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Cult FrictionAfter an embarrassing string of high-profile defection and leaked videos, Scientology is under attack from a faceless cabal of online activists. Has America's most controversial religion finally met its match?
Masked hackers have declared war on Scientology. Could the celebrity-friendly religion be in its final days? (Photo: Sam Comen) Clearwater is prepared for its enemies. It's a warm, if overcast, Saturday in February, but all the storefronts lining the sidewalks of this sleepy town on the Gulf Coast of Florida are shuttered. The streets are mostly barren, and at the sight of strangers, the few passersby quicken their pace and avert their eyes. Outwardly, Clearwater has all the hallmarks of an unexceptional beach community—there's a Starbucks on the corner, and new construction projects dot the shoreline. But today the cranes are still and the scaffolding is empty. No one is lining up for lattes. Everyone, it seems, has disappeared. "There's one!" says Patricia Greenway, my guide, as we drive past a dark-haired woman in black slacks and a short-sleeve white shirt. When she notices us eyeballing her through the car window, she raises her hand like a scandalized starlet confronting the paparazzi. "See—she's hiding her face," Greenway says quietly, sounding like the host of an Animal Planet safari special. "They feel that if they're exposed to entheta, they'll lose their bridge." Their "bridge" is the "Bridge to Total Freedom," the path to enlightenment, levitation, time travel, and all-around invincibility peddled by L. Ron Hubbard under the name Scientology. "Entheta" is us. The enemy. A clean-cut young man points a video camera our way, slowly pivoting to keep us in the frame. The Scientologists are monitoring their enemies. And they are expecting more to comeEver since Hubbard, the portly flame-haired naval enthusiast, accomplished liar, pulp fiction writer, and unlikely cult leader, came ashore here in 1975 after leading his flock on an eight-year sea voyage throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, Clearwater has been known as the "spiritual mecca" of Scientology. Members call it Flag Land Base. Beginning with its purchase of the Fort Harrison Hotel that year, the Church has methodically acquired most of downtown Clearwater, save for the library and the courthouse, amassing nearly 1.7 million square feet of office and residential space and turning the city center into a virtual Scientology campus. More than 1,200 Church staff members, and somewhere between 5,000 and 12,000 Scientologists—including Kirstie Alley (who purchased her home from Lisa Marie Presley)—live and work here. Which is exceedingly creepy, especially when they're nowhere to be found. Even so, I am skeptical when Greenway and her associate, Peter Alexander, both outspoken critics of Scientology, hesitate to get out of the car and walk around. What could really happen to us? The sidewalk is still ostensibly public property. Alexander, a soft-spoken former vice president of Universal Studios who now lives near Clearwater, attained the Church's second-highest level of spiritual awakening, OT VII, or Operating Thetan level seven, before he defected in 1997. At one point, Alexander says, he was so consumed with Scientology that he carried around a Church-issued beeper that alerted him whenever his minders decided he required counseling. Greenway, a no-nonsense blonde with a pack-a-day voice and an easy laugh, was never a Scientologist. Alexander hired her in the mid-'90s at his architectural design firm, which at the time was run using Hubbard's principles; she resisted the workplace pressure to join Scientology and eventually convinced Alexander to leave the Church. They both joined the board of the Lisa McPherson Trust—a now-defunct anti-Scientology organization that battled the Church in Clearwater for years—and made a feature-length film called The Profit about a megalomaniacal leader named L. Conrad Powers who founds the Church of Scientific Spiritualism. Greenway and Alexander have steered clear of downtown Clearwater for several months and fear that if they're spotted in the area, the Church will unleash private investigators on them (as they claim it has in the past), and that a new wave of troubling phone calls and attempts to meddle with their business will commence. This strikes me as paranoid. Eventually, we park the car and get out. Alexander points to a Greek-columned stone building that once housed the town bank. It is now the headquarters of the Office of Special Affairs, the Church's public relations arm and current incarnation of the Guardian Office, which was the epicenter of the black-bag hijinks for which Scientology is famous—infiltrating the Department of Justice, hatching schemes (which were never fully realized) to blackmail critics, bugging IRS offices, and so forth. A discreetly posted security camera peeks out from atop the building. "They've got 110 cameras downtown," Alexander says. "Just wait." Within minutes, a paunchy middle-age Latino man with a pencil-thin mustache, wearing khakis and a white golf shirt, emerges from the adjoining parking lot. He walks silently to a spot a few feet away from us, points a digital camera, and begins snapping our picture. I say hello. He says nothing. I ask him if he's a member of the Church. He stares, grim-faced, at the camera's LCD screen. Alexander and Greenway are casual; they've been through this before. As we continue down the sidewalk, a bus with tinted windows passes by. Greenway explains that it's a Scientology bus. The Church leaders don't trust the staff to own cars, she says, and they don't want them walking around with entheta, either. Greenway points across the street. The venetian blinds in the storefront opposite have been opened to reveal an office with at least half a dozen people inside. One of them, a clean-cut young man, is standing by the window, pointing a video camera, and slowly pivoting to keep us in the frame as we make our way down Cleveland Street. The Scientologists are monitoring their enemies. And they are expecting more to come. 
HOTEL CALIFORNIA Scientology's Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. One of the sites of Anonymous' February 10, 2008, protests (Photo: Getty Images) Then came the video. You've probably seen it by now—leaked footage of Tom Cruise accepting the Church's Freedom Medal of Valor award at a 2004 gathering of the International Association of Scientologists. Slickly produced, with the theme from Mission: Impossible pumping along in the background, the clip features a manic Cruise exhorting his co-religionists to commit themselves to the cause. "Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident, it's not like anyone else," he says. "As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it. Because you're the only one who can help." Then came Anonymous. On January 21, a video titled "Message to Scientology" appeared on YouTube. A brilliant work of agitprop, the video (embedded below) features a monotone, computer-generated voice speaking in staccato against a mesmerizing backdrop of gathering clouds. The message, which bears quoting at length, is ominous: "Hello, Scientology. We are Anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation, suppression of dissent, your litigious nature: All of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. ... We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us." Anonymous is the catchall term for an amorphous group of online activists-slash-hackers-slash-pranksters-slash-dadaists organized loosely around two online message boards, 4chan.org and 711chan.org. Anons, as they call themselves, are steeped in the anarchic and exceptionally juvenile culture of the Internet, and function as something like online yippies. The lolcats meme, for example—a series of inexplicably funny pictures of cats with comically misspelled captions like, "I can has cheezburger?"—first emerged on the 4chan boards, and its members have claimed responsibility for a long list of feats, including taking down white nationalist websites and stealing the passwords to 72,000 MySpace pages. Anonymous managed to disrupt the Scientology website for three days. And in a show of force—and a surprising departure from its previous, Internet-focused projects—it also dispatched legions of real live protesters to Scientology facilities around the world for coordinated pickets. Add to that the recent defections of several prominent Church members, including David Miscavige's own niece, Jenna Miscavige Hill—who is openly attacking her uncle and the Church—and Mike Rinder, the Church's former chief spokesman and public face, and you can see why the folks in Clearwater are wary of outsiders. "It's looking like the perfect storm," says Dave Touretzky, a research professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and a longtime critic of the Church. "I just can't believe what's happened over the last six months. It's all falling apart for Scientology now. We're looking at the end times for them." 
Can we get a list of the questions you submitted to Scientology in which they answered in the pdf? I'd like to know what they're responding to. Second. Question 14 gives a source for "Anonymous has publicly proclaimed its guiding materials to be the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf" however it fails to mention that the first instance of these Contradictory Ideals appearing anywhere in relation to anonymous was Scientology itself proclaiming it at least 3 days earlier. Source: http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/07/Southpinellas/Church_of_Scientology.shtml By branding normal people who only want to speak out about the abuses against our democracy by Scientology as "terrorists" they only prove the point. It's fear mongering of the first degree. Posted by: poink on March 18, 2008 12:57 PM Thank you for the very factual and courageous article. I was a Scientology Sea Org Member for more than 20 years and worked at the International Base in Hemet. I can attest that the facts as you present them about the dark side of Scientology are accurate. And you've only just begun to uncover the truth about this group. The organization is corrupt and abusive. Rank-and-file Scientologists have no clue what is going on at corporate levels. Thanks to the courage of Jenna Miscavige, Anonymous, and many former members now speaking out, the truth will be known. Posted by: orwell on March 18, 2008 1:01 PM For more on Jenna Miscavige Hill and other former Scientology kids, go to www.exscientologykids.com And don't forget Operation Reconnect on April 12th 2006, at your local Scientology Center everywhere in the world. Posted by: suzette on March 18, 2008 1:56 PM Most people still see Scientology as a kooky cult, so it's great that journalists such as yourself are getting the truth out there. However there are other tales that are not disimilar. You have to understand that the "church" doesn't see itself as being subject to the rule of law. As Tom Cruise puts it "Why ask? we are the authorites." Another gr8 story you might be interested in covering, was the church's plan to take over parts of parts of four countries, forming a new one that would have been called Bulgravia. This was discovered when some of their planning documents were seized by police in Greece, (along with Top Secret Greek military documents!...this is a church????) Anyway, great article,. thanks. Posted by: MickyC on March 18, 2008 3:35 PM Advertisement Great job on this article! Posted by: amazed and laughing on March 18, 2008 6:10 PM Truly a poor excuse for a researched story. How do you know that Anon members didn't make bomb threats? If there is no centralized leadership, how can you verify this? And why bother incorporating the response from the C of S spokesperson in your story, rather you relegate it to a link. I was at the event that also told of the establishment of the Harlem and Zimbabwe organizations. Rather than your contention that some minority is being targeted, the entire context was how to help areas that had a high incidence of social ills, drug abuse and illiteracy. Your ignorance of the theology of Scientology (you got the creation "myth" wrong also, which is publicly available in Hubbard's books and is called "The Factors"....and your bias in relying solely on individuals who have left the Church relegates this story to poorly written tabloid. Oh and I didn't see any mention of the nine new Churches just purchased and under renovation internationally to handle the growth of Scientology. Check back in say a year or two and compare notes, you'll find unprecedented expansion of Scientology globally. Posted by: smarc on March 18, 2008 6:17 PM This was an excellent and informative article. My understanding is that you asked organized scientology about apparent abuses by their leader David Miscavige. They denied he made any abuses. I personally worked with David Miscavige and have seen him spit on, punch in the mouth, choke and slap hard on the face staff. I also know others who have been beaten and otherwise physically abused by him. I know Miscavige to have lied in courts and to the IRS about his control of organized scientology and other matters. I know this from first hand experience. If called upon I would give testimony to this effect. I salute John Cook and Radar for their courage and integrity in taking on this litigious organization, Sincerely, Larry Brennan, New Hampshire, USA Posted by: LarryB on March 18, 2008 6:40 PM By the way, for more about Jenna Miscavige, she will be appearing on nightline on ABC. Maybe tonight (3/18) Posted by: amazed and laughing on March 18, 2008 6:42 PM Hands down the best article on this corrupt organisation since the Time magazine piece. Comprehensive, factual, and timely. You should be very proud of your efforts especially given the lack of hardcopy news coverage in the wake of the Morton book. Posted by: MacFhearghuis on March 18, 2008 6:45 PM Kudos, Mr. Cook, for honestly and accurately portraying the "church" of Scientology as it is, and the "anonymous" movement as I have seen it to be by lurking on forums all over the place. So many of us bystanders (and participants, too) are extremely heartened that a few courageous journalists are telling the truth, and informing the public. It gives comfort to those who have left the cult, those who have been "fair gamed" by the cult, and those who seek to stop the cult's genocidal "master race" ideology. I'll be on the lookout for Jenna Miscavige's interview, and all that follows. The serious, not-funny, and truly threatening cult of Scientology must be brought to account for its subversive and terroristic activites. Stop them, NOW, before it's too late for us all!. Posted by: SoccerMom on March 18, 2008 7:14 PM "And why bother incorporating the response from the C of S spokesperson in your story, rather you relegate it to a link. " First of all, the author did use quotes from this response in the article. Second, rather than just leave it at quotes, he gives readers the opportunity to read the ENTIRE RESPONSE, a very large document, rather than just use a few quotes and then leave it at that. I thought this was more than fair. It's more like getting a whole other entire article for Scientology to defend themselves in, written by a top ranking Scientologist. More than fair. Posted by: Aldanon on March 18, 2008 7:17 PM Kudos for putting all this together into powerful article. This is an excellent article, except for one thing. You should have trusted your instincts when you hesitated. You should have questioned Patricia Greenway and Peter Alexander further because if you had, you would have found out that they are subject to a very definitive injunction which, by bringing you to drive by and stroll the area, they seemed to have yet again courted the fringe of violating it and included you in it's potential violation. The last person that happened be lured into something like this was the late Shawn Lonsdale... you can read about what happened to him when the church lawyers deposed him for "acting in concert with Patricia Greeneway the first time he met her while doing his Cult Watch protest : What Really Happened to Shawn http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/msg/36b59e6063b04fba I hope, for everyone's sake, that you are not deposed. It's bad enough that CoS has all those pictures of you on file now. In case no one mentioned it to you, you really need to warn you neighbors and local officials that there is potential for you to be framed or lied about, so precautiuons are important. Send them a copy of this article. And remember, all that glitters is not gold. Posted by: Mary McConnell on March 18, 2008 7:53 PM If you keep at the criticism, be sure and let Dave Touretzky, know. He'll want to help you with the sale of your website, like he did with Chris Owen's critical site. Big Pharma is Big Bucks, don't forget. Posted by: Terryeo on March 18, 2008 8:29 PM Oh man, I simply MUST get print copies of this! The 1991 Time Magazine issue of the Scientology crime syndicate's exposure is worth some real money these days so I'm going to get like 10 copies of this -- this is GREAT stuff! It's also great to see Patricia's name out there in Clearwater once again. Go Anonymous! Go ARSCC! We will dismantle the crime syndicate yet! My opinionsonly and only my opinions. Posted by: DamOTclese on March 18, 2008 9:01 PM By the way: Operation Reconnect will be the April effort to raise awareness of the Scientology corporation's deliberate assaults against families and how Scientology breaks apart families solely for money. That web site is slated to be _the_ web site for details about how loved ones can try to find out where their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and anyone else who has disappeared inside the sinister Scientology corporation's barricaded walls have gone to -- and what to do about it. My opinions only and only my opinions, as always. Posted by: DamOTclese on March 18, 2008 9:10 PM I would like to know why the US Dept of Justice and the FBI have done NOTHING to prevent the epic level of fraud, abuse and violence commited by the Corporation of Scientology. If ever an Organization fits the bill for a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization, the "Church" of Scientology is certainly it! It is high time for the US Dept of Justice and FBI along with the Attorneys General of California and Florida to rain down RICO Act indictments against the leadership of Scientology and its Medusa-like web of front companies. Posted by: greyhound38 on March 18, 2008 10:56 PM EEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ! ! ! Patricia Greenway & P.A. insinuating themselves as "tour-guides" of Anonymous!?! How nauseating. Beware Anonymous! Don't associate with them or you will be un-masked and slapped with a real live legal injunction. The last guy who that happened to ended up dying under suspicous circumstances! Posted by: Roan on March 18, 2008 11:34 PM haha~~~interesting! i saw some more interesting pics about this on intimatemingle.com which is a dating site for interracial single. Posted by: shangshine on March 19, 2008 12:34 AM I saw part of the movie The Firm tonight and the unintentional irony blew me away. Tom Cruise in a movie about someone getting trapped in a nefarious, ultra secret gangster-controlled cabal where anybody that tries to escape or speak out mysteriously ends up dead. Oh the majestic irony. Posted by: greyhound38 on March 19, 2008 2:07 AM Thank you for your excellent and brave reporting. Kudos to you for posting the 10 page Scientology response, let people read both sides of the story and decide what to believe. I note that a Scientologist has already made a veiled threat against your website. Remember that now there are thousands of people waiting to report and disseminate news of the dirty tactics of the OSA. If any harassment occurs, let the people know. Such harassment of those who tell the truth only serves to turn more people against the cult. Posted by: UnnamedPerson on March 19, 2008 2:57 AM If only every article about the protests were like this one... The movement grows. That's the best part about ultra-paranoid organizations with illogical principles that forbid interpretation, they always go down spectacularly. Posted by: anon5555 on March 19, 2008 2:58 AM My God! Once again, radar did a famous job analysing the structures of the cult and its opponents activity to get it down or reformed. Indeed, an ex-cult member was sequestrated for months by cult's members, in three locations. She was found almost nude by italian police in a home rented by his scientology brother, unable to walk at 48, sleeping on a squalid mattress, in a void room, and was sent to an hospital before being sent back to France where she complained against John Doe. Five scientologists were involved in her "introspection rundown" treatment, the same that killed Lisa McPherson inClearwater on Dec 5, 1995. Besides of this, the cuolt is lobbying some politicians since decades, so as to be recognized as a religion, being tax-exempt, and not under some enquiry of state offices. But alas for them, the President, the Prime Minister and other politicians or officials have then been better informed about the facts, and further, Anonymous people came then to rescue. Now, the cult in France is really concentrating on some ways - some lies more - to avoid a high court (Assises) criminal trial as well as a method to make believe that it's so great... Since it's also waiting for a very important criminal trial in Belgium - soon to be started - one can now say that it'll get what's coming to it!
Posted by: rogergonnet on March 19, 2008 3:46 AM TO ALL READERS OF THIS COMMENT SECTION... YOU WILL NOTICE A POST BY A "PERSON" NAMED TERRYEO, THIS IS NOT PERSON BUT A CATCH-ALL NAME USED BY SEVERAL OF THE OSA CRIMINALS WITHIN SCIENTOLOGY. THIS, FOR SOME REASON, IS ONE OF THEIR FAV. ON-LINE NAMES AND IF YOU GOOGLE TERRYEO YOU'LL FIND DOZENS OF ITS POSTING. Posted by: Centurian 10 on March 19, 2008 10:05 AM Mr Cook, I think you wetre lied to : You see, they were spotted at the previous protest. Here in this IRC log someone sent me, we find Patricia Greenway ( TFCVP and then as GypsyQueen ) admitting that she was indeed there last month on Feb 19th 2008! : Session Start: Fri Feb 29 20:01:16 2008 I posted on alt.religion.scientology usenet that I was told she's been there and got out of the car and was boo'd but she never had the guts to post a denial. I'm glad I have allies who have my back, and to pay it forward, I am posting this here for your protection. Posted by: Mary McConnell on March 19, 2008 12:08 PM oops, that didn't post correctly. The nic names for who says what are missing. I'll just email it to the author and editor, If anyone wants a copy of that part of the log, email me at Posted by: Mary McConnell on March 19, 2008 12:33 PM Excellent article. Radar gets anonymous and Scientology correctly. Good job. Regarding me pointing out the comparison of Mike Rinder's relationship to Scientology like Goebel's relationship was to Naziism, I have to say I don't dislike Mike Rinder as a person. I actually like him, and my tiny few dealings with him over the years, very minor, I respected him, he was fair and balanced with me. I recognize that Mike took on a really tough role in Scientology's history, Commanding Officer of the Office of Special Affairs, a sub bureaucratic unit of lifetime top administrators entrusted to carry out Hubbard's most disgraceful propagandizing, dirty tricks, Private Eye hiring, legal suit harassment, etc, he did hold the head honcho role in the last decade off and on. So it's parallel to view him as important as a Goebells was to Naziism, but I don't think Mike would go along for the truly horrendous level of despicable violence of Naziism. Mike from what I have heard was mostly on the receiving end of David Miscavige's fad trend of petty violence that over the last almost 3 decades has plagued top ranks staff in Scientology. Mike from what I've learned, did NOT engage in the petty internal violence so much. He accepted his slappings and harrangues from David Miscavige, and Mike didn't in turn dramatize this on his underlings as far as I know. So good on Mike for getting out of the top ranks insanity that goes on under David Miscavige currently. David Miscavige likes to have others assume and share his style of irrational behavior, and I don't think Mike went along with it. Others who in the end opted out, rather than play the David Miscavige irrational role model, are Steve Marlowe, Marty Rathbun (Marty being even more senior and trusted than Mike Rinder). At least Scientology top ranks men and women decide enough is enough, and they opt OUT of top ranks Scientology, rather than play the vicious staff to staff bashing game! Good on all those top ranks staff who got out. Now, I hope they as a group in hindsight will firsthand detail just how bad it all is!! Jeff Hawkins has been speaking up. Now the even higher ranked members who put up with the vicious top level insanities should just lay it all out and air the mess and let Miscavige get HIS due! I see ebbs and flows of fads of "asshole" behavior, over the decades I was in the movement. I think to Mike Rinder's credit he overall didn't become a full blown bastard to other staff. Chuck Beatty Posted by: chuckbeatty77 on March 19, 2008 1:05 PM I love Scieno apologists like smarc that keep popping up in forums like those at exscientologykids.com and then say it's dumb to only rely on ex member testimony. Yes, by all means let's have the press go poking around Scientoogy and asking questions about all the people that have died or disappeared as well as the criminal tactics and fraudulant business dealings that go on there. Since Scientology is as open and transparent as you suggest let's go looking. Oh yeah, sorry I forgot. Scientology threatens and harrasses anybody that tries to find out the truth and asks questions they don't like. Why not trust Jenna Miscavige? She's only part of the Royal Family of Scientology? Why would she bolt the church. live like a criminal on the run and work like a dog at an entry-level job starting a new life if David Miscavige and the Scientology Corporation were so wonderful? Kind of interesting that Jenna coroborates everything the critics have been saying for decades PLUS a whole bunch of other info on child abuse and neglect we knew nothing about? Is BIG Pharmaceutical paying her under the table? I doubt it. And the fallacious question "How do you know that Anon members didn't make bomb threats?" Well, let's see. The fact that Scientology routinely makes bomb threats against itself would be a good start. See the FBI information regarding Paulette Cooper and Operation Freakout where they used her typing paper with her fingerprints to type up phoney bomb threats which were used to frame her to the FBI. Oh no... Scientology certainly wouldn't stoop to dirty tricks like that. Sorry smarc and TERRYEO. I'm afraid the cat is now TOTALLY out of the bag. Corporation of Scientology's days are numbered. They are the source of their own undoing. Federal RICO Act indictments will one day come down on Co$ leadership like hail. Posted by: greyhound38 on March 19, 2008 1:08 PM Thanks for this. I attended the Chicago protest with my son last Saturday. Unfortunately we were harassed by police and made to leave the area despite having been assured by the city that we did not need a permit to picket the Scio building on Lincoln Ave. I guess I should be glad that we weren't confronted by police in full riot gear and actual arrests, as was the case in Atlanta. BTW, for the most comprehensive information on the Scientology protests, be sure to visit Enturbulation.org. That is all. Posted by: Anonymom on March 19, 2008 5:11 PM Thanks to Radar and to John Cook for an excellent article. I have often wondered how scientology has gotten away with its primitive and abusive treatment of children. As to Matt Feshbach and the super power rundown: Feshbach's claim of superpowers in saving the life of a young boy by stopping him from running into the street is downright silly. Parents have been keeping their children from running into the streets for centuries. I myself have kept many children from running into the streets but I didn't realize that this was a superpower - more like common sense. Posted by: veritas on March 19, 2008 9:06 PM Still waiting for some journalist to have the cojones to investigate the links between *some of* Anonymous's original cast to kiddy porn and child molestation. I've seen the sites with their chatter. I saw an admission of it in a YouTube post by a longtime anti-Scientology poster there. I saw an Anonymous "call to arms" (cute) that ended with some phrase like, "When we're done (with the protest) we'll all go eat delicious cake." "Delicious cake" is code for either cp (child pornography) or molestation. There's a story there, guys. Or are you afraid Anon will hack your Web site -- like they did Fox News -- if you get into their private unpardonable pedophilic penchants and personal proclivities? And...you slid right over the fact that to deliver a DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack. But props for mentioning that it was "distributed"; most media didn't. The hackers had to be running a botnet of innocent people's distributed PCs they had hijacked to send the packets that crashed Scientology's sites. f you're going to carry a keyboard for a living, you owe us all sides of the story. Posted by: Him on March 20, 2008 2:58 AM ""Delicious cake" is code for either cp (child pornography) or molestation." Any CP on Anonymous related boards/wiki's is almost instantly deleted and the poster is banned until the year 9999, in which you will probably still be working at the Sea Org, since you guys sign contracts for a billion years, right? Hahahaha, you fail it. Posted by: Hahahaha on March 20, 2008 6:19 AM Heh, Delicious Cake is code for Child Pornography now? Quick, someone tell http://www.deliciouscake.com ! What a ridiculous thing to claim, the term is based out of one of two things: The game portal which makes repeated comical references to cake (are we to believe Valve is made up of Pedophiles now?) which is also a reference to the second thing: The largely unexplained infatuation with all things random on the internet. Be it Cake, Pie or lolcattery. Memes are not secret codes, they're just Web injokes. You're probably just another scientologist propagating lies in an attempt to discredit people who disagree with you. Fair play. Pun intended. Posted by: JamesR on March 20, 2008 6:44 AM That's so cute! All unpleasant truths are "Scientology lies." And no one in Anonymous has done ehhnnything wrong. Yup "delicious cake" is a meme, too. Try looking at things with both eyes. Or is it more comfy to close one, so you have no messy real-life contradictions to deal with? Here's a cool vid! Here's one of my favorite comments under that vid: "Only a minority of Anon are paedophiles." Btw, that was all I said. No massive condemnations. Good company you keep. And of course your boards get cleaned up...now that the world is watching. May your children never know you...biblically. Giggles and grinz! Posted by: Him on March 20, 2008 12:56 PM Oh wow, lets make a video and disable ratings and force comment approval! That's how you do things at the Co$, right? "And of course your boards get cleaned up...now that the world is watching." Good luck on the bridge, and on to OTIII, right? Hail Xenu! Posted by: Hahahaha on March 20, 2008 7:59 PM The point here is that those who just go on demonstrations because they're fun or cool are nearly always unaware of the darker side of some of their instigators. That can lead to some relatively innocent people getting busted by association. *Something* must be going on for you to get so angry so fast at a simple statement of fact that specifically stated it dealt with "*some of*" Anon's organizers. It wasn't even knowingly directed at you. But I fault myself for not making this point more clearly: Author John Cook does neither himself, nor his publishers, nor you any favors by so clearly taking sides and omitting facts that you and more casual readers have a right to know. Actually, you probably already knew the criminal nature of Anonymous's acts, but many don't. But a writer does his craft and profession--and his own credibility in future articles--a large disservice by writing one-sided articles. If his next article on a different topic offends you, you now have ammo to point out he's intellectually dishonest. If he took any journalism courses, his profs taught him differently. Serious reporters, even if they're evaluating the new iPod, need to be honest and inclusive of all sides of the story. And before you begin the rote litany about Scientology's crimes," here's my invitation: Prove Anything. Prove Something. There were some fanatics who went overboard and broke Church policy in the 1970's--that's nearly 40 years ago. No argument there. But that level of personality has been straightened out or expelled. We did the house-cleaning. So come up to present time. Look at what really exists around you today. And stay in countries where there's religious freedom. Yes, you can look to Germany for that Gestapo government's recent condemnation of Scientology. But look deeper and you'll see that its churches and psychiatrists are pushing that movement--and for good reason! Churches in Germany get money directly by voluntary payroll deduction, whether people go to church or not. And no bishop wants to lose those cash cows because too many people become Scientologists. Thus endeth the epistle! ml, Posted by: Him on March 21, 2008 10:34 AM Hey Him, here's an epistle by your idol L Ron Hubbard , about his friend, Aliester Crowley. You can listen to Hubbard say this himself : http://www.xenu.net/archive/media_vault/Crowley.mp3 Operation Clambake present: Posted by: Mary McConnell on March 21, 2008 12:47 PM For an appalling, hilarious, and eye-opening bio of "LRH," go here: http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/bfm/bfmconte.htm Well-written, droll, and thorough. Posted by: Hoodia Love on March 22, 2008 12:18 PM Haha why are are Scientology apologists so predictable? Of course John Cook must be a religious bigot. Just like Anonymous are religious bigots. Just like anyone who criticizes the "corp" are religious bigots. I think it's funny how much Karin Pouw asserted "we are growing and expanding". Yet in fact no one is joining, their orgs are emptier than ever. They have been calling up people who have been out of the organization up to thirty years, they are so desperate. They are begging people to come in and get back on course. Of course they have lied about their membership numbers for years-anyone who has ever taken a course is considered a member. By that count they are still counting Charles Manson who had the sense to leave Scientology because he thought it was too crazy. what does that say about it? "There were some fanatics who went overboard and broke Church policy in the 1970's--that's nearly 40 years ago. No argument there. But that level of personality has been straightened out or expelled. We did the house-cleaning." So many ways which this is untrue. Notice "Him" doesn't even address what these people did? There was a concerted effort, a policy effort on the part of the "Church" to infiltrate the US Government, steal documents, blackmail IRS agents, and wirtap offices. This effort involved thousands of Scienotologists on direct orders fron L Ron Hubbard(who was named an unidicted coconspirator by the FBI). 11 high level members, including Hubbard's wife were convicted in 1980. Him claims that these people were "housecleaned". Well, obviously they never housecleaned Hubbard(although I suppose little Davey Miscavige is making a good attempt at that now with all of his squirreling of the tech). But the convicted members were just transferred to other positions just a little more hidden.
But yes moving on from 1980 : just noting a few things(hardly an inclusive list), 1989: USA: Scientology Found Guilty of Inflicting Emotional Distress 1992: Canada: Scientology found guilty of breach of the public trust 1994: USA: Scientology fined for filing a frivolous lawsuit 1995: Canada: Scientology pays the largest libel award in Canadian history 1996: France: Scientologists guilty of interfering with a witness 1996: France: Scientology executive found guilty of involuntary homicide 1999: Greece: Scientologists found guilty So many many crimes! How about as little as a month ago, in Italy where French Scientologists had kidnapped a woman and held her against her will on the order of one of the highest level Scientologists in France? She like Lisa McPherson, was held in squalid conditions, biting by bugs, not fed and denied medication or proper care. Do you even care? This is not a cult that wants to keep to itself. The real danger as can be seen by the repeated efforts to infiltrate and subvert governments across the world is that this is not random action, but policy, to acheive its goals. This is why we cannot sit in a corner and say oh let's just laugh at the craziness. Him, you do not know your "Church". You have been told lies. But yes let's look at the crimes and what the courts across the world have said. Yes please Him, do look.
Posted by: katherine noelle on March 22, 2008 4:51 PM Yeah, and it's the Muslims that are going to "destroy this country from the inside out"... That's fantastic. I'm sorry but besides the fact that I go to a pretty much Islamic community to get my monthly need for Arabic food, I have yet to see anybody watching me from buildings with a video camera. But maybe I should look now, seeing as what these people are doing. Who's the radical? Who's dangerous? Is it my Muslim friends and neighbors or is it these people that basically took over a city and considered the rest of us "infidels"? There's more than one type of "radical" and apparently after reading this article, they're all not reading the "Quaran" nor wearing a hijab. They're your neighbors that wear khakis and polos yet will act as one of the "Stepford Wives". Evil is as Evil does. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! Different doesn't mean evil! Evil means evil... even if it comes in the form of Tom Cruise. Let me know when the spaceship arrives.... I'll be praying to God/Allah to save me. Posted by: leilani on March 22, 2008 10:44 PM I read on another website that scientology has a larger file on them than even Al Capone (notorious US mobster) does. That's certainly saying something right there. (foia.fbi.gov reading room) narCONon Narconon likes to flaunt a high success rate for it's drug rehabilitation front for scientology. This is all based off of a single non-peer-reviewed study done in Sweden in 1981 by one Peter Gerdman. Now this single study was done back in the early 1980s and was not peer reviewed before publication. The basic flaw in the study was that the statistics gathered were based on what scientologists running the narconon program told the person or people performing the study, there is no way to verify if they were telling the truth or not. Scientology's facts about narconon all stem from this single non-peer-reviewed study. The lowest figure that has been published claims at least a 70% success rate. Now let us look at the figures again, after the study became public in Sweden and was subjected to independent review. 61 individuals entered the programme, of whom That's not really 70%+ as claimed, amazing! Furthermore: 77% of those who enrolled on the course quit before completing it. Narconon's literature plays down other programs by claiming they have success rates of 15% or lower. But even a quick investigation of their own study shows pretty clearly that they are doing worse than other programs (many of which are absolutely free to participate in), and that's if scientology's figures for their "competitors" is even accurate. "narconon recidivism rate" is what led me to Dave Touretzky's website. His website has been successfully defended from lawsuit(s?) brought on by scientology. You can't win a libel/slander suit against someone if the information is true. A large majority of people speaking out against scientology have years and years of court records and undeniable proof behind them. Scientology prefers to stick to calling critics names such as bigot, nazi, kkk, etc. In this age of information, if you cannot back up your claims you have no right to be making them. Anonymous is information. Scientology is lies and deception. Posted by: jeffersonbclark on March 23, 2008 4:00 AM Him Quoteth: smells like projection :) Posted by: Darwins Chihuahua on March 23, 2008 6:45 PM Not to get insanely paranoid here, but the question that comes up in my mind right now...How do we know that Jenna Miscavige and Mike Rinder's "defections" from Scientology are not in fact a massive "fair game" maneuver? Maybe I've watched Orson Welles' MR. ARKADIN too many times, but what better way to lure all the church's enemies out of the shadows and into target range than by sending some meaty "apostates" to befriend them? Posted by: The Hoyk on March 24, 2008 9:21 AM The Hoyk, you are an idiot. I'm sorry. Grownups are trying to talk here be gone. Anyway, now for some smart talk. As a former Scientologist, who is technically still in the Cult (but no longer a believer or paying customer), I can attest to the manny high crimes that Scientology has committed against private citizens of the United States. Unfortunately their campaign of intimidating critics has let them stay in the shadows where they could flourish, because they knew sunlight would kill it instantly. All these accusations against Anonymous are untrue. If they are such terrorists then why haven't local police departments corroborated all these threats and incidents of violence they keep citing? And what of the video that Scientologists point to that they supposedly got off youtube? Don't ignore the fact that the supposed youtube video is way too high definition and widescreen to have come from youtube. An intelligent mind would conclude it was a Scientology fabrication. Watch this and decide for yourself I am currently in the process of gathering incriminating evidence using my position on the inside in order to whistleblow. I have watched this tyranny go on for far too long inb4bgodley Posted by: bgodley on March 26, 2008 7:11 PM DESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESU Posted by: fgsfds on March 28, 2008 11:50 PM DESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESU Posted by: fgsfds on March 28, 2008 11:51 PM DESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESU Posted by: fgsfds on March 28, 2008 11:53 PM DESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESU Posted by: fgsfds on March 28, 2008 11:56 PM The church response is an advertisement, a redirection of guilt, false denails, and ... LULZ! Did you follow the link to the video they quote about Anonymous following Mein Kamph and Das Kapital (and the Boy Scouts Handbook, conveniently not mentioned by the Scidiots)! That video is hilarious! The fact they took that as serious or authoritative is either desperate, purposeful lies (as always), or they simply don't have the ability to grasp humor on their own tone scale. Thank Xenu we don't live in a world where such nutjobs are in power and are only threatening to be in power. Thanks to the Interent and free speech, Hubbard's Reich will always be just a psychopathic wet dream. Posted by: Riddick on March 30, 2008 8:35 PM To those who are attacking anonymous and their website: Unfortunately, this is the internet. On the internet, we have certain people who do engage in illegal activities. Because we are Anonymous, and because we are made up of many different types of people, we unfortunately have had some bad apples within our ranks. People who post illegal material are dealt with swiftly, and yes we still have trouble with it, even with moderators working around the clock watching for these types of things. We have not made "code words", only injokes. Many of these jokes are directly related to what people get banned for, so it's only fair that people getting banned from the website for illegal activities are also being made fun of. And some people have left one anon website to go to another, simply trying to continue these illegal activities. Some of these sites have even been approached by the authorities and taken down. The anon sites should not be classified together, nor should the members of one be associated with the members of another. With authorities having trouble with illegal activities even in the real world, you should be happy that Anon is at least doing something. I assure you that Anon is on the side of good, even though are members may joke about being evil. Sometimes you just have to play a different person on the internet. There are lines that can't be crossed, but everything that is legal will still be permitted, even if it makes others angry. That's called free speech. Silencing your critics, suing millions of people, and charging people thousands of dollars for a "religion" is not free speech. The only work I've had to do for my church is volunteer work, and I've never paid for the teachings in the Bible. I may be a critic of some of the aspects of that religion, but Christianity isn't going to kill me or sue me over it. Thank You, Posted by: anonymousnow on April 1, 2008 2:24 PM talk about majestic irony Greyhound.....how bout jack nickolson screaming at tc YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH katherine noelle....AWESOME post, all the posts are great.....well with two exceptions. I see that when faced with the cold hard facts HIM had to scurry away and not return I've got one burning question..........WHAT in the fuck is up with $cientologists' OBSSESSION with pedophiles???? It's really really sick...........is it because the majority of $cienos are pedophiles.....it comes out in auditing and so they just assume everyone else in the world is as sick as they are????? It's just so bizarre that the first thing out of their mouths is something about molestation. SICK!! Posted by: Libraesque on April 2, 2008 1:33 PM I was not going to comment -- until I heard so many lies coming from CofS members that I have to speak out the truth. If you wish to read more true (yes, CofS members, true) stories of people who are no longer member of CofS goto the Ex-Scientologist Message Board. A lot of human emotion and reaction and gut-wrenching true stories. Really, CofS members, they can't all be lying! You make it sound like being an ex-member is some kind of pathological disease. I used to think the critics were frothing at the mouth, but it is you, CofS, who is frothing at the mouth and the world is laughing at you. I was a member of the Church of Scientology for 9 years and, yes, I can step up to the witness stand and say that all of these stories told by ex-members are true. What really disgusted me was the Scientologist who tried to represent that the CofS no longer has a covert policy of dirty practices (very dirty) to get their "enemies". My husband used to work for OSA so don't try and sell me on their being a boy-scout organization. When was the last time you volunteered for an OSA operation, Mary? Sadly, there are too many people like Mary still left in the Church, hanging onto every word of their leaders, without question. They are not allowed to question leadership -- that will get one into lots of ethics trouble and possibly they can be denied their Bridge, a big fear in the Church of Scientology. I do not fight against people like Mary or the other defendants of the CofS, because I am sure they believe what they are being told and believe in what they are defending. I once did the same. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the leadership of the CofS is lying to its members while taking their hard-earned money to enhance their real estate empire. Put ethics in on your own house before you go and put ethics in on the planet, like with a sledgehammer. Posted by: Gnosis on April 4, 2008 6:12 PM Libraesque, according to scientology doctrine a criminal always dramatizes his crimes and puts them on others, so you might have a good point there re the OBSESSION with pedophiles. Plus, their failure to really help such people in the first place might be a factor too. Scientologist have what is called "survey tech" and they go out and find out what people's "hot buttons" are and they probably discovered that people get reactive when the word 'pedophile' is brought up, thus they throw that accusation around with abandon. Otherwise it is an act of meaningless desperation. Posted by: Gnosis on April 4, 2008 6:17 PM Okay, I'm calmed down now. Ohhhhhh. It is sad, Scientology was supposed to be a great hope for mankind oppressed by the demons within and the demons without. Scientology was supposed to help a person self-realize and be at peace with himself even if the world was in turmoil. Scientology was supposed to help a person achieve high states of spiritual awareness. Scientology used to be fun, an adventure, a place for free thinkers, peopled by idealistic men and women who saw a better world. Where are all these people now? The truth is that the leadership drove almost all of them away. The remaining ones are slaving away, a shadow of their former selves. Posted by: Gnosis on April 4, 2008 6:27 PM Some people must seriously suffer from paranoia on this site. Does anyone really believe Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley or any other Scientologist is out to get you and your children? Or do you really believe that they would do anything that was destructive to themselves or their careers? Or that they are responsible for destroying families or murdering people? Come on people, you sound like crazy conspiracy-theorists. Don't get me wrong, I love a good conspiracy, but to think that someone like Jason Lee or Leah Remini are plotting an attack on you, WTF? You may need to see a psychiatrist if you believe this, I'm sorry to say. I'm a avid reader of history and I will tell you that these articles I see vilifying celebrities, who so happen to be Scienotologists is on par with what happened in Nazi Germany and the use of the media to spread anti-Semetic propaganda throughout the country. No to different than the McCarthy era Personal attacks against celebrity Scientologists is the route those who have vested interests in the psychiatric drugging industry are using to keep you from finding out the truth. Here Posted by: Notparanoidlikeyou on April 13, 2008 10:27 PM |
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