Mike Rinder's Blog

Something Can Be Done About It

Regraded Being

By 107 Comments

RB remains on hiatus, but I pulled out one of my early favorites. Back in the days when Going Clear was first released, RB introduced a memorable character, the Going Clear elephant in the room. Priceless. You could insert his twin, the Aftermath elephant and this strip could have been written today.

Comments

  1. Are most people ex Scientologists commenting? It’s hard to follow the flow. I was unaware of the whole charade until A&E. I have to watch each episode twice. Is it ok to ask air of questions??

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  3. With all the booze abuse of David Miscavige, his poor little liver is probably causing his brain to see other elephants in the room… little pink elephants.

    Get some help, David, before the booze does you in. And you won’t find the help you need in any writing of LRH. Go see the Psychs. They just might keep you alive, despite being so “evil”.

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    • Speaking of which, I saw that picture of him on Tony Ortega’s website the other day. That once boyish face doesn’t look that young anymore. Is that age or Botox?
      If the former, well, it’s only a matter of time until………..

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  4. Hey Guys, sorry if I’m just being dense, but what is this “Regraded Being” reference? I don’t get it.
    Mike – Keep up the great work. You are doing the world a real service!

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    • Regraded Being is the nom du guerre of our In House cartoonist. You can catch the Regraded Being comic strip each Friday.

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      • My two cents:

        The title, Regraded Being is very cleverly named…

        IMO:

        1. It’s the play on words of “Degraded Being” so detested by those in the cult, meaning someone who has a disability or is unable/unwilling to come up with the millions of dollars it takes to have “status” in the cult.

        2. “Regraded” means that those who have accomplished a grade are then arbitrarily told they haven’t reached the end phenomena or something “new has been discovered,” whether it’s training as a classed auditor or achieving their auditing grades 1-V, Clear and–all the way to OT) and they have to repeat them it at their own expense.

        Thus, “Re-grading.”

        Mike said it perfectly in one of the Aftermath episodes–The Bridge is circular…

        Brainwash, rinse, repeat.

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      • HA!! Thankyou:) I truly had no idea either – but I felt too stupid to ask. The posters and Mike are amazing, but as a never-in, I feel like a guest here, and I do not want to upset anyone or rock the boat…

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  5. I hope to fucking God that I can get this comment posted, which may be the last of this lifetime. I already wrote it once, and then it just disappeared. This is certainly not the fault of Mr Rinder or his blog This is obviously still the fault of myself; for not being OT, despite having NED for OTs correction lists shoved in my face when I had just joined the SO in 1979 ; the auditor who shoved it in my face Raginhild Mcfarlane, ( sorry Raggy, but you are probably dead by now), and if by some miracle you are still alive, you can at least know that you outlived me by about 20 years, as I expect to be dead soon. I hope that you quit smoking, as I had not started when I knew you and I now have heart failure and could drop it at any time. This does not bother me , as I was supposed to be dead in 2002; and I would have been surely if the Freewinds personnel had not screwed up and allowed my wife off the ship, who actually got me to a doctor instead of that quack the Freewinds sent me to.

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    • Hey Bill — this is a pretty alarming comment. Can you explain a little better what is going on and if there is anything that anyone can do to assist you?

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      • I apologize for my comment, sir. I usually read my comments over before hitting the “post” button but this was the 3rd attempt and I failed to read it.
        As far as my situation is concerned, I have a very weak heart with some electrical problem. A heart like this can stop without warning. I have an appointment Monday morning in the Los Angeles area to see a specialist for getting a pacemaker with an automatic “defib” which will automatically restart the heart if it stops. I came out to Dallas to stay with an old SO buddy of mine who works for Steve Hall as I have no place to stay in the LA area. I cannot go to my appointment on Monday as I have no money. My brothers cannot help me and I have no other family left. My ex-wife owes me some money but she has almost definitely disconnected from me as I have not been able to find her in over 2 years.
        My cardiologist says I could probably live a long time if I got the pacemaker but they don’t want to go to the trouble and expense if I am homeless as I need to go back to have the pacemaker programmed, etc. I have great health insurance in California that will cover all medical expenses but not in Texas or I could have it done here. Again, I apologize for the tone of the comment, sir.

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        • I rode the bus from LA to Dallas as my car was stolen from the Wal-Mart in He met 6 months ago.

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        • Bill — there is no need to apologize for the tone of your comment or anything else.

          Can you provide a way for people to contact you directly? I suspect there are some readers of this blog who might want to help out to get you to LA to see your cardiologist. Provide an email and/or phone number that you can be reached at. Please.

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          • Yes sir. My phone number is 214 7560988 and my e-mail address is [email protected]. I appreciate all your help, sir and any help anyone else can give me. I did not want to put my contact data out there like I was looking for a handout. I would be happy to give any exchange I can. I was the Repair Chief of the Freewinds for 16 years and I can repair ships, cars and most anything.

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  6. RB Productions does a fantastic job and reposting them for a second look or new readers is a great idea. This one is gold.

    A serious question on eternity though.

    I keep hearing that the eternity of Scientologists is vulnerable. In the cartoon the parents are “threatening to destroy their daughter Sally’s eternity”. How do they do that if we have already been around for Hubillions of years and there are billion year contracts to be upheld? Aside from the unproveable and improbable nature of having millions of past lives what is the mechanism for the church, or SPs, being able to stop the reincarnation sequence dead? Does the COS doctrine allow for new thetans to be created or is the stock limited to an extant finite number?

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    • if this hasn’t already been answered:

      You don’t lose your actual eternity. Your ability to continue on and live other lives is not taken away.

      The phrase “lose your eternity” means you are no longer able to go up the bridge to then gain awareness and ability so that your eternity is now under your full control and direction. Until now you’ve been flotsam and jetsam, just bumbling along in the darkness of unawareness, suffering and being effect. Living life time after lifetime and never knowing who you are, or having all of your wonderful native state natural ability.

      You could end up being practically dead as a thetan, only inhabiting objects and totally unaware, “being a rock”. (in pain, suffering, weak)

      KSW 1 (HCO PL Keeping Scientology Working) lays out how we have this brief moment in time and how lucky we are to have found scn and how we need to use and apply it to achieve freedom for all.

      ……

      What used to be my entire view of life now comes tripping off my tongue, feeling like I’m writing a dystopian novel.

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      • Just before my wife left the Freewinds she was told by the CO COM Ship Pilar Saldariaga that “Bill will be fine”. I was at that time dying of AIDS I had gotten from Blood transfusions. What the CO was saying is not that I would be alive, but simply that I was dying with honor and in the good graces of the Church. I doubt that she would say that now.

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  7. Great post.. Just wondering can someone please explain what does “status review,” or “upping one’s status” mean? I’ve heard the term used re; donos to Idle Morgues. Is it status on “The Ridge to Total Feardom,” IAS? Thanks.

    The term itself speaks volumes.

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      • That’s right. The IAS uses a series of statuses that a member can attain based upon how much money they give to the IAS. Someone who donates a few thousand dollars is called a Patron and gets a pretty pin while someone who forks over millions gets not just a really pretty pin but also an extremely gaudy trophy. Each level that is obtained through cash donations is called a status.
        Too bad televangelists never thought of this.

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    • The IAS anniversary event is sometime in October, right? Since it’s always held at Saint Hill they could get two birds with one rock – celebrate 30 odd years of fleecing along with 4 years of no Briefing Course, and 4 years of never mentioning THAT elephant in the room.

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  9. Bit of skip sideways off topic but there’s something interesting developing with our good friend Nick Xenophon in Australia. As we all know he’s well educated in knowing exactly what the criminal Scientology organisation is and gets up to but he’s making a power move in downunder politics which if he succeeds will certainly give the Cof$ the hibbie geebies.

    “Australia’s most influential independent political force, Nick Xenophon, has decided to quit federal politics to contest South Australia’s March election, hoping to land a balance-of-power role that will decide not only which side forms government but what policies they can pursue.”

    Look out Cof$, I think a major legal/political rethink or two will materialise against your code of operations is on the horizon. State politics can often lead to federal decisions being revisited and certain influences strengthened, especially on the legal precedent front. Best of luck Nick, your fangs may indeed get a bit sharper real soon!

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  10. OMG – A-a “Status review session?”

    Oh, please, please tell me this is just a funny RB exaggeration.

    What a travesty the Tech has become.

    Thanks again for that, Pompadour Prig. One of my good friends has tried to convince me that prison is actually better for your Karma, what with all the boyfriends you’ll have – but I’m still swaying toward the whole sex-slave prisoner-in-a-box thing for you.

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  11. They are abusing people this is a product of the Royal bank of England called the federal reserve Hollywood all the same thing .why are they keeping tax statues with all the complaints that are made from everyone in the city

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  12. Is it just me or has dementia finally caught up with me? What exactly is Scientology meant to do again?
    “Never have so many done so much for so little.” Got to be worthy of a Guinness Book entry surely…

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  14. That stampede has been happening, whether or not he’s in any known location; the stampede out the doors, that is. As I see it, the damage he’s done is irreparable, permanent, and only the most blinded are hanging in there. Still, until the last whale has been bled dry and the bones bleached white, will the pretense of viability be maintained for the benefit of those with any cash and gullibility remaining.

    Hopefully many or most of those left will join the ranks of the survivors who can finally enjoy real life and now live, not merely survive.

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    • Outstanding post, jere! Truly time is not on the side of the cult.

      “Hopefully many or most of those left will join the ranks of the survivors who can finally enjoy life and now live, not merely survive.”

      I’m going to enjoy watching the people who left appear on Aftermath. Soon it will be a flood of people who want to tell their stories. Tick tock…

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      • Soon? It’s already a flood of people. I had the audacity to think that my story was serious enough to grab people’s attention. The stories Leah and Mr Rinder have put on so far this season are really kick-ass. I can almost guarantee another Emmy for season 2. I just hope that they do not over-extend themselves handling.other cults and allow this one to escape justice.

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      • To: Old Surfer Dude
        From: David Miscavige, COB RTC
        Re: Addressing me as Dwarf Boy

        Listen here, Scotchman! Nobody dares talk to me like that! If I ever hear you say shit about me again, it’s the RPF for your sorry ass!

        ML
        Dave

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        • Dear Mr. Asshole: Any time, any place. Oh, that’s right. You never go out in public. Why is that, dwarf boy? You can beat people behind closed doors, but not publicly? What a sissy…

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          • To: Old Surfer Dude
            From: David Miscavige COB RTC
            Re: calling me mister asshole

            Now you’ve crossed the line! I expect to see you at the ribbon yanking for my new ideal org somewhere in the middle of West Virginia! I will be there in public and I will show you who really runs things in front of thousands of my loyal followers who will be in attendance.

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          • Mein Dwarfenfuehrer:
            I hope that you finally got revenge on the Gold crew in the Green Room on the Freewinds opening day of the MV in about 1998.
            As you started to speak there was this screech of feedback in the mic.
            You then said” We will get this MV going as soon as they handle this feedback”.
            There was a silence and then you said “Well, it looks like I still have some authority around hee… And a screech of feedback blasted the entire room.
            It was as if the entire crew in the Green Room flipped you the bird at the same time.
            Heil Shelly.

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          • To: august west
            From: David Miscavige COB RTC
            Re: correcting my English

            It’s anything I say it is, you SP!

            ML
            Dave

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            • Scotman.
              Royal scourge of the seas.
              Ship of fools, on a cruel sea.

              Making it hard not to correct English with such amusing responses, I will try though and almost certainly fail. Forgive me.

              Sorry if any Scots got distracted from counting their pennies, I will go listen to Highlands right now to make amends.

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              • Or Teenage Fanclub instead.

                Does Younger’s Special Tartan still exist? You can keep your scotch that stuff is Scotland’s finest to me! Been some years though.

              • Hey, August west, I’m guessing I know your favorite band. Mine, too. Did you sail to that wharf on a Ship of Fools? Pearlie’s waiting for you.

          • I’m not a Scotman. I’m a Scotsman. Which makes me a cheap bastard. Aaarrrrrgggggg. ”Tis good to be a Celt.

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            • To: Old Surfer Dude
              From: David Miscavige COB RTC
              Re: you being a Celt

              Good! Glad you made it to West Virginia! Now watch as I yank the ribbon on my new idle, I mean, ideal org, introduce my new Super Duper Standard Tech that will take these inbred hillbillies to Clear and OT, and then throw your Celt ass in the RPF! Let’s see which is mightier, Celtic force or Polish whoop-ass!

              ML
              Dave

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          • If you’re talking scotch man, that must be the diminutive DB, hisself. He only guzzles the expensive stuff, of course. Just the best, paid for with tax-exempt donations given without any exchange offered or expected.

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    • You got that right! Number 1, there’s no such thing as OT powers. It’s all MAKE BELIEVE! And number 2…we’ll, refer back to number 1.

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      • I’ll never forget my auditor telling me around 1989 that I didn’t have to worry about nuclear war anymore because there were too many OT 8s out there. He said he’d had the privilege of meeting an OT 8 few months earlier and that when you meet these people you can just tell there’s something special about them. I met the same OT 8woman myself later, I didn’t pick up on that at all.

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        • I know a couple of OT8s. They have trouble deciding which kitty litter works best, and they are going influence the control over a nuclear war threat! Yeah right, what comedy channel was that on again?

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        • Oh, brother! Well, never mind, With Trump enjoying his game of Nuclear War Chicken with Kim Jong, I’ll take any protection offered – OTVIIIs, God, Jesus, the prophets, Vishnu – all welcome.

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        • Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha! You didn’t pick up on OT8 super powers…BECAUSE THERE AREN’T ANY! Make believe is fun. But, that’s all it is.

          Is this gal still mocking up her reactive mind?

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          • Is this gal still mocking up her reactive mind? Not exactly, Hubbard said so first and now Davey insists upon it being forced down her throat by all Scientologists until you simply have it running on auto. You are responsible for everything, especially the survival of mother church – so cough up the $. The mindset of a Scientologist is an “absolute” – something even Hubbard said didn’t exist. Scientology is the perfect example of itself in action. For you never ins – good luck wrapping your thinking gear around that one!
            You see, with Scientology you are told the way stuff is all nice and standard like and this universe is your oyster (if you pay the BIG bucks to find out how it all fits together of course). Now we find out on OT8 nothing has changed since you first walked through the Cof$ doors, you are you, end of session, please see the examiner and then the reg for OT9 & 10. Except the reality is, you got fleeced – BIG TIME! And now they know how gullible you are.
            For those of us who were staff… well… don’t know what to say, except now we know how their gig works but we’ve got OSD’s big beach bash to look forward to. Surf’s up!

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          • In my auditor’s logic, since there has not been nuclear war since he made the statement almost 30 years ago, that would be proof of the OT 8s abilities.

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      • Nah! Your eyes are good, OSD. I was watching and I saw you spotting the elephant in the room, too.
        You think, maybe, that those OT’s are Jumbo-blind ‘cause they saw the emperor in new “clothes”?

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      • Cheezus, that pic of Dave Jong Ill on the Bunker today is enough to induce vomiting, let alone… *shudder*… THAT.

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        • Yes, it was Dave rubbing shoulders with the working class, resplendent in his bespoke silk shirt, botox and hair plugs. Dave wouldn’t know the piece of machinery his hand is resting on. His trips to the Engine Room have been ceremonial, though he has sent plenty of people down to clean the bilges. Myself included.

          I literally know every square inch of the Freewinds Engine Room and David Miscavige has never laid hands on any part of it. I would know.

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          • You mean Diminutive Dave The Diabolical Dictator doesn’t muck in and help clean the engine room?

            No wonder it’s always filthy, he’s the only one who can do anything right.

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          • Wow, I saw the photo of DM and it brought back memories and something else. First of all, the item his hand is resting on is an air impact wrench used to loosen and tighten the nuts that hold the cylinder heads on. I have used it many times. It was an ancient piece of shit 31 years ago when the ship was purchased and I would be surprised if it still works. Standing next to DM appears to be 1st Engineer Shane Carter. Shane looks about 15 years older than I remember him in 2002 which would be about right. Photos of myself on the ship at this time look 15 years older than I do now. It is because I was dying of AIDS and looked like a concentration camp immate, which I was. After Scott Campbell left the ship in 93 Shane became in charge of all of the Executive Diving excursions. So maybe they are about to go on a dive.
            Last but not least is that not only does DM not know anything about the Engine Room; but neither does the Captain Freewinds. In 1986 an eval was done by then Ship Programs Ops CMOI Bitty Miscaviage and she ordered that the Captain train minimumly to perform all the functions of a Engineer of the Watch. This was never done in the 16 years I was there.

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            • Hey, I think that I just got my stat of High Crimes up with that last post.
              The Captain Freewinds is similar to DM in that status and PR are everything. That someone has said something derogatory about him would drive him NUTs. Making it worse is that it was someone he told my wife that would be dead 15 years ago. Maybe I am really one of his Body Thetans and he needs to audit me out, except that he rarely went to study in the 16 years I was there and he also made statements like ” I had better not find staff going off to study before making their quota on post.”
              I imagine that there will be a reward for anyone reading this to complete their cycle of action and finish me off. Maybe the Captain will get Mr Dave, (I can’t just call him Dave that would be out FO 38) to send Marty, excuse me Mr Rathbun to do the job.

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              • Cindy, The only Captain I know of is John Michael Napier, known as Mike Napier. He would probably order the ship to be scuttled before turning it over to anyone else.

        • Oh my god, guys… the photo.

          He looks just like the character Jerry Lundegaard from the movie Fargo! And his personal life is just as messed up as that fictional character. Everything Miscavige does is basically just the WRONG thing to do.

          Ha Ha Ha.

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  19. Dave,

    How many fence-sitting elephants do you have in your IAS tent at Saint Hell? Have you heard whisperings of a stampede IF you return to the US?

    Reply

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