Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review Volume 1, Issue 30 11/17/96 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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"There is no doubt in my mind that the scientology cult, with the help of a vindictive ex-wife has and will continue to attempt to have me incarcerated. I have made every required support payment and more.
"She came out of hiding to give the scienos a declaration they needed to satisfy the federal statutes permitting them to kick down my door and rape my privacy without letting me tell my side of the story in court before the court ordered the seizure. The scienos helped her in return by giving her my bank account # from my bank statement information stolen from me during the unconstitutional raid. And by paying, I am certain, for the Century City lawyer who has appeared against me in San Diego at least half a dozen times.
"They managed to get me found guilty of 8 counts of contempt. The violation was for paying my child support ~later~ than the date the court ordered, though still in the same month. In the other hundred or so counts where I had ~not paid child support at all~ due to not knowing where my ex wife was hiding the child, I was found NOT guilty.
"If anyone absolutely insists on sending money (which will go straight to the lawyer who I will hire to defend me against this latest barrage of barratry) they can mail it to: Dennis Erlich 1917 Hampton Lane Glendale, CA 91201
"I have a new job. I am working for Tribune Broadcasting as assistant to the producer of the Hollywood Christmas Parade and Rose Parade telecasts on KTLA channel 5 in LA."
"They've already tried to have me fired. Offered a DA pack to my employers. They declined."
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Grady Ward
Grady reported this week that he has noticed suspicious activity at his
house, possibly due to harassment by Scientology.
"I've noticed an increase in suspicious activity at my house such as multiple hangup calls from what is probably a cell phone (of someone casing the house?) coming at a time and manner that someone might feel would be optimal for an attempted break-in at the house."
Grady also asked Tom Hogan, attorney for Scientology, to step down from their lawsuit since Hogan indicated Grady's filing of the Swedish NOTS was forged, shortly before the documents were stolen from the Swedish authorities.
"Sometime after Hogan said the the 'Plaintiff believes these are forgeries,' scientologists substituted other texts for the ones belonging to the various court and parliament clerks in Sweden. In other words, we have strong, almost incontrovertible proof that RTC is engaged in Obstruction of Justice (a felony) and international conspiracies to commit theft and forgery -- and they are committing acts which are provoking an international incident with an ally."
"Dear Mr. Hogan,
"The events that have occurred since the time of filing of the relevant motions include the discovery of the theft and forgery of NOTs in Sweden, that, taken with your October 25, 1996 letter to the court asking to examine my NOTs exhibit A because the 'Plaintiff believes these are forgeries' constitutes strong evidence that the plaintiff has committed further predicate acts under federal Racketeering statutes of 18 U.S.C. 1503 et seq. (Obstruction of Justice).
"I am asking you as a percipient witness in the above matter to voluntarily withdraw from this litigation pursuant to Model Code of Professional Responsibility."
Grady also reported that efforts to break his PGP encrypted files have been abandoned.
"The Special Master, Ms. Beth Hamilton, esq., wrote today and told me that the criminal cult was abandoning their effort to decrypt the pgp'ed files found on my seized disks."
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Quiros Spam
Another wave of spammed articles flooded a.r.s this week, but this time
one of the articles appeared to come from Jeff Quiros, Director of Special
Affairs for the San Francisco Org. Was the message forged under Quiros'
name? The bizarre nature of the posting raises that question.
"From: Jeff Quiros <jquiros@hooked.net>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 16:39:02 -0800
Organization: Slip.Net
Message-ID: <328A6A26.5709@hooked.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: sf-pm5-22-86.dialup.slip.net
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.01 (Win16; I)
"This is an extract from the expertise of Frank Flinn:
"Every year there must be burnt those documents which, relating to the prosecution of crimes of immorality, involve deceased defendants or cases ended more than ten years previously with a condemnatory sentence, only a brief summary of the case being retained with the text of the final sentence.'"
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Trash Picking
Margery Wakefield reported additional harassment. Scientology is unhappy
with her speaking out on the net, and for a radio interview she recently
granted. Margery also updated Bob Penny's condition.
"Last Sunday night I put out the garbage for pickup on Monday morning, then Monday morning I noticed that two bags of garbage were missing. I wonder who? Then we began to get pieces of the mail on our lawn each morning after that."
"Bob Penny says Hi to everyone on the Net. The FACTNet case isn't really scheduled to begin until January and February so we are just waiting to see what will happen. Bob is doing a bit better since his doctor changed his medicines around so he has a bit more energy. He is quite comfortable living at home and spends most of his time watching TV. Bob has his own attorney who will look after his interests."
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Worldwide NOTS
Jesper Toftegaard loaded a Danish web site for the "secret" NOTS documents
this week.
"This is just to let you know, that there's a Danish site, where you can find CoS's secret papers. Point your browser at http://home3.inet.tele.dk/toffer/"
"Monday morning I got an e-mail from Helena. Tuesday my provider called and asked me to remove it again, because Helena was bugging them too. I did remove the files, but made links to every pages known by me containing the same material. At the same time I wrote Helena a message, telling that I had removed the files."
Andreas Heldal-Lund received a visit from Scientologists in connection with his Norwegian NOTS archive.
"Today, Sunday November 10th at 09:15 two persons rang my doorbell. They asked to talk to me, I answered by asking who they were. They said they came from The Church of Scientology. I did not let them in but stood in the door asking what they wanted. My summary of the debate that followed is this:
"Clam A: You are in the possession copyrighted material. If you do not delete them and hand over any hard copies you may have, we will sue both you and your ISP.
"Me: These documents are public available on the net and can be ordered from Riksdagen i Sverige. I can see no reason for me to either hand anything to you or remove anything from my home page.
"Me: What is your name? Clam A: (hesitating) Ehh.... My name is Bjorn Marmedal. Me: And yours? (looking at the other clam, the Swede) Clam B: (just looked at me, with a grin) Me: Are you refusing to say your name? Clam B: (same grin, saying absolutely nothing) Me: What OT level are you at? (looking at clam B) Clam B: (shaking his head) Me: Do I understand you correct that you are here as a witness but refuse to give your name? Clam B: (still nothing, looks unsure. Clam B looks like he's superior to A because A wants to say something but stops when he looks at B) Clam A: Now you have been given notice.... Me: Do you have with you any documentation that proves you represent the owners of the copyright on these documents, and that they are copyrighted? Clam A: (counting on his fingers) We have won lawsuits over this material in USA, Sweden and Finland.... Me: You have WHAT????? What lawsuit have you won in USA, Sweden and Finland??? This is a lie, and you know it! Tell me it's not a lie! Me: Are you aware that these documents are public available in Sweden? I only have to send 500,- kroner to Riksdagen and they will mail me a copy. Are you aware of this? Me: ARE YOU????? Clam A: No..."
Andreas also had a response from his Internet provider, asking him to remove the NOTS pages.
"The person who mailed me from my Internet provider was Peter Singleton <peters@online.no>. In the mail he refers to our talk on the phone and quotes from the agreement all users agree to when they buy an account from them. The agreement states that Telenor Online (TO) takes the liberty to evaluate everything I have on my page according to Norwegian and international laws. And they do not accept distribution of copyrighted material. If doubt in these areas arises they take the right to cut access to those files. Then it will be up to me to prove, without reasonable doubt, that they are not protected by copyright.
"In other words: I have to prove my innocence!"
"When my Internet provider yesterday told me to remove 8 named files, I actually did delete those files. But I happened to find 8 other files with other names, those I put on my page instead. Today they contacted me again and told me these files probably were similar files.
"I will no longer be able to put these files on Telenor's server, if I do they will close my access to the account. No worries, Operation Clambake will be stationed there with links to the other papers. My provider said they would not interfere if the mentioned documents was placed physically on another than their machines."
An anonymously placed mirror of Andreas' site was placed at Geocities, a free web service. Geocities closed the archive after correspondence from Scientology.
"The mirror at Geocities is now closed by Geocities. They claim, like my provider did, that Co$ 'furnished evidence of ownership'."
Printed copies of NOTS were also distributed in Copenhagen, with additional distributions planned for other cities.
"The 'Hard Copy' action - part I - was a huge success. Several sets were given away. The lucky receivers were passengers on train traveling from Osterport Station to Norreport Station (Copenhagen 'Metro')."
"The first hard copies has been released! Next Hard Copy release will take place as follows Place: Copenhagen, Norreport Station Time: 11.30"
Zenon Panoussis continued to post developments from Sweden and the NOTS still stored by Swedish officials. Dagens Nyheter printed an article on November 13th about the theft of NOTS from the Swedish court.
"On Tuesday the Dept. of Justice made a complaint to the police concerning a theft and distortion of public documents. Nearly every page of the 'bible' which was kept in the custody of the Justice Dept. had been switched. The theft was discovered on Monday.
"How this happened, no one knows. The office supervisor says that he kept an eye on the scientologists that came every day to the Justice Dept., since it became known that a public document was there. The scientologists have, according to his statement, taken turns at reading the documents in order to block the general public from reading them.
"Now the fought-over scientology text at the Justice Dept. has been fitted with a new binding and seal. The entire document including the public material has also been enlarged. It now contains a new copy of the original anonymously submitted texts, now with the newly substituted parts.
"[A] deputy judge of Stockholm's district court discovered that the document had been altered when it was returned. The copy which was left back was much thinner than the one lent out. Even the Justice Dept. has had problems with their copies of the scientology scripture. First the pages were substituted. After a while some pages were ripped up. Finally the text was covered with Tippex [white-out]."
Zenon also reported that U.S. Representative Carlos Moorhead wrote to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice, requesting the originals of NOTS filed with the court.
"Some foreign citizen has used the letter-head of his country's legislative body to tell the head of our legislative body, that the latter legislative body should break the laws it has first passed and then upheld for 200 years, because the contrary would displease the said foreign citizen and his campaign- contributing voters.
"Moorhead's letter contained the statement that our parliament is committing a criminal act no less than five times in one and a half page. It also contained plain-language demands in a tone unheard of. The tone of his letter surpasses the most vicious note of protest on the most serious of international conflict.
"The answer should be seen in the same light: as laconic and straight-forward as it could be within the limits of decency. What it says between the lines is 'shove it'.
"'THE SWEDISH PARLIAMENT THE SPEAKER
"'Dear Fellow Parliamentarian, Mr. Carlos J. Moorhead,
"'Referring to your letter of October 28, I want to inform you that the Chamber Office in the Swedish Parliament has been handling the documents of the Church of Scientology strictly accordingly to the Swedish Constitution.
"'This is, of course, the only way the Swedish Parliament could deal with this matter.'"
Scientology is apparently accusing Zenon himself for the theft of the NOTS documents, and that the authorities have a description of the thief, which matches a Scientology leader.
"Berlingske Tidende, the Danish newspaper that run that great article last week, is running one today on the thefts. As a matter of course, they interviewed Tarja Vulto, the CoS spokeswoman for Scandinavia. Tarja Vulto accused me of having stolen the NOTs. Yes, she had the nerve to say that I WAS BEHIND THE THEFTS.
"Two of the three authorities mentioned above knew who did it, they gave a very accurate description of the thief. I know though that the description fits perfectly the leader of the parliament occupation troops. The guy's name is Thierry Duchaunic (or Duchaunac). He has appeared on TV and I have him on video and I have met him personally on several occasions.
"The chancellor of justice attached a copy of the forged and a copy of the real NOTs to his report to the prosecutor. For obvious reasons the whole file is secret while investigation is pending. But when the investigation is finished the NOTs will also be available from the prosecutor's offices in Stockholm."
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Sons of Scamizdat
Another installment from the files of the TNX-L mailing list was posted
this week from the Sons of Scamizdat, renegade members of the
Scientologist-only mailing list. Some highlights:
"From: AMaren@aol.com (Artie Maren)
"Earthling: Yes, if you make a wrong turn or fail to obey the sign posted you can be stopped by a policeman (policeperson?) and he/she will give you a 'ticket'.
"Homonovis: Wait a minute, let me get this straight....you commit a driving error. You are caught making the mistake and then they give you a piece of paper?
"Earthling: Well, yes. But the paper is a traffic ticket and you must now go to the court and pay a fine for having made the error.
"Homonovis: I see. And then you are sent to cramming to get your m/u's?
"Earthling: No. You just pay the money. But if (and when) you do it again or make another error, then you pay more money!
"Homonovis; (Faking exasperation...due to the fact that Homonovis has long since left such low tones far behind).....So when does the error get actually handled??
"Earthling: Well.....there actually is a handling...if the person then repeats enough errors or actually injures someone, then....then, they take away their license for a period of time...but dunno how long. And...they must attend traffic school!
"Homonovis: I see. And this school is effective?
"Earthling: Well, dunno. I attended the Lettuce Entertain You...Traffic School and it was very enjoyable.
"Homonovis: Ok, Ok, after the 'seminar', you were given an exam to ensure that what you had been studying was fully understood?
"Earthling: Sure.
"Homonovis: And what was your score?
"Earthling: Dunno, but I passed. Well, actually, everybody passed cause you can miss a few, that's ok...
"Homonovis: You do not have to get 100% on the exam? You can 'miss a few', any one of which is enough to kill someone and still pass?
"Earthling: Sure. Nobody's perfect. The 'instructor' was very cool and he would help out anyone stuck on a question with some hints, ya know."
"From: Bruce J Goldman <brucejg@earthlink.net>
"A couple of years ago I cashed out most of my IRA to pay through OT VII. A very worthy alternative to an IRA. But, now I'm wondering whether I should put it back.
"So I'm curious what all of your thoughts are on planning for 'retirement' this lifetime. I know I had no considerations about it after doing Ls and through OT III. Now?"
"From: Boosche@aol.com (Carol Espinoza)
"Here is the game:
"1. Pick a religion that you would like to clean up. Don't worry about whether or not the psyks have infiltrated them yet, they have.
"2. Look in the yellow pages, and locate a local branch of that church.
"3. Figure out who the head Priest, Minister, Pastor, Rabbi, etc., of that church is. It may be listed in the Yellow Pages or you may have to call them.
"4. Send this person something to make him aware of how criminal psyks are. I believe it is important to really direct this comm to a terminal and not just send it to the church. I also believe it is totally okay to do this anonymously and the important thing is that they get the data, but those with high confront can include a letter explaining who you are and where you can be contacted. Some suggestions are:
"1. The CCHR Booklet 'Psychiatry, Destroying Morals (I think that this will hit the right buttons)
"2. Psychiatry: The Ultimate Betrayal
"3. 'The Men Behind Hitler' (Can you imagine the response to this at a local Temple?)
"4. What Is Scientology, with Chapter 31, 'Those Who Oppose Scientology' tabbed. (Would probably be good for Mormon or other religions that have experienced Black PR campaigns. Shows who the criminals are, handles any Black PR on Scientology and give the person the opportunity of finding out what Scientology is all at once)
"The point of the game is to handle the false data and get the correct data in."
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Germany
The Washington Post ran an column by Richard Cohen on the Germany vs.
Scientology controversy this week. The text was not posted to a.r.s, but
Jessie Blalock commented on the piece.
"This article can be accessed via the URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Click on 'search' and then search on either 'Cohen' or 'scientology'.
"From my reading of the article, it appears that Mr. Cohen is extremely ignorant of the nature of Scientology or of the situation in Germany.
"Richard Cohen has devoted much of his attention in the past few years to issues involving religious persecution - in particular, he has written a great deal about the Nation of Islam and its anti-Semitic doctrine."
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German Web
Cornelius Krasel reported that somebody asked the University of Wuerzburg
to investigate his web archive, which resides on University computers.
"Yesterday I received an email from the central administration of the University of Wuerzburg, asking for legitimation of my CoS pages. It appears that they were called by somebody from the university who was alerted by another person, apparently from the University of Heidelberg, who seemed to be annoyed by these pages.
"The central administration asked whether I had support from my advisor
(i.e. the director of the department) to put the CoS material on the WWW.
If not, i<<<<
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"I was doing some research on the Church of Scientology for an English
paper. I visit their web site once from my Unix Box using Netscape. Not
less than a week after I did the search, I have started to receive
literature from one of their front groups that wishes to ban the practice
of Psychiatry (The Citizen's Coalition for Human Rights.) The only file
that I knew of that I read from the official Scientology Website was the
one that contained all the trademark information. (The names of all their
Gods, Teachings, and Sacraments are all copyright information.)
"So all I had to is visit one web site and somehow they got enough info on
me to start sending me mailings. I am NOT amused as they have been
reported in the news as a dangerous cult. I guess they got enough
information now to get my phone number too.
"So, as a reminder, if you are researching something on the net that you
don't want to be involved in, be sure to blank out your name and email
address. Those cookie files and Java scripts can give stuff that you don't
want out."
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Web Intelligence
An anonymous web searcher reported that s/he was sent Scientology material
after browsing their web site. Apparently, Scientology is tracking the
users of the site and, in some cases, sending targeted email to users.