Michael Silverman was a much beloved figure at AOLA for many years spanning the 70's, 80's and into the 90's. This is the only photo I could coax out of him, but for those who knew him back then, apart from being follicle challenged, this smiling face looks just the same as I remember it at AO. Michael reached out to me and asked that I publish his thoughts about his life in the Sea Org and scientology. I am more than happy to do so. Hello Mike. I have occasionally read bits of postings over the years and feel compelled to post something significant that may help others … [Read more...]
Thursday Funnies
Reverend Freddie Firing Em Up in the Fatherland Raise your havingness so you can give your money to me. Why does anyone care what he has to say about Havingness? It's a Celebration Until the regges greet you at the door.. Preventing the world from being destroyed Now THAT'S a Success Story! Totally vague and totally meaningless. But eh, let's publish it anyway like it's really good! Not So Mighty My Mammy The letter B is completed! 2 down only 24 to go... Big turnout This is the org LRH can count on. And … [Read more...]
Valley OTC Minutes
For the record. These have been accumulating for a while. The Special Correspondent who so diligently forwards these to me noted that it is interesting to look at these over time as you can see the false promises and pitches roll out and the things that are said in March that will happen in April go by without comment and then you start seeing new targets on the same thing in June. It is truly the donkey with the carrot on a stick -- the only difference being the donkey is being ridden by vampires that inexorably suck the blood out of it, til it falls to the wayside and they jump on a new … [Read more...]
AOLA Is Booming!!
Once again, out of the mouths of babes... No wonder the "command team" in PAC was replaced. And interestingly, in this era of unprecedented expansion, the "ideal" AO executives in AOSHUK and AOSHEU have also been "replaced." I guess these "ideal" AO's aren't doing too well. And the proof of it is contained in this message from AOLA. The "ideal" AOLA has a single course room where they deliver Student Hat, PTS/SP, the Basics AND the Solo Course. Back in the day it would have been unthinkable to have anything else delivered in the Solo Course room. Let alone a "basics" and … [Read more...]
Thursday Funnies
HUGE News! But then again, has there EVER been a scientology event that is not huge, epic, monumental blah blah blah Of course, the huge news is: a) we need your money now and b) you need to get busy on our backlogged CF. Speaking of CF Tampa is still working on theirs. And they are taking things to "light speed" -- everything except their filing backlog I guess. That is going at "snail's pace." Emptiness But they tried to make it look like there are people by having a CGI image of an image of people running through the org... What … [Read more...]
AOLA is Circling the Drain
You may have noted my mention yesterday that all the "ideal" PAC execs were replaced in one fell swoop. I guess being "ideal" doesn't mean much after all. Of course it IS the brilliant COB strategy for clearing the planet, but any way you slice it, it's a shit sandwich. The public are bled dry. It is the subject of endless filler material for events and magazines showing empty rooms of CGI "buildings." But it is especially shitty if you are an executive in one of these "ideal" orgs. You can imagine the make-wrong "You have a $20 million building and your stats are down? What sort of thanks … [Read more...]
March 13th and International Scientology No News
Had a chance to look through the latest International Scientology News -- the propaganda piece sent out after each international event to re-hype the event hype. Based on this magazine alone, things are going to hell in a hand-basket in the shrinking bubble of scientology. What is fascinating about it is what is does NOT contain. It is virtually "expansion news free." Nothing that reflects the "massive international expansion" Miscavige is constantly mentioning. And all I did was flick through the pages and look at the pictures, I could not bring myself to read any of the drivel. Here … [Read more...]
The Birthday Event
Things seem to be falling apart at the seams in LA. Traditionally, there was a single March 13th event for all of the LA area -- including Orange County and the Valley. It used to be held at the Shrine Auditorium, but that became embarrassing as they couldn't even fill the lower level, let alone the upper. So, they moved it to the Dolby Theater. Capacity 3400. Now they have shifted it to the "Ray Dolby Ballroom." Capacity 2000. But it seems they are having inordinate difficulty filling even that venue (this is not much bigger than the Flag auditorium...) in the home of the … [Read more...]
The Real State of Flag and LA Orgs
People send me information routinely on their visits to orgs, and I happened to get several recently from people who were in LA and also at Flag. I accumulate these because individually each one is not worth a whole post, but when there are a few they tell a story. In this case, apparently the rudderless ship is all but abandoned. And it is interesting how the stories from different people in different orgs are all pretty much the same. And align so well with the information being imparted on the "Oh No Ross and Carrie" podcasts about their investigation of scientology at Los Angeles org … [Read more...]
Scientology: The Motel 6 of 501(c)3s
Part of the real estate empire being amassed by the tax exempt church of scientology is a rash of "public accommodations." The latest two are in Los Angeles. This one, right alongside CC Int. And of course "The Fountain" opened last week alongside AOLA. Obviously, there has been a push to open empty buildings so they can be shown at the IAS event. Though one would imagine that ORGS would be better than one-star "hotels." What happened to Harlem? Missed the deadline I suppose. Valley going nowhere really rapidly. Not even a "ribbon cutting" on KCET? … [Read more...]