If you thought you had seen the bottom of the RCS begging barrel, just keep checking here for updates. I cannot even comprehend what else they will come up with…. Like watching a train wreck, it is both horrifying and compelling.
One of our Special correspondents in the UK sent in news of an innovation being pushed by Tony Hollom ("OT8") and the AOSHUK OT Committee.
Here is what she sent us:
Basically it is a scheme which donates a small amount to a charity of your choice when you shop online. I've included the original email and a few images of the web site which runs the scheme. Interesting to note, all of the three Ideal Org accounts that they have setup make no mention of Scientology. I guess its okay to encourage people to want MEST if DM gets his cut. Shop for Scientology!
Is it possible for the "church" of Scientology to get any more off purpose?
I am sure that in a day or a week someone will come up with something even more idiotic than this.
In the immortal words of Charlie Brown, "Good Grief."
The Apprentice says
Ah yes, Tony Hollom. He was given a provisional SP declare (suspended for 6 months) back in the late 80s for expediting a loan application (on behalf of somebody else) in a way that was a little bit too Tone 40 🙂 for the authorities. I do believe the charges were dropped, as was his declare order. But certainly a master of the unusual financial solution. Take a look at him here, a thetan the size of a planet applying his considersable talents to er … dissemination. http://www.scientology-london.com/secret/index_files/tony-hollom.php
Aquamarine says
So thoughtful and caring of them to provide this reminder because I do forget to donate, you know? It just continually slips my mind.
Silvia says
tHE SITE OF FUNDRAISING:UK EVEN HAS A “REMINDER” SO YOU DON´T “forget” TO DONATE:
This is greed and dishonesty beyond belief.
The reminder says:
It can be very easy to miss out on valuable donations, as when you’re busy you might not remember to visit easyfundraising.org.uk before shopping with your favourite online stores. However with Find & Remind you can raise money when shopping directly with our partner retailers, without having to remember to visit easyfundraising.org.uk first…easy!
So you search and shop online, as normal, and Find & Remind will identify when you are visiting a site where you could earn a donation. A small pop up will appear on screen asking you if you want to claim a donation and all you need to do is click `Claim Donation` and anything you buy in that visit will raise money for your chosen cause.
Aquamarine says
Laughter, RLR. A product? Wash your mouth out with soap. All those HCOPLs where LRH talks about products and exchange, they’re all under revision. They’re impossible to read.. Way too many semi-colons, for one thing.
Richard Lloyd-Roberts says
I heard that they are starting a new business. ScioWay. A bit like Amway except you don’t actually get a product.
Aquamarine says
Paul J,
LOLOL!!! Brilliant idea for a Scientology Casino.
Of course, there’s always the possibility of someone winning, but then they could just C/S him for a Sec Check because simply by virtue of not losing he’s obviously C/I to the Ideal Morgue Program. So when he cashes in his chips he’ll have the opportunity to make amends by refusing his money and thereby saving himself the cost of 4 intensives OR – wait!!! I got it!!! – they can have an IAS Reg stationed right next to the Casino’s Cashier. That’ll handle it.
CommunicatorIC says
Breaking news from Tony Ortega, albeit with an alternative title: Independent Scientologists file declarations in support of Garcias in case vs. Church of Scientology
http://tonyortega.org/2013/04/22/garcias-respond-to-scientology-youre-a-big-ripoff/
Ronnie Bell says
Read all of the depositions. Marty’s and Christie’s are particularly powerful.
Paul J says
I have the next great idea for DM. Imagine a Scientology casino. What a great feeling it would be to know your gambling losses were going to build the next idle org. I’m not talking about some small time org fund raiser, I’m talking about a real Las Vegas style casino. First, they’d have to do fund raising to buid the casino. Ths could take years and cost hundred’s of millions. It could keep DM busy for years. How would you like to see a class XIII auditor dealing black jack to clear the planet? Who Knows, it might happen.
Jewel says
HaHa!! That is a perfect DM environment…a fucking casino. It fits him like a glove.
Lars asplund says
Where is really all this money going? Does DM believe there will be a
worldwide crash and to keep everything running during the recoup
he is going to use this billion dollar stash?
Ronnie Bell says
Where is really all this money going?
Now, there’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
It certainly isn’t going to the Idle Morgues. The local parishioners are soaked to pay for those.
It isn’t going for staff pay. S.O. members make as little as they ever did.
It isn’t going for global promotion. If it were, we’d be bombarded day and night with Scientology advertising from every quarter.
It’s not going to support the church’s alleged ‘human rights’ campaigns. There’s not a shred of evidence that they even exist, except in org promo.
It’s not going to paying the back bills of the orgs, some of which owe outrageous sums to utility providers.
So, just where do all the millions collected by this out-exchange organization go? It’s my guess, that for the most part, they go to pay high powered law firms and pr agencies, as well as any pet projects Miscavige deems critical to his lunatic vision. They go to pay off people who can’t be silenced any other way. And of course, last but not least, they support the lavish, grotesque lifestyle of the self-imposed dictator of Scientology himself. In my opinion, a good chunk of those funds have been squirreled away in a doomsday fund for Dear Leader and his closest cohorts. They’re going to need it when the walls come crumbling in on them.
Lars asplund says
Thanks Ronnie.
Can DM really be so clouded that he thinks he can get away
with all his criminality when “the walls come crumbling down”?
Can you imagine the mountain of justifications…
Jewel says
In a word: yes. He and Tom will live in underground bunkers lined with gold and special respirators for when they climb back out. Then, DM will share his survival supplies, for a small fee, to those VIPs still crawling around. A nuclear disaster is DMs dream of a cleared planet (cleared of those pesky sps and low toned beings). He will then be able to create a new civilization where he is the ultimate savior to be worshipped.
Northern Neighbour says
I surprised Miscavige doesn’t just send out his goon squad to every scientologist’s home and/or place of business, put a gun to their head & say, “hand over your cash, credit/debit cards (with passwords), sign over your home, cars, cottages, children’s education funds, any retirement funds, kid’s piggy banks etc.”. After all, it IS the greatest good for the greatest number of Idle Morges. I’m sure he could “find” a “lost” policy or twist a current one enough to justify doing this. After all, it’s not Miscavige’s fault that every other scientologist is too stupid & incompetent to understand the importance of building these monstrosities. In fact, I’m sure that the public scientologists have given him no choice but to rob them at gun point, so really it’s their on fault. As usual, because everyone (except for COB of course) is so out-ethic & incompetent, he has to handle it himself.
Aquamarine says
I raise my voice in song to the chorus of “unfuckingbelievable”. I’m glad I’m reading this on an empty stomach.
Here’s a question I would love to ask a Kool-Aid drinker: If indeed there are 8 million (or is it 10 Million now) Scientologist, and each donated only 1 buck, 1 dollar, or its foreign equivalent, that would be 8 million dollars, surely enough for the purchase of 1 new Ideal Morge building. Now, if 8 million Scientologists each donated 1 dollar PER MONTH that would make 96 million dollars at years end.
So easy, so painless Who cannot afford $1 per month, $12 per year? Why not implement this plan?
Oh, right…because the Vital Target would be to first acquire 7,970,000 Scientologists. Oh, well, it did sound good at first. When will I ever learn to cease questioning the wisdom of COB? 🙂
Forrest Crane says
Oh good grief, they’re sitting on valuable technology and they’re selling MEST.
Phil Bruemmer says
Oh, the horror…
Well, I’m out, my loved ones are out and we’re happy!
I am also happy for all the folk who are out of the black hole of Scientology Inc.
To those still trapped in there:
It isn’t too late to just leave.
Leave now.
It is NOT going to get better.
In the future, when your children or grandchildren ask, “what did you do in the war?” you might want to be able to say, “I got the f..k out of there with what I had left, though it wasn’t much, and recovered my honesty, courage and integrity.
If you wait much longer there won’t be anyone to issue an SP declare on you and THAT will be a real embarrassment for you later on :))
Ronnie Bell says
Where’s the ‘like’ button? 🙂
Ronnie Bell says
As ridiculous as all these fundraising schemes are, the fact is, the tone level – ethics level of the corporation is sinking fast, and their unusual solutions for obtaining income will follow that trend. It could (and probably will) get even uglier.
I can easily see the IAS adopt something like an enforced ‘tithe’ from corporate Scientologists, whereby they turn over a set percentage of their personal income to Mordor every week. ‘Voluntarily’, of course. Failure to do so, would naturally bring down the holy wrath of the organization on ones head. Every Thursday at 2 would be like April 15th for the faithful. The way things are going, I can really see it coming to that.
Mike Rinder says
Ronnie — I saw a new IAS scheme within the last feww days where you sign up to have a monthly amount debited from your credit card…Â
Any crazy scheme you can come up with, they are already ahead of you.
Â
Ronnie Bell says
Not surprised at that, Mike. Not at all. Watch and see if that little pilot doesn’t soon become mandatory to be on lines, or offered as penance to folks in ethics trouble. It’s just too lucrative for the vultures to pass up.
Mantis says
Mike, the “debit order” system has been in place in South Africa for 4 years. This for ideal orgs. How this works is a Scientologist pledges X amount to be paid over a year (or two), a local OT pays over the pledged amount (less a commission) to ideal orgs.
statpush says
Mike,
I was told this was implemented to handle legitimate objections, when the punters would claim making a large dono violated their personal finance policy or that IAS donos where not part of their FP.
So, the IAS’s solution – become a permanent part of their FP by setting up a direct debit. This had one potential benefit – it got the IAS off their back. But they would still reg them over and above their monthly allocation.
Valkov says
Yes Mike, they have had the ‘monthly cc debit donation’ for at least 3 years. I just haven’t seen it advertised much. All they have to do is combine it with a multilevel ‘payout plan’ like ‘you earn $1 from everyone you sponsor, and $1 from everyone they sponsor, etc for several levels and they would have a genuine MLM pyramid scheme. All in a ‘good cause’. But it could also quickly run afoul of the laws, too.
Rick Mycroft says
I wonder if this really means that they’re running out of regs?
And if someone goes for the automatic donation, the regs will leave them alone, right…? (Ha ha, fat chance!)
Jewel says
Actually, the Mormon religion doesn’t fool around about collecting money from members either, as they must donate 10% of their income to the church per year. Ouch! I guess that’s better than havaing people knocking on your door who “just happen to be in your neighborhood ” at 10:00 o’clock at night and want to ‘enlgihten’ you on the newest anti-sp program. At least the Mormons create a policy and make it known without the BS stories.
gretchen dewire says
it is wierd scientology isnt even mentioned. Do they think someone might accidently donate, if they dont know it is scientology. Since scientology press has been pretty bad lately. And rentig the building out to other people and events? All these posts boggle the mind. As Iv said befor, isnt scientology supposed to raise your IQ?
John P. says
I focused on the graphs pretty quickly. It appears that in six months of this program after triumphantly rolling it out to the clubbed seals, they have gotten a total of 50 pounds worth of donations from the 52 people registered. There are supposed to be 2,500 Scientologists in the UK per the most recent census. But only 2% of those supported this easy-to-support program. And they’re spending so little money that, instead of the 130,000 pounds per year that the flyer breathlessly suggests is an easy goal, they have raised an infinitesimal part of the amount. It’ll take approximately 80,000 years at that rate to raise the 8,000,000 pounds needed for renovation of the roof-falling-in Plymouth org.
I can’t understand the reason for including graphs that document this dismal failure, unless it’s to show “straight up and vertical” expansion in March 2013, where the donations soared from just below 10 pounds per month right up to 31 pounds per month.
Mike Rinder says
JP — this is a typical Miscavige graph, but they made the mistake of leaving the numbers on…. At an international event this would be announced as “Affluence, Highest Ever — Now THAT’S straight up and vertical” accomplished by loud explosion sounds.
I think the figures on the graph are crumulative. It appears this may in fact be one of Hollom’s business ventures. For a few months he was the only participant so the number reflected his contribution. Then he got some others to participate and it went straight up and vertical.
At 30 pounds a month, it will take ten thousand years to raise 3.6 million pounds for ONE org purchase, then another 10,000 for renos. But none of these guys are on a billion year conract so I wonder how it’s going to work out.
The old adage is that even the longest journey starts with a single step, unless of course you are walking into quicksand…Â
Dan Koon says
Mike, your last line got me!
Mike Rinder says
Dan — Peanuts is a source of great wisdom!
Alex Castillo says
Mike,
I will be the second person to say “Unfuckingbelievable”. But really not so unbelievable when you realize the kind of greedy shit David miscavige and his minions are.
Here in the UK, the idea of donating small amounts as a result of buying on line has been going on for some time, I think Tesco or Sainsbury’s started it, but the donations always go to registered charities working for worthwhile causes like “save the children” or the wild life fund etc. All very legal and worth the effort. My question is: since when is the UK “church” of Scientology a registered charity? And what the fuck is Ideal Org? That’s what any non scio would be saying now. And when they find out that the “ideall org” asking for donations is none other than the multimillion pund/dollar corporation called Church of Scientology, they’ll just say fuck off and walk away from their on line purchase.
I don’t know who’s harebrained idea this was, but it won’t last long. It’s doomed to failure. Another “OT” 8 will bite the dust! mister Hollom will end up making amends by helping OSA catch all the SPs who seem to be over-populating Earth nowadays
And to echo the words of someone else here GOOD GRIEF!
statpush says
Looks like the graph comes from the fundraising site: http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/idealorg
Phil Bruemmer says
Unfuckingbelievable.
Look close at any street beggars from now on.
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see staff and public all-hands panhandling next.
Alex Castillo says
Yeah Phil,
The number of people in the High Street with signs that read : I am homeless. Please help will be eventually replaced by people with sign that read: I am a scientologist. Save yourself and donate NOW. LOL!
Phil Bruemmer says
Alex,
LMAO!
yvonneschick says
Next step: network marketing. You make money and, with the church as your “upline”, DM makes money, too. Everybody wins! (This is not meant as a disparagement of network marketing as I have many friends in those businesses and I respect their endeavors. Only meant as a poke in the eye for those who are searching so desperately for inflow to the church/DM without the exchange of the help flow the church was created to deliver.)
Anette Iren Johansen (OT22) says
Their fundraising fantasies are neverending. I’ve stopped wondering what comes next.
Mike Rinder says
Anette — probably a really smart plan. It’s an endeavor designed to scramble your mind…
Rick Mycroft says
Phase 1. Collect underpants.
Phase 2. ???
Phase 3. Profit!
Phase 2 needs a little refining, but it just might work!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO5sxLapAts