Volume 0, Issue 24 vom 01. 10. 1995

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 0, Issue 24
10/01/95
by Rod Keller [rkeller@netaxs.com]
copyright 1995

Contents

  1. Bonnie Woods
  2. Capricorn Speaks
  3. Judge Kane Decision
  4. Dennis Erlich Ruling
  5. Netherlands Uproar
  6. Fishman/Geertz
  7. Der Spiegel
  8. Doomsday Cult
  9. Role of Earth
  10. The Occult
  11. Unpaid Taxes
  12. Blue Sky
  13. Child Dianetics

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review summarizes the most significant
postings from the Usenet group Alt.religion.scientology for the preceding
week for the benefit of those who can't follow the group as closely as
they'd like. Out of thousands of postings, I attempt to include news of
significant events, new affidavits, court rulings, new contributors,
whatever. I hope you find it useful. Like many readers of a.r.s, I have a
kill file. So please take into consideration that I may not have seen some
of the most significant postings. 

The articles in A.r.s Week in Review are brief summaries of the articles. 
Many include an excerpt, and all include message IDs for the articles I
cover. This may or may not be useful to you, depending on how long your
site stores articles in the newsgroup before expiring them. 

Free A.r.s Week in Review subscriptions are available, just email me at 
rkeller@netaxs.com
It is archived at:
        http://remarkable.amazing.com/scientology
        http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver
        http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
        http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html

#####

Bonnie Woods

Steve A (aka "Mr. Castle") posted this week with an update on UK activist Bonnie Woods. The cos is attempting to remove Bonnie's right to sue for libel by bankrupting her. "In an attempt to prevent Bonnie Woods from bringing a libel action against Scientology for statements made in public about her, Scientology's agent in the UK, solicitor Peter Hodkin, succeeded in tracing a creditor to whom the Woods owed 23000 + interest (accruing to a total of 36000) relating to an interest in a property jointly owned by Richard and Bonnie Woods. He is now representing this creditor against Bonnie. "Bonnie Woods' solicitor, who was representing her without charge, as she has been denied legal aid, was also a victim of harassment by the cult, with the result that she has now decided to discontinue her representation of Bonnie, with the result that Bonnie is now left without any legal representation at all. "If Bonnie loses her bankruptcy case, she will not be eligible to continue with her libel action against the cult, and they will have succeeded yet again in perverting the UK legal system to their own ends." Message-ID: <44eing$5o@castlsys.demon.co.uk> #####

Capricorn Speaks

The anonymous poster Capricorn posted his/her third message this week. The first two messages provoked a response from the cos, who accused Vaughn Young of being Capricorn. It seems unlikely. Here are some excerpts. "You might like to know that there is considerable difficulty inside the RTC/OSA because for the first time in the history of Scientology, a portion of The Bridge has been lost to the public domain. The problem for the RTC/OSA is that this came as a direct result of the strategy to go after ARS, which was based on orders from David Miscavige and he won't take the blame for what may be the most serious problem in the history of Scientology - losing part of The Bridge. "Because Miscavige cannot allow blame of himself, a scapegoat has to be found for this disaster, while emergency measures are taken to stop it and revert it. And it appears that it will be Kurt Weiland. Don't be surprised if he has to get some 'spiritual enhancement' and disappears (to the Freewinds boat, so he cannot leave.) His qualifications for being the scapegoat for Miscavige's blunder are (1) he is former Guardian's Office and Miscavige blames the GO for all of his ills, (2) he was the Commanding Officer of the OSA International at the time when the handle-ARS strategy was implemented, and thus to blame, and (3) he was also the head of the OSA when the Germany campaign was initiated and since that is going bad (especially now with an interview reportedly with the Youngs in Der Speigel), he can be blamed for the worsening situation there too. Plus the Dutch have now blown up so that can be put on Weiland too. Mike Rinder (now running the OSA) and McShane (head of the RTC) are also in the wings in case more need to be sacrificed. (McShane would go first. After all, he was the one who gave up OT3 in the court case. Unfortunately, he didn't get the okay in writing. Tch tch, Warren.)" Message-ID: <449b25$ocv@utopia.hacktic.nl> #####

Judge Kane Decision

The text of Judge Kane's September 12th ruling in the case of RTC vs. FACTNet was posted this week. Here are some excerpts. "No evidence was introduced showing a likelihood that a follower of the Church would consider the postings by Lerma as a market substitute for the Works. Nor did the evidence show that the postings were of a commercial nature or had any effect on the potential market for the works. As such, the posting may well be considered as having been made for the purpose of criticism, comment or research falling within the fair use doctrine. "Despite RTC and the Church's elaborate and ardent measures to maintain the secrecy of the Works, they have come into the public domain by numerous means. RTC's assertion that the only way in which the materials have escaped its control was through two thefts in Denmark and England was not supported by the evidence. A former senior Scientology official testified to ongoing difficulties the Church incurred in keeping the Works secret, including members losing materials in their possession. The evidence also showed portions of the Works have been made available on the Internet through persons other than Lerma, with the potential for downloading by countless users. "The Works posted by Lerma were publicly available as pat of an unsealed public court record in the Central District of California in _Church of Scientology International v. Fishman_, No. CV 91-6426 HLH (Tx), C.D. Cal. Wollersheim testified copies of the Works in his possession were sent to him by an attorney representing defendants in that case for whom he had provided consulting services. "In the course of the hearing before me, RTC changed its position with regard to what materials constitute the purported trade secrets. At the outset, RTC maintained the entire Works were trade secrets. After evidence was heard indicating that the Works were in the public domain, RTC claimed that only portions of the Works, rather than the whole, were secret. RTC's ambivalence and admission as to the non-secret nature of certain portions of the Works casts some doubt on the secret status of Works as a whole. "Having weighed all the relevant factors, I conclude RTC has not shown a substantial likelihood of success on the merits and the balance of harms weighs in favor of Defendants. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED THAT Plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction is DENIED; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT Plaintiff is to return and restore to Defendants immediately and at Plaintiff's expense all seized material sin the condition they were when taken and to the precise places from which they were taken; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT Defendants are to maintain the status quo as to their possession of all copyrighted materials at issue in this case and are restricted to making only fair use thereof. Defendants are prohibited from making any additional copies of the materials or transferring them in any manner or publicizing them other than in the context of fair use. Message-ID: <43niuk$7q@uwm.edu> #####

Dennis Erlich Ruling

Judge Whyte has ruled similarly to judges in Colorado and Virginia. The cos has been ordered to return the seized materials to Dennis. Dennis posted this week a list of the items they have not yet returned. "1) Any of the Sekrit Droppings they took from my house on February 13th. "2) The tape backup they took of my complete hard drive. "3) My February bank statement <they gave the bank account number to my ex-wife so she could come out from hiding under her rock to levy against the account>. "4) A transcript of a taped debate between Heber Jentshe and me on KFI radio from 1991. "5) A demo tape of several of my hottest tunes. <soon to be released> "6) Various other items that have yet to be determined because no inventory was allowed when the materials were illegally taken from my home." Message-ID: <9509251253.0I3PN01@support.com> Message-ID: <9509260906.0CSRT00@support.com> #####

Netherlands Uproar

Internet users in the Netherlands have been busy this week, perhaps in response to statements from the cos comparing us all to Nazis. About 300 posters containing the complete Fishman documents were pasted around Amsterdam. Photos of various placements are available on the Web. "Thanks to the lunacy of the paranoid cult, it seems like the entire population of the Netherlands wants to spam the North Sea with AT materials. I've heard they have run out of disc space and are being forced to paste hard copies of the darned things on buildings. "For reference, please see: foto1.gif foto2.gif foto3.gif foto4.gif foto5.gif Karin Spaink posted a summary of events leading up to the postering, and a list of web sites where the OT materials can be found. Some excerpts: "Things started when CoS raided XS4ALL. Fonss - who was at the time the only Dutch user who had the document on his homepage - removed the Fishman Affidavit from his homepage (leaving the other material from the FactNet zipkit there). The indignation was quite immense. Newspapers covered the issue extensively, there were some items on television and many Dutch Usenet-newsgroups debated the issue. Most people were truly outraged. "More reactions were triggered. Other people made use of their accounts at other providers. Astrolab put a copy on his DDS-homepage, Newkid put one on his at Cistron and turned it into a really smashing page on CoS. Nice logos, too! Do take a look. By now, Astrolab, Cistron and I have received e-mails from someone stating to be Helena Kobrin, lawyer on behalf of RTC. "A call for action started circulating. Many people received e-mails explaining what was going on and asking them to participate. The idea is to put up as many homepages containing the F.A. as possible, in order to make things more difficult for the CoS. "Oussama Cherribi, a Dutch Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party (VVD), decided to put a copy on his homepage too. We phoned (we have met before) and I asked him what made him decide to do so. He explained that he'd heard about the case, was somehow reminded of the Rushdie-affaire, got really mad and acted on instinct. When asked if he would bow under pressure, he said he was probably prepared to see this thing through if others would as well." And the list of sites: http://huizen.dds.nl/~dvgeely/Co$/fishman.html http://www.cistron.nl/newkid/info.html http://www.pi.net/~kspaink http://www.bart.nl/~truus/vis.txt http://www.euronet.nl/users/ralph http://www.phil.ruu.nl/home/freek/ http://www.luna.nl/~mare http://www.euronet.nl/users/cherribi/fish.html http://www.euronet.nl/users/astrolab/fish.html http://www.icce.rug.nl/we/erikjan/Fishman.index.html http://www.cistron.nl/~nctnico/acos.html http://www.let.rug.nl/~erikt/.Nlnet/ http://www.pi.net/~cvk http://www.dataweb.nl/~keesb/ http://asterix.urc.tue.nl/~rcsamd/cos/ http://kafka.nl.com http://imagine.xs4all.nl/fishman.html Message-ID: <44foo6$o4k_001@DIAL.NET.NYU.EDU> Message-ID: <4451ch$7l@news.xs4all.nl> #####

Fishman/Geertz

Dave Touretzky posted details on a new suit by Steven Fishman and Uwe Geertz against the cos, charging them with malicious prosecution. "Dr. Geertz, who was Fishman's psychiatrist, is represented by Ford Greene, Esq., of the Hub Law Offices, 711 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, San Anselmo, CA 94960. The amended complaint was filed around September 11, 1995. Fishman does not have a lawyer yet (can't afford one); he filed notice with the court that he will appear 'in pro per' for now. "The list of defendants includes: Church of Scientology International Bowles & Moxon Cooley, Manion & Moore Morrison, Cohen, Singer & Weinstein Timothy Bowles Kendrick Moxon Earle Cooley John Quinn Jonathan Lubell Elliot J. Abelson David Miscavige John Does 1 to 100 (unnamed defendants as of this writing)" In article <448492$mnu@casaba.srv.cs.cmu.edu> #####

Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel published an article on the cos, including their activities in Germany and interviews with Vaughn Young. "Monday, a million of copies (or more) of DER SPIEGEL will hit the newsstands with an article by Robert Vaughn Young, former GO / OSA member. "The sect is fighting for Germany. In its most costly publicity drive to date, the psycho-company slanders its opponents. A former member explains why. The man 'lies shamelessly', he is 'unethical' and is breaking diverse oaths of silence if he talks - claims Scientology. Message-ID: <441fh4$13p@unlisys.unlisys.net> #####

Doomsday Cult

Jeff Jacobsen this week posted portions of a flyer he found at the recent demonstration in Arizona. "A church flyer was on the ground when we picketed the church. Under the heading 'Why continue to be part of a dying world?' is a Hubbard quote; '30 years and then the planet will not support human life. Cheerful note. Well that's where the politicians and 'Scientists' took us.' "Also, the church has spent millions of dollars building underground vaults in order to preserve Hubbard's writings in case of a cataclysm. "Another flyer from Hubbard says 'I want you to survive World War III.' "Scientology is a doomsday cult." Message-ID: <444v7e$ds6@nnrp4.nfs.primenet.com> #####

Role of Earth

An excerpt from a tape by Hubbard, "Role of Earth" was posted this week. The tape includes discussion of the various alien invasion forces he invented. Some excerpts: "Now the point is that the 5th Invader Force operated for some little time here in this system without suspecting the existence of the 4th Invader Force and all of a sudden started to lose crews. They didn't know where they were going. They got a little more upset about it and a little more upset about it, and a little more upset about it and a battalion was sent down here to Earth 8200 years ago - the 3rd battalion. If you find somebody who is a member of the 3rd battalion, why speak up, because the whole battalion, it's officers, staff and so forth, was under the command of the expeditionary force commanding officer not for just this area. "So 8200 years ago they came down in the Himalayas and the upper, upper headlands - up about...about... I would say 72 miles northwest of Kyber pass. And put a base in there. And still not believing that there was anything like an Invader Force operating in this system failed to take any vaguest precautions with regards to their installation. They put up no defenses, after all what was here? Nothing but homo sapiens. Just nothing - no danger, no menace and so on. And they were in this installation just a very short time when all of a sudden there was a terrific crash. The 4th Invader Force, which was a little bit more active then, then it has become since, knocked out this whole battalion - a battalion of that size is in the neigbourhood of about 3 000 beings - and picked up all of it's staff and took them through to Mars and then knocked them back into this human race here. They're still here. There are saucer crews here. There are all sorts of things on Earth here from the 5th Invader Force. Very interesting. "This is directly and violently in opposition to the 4th Invader Force. And the 5th Invader Force out of it's own protection took over Venus. All relatively in modern times. Took over Venus and tried to stabilize the venusians. If you called a 5th invader a venusian he would probably shoot you out of hand, because it would be a horrible insult. They merely monitor the government of Venus. And they leave Mars strictly alone. This is really roughly a rundown of the political situation in the solar system. That's very interesting because it gives you as preclears 'bodies in pawn' of the 4th Invader Force. It gives you tremendous volume of personnel that have been poured down here for various purposes. "You got running through this a 5th Invader Force operation which is strictly...really disinterested in Earth. Not really interested in Earth as such because Earth is a heavy gravity planet, and who the hell wants a heavy gravity planet? Earth would be much better off lying in chunks in an orbit around the sun. But naturally it's a pretty rough assignment blowing up something this size so nobody would do that. But completely aside from that fact Earth has been used consistently as a prison. And it is a prison and it is heavily screened. There are installations in Mongolia, there are installations in the Pyrenees here on Earth, there are installations down the mountains of the moon and in Africa. Which pick up, very often, people on death, and the thetan just doesn't know what's going on - he's in a state of deep hypnosis, really, and the moment he finds himself in association with a dead body the thing keys and he reports to where he is supposed to go. Message-ID: <444qsb$e5v@mn5.swip.net> #####

The Occult

An essay by Jon Atack, "Hubbard and the Occult" was posted this week. An excerpt, showing how Aleister Crowley continued to influence Hubbard after he left to found the cos: "Scientology seems to be a hybrid of science-fiction and magic. Hubbard's reflection on philosophy seem to derive largely from Will Durant's Story of Philosophy (13) and the works of Aleister Crowley. Aleister Crowley is surely the most famous black magician of the twentieth-century. It is impossible to arrive at an understanding of Scientology without taking into account its creator's extensive involvement with magic. The trail has been so well obscured in the past that even such a scholar as Professor Gordon Melton has been deceived into the opinion that Hubbard was not a practitioner of ritual magic and that Scientology is not related to magical beliefs and practices. In the book A Piece of Blue Sky, I explored these connections in detail. The revelations surrounding Hubbard's private papers in the 1984 Armstrong case in California makes any denial of the connections fatuous. The significance of these connections is of course open to discussion. "In his 1952 lectures, Hubbard also referred to the Tarot cards, saying that they were not simply a system of divination but a 'philosophical machine'. He gave particular mention to the Fool card, saying 'The Fool of course is the wisest of all. The Fool who goes down the road with the alligators at his heels, and the dogs yapping at him, blindfolded on his way, he knows all there is and does nothing about it...nothing could touch him' "The only Tarot pack which has a alligator on the Fool Card is Crowley's." Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920003802.29602A-100000@river.biddeford.com> Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920013550.1025D-100000@river.biddeford.com> Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920004935.29602C-100000@river.biddeford.com> Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920005119.29602D-100000@river.biddeford.com> #####

Unpaid Taxes

Grady Ward reports on unpaid taxes in Northern California. "I noticed in the local paper today in Humboldt County, CA that the very biggest tax delinquents by far in this county for last year were -- surprise -- scientologists. "Specifically, the 'Church of Spiritual Technology' (keeper of the head of Hubbard) the criminal cult group that burrows bomb-proof tunnels into hills, owes more than $150,000. If they don't pay in five years the county can seize the property and sell it for auction. I for one would pay $5-10 to get into some quiet tunnel living. "Parcel 103-101-3 Church of Spiritual Technology, Inc $93,151,78 DEFAULT 103-101-02 Joseph E. Zanone, TR (someone associated with the cult?) 103-232-02 Church of Spritual Technology, Inc $41,511,76 DEFAULT 104-111-01M Daniel G. Hunter (another associated with the cult?) 104-242-01S Church of Spiritual Technology, Inc $810,04 DEFAULT plus 20 MORE defaults in Humboldt County last year alone." Message-ID: <gradyDFCACJ.FLs@netcom.com> #####

Blue Sky

Diane Richardson this week posted the 1990 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, allowing the publication of A Piece of Blue Sky, by Jon Atack. The decision examines each of the factors in deciding copyright disputes. The cos claimed that the excerpts in Jon's book were not "fair use". In the excerpts below, Jon is referred to as "the appellant". "Factor One: Purpose and Character of the Use "Our cases establish that biographies in general, and critical biographies in particular, fit 'comfortably within' these statutory categories 'of uses illustrative of uses that can be fair.'. We hold that factor one favors appellant." "Factor Two: Nature of the Copyright Work "[T]he scope of fair use is greater with respect to factual than non-factual works. While there is no bright-line test for distinguishing between these two categories, we have referred to the former as works that are 'essentially factual in nature,' 'primarily informational rather than creative.' We have some hesitation in trying to characterize Hubbard's diverse body of writings as solely 'factual' or 'non-factual,' but on balance, we believe that the quoted works -- which deal with Hubbard's life, his views on religion, human relations, the Church, etc. -- are more properly viewed as factual or informational. We conclude that factor two favors appellant. "Factor Three: Volume of Quotation "Here, the book uses overall a small percentage of Hubbard's works. Appellant calculates that the book quotes only a minuscule amount of 25 of the 48 works that appellee claimed were infringed, 5-6% of 12 other works and 8% or more of 11 works, each of the 11 being only a few pages in length. We find that factor three favors appellant. "Factor Four: Effect on the Market "[W]e are skeptical here that potential customers for the authorized *favorable* biography of Hubbard in the future will be deterred from buying because the author's *unfavorable* biography quotes from Hubbard's works. Indeed, it is not 'beyond the realm of possibility that' the book 'might stimulate further interest' in the authorized biography. We conclude that factor four favors appellant. "Other Factors "In sum, balancing all of the relevant factors, we believe that the present case presents a strong set of facts for invoking the fair use defense: The book is a critical biography, designed to educate the public about Hubbard, a public figure who sought public attention, albeit on his own terms; the book quotes from merely a small portion of Hubbard's works and from only those that have been published; and, it will cause no adverse impact protected by the copyright law on the market for Hubbard's writings. In these circumstances, we conclude that the book's use of passages from Hubbard's work is protected fair use." Message-ID: <442c4c$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> Message-ID: <442c57$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> Message-ID: <442c5n$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> Message-ID: <442c5t$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> Message-ID: <442c64$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> Message-ID: <442c6b$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> #####

Child Dianetics

An excerpt posted this week from Child Dianetics, by You Know Who. Don't talk around a sick child. If the doctor decides to hold a long drawn-out conversation around the sick-bed, your natural feeling of courtesy or awe might restrain you from doing something about it. But your natural feeling of courtesy or awe may help severely aberrate the child for the rest of his life. A good swift kick in the shin of anybody talking around a sick child, or--almost any physical violence would be justifiable under the circumstances. It sounds very strong, we know, but you can't help feeling punitive when you've been an auditor long enough to find all the aberrative talking that goes on around children. Even persons with the best of intentions can thouroughly ruin a child's life that way. Message-ID: <44bkvi$6hj@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>