You used to see scientology spokespersons in the media. I was one of them for many years. So was Heber Jentzsch. I escaped. Heber was put in The Hole and became so physically incapacitated he could no longer appear in public (and Miscavige didn't trust him anyway). Tommy Davis was the "it boy" for a while, but he also departed, though he remains a Miscavige brown-noser ion his post-Sea Org life. If you look on the scientology website they list a number of "spokespersons" who actually don't speak: Karin Pouw was never allowed to talk publicly, though her name … [Read more...]
The Yingling Factor
As everyone who reads this blog is probably aware, CBS Mornings featured a piece on A Billion Years yesterday morning. If you haven't seen it, you can watch it here. The piece was delayed for some time as scientology went into a full court press to prevent it from airing. They sent Monique Yingling to New York, with a delegation of scientologists and another lawyer to dissuade CBS airing it using the usual threats and false claims. In the end, when they realized they were not going to succeed in spiking the story altogether, Yingling was put forth as the scientology … [Read more...]
Episode 67: Listener Questions #9
This week we have another of our favorite Listener Questions episodes... We have a lot of great questions, including what the organization does with all the money it makes? Are the PI's scientologists? What would happen if we tried to rejoin scientology? What is the most bizarre Hubbard policy? What's the story with Mimi Rogers? Does David Miscavige tune in? And a lot more. Some of the documents we mention: What are the A-E steps that a person declared Suppressive must do in order to get back into good standing with scientology? My earlier post about scientology … [Read more...]
The Black Bag Department
See my announcement on Friday -- I am revisiting earlier posts during my vacation. Each day there will be a different one. Marty has been doing a good job of exposing the unalterable policies of the church concerning dealing with perceived enemies. One aspect not much discussed is who are the "outside professionals" hired to do the dirty work. And while there is a lot that is done by Sea Org OSA staff, Class V (local DSAs like Mark Warburg and John Carmichael) and public Scientologists (John Allender, Ed Bryan and Co) there is work that requires specific skills, including licenses to … [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...]
Scientology Tax Exemption — Muffins Strikes Back
Clearly, David Miscavige is feeling the mounting pressure on his most cherished treasure: tax exempt status bestowed on scientology by the IRS in 1993. It takes considerable effort to get a letter published about a relatively obscure subject in a major paper like the LA Times. It is apparently a response to an op-ed piece that ran last November. 3 months of work to get this miserable piece of misleading propaganda to run... Monique "Muffins" Yingling makes a rare appearance to argue on behalf of Miscavige. She has been as out of sight as the COB himself since her fateful appearance on 20/20 … [Read more...]
Scientology Clearwater Hissy Fit
The Tampa NBC affiliate website covers the latest news in the Scientology v. Clearwater war of 2017. Here is how the article begins: CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) — The Church of Scientology has declared an economic war on Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the stakes are high — $26 million in tourism tax funding that the church wants to block at Tuesday’s Pinellas County Commission meeting. The church’s anger stems from a land purchase dispute involving a dirt parking lot next to Clearwater City Hall. The aquarium recently defied the church by selling that land to the City of Clearwater on April … [Read more...]
Scientology Tax Exemption Panic
It would appear that the statements made in the wake of Going Clear by Alex Gibney have struck a nerve, especially his OpEd piece in the LA Times. David Miscavige has trotted out his second favorite scientology spokespuppet (after Karin Pouw), non-scientologist lawyer Monique Yingling. She strangely appeared to defend the non-practice of "disconnection" on Anderson Cooper, and also came to visit me one time to discuss whether I wanted to speak to my children and other family members. She is sort of a Girl Friday who fills in as an Ethics Officer/IJC and spokesperson when needed. She is … [Read more...]
The Black Bag Department first published March 17, 2014
Marty has been doing a good job of exposing the unalterable policies of the church concerning dealing with perceived enemies. One aspect not much discussed is who are the "outside professionals" hired to do the dirty work. And while there is a lot that is done by Sea Org OSA staff, Class V (local DSAs like Mark Warburg and John Carmichael) and public Scientologists (John Allender, Ed Bryan and Co) there is work that requires specific skills, including licenses to carry and/or needs more distance from "the church" to afford a measure of plausible deniability. There are quite a number … [Read more...]