Leah and I are always working when it comes to advocating for victims of Scientology, whether we are vocal it about it or not. As you know Leah has focused on Shelly because she knew Shelly so well and took a stand while she was still in as well as when she got out of scientology -- including filing a missing person's report with the LAPD that they brushed under the carpet. Journalist Yashar Ali did an incredible piece of reporting on this story recently. Important: Where's Shelly? NEW Reporting And following up on this work, he has come up with more invaluable … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday Shelly Miscavige
Today is Shelly Miscavige's 62nd birthday. She has been disappeared for the last 15 years -- one confirmed sighting at her father's funeral (with a handler) in 2007 and nothing certain since. Once a fixture of the scientology world, at her husband's side virtually everywhere he went, she suddenly vanished in 2005. I write about her and her vanishing from the Int Base in my book A Billion Years. Shelly is not the only person at the senior echelons of scientology who has been erased from public view (so too the President of scientology Heber Jentzsch, Executive Director International … [Read more...]
Episode 5: The History of Fair Game
In this week's episode, Leah and I discuss the history of Fair Game and the ongoing Fair Game efforts against us. As always, I include a link here to my "summary of Fair Game" entitled: Dealing with Critics of Scientology - The L. Ron Hubbard Playbook. If you have not read this before and have an interest in this subject, I recommend starting with this. Honestly, this is one of the most important episodes of this podcast. It is not disclosing "new' information, but even seasoned scientology watchers and former scientologists will learn things they likely did not know. Few have … [Read more...]
An Open Letter to My Family first published on 25 May 2010
See my announcement on Friday -- I am revisiting earlier posts during my vacation. Each day there will be a different one. While I might write this a bit differently today it still overall delivers the same message... Dear Andrew, Taryn & Cathy, You made a big issue out of my failure to respond to your letters, so I am responding herewith to the letters each of you sent. I note that Jude sent me a letter when I was living in Denver – but didn’t send another in the second round after I moved near where she lives, and Benjamin didn’t send me a letter at all. I guess the Church is … [Read more...]
Mark Bunker’s New Scientology Hit Squad
Clearly scientology is worried that Mark Bunker is proving to be a viable candidate for the Clearwater City Council. They are now resorting to one of their tried and true tactics against those who worry them the most (see below in this blogpost for earlier examples of the same playbook). Following is a series of short videos of a recent candidates forum. Scientology sent along a gaggle of hecklers to disrupt Mark's statements -- pursuant to the policies of L. Ron Hubbard. Unfortunately, there is no video showing their faces -- perhaps next time when both Aaron Smith-Levin and I … [Read more...]
OT IX and X: Promises, Promises, Promises…
I came across this the other day. It is a High Winds magazine from 1995. High Winds is the "magazine of the Sea Org" and only a few were ever published, usually to commemorate "Sea Org Day". This is the edition where Captain Miscavige (he now considers referring to him this way to be improper/derisive and had his lawyers complain about it in court -- because it indicates he is the capo of the SO and he fears this being used in litigation to hold him responsible for the things he is actually responsible for...) announces the "requirements for the release of new OT IX and X", Of course, … [Read more...]
Debbie Cook Revisited
It's been some time since any news about Debbie Cook has surfaced. Then last weekend Tony Ortega posted that she has just published a book on Amazon about recovering from Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. Although I haven't spoken to Debbie in years, I have thought about her and Wayne many times and after reading some of the comments on Tony's blog, I felt some background information might be of interest to fill in a few blanks and perhaps dispel some misconceptions. There hasn’t really been a reason for me to write about this before. Marty covered the activities of her case and the … [Read more...]