Volume 0, Issue 13 vom 16. 07. 1995

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 0, Issue 13
07/16/95
by Rod Keller [rkeller@netaxs.com]
copyright 1995

Contents

  1. The Big Story
  2. Helena Keeps Busy
  3. New Poodle
  4. Dennis Erlich Update
  5. Penet Raid
  6. Tom Klemesrud Dead Agent
  7. SP Levels
  8. Scamizdat
  9. Church Detectives
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. 

A.r.s Week in Review is available free, by e-mail and is archived at:
          http://amazing.cinenet.net/scientology.html
          http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver
          http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html

#####

The Big Story

The Big Story aired in the the U.K. on Carlton Television's ITV channel. To coincide with the broadcast, a demonstration was scheduled outside the London org on Tottenham Court Road. Apparently the cos found out about the demonstration, and sent letters from Hodkin & Co. to several possible participants. "We put you on notice that if you participate in any unlawful activities against our client, or continue to participate in the same, legal action will be commenced against you without further warning. "We accordingly require your written agreement that you will not engage in any unlawful activities against our clients, including, but not limited to, conspiring to injure, nuisance, trespass, interference and defamation." The demonstration went off without any unlawful activity, as several reports to a.r.s described: "There were 27 of us to start with. It was immediately obvious that we were going to have problems all fitting on the pavement outside the org - nice problem to have! - and the police were politely firm about spreading us out so as not to cause an obstruction. This definitely worked to our advantage, as the demo ended up on both sides of Tottenham Court Road, and spread over a distance of about a hundred feet - nobody was going to get past us without getting a copy of our leaflet. "The clams were snapping feverishly by now - several of them were deputed to cross the road and protest "with" us. The number of leaflet distributors multiplied, but we were still outnumbering them two-to- one: enough to flank each Scieno leafletter with at least one FUSS supporter each side of him/her to make sure that the passers-by got *both* sides of the story. "1200 leaflets were distributed within less than an hour, and frantic deputations had to be sent to local copy shops to get more photocopied. Every street corner in the immediate vicinity was occupied by at least one FUSS leafletter; every clam was marked by at least one of us as well." And from a different account: "Packed into the space right in front of the shop was a bunch of scientologists waving banners and (calling the program "The Lie Story" and demanding "honest journalism"). [...] Some of their people came out and stood among our lot, waving placards. It seems that their intention was to make it look like it was all one demonstration *against* the TV programme. They succeeded in this to an extent, in that it was not obvious at first glance that there two separate demonstrations. "We handed out a leaflet advertising the program and calling for people to write to Michael Howard and to their MP's demanding that the government takes action. The scienos had a specially prepared issue of "Freedom" magazine, which dead-agented Carlton Tv and the ex-scientologists that they had consulted. "The scieno's made sure they got photographs and video of each of the protesters. Margaret Reese, their Public Affairs Director, came around talking to each of us, asking for our names and motivations for protesting. Later she told us that the leaflets we were handing out were defamatory and grounds for a suit- we just ignored her." And finally, excerpts from several reviews of the program itself: "The program also told of assorted dubious activities by the cult: - getting someone to sign a blank piece of paper, then typing a letter of letter of authorisation above that signature. That (a forged instrument?) was then used to get the contents of someone's savings account, as much as the cult wanted." "The most spooky was where victims had to stare into someone's eyes for 60-90 minutes until they started hallucinating. At that point, at their most vulnerable people are sold more courses which they are told they need. One man gave them his bank account number which allowed the clams to withdraw money when they wanted." "Vaughn Young: 'Hubbard literally had a plan for world conquest. He actually literally wanted to take over the world, but he had to put it in other terms. The term he came up with was 'clear the planet.' This sounds like a very beneficent action: we're going to 'clear the planet' which means 'rid it of its problems' but really it was more of a case like a Hitler: he wants to rid the planet of vermin. The vermin are the people who are stopping him and these were basically the enemies of Scientology.' "Stacy Young [on David Miscavige]: 'His viciousness and his cruelty to staff was unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life. He wanted me to carry out a lot of his vindictive orders... He just loved to degrade the staff. He got a kick out of it: he thought it was funny. Anyone who didn't think it was funny, like I didn't, was very suspect.'" Message: DBJpp1.C5r@uns.bris.ac.uk> Message-ID: 3u1fud$8uu@castlsys.demon.co.uk> Message-ID: 3u1fv0$8v6@castlsys.demon.co.uk> Message-ID: DBnq8v.CE5@uns.bris.ac.uk> Message-ID: 199507140150.DAA22756@utopia.hacktic.nl> Message-ID: 3u5d4i$2he3@unixfe.rl.ac.uk> Message-ID: DBpIEz.5Go@uns.bris.ac.uk> #####

Helena Keeps Busy

Helena Kobrin, chief legal intimidator of the cos, kept busy this week with several threatening letters, both to participants in a.r.s, and to their site administrators. Martin Poulter's sysops suspended his account for one day last week while they investigated her complaint. Martin described the complaint this week. "Her complaint is specifically about a message I posted to a.r.s on Sunday, which contained a small extract from OT7 material. She demands that I remove this post from the Internet (which is, of course, impossible) "She claims that the OT7 document is copyrighted *and* a trade secret. She is emphatic that Fair Use does not apply, specifically because the documents are *unpublished*. She also says that there is no Fair Use (Fair Dealing in England) defense to trade secret misappropriation. She claims that downloading of SCAMIZDAT is a breach of copyright and trade secret laws." Damon Cheston's site received a similar threat. "I was notified today that Helena "Mizz Probert" Kobrin has written my system administrators complaining about an alleged copyright violation. She alleges that I violated the copyright on OT-VII documents when I followed-up to Martin Poulter's post. I believe, and I'm sure any sane person would agree with me, that the 8 or 10 lines of text quoted from OT-VII clearly fell within Fair Use guidelines." William Barwell posted his entire letter from Helena, including this snippet. "In addition, your downloading of the copyrighted and trade secret OT VII materials also violates laws prohibiting copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation. Your use and disclosure of these materials is *not* fair use. No case in the United States has ever found fair use to apply to copying unpublished materials, as even Dennis Erlich's attorney had to admit in open court. There is also no fair use defense to trade secret misappropriation." And from the Pope's reply: "You may quote my posts on ARS to show us what you mean I posted. Until you do I am not exactly sure what the hell you are on about. Actually, Kobby, I don't care that much either. And I think it would be wise for you to send me those posts if you want further colloquy on this subject. "Tonight, get out your law books and look up fair use. A few paragraphs in my post are fair use and that is that. And I intend to keep using fair use to from time to time post directly or indirectly as in quoting other posts, parts of the incredibly brain damaged swill you clams and your silly clients dare to call 'secrets'. Yes, you have rights, but fair use gives ME rights to and I intend to use my rights as regard fair use to discuss the hilariously inept bilge you clams hold as scriptures." Zane Thomas' site admin received a similar threat. "Our very own dear, sweet Helena has sent a letter to the sysadmin here at igc.apc.org alleging that I have posted some copyright and/or trade secret materials. "Now I've been pretty careful lately due to numerous threatening letters from Kobrin. I don't believe that I have done anything remotely resembling what she claims and would appreciate some help accumulating evidence to that effect." Message-ID: DBEu13.6En@uns.bris.ac.uk> Message-ID: DBKr0n.EIL@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Message-ID: 3u23js$1ih@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> Message-ID: APC&1'0'66608053'd6a@igc.apc.org> #####

New Poodle

Following the closure of the NNTP host in Ireland, the Cancel Poodle this week moved to a new site. Here is one of the new cancels: >From netaxs.com!netnews.upenn.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!newsserver2.jvnc.net! howland.reston.ans.net!news-e1a.megaweb.com!newstf01.news.aol.com! uunet!in1.uu.net!news.nyc.pipeline.com!news.intercon.com!udel!uwm.edu!lll-winken .llnl.gov!osi-easr2.es.net!doevm!btnet!peernews.demon.co.uk!odesi.com!noman Tue Jul 11 07:51:18 1995 Path: netaxs.com!netnews.upenn.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!newsserver2.jvnc.net! howland.reston.ans.net!news-e1a.megaweb.com!newstf01.news.aol.com!uunet! in1.uu.net!news.nyc.pipeline.com!news.intercon.com!udel!uwm.edu!lll-winken.llnl. gov!osi-easr2.es.net!doevm!btnet!peernews.demon.co.uk!odesi.com!noman Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology From: noman@odesi.com Subject: cmsg cancel Control: cancel Message-ID: cancel.k09btK00YUq8Mt4VT@andrew.cmu.edu> Date: 9 Jul 1995 23:09:45 -0400 Organization: Odesi Lines: 2 CANCELLED - COPYRIGHT/TRADE SECRET INFRINGEMENT #####

Dennis Erlich Update

Dennis Erlich wrote to update everybody on his situation. "I am a guest in the home of Dr. Edward and Priscilla Coates. Mrs. Coates, one of my very closest friends, is coincidentally Director of the Los Angeles Affiliate of the Cult Awareness Network. "I could no longer afford to live in the house the scienos raided, having lost my job and been subject to legal harassment. The Coates were kind enough to allow me to crash at their house til I can regain my equilibrium. "Despite the family law Judge's statement that my visitation rights had been frustrated and interfered with by my ex, there was not clearly overt concealment. He said that I had not made a due diligent effort to locate Holly." Message-ID: 3tv3ao$cqd@hang.primenet.com> #####

Penet Raid

Kaj Malmberg of the Helsinki Police posted and mailed some details of the Interpol raid on the anonymous Penet server. First, an excerpt from the posting. "This Scientology case started on day when a lawyer from a very respected law office contacted us and said he was representing the Church of Scientology and that he had in his office a private investigator from the United States that had come here to investigate on behalf of the church. "They came to my office in Helsinki and told me that someone had penetrated in to a computer in Los Angeles and taken secret information form it. The computer was the property of the Church of Scientology. "Interpol is not a police organization. Most of the countries in the world have joined Interpol and therefore assign a part of its organization to be called Interpol. Interpol does not investigate crimes nor execute any police duties. It only sends mail from one country to another and keep registers. "If I want to send a letter to a law enforcement agency in another country, I send it to our local Interpol, that sends it to the other country and to its Interpol agency, that in turn sends it to the local police. Interpol never has an active part in investigating crimes." And from the mail: "They had some documents, a copy of the information stolen, and they stated facts that gave us reasons to believe that a crime has been committed. There was a respectable lawyer reporting a crime, one tends to believe them." Julf Helsingus has confirmed Kaj's identity. "Yes, and not only the name, but the account as well. Kaj is who he claims to be - the e-mail addresses are valid." Message-Id: 199507091001.AA01958@personal.eunet.fi> Message-ID: 3trpp0$1lg@unlisys.unlisys.net> Message-ID: 3tpr2q$j9a@news1.shell> #####

Tom Klemesrud Dead Agent

The cos continued to defame Tom Klemesrud with a declaration this week. >From this week's declaration. It's allegedly by the Linda Woolard, the woman who spread blood around Tom's apartment as an intimidation tactic. "He was a white male, approximately 45 years old, and about 5'8" tall, 150 pounds. This was the first time I ever met or ever saw him." I think that says it all. Tom is now 210 lbs. The OSA staff picked up his weight from the DMV files, several years out of date on Tom's weight. The statement goes on to directly challenge the 911 transcript Tom posted a few weeks ago, but claiming Linda called 911, not Tom. "I managed to calm him down a little. I then picked up the phone and called 911. Tom hung the phone up. I kept trying to calm him down more. I then called 911 again. This time I got through and told the 911 operator, that a guy in the apartment has a shotgun and that he threatened to kill me and kill himself. Message-ID: 3trhjr$nsu@covina.lightside.com> #####

SP Levels

Jeff Jacobsen posted the new way to judge your degree of involvement with the cos, the SP Levels. Here they are: "SP1 you become a public church critic (posting, picketing, whatever) SP2 the church reacts to your actions in some way SP3 you get a personal response from the church SP4 you are threatened with a lawsuit or Fair Game SP5 you are sued and/or Fair Gamed SP6 you win their suit or stop the Fair Gaming SP7 you sue them SP8 you win your lawsuit SP9 you collect damages" Message-ID: 3tnpn8$sbj@dump.primenet.com> #####

Scamizdat

Scamizdat #9 came out this week. Some highlights: The complete text of Scientology: A History of Man, formerly known as What to Audit, including all the descriptions of seafood life. It's best description is contained within: "A LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL INCIDENTS TO BE FOUND IN A HUMAN BEING "This is a cold-blooded and factual account of your last sixty trillion years." Also included in Scamizdat, TR 3. "Purpose: To teach a student Int Officer to improvise and maintain cover when confronted with something unexpected. "The coach throws in startling accusations and suspicions and the student must handle and maintain his cover. Coach starts off on a gradient giving the student wins. "Flunks are give for being startled and long comm lags, for failure to give an answer and smooth over the suspicions of the coach." Also included, the findings of a Fitness Board on Johnny Baaska. "John, age 7, has been engaged in very gross conduct unbecoming of a Sea Org Member. John has repeatedly lied about this conduct when interviewed several times by the C/Os MAA at Celebrity Centre, and although he did confess to some of his acts he continued to lie when interviewed by the Fitness Board Chairman. "John has also started several small fires. "He is found unfit for the Sea Org per FO 2627RA Policy 3. He is assigned a Condition of TREASON, his Sea Org Contract is cancelled and he is debarred from S.O. Premises. He is to be billed for any services received while in the Sea Org." And finally, the bizarre description of The Gorilla Goals, Routine 3N, by LRH. "The symbol of a Gorilla was always present in the place the goal was given. Sometimes a large gorilla, black, was seen elsewhere than the park. A Mechanical or a live gorilla was always seen in the park." Message-ID: 3u0so6$pjt@utopia.hacktic.nl> #####

Church Detectives

An excerpt from a posting from Countercultures: A Sociological Analysis, by William W. Zellner. "A U.S. District judge in Washington, D.C. had his sex life investigated. In running down a 'squirrel', one of the detectives passed out business cards that read 'Special Agent, Task Force on White Collar Crime'. In talking to the squirrel's neighbors and banker, the detective suggested that the subject of his inquiry was implicated in drug smuggling and terrorism, which were totally false accusations. On another occasion, detectives told the neighbors of an antagonistic former Scientologist that she had pinworms." Message-ID: rnewman-1307951238360001@dial1-5.cybercom.net>