http://www.thevillager.com/villager_119/lopezsayspostis.html
New York City politician Margarita Lopez "blasted back at the New York Post - which broke the story of her Scientology contributions and has editorialized against her about it - calling it a 'destructive' newspaper out to get her because she is a progressive."
"'I know there is a big effort not to allow me to run,' she said. 'These articles the Post put out are just witch hunting, allegations, innuendos. My politics is progressive politics and the Post has the opposite position. Everything they publish is about destroying people's lives. I care less about their opinion.'
In addition, while she said she didn't know of Scientology having any antigay bias, as gay and lesbian groups contend, it can't be worse than that of most traditional organized religions. 'You need to ask that to the organization, not to me,' she said. 'And you need to ask that to the Catholic Church, Pentecostal Church, Lutheran Church and all the churches that are antigay.'"
"The Post accused Lopez of, in return, 'steering' $630,000 in taxpayer funds to the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a formerly privately funded facility near the World Trade Center site. Co-founded by Scientologist superstar Tom Cruise, the center, on Fulton St., uses long saunas, vitamins and exercise to allegedly detox firefighters and others who worked at Ground Zero.
In June 2004, Lopez, who is chairperson of the City Council's Committee on Mental Health, allocated $30,000 in public funds for the detoxification center. The center later received two additional $300,000 allocations of city money.
This June, Lopez participated with actor Cruise in a ribbon-cutting for another Scientology detox center in Williston Park, L.I."
"On Jan. 26, The Villager's Scoopy's Notebook first reported Lopez's Miami Scientology fundraising trip, though at the time she referred to it only as being with a 'mental health group.'
Lopez said she didn't talk much with Cruise at the opening of the Long Island Scientology detox center - 'You know, I'm shy,' she said. However, asked about Cruise's recent public pronouncements against psychiatry as a treatment for mental illness, Lopez, a former homeless outreach worker, spoke of her own track record helping the mentally ill.
'I worked for 20 years of my life with mentally ill people helping them get psychiatric care,' she said. 'I stopped the closing of the Bronx Psychiatric Center. I'm fighting to keep the V.A. hospital [on E. 23rd St.] from taking away 300 beds for the mentally ill.'
Asked how she feels about her campaign after the last week and a half's developments, Lopez expressed confidence.
'I feel good,' she said. 'No matter how much they attack me.'"
---
On August 7, several letters responding to the New York Post's articles were posted from
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/50878.htm
excerpts of which follow:
"August 7, 2005 -- THE ISSUE: Margarita Lopez's campaign financing and the Church of Scientology.
New Yorkers should be outraged by The Post's revelations that Councilwoman Margarita Lopez steered $630,000 in taxpayer monies to a questionable Church of Scientology 'detoxification center' for 9/11 rescue workers ('Quid Pro Cult,' Post Opinion, Aug. 3).
Neither the New York Fire Department, its unions, nor the medical community support that this method of detoxification is effective.
The apparent quid-pro-quo between the Church of Scientology and the councilwoman reeks of at least the breach of public trust, if not illegal activities.
[...]
I would not be surprised if this detoxification center were to morph in to a book and video distribution center for the church."
*
"It is Lopez's fierce commitment to New Yorkers that forced her to stand up against the status quo of ineffective government programs.
Her support of a proven workable, although controversial, solution was until recently only privately funded by a small group of compassionate people, including many Scientologists.
We need more fearless people like Lopez in government.
As for the derogatory comments about Scientology, the writer sounds like a crackpot stuck in the '70s. Wake up and come to present time."
*
"I am a New York City firefighter who participated in the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification program.
I read your commentary and am disappointed with this type of reporting.
The story is weak on facts and almost wholly based on the words of one disgruntled employee.
[...]
I personally improved in both my mental and physical status after doing the program, and have had no further involvment with Scientology. ..."
--
In a related story by Mark Sommer from the Buffalo News
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050806/1038981.asp
"Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-New York, has distanced himself from a statement supporting a controversial detoxification program linked to the Church of Scientology. The program's regimen, known as the 'Purification Rundown,' was developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology's founder. The treatment plan - which Scientologists also consider a religious rite - relies on heavy doses of niacin, saunas and exercise rather than traditional medicines.
A number of medical authorities, including former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, have dismissed the approach, as have local addiction specialists who reviewed supporting documents for a four-part series on Scientology that ran in The Buffalo News earlier this year.
A Schumer spokesman said the senator had not been aware of the Scientology connection when issuing his letter supporting the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Fund in Manhattan.
'Firefighters and first responders who had experienced 9/11 and toxic exposure during the long recovery process came to us and asked us for support, so our office gave them a boiler-plate letter,' said Eric Schultz, the spokesman.
'We did not know this project had any connection to Scientology. If it proves to be a sham, we won't support it.'
In addition to Schumer, Reps. Charles B. Rangel, D-New York City; Vito Fossella, R-Staten Island; and Carol McCarthy, D-Long Island, had written letters supporting the project. Fossella and McCarthy have requested $1.5 million in federal dollars for its operation.
An endorsement from the New York Uniformed Firefighters Association reportedly was pulled, and David Prezant, deputy chief medical officer for the New York Fire Department, told the New York Times in 2004 'there's no proven evidence (the detoxification process) works.'
[...]
That prompted New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to criticize the Church of Scientology.
'I don't think it's real science,' he said Tuesday. 'I don't agree with (Lopez) at all on Scientology.'"
--
Message-IDs:
1123813440.466016.125730@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com
gp6cf1d08tfc9im7vfteqn67spfai0ekne@4ax.com
1123354978.901476.222650@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com
"This is my investigation on Narconon filed with the regional office of Government, as an effort to put a stop to a new Narconon establishment. It has been successful this far. Earlier permission given has been revoked by administrational court. Narconon has appealed to higher court, wich has not decided yet if there is legal grounds trying the case in higher court.
Informed readers will recognize parts of my investigation from other sources. Without these sources, http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/ and http://www.xenu.net/ , I would not have very much to file. So great thanks to Chris O and Andreas H-L. and others for your work.
This file and apps can be read at:
http://ulf.ing-steen.se/~ulf/narconon_investigation_by_.htm
[...]
The purpose with me contacting the local office of governmental authorities in this form , is to bring some important relevant historical facts to the knowledge of this authority and at the same time request that authorities denies application mentioned above.
[...]
I am also appointed expert in psychiatry by the National Board of Health and Wellfare since the year 2000 , to serve in courts as such in cases regarding unwillful commitments to psychiatric clinics.
Statements in application are in part factually wrong , in part incomplete and in part grossly and willfully misleading
It is stated in application that Narconon was founded by William Benitez , an US intern in 1966. Left out is the fact that Narconon had two Co-founders : Henning Held and Arthur Maren,superior officers in the security branch of the Church of Scientology , named the Guardians Office. In 1976 Held and the wife of L Ron Hubbard, Mary Sue Hubbard together with 11 other high leveled officers of the Church of scientology, was condemned to several years of inprisonment , after been found guilty to a massive international campaigne of spying, burglaring, illegal tapping and harassments of different governments, newspapers, business companies and private individuals critical to the Church of Scientology.
Narconon has from the start to present days allways been and still are a scientology inspired , permeated and governed activity with a phony front of being a charity inspired help organisation , the true motifs with the activity is simply to recruit new paying members. ( app 1-18) to the Church of Scientology , an internationally organized cult , founded , according to himself (app 29) mentally ill, medioker science-fiction writer, L Ron Hubbard.
Applicant is also unaware of the true derivation of heir own name, Narconon. Narcosis is not a latin word as stated in application , it is greek . It does not mean drugs, as stated in application, it means anesthesia.
Does the fact that Narconon is a frontorganisation to the Church of Scientology matters? Yes , because:
Truthfulness. If Narconon is lying about its links with Scientology, why is that and what is it trying to achieve by doing so?
[...]
Ulf Brettstam
Assistant Chief psychiatrist
Psychiatric clinic at
The Hoegland Hospital
Eskjoe"
Message-ID:
1123699315.288736.34530@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com
http://celebritiesonthebridge.com
"This book is a little gem of 'truth revealing' on Scientology and things its celebs don't even know. ..."
Message-ID: 1123692782.051385.133780@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com
"The HCOB on the Suppressed Person Rundown offers a loophole to ensure that 'Good' comm can get relayed to your family still in the Scn movement, even if you are 'SP' declared.
The HCOB says that good comm received by the staff inside or public in the movement is to be taken a good thing.
I highly recommend anyone who is a declared 'SP' just go ahead and send 'good/roads--- good/weather' communication, gifts, cards, etc., to family still in the Sea Org.
I heard a rumor that some 'SPs' have reported that their good natured mail has been going through sporadically to faithful Scientology family.
If this rumor is true, then at least parents who gave up on communicating to their children, and who want to send good natured well-wishes should try it (even if you failed many many times in the past).
[...]"
Message-ID:
1123486892.005960.140450@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com
"The article says, that Holmes is likely done with Tom Cruise and wants him to decide between her and the cult."
In the article Katie Holmes is reported to have told Tom Cruise, "Ich oder die Sekte".
Replies to the above included the following insight:
"Duh. The two movies are over. It's on to the next movies and the next PR matchup. I don't think it was about love OR Scientology."
Message-IDs:
1123578901.639583.166530@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com
mike-C70533.20143209082005@optonline.svc.highwinds-media.com
"The Church of Scientology and Hollywood's Elite
by Kim Masters and Madeleine Brand
Day to Day, August 9, 2005
Scientology is a popular religion in Hollywood, with stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta among the devout. But what is Scientology, and who is L. Ron Hubbard, the religion's enigmatic founder? Madeleine Brand talks to Kim Masters about her investigation of the Church of Scientology.
Listen to audio at:
[long link]
OR
http://tinyurl.com/8bwuy"
"Kim Masters is interviewed...tells the Xenu Story, uses Tory's 'Truman Show' analogy to describe celebs insulation from 'bad news,' etc. It's short, but sweet. Plus, there are a couple of links to related stories. Give a listen.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4792347"
--
"Tonight Bill Maher on Larry King Live (about 45-50 minutes into the show) slams Scientology OTIII beliefs and Tom Cruise."
Transcript: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/11/lkl.01.html
Here's the part
"MAHER: [...]
You know, that's so funny. I was on 'The Today Show' the other day, and I was talking about Tom Cruise, which made them very nervous, but I happened to see that Tom Cruise episode, and it just made me so mad that he was lecturing Matt Lauer. And to a lot of people, I think he came across as the one who was smart and sensible and rational. Matt, you don't know enough about psychiatry. You haven't done the homework. I'm the rational, smart one.
OK, Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. Scientologists believe that human beings are infested with these souls of aliens, who took over this planet 75 million years ago. OK, he's the rational one? He's the smart one?
[...]
If somebody says to you, aliens took over the Earth 75 million years ago and have infested your soul, the proper, rational response is, 'Well, I guess anything's possible.' But if you say, as Mr. Cruise would, as any Scientologist would, to that proposition, 'Yes that's undeniable, infallible, incontestable truth,' then excuse me, you, like all religious people, have a neurological disorder. And the only reason why people think it's sane is because so many other people believe the same thing. It's sanity by consensus."
--
Posted about the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on August 7, 2005:
"This appeared on Slate once, but I'm happy to report the good citizens of Milwaukee, WI will now be able to read the story in their Sunday paper today!
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/aug05/346383.asp
The strange roots of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard
By Michael Crowley
Our summer of Tom Cruise's madness and Katie Holmes' creepy path toward zombie bridedom has been a useful reminder of how truly strange Scientology is.
By now, those interested in the Cruise-Holmes saga may be passingly familiar with the church's creation myth, in which an evil, intergalactic warlord named Xenu kidnaps billions of alien life forms, chains them near Earth's volcanoes and blows them up with nuclear weapons.
Strange as Scientology's pseudotheology may be, though, it's not as entertaining as the life story of the church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard.
To hear his disciples tell it, Hubbard, who died in 1986, was the subject of 'universal acclaim' and one of the greatest men who ever lived.
Not only did he devise the church's founding theory of Dianetics, which promises to free mankind of psychological trauma, he was a source of wisdom about everything from jazz music to nuclear physics.
[...]
The slow creep of Scientology's anti-drug programs into public schools, the presumably tens of millions of dollars the church keeps with the help of its tax-exempt status and the accusations that the church has convinced people to hand over their life savings, make Hubbard's bizzarro legacy seem less like tragicomedy and more like a scandal.
Comparable crackpots-in-chief like Lyndon LaRouche and Sun Myung Moon have had almost no detectable national influence. But famous Scientologists - Cruise, Travolta, the singer Beck, and even (say it ain't so) the voice of Bart Simpson, have given Hubbard a veneer of popular credibility and his church a perpetual recruitment ticket.
Hubbard always imagined himself a great man of history. 'All men are your slaves,' he once wrote in a diary entry unearthed during a 1984 lawsuit.
He reportedly once claimed to have written a manuscript that contained such brutal truths that anyone who read it went insane or committed suicide.
He fancied himself a nuclear physicist, never mind his lack of training, and posited that fallout from Cold War nuclear tests were interfering with Scientology therapies.
Hubbard reportedly constructed the myth that he was a World War II combat hero when, in fact, the Navy reprimanded him after a San Diego-based ship he commanded shelled some nearby Mexican islands for target practice.
[...]"
--
Message-IDs:
1123771161.530800.289180@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com
1123772551.347101.236960@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com
1123811976.152687.250690@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com
1123816394.119971.129480@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com
42fc5944$0$17719$626a14ce@news.free.fr
42f5967e$1@news2.lightlink.com
"Thanks so much for posting the ARS week in Review. It's such wonderful service and I want you to know that many people appreciate your work. ..."
"This is great. Thank you for doing the reviews."
The respected a.r.s. week-in-review poster replied:
"Since I'm by far *not* the most important hand working on this, I'll transfer your thanks to the Others."
--
a.r.s. week-in-review hereby adds:
Thanks to countless "Others" for having forwarded or posted to news group alt.religion.scientology, thereby having made a.r.s. week-in-review possible.
--
Message-IDs:
6VJ196DU38571.6415856481@anonymous.poster
42f78715$1@news2.lightlink.com
42f6a6c9@news2.lightlink.com
"If CNN reads ARS: Thanks, Anderson.........you did a ~great~ job.
Also, thanks to Kim, and Michael....you both did great, especially considering the time restraints.
Both Michael and I tried to get in Web sites, but those were edited out. Luckily, all one has to do is type in 'Scientology' and both sides come up now .. thanks to the Critics! Wooo Hoooo!"
"Dear OSA, relax already.
Only 200 million people watch that show."
"I haven't made a page for the video yet but you can watch it here:
Dialup Modems
http://www.xenutv.com/cruise/cooper-081105.ram Steam
http://www.xenutv.com/cruise/cooper-081105.rm Download
Cable/DSL
http://www.xenutv.com/cruise/cooper-081105-56k.ram Steam
http://www.xenutv.com/cruise/cooper-081105-56k.rm Download"
"AND...............it aired right after Thursday at 2:00. What a way to start the new week, eh OSA :)"
Message-IDs:
42fc2eaf@news2.lightlink.com
42fc2f53$1@news2.lightlink.com
ddiere$12d$1@news.tdl.com
tFfLe.6976$0E5.2498@fe05.lga
Message-ID:
10110-42FBE23F-281@storefull-3334.bay.webtv.net
A.r.s. Week in Review is put together for your benefit.
This collection is organised for WWW by Andreas Heldal-Lund.
Only edits done by me is replacing word encapsuled in * or _ with bold and underscore, and made links into HTML.