Scientology had this 116 page "rebuttal" magazine ready to distribute in Clearwater on Sunday immediately after the Tampa Bay Times bombshell dropped. It had been prepared and printed well in advance, with staged photo shoots and 116 pages of PR fluffery and outright bs ready to drop without the inconvenience of having read the article. In fact, it arrived in Clearwater mailboxes Monday morning, so it was mailed even before the article was published. A large percentage of the magazine consists of flowery pages of "I am a Scientologist" stuff. This is basically a rehash of what is shown … [Read more...]
Clearwater Politicians Weigh In
An interesting follow up piece by Tracey McManus quoting reaction from members of the Clearwater City Government to her bombshell expose from yesterday. Unsurprisingly, the Clearwater politicos don't have much to offer in terms of how this happened to their city, what they think it means or more importantly, what they are going to do about it. They have been overwhelmed by a far more sophisticated and well-funded opponent that doesn’t care whether they hurt anyone’s feelings as long as they get their way. Politicians in Clearwater in the last couple of decades have been more concerned … [Read more...]
Scientology Has Bought Clearwater
Tracey McManus' meticulously researched article dominating the front page of this morning's Tampa Bay Times is a bombshell. I doubt many people in Clearwater realized just how complete scientology's takeover of the downtown is. This is why I have been supporting and promoting Mark Bunker for the city council. Scientology ALWAYS Comes First Why Elect Mark Bunker? And the urgency of this is further highlighted by a passage in the article. For the non-residents of Clearwater let me give you a little background that is explained in the article. It concerns the dispute … [Read more...]
David Miscavige: End Game
Tony Ortega recently posted an article Has Scientology's leader David Miscavige gone underground in the face of a legal onslaught? It prompted a few thoughts. I have long said that I thought Miscavige's inevitable trajectory would be to follow in the footsteps of Hubbard. Despite all the ONE thing he must continue to do is use Hubbard as his front. He MUST continue to present himself as the anointed successor to Hubbard. Much as he might have "replaced" Hubbard and set himself up as "Source Jnr" with his various iterations of "Golden Age of Tech", there is no doubt that if he overtly … [Read more...]
More on OT IX and X
Follow up to post a few days ago OT IX & X: Promises, Promises, Promises where I covered the announcement from Captain Miscavige in 1995 of the requirements for the "release" of the non-existent OT IX and X. That prompted a reader to send me this letter from 1993 where he had earlier laid out the prerequisites for OT IX. Class VI or Class V Grad FPRD Auditor Training Course Hubbard Senior Security Checker Course PTS/SP Auditor Course Happiness Rundown Auditor Course PDH Detection and Handling Course That sounded good at the time. No public person had done all … [Read more...]
OT IX and X: Promises, Promises, Promises…
I came across this the other day. It is a High Winds magazine from 1995. High Winds is the "magazine of the Sea Org" and only a few were ever published, usually to commemorate "Sea Org Day". This is the edition where Captain Miscavige (he now considers referring to him this way to be improper/derisive and had his lawyers complain about it in court -- because it indicates he is the capo of the SO and he fears this being used in litigation to hold him responsible for the things he is actually responsible for...) announces the "requirements for the release of new OT IX and X", Of course, … [Read more...]
Scientology’s “Massive International Expansion” Under Captain David Miscavige — Lies Exposed
Jeffrey Augustine posted the document below on his wonderful site The Scientology Money Project which is an invaluable source of amazing information. He included it with a video of scientology's grand poohbah of mailing lists which in itself is fascinating. But I wanted to make a different point. Captain Miscavige and his crew of loyal sycophants constantly claim that scientology is experiencing its "greatest growth ever" and "more expansion in the last few years than the previous 50 years combined" blah blah blah Everyone outside the bubble knows these are massive lies. But … [Read more...]
The “Top” of the Bridge is Collapsing
The "Mecca of Technical Perfection" (they don't seem to use that name any more, even though it was bestowed by L. Ron Hubbard himself) is becoming more and more desperate. Yesterday I included information about the shrinking world of scientology evidenced by the curtailed Maiden Voyage celebrations. Today we have more evidence from the "top of the Bridge" where they are now delivering the "Personal Efficiency Course"... This is described at the What is Scientology website as follows (emphasis mine): For many people, happiness is an elusive quality. Surveys show that “being happy” is … [Read more...]
Maiden Voyage Shrinkage
There is a lot of shrinkage in scientology these days, and now Maiden Voyage is added to the list. (Yes I know the graph is meaningless, it’s how scientology always presents their “expansion” so it seemed appropriate...) For decades there have been 5 main events and a Seminar for every Maiden Voyage: "Opening Night" -- a summary of the "accomplishments" of the "OT Ambassadors" "Org Night" -- an update on Ideal Orgs "Source Night" -- the Sherminator with a veritable avalanche of hagiographic mumblings "Special Night" -- either something from Author Services or CST or … [Read more...]
The Hole: A List of Prisoners
There has been plenty of commentary about "The Hole" since it was first disclosed by Joe Childs and Tom Tobin in the St Petersburg Times in 2009, and again famously featured in Lawrence Wright's Going Clear book and Alex Gibney's HBO film based on the book. Scientology has asserted the Hole "does not exist and never has." But the numerous people who have witnessed it first hand and spoken about it have, to any objective observer, put scientology's denials to the sword. Miscavige even had a sign made and hung on the outside of the building to identify it clearly as "The Hole." (Where he got … [Read more...]