LOL – I had to “word clear” that hundreds of times, then act like I knew what it meant! That was even after being told I was “superliterate” after having done the Key to Life Course. I know, I know, even that was a lie since you were supposed to do that other course – Primary Rundown? – to become “superliterate.” If was “superliterate”, why did I still flunk those stupid “spot checks”??? Hmm, was it all BS…..

Contracts signed by minors age 16/17 and in some cases under age 21 years old are NOT legally binding either. The use of intimidation tactics as in “You HAVE to pay” for those young ones I’d say:

Kiss My Ass…….Talk To My Lawyer about coercing a MINOR into signing a non legally binding contract!
Shove it COB

TC, thanks for sharing your experience that the “trickle down” began in the late 1970s. I myself saw just a bit in the early 1980s, but those who were further insulated out in the missions, or who came along just a bit later, understandably experienced it is as more or less coinciding with Miscavige’s rise to power, and so assumed it couldn’t have originated with “Ron the Humanitarian” (cough, totalitarian, cough). It’s always good to get confirmation from those who were around earlier and relatively closer to the “source” of power, that things started deteriorating during a period before Miscavige even came on the scene.

I think that a number of factors were in play then, including what Hubbard set in motion when he created the Sea Org while on the ships. But I’m also increasingly suspicious that overall numbers would have been starting to slide in the late 1970s, as they were for other institutions, groups and cults that had been buoyed by the Boomer demographic and the counterculture movement. From what I can tell, for instance, “de-dinging” developed in response to trying to figure out why income in the missions was declining during that period – and then, obviously, it boomed the statistics in some of them for a while (largely by adopting a form of the hard sell “crush regging” used by orgs). But the overall dynamic going on there, a typical one for organizations or structures facing underlying decline, is fighting over a shrinking pie, which may result in illusory short-term rebounds in some areas. I’d be interested if you or anyone else with experience of that era, had information or analyses to share.

For COB, it’s Keeping Dave Wanking.

Toys ‘R Us is planning on putting out a new line for DB called Oh Tee Toys for Tiny Tots.

The Long and the Short and the Tall. How did you know that that’s my favorite clothing store? Man, I Yawn, your good!

You are soooo ahead of the curve! Your thinking is precise! DB it is!

Negotiate? I’d say, “Fuck you!”

Nicely improved OSD!

Once kids join the SO, their cultural lives become frozen on their time tracks.