Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review Volume 0, Issue 45 03/03/96 by Rod Keller [rkeller@voicenet.com] copyright 1996
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@voicenet.com
It is archived at:
http://www.amazing.com/scientology/ars-summary.html
http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver/scieno.htm
http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html
http://www.eecs.nwu.edu/~mallen/scn/arswr/ars-summary.html
Karin Spaink posted an account of her day in court on Feb. 25th, in the case of the cult vs. numerous Dutch Internet providers.
"Nauta Dutilh started: Hermans took the stand and said that many people did not hold his client in high esteem, and that no matter what that criticism was worth, they have rights, among them copyrights - and that these were what was at stake here; nothing else. 'The controversial nature of my clients is irrelevant here.' He explained that, as RTC held the secrecy of these materials very dear and had a vested interest in this confidentiality, they could not allow publishing or quoting the OT's in any way whatsoever.
"Then Bakker Schut took the stand. He went on in great detail about Fair Gaming, how CoS treats its critics, the harassment of a.r.s, the rmgroup message, the lawsuits. He explained about OT 2 and about OT 3 - the complete Xenu story. He explained about the recent warnings given and measures taken by the German government, and quoted extensively from the brochure issued by the German government. He explained how the OT's ended up in a court file and that they had leaked before; he explained that quoting parts of them was not only a right and fair use, it was also a right defended by both freedom of speech and public interest.
"Pors, for Planet Internet, took the stand, explaining that he only wanted to talk about the position of the providers. They had not been given evidence by plaintiffs to prove the alleged infringement; I had been able to explain to them that there was reason to doubt the infringement, so what were they to do? Tied up between their duties towards their subscribers and the complaints of an outsider. And only now, last week, RTC and NEPI had provided them with partial proof. Which only showed that it pays not to listen to RTC etc too soon - their claim was now much smaller than it had been earlier.
"Bakker Schut again explained about the OT's - having them available was a matter of public interest because so many people had encountered psychological problems over them. (Both this time and before, when he mentioned OT 3, some CoS members could be seen stuffing their fingers in their ears. They did not want to hear this.)
"When the president of the court was about to adjourn the meeting at 16:30, Hermans got up and said: 'Considering the great number of accusations that have been thrown at my client, could Mr. McShane please be allowed to speak and counter them?' 'NO,' said the judge, 'YOU were the one who started your speech saying that the controversial nature of your clients was not an issue here anyway.'
"Verdict due on Tuesday, March 12, 14:00. We are optimistic."
Message-ID: <31323acf.12507301@news.xs4all.nl>
Worldwide Demonstrations
Plans continue for a demonstration against cult harassment, to be held on
March 9th. Several new sites were announced this week.Jeff Jacobsen wrote:
"So far there are 8 cities on the demonstration page for March 9 (http://www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/demo.htm). If anyone is organizing a 'stop the harassment, Scientology' picket in your city for March 9, let me know and (if I trust you) I'll put a link to you on the demo page."
Plans from around the world:
"Saturday March 9th outside the Tottenham Court Road [London] 'org'. Close to Goodge Street Tube. Between noon and 2 pm. View the natty 'Sea Org' uniforms. Gasp at the chain-smoking Scientologists who don't worry about cancer because they can 'audit' away all problems. Thrill as Scientologists use their famous 'Tone 40' voice to try to bend people to their all-conquering will - and fail."
"Being the equipment fanatic that I am I will be bringing a digital camera to the San Francisco picket site to be able to upload color stills to my web within a few hours. These photos will be in the public domain.
"I will also be transferring my 8mm video to regular VHS format. If anybody wants a copy of the March 9 picket video, my web page will contain details of obtaining a copy. I will charge for postage and the tape. It too will be in the public domain so you can copy it freely."
The St. Petersburg Times ran a story about the planned protest.
"Among those saying they will attend: Arnaldo P. Lerma of Arlington, Va., an ex-Scientologist who received international attention when he was sued by the church for posting portions of its sacred texts on the global Internet; and Dennis Erlich of Glendale, Calif., who was a high-ranking church official in Clearwater when the Scientologists established their world spiritual headquarters here in the 1970s.
"'In our view, all that you hear now is the screaming of guys who got caught in the act' of violating copyright laws, said Kurt Weiland, a director of the Church of Scientology International in Los Angeles. 'We'll have to get the police down there and take adequate precautions. I'm not saying they'll do anything, but better safe than sorry.'
"Organizers of the March 9 picket of the Fort Harrison Hotel, the church's signature building in Clearwater, say they expect about 20 people to come from out of town. They plan to protest what they call the church's continued harassment of Internet users who post comments on alt.religion.scientology, a popular Usenet newsgroup. They cite the church's penchant for suing its critics as evidence of harassment.
"The protesters are 'not an organization,' said picket organizer Jeff Jacobsen, 40, of Phoenix. 'It's just people from the Internet who are mad at the church.'
"Jacobsen has set up a web page to advertise the protest. The page, headlined 'STOP THE HARASSMENT, SCIENTOLOGY,' outlines the protesters' gripes with the church and offers picketing tips. It also outlines some of the church's history in Clearwater."
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A.r.s' own Cory Brennan had a letter to the Editor published in L.A. Weekly recently. She has been reluctant to mention her title in the cult in postings to the Internet, but admits it freely in print.
"I was disappointed to see your recent negative mentions of the Church of Scientology in the L.A. Weekly's almanac.
"These mentions frankly appear quite out of place and inappropriate compared to other vignettes in your articles. It appears that someone who has 'heard some rumors' about the church but didn't bother to find out the real story did the writing for these.
"The real story is that the Church of Scientology in Hollywood has been very much involved in the community for many years, from raising funds for toy drives to supporting inner-city literacy programs. We have received major recognition for our community work from the city, the county and the state. Many of those who do bother to find out about us end up working with us to improve our community, but the L.A. Weekly chose to print off-the-wall rumors about us instead of something that reflects what we are really about.
"Cory Brennan Director of Community Affairs Church of Scientology Los Angeles"
Message-ID: <DnC4Lu.K5B@freenet.carleton.ca>
Fishman Motions
Steve Fishman posted a summary this week of the recent hearing in which
the judge ruled against the cult in all its motions to the court. Steve
also described how he was followed by the cult after the hearing.
"Judge Williams clearly stated that our next hurdle will be summary judgment motions, but what occurred on Friday in Los Angeles was that Judge Williams DENIED all of Scientology's four motions:
"(1) The motion by Miscavige to quash service of process was denied. Judge Williams deemed Miscavige served, and now he has thirty days to answer. (2) The cult's motion to strike my second amended complaint was denied. (3) The cult's SLAPP suit was thrown out (4) The cult's demand that Dr. Geertz and I post a bond (called an undertaking) was denied. Judge Williams stated that there was no price for justice in his courtroom.
"[A]fter the status conference, I boarded a Los Angeles Dash Bus to go back to where I was staying and an OSA agent (mid twenties, dark short hair, glasses), followed me on the bus to the last stop, in Chinatown. I told him I would ride the bus all night if I had to in order to avoid being followed, and of course, he did not acknowledge this. I finally jumped off the bus, and much to my dismay, there was a green Toyota Tercel with two more of the people I saw in the courtroom --- OSA agents. I ran into a busy shopping alley in Chinatown, came out the other end (the car could not go through the alley as it was pedestrian traffic only), and I jumped into a cab, took it to Union Station, took a blue line train to 7th Street, and then connected with a bus to my destination, and ditched the OSA people. As far as I know, they don't know where I am staying in L.A."
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Sea Org Kids
An anonymous poster provided a list of minors in the Sea Org in
Clearwater, Florida in 1992.
"In the Sea Org minors are expected to work long hours like the adults. At the Flag Land Base one can easily find several children and minors doing administrative, 'technical' and even executive duties. If you are in the SO you shouldn't be surprised if you get a visit by a ten-year old 'messenger' late at night, who gives you an order, which you better reply with a snappy 'Yes, Sir!', if you don`t want to get a 'Court of Ethics'.
"These were some minors, who worked in the Sea Org at the FLB in 1992 (Name, Age, Post, Org):
"Ginger Aguilar, 16, Receptionist, Flag Crew. Elyssa Alexander, 16, Continental Justice Chief East US, Flag Land Base. Melanie Burness, 15, Boom Project Staff, Flag Land Base. Matt Butler, 16, Body Registrar Service Officer, Flag Service Org. Crystal Campbell, 15, Letter Registrar, Flag Service Org. Amber Dunham, 15, Body Registrar Service Officer, Flag Service Org. Eugenie Francoeur, 15, ?, Flag Service Org. Sister of Eugenie, 16, ?, Flag Service Org. Simon Fuchs, 16, Waiter, Flag Crew. Cyril Helnwein, 16, Deputy Supercargo, Flag Service Org. Alex Inzel, 15, ?, Scientology Mission Expansion Office. Daron Leitchfield, 16, Director of Personnel, Flag Service Org. Desiree Matlock, 15, Letter Registrar, Flag Service Org. Nico Roth, 16, Cook, Flag Crew. Samuel Scelza, 17, Director of Communications, Flag Service Org. Jo Struthers daughter, 16, Address File Clerk, Flag Service Org. Monique van der Linde, 17, Master At Arms, Flag Service Org. Martina Weissenburger, 15, Division 6 A Establishment Officer, Flag Service Org."
Message-ID: <4gmfbb$eud@utopia.hacktic.nl>
Poodles on Parade
Netcom continues to spawn new cancelpoodles, accounts designed to be used
only once to cancel posts the cult considers copyright violations. the
latest is George Martin, who canceled yet more Scamizdat reposts this
week.
"Control: cancel <055452Z27021996@anon.penet.fi>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,comp.org.eff.talk Path: news.lightlink.com!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com! howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!gmart From: gmart@netcom.com (George Martin) Subject: cmsg cancel <055452Z27021996@anon.penet.fi>
Message-ID: <gmartDnH854.CBA@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 08:12:40 GMT Lines: 4 Sender: gmart@netcom18.netcom.com
"CANCELLED BECAUSE OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT"
Internet World
Internet World ran another article about a.r.s, it was reported this week.
"Once again, I-world is covering the 'Scientology vs. the Net' debate, in this issue with a 3-page article entitled 'Church and Statutes.' The article examines the legal weapons the Scns have used against critics, including copyright infringement and 'trade secret' laws. It then proceeds to explain why they have lost, and will continue to lose in court. The article is by Mike Godwin of the EFF."
Message-ID: <4h2uj8$92g@nw003.infi.net>
Prosperity
Andrew McPherson posted a series of articles on Prosperity #39, a cult
magazine distributed to WISE (World Institute of Scientology Enterprises)
members. WISE businesses are usually front organizations that provide
management services or education under a different name than Scientology.
Some excerpts:
"Hilda [Jimenez] has now signed an agreement with the state to do a six-year training project in the following areas: - To implement LRH admin tech into all the state-owned kindergartens. - To implement LRH admin tech into all the small businesses in the state in cooperation with the Small Industry Council. - To help improve the economic conditions of families by training unemployed women in LRH admin tech and helping them to organize their own businesses.
"After lunch, special recognition awards were given out to two WISE members from Mexico for their outstanding dissemination activities in Mexico. These were Lilia Garduno, who opened the Hubbard College of Administration in Mexico, and Marcos Salame, who is taking steps to get LRH admin tech into various opinion leaders comm lines in Mexico.
"Hollander Consultants of Portland, Oregon were recently named 'Consultants of the Year' by the magazine 'Consultants Report' at the magazine's annual awards event. This was the first time the award was presented and it was based on nominations sent in to the magazine from clients of various consulting companies.
"Hollander Consultants is owned by Fred King and Larry Silver. Reports Prosperity: 'Hollander Consultants has been consulting and training businesses nationwide in the administrative works of L. Ron Hubbard for more than eleven years and in the last year alone they delivered over 1,500 courses in LRH admin tech.'
"The Hubbard College of Administration of Sydney just opened. This is the second HCA to open in Australia and will in fact become the Continental Hubbard College of Administration for ANZO."
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