Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review Volume 2, Issue 20 08/31/97 by Rod Keller [rkeller@voicenet.com] copyright 1997
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 articles
posted to the newsgroup. They include message IDs for the original
articles, and many have a URL to get more informtion. You may be able to
find the original article, 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://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
http://home.sol.no/heldal/CoS/archive/WIR/
http://www.i1.net/~mallen/scn/arswr/ars-summary.html
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CCHR
Scientology released a press release from its Citizens Commission on Human
Rights front group.
"Creating Evil-Psychiatry: Destroying Religion is a booklet with a mission: it was released this month by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) and is a damning indictment of psychiatry's destructive influence on religions. It calls on clergy from all denominations to denounce the degrading and costly effects of psychiatry and psychology in schools and community programmes and says that theological schools and seminaries need to root out the 'mental health quackery' that has infiltrated traditional religious training.
"The booklet also calls on clergy to examine how their own mission has been perverted; how religions themselves have been weakened and in fact subjugated by human psychiatry and psychology. Tracing this influence on religion from its historical roots to today, Creating Evil-Psychiatry: Destroying Religion shows how the declining influence of religion in society parallels with the decline of society itself, as record numbers of our youth fall prey and descend to drugs, crime, homicide, illiteracy, gang membership and vandalism."
Message-ID: <CLjxSYapCI2tC0n28QHmwQ==@JawJaCrakR>
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Dennis Erlich
Keith Bennett reported from Dennis Erlich's hearing in San Jose, where his
lawyers are attempting to obtain more documents from Scientology for
Dennis' defense.
"The hearing was largely incomprehensible. 'item number 67 of the 3rd request to BPI...' About 20 of those. 4 times - judge, Carla, Milgrim, Carla, plus interruptions and corroborations. The only amusing part was when Milgrim discussed that many of the pen and ink of Hubbard's work were in 'titanium containers containing inert gas and were thus inaccessible for 1000 years. Just like the Mormons do with their genealogies'
"Milgram also claims that Erlich authenticated that this shit was in fact written by Hubbard when he stated that this was indeed Scn shit. MoFo didn't deign to answer that."
Message-ID: <34091a88.12533830@nntp1.ba.best.com>
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Arnie Lerma Resigns
Arnaldo Lerma announced his resignation from FACTNet this week, citing his
permanent injunction issued by Judge Brinkema, and the possibility that it
could be used by Scientology to gag FACTNet.
"I want to make it clear that my resignation is not the result of any policy disagreements or unhappiness with your leadership; I do so to pursue new interests and, on the advice of counsel, to protect FACTNet from unwarranted attacks.
"Largely because of litigation decisions made without our consent in the Virginia litigation, I was denied an opportunity to challenge certain alleged copyrights to Advanced Technology. Thus, a court in Virginia found that I had committed technical violations of the Copyright Act when I published the Fishman Affidavit to the Internet. I remain concerned about the effect that the judgment in the Lerma case might have on FACTNet.
"Judge Brinkema issued an order which did two things. It prohibited me, and anyone acting in concert with me, from taking certain limited actions. It also stated that the order should have no effect of the pending litigation in the FACTNet case. It is clear that Scientology hopes that by dropping its copyright claims against FACTNet, it can now try to enforce the order against FACTNet because I am a Director -- thereby evading Judge Brinkema's express ruling to the contrary. I will not give them a chance to engage in such baseless litigation simply for the purpose of harassing you and FACTNet.
"It is my intention to begin a public-interest advocacy group to continue my role of bringing the testimony of victims to the attention of Scientology. This new group will not be a clone of FACTNet; I see no reason to attempt to duplicate its unique niche as a library and research facility.
"I am thankful for the opportunity which I had to work with you and Bob Penny. I wish you the best of luck in the future."
Message-ID: <5u1hc3$idc@netaxs.com>
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Crusade on Berlin
Martin Hunt and Tilman Hausherr reported that Scientology is planning a
large march on Berlin, to protest alleged human rights violations.
"In a recent event, they said they need to 'terminatedly handle' the 'situation' in Germany by staging a mass crusade in Berlin, something like the Portland Crusade. The cult hopes to attract 25,000 people.
"The date is set for the day after the IAS Int Day on October 7th: October 8th, 1997. They also plan to flood the market with 6,000,000 Freedom Magazines."
"10,000 IAS members will be flying into Berlin from all over the world on October 6th to protest Germany's suppression of Scientology. The trip package costs $5000 and each member will get a pin from DM, himself, at AOSH UK, before flying on to Berlin. Jentzsch, Travolta, Corea, Archer, the Head of NAACP, etc. will be coming."
Message-ID: <7UIA0MdlgcYQ092yn@islandnet.com>
Message-ID: <3415a5fb.23324052@news.snafu.de>
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Schleswig-Holstein
Agence France Presse reported that the German state of Schleswig-Holstein
has announced that it will not join the rest of Germany in monitoring
Scientology's activities.
"Schleswig-Holstein's interior minister Ekkehard Wienholtz said after a meeting of the left-wing cabinet that existing state legislation did not allow such a move. There is no need for an amendment, he added. Schleswig-Holstein, which is ruled by a coalition of Social Democrats and Alliance90/Greens, will be the only German state not to monitor the sect.
"Wienholtz said that under state law intelligence agents can act only when organizations take an 'actively combative and aggressive stance toward the constitutional system as it exists.' But this was not the case now as far as the Church of Scientology was concerned. He said the state government could review its position if state interior ministers decide next year that the sect should be monitored for an extended period of time."
Message-ID: <5u67m0$oqo@netaxs.com>
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Gerry Armstrong
Gerry Armstrong posted an appeal filed in the California Court of Appeal,
asking for a reversal of a summary judgment in a Marin County court
against Gerry. Scientology obtained a $300,000 award and a permanent
injunction in that case.
"The judgment and injunction are the result of the enforcement by way of breach of contract action of a 1986 'Mutual Release of All Claims and Settlement Agreement,' (SA) which was to end then existing Los Angeles Superior Court litigation between Scn and GA. The SA requires, inter alia, that GA not mention Scn, his knowledge thereof or experiences therein, not voluntarily assist or advise Scn's litigation opponents including governmental agencies, and avoid service of process.
"GA contends that his signature was obtained by Scn on the SA by duress, fraud and the compromise of his then attorney. GA contends that all his alleged breaches of the SA were in response to and in self-defense against Scn's post-settlement attacks on him, and that as such his actions were legally justified. He contends that the purpose and function of the SA and its enforcement are obstruction of justice, and as such are against public policy. He contends that the SA and the injunction impermissibly violate his Constitutional rights to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process and freedom from slavery; and impermissibly eliminate his litigant's, clergyman-penitent, therapist-patient and doctor-patient privileges. GA contends that the liquidated damages provision impermissibly acts as punishment, that the amount has no reasonable relationship to Scn's actual damages for his alleged breaches, and that there are sufficient disputed facts concerning circumstances at the time of the settlement of the Los Angeles action to make imposition of monetary damages and disposition of the case by summary judgment clear judicial error. GA contends that there is also a triable issue of fact as to the intentions of the settling parties regarding Scn's being bound by the same silence conditions. Finally, GA contends that the court below erred in not considering his defenses and not considering the miscarriage of justice which would result from its erroneous judgment.
"GA was inside Scn from 1969 through 1981. From 1971 until he left the organization he was a member of the Sea Organization, the highly dedicated upper echelon of Scn, and worked for Scn founder and director L. Ron Hubbard. GA's last position inside Scn involved assembling an archive of Hubbard's personal documents and providing research assistance and copies of the archive documents to a writer Omar Garrison who had been contracted to produce Hubbard's biography. GA attempted to get the organization to correct the lies, but his efforts were rejected and he was ordered to a 'security check,' a Scn interrogation using its lie detector, also called an E-meter. GA saw that his trust, which he had placed in Hubbard and Scn for more than 12 years, had no meaning, and that the frauds perpetrated about Hubbard's life would continue; and as a result GA left the organization.
"Shortly after leaving, GA became the target of Scn's 'Fair Game Doctrine,' which permits individuals designated as 'enemies,' also called 'Suppressive Persons,' hereinafter 'SP's,' to be 'deprived of property, injured by any means by any Scientologist... tricked, sued, or lied to or destroyed.'
"Scn continued its fair game attacks on GA which included at least these acts: attempted entrapment; illegal videotaping; filing false criminal charges against him with the Los Angeles District Attorney; filing false criminal charges against him with the Boston office of the FBI; filing false declarations to bring contempt of court proceedings against him on three occasions; obtaining perjured affidavits from English private investigators who had harassed him in London, England in 1984, accusing him of distributing 'sealed' documents; international dissemination of Scientology publications falsely accusing him of, inter alia, crimes, including crimes against humanity; culling and disseminating information from his supposedly confidential auditing or psychotherapy file."
Message-ID: <3403bcf7.13770246@news.rapidnet.net>
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Clearwater Hotel
Garry Scarff posted a letter allegedly from Mary Story, DSA of Flag Land
Base in Clearwater, Florida. The letter is addressed to Jeff Jacobsen and
the those planning to picket Scientology in December. If genuine, the
letter is chilling.
"Now that the Howard Johnson you stayed at last year has now closed, you
and your team of hooligans will be looking for another host hotel. Please
let me know in advance where you will be staying so I can be sure to
provide you the same security arrangements as last year. You might
consider staying at the Holiday Inn across the street from where you
stayed last year. It's convenient and our church members that work there
will be more than happy to make your stay comfortable."
Message-ID: <01bcb1bf$74c88720$0ee0a1cd@scaarf>
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Dennis Erlich
Dennis Erlich reported receiving verbal insults from a Scientologist this
week while wearing his Xenu tee-shirt.
"Today I wore Martin Poulter's Incident2/Time Mag Tee shirt, and it has changed this man's life! I was in SavOn being followed from a luncheon. I'm checking out when this lame looking, emaciated, nam-vet/old hippy type comes up behind me in line, quickly glances at the tee (i know it takes a few sec's to read it), and says, loudly so everyone looks at him 'You are ~really~ an ASSHOLE, AREN'T YOU' I laughed and walked away.
"The tee shirt is black, 100% cotton. The front of the tee shirt says, in very nice white lettering: 75 million years ago, Xenu nuked 15 billion people in volcanoes, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."
Message-ID: <3404c64b.5031294@snews.zippo.com>
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Paulette Cooper
Paulette Cooper posted the first part of memoirs she wrote during her
harassment by Scientology.
"While I was writing 'The Scandal of Scientology' in 1969-1970, I knew I'd have problems with them later. Scientology also offered to give me another book to write which would make a lot of money if I would back off of this one, i.e., tried to buy me off. But I knew that everything I said in the book was accurate - and it still is - and that they were in bad need of exposure. But despite this outward show of courage, I was already becoming afraid and anxious in 1970 and 1971 since there was already some harassment (following, phone calls, Scientology spies, libelous statements, 4 frivolous lawsuits etc. When in 1972 I found the remains of a phone tap, I sued them in New York - foolishly thinking that that would make them leave me alone.
"It was in the summer of 1972 - a few months after I had sued them - that they first decided to frame me. Their object was to destroy my credibility by trying to get me institutionalized (which they hoped to do by either driving me insane, or, later in 1976, by having someone pose as me and act insane publicly), or get me incarcerated, which would also obviously destroy my credibility and curtail my activities."
Message-ID: <19970827115601.HAA07836@ladder01.news.aol.com>
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San Francisco Picket
Wayne Whitney posted a picket report from San Francisco held on Aug 23rd
and 24th.
"I was expecting a large turnout of Scientologists but it turned out to be pretty much the usual number compared with about a month ago. On the other hand I was VERY encouraged by the lack of activity there. After almost four weeks of increasing activity every weekend (and the fact that I heard the Jive Aces were going to be there) I really expected a much bigger turnout.
"Around 1:00P they brought out the table for their 'free' E-meter demonstrations. This time, however, they set it up quit a bit closer to the sidewalk where I do my pacing. There were about 6 staff members who came out and started aggressively trying to get people to come over and partake in the demonstration. The one blonde (I think her name is Tonya) would often yell out, 'Come on over. Do you want to see a thought? IT'S FREE, IT'S FREE.' I expected this kind of activity from them but what I DIDN'T expect was for the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR herself to come out and stand right in my way. She stood right in the middle of the sidewalk near the place where I often turn around. She KNOWS that's where I do my pacing. She literally forced me to walk around her.
"[T]his guy happened to mention that he was inside the Org when a bunch of them were talking about me. It appears that today a bunch of them were gathered around in the lobby laughing at me. He said they were talking about taking up a collection and inviting me out to lunch because I was getting so many more people interested in Scientology. I kind of had to laugh when I pictured that scene because I know how they ALWAYS have to put a positive spin on a negative situations no matter how ridiculous.
"I returned the next day (Sunday). As I was pacing today two young girls turned the corner just as I was approaching it. As soon as they saw me one of them asked, 'What do you have against Scientology?' Unfortunately I knew their father (a long time member) was standing about twenty feet behind me. I expected him to come rushing over and create a scene so I just blurted out my answer in one sentence. I really expected him to say something negative about me when they got back to him but as far as I could tell he didn't say anything to them. I'm starting to notice a trend. Public members have been coming up to talk to me more and more."
Message-ID: <19970827110601.HAA06681@ladder01.news.aol.com>
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Zurich School
Tilman Hausherr reported that Scientology has lost a court case in
Switzerland, and will not be allowed to open a school in Zurich.
"The federal court upheld a decision of the Zurich school department not to allow Scientology to open a school. The federal court endorsed the argument of the administrative court that Scientology lacks the trust/integrity needed to open a school. As example the court mentioned two examples where Swiss Scientologists were convicted for selling courses to mentally ill people.
"Scientology made also the argument that VPM, another cult, was allowed to open a school, and submitted an anti-cult book as evidence. The argument failed because Scientology did not provide evidence of similarity with VPM.
"Although Scientology won't be allowed to open a private school, it still runs one school were Scientologists teachers teach small groups up to 5 children. The Zurich school department is currently reviewing the rules about this, so the days of that school are counted."
Message-ID: <340530ab.34215950@news.snafu.de>