Things seem to be falling apart at the seams in LA. Traditionally, there was a single March 13th event for all of the LA area -- including Orange County and the Valley. It used to be held at the Shrine Auditorium, but that became embarrassing as they couldn't even fill the lower level, let alone the upper. So, they moved it to the Dolby Theater. Capacity 3400. Now they have shifted it to the "Ray Dolby Ballroom." Capacity 2000. But it seems they are having inordinate difficulty filling even that venue (this is not much bigger than the Flag auditorium...) in the home of the … [Read more...]
Regraded Being
Thursday Funnies
Still crazy after all these years SO #1 letters as inspiration? Even in this day and age? Wow... Tampa Org is "out of PT" Can you imagine the model ideal SH size org is not in PT and needs to do the SRD? Says a lot for the state of the non-model, non-ideal, non-SH sized orgs everywhere else. Our birthday gift: Planetary Dissemination a reality! Yessirreee... Does this person REALLY think that everyone hasn't yet figured out that this whole set up is being paid for by Miscavige as a pet-project boondoggle to use up some of that cash he has been … [Read more...]
Channels Onto “The Bridge”
Scientology repeatedly denies this, but here it is in black and beige. The "Director of Clearing" of the Portland "ideal org" is proudly announcing how the "4D campaigns" (anti-drug, education, WTH, human rights, Volunteer Ministers) are really "dissemination tools" to get people into the org so they can be "closed" to buy scientology books and services. They are even conducting a seminar on "how to disseminate with these campaigns." The truth is these campaigns are ONLY supported for two reasons: For photo ops to try to present the image that scientology is selfless and provides … [Read more...]
Real Humanitarians
I attended a Sunday Service and Naming Ceremony at the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Clearwater last weekend. It was an interesting experience. At the door, they give you a little program of what the service will contain. Below you will see the front and back page. I include it here because it gives some idea about the beliefs and practices of the "UU's" (which is how they refer to themselves). Here is what struck me: It was their normal Sunday Service. About 250 people were there. Their church was built from scratch, funded by donations from members. It is functional. … [Read more...]
Fundraising Forever
What you see below are 4 letters asking someone in Clearwater for money for Orlando "ideal" org. All 4 of them were put into one envelope. Apparently the Orlando org does not have enough money to mail 4 separate letters. Nor do they have money for letterhead. Or anything but the cheapest paper and envelopes. Yet, after years of begging for money and failing, they were just given a new building. A building they don't need. A building they cannot afford. A building they couldn't even fill if they took everyone who has EVER been on staff and everyone who has EVER taken any scientology … [Read more...]
The OT Hype
A lot of this promotional item is pretty familiar territory. They tend to recirculate the "wins" because once you start saying "this handles everything in the universe forever" it is really hard to follow it with anything "less." So, every success begins to sound familiarly absurd. Just a few comments on this one in particular: if it were true that you handle "anything" with Solo NOTs "for eternity" what else IS THERE? Why would anyone then need to do OT VIII? Or more to the point -- why would anyone need to do Super Power or the Running Program? Much less Student Hat, Purification and … [Read more...]
Running Program Re-Redo
3 times through in less than 2 years. This one is a real money-spinner. You can keep sending people back to do it over and over. You don't need anything to deliver it -- just someone who tells them to keep running and a "C/S" who just tells them to "keep running." It's a bottomless goldmine. It's like an LA Fitness Club. I do not doubt that people enjoy running. Or that it results in good feelings. There are millions of people who do it every day. Convincing people that running around in a circle is an "Whole Track OT objective process" that is worth paying thousands of dollars for (a … [Read more...]
Regraded Being
Thursday Funnies
Exclusive? How exclusive can it be when the person delivering the "briefing" is not even on Solo NOTs? Intriguing? Really? And she's "got" over 10,000 people up the Bridge? Must be some of the 2 billion that Tom Cruise has got into scientology A fact? What factual information do they have that they are creating an impact on the planet? Must see... A poster with more words in the copyright notice than in the text The magic of Source And the enchantment of Dan Sherman. Should be quite an evening of sleight of hand and … [Read more...]
Narconon and Google Trends
Why Bother really got the ball rolling... Here is some further evidence of the complete fail of scientology's programs. Though there has been a decline in interest in "Drug Rehabilitation" and "Drug abuse", the in interest in Narconon is virtually non-existent. There were a couple of hiccups back in 2005 and 2007, but otherwise it looks like a snake on the freeway. Even the negative publicity brought about by the lawsuits against Narconon has had no effect. You could substitute Narconon for "parrot" in the famous Monty Python dead parrot sketch and be entirely accurate. Once again, … [Read more...]
The Real State of Flag and LA Orgs
People send me information routinely on their visits to orgs, and I happened to get several recently from people who were in LA and also at Flag. I accumulate these because individually each one is not worth a whole post, but when there are a few they tell a story. In this case, apparently the rudderless ship is all but abandoned. And it is interesting how the stories from different people in different orgs are all pretty much the same. And align so well with the information being imparted on the "Oh No Ross and Carrie" podcasts about their investigation of scientology at Los Angeles org … [Read more...]
Eradicating Psychiatry — “Less steps than baking a cake.”
Ken Kramer is at it again. As usual, he is begging for money, even though the IAS claim THEY are the ones "eradicating psychiatry." Just like they are the ones bringing "human rights" and "literacy campaigns" (see recent post on GoFundMe page for those campaigns). Here are a couple of recent emails from Mr. Kramer. From: PsychSearch <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 3:35 AM To: Subject: You say you want a revolution You say you want a revolution Well, you know We all want to change the world... (Beatles - Revolution Lyrics) Dear … [Read more...]
More on Google Trends
An interested reader sent this in after the recent posting on the subject of Alexa and Google trends. I found it interesting to see the correlation between "interest" in scientology and interest in Tom Cruise. And I thank Why Bother for bringing the Google Trends data to my attention. The graph shows the US trends and the following one shows the worldwide trends: And this one is Worldwide trends: The first spike in the infamous Oprah Couch jumping followed by the "glib" Matt Lauer commentary. April 2006 Suri is born. August 2006 Paramount terminates t … [Read more...]
IAS Abandons Youth For Human Rights and Literacy Campaigns
Well, the truth is they never really had them (or anything else that requires spending money on anything other than buildings). Remember Tim Bowles? Former "good guy" partner of Rick Moxon? He won an IAS Freedom Medal for his work with children in Africa. The IAS repeatedly announces it's "support" for human rights, most particularly "Youth For Human Rights". They gave an IAS Freedom Medal to Mary Shuttleworth, the head if the whole show. They have literally collected tens of millions of dollars on the basis of their PR that they are "bringing human rights to the world." They claim … [Read more...]