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Something Can Be Done About It

Ideal Missions – Ocala Fail

By 125 Comments

Scientology are exposing themselves again.

Years ago, the Ocala Mission was opened with great fanfare as the first “Ideal” mission. It has been promoted this way since.

I visited this Mission some time after it was declared ideal and the Hungarian receptionist was unable to help me when I asked some questions about Dianetics and told me to come back on Tuesday evening (it was a Saturday afternoon as I recall) when the Mission ED would be there and that he could help. There wasn’t anyone else in the place.

Now this:

They don’t have the staff to be “ideal” — apparently they don’t even have a Receptionist these days. I wonder how many staff they need to be “ideal”. We know they now say 200 staff for an “ideal” org.

Kelly Preston and John Travolta must be embarrassed. This is their mission (they live on a private airfield near Ocala) and they funded the building and accepted the praise heaped on them for their amazing work to open an ideal mission. In truth, as with everything “ideal” in the flimsy empire of Miscavige, this was simply a building. They probably paid less for this than they spend on grounds maintenance for their spread where John parks his planes at the door to his house.  This is one of the few missions of the Tampa “nearly double” St Hill Size ideal org. According to Miscavige, every ideal org would generate LOTS of new Missions opening and each of them would in turn become orgs. Not the case in Tampa or any of the other ideal orgs. No new Missions (well, they had a few a decade ago or so but they quickly shut down again) let alone any that have turned into full service central orgs. Tampa can’t even get this mission functioning, let alone opening any new ones.

Comments

  1. I hear Ocala is a Money area clearly Not ppl who wanna Clean out there bank acct’s at a place that I could see as once a laundromat or a Subway& maybe they hired a local needing a job just to have someone answer the phone & seeing to us reg ppl in such a Hush Hush Org not a religion IMO what do they need to say are U open can I get Take Out at Cult a Go lol.
    I think due to Facts brought out from the show for ppl to hear more about Sct & decide if it’s something they wanna get into along w other Religions,Cults ect so I Don’t blame Mike or anyone else for telling there story if they wanna Join,Stay,Leave there the only ones who can make that call & it’s good to know..TY

    Reply

    • Colby I agree. Now that the disgusting and illegal activities of this cult have been exposed I cannot even look at John T., his wife, Tom C. and the rest of the celebrities that support this so called religion. I will never again support any of their movies. They have advantages over the ordinary people in this cult. They are in the real world and. have access to find out about the abusive activities supported by Scientology. I cringed when John Travolta was interviewed about Scientolgy, The Aftermath tv. Series. His reply was Not Interested. It truly shows his ignorance and refusal to see the obvious disgusting treachery committed by Scientology. To especially discount outright child abuse truly shows what low moral character a person has. He should get Interested. I will never again watch his or any movie that he is associated with. The rest of the celebrities are just the same and none of them deserve the public’s support.

      Reply

      • Razz, many MANY people agree with you, me among them. And my family and friends, and strangers you meet out in the world.

        Strike up a conversation with anybody and you’ll be pleasantly amazed how despised and loathed are scientologists, and rightfully so.

        So the boycott is gaining momentum.

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    • Maybe it’s me, but every time I see a picture of John Travolta that has anything to do with scientology, it looks to me as if he’s forcing himself to smile for the photo (unlike the brainless grin I always see on TC’s face). I wonder what’s really going on with that guy.

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  3. Mike, please feel free to delete this post because it is entirely “off topic”. Perhaps you can let me know the answer to the following question via email?

    Please excuse me for making this “off topic” post. I just don’t know of any other way to get an answer to the following question.

    I love reading the stories of how some people have blown. I saw Spanky’s story in the film “Going Clear” and I saw Mark Headly’s story in another film. I think it was, “After Scientology”. I’d very much like to read how Mike blew and I’ve been searching the net for it. I’m embarrassed because I can’t find it and that doesn’t say very much about my searching skills. I found the following link which contains this headline, “Mike Rinder on “The Hole” and How He Escaped Scientology”

    But I can’t find the details there. Can anyone point me to that story? I sure would love to know.

    How did Mike Blow? – https://tonyortega.org/2013/01/29/mike-rinder-on-the-hole-and-how-he-escaped-scientology

    Reply

    • It’s covered by John Sweeney in his second Panorama show. In the Tampa Bay Times series. In an interview with Tony Ortega. In the 2nd episode of The AFtermath.

      Reply

      • Thank you very much Mike. To be clear, I was in error when I used the name “Mark Headly”. It was – of course – Marty Rathburn.

        Someone sent me a message saying they didn’t mean to disparage the name “Miscaviage”. They have much respect for the father, Ron. It is the son who is so despicable. I want to be clear that I never meant to disparage the father either. Just want to keep the record straight.

        I thank you for the kind words you sent me via Email and although you did not say anything bad about my strange posts, I will continue to try and make my posts shorter and fewer in number. Seems to me that older people (like me) seem to write long-winded posts whereas younger people are used to the Social Media where most posts are just a line or two. I sure wish I could learn how to distill all my posts into just a few lines. I will keep on trying.

        My best wishes to you and Leah and everyone else here who is fighting the good fight!

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  4. Great news about the mission in Ocala. I finally have a “Mission” in my spare time. I drive within two miles of that Mission every week on my trips to Ocala. They are in the center of Old Ocala which is like most 19th century cities. Unfortunately, Travolta missed the entire market. Most of the farms have converted to housing developments in the last 15 years. The main structure of the local economy is shifting to light retail.
    Btw, I think I’ll stop by his airfield and drop off some promotional material about “Theosopho-scientology” which I have recently invented as a religion. If Hubbard could do it, so can anyone.

    Reply

      • Thanks Richard,

        “Theo-scientology”
        “Theoso-scientology”
        “Theo-sciontology”
        “Theosciontology”

        The last one avoids copyright conflict.
        I’m hiring actors for my sit-com for Scientology TV.
        Do you have any experience?

        Reply

        • George – Whatever name you pick it will probably get referred to as TS like Transcendental Meditation is TM.
          My wife says I’m a joke so maybe I’m a natural born comedian?
          Keeping my comments short today since tomorrow is Valentines Day and I better get out the door and get a card and a present or I’m toast.

          Reply

  5. I just checked out the Ocala website and there is “no data” on either global or local Alexa traffic stats. While it’s likely true that the COS got an impressive spike in traffic on their main site, due to the Super Bowl ads and subsequent ads during the Olympics, as usual these stats never convert to traffic to the lower orgs. There’s no trickle down. None. And according to whois.domaintools.com their site was first launced in 2011. What have they been doing for the last 7 years? Not much, apparently.

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  7. Buying a building and filling it with personnel does not in itself make an Ideal Org. Scientology can never succeed unless they’re producing Clears, OTs, and Auditors. In spite of their PR fluff and puff, the bottom line still must be delivery of services. For that you need technically trained people. If the orgs aren’t already staffed with qualified people, there certainly isn’t anyone moving up on either side of the Bridge. Where do you get the qualified people you need? And if you’re willing to train them, where do you find the people to do that? It’s a catch-22 situation.

    Reply

    • Chris – there is no such thing as a “Clear” or OT
      LOOK
      No super powers
      Just people that “believe” because they spent a lot of money and time and managed to jump through years and decades of Scientological hoops
      The truth will set everyone free
      L Ron Hubbard was a master hypnotist and we were all bamboozled beyond belief
      It is a hard pill to swallow – it is humiliating and embarrassing
      But confront the truth and you will be free

      Reply

    • Chris, scamology never succeeded because there is no such thing as “clears & OTs”. It was a scam. How did Hubtard put it, Come up to present time?

      Reply

      • That Scn produces bogus results is not not the point. People buy into questionable flim-flam ideologies every day of the week and twice on Sundays. I believe the important question is why? Why do smart people fall for stupid ideas? Scn doesn’t have a corner on this market by any stretch of the imagination.

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        • The main demo that fell for “it” was the Boomer/hippie generation. And they only TINY % fell for it for a short time (until they grew up) and most, for only a short time until they discovered that it didn’t work.

          Post ’76 (when boomers were getting post college age) there was only net shrinkage of membership in the church.

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      • My God!!!! Brilliant!!!!! Scamology and Hubtard!!!! Love your new take! (What happened to El Con though???? ) How do you manage to be so original on EVERY single comment? You are an American treasure!

        Reply

        • Joe what exactly is your problem with what Wynski wrote ? Do you want to protect Hubbard’s snow white virgin honour ?

          Reply

          • Gary, it is much harder to admit being fooled than to be fooled in the first place. Those with a weak mind will defend the criminal that fooled them so as to not have to confront reality. Joe, as one can witness from his postings here, is still in denial.

            However, when it gets to the point of promoting a criminal such as Hubbard, then it is a criminal act in and of itself…

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    • “Buying a building and filling it with personnel does not in itself make an Ideal Org.”

      Now, Chris, you understand this, and I understand this. And I’d say everyone on this blog understands this. Mike Rinder certainly understands this. Its a safe bet that his wife Christie does too.

      Well, I guess that means that we here are just singularly, incredibly BRILLIANT. Right?

      Because, you know, its such a DIFFICULT concept to grasp!

      Only a relatively few amount of people, those with SUPER HIGH IQ’s, with extremely high levels of awareness, can UNDERSTAND this concept!

      Because, it is SO VERY COMPLICATED.

      Reply

  8. The mission network can never again do what Lron wanted it to do. And Lron is one who killed it. Until the mission massacre in ’82, the mission holders had a good financial stake in bringing people in and sending them up the bridge for ‘higher level’ courses. When someone sold Lron on the idea that the mission holders were keeping Lrion’s money, the Guru hit the fan.

    Without a large intake flow, the scam can’t operate profitable. It takes a large inflow to replace all those who escape at every level of the Bridge. And it takes a well trained staff to work the crowds and get the bodies in the door.

    The skills necessary to keep inflow flowing are going by the wayside in modern, Ideal $cientology. A video screen can’t find your ‘ruin’ and sell you the cure.

    Missions have become a way to do steps a thru e and a vanity project for the well heeled.

    Reply

    • “The skills necessary to keep inflow flowing are going by the wayside in modern, Ideal $cientology”

      Now that the scam is known in the 1st world, it would take heavy drugs, chains and guns for even the best trained to get people in. Much less to purchase the excrement that is Hubbard’s writings.

      Reply

  9. What they really need for that place is a “For Sale” sign. It looks like it would make a nice little boutique, with maybe a rental unit upstairs, once the $cientology junk is cleared out.

    Reply

    • Instead of buying new buildings, wouldn’t it make more sense for them to use their super powers in order to move existing buildings out to the oceans of this world? That way, they could have permanent residences and still stay out of reach of the long arm of the law?

      I’m guessing the reason they have never done that is because no matter what all their advertising says, the truth is that people never truly acquire any super powers and all the claims of tech supremacy are just so much hogwash.

      P.S. I’ve been in a peculiar mood the last few days and I’ve made some posts that were intentionally sarcastic (e.g. humans have two livers). I was just trying to inject a little of my peculiar sense of humor and I’m sorry if that has offended anyone here. Seems to me like some people have taken me seriously when I was just trying to give you a laugh. Mike has said that “sarcasm” is one of the best ways to fight this cult and I am certain he is correct about that.

      Reply

      • Subtleties often don’t communicate on internet posts. I learned from hard experience that sometimes it’s best to include (joke) (being sarcastic) etc. on some comments. A lot of people have been blogging for years (not me) and they see possible confusions in their posts before they hit Post Comment. I take a good long look before I hit Post Comment but I still goof up sometimes. No big deal.

        Reply

    • Oh, PickAnother, that’s a great idea! At night, when they close up at 1am, we can put little ‘For Sale’ signs all over the idle Morgue!

      Reply

  11. Poor, little Davey Miscarriage . . .

    A self-appointed, modern-day “Napoleon”, now exiled to his own, personal “Elba” . . . Doomed to re-live the final days of Adolph Hitler, driven to madness and commanding “imaginary armies” in non-existent battles, that he always wins . . . All the while, surrounded by “The Glass Menagerie” of Scientology . . . Just waiting for someone to “shatter the Unicorn” !

    Mike & Leah are going to “shatter” Scientology and we are all going to help them do it !

    Symbolism of the “Unicorn” from “The Glass Menagerie” . . .

    The glass Unicorn, Laura’s favorite figurine, is particularly representative of how Tom envisions Laura: beautiful, but magical and unique. When Jim breaks the glass unicorn, it becomes a normal horse, no longer a magical creature. The Unicorn’s shattering occurs just before Jim kisses Laura, but it signals the impossibility for Jim and Laura to be together: she cannot exist in his world without breaking. Laura presents the broken unicorn to Jim as a souvenir. The figurine becomes a memory of Laura that Jim can bring with him when he leaves Laura and returns to his life, but it also signifies the normal woman that Laura will never become.

    https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-glass-menagerie/symbols/glass-unicorn

    Dave F.

    Reply

  13. No receptionist, Course Sups, “Admin Execs”, Purif I/C – and, it would seem, no Dianetics happening either. What the hell have they been doing then? Operating as a one-pony show, obviously.

    I’m amused to see the GAK acronym. I remember while on staff being told not to refer to GAK – or write it as such. Guess that rule went out the window.

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    • GAK always reminds me of watching Double Dare on Nickelodeon when I was growing up — they called the green slime ‘gak’, lol.

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  15. Whoa! If John Travolta and his lovely wife can’t inspire those downstats at the Ocala mission, they’re doomed. Maybe they can get Tom Cruise to foot the bill.

    Reply

    • We all know where TC has his foot. And the only time he takes it out of his mouth is to put the other one in. They are all dipsticks living in la la land.

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    • Maybe Kelly should be the receptionist? At least they’d get the autograph hounds in there. And then John could do the intro lectures. That would “boom” the mission. By doing that, John and Kelly would have to talk to and actually confront the public and hear of all of the “entheta” that is being said about Scn.
      Maybe John will finally watch, “Going Clear”.
      He was critical of Miscavige in the early 80’s in an article in Good Housekeeping or a similar publication. I’ve tried to find it but haven’t yet. If anyone finds it, I’d love to have the link.

      Reply

        • What are…. – Yes! I was in Scientology at that time. People were leaving like rats off the Titanic. I knew about it and why they were leaving – David Miscagive was trying to throw out Pat and Annie Broeker plus, they lined up all of the mission holders to a firing squad. People were pissed off.

          So, in the midst of this, I see this article on the news stands that Travolta is dissing Scientology. I got it and I read it. Then I watched him get lasso’ed back in, slowly but surely. Makes me wonder if the marriage to Kelly around that time had something to do with it. The timing…

          Anyway, Travolta said, “I really love the technology of Dianetics and Scientology because it’s helped me and many people. The part I have a problem with is the management.”

          Bingo. Right on the head of Miscavige. That would be an amazing story if someone could research the archives and bring it forward to Mike.

          I believe the magazine was Good Housekeeping. I made a mental note of which magazine it was, just in case I lost the article.

          Happy hunting. 🙂

          Reply

          • Indie, you haven’t a clue. In the early 80’s the public Scn’ers didn’t even know the names, Pat & Annie. AND, at that time DM wasn’t trying to “throw them out”. Also, “they” lined no one up. That was an LRH thing.

            Reply

            • Well well, Wynski. I appreciate that you had the “inside dope” on what was “actually” happening at that time. Maybe you were isolated in the Sea Org then so didn’t have a clue what the public knew and didn’t know.

              In the future, please don’t tell me what I know or don’t know.

              I was public and I did know about Miscavige getting rid of Pat and Annie. Maybe my time line was a little off (that didn’t fully happen until after LRH’s death, granted). I knew people who left in ’83 and, as time went on, that was one of the things they were upset about. At that time, I read the issue that made Pat and Annie Loyal Officers.

              I agree with you that LRH agreed with slaughtering the missions and the mission holders. But my understanding was that it was only after Miscavige and co. convinced him that the mission holders were greedy pigs. If they hadn’t have cremated the mission network, DM might actually have the ACTUAL expansion he brags about.

              IMHO, by that time, Ron was mentally unstable (by no means innocent of his own crimes) and that Miscavige took full advantage of that and manipulated him to accumulate his own power. DM was even calling him “the crazy old man”.

              How does that match with your observation? Any changes or additions?

              Reply

              • One thing I will note — he didnt need “convincing” about the greed of the Mission Holders. That is what he already thought. He was obsessed with people “stealing” and “poaching on” “his” orgs. This had begun in the mid to late 70’s when he was hell bent on getting businessmen “off the backs” of orgs. It led to the formation of WISE. The purpose of getting “LRH admin tech disseminated to the world” was a VERY secondary consideration and was primarily done as a PR angle and as a way to generate income from royalties. The Missions “stealing” org public followed naturally along from scientology businessmen “stealing” org staff and mailing lists. It was a long progression into insanity. But if you look back to the original Dianetics Foundation he was paranoid the same thing happened then — Don Purcell “stole” his Dianetics Foundation and then various people tried to do it to scientology. It’s a pattern that continued through the 60’s — look at the Amprinistics issue. Perhaps the most outrageous and vicious thing ever published in scientology. They were “squirrels” trying to “steal the tech.”

              • Indie, you are insanely babbling. NO ONE (not even Miscavige) in the early 80’s “knew about Miscavige getting rid of Pat and Annie.” as it didn’t happen until years later.

    • Money isn’t the problem. Lack of money isn’t the reason the cult isn’t expanding. But of course, the Real Why is far beyond fixable at this point, which Miscavige knows very well. Yet, the cult keeps shrinking and there has to be a Why so Miscavige keeps telling them the Real Why correct handling is. more money for more Ideal Orgs. That’s His Real Why and He’s stickin’ to it 🙂 And the dumb shithead Still Ins keep believing this. So they throw more money at the cult for Ideal Morgues, which doesn’t fix the shrinkage and in fact makes it worse. So the cult then demands more money for Ideal Morgues, which both perpetuates the shrinkage and fuels more of it, and wash, rinse, dry, repeat.

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  16. What exactly do staff do all day at a mission? Any time I drive by my local ‘Ideal’ org the parking lot is empty. This in a metro of >5M. I can’t imagine the sort of traffic these have. It’s a testament to the extent of the brainwashing that workers still believe the cult is growing seeing firsthand that nobody’s coming around.

    Reply

  19. Re:Clearwater Mission,on Belcher Rd.
    The mission has been there for about 30 years,right in the shadow of Flag.
    I drive by it twice a day ,to and from work.
    The parking lot is empty, save for the two Volvo’s driven by Carter and Ann Menuirre the mission holders.

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  20. You see, each $cientology group or org desperately needs staff. Each has a recruiter who is responsible for hiring staff. Each recruiter is assigned a condition of danger every week their stat of new staff hired is down.

    So Tampa, Orlando, Miami, FSO, Bellaire mission, Ocala Mission etc. are all fighting over getting the few available public to join staff at THEIR org.

    With Tampa having already usurped the majority of bodies to fill the double-saint-hill size quotas, the rest of the orgs and missions are left to the unenviable task of actually trying to get new people in, get them winning, keep them from reading the internet, keep them from observing the insanity of the organization and convince them that they are committing a huge crime by not joining the most ethical group on the planet.

    I do wonder how many existing staff in the Co$ network in America are foreign imports here illegally.

    Reply

    • Your first paragraph says it all really. The assignment of danger conditions as a solution. Geezers, even blind Freddie can see that obviously doesn’t work, never has. But I suppose it makes ’em feel like they have something to blame, which, in Scientology is the only solution that is acceptable after their lies no longer produces money. Declares & disconnection is a glaring evidence of their stupidity! The illegality of foreign imports… that speaks for itself hey?

      Reply

  21. Thanks Mike for the heads up.
    The whales shot their wads over a decade ago. John and Kirstie. Where are they today?
    They must be disappointed. “The cognitive dissonance must be strong in that one Obi Wan Knobi.”
    And I don’t hear much about the Los Feliz mission any more.?
    In the heart of Hollywood who is going to join the cult!

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  22. Interesting Mike. Thanks for the real update on missions and orgs. When I was ‘in’, all I heard about missions and orgs was expansion and how Scientology was winning in the ‘crusade to clear the planet’.

    Not so, they can’t even afford a private domain name for the mission email address. AOL in 2018? That’s kind of like still using Earthlink email; Earthlink the failed ISP.

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  23. I live in Ocala. Doesn’t ever seem like many people or anyone is there whenever I’ve been by. I see pamphlets when there are public events as they are in the heart of the downtown but other than that I hear crickets.

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    • I bet he would have way more fun doing that, not to mention it would provide WAY more satisfaction than any “benefits” he may have achieved doing Scamology!

      Reply

  26. They are promoting “body traffic” and out door(sic) festivals. A great opportunity to mix, mingle and set up the always successful Free Personality Analysis table.

    Also, they need a “GAK” Supervisor?? laughter

    Reply

    • I wonder how that course room position would appear later in life on a job resume. “2018 – 2022, GAK Supervisor”

      Two years ago I was rooting around in my attic and discovered that my scn Minister Certificate had miraculously survived in the bottom of a trunk. Believe it or not, I had kept it with the idea in mind that someday I might use it to show that I was “a person of good character”.
      (I split scn long before the internet – lol)

      Reply

  27. Yea. I moved into a big house hoping that it would give birth to a smaller house and then a cottage. I should have a village by the time I retire.

    Reply

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