I Leah and I welcomed Dr. Brian Sheen onto the Fair Game Podcast this week. I have known Brian since the days of the Apollo, when he was training to be the senior Case Supervisor for the Advanced Org in the UK. He led an interesting life in the scientology world outside the Sea Org, including in a mission and as a WISE business consultant. He had an experience with Flag that ended his involvement in scientology and went on to get a PhD, but because his former wife and daughter were still in scientology, never spoke out about Scientology. The story of how he came to be declared and … [Read more...]
Episode 44: Tom Green County Sheriff Nick Hanna
What an enormous pleasure it was to speak to the Sheriff of Tom Green County, Texas, Nick Hanna. He recounted the incredible story of his work (and that of many others) in discovering, investigating and prosecuting the criminal activities and abuses in a compound of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints on a ranch (the YFZ Ranch "Yearning For Zion") in the small town of Eldorado Texas in 2003. It is a perfect example of how law enforcement and the court system got it right with a religious organization abusing its members, especially children. A bit of background: Tom Green … [Read more...]
Episode 43: Investigator and Whistleblower Jeffrey Augustine
This week we have the pleasure of speaking with whistleblower, investigator, researcher and friend Jeffrey Augustine. Jeff does great work tracking and exposing scientology, especially in the realm of financial crimes. This episode contains a rundown of scientologist criminals and their legal troubles and the juxtaposition with the public claims of scientology being the most ethical group on earth. Jeffrey has a website where he documents his investigations, it is an incredible resource: The Scientology Money Project He also does the Surviving Scientology Radio … [Read more...]
The Great Wisdom of Ron
Every day, Tony Ortega has a piece of Hubbard wisdom from the same date in history. The one from May 28th struck me. “Now, you’re a registrar and somebody is coming in, or you’re signing up PCs. (All of you have to wear a registrar’s hat at one time or another.) And you’re trying to get somebody to get some auditing, you’re a registrar, see? And there you are one fine day with a yow-yow-yow and a scream-scream-scream standing in front of your face: Seventy-five hours of auditing have been delivered — he feels terrible! He says, ‘Oh, I could kill everybody in the place,’ and he ought to go out … [Read more...]
Episode 42: Listener Questions Part 5
We answered more "Listener Questions" this week. These are some of our favorite episodes and we really appreciate the questions people send in. This one was especially fun and I think you all will enjoy it. We talk about the last chapter of Hubbard's life which is documented in the Epilogue of Lawrence Wright's brilliant Going Clear. This is an excerpt detailing what Steve Pfauth, one of the handful of people with Hubbard at the end of his life had to say. We talk about Hubbard's succession and mention the issue appointing Pat and Annie Broeker which Miscavige had … [Read more...]
Episode 41: Law Review Author Taylor Holley
Leah and I had the great pleasure of speaking to Taylor Holley this week. Taylor is a law student at Texas Tech University who published a legal analysis of scientology's tax exempt status in the Law Review. Taylor has never been involved in scientology, but grew up in Tampa which sparked her interest in scientology. Her paper is a wonderful summation and careful analysis of the law and makes a compelling argument that the IRS should revisit the exempt status of scientology. I wrote about this earlier. I am including her full paper below, as well as a link to it for downloading. I … [Read more...]
Episode 40: Dr. Steven Hassan
Leah and I welcome Dr. Steve Hassan to the podcast this week. A former Moonie, Steve is today an internationally recognized expert in the field of cults and undue influence. We cover a lot of territory, including undue influence, hypnosis and the methods used to control people. Dr. Hassan holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Cambridge College and a Doctorate in Organizational Development and Change from Fielding Graduate University School of Leadership Studies. He is a member of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at Harvard Medical School. He is Founding Director … [Read more...]
WISE Shows Their Stuff (And a MythVision Podcast)
OK, these people claim to have the "only workable technology" of management, sales, PR, marketing, personnel and anything else you can think of. If this promotional piece and their accompanying video represents the pinnacle of what they've got... This looks like it was put together in an 8th grade computer class. These are the experts? They actually do believe that because they have some scribbling from Hubbard that says it is "the only workable technology of ______" that it's true. But what is even more remarkable is that they then offer their … [Read more...]
Episode 38: Listener Questions #4
This week is another episode answering listener questions. We cover a range of topics and below are related documents. The first is that scientology paid the IRS $12.5 million as part of the settlement which resulted in tax exemption. At the event announcing the exemption, Miscavige said the bill to the IRS was $1 billion: This is a fairly comprehensive summary of the story of the IRS and Scn on Wikipedia: How to find your US Representative: and US Senator: And here are some twitter … [Read more...]
Episode 37: Mormon Stories Host Dr. John Dehlin
This week Leah and I venture into the world of Mormonism with Dr. John Dehlin. I recently appeared on his long-running and very popular podcast, Mormon Stories, and we are now welcoming him to ours. He is not just a podcaster, he is a non-profit CEO, activist, public speaker, and religious transitions coach. He advocates for the rights of skeptics in Mormonism, LGBT rights, equality for women, and other individual views outside mainstream Mormonism. He has Master’s degree in Instructional Technology, and a Ph.D. in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. We learned a great deal from John … [Read more...]