Our old friend, Clearly Not Clear, sent this to me with some comments…. I'm looking at the writers of the future 7 books set. It seems to suggest that 89 of these stories won awards. I doubt it. I wonder what awards they did win? Since nobody wants to buy 7 year old anthologies, they include "advice for new writers." This is somebody's bright idea. Well, it's really not a very bright idea in my opinion. Now, can we talk about Battlefield Earth on audio? Seriously 150,000 sound effects? Was that like the stat of the week? How many sound effects and farts can I record to be in screaming … [Read more...]
Fundraising Olympics
Well, perhaps there is some truth in scientology advertising after-all. If there was a fundraising Olympics, they would gold in every event. The Buy Now Sprint. The Marathon. The Hard Sell Hurdles. The Crush Regging Relay. The Credit Card High Jump. Of course, the people who copyright, trademark and service mark everything, because they don't want any "unauthorized" use (ie where they don't collect any money) have no problem using a clear rip-off of the Olympic symbol (the real one has 5 rings, not 7). Can you imagine if someone opened a center and called it Scinetology -- they would be … [Read more...]
The Seminar Every Scientologist Needs
Michael Lewis has driven his clown car into town once again to offer up a "seminar" that sheds light on what really happens inside the bubble of scientology. "Flourish and prosper" is a much over-used scientology catchphrase. It is code for "make money" just as they use the strange "we are 1000 steps closer to making our target" instead of saying they got in $1,000. It seems they understand how grotesquely money-oriented they are and are trying to keep this hidden from the world. But Michael Lewis blows it. He uses the right euphemism but then comes right out and says it plainly. What is … [Read more...]
The Hubbard Hall Boondoggle. Enough Already
Here is the latest list of donors suckers for this ridiculous boondoggle. In March of this year Tony Ortega put the latest list on his site along with what each level of crazy cost to reach and how many deluded donators they had snared. Here is an update: And some math to help us understand what is really going on: LRH Hall Member: $25,000 In March this list according to Tony had about 300 suckers. It's now about 350. 350 x $25,000 = $8,750,000 Elite Member: $50,000 In March Tony counted about 75 of these. Today there are 102. 102 x $50,000 = … [Read more...]
The “Godfathers of Good”
Ah, the humility of these gentlemen is a sight to behold. It is an unfortunate side effect of being a scientologist that you believe you know all there is to know about anything and everything as long as you have read something Hubbard said about it. This gives you the right, obligation almost, to dish out advice on all sorts of subjects simply because you are a scientologist and therefore have received the wisdom of L. Ron Hubbard. With the full certainty of a brainwashed zealot, you can pass on such wisdom to others as an "expert" no matter the topic. These 4 are experts in the subject … [Read more...]
Bob Duggan — Still Very Much the Scientologist
The latest edition of the L. Ron Hubbard Hall fundraising propaganda contains a two page spread on Bob Duggan. If you wade your way through the bullshit and spelling and grammar errors, you get to the most incredible statement anyone has ever made about this ridiculous hall. Comparing it to the Taj Mahal and Versailles Palace is the height of foolishness. This theater is planned as a small auditorium (if it ever gets built) -- there are probably 200 of this size around the US, almost every major college and certainly every major city has one. Even Clearwater itself has Ruth … [Read more...]
Amazing Seminar! Blow Away!!!!
OK, I must have seen literally a thousand of these "come to this event, it will be incredible/amazing/spectacular/blow away" etc etc with endless exclamation points. They are the same people over and over talking about the same thing. They promise incredible information which is just one of these "FSMs" (who earn a commission on everything that is paid for as a result) rehashing some old Hubbard quotes as if they are a new revelation. And then they really get down to business with some good old Big League Sales and hard sell money-grubbing. What is particularly remarkable … [Read more...]
Lords of Ideal
These people are losing their shit. They come up with the stupidest crap to make everything a "game". Funny how it's not a "game" when it comes to handing over cash, and very much not a game when they have maxed out your credit cards, you’ve gotten a second mortgage and now you have declared bankruptcy after giving in to their very unfunny demands. Think about this. At this point, every org in WUS except Albuquerque and Hawaii are "ideal." They pretty much have an "ideal Continent" -- they HAVE an "ideal" California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. This is what they say … [Read more...]
Desperation in Atlanta
This is from commenter Doug Sprinkle. It is amazing how desperate these orgs are to get hold of anyone who has ever had anything to do with them. I asked him out of curiosity about his time at DC Org and he sent this write up. It is SO typical and so clearly PRECISELY what happened that I thought it worth posting her for posterity's sake. This IS how people are treated in scientology orgs. They're like cattle, herded in to be milked for all they've got and the staff believe they have every right to neglect/mistreat/abuse people who are PAYING THEM for service. It's such an upside down world in … [Read more...]
Is Scientology an Investment?
Old Wil Seabrook is at it again. These STAND flunkies are entirely predictable. Anything that is a touchy subject for scientology (in this case, their merciless money-grubbing) is taken up and presented as if it's a GOOD thing. Let's just dissect a few of Wil's statements. One thing that people ask me is why Scientologists make donations for their services. I think there’s an idea that help, especially of a religious nature, should be free. But once you start to examine that concept, it’s easy to see that nothing in life is ever actually free and that resources are required to do … [Read more...]