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James_H2 Great Old One Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Total posts: 709 Location: Hackney! Gender: Male |
 Posted: 06-11-2012 15:42 Post subject: |
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| I'm really looking forward to it, Hubbard was one hell of a sleazy con-artist and should make for an interesting subject. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-11-2012 16:24 Post subject: |
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US election 2012: Obama vs Romney, battle of the books
For Barack Obama it's Toni Morrison, for Mitt Romney L Ron Hubbard.US election
...
1. Battlefield Earth by L Ron Hubbard
Sitting proudly atop Mitt Romney’s list is Battlefield Earth by L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. It’s the year AD 3000, and Earth is ruled by an alien race, the Psychlos. Fear not, though, the novel’s hero Jonnie Goodboy Tyler defeats the Psychlo Empire and sets about negotiating with other alien powers keen to fill the power vacuum left behind. Is this choice refreshingly honest or an alarming insight into the mind of the next potential leader of the United States?
...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9656454/US-election-2012-Obama-vs-Romney-battle-of-the-books.html |
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| James_H2 Great Old One Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Total posts: 709 Location: Hackney! Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-11-2012 16:58 Post subject: |
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| uh-oh! |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-11-2012 19:15 Post subject: |
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| Didn't Robert Rankin in his book Armageddon: The Musical predict a Scientologist President of the USA? Oh how we laughed. Not so funny now. |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
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| Zilch5 Vogon Poet
Great Old One Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Total posts: 1527 Location: Western Sydney, Australia Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-01-2013 01:15 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Scientologists' Alleged 'Alien Space Cathedral' Found
A secret bunker hidden deep within the deserts of New Mexico is reported to be the "alien space cathedral" of the Church of Scientology, according to the author of a new book on Scientology.
The site is marked by a large symbol etched onto the desert floor: two diamonds surrounded by a pair of overlapping circles, according to the British newspaper The Sun. A private airstrip, built to serve the controversial church's leaders, is within walking distance of the symbol.
The entire complex is located near Mesa Huerfanita, N.M., roughly two-hour's drive from Santa Fe, N.M., and three hours north of Roswell, N.M., site of numerous purported UFO sightings, according to The Sun. |
http://www.livescience.com/25886-scientology-hidden-bunker.html |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-01-2013 08:01 Post subject: |
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| Zilch5 wrote: | | Quote: | Scientologists' Alleged 'Alien Space Cathedral' Found
A secret bunker hidden deep within the deserts of New Mexico is reported to be the "alien space cathedral" of the Church of Scientology, according to the author of a new book on Scientology.
The site is marked by a large symbol etched onto the desert floor: two diamonds surrounded by a pair of overlapping circles, according to the British newspaper The Sun. A private airstrip, built to serve the controversial church's leaders, is within walking distance of the symbol.
The entire complex is located near Mesa Huerfanita, N.M., roughly two-hour's drive from Santa Fe, N.M., and three hours north of Roswell, N.M., site of numerous purported UFO sightings, according to The Sun. |
http://www.livescience.com/25886-scientology-hidden-bunker.html |
Interesting! Newspaper reports here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4719205/scientology-tom-cruise-alien-cathedral-new-mexico-hello-message.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255215/Revealed--alien-space-cathedral-built-New-Mexico-desert-Tom-Cruise-s-Scientology-church.html
The Church of Fear — Inside the Weird World of Scientology, by John Sweeney, is published on January 7 by Silvertail Books, paperback £12.99 and ebook £3.99. www.silvertailbooks.com
Certainly an impressive location - if I had a spaceship I'd want to land there!
(But I expect the parking fees might be rather high...  ) |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 08-02-2013 00:34 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Scientology hides from grave allegations behind the mask of religion
L Ron Hubbard's church is under increasing attack, but by calling itself a religion Scientology is shielded from scrutiny
'Add religion to its treasure and power to intimidate, and the Church of Scientology may seem untouchable.' Photograph: Startraks Photo/Rex Features
Millions of Americans watching the Super Bowl were treated to a soft-voiced ad featuring knitting pattern magazine models boosting the church that L Ron built, but elsewhere the Scientology spring is gathering pace. The latest hammer blow against the church that likes to wear dark glasses is Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape – a misery memoir by Jenna Miscavige Hill, alleging that her uncle, Scientology's "Pope" David Miscavige, is evil. A charge he denies.
Add a major lawsuit in the US by aggrieved ex-members, a criminal prosecution in Belgium, a war of attrition across the internet and three highly critical books so far this year.
Fear of Britain's libel laws meant that Going Clear by Lawrence Wright was not formally published in the UK, and no big UK publisher would touch my book, Church of Fear, but all three books are now on sale and make for horrible reading for "Pope" Miscavige and his celebrity apostles Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
Yet critics who hope that the end of the Church of Scientology is nigh are probably deluded, until someone powerful and brave on the other side of the Atlantic steps in.
Not every action of the government of the United States of America is for the best. Not every British institution is bone from the neck up.
Take the decision by the Internal Revenue Service – the American tax man – in 1993 under the Clinton administration to stop treating the Church of Scientology as a business and reclassify it as a religion.
"Pope" Miscavige – later, Tom Cruise's best man at the star's wedding to Katie Holmes – told his faithful: "The pipeline of IRS false reports won't keep flowing across the planet. There will be no more nothing – because on October 1 1993, at 8.37pm Eastern Standard Time, the IRS issued letters recognising Scientology and every one of its organisations as fully tax exempt! The war is over!" Everyone clapped.
Not everything that calls itself a religion is a religion. It could be a multibillion-dollar corporate, an organisation with a mafia-like hold over followers, or a brainwashing cult. Some ex-members say the Church of Scientology is all three.
On this side of the Atlantic, as far as the Charity Commissioners are concerned, for the purposes of English charity law: "Scientology is not a religion."
In Britain, Scientology's war, as it were, is not over.
Yet the church is protected in the US – its spiritual home – by the shield of that word, religion.
Words bite. Rebaptise a thing a religion and it is instantly better protected from scrutiny, mockery and taxes. Add the shield of religion to its treasure and power to intimidate, and the Church of Scientology may seem untouchable. Is it?
The dictionary definition of a religion is: "The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods." But who is the superhuman controlling power Scientologists believe in? No Scientologist will tell you.
The underlying logic of the British test is that a religion must be open to all and open about itself. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/07/scientology-hides-allegations-mask-religion |
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| Zilch5 Vogon Poet
Great Old One Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Total posts: 1527 Location: Western Sydney, Australia Gender: Male |
| Posted: 17-03-2013 04:58 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Scientology leader's niece reveals Church secrets
The Church of Scientology has lashed out at a new book by its leader's niece, which recounts a stolen childhood and how she was brainwashed and cut off from her family before eventually escaping.
In "Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology And My Harrowing Escape," Jenna Miscavige-Hill -- whose uncle David Miscavige runs the secretive group -- also claims she was forced to work as a child.
But a spokesman for the Church said her claims were "false" and denounced "efforts to exploit Mr Miscavige's name."
"The Church has long respected the family unit while accommodating and helping those raising children," Karin Pouw, spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology International, told AFP.
"The Church does not engage in any activities that mistreat, neglect or force children to engage in manual labor. The Church follows all laws with respect to children," she said, accusing Miscavige-Hill of "apostate behavior."
In the book, published in February, the 29-year-old tells of hard labour she and other children were forced to do in the 1990s in the Ranch, in a remote part of the California desert.
The Ranch, near San Jacinto, 90 miles (150 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, was "like a military boot camp, with grueling drills, endless musters, exhaustive inspections, and arduous physical labor that no child should have to do."
The children saw their parents for only a few hours per week. They did not receive any education in the traditional sense.... |
More at link: http://www.france24.com/en/20130316-scientology-leaders-niece-reveals-church-secrets |
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| bunnymousekitt rabbity mousey cat-like thing
Great Old One Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Total posts: 218 Location: hiding under the kitchen sink Age: 36 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 14-06-2013 22:12 Post subject: |
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The lawsuits against Scientology (and criminal investigation of Narconon) are piling up so thick and fast that it's beyond me to summarize. I refer the interested to Tony Ortega's blog, The Underground Bunker, here:
http://tonyortega.org/
It covers pretty much everything Scientology, including regular postings of legal documents from the court cases (which may get very interesting if the church's delaying tactics fail and their members end up in open court)
It's also going to be interesting to see if (more likely how) the church will insist it's not really affiliated with Narconon now that it's scandal, fraud and death-ridden, when it was previously considered one of the church's successes... |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 15-06-2013 18:23 Post subject: |
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| For UK viewers, there's a documentary this Monday on Channel 4 at nine about a Scientology splinter group which could be interesting. |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 17-06-2013 22:18 Post subject: |
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Very interesting programme, the biggest laugh came at the end where the programme makers were forced to put in all these legally required contradictions from the Scientologists after all the serious harassment we'd just watched.
I suppose there's a case to be made for just desserts about the former Scientology number 2 falling prey to the sort of intimidation that he had visited on others, and it's kind of pathetic to see him standing by Hubbard by creating an independent movement based on his writings, but he seemed a lot more palatable than the people we saw sent to break him psychologically.
Ironically, a lot of the Scientologists could do with a good psychiatrist, especially Miscavige, what a nutter. |
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| Father_Ted Grey Joined: 02 May 2012 Total posts: 28 Location: Craggy Island Gender: Male |
| Posted: 17-07-2013 12:46 Post subject: |
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How Scientology changed the internet
By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News
Church of Scientology community centre in Los Angeles The Church of Scientology has made several moves to have its secret scriptures removed from the internet
What do Wikipedia, Wikileaks, Anonymous and copyright law have in common? The answer is they have all been influenced by the Church of Scientology International (CSI), as it took on ex-members and critics who took their protests on to the internet. As the Church successfully removes another website, just how big an influence has Scientology had on the internet we all use?
Last month digital rights activists at the influential Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) placed the Church of Scientology into their hall of shame over what it says were repeated acts against internet freedoms.
It was just the latest twist in the Church's long-running feud with "negative" Scientology content online, one that has lasted almost two decades.
Back in May 1994, at a time when most major organisations were yet to figure out how exactly to deal with the relatively unknown power of the internet, the Church's Elaine Siegel had a few ideas, outlined in a leaked email to "all Scientologists on the internet".
"I would like to ask your assistance in getting each one of you to post positive messages on the internet (at least once a week, more if you like), about Scientology," she wrote.
"If you imagine 40-50 Scientologists posting on the internet every few days, we'll just run the SP's [ex-members] right off the system.
It will be quite simple, actually."
Or perhaps not.
"They're kind of innovators in finding ways to censor the internet” -
Dr Martin Poulter University of Bristol
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23273109 |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 09-08-2013 16:54 Post subject: |
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Full story:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/leah-remini-leaves-scientology-lapd-602860
| Quote: | The investigation into Shelly (Michelle) Miscavige's whereabouts has been closed hours after news broke that former Scientologist Leah Remini had filed a missing persons report on her behalf.
As The Hollywood Reporter previously reported, Remini had taken action after becoming concerned about the wellbeing of Shelly Miscavige, wife of controversial Scientology leader David Miscavige.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed on Friday that the case had been closed and the missing persons report was "ruled as unfounded."
According to writer Tony Ortega's website, The Underground Bunker, which focuses on the inner workings of the secretive organization, Shelly Miscavige has not been publicly sighted in six years.
According to Ortega, Shelly Miscavige allegedly was transferred from Scientology's headquarters near Hemet, Calif., to a secret compound near Lake Arrowhead in late 2005 or early 2006. The compound, known as the Church of Spiritual Technology, reportedly houses about a dozen Scientologists who are said to be completely cut off from the outside world. Miscavige and his attorneys have not publicly confirmed Shelly's whereabouts. According to Ortega's report, Remini questions whether Shelly has freedom of movement or is being "punished for her own shortcomings..."
According to Ortega's original account, Remini's disillusionment with Scientology began at the 2006 wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in Italy when she asked why Shelly Miscavige was not in attendance.
When Remini questioned why Shelly had not accompanied her husband to the nuptials (David Miscavige served as Cruise's best man), then-church spokesman Tommy Davis, son of actress Anne Archer, reportedly told Remini, "You don't f---ing rank to ask about Shelly..." |
So if it's unfounded where is she then? |
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| kamalktk Great Old One Joined: 05 Feb 2011 Total posts: 705 Gender: Unknown |
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