L. Ron Hubbard referred to himself as a "nuclear physicist" and assumed the title of Doctor when it suited his plans to sell his "wisdom" to people. He authored a book, All About Radiation (no longer published because it was SO provably false) and delivered a series of lectures that he sold to the unsuspecting filled with his crazy theories about radiation -- cashing in on the fear of nuclear war in the 50's. He even claimed he was offered a position as a nuclear physicist by the US Government, but of course he turned it down. As is very well documented, he took a course in atomic … [Read more...]
L. Ron Hubbard’s Birthday
Today is L. Ron Hubbard's birthday. Born in Tilden, Nebraska on 13 March 1911, this may be the only consistently true statement he made about himself. I cannot think of a better occasion to recommend yet again, reading Russell Miller's excellent, unauthorized biography of Hubbard, Bare-Faced Messiah. Hubbard was always talking about "truth" and how important it is. His life was fictionalized by him for his own gain. Almost every aspect of it. Miller's thoroughly researched and documented account will put the lies to rest about Hubbard's life once and for all. What could be a … [Read more...]
L. Ron Hubbard: March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986
Today marks 37 years since the death of L. Ron Hubbard -- founder of scientology, "Source" to his followers, compulsive storyteller and master conman. I want to take a moment today to recommend Russell Miller's wonderful, detailed, enlightening unauthorized biography Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Miller's book opened my eyes to so much about Hubbard as he connected dots and answered many questions. The diligent research and detail in his account is remarkable, sifting through the endless stories and lies told by Hubbard about his life and accomplishments to … [Read more...]
Scientology Safe Pointing in DC
Our friend ISNOINews provided another interesting article that I felt was more important than being left as a comment on a disrelated topic. This is a lengthy article by Alex Rubinstein on a recent event held in Washington DC that scientology participated in. Alex has some fairly extensive mentions of scientology in the article, which I have excerpted below. The entire article can be found at the link above. Using a friend’s company on my application and adopting a fake persona, I attended a three-day summit on religious freedom where leading … [Read more...]
Episode 47: The Life and Lies of L. Ron Hubbard Part 2
We continue with our deep dive into the life and lies of Hubbard with Jon Atack. Once again, we have quite a lot of documents to include -- but always at the top of the list are Jon's Let's Sell These People A Piece of Blue Sky and Barefaced Messiah by Russell Miller. I should also note that though we didnt mention it, for those of you interested in what Hubbard did or didnt do in the war, Chris Owen's excellent and thoroughly researched Ron The War Hero: The True Story of L Ron Hubbard's Calamitous Military Career is essential reading. Hubbard told so many lies about his naval … [Read more...]
Episode 46: The Life and Lies of L. Ron Hubbard Part 1
Tonight we begin a new series of episodes we are calling "Deep Dives," where we take a detailed look at specific areas of scientology. It seemed only appropriate to begin with L. Ron Hubbard -- the "Source" of scientology and "Founder" from which everything flows. There is no way to cover his entire life in a single episode. Or even 5 episodes. We broke this into 2 parts, the first focused on his life and claims up to Dianetics. Even in two episodes we can only touch upon some of the highlights (lowlights?) as there is a great deal to know. If you have not already done so, I … [Read more...]
Episode 27: Jon Atack — OG Scientology Whistleblower
This week Leah and I welcome the insightful and wonderfully well-informed Jon Atack. (If anyone doesn't know the term OG, it comes from "Original Gangster" and means "someone who's incredibly exceptional, authentic, or “old-school”" and Jon certainly fills the bill). Way back in the 1980's, Jon was a pioneer whistleblower about scientology abuses. He wrote a seminal book "Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky" which was first published in 1990. He has since written two other books on the subject of scientology. Jon was a "public" Scientologist for nine years, until 1983, when … [Read more...]
Ron: The Epic Saga of BS
The smoke and mirrors game that scientology plays concerning L. Ron Hubbard is pretty remarkable. This "monumental hardback collection" is hardly a recounting of a "life like no other." It is a carefully selected collection of anecdotal stories about things L. Ron Hubbard said or claimed about his life. Many of them are unverified, unable to be documented because they didn't happen. Charitably, Hubbard told "tall tales" about his life and exploits. Realistically, he simply lied about himself. The author of these "books" (they were originally "magazines") is Dan Sherman. The "LRH … [Read more...]
Tampa “Ideal” Org and Ron’s Fiction
These are the last two Tampa "ideal" "St Hill Size" "newsletters" that are sorely lacking in news. You can compare this one immediately below to the previous one that follows. They’ve only got some extension course "successes" to report, but they're promoting a different video about how viruses spread... It's pretty harmless, giving rudimentary information about bacteria and viruses, though it's oddly "scientologese" with constant reference to "the body.” What it doesn't do is explain what scientologist actually believe about illness -- that it all comes from connection to Suppressive … [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...]