the Scientology crime syndicate is to destroy mental health and replace it with its own insane pseudo-counselling techniques. And Scientology's CCHR is one of Scientology's front-group weapons attempting to achieve that goal," says Stephen Kent, a University of Alberta sociologist specializing in new religions and cults.

Tags: CCHR

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Scientology Creime Syndicate Attacks the Internet Again

On August 7th in Scientology history
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Websites say sucks to big business
August 7, 2000, Duncan Campbell, Technology, The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2000/aug/07/internetnews.internationalnews

While it is mainly big companies that seek to save themselves from embarrassment by buying up potentially rude sites, the "Church" of Scientology has also been unhappy about the use of its name in derogatory sites.

The ACLU is anxious to fight on behalf of the threatened sites so that they can create a new American adage: always giving a sucks an even break.

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Narcon looking at second location
August 7, 2007, Heather Civil, Florida Freedom News, Walton Sun

http://story.waltonsun.com/article.display.db.php?a=1837

Scientolgy's "Narconon" Gulf Coast, Inc. wants to purchase a three-story beach house
at 263 Snowdrift Road and turn it into a 28-bed residential fake "drug treatment" rehabilitation facility.

Tags: Narconon

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Selling Scientology - A Former Scientologist Marketing Guru Turns Against the "Church"

August 7, 2008, Matt Davis, Portland Mercury

http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/selling_scientology/Content?oid=862344

By 1982, Hawkins says he had already shot his fair share of attention-grabbing ads for the religionwhether they involved complex fly-by shots filmed from airplanes or interviewing celebrity Scientologists like former San Francisco 49ers quarterback John Brodie.

Hubbard's philosophy, says Hawkins, was to use ads to "splash the volcano" at the general public. This was linked to Scientology's belief that the image of a volcano has been embedded in people's minds from an experience in a former lifetime.

Hubbard is reported to have said that 75 million years ago, Earth's population was massacred by Xenu, the dictator of the Galactic Confederacy, who stacked us all around a volcano and killed us using nuclear bombsHubbard's 1968 lecture on the "Xenu theory" is now publicly available on the Wikileaks website.

"Splashing the volcano at them was supposed to hypnotize people back, or what they call 'key them in' to the whole Xenu incident," says Hawkins. "And then they would be somehow hypnotized to go and buy the book."

Tags: Anonymous, Apollo, Chuck Beatty, David Miscavige, Dianetics, Gwen Barnard, Jeff Hawkins, John Brodie, Larry Brennan, Marc Headley, Office of Special Affairs, Operating Thetan, Portland, Ronnie Miscavige, Sea Org, Sec Check, Shelly Corrias, Tommy Davis, Watchdog committee

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Scientology Murders Lisa McPherson Destroys Subpoenaed Evidence

On August 6th in Scientology history
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Scientologists fighting to keep files secret
August 6, 1998, Thomas C. Tobin, St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/80698/Scientologists_fighti.html

TAMPA -- For 13 years, Lisa McPherson took courses and counseling from the "Church" of Scientology, and all the while the church kept records of what she said.

Scientology's claim is that they have "strong beliefs" that those records should remain private was at issue Wednesday in a hearing concerning the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the church by McPherson's family. (In 2009 4 defectors admitted that they destroyed the evidence because it showed they murdered her.)

Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar, hired by the family to represent McPherson's estate, says he needs to see the notes to prepare his case.

Tags: Ken Dandar, Lisa McPherson, PC folders

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Church of Scientology Buys More Harlem Property
August 6, 2007, Mark Wellborn, The Real Estate, New York Observer

http://www.observer.com/2007/church-scientology-buys-more-property-125th-street

In 2003, the Scientologists acquired 220 East 125th Street for $3.45 million. They're currently building a 33,000-square-foot church on that property and will build a new community center on the more recent acquisitions, according to Karin Pouw, a public affairs representative for the "church."

Tags: Karin Pouw, NYC, Real estate, Richard Fear

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Narconon Crime Syndicate to meet with new potential neighbors
August 6, 2007, Heather Civil, Northwest Florida Daily News

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/7456

MIRAMAR BEACH  Controversy over a fake drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility has moved from one beachside neighborhood to another.

Scientology's Narconon Gulf Coast Inc. wants to purchase a beach house at 263 Snowdrift Road and turn it into a 28-bed residential facility.

The Scientology organization drew heated opposition earlier this year with its plan to buy a house on Scenic Gulf Drive for the same purpose.

That purchase has since fallen through, and Narconon is now hoping to buy the house near the beach on Snowdrift Road.

Tags: Narconon

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Scientology Underground
August 6, 2007, Jen Carlson, Gothamist

http://gothamist.com/2007/08/06/scientology_und.php

Though police kicked them out in 2005 for violating New York City Transit rules about vending in the subways, it seems they"ve still had a presence down there and, from this photo (taken in late 2006), they're still selling Dianetics (translated in 50 different languages, no less).

Tags: Body routing, NYC

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Scientology Racketeering Against Netcom

On August 5th in Scientology history
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"Church" Of Scientology Settles Dispute With Internet Provider
August 5, 1996, Seattle Times

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960805&slug=2342768

The "Church" of Scientology has settled a copyright dispute with an Internet provider that many in the computer industry worried would restrict freedom of expression in cyberspace.

Tags: Netcom, RTC

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No answers in Scientology case
August 5, 1996, Rose Aguilar, CNET

http://news.com.com/2100-1023_3-220158.html

Many Internet legal analysts are disappointed by an out-of-court settlement between Netcom and the "Church" of Scientology because now they"ll have to wait for another case to come to light before a court sets a firm precedent on Internet access providers" liability for online copyright infringement.

Tags: Dennis Erlich, Helena Kobrin, Judge Whyte, Netcom

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Battlefield Travolta
August 5, 1999, Enzo Di Matteo, NOW Magazine

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/18/49/News/feature2.html

It's been a difficult couple of years for Scientology, which is trying to polish its fringe image as it awaits word from Revenue Canada about its application for charitable status.

But positive PR may be coming to a theatre near you. Screen star John Travolta, Scientology's most famous promoter, has embarked on a film adaptation of Battlefield Earth, the doomsday sci-fi thriller penned by the church's messianic founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

Tags: Al Buttnor, ASI, Battlefield Earth, John Travolta, Montreal, Narconon, Xenu

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Doc suspended for prescribing Valium
August 5, 2001, AP, The Trentonian

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2178956&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6

A doctor was suspended for a year for improperly prescribing Valium to unlicensed "Church" of Scientology workers caring for a church member who had suffered a mental breakdown.

Dr. David I. Minkoff, 53, of Clearwater, Fla., also a Scientologist, will lose his medical license for a year and will be required to practice under probation for two more years, the Board of Medicine ruled Friday. He was fined $10,000.

Tags: David Minkoff, Joan Wood, Lisa McPherson

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Debunking a movement / Scientollywood
August 5, 2005, Carl Kozlowski, Pasadena Weekly

http://web.archive.org/web/20050806235055/www.pasadenaweekly.com/features/feature/feature.html

Exposing some of the unsavory claims that Tom Cruise, John Travolta and other celebrities would rather you didn't know about Scientology

Tags: Arnaldo Lerma, Building Management Services, Celebrity Centre, Cult Awareness Network, Fair Game, Graham Berry, Jack Parsons, Michelle Stith, OT, Richard Leiby, Robert Vaughn Young, Sea Org, Steven Fishman, Timothy Miller, Tom Cruise, Tory Christman, Uwe Geertz, Vistaril, Xenu

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Margarita Lopez stays mum through Scientology flap
August 5, 2005, Paul Schindler, Downtown Express

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_117/margaritalopezstays.html

In a series of three stories and an editorial that began Monday, the New York Post reported that Lopez was the key City Council player in securing $630,000 in city funds for the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a center on Fulton St. that offers September 11 first responders treatments based on large amounts of Vitamin B-3, sauna baths and exercise, in lieu of traditional medical therapies. The treatment is based on theories developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology's late founder. Scientology's most famous exponent, Tom Cruise, was on hand with Lopez for the center's groundbreaking.

The Post reported that the treatment is widely dismissed by medical professionals and noted that the adverse public reaction led the firefighters' union to pull its support for the project.

Tags: Detox, John Carmichael, Margarita Lopez, Tom Cruise

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The gullible age
August 5, 2007, Peter Millar, The Sunday Times

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2198063.ece

A man who holds no truck with established religion is unsurprisingly unlikely to have much good to say about Scientology, which purports to use scientific tools such as its controversial E-meter. It's purely made-up. It just taps into some gullibiligy'. They find some film star or somebody like Tom Cruise or whatever his name is who's thick as two short planks and he becomes a sort of advertisement.

Tags: Richard Dawkins

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Lisa Marie Presley Swindled By Scientology Crime Syndicate

On August 4th in Scientology history
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Harmonic Conversion?
August 4, 1994, Richard Leiby, Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/06/AR2005070600992.html

Lisa Marie Presley, the King's only daughter and heir, has been a Scientologist since childhood; her mother, Priscilla, is said to have joined the "church" about a year after Elvis" death. Lisa Marie was married to a prominent Scientologist, Danny Keough, but quickly and quietly dissolved that union to marry Jackson in the Dominican Republic in May.

Keough's younger brother, Thomas - also a Scientologist - was an official witness of the Jackson-Presley nuptials. The "Church" of Scientology International issued a statement this week wishing the newlyweds "the very best for a joyful future."

Tags: Celebrity Centre, Danny Keough, FBI, IRS, Karin Pouw, Lawrence Wollersheim, Lisa Marie Presley, Michael Jackson, Robert Vaughn Young

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Netcom and Scientology settle
August 4, 1996, CNET

http://www.news.com/Netcom-and-Scientology-settle/2100-1023_3-219990.html

The case involves claims by the Church of Scientology that a former "church" official turned critic used a bulletin board service and Netcom to post material on the Internet that infringed its copyrights.

Specifically, Religious Technology Center and Bridge Publications hold copyrights in the unpublished and published works of L. Ron Hubbard, the late founder of the "Church" of Scientology.

Co-defendant Dennis Erlich is a former "minister" of Scientology who became a vocal critic, with a Usenet newsgroup as his pulpit. Erlich's posting were made through a BBS, which was connected to the Internet through Netcom.

Tags: Bridge Publications, Dennis Erlich, Judge Whyte, RTC

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Struggles with the Ugly Spirit
August 4, 1997, James Campbell, The Guardian

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,102108,00.html

William S Burroughs, who has died aged 83, was the hard man of Hip. His aims as a writer were traditional, to entertain and instruct, but the means he chose to express them were unclassifiable, sometimes indescribable, occasionally unspeakable.

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Doctor in Lisa McPherson case suspended
August 4, 2001, Thomas C. Tobin, St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/News/080401/TampaBay/Doctor_in_Lisa_McPher.shtml

Florida's Board of Medicine has sternly sanctioned Clearwater physician David I. Minkoff, finding he improperly prescribed medicine for a patient he had never seen -- Scientologist Lisa McPherson.

Minkoff, also a Scientologist, prescribed Valium and the muscle relaxant chloral hydrate at the behest of unlicensed "Church" of Scientology staffers who were trying to nurse McPherson, 36, through a severe mental breakdown.

When they failed after 17 days of isolating her, Minkoff was recruited again. This time, he pronounced McPherson dead.

Tags: David Minkoff, Lisa McPherson

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Clearwater Sun alum says City Desk clerk was a spy for Scientology
August 4, 2008, Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times

http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/08/clearwater-sun.html

A particular standout is the essay crafted by Mike Pride, a well-regarded, recently-retired editor of the Concord Monitor, who worked at the Sun through the '60s and '70s. He writes that the newspaper didn't learn for years that the reason Scientologists seemed to know so much about their efforts to investigate them, is because a clerk at the paper was a spy for the "church."

Tags: Clearwater, Infiltration, June Phillips, Spies

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Human Rights Activists Ramp Up To Fight Scientology Crime Syndicate

On August 3rd in Scientology history
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Selling Good Will, Or Dianetics? -- Major Games Sponsor Outrages Some By Its Link To Scientology
August 3, 1990, Marla Williams, Seattle Times

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=1085877&date=19900803

Despite the close relationship, Knight says individuals with reservations about the church have no reason to object to Bridge's sponsorship of the Games. "The church is a completely separate entity. It is not involved in the sponsorship of the Goodwill Games,"" she says.

Tags: Ann Ruble, Bridge Publications, Gary Harmon, Jobee Knight, Karyn Kuever, Margery Wakefield, Sharyn Runyan

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A battle of beliefs waged in megabytes
August 3, 1994, Wayne Garcia, Column One, St. Petersburg Times

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/51853616.html?dids=51853616:51853616&FMT=FT

Scientologists and their critics are colliding in cyberspace.

The critics started the fight, creating an electronic bulletin board dubbed alt.religion.scientology on the Internet, a worldwide web of computer networks with an audience pushing 25-million. Kurt Weiland, who heads Scientology's legal and public affairs branch, dismissed much of the Internet traffic as irrelevant and a waste of time. In the next breath, though, he acknowledged that "we asked our law firm to look into what was going on."

A private investigator working for Scientology posed as a journalist to quiz a computer user in Bloomington, Ind., who is believed to have started the anti-Scientology newsgroup.

Tags: alt.scientology.war, David Miscavige, Elaine Siegel, Free Zone, Homer Wilson Smith, Jeff Jacobsen, Kurt Weiland, OSA, Stu Sjouwerman

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Network gives voice to former Scientologists
August 3, 1994, Wayne Garcia, St. Petersburg Times

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/51853609.html?dids=51853609:51853609&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT

Although fewer than 150 people now use the computer network, Scientology officials have responded to FACTnet's existence with a blitz of legal threats and reams of allegations about its founders.

The church also has tried to derail publicity about FACTnet. The Church of Scientology sent two high-ranking officials from Los Angeles to St. Petersburg to lodge a protest when the Times asked about FACTnet.

Tags: FACTNet, Kurt Weiland, Lawrence Wollersheim, Linda Simmons Hight

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Millionaire's bizarre feud with Scientology escalates
August 3, 1998, Lucy Morgan, St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/Worldandnation/80398/Millionaire_s_bizarre.html

So is Boston financier Robert S. Minton an arch-enemy of the Church of Scientology or a prospective member?

The multimillionaire, who has infuriated the church with his financial support of its enemies, says top Scientologists recently tried to recruit him as a member.

Scientology leaders deny offering membership but acknowledge they made overtures to help Minton because they say he has an "emotional problem." Minton - whose projects include bankrolling a lawsuit filed on behalf of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died in Clearwater under mysterious circumstances - told the Scientologists to keep their help to themselves.

Tags: Elliot Abelson, Lisa McPherson, Mark Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Robert Minton

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The Dirt on Our Dirt
August 3, 2006, Michael Collins, Los Angeles
CityBeat

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=4144&IssueNum=165

Parsons dabbled in the occult as a follower of Aleister Crowley, held sex- and drug-drenched orgies at his Pasadena mansion, and lost his wife and money to a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard.

Tags: Jack Parsons

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Scientologists Descend on Minneapolis Collapse Site
August 3, 2007, Marcus Baram, ABC News

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3445882&page=1

The Church of Scientology and its globetrotting team of volunteer "ministers" have been active over the last several years, arousing the ire of critics who read unholy motives into the group's fake charitable works. In Minneapolis, the criminals claimed they were working with the Red Cross. Yet members of the Red Cross working at the disaster zone questioned by ABC News weren't aware of the Church's assistance.

Tags: Karin Pouw, National Mental Health Association, Red Cross, Rick Ross,
Volunteer Ministers

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Margarita Lopez Sells Scientology Frauds

On August 1st in Scientology history
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Margarita and the Scientologists
August 1, 2005, New York Observer

http://www.observer.com/node/27383

It's worth adding one footnote to today's Post story on the tight relationship between Margarita Lopez and groups affiliated with the Church of Scientology. (Short version: She steers city funds into their, er, unconventional health programs; they give her campaign money.)

Tags: Gay, Margarita Lopez

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The A-listers' belief system
August 1, 2005, Boyd Farrow, New Statesman

http://www.newstatesman.com/200508010024

Some observers of the sect attribute Cruise's sudden outspokenness to his attainment of one of the most advanced grades along the "Bridge to Total Freedom", invented by Hubbard. Scientologists become "clear" (after it has been proved to them that their personal flaws result from trauma built up over trillions of years of reincarnation) by taking multiple courses, and through "auditing" via an "E-Meter", a Scientology brain-monitoring gadget. Church members past and present say reaching the highest levels usually takes between ten and 30 years.

Conservative estimates for the cost of this are roughly $30,000, but some people claim to have spent $250,000 on the "journey".

Tags: Celebrity Centre, David Miscavige, FDA, Freewinds, John Carmichael, Mimi Rogers, Narconon, Tom Cruise, Volunteer Ministers

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Never Mind the Mollusks - Spiritual Philly should welcome the Scientologists.
August 1, 2007, Steven Wells, ON THE RADAR, Philadelphia Weekly

http://www.phillyweekly.com/view.php?id=15164

So let's cut Tom Cruise and co. some slack. Let's welcome the Scientologists to Philadelphia. Let's smile understandingly when they double-park outside their brainwashing center in the exact same way Christians double-park outside their brainwashing centers all over Philadelphia every single Sunday.

And soon behalf of all spiritual PhiladelphiansI'd like to say: Aloha, crazy, swivel-eyed, ridiculous-stuff-made-up-by-a-not-very-good-;science-fiction-author-with-a-silly-name believers. Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love. Good luck with the human hunting. Now how about paying some taxes?

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$5M purchase paves way for Helmer building renovation
August 1, 2008, Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/08/04/story7.html?ana=from_rss

The Church of Scientology is out and California-based First Republic Bank is in as a new owner takes control of the historic Helmer building in the heart of downtown Portland.

The Goodman family, which owns or controls numerous commercial sites in downtown, closed its purchase of the Helmer building at 969 S.W. Broadway on July 25 in a deal worth about $5 million.

Tags: Gwen Barnard, Portland, Real estate

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Red Alert: Scientologists creeping back
August 1, 2008, Janaka Perera, Asian Tribune

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/12505

Among the 'garbage' that was washed ashore in Sri Lanka in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami were a number of foreign-funded, unscrupulous evangelist groups. Among these were the 'Scientologists' trying to fish in troubled waters. After exposure by several foreigners including some German journalists as well as the Venerable Medagama Dhammananda of the Asgiriya Buddhist Chapter Sri Lanka, the group kept a low-profile, while 'helping' in the tsunami relief operations for sometime.

It now appears that these nefarious crusaders are creeping back into the island. Buddhists and followers of other established religions here need to be the high alert against these frauds.

Tags: Buddhism, Richard Behar, Sri Lanka, The Way to Happiness, Volunteer Ministers

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Web version:

http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/FrontCiteTW.html#ScientologyToday

Red Alert: Scientologists creeping back
Fri, 2008-08-01 02:10
By Janaka Perera

Among the 'garbage' that was washed ashore in Sri Lanka in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami were a number of foreign-funded, unscrupulous evangelist groups. Among these were the 'Scientologists' trying to fish in troubled waters. After exposure by several foreigners including some German journalists as well as the Venerable Medagama Dhammananda of the Asgiriya Buddhist Chapter Sri Lanka, the group kept a low-profile, while 'helping' in the tsunami relief operations for sometime.

It now appears that these nefarious crusaders are creeping back into the island. Buddhists and followers of other established religions here need to be the high alert against these frauds.

The Venerable Dhammananda alleged that before the tsunami many Korean Scientologists were engaged in proselytizing activities in Sri Lanka posing off not as charity workers but as businessmen. They had set up businesses here with the permission from the Board of Investments. Kabool Lanka was one such establishment that covertly promoted Scientology while providing employment to people here, the Ven. Dhammananda pointed out. To the BOI of course nothing matters as long as there are foreign investments with little or no regard to who the investors are.

Commenting on the Scientologists claim that they respected all religions and especially Buddhism, the Venerable monk said that this was a ploy to deceive Buddhists.

The fact of the matter was that Scientologists were mixing aspects of Buddhism with their own "scientific" theories and calling this religious pickle, Scientology. The term Dianatecs, which Scientologists frequently use, is really a mixture of the Sanskrit Hindu-Buddhist word `dhyana' (meditation) and the English word 'technique.'

Soon after the tsunami a group of them were found distributing a 30 page full color, propaganda booklet in Sinhala, titled, Santhoshayata Maga (The Path to Joy) in Colombo suburbs of Dehiwala and Mount Lavinia. A copy of the half A-4 sized booklet that came into the hands of the late Deeptha Leelaratne, Editor of the U.S.-based Sri Lanka Express. The booklet carries maliciously distorted facts on Buddhism's history.

In a chapter that warns readers against wrong sexual behavior, the author states on page 8: "Adultery is nothing new. Buddhism, which was a powerful religion in India in the Seventh Century, disappeared from there *as a result of sex perversions of Buddhist monks in temples*."

Celebrities such as Hollywood Star Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Anne Archer being notable adherents of Scientology have been to the advantage of these crooks to conceal their true nature. But that has not deterred countries like Germany from refusing to recognize Scientology as a religion and regarding it as a cult masquerading as a church to make money.

Worldwide, numerous police actions and legal measures have been taken against them, for over a decade. In addition, they had lost lawsuits - the most famous of these was a U.S. Federal Appeal Panel upholding the dismissal of libel suit against the Time magazine for carrying on May 6, 1991 a special report (cover story) titled "Scientology - The Cult Of Greed," that exposed this `church' as a ruthless global scam that ruined lives and destroyed fortunes. In a section of the special report that appeared only in the magazine's international edition, Journalist Richard Behar recalled how nearly 40 years ago Britain, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Venezuela closed their ports to Scientologists, following public outcry. At one point, a French court had convicted Scientology Founder Ron Hubbard of fraud in absentia.

- Asian Tribune -