This is an important survey put together by Jeffrey Augustine and first published on his blog. I am republishing it here for anyone who may have missed it there.When someone gives money to scientology, they are led to believe that should they be dissatisfied all they need to do is ask and their money will be cheerfully refunded with the only condition being that they are no longer able to participate in scientology services. Of course, those who want their money back don't really want to continue participating, so this is never a big deal when they hand over their cash. What they … [Read more...]
Time, Place, Form and Event Part 9
The ninth installment of the first draft of a novel written by our old friend Terra Cognita. Our Sunday Serial. Terra welcomes all suggestions and feedback -- this is draft -- you can note them in the comments. Chapter 49 My chocolate malt had completely melted and Detective Chip Gardner was on his second cup of coffee. Dev, Cindy, and Roxy had left a half hour earlier. “And that’s what happened,” I said. Despite all the food, my stomach felt empty. “That’s all of it?” Gardner asked. “Pretty much, yeah.” “I don’t want ‘pretty much;’ I’d like all of it. Can’t help you if I d … [Read more...]
The Scam of Orlando
The holes in the decaying fence around scientology's shrinking empire continue to grow. Those holes are about the only thing that IS expanding in the scientology world. Today, the Chairman of the Bored is supposed to yanks his ribbon in the parking lot of a new building in an Orlando office park. Last time they postponed at the last minute. They now moved it forward a week at the last minute. Maybe it will just be all CGI - the first Jurassic Park style yanking? They could still show it at the next event along with all the other CGI “fly through” and “exploding graphs” and that’s what is rea … [Read more...]
Regraded Being
Thursday Funnies
Next time around... Wow, that's some foresight. The Final Moment? Who wants to take bets how long after this final moment they have another fundraiser? It will probably be announced before this one is even held... Food, glorious food Gosh, they couldn't even drag old Michael Roberts along for this apparently. Dallas is so dead they don't want to spend the money to fly anyone there... Nothing says service... Like an empty HGC. Is that a funny light fixture or did they actually send this out with whiteout on it? Foothills … [Read more...]
Massive International Expansion Lies
From the latest edition of Source magazine, the official magazine of the "international spiritual headquarters" of scientology. You can see they are making a big deal about their new "7.5 foot diameter world map" with "12-sided polygon locator pinpoints." As always, scientology seem to impress themselves by talking about the size of their maps or details of their toys. It's as gauche as someone telling you "I have 7,000 square feet of hand-made silk rugs in the entrance hall of my 40,000 square foot home -- and you paid for it." This magnificent new map is apparently adjacent to "Embassy … [Read more...]
There Is No New Church of Scientology in Perth
This is Scientology's headline on their website following David Miscavige's parking lot ribbon yanking: DOWN UNDER’S “CITY OF LIGHTS” WELCOMES NEWEST CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY This is a double lie. First, there is no "new church of scientology" in Perth. There is a new building, but that is not a "new church." It's the same crappy little scientology group that has been there for 50 years and has never amounted to anything. Second, nobody welcomed them, except themselves. Here are a few excerpts of Shermanspeak about the opening: Perth may be far-flung, but the city’s can-do, entrepr … [Read more...]
The Final World Class Ideal Org…
This new poster says a lot. This is the "final world class ideal org for America"?? Wow. Scientology of course has no problem making outrageous statements and blustering on through as though everyone will simply agree because they say so. But I wonder how Boston feels about being relegated to the "non-world class" category? Or Philly? Austin? Detroit? There is apparently NEVER going to be any org in Houston, New Orleans or Charlotte, let alone an ideal one. But even more interesting than their stupidity is how much this reveals about the state of scientology in the age of the … [Read more...]
Time, Place, Form and Event Part 8
The next installment of the first draft of a novel written by our old friend Terra Cognita. Our Sunday Serial. Terra welcomes all suggestions and feedback -- this is draft -- you can note them in the comments. Chapter 43 Blazer guy, his driver, Sean, Ryan, Roxy, and I sat lined up on the sidewalk outside Jupiter Donuts. The first rays of the sun flicked over the horizon as the street filled up with early morning commuters. Ryan had refused medical assistance for his fucked-up nose and the six cops had holstered their guns. Gray-haired stared down at me, his hands on his hips. His hair … [Read more...]
Lies, Lies and More Lies
I had not seen this until perusing the scientology.org website today. Don't focus on the wonderful passage of classic Shermanspeak -- legendary times on the front porch of infinity indeed. No, try to put that out of your mind and note the claim -- apparently in response to the repeated exposure of the dwindling numbers at his events -- that the event was attended by a "record number" pegged at 6700 lost souls from 70 nations. Of course, this is quite a feat, given the capacity of the venue is Ruth Eckerd Hall that seats 2180 (slightly less with all the cameras and sound equipment … [Read more...]
Regraded Being
Thursday Funnies
Though Orlando apparently didn't make their target for opening last week (what a shock?) they are making up for it with an outpouring of promotional pieces that is impressive in it's volume, if not the content. It's a constant flow of travelers... So...? Well, for one thing, they will NEVER find you. If the travelers are so important (like they are going to go on course instead of DisneyWorld?) why aren't you located anywhere they could possibly see you? I'm giving him a cleared planet But he doesnt care, he's handling "Target 2". Plus, you're not giving … [Read more...]
“More Scientologists” — SMH
Seriously? Could they have picked a creepier image? Just to see, I googled "Funeral home interior" and this is one of the first images on the page: A picture is worth 1,000 words -- and this one spells "ideal morgue" 500 times over. What is so incredible is that this IS what represents "ideal" to those inside the bubble. They have completely bought the redefinition of the term to being an empty building -- even while QUOTING the Hubbard definition. And they have swallowed it so completely they don't even see anything wrong with this poster. In fact, they send it out … [Read more...]
Talk About Fabulous & Wonderful
This may be one of the best ever admissions to leak from the bubble. Not only is the SuMP doing phony photoshoots, they are PAYING people to show up to try to get enough of a crowd that it doesn't look like the few lonely losers that are the backbone of the "Santa Barbara" "ideal org." This call to arms says so much -- they staged a beach event in Santa Barbara, but it looked measly. So, the bright sparks decided to re-do the "Santa Barbara" beach event in LA so they could get LA people to attend to look like they were from Santa Barbara. And though they could import some Sea Org … [Read more...]
Schmoozing And Losing
That's Pat Clouden, scientology whale and Lynn Posyton, Clearwater scientology whale remora with Pam Bondi. Ms. Bondi has been a favorite in scientology circles, with several of her forays into the bubble documented on Tony Ortega's blog. And look who else was in attendance, schmoozing with Lynn Posyton. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. It's not that this was a "scientology event" -- the Drug Free America Foundation is not controled by scientology, but scientologists have made a concerted effort to infiltrate this group. Elected officials … [Read more...]