T-Marie: The real question is how much $$ “Bishop Franklin Harris” gave to the IAS or another division of CO$

The “Twelve Men” may well be LONG ago dead, but they have successors AND the organizations/ governments / cabals which gave them their power. To a conspiracy theorist, the conspiracies are never ending, and Ron was right up there, never seeing a anti-him conspiracy he didn’t buy into wholesale. The conspiracies were an easy way to control those in the bubble ( ??The bubbleheads? 😉 )

Peacemaker: yes, Scn does seem to “punch above its weight”, but they’ve been shown for what they are: Bullies who will back down when confronted & congenital liars about their size and power. 10,000 scientologists in CW? I doubt there are that many active in North America. It seems there are more active exes in the U.S. than in good standing world-wide. You and I are of the former, I believe. *I* certainly am.

Susan, my comment was from having followed Natalee’s story at the time and seeing some “current” chatter as I wandered the Web. No new evidence, just the same “stuff” hashed and rehashed. In a couple of items, I had to check to see if they were current or historical records, as they seemed to be things I’d read before. No one knows ANYthing about her disappearance, except perhaps the “little monster”, and it seems he’s been cleared by the investigators on site. They may well be incompetent as they don’t get much practice solving that sort of investigation as it so rarely happens and often enough, the missing person arranged their own disappearance for their own reasons. I’m not sure Natalee didn’t get a crush on a passing cruiser and just jumped onboard as he/she sailed off to another destination. If she did, it’s *rude* of her to neglect to give her Mom a quick note, but it happens regularly. My most recent sister-in-law’s daughter gave no notice to Mom that she was moving 2500 miles away, nor that she became a grandmum soon after the move. Some daughters REALLY get pissed at their overbearing parent(s). Generally, they seem to calm down later, but I’ve seen it take some years, decades even. The news reports painted Mrs Holloway as pretty intense, very pushy, which is why the story got so big (as well as Natalee being a pretty white girl, according to some opinions.)

We don’t KNOW Natalee died; there was no body or other evidence found despite some frenetic searches including large patches of underwater. From this distance, it seems the local authorities did everything in their power to solve the case, and got volunteers to help cover even more ground/sea floor, follow even the most tenuous possible leads.

My point was, and still is, that memories of misdeeds run long in such small communities. Additionally, news of problem boats is shared amongst the various port captains who are a community to themselves. One of my correspondents (fancy name for a penpal) is a port captain in Maine who has mentioned that he’s heard stories from the Caribbean Thus, Freewinds may be stuck in Curacao as Ron’s “Navy” might have caused problems enough to close the few other ports suitable to “Passing Wind”. That said, I’d suspect that Aruba and Bonaire might be open to Scn since they’re the same government(Netherlands Antilles), $cn might gain access to perhaps some places in Venezuela, since they seem to condone rich folks bending the rules if they pay the officials off; I’m not sure if Caracas would be safe enough for the crew & guests. Cruiser reports from the area aren’t encouraging. Maybe Davey Boy can make that the first cleared Country, get rid of the drug cartels and such. THAT would prove his OT-ness for sure. Didn’t I read a few months ago that a few TWTH pamphlets have already made a significant inroads towards that end? When I read that sort of blather, I can’t help thinking about “magical thinking”…. Isn’t that a phase that adolescents go through? I guess it isn’t limited to that stage of life, as I admit I fell into that mindset all too easily when I was 19 or 20; before the brain was fully operational & WELL before I had sufficient real life experience.

I can almost see the holes kicked in the walls of his office, the wrecked carpet where he’s chewed large holes and left foam all over the place. Sad part is that someone is also going to be on the receiving end of his violent tantrums as well.

I wonder if he’s going to brick up all the windows that face onto the lot that council purchased? The thing is I can’t see him letting this go, the dirt squads and spies will be out in force to try and find some way to swing it in his favour. His type of personality cannot stand the idea of people daring to stand up against his own self-importance and god-like image (meaning overwhelming arrogance, narcissism and barely contained rage).

Jere, thanks for sharing your local experience and perspective.

I don’t think that Scientology was ever a heavyweight in Clearwater politics, but it seems to me that the used to punch above their weight, just like people in the media used to be afraid of them – and all of that, is coming to an end.

I noticed that at last month’s council meeting, one of the council members cited the figure of approximately 10,000 Scientologists in Clearwater, which is CofS’ official number, and would be a significant constituency and possibly even a bloc to swing a close election. I would think that after last night’s poor showing, they’re wondering just how few scientologists are really left in Clearwater – and if anything that Scientology says, can be trusted.

Thank you

Your cavalier comment about “They’re still going ’round and ’round about the girl who disappeared on Aruba a dozen years ago,”…Her name is Natalee Holloway. She has a mother and father, relatives and friends. She was only 18 when a sick little monster ended her life. I didn’t know her or the family, however I think of her often and feel for her parents who are still grieving and in pain. Why you would bring this up to illustrated your point eludes me.

Best comment I’ve seen in awhile, rogerHornaday.

Miscavige is getting the treatment he so richly deserves.

What a disaster that little man has been to his “church”.

And those sickening celebrities, who will never see a penny from their exponentially multiplying critics, can either get out now and atone, or be drawn into the sucking black hole of historical ridicule with Miscavige and LRH.

As for the ministers- it’s not hard to get some of these Baptist ministers to collaborate with scam artists to bilk devoted believers.