Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review Volume 1, Issue 28 11/03/96 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://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html
http://user1.i1.net/~mallen/scn/arswr/ars-summary.html
http://www.amazing.com/scientology/ars-summary.html
http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver/scieno.htm
http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
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"The state chancellery said applicants for state jobs, including teachers and police officers, would not be hired if they refused to fill out the questionnaire. Those already employed would face disciplinary measures if they declined.
"Bavaria also urged the states to consider enacting a nationwide ban on Scientology members from public service.
"The Bavarian decree also requires any private companies awarded state contracts in certain sensitive fields to sign a statement saying they will not use the methods of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Bavaria said the measures were designed to 'prevent Scientologists from infiltrating public positions.'"
Message-ID: <199610292301.PAA25728@mailmasher.com>
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Keith Henson
Keith Henson posted a letter from Scientology attorney Tom Hogan
concerning a protective order. Keith had proposed an order similar to the
one drafted by Tom Klemesrud's lawyers to protect information revealed in
the course of litigation.
"You are of course free to propose the form of protective order that was proposed for Mr. Klemesrud before he settled out of the case. But you should know that Magistrate Judge Infante rejected it.
"Instead, the parties developed a negotiated proposed order which formed the basis for the order now proposed to you. The material difference, however, is that physical possession of Confidential Information will not be given to you, but would be available to you for review in my office. This is due to the fact that you are a pro se party who has displayed both unbridled animus toward plaintiff and a penchant for posting matter on the Internet and threatening to disclose confidential information."
In response to the recent resumption of "spam", hundreds of repeated articles in a.r.s, Keith intends to send the following letter to Judge Infante concerning settlement negotiations.
"One of the conditions which I have long made clear in my postings to the net and have put in a letter to Mr. Hogan is that I will not even consider settlement talks with Scientology while they continue in their denial-of- service attack on the netizens who read alt.religion.scientology by 'spamming.' Judge Whyte ruled against this despicable behavior recently in an unrelated case, so you can ask him to explain 'spamming.'
"When the Scientologist have gone two months without spamming, they can initiate another try at a settlement conference. As it is, there is no point in wasting your time, so please take the November 21 conference off your calendar."
Message-ID: <hkhensonE00JrI.F7A@netcom.com>
Message-ID: <hkhensonE06ALC.HpG@netcom.com>
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Russian Org
Tilman Hausherr posted news from Russia that the org in St. Petersburg was
recently raided for not paying its taxes.
"The org has been raided by the Russian tax police. They found only about $200 in the safe, but took computers, TV sets, VCRs and other office equipment. The reason for the raid is that the org had declared over $100,000 for courses as 'membership fees', and had not declared monies from the sales of books.
"ITAR-TASS called scientology a 'totalitarian religious organisation'."
Message-ID: <328b2a52.4189643@news.snafu.de>
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Sons of Scamizdat
The Sons of Scamizdat posted the second installment of the "best of
TNX-L", the internal discussion list of Internet Scientologists. The posts
have provided a fascinating inside view into the mind set created by
Scientology.
"From: dbonnell@ford.com
"Over 750 students are making history at Flag. What they will bring back to your org will change the world FOREVER! Find out at the May 9th Event!
"Since March 13th we have crossed the threshold into a realm of unlimited expansion for Scientology. And at the May 9th event this expansion will be accelerated even further. You will find out about something that will change the world (forever.) In fact over 750 students are in training at Flag getting ready for this very release. What they have been studying in confidential courserooms for the past year will be fully revealed at this May 9th event. Sweeping new breakthroughs will be announced and released at this historical event. This is something that is absolutely vital to your org, your public and the future time track of this planet. Every single person is your field must be gotten to this event. This includes contacting every person listed in your central files, every person who has ever been into your org and every person who has ever taken a service or bought a book from your org! No one is to miss out on this event. Those in attendance will be able to say down the ages and generations to come 'I was there at the May 9th Event 1996.'
"A major breakthrough has just been made that will revolutionize the delivery of the tech and your personal progress up The Bridge and your route to fully trained OT."
"From: Victor Alkana <valkana@ix.netcom.com>
"Gary Smith, E.D. of Narconon, Chilocco, asked me to post the following data to you. Chilocco is renovating a building to house students being trained in running a Narconon. They need to raise money to do so. Some fine Scientologist donated a Special Edition Silver MKVII E-Meter. This is one of those that are handled with special soft cloths. There were only 200 made. This one is number 97. It has a value of $14,000-16,000. They are asking $12,500.
"If you would like to own this great meter, please contact Gary Smith at (800) 539-3904. If you would like to just donate toward this renovation, Gary would love to hear from you too."
"From: Eric Anderson <anderson@bora.dacom.co.kr>
"My ideas on 'gravity' probably come mainly from the OT Doc Course and Mission Earth. I suspect that other OT lectures (that I haven't seen) may touch on it -- if they don't I would conclude that we need not wrap ourselves around a pole trying to figure it out.
"Offhand, it seems that gravity is a kind of low-level affinity of MEST for other MEST. Magnetism seems to be akin to gravity as a kind of specialized polarized attraction/repulsion between certain kinds of objects.
"In Mission Earth, as I recall, LRH showed how people usually think Matter- Energy-Space-Time, in that order, with Matter most dominant, and then LRH showed in the design of space tug propulsion systems, etc. that the sequence is actually reversed, with Time on top and Matter on the bottom. This goes along with Theta as cause point and Matter as effect point.
"Another way to regard gravity is to look at what its goal is. Offhand, it seems that the goal of gravity is to turn potential energy into kinetic energy and help maintain order in the MEST universe by keeping things from going away, keeping them located, and allows you to knock off your enemies by dropping bricks and bombs on them, etc. (and you can blame gravity if you shouldn't have done it). It also provides for convenient toilet facilities, as any astronaut can attest."
"From: RACHELMX@aol.com
"As a lot of you know by now, I am a long distance phone broker and as such checked out a 'hot new thing' for one of my customers. She was told it was some sort of MLM plan, where there was a lot of money to be made selling MCI calling cards.
"WorldComm sells MCI Prepaid Calling Cards - their rate is 82c or 83c per minute. The cost for 2 cards is $249 and that is the entry price to participate in this game. It's strictly MLM, using an additional leverage technique known as a PowerLeg. I won't get into that here, it's just an additional way to MLM whereby more money flows up faster than the way your normal MLM expansion works.
"Why would anyone buy a prepaid card priced at 82c/min when they can be purchased at the corner store for 25c/min (???). No one would, unless tempted by the lure of quick money. This is the lure of all pyramid schemes. Quick money flows up but either a no product or an overt product flows down. The point is - NO one is in it for the product - and I'm sure you don't need a lecture on exchange.
"The justifier for the high price card was that the participants actually use the cards - but why wouldn't they, they are forced to pay for them up front (and the participants are continually reentering the game for greater and greater positions so are always buying more cards).
"Anyway, buyer beware. This is currently making the rounds in the Scientology community. Also, this is not to blemish MLM. It is a perfectly acceptable and viable marketing technique when not abused."
"From: LindemanDL@aol.com
"I am the HES for a Dissemination Project on America on Line, a volunteer-staffed project to handle the dissem comm lines available to us in the AOL Religion Folders.
"One of my hats is to get in comm with people who are posting messages in the folders AOL allocates for discussions about religion who appear to be Scientologists, but who are not part of my project staff, and to verify whether or not they are, indeed, Scientologists (because, if you know the lingo, it can be faked), and then to hat them on the project, so that LRH tech on PR and on handling SPs is properly applied on these public comm lines.
"Because these cyber-comm lines are anonymous, and because people are cautious about answering my questions because they don't know who I am either, this causes a slow on the lines getting identities verified. I am posting this to TNX because maybe someone out there can vouch for the people who are listed below, and can tell me that they are on lines and where.
"My question to you is, do you know any of them? Are they Scientologists? And, if any of you listed below are TNXers, please let me know that! Thanks in advance! Here goes: Does anyone know:
"AlphOhm - John Kimball from Spokane, WA Bz93- Bennett Crisp from South Carolina (a book 1 auditor ) Corroduty - Mike Roiger from Atlanta, GA, moving to Cincinatti Tustinwray - Terry Wray on OT Doc Crse at AOLA (female) CofSCofS- Sally Johnson of Calsbad, CA DocSherry- Sherry Matoshko-Uhler, a chiropractor in Sterling Heights, MI LL8LL8- Sal Anderson, Sedona AZ"
Message-ID: <199610310413.UAA24823@abraham.cs.berkeley.edu>
Message-ID: <199610310418.UAA24879@abraham.cs.berkeley.edu>
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Tilden, Nebraska
An article was posted from American Atheist News, describing Scientology's
efforts to establish a memorial to L. Ron Hubbard in his birthplace,
Tilden, Nebraska.
"A proposal to erect a picnic complex at a public park in honor of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and post signs along a hiking trail listing his 21 'Way to Happiness' precepts has many folks in the small town of Tilden, Nebraska worried and angry. A local citizens group is threatening to file a lawsuit, and there is a slate of city council candidates explicitly opposing the plan. Critics say that the signs and picnic pavilion clearly violate the First Amendment separation of church and state.
"Two years ago, a group known as the Friends of the Park Foundation began raising money for a new city park and trail which would connect with Cowboy Trail, a popular hiking and cycling route. Enter the Friends of L. Ron Hubbard Foundation; the group donated $50,000 to supplement locally-raised money for the park projects, and match a $228,000 federal grant. The Foundation has pledged another $250,000 for the construction of a 'picnic pavilion' which would be included in the new park to be officially named the L. Ron Hubbard Park and Recreation Center.
"Plans have also been proposed to include signs listing the Hubbard-authored 'Ways to Happiness.' They include such homespun advice as 'Fulfill Your Obligations,' 'Don't Do Anything Illegal,' and 'Take Care Of Yourself.' Depending on who you talk to, these are important moral lessons, painful elaborations of common sense, or messages designed to promote Hubbard and the Scientology religion.
"Members of the Concerned Citizens group insist that the park project involves an attempt to promote the Scientology religion, and that the 'Ways to Happiness' qualify as religious statements which have no place on public property. One member told the World-Herald that the proposal was Scientology's attempt to 'come in and recruit new members.' In addition Concerned Citizens 'narrowly missed' putting a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot which would have banned acceptance of money from the Hubbard Foundation; but three anti-Hubbard candidates are now running for City Council.
"The local City Attorney is reportedly concerned about the church-state separation dimension of the park flap. Michael Brogan has advised city officials to avoid the potential for lawsuit and reject at least the suggestion to erect the 21 precept signs, and notes that 'The more it looks like the city is approving of a particular kind of religion, the more it would violate the notion in the Constitution that requires a separation of church and state.'"
Message-ID: <327C10C2.784B@earthlink.net>
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Time Magazine
Time magazine settled with Scientology to end the lawsuit filed following
the 1991 Time Magazine article which prompted the creation of
alt.religion.scientology. From the Associated Press:
"Under the settlement, Time, which is published by Time Warner Inc., agreed to publish a statement in next week's issue about Michael Baybak, who brought the lawsuit.
"'Time's report on Mr. Baybak, a member of the church, was not intended to suggest that Mr. Baybak was a 'front' for the Church of Scientology or that his actions were in violation of any law or regulation,' the statement says.
"Robert Pondiscio, a spokesman for the magazine, said 'we are very happy with the settlement.' He said that a confidentiality order prevented him from commenting on whether any money was involved in the settlement.
"The May 1991 cover story on Scientology, described the church as a 'global racket' and included a separate box that described Baybak's activities on the Vancouver Stock Exchange. The article also said that the exchange was a source of funds for the church."
>From Dow Jones:
"Rev. Heber Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International, said he was ''very pleased'' with the outcome of Michael Baybak's libel suit against Time magazine. "'I consider it an important development in the interest of fairness and truth,' Jentzsch said."
Message-ID: <199611021604.IAA04640@mailmasher.com>
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Swedish Parliament
The Swedish Parliament continues to copy the NOTs materials, as reported
in a Dagens Nyheter article, translated by Brian O'Grady.
"There's a war of words going on at the Parliament. Hardly anything new, one might think. But this is of the unusual variety. It is happening in the room outside the Offices of the Swedish Parliament and right by one of the Parliament's entrances. It is happening in silence and concerns the freedom of speech.
"A month ago, a man took it upon himself to place these papers on the Internet. Scientologists reported this to the police, saying that this was a copyright violation and so both his hard-drive and disks were confiscated in a raid of the man's home. Under penalty of 50,000 crowns, the man was forbidden to spread the scientologist scripture. But he found a way.
"Three weeks ago he went to the Office of the Swedish Parliament and requested that they distribute the scriptures to all members of Parliament. This was refused by the head of the Office. But he could not refuse to accept the documents and by so doing making it publicly accessible. This gives anyone the right to read it.
"Then came the rush. But not of general inquiries but from the Scientologists themselves. The Office of the Parliament was asked how many copies had been made. There were ten. Soon thereafter came ten scientologists who requested their own copies. The remaining copy, the original, was continuously being used by a scientologist.
"When the Office one day withdrew it to make new copies, there then followed eager photographing of the procedure. Soon came new requests. Not just from Sweden but also from the USA and Germany.
"The Office has been devoting more and more of its time to the scientologist scripture. The Fax has been bombarded by messages from Finland and from Norway with the same message: You are guilty of a crime against the international convention of copyright.
"Finally this official business was moved to the entrance by Riksgatan 2. There scientologists take shifts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in order to control their valued article. According to the guards, the rest of the general public don’t seem to be too interested. But the day that someone is prevented from reading an official document then a crime has been committed against a fundamental Swedish law, the guard explained."
Message-ID: <5559eh$3ku@mn5.swip.net>
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Free Zone
Anonymous poster "Old Timer" reported that the domain name
"scientologie.org" has been changed to "scientologie.de" as Scientology
pressures the site through the NIC.
"In June of 1996 the lawyers of the Church of Scientology started complaining about the existence of our domain name. The church complained first to our provider and than to InterNIC. InterNIC decided to put 'scientologie.org' on a 'hold' status in September of this year.
"The Free Zone Association decided to move our site to a new domain. We are pleased to announce it is now up and running.
"Please check out our two websites and see our upgrades: http://www.freezone.org http://www/scientologie.de"
Message-ID: <55fp9u$rjq@ordeal.cts.com>
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Ariane & Alex Jackson
Ariane and Alex Jackson posted another in their series of personal stories
from Flag Land Base, Clearwater, Florida.
"I received approximately 200 hours of Sec Checks, on the e-meter, which I paid for. The questions asked are designed to find ANYTHING embarrassing or unethical. Questions on sexual activity will include asking what position was used, what EXACTLY was done, was oral sex performed, was sodomy performed, how deeply was the penis inserted, did the man use his fingers, how long did it last, etc., etc. It is not uncommon for a great deal of time to be spent on just ONE sexual experience. Subjects include sex, children, money, Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, organizations, Scientologists. I was asked if I had ever had a critical thought about Hubbard, had I ever had a destructive intention towards him or Scientology.
"During my time in Scientology I also lost interest for anything outside of Scientology. I stopped taking care of my children and allowed them to be taken from me. I tried to get them back but the CofS said no and I just accepted it. I was also convinced that the goals and purposes that were very important to me were actually not my goals but the goals of BT's and I dropped them. While all this was happening, I was sure I was getting better and when I discovered Scientology was false, it took a very long time to accept and to realize the extent of the damage. In Scientology, I lost all idea of WHO I was and became convinced I was someone/something totally different. Scientology changed my personality into something they could use.
"Since my discovery that Scientology is false I have experienced heavy depression, suicidal tendencies, violence, feeling of being betrayed, lied to, used. Feeling that I gave up my children for nothing. No interest in life or living. I was persuaded that non-Scientologists are all stupid, aberrated, etc., and I have lost all my friends because I had no non-Scientology friends while I was in Scientology and my Scientology friends cannot speak to me. Sad because I cannot contact my children and they regard me as evil."
After discussing return off the money paid to Scientology for these "services", the Jacksons received a letter from Scientology vice-president Brian Anderson. They also described the circumstances of the letter.
"Michel Reveillere, OT8, with whom you were in contact on 9 December, has informed us of the concerns which were relayed to him. We thank you for that. Michel Reveillere noted that the discussion with you took place without any animosity, and I was pleased to hear that.
"The way with which your cause was presented by Mr. Lavergnat (and therefore, unfortunately, by you) appears to be blackmail and an attempt to extort funds. You must understand that this is unacceptable and I want to hereby put you on notice directly.
"I also want to let you know that we are open for further direct contact with you. The fact that the contact is direct does not prevent you in any way to have assistance by another; but I am asking that this person be impartial.
"We fully respect your right to no longer be a part of the Church of Scientology; it is a basic principle of the democracy in which we live."
"We did not answer Mr. Anderson because 3 weeks prior to our receiving this letter the cult had filed a complaint against us for blackmail and extortion and was attempting to have us jailed. Their complaint was thrown out despite the fact they repeatedly appealed it. They only stopped when they used up all their appeals in Geneva and would have had to go to Federal Court.
"Their unsuccessful attempts to silence me have included the complaint in Switzerland, daily visits by representatives trying to coerce and intimidate my husband and myself into signing a release waiving all claims and promising never to speak about anything relating to our experiences, accusations and threats of legal actions, my teenage children calling me and trying to persuade me to shut up, and my teenage daughter threatening me with legal action if I speak about my experiences."
Message-ID: <199610272242_MC1-B5A-9B9F@compuserve.com>
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More Breaks
More stories were posted anonymous this week concerning psychotic breaks
by Sea Org members.
"The first was Peter L., who was an 'OT' and was Sea Org staff at Bridge Publications. His wife, Vicky L. was also Sea Org staff, and was the Commanding Officer of the LA Org. Peter was put in isolation and was guarded around the clock by other Sea Org staff who were OTs. One such person who was assigned to watch Peter and to make sure that he 'destimulated' to the point that he was no longer 'Type 3' was a fellow Sea Org staff member by the name of Bill Duckhorn. A big, strong, burly fellow, Bill was also on staff at Bridge Publications.
"The other person was Sea Org staff at Bridge Publications as well. Her name was Terry F. Her psychotic break was not due to exposure to the 'OT Levels'. It was rumored that she had 'gone Type 3 PTS' when her son, Ryan, was taken away from her custody. Terry was a friend of mine, and we sometimes used to hang out together with our children during 'family time'.
"In the Sea Org, parents only got one hour per day at most to spend with their child(ren). This one hour included the time it took to get to and from the 'Complex' (at Berendo Street and Fountain Avenue) and the Cadet Org, which was next to Celebrity Center (at Bronson Street and Franklin Avenue). This took about 10-15 minutes each way, which meant we only had about 30 minutes per day to spend with our children. Many staff were pressured, if not outright ORDERED, to remain on post during family time to get their 'stats' up (produce more than the week before).
"As with all persons who 'went Type 3', there was no announcement made to staff to explain Terry's sudden disappearance from her post at Bridge. I just happened to find out about her having been put in 'ISO' one day when I went up to the top floor of the Main Building at the Cedars Complex.
"She was locked alone in a small room with only a bed, and a guard was posted outside 24 hours a day. She looked like a crazed, wild animal. Her body was filthy from her own feces that she had smeared on herself. She had scrawled obscenities all over the walls by using her own feces - the most crude things imaginable - like 'F*** ME!! Eat SH**!! I want to DIE!! FU** me daddy!! FU** ME!! FU** ME!!
"She had also smeared excrement on the walls and floor and all over her bed. She had ripped the sheets off her bed and had shredded them. She was only half clothed, and there was urine all over the floor, which combined with her other human waste made for a VERY revolting environment."
Message-ID: <199610292011.MAA01680@mailmasher.com>