The newest episode of the Scientology Fair Game podcast features one of my favorite scientology survivors, Paulette Cooper. Her life story is amazing, and if you have not read Tony Ortega's excellent The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, I recommend you do so. The story of what scientology did to try to destroy her is unbelievable. Literally. And unless the FBI had recovered documents in the raid on scientology in 1977, what scientology had done to her was not believed by anyone -- it was so far-fetched it seemed it could only have been lifted from the pages of a cheap spy novel. Paulette … [Read more...]
Important Survey
Apparently, this is very important. But then again, what isn't in scientology? To save you the trouble, I looked at the survey. A couple of "softener" questions "What do you feel scientology should be doing in the current situation" and "How important is scientology to the world" sort of stuff. Then -- Have you ever considered joining the Sea Org? When are you ready to start? Are you eligible? What is your phone number? I wonder if anyone actually completes a survey like this? And I wonder why Tampa Org is trying to recruit for the Sea Org? Maybe FSO has a full time … [Read more...]
The “Scare-Mongering” of CCHR
It is always entertaining to read the propaganda sent out by CCHR accusing psychiatry of "scare-mongering." Anyone familiar with CCHR (and scientology in general) is aware that their reason for existing is to "scare-monger" about psychology and psychiatry. How scary is it that they are saying they need to be prepared for a spike in demand as a result of the pandemic? You bet scientology briefings to solicit “donations” are talking about the trauma and “restimulation” of people who all need help and that orgs should be getting them in.... And a "racism pandemic"? How dare they say that? … [Read more...]
“Come On” Gibberish
Word is going out to try to get people to come back into orgs to watch the screening of a new "event." Apparently, "It's Time" and the subject is a "Brief Breath in Eternity" (which is a rather unfortunate subject for a briefing that is apparently about the amazing work scientology has done dealing with the "planetary bullbait" of COVID - 19) or how everyone is "stepping 3 feet back" (like 1 step forward and 3 back?) They are getting the hype out right away in typical scientology style -- "as soon as we have a date we will let you know." Hope the brief breath hasn't expired by the time … [Read more...]
Regraded Being
The Hypocrisy of Scientology Knows No Bounds
Once again, scientology demonstrates "do as I say, not as I do" -- following the well-trod path of founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Here again we see the so-called "Stand League" (I prefer to call it by its true acronym, STAAD -- "scientologists taking action against discrimination") railing against anti-Semitism in one of their recent blog posts. This is their attempt to present themselves as champions of religious freedom and speech by taking a sure-to-gain-agreement stance that anti-Semitism is to be deplored. How brave. How noble. Old Martin Landon has really gone out on a limb … [Read more...]
Why Albuquerque?
That is a question for which there are a few answers, but none of them are "this city wants scientology." The first answer is "COB wants it" -- so therefore it must be done. Scientology is no longer the kingdom of L. Ron Hubbard. Everyone knows you can't say that these building boondoggles are "what LRH wants". But that does not matter any more. After all, it's been Miscavige in charge of scientology for longer than Hubbard ran the show at this point. The second is "we always need new reasons to hand over cash, after all, that's what scientology is all about." Number 3 -- "It's Sea … [Read more...]
Episode 3: Scientology’s War on the Media with Richard Behar
We were very fortunate to speak with Richard Behar on this week's episode of the Fair Game podcast. Rich, along with Pauletter Cooper (who will feature in an upcoming episode) is a poster child for scientology Fair Game against journalists. He is an award-winning investigative journalist who first wrote about scientology in 1986 for Forbes magazine in an article entitled The Prophet and Profits of Scientology. His most famous scientology piece was the 1991 Time magazine cover story, The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power. The subhead on his article pretty much sums up … [Read more...]
The War of the Hubbards
This is a blog post by one of our regular posters, Mike Westen (MWesten), entitled The War of the Hubbards. He asked me if I would like to share it here. I think it's a thought-provoking piece, with English spelling and all. You can see the full article at his blog by clicking on the link above. I have excerpted the part that focuses on scientology (he draws analogies to islam in his longer piece -- I prefer to just focus on scientology here). A question for scientologists: what do you actually stand for? Scientologists are by no means unique when cherry-picking their most favoured … [Read more...]
Do They Have Any Idea?
o This promo piece just came in... You have to wonder if these people have a clue what they are supporting? The two beauty queen pageanters seem to be more of what we have seen in the past. Meghan Fialkoff somehow managed to get her foot in the door of this world and there have been a few examples who have been called out on Tony Ortega's blog. These beauty queens are willing dupes looking for a "cause" they can say they support to sound good on their resume. Being anti-drug is a popular one. The scientology front groups make it easy for them and provide … [Read more...]
Koncrete Podcast: Mike Rinder Episode
I recently sat down with Daniel Jones for an episode of his Koncrete Podcast series. It was just uploaded so I am sharing it here. We cover a WIDE range of topics. It's a lengthy chat - over 2 hours. I hope you enjoy it, and find it informative. … [Read more...]
Regraded Being
Religious Protections Run Amok
This is a thought-provoking, and somewhat alarming article by Professor Marci Hamilton, Founder and CEO of Child USA Marci appeared on The Aftermath and was part of the team who filed the civil lawsuits on behalf of the Masterson victims and Valerie Haney. She is one of the country's foremost experts on First Amendment Law as it relates to religion. Marci eloquently and persuasively highlights something I have often said, conservative Supreme Court justices are overly zealous in their efforts to protect religions, and the umbrellas they establish allows scientology to get away with … [Read more...]
Scientology Recruitment
Scientology's quest for money is unrelenting. They rake in tens of millions (perhaps hundreds) each year. But they have to spend at least some of it to satisfy IRS requirements. They don't ever give it away. One of the things they spend it on is new buildings (they always say they have opened "a new church" but in fact they have not opened any new churches since the one in East Harlem NY and before that the one in Inglewood and before that, nobody can recall). Buildings remain assets on their books, so the statistic of "total reserves" does not go down (total reserves is cash, property, … [Read more...]
Heber Jentzsch’s Niece Welfare Check on Her Uncle
The new episode of Scientology: Fair Game Podcast is now available here. We interview one of Heber Jentzsch's nieces, Tammy Clark. Tammy reached out to me and Leah as she was concerned about Heber. Many members of the rather large family had not heard from him and she was so concerned she thought it necessary to fly from Utah to try to see him as a representative of the family. But she was fearful of scientology and asked that we help her. Leah and I were more than happy to provide her support and a camera crew from The Aftermath accompanied us. Unfortunately, this is one of the shows … [Read more...]